The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1899-03-24

did while living or fs doing now that be r.
dead. There - not city. town or neigh-
81 snss
But suppose you grind tho face OF the
poor. Suppose. whom . mans wages are
due. you make him walt for them because
he cannot help himself. Suppose that, boz
ira expenses, Ne shonld politely ask you to
raise bis wages for this year. and you
roughly ten him if he wants q better place
to 20 and get Il. Suppose. BY your man
ner, act - though he were nothing and
selfish and oyerbearing and arrogant.
Your hrst name ought to be Attila and
your last name Atti,a. because you are the
star Wormwood and you have imbittered
that roll past your employees and opera
ttves and dependents and associates, and
the long line OF carriages which the under
taker orders for your funeral In order to
make the occasion respectable will be filled
with twice as many dry, fearless eyes. as
Will be In the world but q few minutes. As
compared with eternity, the stay OF the
longest life on earth is not more than q
minute: What are we doing with that
What is true OF individuals is true OF
nations. God sets them up to revolve as
stars. but they may fall NORWOOD Tyre
the atmosphere OF the desert, fragrant
spices coming in caravans to her fairs; all
seas cleft into foam by the keeis OF her
laden merchantmen; her markets rich with
horses and camels from To0armah; the
bazaar filed with upholstery from Dedan,
with emerald and coral and agate from
Syria, with mines from Helbop, with
mad. Where now the CLEAN OF her towers,
where the roar OF her chRriots, where the
masts OF her ships2 Let the fishermen who
dry their nets where once she stood, let
In ana thaE No., -
where once she challenged the admiration
OF all nations, let the barbarians who set
set their rude tents where once her palaces
glittered, answer the questions. She was
a star, but by her own sin turned to worm
wood and has fallen.
Hundred gated Thebes--for all time to be
the study Of antiquarian and hieroglyphist.
Her stupendous ruins spread over twenty
seven miles, her sculptures presenting in
figure OF warrior and chariot the victories
with which the now forgotten kings OF
Egypt shook the nations; her obelisks and
columns; Knrnak and Luxor, the stupend-
GUS temples OF her pridei Who can imagine
the greatness OF Thebes in those days, when
the hippodrome rang with her sports and
foreign royalty bowed at her shrines. and
her avenues roared with the wheels OF pro-
cessions in the wake OF returning conqurors?
What spirit OF destru ction spread the lair
OF wild beats In her royal sepulchers and
taught the miserable cottagers OF to-day
to build huts In the courts of her temples
and sent desolation and ruin skulking be-
hind the obelisks, and lodging among the
sarcophagi, and leaning against the COL
umns, aad STOPPING among the arches, and
weeping In the waters which go mourn
fully by, as though they were carrying the
tears OF all the ages2 Let the mummies
break their long silence and come up to
shiver in the desolation and point to fallen
gates and shattered statues and defaced
sculpture. responding: "Thebes built not
n Thahaa ryn
eousness and loved sin. Thebes was a
star, but she turned to wormwood and has
fallen"
Babylon, with her $50 towers and her
splendor OF the earth gathered within her
gates, her hanging gardens built by Ne
buchadnezzar to please his bride. Amytis,
who had been brought up in u mountain.
Gus country and could not endure the fiat
country around Babylon. These hanging
gardens built terrace above terrace, till at
the height OF 400 feet there were woods
waving and fountains playing, the verdure,
the foliage, the glory, looking as II noun
tain were on the wing. On the tiptop a
statues, snowy white, looking up at birds
brought from distant lands and drinking
out OF tankards OF solid gold or looking of
over rivers and lakes upon nations subdued
and tributary. crying, "is not this great
Babylon which have built2''
What battering ram smote the walls?
What plowshare upturned the gardens?
What army shattered the brazen gates?
What long, fierce blast of storm put out
this light which illuminated the world?
sic that poured from palace window and
garden grove and called tho banqueters to
their revel and the dancer to their feet? I
walk upon the scene of desolation to find
an answer and pick up pieces of bitumen
and brick and broken pottery, the remains
/ haar WI frc
Babylon was proud. Babylon was i'm
pure. Babylon was star, but by sin she
turned to wormwood and has fallen"
From the prosecutions Of the pilgrim
fathers and the Huguenots in other lands
God set upon these shores nation. The
council fires OF the aborigines went out In
the greater light Of a free govern m snt. The
sound OF the warwhoop was exchanged for
the thousand wheels Of enterprise and pro-
gress. The mild winters, the fruitful sum
mers, the healthful skies, charmed from
other lands race OF hardy men, who
loved God and wanted to be free. Before
the woodman's Ak forests fell and rose
again into ships masts and churches
pillars. Cities on the banks Of lakes be-
gan to rival cities by the sea. The land
quakes with the rush Of the rail car, and
the waters are churned white with the
steamers wheel. Fabulous bushels of
Western wheat meet on the way fabulous
bushels OF Eastern coal. Furs from the
North pass on the rivers fruits from the
South. And trading in the same market
are Maine lumbermen and South Carolina
rice merchant and Ohio farmer and Alaska
fur dealer. And churches and schools and
asylums scatter light and love and mercy
and salvation upon 70, 900 900 Of people.
pray that our nation may not copy the
crimes of nations that have per,shed; that
our cup Of blessing turn not to wormwood
and we go down. am by nature and by
grace an optimist, and I expect that this
pn nnf xutl IN nd VI mt. kho
world shall reach the millenial era Our
only safety is In righteousness toward God
and justice toward man. II we forget
the goodness of the Lord to this land
and break his Sabbaths, and improve
not by the dire disasters that have again
and a IL nd