The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1898-11-10
NO. 81.

II say many or you would declare:
"We have always done the best we
could and tried to be useful, and why
we should become the victims of ma
lignment, or invalidism, or mishap, is
inscrutable." Why, do you know the
finer the deer and the more elegant it's
proportions, and the more beautiful
its bearing, the more anxious the
hunters and the hounds are to cap
ture it. Had the roe buck a ragged
fur and broken hoofs and an obliter-
ated eye and a limping gait, the hunt
ers would have said: 'Pshaw! don't
let us waste our ammunition on a sick
deer" And the hounds would have
given few shifts of the scent, and
then darted off in another direction
for better game. But when they see
deer with antlers lifted in mighty
challenge to earth and sky, and the
sleek hide looks as if it had been
smoothed by invisible hands, and the
fat sides inclose the richest pasture
that could be nibbled from the banks
of rills so clear they seem to have
dropped out of Heaven, and the stamp
lantern and the rifle, the horn and the
hound, that deer they will have if they
must needs break their neck in the
rapids. So if there were no noble
stuff in your makeup, if you were
bifurcated nothing, if you were for
lorn failure, you would be allowed to
go undisturbed; but the fact that the
,h<>1n ;c ~, f,,l ic
proof positive that you are splendid
game and worth capturing. There
| fore, sarcasm draws on you it's finest
bead" Therefore, the world goes gum
ming for you with its best Maynard
breech-loader. Highest compliment
| is to your talent, or your virtue, or
your usefulness. You will be assailed
in proportion to your great achieve
ments. The best and the mighticst
being the world ever saw had set after
him all the hounds, terrestrial and dia.
bolic, and they Tapped his blood after
| the Calvarean massacre. The world
paid nothing to it's Redeemer but
bramble, four spikes and a cross.
Many who have done their best to
|
a rough time of it that all their pleas
ure is mn anticipation of the next
world, and they could express their
own feelings in the words of the bar
oness Of Nairn at the close of her long
life, when asked if she would like to
live her life over again:
Would you be young again?
| So would not i;
! One tear of memory given,
| Onward I'll HE:
| Life's dark wave forded Ger,
| All but at rest on shore,
Say, would you plunge once more.
With home so nigh?
II you might, would you now
Retrace your way?
| Wander through stormy wilds,
Faint and astray?
Nights gloomy watches fled,
| Morning all beaming red,
! Hopes smile around us shed,
Heavenward, away.
Yes, for some people in this world
there seems no let-up. They are pur-
sued from youth to manhood, and
from manhood into old age. Very dis
tinguished are Lord Stafford's hounds,
; the earl of Yarborough's hounds, and
the duke of Rutland's hounds, and
Queen Victoria pays $500 per year 20
her master of buckhounds. But all of
them put together do not equal in
number or speed, or power to hunt
down, the great kennel of hounds OF
4 which Sin and Trouble are owner al d
i. master.
2 For Him I thirst; fox His grace
beg; on His promise I build my all
Without Him l can no! be happy.
a have tried the world, and it does wei
i enough as far as it goes, but it is toe
: uncertain world, too evanescent q
t world. l am not a pre- judiced wit
y ness. have nothing against thi:
/ world. l have been one of the mos
y fortunate, or. to use more Christian
t word, one of the most blessed of mel
a blessed in my parents, blessed il
# the place of my nativity, blessed il
g nv field of work, blessed in my nat
o ural temperament, blessed in my fam
d lily, blessed in my opportunities
!. blessed in comfortable livelihood
h blessed in the hope that my soul vii
go to Heaven through the pardonin
e mercy of God, and my body, unless
u be lost at sea or cremated in some cor
o fiagration, will lie down in the garden
It of Greenwood among my kindred an
e friends, some already gone and other
II to come after me. Life to many ha
1T been /; disappointment, but to me
e has been pleasant surprise, and ye
ii | declare that if l did not feel ths
s God was now my friend and ever-pre
e. ent help, I should be watched and te
, ror-stricken. But I want more Of Hin
i ] have thought over this text an
10 preached this sermon to myself unit
20 with all the aroused energies OF N
8 body, mind and soul, ! can cry on
n "As the hart panteth after the wat
at brooks, so panteth my soul after The
of 0, Cod
g: | Paradnxical.
ol A would-be revolutionary Frenc