Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1899-02-02

with stationery upon it, bookshelves
built, long ranges OF new volumes, far
beyond the reach OF the means OF the
young pastor, many OF these yolames;
found all the sleeping apartments furn--
ished, came down stairs and entered
the pantry, and there were the spices.
and the coffees, and the sugars, and the
groceries for six months. He went down
into the cellar, and there was the coal
for all the coming winter. He went into
the dining hail, and there was the table
already settle glass and the silver
ware. He went into the kitchen, and
there were all the culinary implements
and great stove. The young pastor
lifted one lid of the stove, and he found
the fuel all ready for ignition. Putting
back the cover of the stove, he saw In an
other part of 1t lucifer match, and all
that young man had to do in starting to
keep house was to strike the match. You
tell me that is apocryphal. On, no, that
was my own experience. on, the Kind
ness; oh, the enlarged sympathies some-
times clustered around those who enter
the gospel ministry! suppose the man OF
Shunem had to pay the bills, but 1t was
the large hearted Christian sympathies OF
the woman OF Shunem tnat looKeo aitei
the Lords messenger.
Where are the feet that have not been
blistered on the hot sands OF this great
Sahara? Where are the soldiers that have
not bent under the burden OF grief? Where
Is the ship sailing over CLASSY sea that has
not after awhile been caught In cyclone?
Where is the garden of earthly comfort,
but trouble hath hitched up its fiery and
painting team and gone through 1t with
burning plowshares of disaster? Under
the pelting Of ages of suffering the great
heart Of the world has burst with woe.
Navigators tell us about the rivers, and
the Amazon, and the Danube, and the
Mississippi have been explored, but who
can tell the depth or the length OF the
great river of sorrow, made up OF tears
and blood rolling through all lands and
all ages. bearing the wreck OF families,
and Of communities, and of empires, foam-
ing, writhing, boiling with the agonies OF
5000 years. Etna, Cotopaxi and vesuvius
have been described but who has ever
sketched the volcano Of suffering retching
up from its depths the lava and scoria, and
pouring them down the sides to whelm the
nations? Oh, II could gather all the heart
strings, the broken heartstrlngs, into
harp would play on it dirge such as
was never sounded. Mythologists tell
US of gorgon and centaur and Titan,
and geologists tell us OF extinct species
of monsters, but greater than gorgon or
megatherium, and not belonging to the
realm of fable, and not of an extinct
species, a monster with an iron jaw and
hundred iron hoofs has walked across the
nations, and history and poetry and sculp p
ture, in their attempt to sketch 1t and de-
scribe 1t, have seemed to sweat great drops
of blood. But, thank God, there are those
who can conquer as this woman OF the text
conquered, and say: 1T is we'll. Though
my property be gone, though my children
be gone. though my home be broken up,
though my health be sacrificed, 1t is we'll; 1t
Is well!" There is no storm on the sea but
Christ is ready to rise in the hinder part OF
the ship and hush it. There is no darkness
but the constellation of Gods eternal love
can illumine. and, though the winter comes
out OF the Northern sky, you have some
times seen that Northern sky all ablaze
with auroras which seem to say: "Come up
this way. UP this way are thrones of light
and seas Of sapphire and the splendor OF
an eternal heaven. Come up this way"
Again, this woman Of my text was great
in her application to domestic duties.
Every picture is home picture, whether
she is entertaining an Elisha or whether
she is giving careful attention to her sick
boy or whether she is appealing for the
restoration Of her property. Every picture
in her case is one OF domesticity. Those are
not disciples of this Shunemite woman who,
going out to attend to outside charities,
neglect the duty of home-the duty OF
fulness in public benefaction can ever
atone for domestic negligence. There
has been many a mother who by inde-
fatigable toll has reared large family
of children, equipping them tor the du-
ties OF life with good manners and large
starting them out, who has done more
for the world than many a woman
whose name has sounded through all
the lands and through the centuries.
remember when Kossuth was in this
country there were some ladies who got
honorable regulations by presenting
him very gracefully with bouquets OF
flowers on public occasions, but what
was all that compared with the plain
Hungarian mother who gave to truth
and civilization and the cause OF uni
versal liberty Kossuth? Yes, this wom-
an of my text was great in her SIM
plicity. When is prophet wanted to re-
ward her for her hospitality by asking some
preferment from the king, what did she
say? She declined it. She said, 81 dwell
among my own people" as much as to say,
II am satisfied with my lot; all want Is my
family and my friends around me; l dwell
among my own people,"
oh, what rebuke to the strife for pre-
cedence in all ages! How many there are
who want to get great architecture and
homes furnished with oil art, all painting,
all statuary, who have not enough taste to
distinguish between Gothic and Byzantine,
and who could not tell figure in plaster OF
paris from Palmer's white Captive" and
would not know boys penciling from
Bierstadt's Yosemite Men who buy
large libraries by the square foot, buy
ing these libraries when they have scarcely
enough education to pick out the day OF
the month in the almanac! Oh how many
there are striving to have things as we'll as
their neighbors or better than their neigh
bors, and in the struggle vast fortunes are
exhausted and business firms thrown into
bankruptcy and men of reputed honesty
rush into astounding forgeries
But what I want to impress upon you,
my hearers, is that you ought not to in.
ventory the luxuries Of life among the in
dispensables, and you ought not to depre-
ciate this woman of the text, who, when
offered kingly preferment, responded, II
dwell among my own people," Yes,
this woman of the text was great
in her piety. Just read the chap
ter after you go home. Faith In
God. and she was not ashamed to talk
about it before idolaters. Alb, woman will
never appreciate what she owes to
Christianity until she knows and sees
the degradation of her sex under pit. gan
ism and Mohammedanism! Her very
birth considered misfortune. Sold like
cattle on the shambles. Slave of all
work, and at last her body fuel for the
funeral pyre OF her husband. Above the
al, ri Of 70 fra In Tn