The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1899-02-16
BENTON. LOUISIANA, THURSDAY FEBRUARY 49, 1899.

ness and generosity and conservation,
you are worth or 10 or so or 100 or 1000
or 10000.
Notice, my friend. that this David,
warrior, strategist, minstrel, ma ster of
blank verse and stone singer at the
giant, whom the soldiers of the text es-
timated clear up into the thousandfold
of usefulness, on this particular occa-
sion staid at home or in his place of
temporary residence. Gen. Joab, Gen.
Abishai and Gen. Ittai. who commanded
the boys in the right wing and left wing
and center, did their work bravely and
left 1000 Of the Lords enemies dead on
the field, ard many of the survivors got
entangled in the woods of Ephraim.
and mixed up in the bushes, and stum-
bled over the stumps of trees, and fell
into bogs, and were devoured by wild
beasts which seized them in the thick
cts. But David did his work at home.
We all huzza for heroes who have been
in battle, and on their return what pro-
cessions we form, and what triumphai
arches We spring, and what banquets
we spread, and what garlands We
wreathe, and what orations we deliver,
and what bells we ring, and what can
nonades we fire! But do we do justice
to the stay at homes? David, who was
worth 10000 of those who went out 1c.
meet the Lords enemies in the woods Of
Ephraim that day did his work in re-
tirement
The warrior David of my text showed
more self-control and moral proves in
staying at home than he could have
shown commanding in the field. He
was natural warrior. Martial airs
stirred him. The glitter of opposing
shields fired him. He was one of those
men who feel at home in the saddle,
patting the neck of paving cavalry
horse. But he suppressed himself. He
obeyed the command of the troops
whom he wouldlike to have commanded.
Some cf the greatest Sedans and Aus
terlitzes have been in backwoods
kitchens or i'll nursery with three chill
dren down with scarlet fever, soon to
join the two already in the churcbyard,
! or amid domestic wrongs and outrages
enough to transform angels into devils,
or in com nercial life within their own
counting rooms in time of Black Fri
day panics, or in mechanical life in their
own carpenter shop, or on the scaffo!d-
ing of walls swept by cold or smitten by
heat. No telegraphic wires reported
the crisis of the conflict, no banner was
ever waved to celebrate their victory,
but God knows and God will remember.
and God will adjust, and by Him tie
falling of a tear is as certainly noticed
as the burning of world and the fut-
ter of sparrow's wing as the flight of
the apocalyptic archangel.
Oh, what a God we have for small
things as well as big things! David
no more helped at the front than helped
at home. The four regiments mobil-
lied for the defense of the throne of
Israel were right in protesting against
David's exposure of his life at the front
Had he been pierced of an arrow, or
cloven down with battleax, or fatally
slung from snorting war charger, what
a disaster to the throne of Israel! Alb.
solom, his son, was low fellow and un-
| fit to reign; his two chief characteris-
tics were his handsome face and his
long hair-so long that when he had il
| cut that which was scissored OIL
| weighed 1900 shekels after the kings
weight" and when a man has nothing
| but handsome face and an exuberance
of hair, there is not much of him. The
capture and Staying of David would have
been calamity irreparable. Unneces.
sary exposure would have been crime
for David. as it is crime for you.
In nine cases out of ten the fatali
ties every day reported are no. the
fault of engineers or brakemen or con
| ductors or cab drivers, but of the stu
| pidity and recklessness of people a.
street or railroad crossings. They
would like to have the Chicago limited
express train, with 300 passengers, ad
| vertised to arrive at certain hour il
certain city. slow up to let them ge1
two minutes sooner to their destination
not one farthing of their own or any
one else's welfare dependent on wheth
er they arrive one minute before 1:
o'clock or one minute after. You cugh'
to get permission from railroad super
| intendent to mount beside the engineer
on a locomotive to realize how many
| evils of recklessness there are in tn,
world-funeral professions whipping
up to get across before the cowcatchel
| strikes the hearse; man of family, will
| wife and children beside him in wag
on, evidently having made close calcu
lation as to whether a stroke from th,
locomotive would put them backward
or forward in the journey to the vi!lag,
grocery; traveller on a railroad bridg,
hoping that he could get to the nd o
the bridge before the train reaches it
| You have no right 10 put your life il
peril unless by such exposure some
thing is to be gained for others. Wha
! imbecility in thousands O.. American.
during our recent Americo-Spanisb wa
| disappointed because the surrender
f, tame so soon. and they could not hav,
| the advantage of being shot IT Sal