The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1898-07-08

ury; or or Jepnlhah o u"u6"'
made a demonstration OF unseltish pa
trintism; or of Abigail, who rescued the
herds and focks of her husbands or OF
Rnth who toiled under tropical sun
for moor. old, helpless Naomi; or OF
Florence Nightingale, who went at
midnight to stanch the battle wounds
of the Crimea; or of Mrs Adonlram
hudson, who kindled the lights OF sal
walton amid the darkness of Burma;
~, Of Mrs. Hemans, who poured out her
ho1v soul in words which will forever
he associated with hunters horn, and
captiye's chain, and bridal hour, and
lute's throb, and curfew's lknell at the
diving day, and scores and hundreds OF
women unknown on earth, who nave
given water to the thirsty, and bread to
the hungry, and medicine to the SICK,
and smiles to the discouraged, their
footsteps heard along dark lane, and IN
government hospital, and in almshouse
corridor, and by prison gate? There may
be no royal robe, there mag be no pala-
tial surroundings She toes not need
them. for all charitable NTH will unite
with the cracking lips Of fever struck
hospital and plague blotched lazaretto
in greeting her as she passes: Hail,
hail, Queen VashtiP
Stamp of Womanly Indignation.
Again, l want you to consider Vashtl
the yelled. Had she appeared before
Ahasuerus and his court on that day
with her face uncovered she would have
shocked all the delicacies of oriental So
ciety, and the very men who in their
intoxication demanded that she come
in their sober moments would have de-
spised her. As some flowers seem to
thrive best in the dark lane and in the
shadow and where the sun does not seem
to reach them, so God appoints to most
womanly natures a retiring and unob-
trusive spirit. God once in awhile does
call an Isabella to throne or Miriam
to strike the timbrel at the front OF
host or a Marie Antoinette to quell a
French mob or a Deborah to stand at
the front of an armed battalion, crying
out: cup, upl This is the day in which
the Lord will deliver Sisera into thy
hands," And when the women are call
ed to such outdoor work and to such
heroic positions, God prepares them for
it, and they have iron in their soul and
lightnings in their eye and whirlwinds
in their breath, and the borrowed
strength of the Lord omnipotent in their
right arm They walk through furnaces
as though they were hedges OF wild
flowers, and cross seas as though they
were shimmering sapphire, and all the
harpies of hell down to their dungeon
at the stamp of womanly indignation.
But these are the exceptions. Gener-
ally, Dorcas would rather make gar
ment for the poor boy; Rebecca would
rather fill the trough of the camels;
Hannah would rather make coat for
Samuel; the Hebrew maid would rath-
err give a prescription for Naaman's lep-
rosy; the woman of Sarepta would rath-
er gather a few sticks to cook meal
for famished Elijah; Phebe would rath-
err carry letter for tbs inspired apos-
tie; Mother Lois would rather educate
Timothy in the Scriptures. When l see
a woman going about her daily duty,
with cheerful dignity presiding at the
table, with kind and gentle but firm
discipline presiding in the nursery, 60
ing out into the world without any
blast of trumpets, following in the foot
steps of him who went about doing good
i say, "This is Vashti with veil ON. !"
But when I see a woman of unblush-
ing boldness, loud voiced, with a tongue
of infinite Glitter chatter, with arrogant
look, passing through the streets with
the step of walking beam, gayly ar
rayed in a very hurricane of millinery, l
crv out. "Vashti has lost her veil ~
When see a woman, struggling for po-
litical preferment, trying to force her
way on up to conspicuity amid the mas
culine demagogues who stand with
swollen fists and bloodshot eyes and
pestiferous breath to guard the polls,
wanting to go through the loaferlsm
and defilement of popular sovereigns
who crawl up from the saloons greasy
and foul and vermin covered to decide
questions of justice and order and civil
lization-when l see a woman, say,
who wants to press through all that
horrible scum to get to public place and
power, say: "Ah, what a pity Vashtl
has lost her veil ~
When l see a woman OF comedy fea-
lures and of adroitness of intellect and
endowed with all that the schools can
do for her and of high social position,
yet moving in society with supercilious-
ness and hauteur as though she would
have people know their place, and with
an underlined combination of giggle and
strut and rhodomontade, endowed with
allopathic quantities of talk, but only
homeopathic infnitesimals of sense, the
terror of dry goods clerks and railroad
conductors. discoveries of significant
meanings in plain conversation, prodi-
gies of badinage and innuendo, say
"Vashti has lost her veil ~
A Queenly Sacrifice.
Again. 1 want you this morning to
consider Vashti the sacrifice. Who is
this that l see coming out OF that palace
gate of Shushan. 1t seems to me that
/ have seen her before. She comes home
less. houseIess, friendless, trudglng
along with broken heart. Who Is she'
T. :; uo.bti the sacrifice Oh, what a