Connecticut western news., 1899-10-12
SMALL ANNOYANCES.
DR. TAlMAGE SAYS THEY ARE IN
 ELECTED FOR A PURPOSE.
We Should Strive to Overcome the Troubles of Life-With the Help of Gods Grace Petty Grievances Be- come BlessinKs.

We Should Strive to Overcome the
 Troubles of Life-with the Help of
 Gods Grace Petty Grievances Be-
 come Blessings.
 ICopyright. Louis Klopsch. 1S99.l
 WASHINGTON, Oct 8.-This sermon by Dr. Talmage deals with a subject which appeals to all classes and condi- tions of men. His text is Deuteronomy vii, 20, 1.-The Lord thy God will send the hornet"
 It seems as If the insectile world were determined to extirpate the hu- man race. It bombards the grainfields and the orchards and the vineyards. The Colorado beetle, the Nebraska grasshopper, the New Jersey locust, the universal potato beetle, seem to carry on the work which was begun ages ago when the insects buzzed out of Noah's ark as the door was opened.
 In my text the hornet flies out on It's mission. It Is a species of wasp, swift in It's motion and violent in Its sting. It's touch Is torture to man or beast We'have all seen the cattle run below ing under the cut of its lancet. In boy hood we used to stand cautiously look ing at the globular nest hung from the tree branch, and while we were look ing at the wonderful covering we were struck with something that sent us shrieking away. The hornet goes in swarms. It. has captains over hun dretls, and 20 of them alighting on one man will produce certain death.
 The Persians attempted to conquer Christian city, but the elephants and the beasts on which the Persians rode were assaulted by the hornet, so that the whole army was broken up and the besieged city was rescued. This burn- ing and noxious insect stung out the Hittites and the Canaanites from their country. What gleaming sword and chariot of war could not accomplish was done by the puncture of an insect. 'The Lord sent the hornet"
 My friends, when we are assaulted by great behemoths of trouble we become chivalric, and we assault them. We Ret on the high mettled steed of our courage, and we make cavalry charge at them. and If God be with us we come out stronger and better than when we went 1t. But alas for these lnsectile annoyances of life, these foes too small to shoot, these things with out any avoirdupois weight, the gnats and the midges and the flies and the wasps and the hornetsi In other wards, 1t is the small, stinging annoy ances of our life which drive us out and use us up. In the best conditioned life for some grand and glorious pur- pose God has sent the hornet.
 Humanity Overworked.
 remark, in the first place, that these small, stinging annoyances may come In the shape of nervous organization. People who are prostrated under ty- phoid levers or with broken bones get plenty of sympathy, but who pities anybody that is nervous? The doctors say and the family say and everybody says. "Oh, she's only little nervous; that's all!" The sound of heavy foot, the harsh clearing of throat, dis cord in music, a want of harmony be- tween the shawl and the glove on the same person, curt answer, passing slight, the wind from the east, any one of ten thousand annoyances, opens the door for the hornet. The fact Is that the vast majority of the people in this country are overworked, and their nerves are the first to give out. A great multitude are under the strain of Leyden, who, when he was told by his physician that if he did not stop work Ing while he was in such poor physical health he would die, responded, Doe tor. whether live or die, the wheel must keep going round" These sensi- tive persons of whom I speak have a bleeding sensitiveness. The flies love to light on anything raw, and these people are like the Canaanites spoken of In the text or in the context-they have . very thin covering and are vul- nerable at all points. And the Lord sent the hornet"
 Again, the small insect annoyances may come to us in the shape of friends and acquaintances who are always say ing dlsagreeable things. There are some people you cannot be with for half an hour but you feel cheered and comforted. Then there are other peo- pie you cannot be with for five minutes before you feel miserable. They do not mean to disturb you, but they sting you to the bone. They gather up all the yarn which the gossips spin and retail 1t. They gather up all the ad- verse criticisms about your person, about your business, about your home, about your church, and they make your ear the funnel into which they pour 1t. They laugh heartily when they tell you. as though it were a good joke, and you laugh. too-outside.
 Job's Comforters.
 These people are brought to our at- tention in the Bible, in the book of Ruth. Naomi went forth, beautiful and with the finest of worldly pros- poets, into another land, but after awhile she came back widowed and sick and poor. What did her friends do when she came to the city? They nll went out, and, instead of giving her common sense consolation, what did they do? Read the book of Ruth and find out. They threw up their hands and said, -Is this Naomi?" as much as to say. "How awful bad you do lookw When I entered the ministry, looked very pale for years, and every year. for four or five years, many times a year I was asked if I had not con- sumption, and, passing through the room, I would sometimes hear people sigh and say, "A-ah, not long for thIs world" resolved in those times that l never in any conversation would say anything depressing, and by the help of God l have kept the resolution. These people of whom I speak reap and bind in the great harvest field of Encouragement. Some day you greet them with hilarious Good morning" and they come buzzing at you with some depressing Information. 'The Lord sent the hornet"
 It Is astonishing how some people prefer to write and to say disagreeable things. That was the case when Hen ry NJ. Stanley returned after his mag nificent exploit of finding David Liv-