Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1899-11-17

transmediterranean cathedrals, while
other blocks have been blasted in mod
ern times by the makers Of the Tunis
railway. And all Of that great and
mighty city and kingdom that the tour
list finds today is here and there bro
ken arch of what was once 80 mile
aqueduct. Our talented and genial
friend Henry ". Field, in one of his
matchless books Of travel, labors hard
to prove that the slight ruins Of that
city are really worth visiting. Carthage
buried In the cemetery of dead nations.
Not one altar to the true God did she
rear; not one of the Ten Command
ments but she conspicuously violated.
Her doom was settled In heaven when
1t was decided far back in the eternities
that the nation and kingdom that will
not serve God shall perish.
Breeders of DIscord.
Walk on In the cemetery Of nations
and see the long lines Of tombs-
Thebes and Tyre and Egypt and Raty-
lon and Medo- Persian and Macedonian
and Roman and Saxon heptarchy,
great nations, small nations, nations
that lived a year and nations that
lived 500 years.
Our own nation will be judged by
the same moral laws by which all 9th
er nations have been judged. The
judgment day for individuals will
probably come far on in the future.
Judgment day for nations Is every
day, every day weighed, every day ap-
proved or every day condemned. Never
before in the history Of this country
has the American nation been more
surely in the balances than it is this
minute. DO right. and we 90 up. DO
wrong, and we go down. | am not SO
anxious to know what this Statesman
or that warrior thinks we had better
do with Cuba and Porto Rico and the
Philippines as | am anxious 10 know
what God thinks we had better do.
The destiny of this nation will not be
decided on yonder capitoline hill or at
Manila or at the presidential ballot
box. for it Will be settled in heaven.
Another thing decided in the same
high place is that happiness is the re-
suit Of spiritual condition and not OF
earthly environment If we who may
sometimes have Il thousand dollars to
invest find ii such a perplexity to
know what to do with it and soon
after find that we invested it where
principal and interest have gone down
through roguery or panic. what must
be the worriment of those having mil
lions to invest and whose losses cor
respond In magnitude with their re
sources. People who have their three
or four dollars a day wages are just
as happy as those who have an income
Of S5OO.0O0 a year. Sometimes happi-
ness is seated on a footstool and some
times misery on the throne. All the
gold Of earth In one chunk cannot pur-
chase FIVE minutes Of complete salts
faction. Worldly success is an atmos-
phere that breeds the maggots OF envy
and jealousy and hate There are those
who will never forgive you if you have
more emoluments or honor or ease
than they have. To take you down
Is the dominant wish Of most OF those
who are not as high as you are. They
will spend hours and days and years
to entrap you. They will hover around
newspaper offices to get one mean line
printed depreciating you. Your heaven
is their hell.
A diving president Of the United
States said many years ago in regard
TO his lifetime of experience 1T
doesn't pay" The leading statesmen
Of America In letters Of advice warn
young men to keep out Of politics.
Many of the most successful have tried
in vain to drown their trouble in strong
drink. On the other hand, there are
millions Of people who on departing
this life will have nothing to leave but
a good name and a life Insurance
whose illumlned faces are indices or IL
lumined souls. They wish everybody
well. When the fire bell rings, they DO
not 20 TO the windows at midnight TO
see II 1t is their store that is on fire, for
they never owned a store, and when
the September equinox is abroad they
| do not worry lest their ships founder ID
a gale. for they never owned a snip
| and when the nominations are mace
for high political Office they are not
fearful that their name will be over
looked. for they never applied for Of
| fee. There Is 50 much heartiness ana
freedom from care in their laughter
that when you hear it you are compel
led to laugh in sympathy, although you
know not what they are laughing
about.
| When the children of that family as
| semble In the sitting room OF the Old
homestead to hear the fathers Will
read, they are not fearful of being cut
off with a million and a half dollars,
for the old man never owned anything
more than the farm of 10 acres, which
yielded only enough plainly to support
the household. They have more happi-
ness in one month than many have ID
a whole lifetime. Would to God | had
the capacity to explain to you on how
little a man can be happy and on how
much he may be wretchedl Get your
heart right, and all is right. Keep your
heart wrong, and all is wrong. That Is
n principle settled in heaven.
School of Life.
Another thing decided in that high
place is that this world is a school
house or college for splendid or dis
graceful graduation. We begin In the
freshman class of good or evil and
then pass into the sophomore and
then into the junior and then
into the senior and from that we
graduate angels or devils. In many
colleges there lie an elective course,
where the student selects-what he VIII
study-muthematics or the languages
or chemistry or phllosophy-and 1t Is
An elective course we all take In the
schoolhouse or university OF this
world.
We may study sin until we are satu'
rated with 1t or righteousness until we
are exempli6cations Of It. Graduate
we all must. but we decide for our