Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1899-12-01
VICTORIES OF PEACE.
THE SUBJECT OF DR..
TAlMAGE'S SERMON.
lie Enumerntes Many of the Bless
ings For which We Should be
Misunderstanding Has Tighten

copyright Louis Kopsch. 1901
WASHINGTON. Nov. 2G.-ThIs dis
course Of DR.. Talmage is a sermon Of
preparation for the national obseTy-
ance Of this week and in an unusual
way calls for the gratitude of the peo-
pie: the text. Ezekiel Y. l3. "As for the
wheels. IT was cried unto them in my
hearing, o wheel"
Next Thursday will, by proclamation
of president and governors, be OBJ
served In thanksgiving for temporal
mercles. With what spirit shall we
enter upon It? For nearly a year and
half this nation has been celebrating
the triumph of the sword and gun and
battery. We have sung martial airs
and cheered returning heroes and
sounded the requiem for the slain In
battle. Methlnks II will be a healthful
change II this Thanksgiving week. In
church and homestead, we celebrate
the victories of peace, for nothing was
done at Santiago or Manila that was Of
more Importance than that which in
the last year has been done In farmers
field and mechanics shop and authors
study by those who never wore an
epaulet or shot a Spaniard or went n
hundred miles from their own dOorsill.
And now ! call your attention to the
wheel Of the text.
Man. a small speck in the universe.
was set down in big world, high
mountains rising before him, deep seas
arresting his pathway and wild beasts
capable Of his destruction. yet he was
to conquer. 1t could not be by physical
force, for compare his arm with the
ox's horn and the elephants tusk. and
how weak he is, 1t could aot be by
physical speed, for compare him TO the
antelope's foot and ptarmigan's wing,
and how slow he is. 1t could not be by
physical capacity to soar or plunge, for
the condor beats him in one direction
and the porpoise in the other. Yet ne
was TO conquer the world. Two eyes,
two hands and two feet were INSULT
cieut. He must be re-enforced. so God
sent the wheel.
Twenty-Five times Is the wheel men
toned in the Bible, sometimes, as in
Ezekiel. Illustrating proyidential move
ment: sometimes, as in the Psalms,
crushing the bad: sometimes. as in
Judges. representing Gods chaTioted
progress. The wheel that started in
Exodus rolls on through Proverbs.
through Isaiah. through jeremiah.
through Daniel through Nahum,
through the centuries. all the time
gathering momentum and splcndor,
until. seeing what II has done for the
worlds progress and happiness. we
clap our hands in thanksgiving and
employ the apostrophe Of the text.
crying, 30 wheel"
TrIumphs of Machinery.
| call on you in this Thanksgiving
week to praise God for the triumphs Of
machinery. which have revolutionized
the world and multiplied its attrac-
tions. Even paradise. though very pic
turesque. must have been comparative
ly dull. hardly anything going on, no
agriculture needed. for the harvest was
sDontancous: no architecture required,
for they slept under the trees; no man.
ufacturer's loom necessary for the
weaving Of apparel, for the fashions
were exceedingly simple. To dress the
garden could not have requlr'; ten
minutes a day.
Having nothing TO do, they got into
mischief and ruined themselves and
the race. It was a sad thing to be
turned out Of paradise, but, once turn
ed out. a benefcent thing to be com
PEELED to work. To help man up and
on God sent the wheel. II turned
ahead. the race advances; If turned
back. the race retreats. To arouse your
gratitude and exalt your praise | would
show you what the wheel has done for
the domestic world. for the agricultural
world, for the travelling world, for the
literary world. AS for the wheels, il
was cried unto them in my hearing, o
wheel"
In domestic life the wheel has
wrought revolution. Behold the sew
ing machine. It has shattered the
housewives bondage and prolonged
woman's life and added immeasurable
advantages. The needle for ages had
punctured the eyes and pierced the
side and made terrible massacre Io
prepare the garments Of whole house
hold in the spring for summer aud IN
the autumn for winter was an eX-
hausting process. stitch. stitch. stitcs "
Thomas Hood set ii to poetry, but mil
I lions Of persons have found 1t agoniZ
ing prose.
Slain by the sword. we buried the
hero with Dead March" in Saul and
flags az half mast. Slain by the needle
no one knew it but the household that
watched her health giving way. The
winter after that the children were
ragged and cold and hungry or in the
almshouse. The hand that welded
the needle had forgotten its cunning
Soul and body bad parted at the seam
The thlmble had dropped from th'
palsied finger. The thread Of life hao
snapped and let a suffering human lif'
drop into the grave. The spool was al
unwound. Her sepulcher was digget
not with sections spade, but with
sharper and shorter implement -
needle Federal and Confederate deaC
have ornamented graves at Arlington
Heights and Richmond and Gettysburg
thousands by thousands. but II VII
take the archangers trumpet to nm
the million graves OF the yaster army
OF women needle slain.
Besides all the sewing done for th'
household at home. there are hundre'h
OF thousands Of sewing women. lh'
tragedy OF the needle is the tragedy o.
hunger and cold and insult and home
sickness and sulcide-fye acts.
A Cheerful Slave.
But hear the rush Of wheel WON
an puts on the band and adjusts TN
instrument, puts her foot on Tho
treadle and begins. Before the Will
and rattle pleurlsies, consumpuons
headaches, backaches. heartaches, ar
routed. The needle. once an oppress
I've tyrant, becomes cheerful slave
roll and rumble and roar until the ram
ily wardrobe is gathered, and winter i