Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1899-04-21


The whole matter was explained to
her This was no whining. hollow
hearted girl into whose eyes the father
looked All the glory Of sword and
shield vanished in the presence Of the
valor of that girl There may have been
a tremor of the lip. as a rose leaf trem-
bles in the sough Of the south wind;
there may have been the starting of
tear like a raindrop shaken from the
anther Of water lily But with self
sacrifice that man may not reach and
only woman's heart can compass she
surrenders herself to fire and TO death
She cries out in the words Of my text.
my father, if thou hast opened thy
mouth unto the Lord. do unto me what
soever hath proceeded from thy mouth.
She bows to the knife. and the blood.
which so often at the father voice had
rushed to the crimson cheek, smokes IN
the fires of the burnt Offering No one
can tell MS her name. There Is no need
that we know her name The garlands
that Mizpah twisted for Jephthah the
warrior have gone into the dust. but
all ages are twisting this girls chaplet
1t is we'll that her name came not to
us. for no one can wear it. They may
take the name Of Deborah or Abigail or
Miriam, but no one in all the ages shall
have the title of this daughter Of sacri-
fee
Not Pleasing to the Lord.
OF course this Offering was not pleas
ing to the Lord. especially as a proyi-
sion was made in the law for such a
contingency. and Jephthah might have
redeemed his daughter by the payment
of 80 shekels Of silver But before you
hurl your denunciations at Jephthah 5
,ruelty remember that in oiden times,
when vows were made men thought
they must execute them, perform them,
whether they were wicked or good.
There were two wrong things about
| Jephthah' = VOW First, he onght never
to have made it, Nest, having made it,
it were better broken than kept But
do not take on pretentious airs and say
Il could not have done as Jephtnah
did" If in former days yen had been
standing on the banks Of the Ganges
and you had been born in India, yon
might have thrown your children to
the crocodiles. 1t is not because We are
naturally any better, but because we
have more gospel light
Now l make very practical use Of
this question when tell you that the
sacrifice Of Jephthah's $ daughter was a
type Of the physical. mental and spirit
ual sacrifice Of ten thousand children
in this day. There are parents all un-
Willingly bringing To bear upon their
children a class Of influences which will
as certainly ruin them as knife and
torch destroyed Jephthah's daughter
While l speak, the whole ration, with
ont emotion and without shame, looks
upon the stupendous sacrifice.
In the first place, remark that much
Of the system Of education in our day
is a system of sacrifice. When children
spend six or seven hours in school and
then must spend two or three hours IL
preparation for school the next day
will you tell me how much time they
will have for sunshine and fresh ali
and the obtaining Of that exuberanc'
which is necessary for the duties Oh
coming lifel No one can feel more
thankful than do for the advancement
Of common school education. Th'
printing Of books appropriate fol
schools the multiplication Of philo
sophical apparatus, the establishment
of normal schools. which provide fol
our children teachers Of largest caliDer
are themes on which every philanthro
pist ought TO be congratulated. Bu
this herding Of great multitudes o
children in i'll ventilated schoolroom
and poorly equipped halls of instruction
is making many of the places Of knowl
edge in this country huge holocaust
Politics in many Of the cities gets int
educational affairs and while the TIVE
political parties are scrabbling for thu
honors Jephthahs daughter perishes
II is so much so that there are man,
schools in the country today which ar
preparing tens of Thousands OF invali'
men and women for the future: so that
in many places, by the time the child
education is finished the child Is Tin
ishedl In many places in many cite
of the country there are large appro
priations for everything else and cheer
full appropriations, but as socn as tn
appropriation is to be made for the edu
cational or moral interests Of the cit
we are struck through with an econom
that is we'll nigh the death of rs.
Danger of Overstudy.
, In connection with this l mentio
what might call the cramming systel
of the common schools and many of tn
academies; children Of delicate brai
compelled to tasks that might appall
mature intellect; children going dow
to school with strap Of books half a
I high as themselves. The fact is, in som
Of the cities parents do not allow thei
children to graduate for the simpl
reason, they say, 1--WE cannot afford
allow our children's health TO be de
stroyed in order that they may gatht
the honors of an institution. - Tens
: thousands Of children educated into III
becilitv. so that connected with man
such literary establishments there ousf
to be asy lums for the wrecked. 1t
push and crowd and cram and stu
! and lam until the child's intellect Is b'
wildered and the memory is ruined an
the health is gone There are childre
" who once were full Of romping an
laughter and had cheeks crimson wit
health who are now turned out in IL
afternoon pale faced, irritated, asst
matte. old before their time 1t Is OF
of the saddest sights on earth an ol
= mannish boy or an old womanish CIR
J. Girls 10 years Of age studying algebra
!, BOYS 10 years of age racking their brai
a over trigonometry Children una
d ouainted with their mother tongue or.
< ing over their Latin, French and Ge
81 man lessons All the vivacity OF the
e nature beaten ont Of them by the heaV
II beetle Of a Greek lexicon And youdo