Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1899-07-21

the United States took of the TAX from
personal income. among other reasons
because so few people would tell the
truth, and many a man with All IN
come OF hundreds Of dollars day
made statements which seemed to i'm
ply he was about TO be- handed over 10
the overseer Of the poor Careful to
pay their passage from Liverpool la
New York, yet smuggling in their Sar.
atoga trunk ten silk dresses from Paris
and a half dozen watches from Gene
va, telling the custom house officer on
the wharf. There Is nothing IN that
trunk but wearing apparel" and put.
ting a s. gold piece in his hand 10
punctuate the statement.
Described In the text are all those
who are particular never to break the
law OF grammar and who want all
their language an elegant specimen Of
syntax. stralning out all the lnaccurn
cies OF speech with fine sieve OF IT.
erary criticism. while through their
conversation go slander and Innuendo
and profanity and falsehood larger
than a whole caravan OF camels. when
they might better fracture every law
Of the language and shock their intel.
lectual taste. and better lei every verb
seek in vain for its nominatiye. and ev.
cry noun for its government, and let
every proposition lose it's way in the
sentence, and adjectiyes and partici-
Piles and pronOuns get into n grand
riot worthy of the Fourth ward OF
New York on election day than to
commit n moral inaccuracy. Better
swallow thousand gnats than one
camel.
Such persons are also described In
the text who are very much alarmed
about the small faults Of others and
have no alarm about their own great
transgressiOns. There are in every
community and In every church watch
dogs who feel called upon TO keep
their eyes on others and growl. They
are full OF suspicious. They wonder Il
this man is not dishonest. If that man
is not uDclean. II there is not some
thing wrong about the other man.
They are always the first TO hear Of
anything wrong. Yultures are always
the first to smell carrion. They are
self appointed detectives lay this
down as rule without any exception
that those people who have the most
faults themselves are most merclless
in their watching of others. From
scalp of head to sole of foot they are
full OF jealousies and hypercrltlciSms.
They spend their life in hunting for
muskrats and mud turtles Instead or
hunting for Rocky mountain eagles.
always for something mean instead or
something grand. They look at their
neighbors imperfections through
microscope and look at their own ln-
perfectiOns through telescope upside
down. Twenty faults of their own do
not hurt them so much as one fault OF
somebody else. Their neighbers' i'm
perfections are like gnats. and they
strain them out; their own imperfec-
tlons are like camels, and they swal-
low them.
Treasures In Heaven.
But lest too many might think they
escape the scrutiny OF the text have
10 tell you that we all come under the
divine satire when we make the ques-
tions OF time more prominent than the
questions Of eternity. Come, now, let
us all 90 into the confessional Are
not all tempted to make the question.
Where shall live now? greater than
the question, Where shall | live for
ever? How shall | get more dollars
here? greater than the question. How
shall lay up treasures in heayenI the
question. How shall pay my debts to
man? greater than the question. How
shall | meet my obligations TO God!
the question, How shall gain the
worldi greater than the question:
What II | lose my soul? the question.
Why did God let sin come into the
world? greater than the question How
shall | get il extirpated from my ma
ture? the question. What shall do
with the 20 or 40 or 20 years of my
sublunar existence? greater than the
question, What shall do with the
millions Of cycles OF my post ter
restrial existenceI Time, how small it
is! Eternity, how vast it is! The for
mer more Insignificant in comparison
with the latter than a gnat Is insig'
niflcant when compared with camel
We lodged the text. We said, THAT
does not mean me, and that does not
mean me-" and with a ruinous benev-
olence we are giving the whole sermon
away.
But let US all surrender to the charge.
What an ado about things here. What
poor preparation for n great eternity.
As though a minnow were larger than
a behemoth as though a swallow took
wider circuit than an albatross, as
though a nettle were taller than a
Lebanon cedar. as though a gnat were
greater than a camel. as though a min
ute were longer than century as
though time were higher, deeper.
broader than eternity. So the text
which flashed with lightning Of wit as
Christ uttered 1t is followed by the
crashing thund@rs Of awful catastro-
phe to those who make the questions
OF time greater than the questions OF
the future, the oncoming. overshadow-
ing future. Oh, eternity, eternity,
eternityl
Dish He Didn't Want.
Meilhac, the famous French COM
noear uaa n man OF simple taste and