Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1898-03-25

and then to occupy that sphere and oc-
cupy it forever. Here is a man God
fashioned to make a plow. There Is
man God fashioned to make a constitu-
ton. The man who makes the plow Is
lust as honorable as the man who makes
the constitution. There is woman who
was made to fashion a robe, and yonder
is one intended to be a queen and wear
it. Ii seems 10 me that in the one case
as in the other God appoints the sphere,
and the needle is jvt as respectable IN
his sight as the %. or. do not know
but that the worl ! would long ago have
been saved if SOME Of the men out Of
the ministry were in it and some ot
those who are in it were out Of It,
really think that one-half the world
may be divided into two quarters-those
who have not found their sphere and
those who having found it are not will
ing to stay there. How many are strug-
Cling for a position little higher than
that which God intended them! The
bondswoman wants TO be mistress. Ha'
gar keeps crowding Sarah. The small
wheel of a watch which beautifully
went treading its golden pathway wants
to be the balance wheel, and the spar
row with chagrin drops into the brook
because it caunot, like the eagle, cut a
circle under the sun.
Too Many Leaders.
In the Lord S army we all want to be
brigadier generals. The sloop says:
"More mast, more tonnage, more can
vas. Oh. that were a topsail schooner
or a full rigged brig or a Cunard steam
er!" And SO the world is filled with
cries Of discomfort, because we are not
willing to stay in the place where God
nut us and intended US to be. My
friends. be not too proud to do anything
God tells you to do For the lack OF u
right disposition in this respect the
world is strewn with wandering Hagars
and Ishmaels God has given each one
of US a work to do. You carry a scuttle
of coal up that dark alley. You distrib-
ute that Christian tract You give slO'-
600 to the missionary cause. You for 10
years sit with chronic rheumatism, dis
PLAYING the beauty Of Christian suomis-
sion. Whatever God calls you 10, wheth'
er il win Kissing or huzza, whether to
walk under triumphal arch or lit the
sot out of the ditch, whether 1t be TO
preach on a Pentecost or tell some wan
derer of the street Of the mercy OF the
Christ of Mary Magdalene, whether 1t
be TO weave a garland for a laughing
child on spring morning and call her
a MAY queen or to comb out the tangled
locks Of waif Of the street and cut up
one of vour old dresses to fit her out for
the sanctuary, do il, and do 1t right
away. Whether it be a crown or yoke,
do not fdget Everlasting honors upon
those who do their work and do their
whole work and are contented in the
snhere in which God has put them,
while there are wandering and exile and
desolation and wilderness for discon-
tented Hagar and lshmaell
Again. find in this oriental scene a
lesson Of sympathy with woman when
she goes forth trudging in the desert
What a great change it was for TINS
Hagar! There were the tent and all the
surroundings Of Abraham s house, beau
tiful and luxurious, no doubt. Now she
is going out into the hot sands OF the
desert. Oh. what a change it was And
in our day we often see the wheel OF
fortune turn. Here is some one who
lived in the very bright home OF her
father. She had everything possible to
administer to her happiness-plenty at
the table. music in the drawing room,
welcome at the door. She Is led forth
into life by some one who cannot ap-
preciate her. 4 dissipated soul comes
and takes her out in the desert. Cruel
ties blot out all the lights Of that home
circle. Harsh words wear out her splr'
its. The high hope that shone out over
the marriage altar while the rlnS "a'
being set and the vows given and tS(
benediction pronounced have all faded
with the orange blossoms, and there she
Is TO-DAY. broken hearted, thinking Of
past joys and present desolation anc
coming anguish. Hagar in the wilder
ness!
Here is a beautiful home You cannot
think of anything that can L. added L
! it, For years there has net been th'
suggestion of a single trouble. Lrieh
and happy children fill the house viii
! laughter and Gong. Books to read. Plc
tures to look at Lounges to rest on
Cup of domestic JOY full and runnlnl
over. Dark night drops. Pillow not
Pulses flutter. Eyes close. And the 100
I whose well known steps on the doorsll
brought the whole household out a
eventide crying, Fathers coming :
will never sound on the doorsill again
A long. deep grief plowed through al
that brightness of domestic life. Para
b disc lost. Widowhood. Hagar IN tn
. wilderness.
d How often is it we see the weak arl
p, of woman conscripted for this battl
u with the rough world. Who is she, &c
: I ing down the street in the early llgh
u of the morning. pale with eNhaustin
y work not half slept out with the sum
; bers of last night, tragedies Of suiferln
j written all over her face, her lusterle'
> eyes looking far ahead, as though ic
!, the coming Of some other troublet H'
Il parents called her Mary, or Bertha {
10 Agnes on the day when they held nc
u mn TO the font and the Christian minis
'r ter sprinkled on the infants face n
u washings of a holy baptism. Her nan
is changed now. hear it in the shuff
of the wornout shoes. see 1t in Il
e, figure of the faded calico. find 1t
le the lineaments of the woe begone coul
le tenance. Not Mary, nor Bertha NJ
K Agnes. but Hagar in the wilderness
I'd MAY God have mercy upon woman
to her tolls, her struggles, her hardship
is her desolation. and may the great hea
ID of divine sympathy inclose her foreye
be Responsibility of Motherhood.
10 70 Again, find in this oriental sce
~ the fact that every mother leads for
"a tremendous destinies.
ed You say, "That isn't an unusu
- ecene-a mother leading her child