Owingsville outlook. [volume] (Owingsville, Ky.) 1879-192?, 1898-07-07

seem tn thrive best in the dark lane
and in the shadow and where tine sun
does not seem to reach them, so God
appoints to most womanly natures Il
retiring and unobtrusivc spirit. God
once in n while does call an Isabella
to a throne, or Miriam To strike
the timbrcl at the front of a host,
or Marie Antoinettc to quell French
mob. or Deborah To stand at the
front of an armed battalion, crying
out: Up! Up' This is the day in
which the Lord will deliver Sisera into
thy hands" Aud when the women are
called to such outdoor work and To such
heroic positions God prepares them for
1t, and they have iron in their soul,
and lightnings in their eye. and whirl.
winds in their breath, and the bor-
rowcd strength of the Lord omnipo-
tent i'll their right arm. They walk
through furnaces as though they were
hedges of wildflowcrs and cross seas as
though they were shimmcring sap
phire. and all the harpics of hell down
to their dungeon ut the stamp of WON
anly indignation
But these are exceptions Generally
Dorcas would rather make a garment
for the poor boy, Ecbecca would rather
fill the trough of the camcls, Hannah
would rather make a coat for Samuel,
the Hebrew maid would rather give n
prescription for Naaman's lcprosv, the
woman of Sarepta would rather gather
few sticks to cook a meal for FAM
ished Eli JAN, Phebe would rather carry
letter for the inspired apostle.
Mother Lois would rather educate
Timothy in the Scriptures. When
see a woman going about her daily
duty, with cheerful dignity at the
table, with kind and gentle, but firm
discipline presiding in the nursery,
going out into the world without any
blast of trumpcts, following the foot
steps of Him who went about doing
good, | say, This is Nashti with veil
on"
But when ! see woman of unblush-
ing holiness, loud voiced, with a tongue
of infinite Glitter clatter, with AFRO
CANT look, passing through the streets
with the step of a walking beam, gayly
arrayed in very hurricane of millin-
cry, L cry out: "Nashti has lost her
veil" When | see woman struggling
for political prcfcrment, trying to
force her way up to conspicuity amid
the masculine demagogues who stand
with swollen fists and bloodshot eyes
and pcstifcrous breath to guard the
polls, wanting tn go through the loaf
erism and detilement of popular sover-
eigns, who crawl up from the saloons
greasy and tout and vermin covered to
decide questions of justice and order
and civilization-when see n woman,
| say. who wants to press through all
that horrible scum to get to public
place and power, | say: All, what n
pity! Nashti has lost her veil!'
When | see woman of comclv fea-
lures and of adroitncsS of intellect and
endowed with all that the schools can
do for her and of high social position.
yet moving in society with supercil-
iousnesS and hautcur. as though she
would have people know their place
and with an underlined combination
of gigglc and strut and rhodomont-
ade, endowed with allopathic quanti-
ties of talk, but only homeopathic in
finitesimals of sense, the terror of dry
goods clerks and railroad conductors,
discoveries of significant meanings in
plain conversation, prodigies of badin-
age and innuendo, | say, "Vashti has
lost her veil"
Again, ! want You this morning to
consider Vashti the sacrifice. Who is
this that see coming out of that pal
ace gate of Shushan? 1t seems to me
that / have seen her before. She
comes homeless, houseless. friendless,
trudging along with broken heart
Who is she? 1t is Vashti the sacrifice
Oh, what change it was from regal
position to wayfarer's crust. A little
while ago approved and sought for.
Now. none so poor as to acknowledge
her mountaineering. Vashti the sac
rifice.
All. you and | have seen it many u
time! Here is a home empalaced with
beauty. All that refinement and books
and wealth can do for that home has
been done; but Ahasuerus the hus-
band and father, is taking hold on
paths of sin. He is gradually going
down. After awhile he will founder
and struggle like wild beast in a
hunters net-farther away from God,
farther away from the right. Soon
the bright apparel of the children will
turn to rags; soon the household song
will become the sobbing of a broken
heart. The old story over again.
Brutal centaurs breaking up the mar
riage feast of Lapitha. The house full
of outrage and cruelty and abomina-
ton, while trudging forth from the
palace gate are Nashti and her chill
drcn. There are homes in all parts of
this land that are in danger of such
breaking up. Oh, Ahasuerus, that
you should stand in a home by a dissi-
pated life destroying the peace and
comfort of that home! God forbid
that your children should ever have
to wiring their hands and have people
point their finger at them as they pass
down the street and say. there goes
a drunkard'S child" God forbid that
the little feet should ever have to
trudge the path of poverty and wretch
edness! God forbid that any evil spirit
born of the wine cup or the brandy
glass should come forth and uproot
that garden. and with lasting, blister
ing, all consuming curse shut forever
the palace gate against Vashti and the
children.
One night during our civil war l
went to llagerstown to look at the
army and | stood on a hilltop and
locked down upon them. l saw the
campfires all through the valleys and
over the hills. 1t was weird spec
tacle, those camptires, and stood and
watched them, and the soldiers who
were gathered around them were no
doubt talking of their homes and OF
the long march they had taken and OF
the battles they were to fight, but
after awhile / saw these campfires be-
gin to lower, and they continued to
lower until they were all gone out,
and the army slept 1t was imposing
when l saw the campfires. 1t was
imposing in the darkness when i
thought of that great host asleep. Well,
God looks down from Heaven and He
sees the firesides of Christendom and
the loved ones gathered around these
firesides. These are the camp fires