Connecticut western news., 1900-07-19

clothed nakedness, 1t has preached the " and want with the warcry of. Stitch, stitch, stitch" The opera tives have found livelihood by 1t, and through 1t the mansions of the en- ployer are constructed.
 The Needles Triumphs.
 Amid the greatest triumphs in all ages and lands I set down the con- quests of the needle. I admit its crimes; l admit Its cruelties. It has had more martyrs than the fire; it has punctured the eye; 1t has pierced the side; 1t has struck weakness into the lungs; 1t has sent madness into the brain; 1t has filled the potter's field: 1t has pitched whole armies of the suffer ing into crime and wretchedness and woe. But now that I am talking of Dorcas and her ministries to the poor shall speak only of the charities of the needle. This woman was a repre- sentative of all those who make gar ments for the destitute, who knit socks for the barefooted, who prepare band ages for the lacerated, who fix up box
 
 into the asylums of the suffering and destitute bearing that gospel which Is sight for the blind and hearing for the deaf and which makes the lame man leap like hart and brings the dead to life. immortal health bounding in their pulses.
 What contrast between the prac- .ical beneyolence of this woman and a great deal of the charity of this day! This woman did not spend her time idly planning how the poor of the city of Joppa were to be relieved. She took her needle and relieved them. She was not like those persons who sympathize with imaginary sorrows and go out In the street and laugh at the boy who has upset his basket of cold victuals or like that charity which makes a rousing speech on the benevo- lent platform and goes out to kick the beggar. from the step, crying, Hush your miserable bowling" Sufferers of the world want not so much theory as practice; not so much tears as dollars; not so much kind wishes as loaves of bread; not so much smiles as shoes; not so much God bless yousr' as jack cts and frocks. I will put one earnest Christian man, hardworking, against 5000 mere theorists on the subject of charity. There are great many who have fine ideas about church architec- ture who never In their lives helped to build church. There are men who can give you the history of Buddhism ln6 oh af mi f,oa Ia fsr,1 l,n q farthing for evangelization. There are women who talk beautifully about the suffering of the world who never had the courage, like Dorcas, to take the needle and assault it.
 Female BeneyoIence.
 l am glad that there Is not page of the worlds history which Is not rec ord of female beneyolence. God says to all lands and people, Come, now, and hear the widows mite rattle down into the poor box" The Princess of Cont sold all her jewels that she might help the famine stricken. Queen Blanche, the wife of Louis VIII of France, hearing that there were some persons unjustly incarcerated in the prisons, went out amid the rabble and took stick and struck the door as signal that they might all strike 1t, and down went the prison door, and out came the prisoners. Queen Maud. the wife of Henry I, went down amid the poor and washed their sores and nd ministered to them cordials. Mrs Ret son, at Matagorda, appeared on the battlefield while the missiles of death were flying around and cared for the wounded. Is there a man or woman who has ever heard of the civil war in America who has not heard of the wo- men of the sanitary and Christian commissions or the fact that before the smoke had gone up from Gettys- Sf the north met the women of the south on the battlefield, forgetting all their animosities while they bound up the wounded and closed the eyes of the slain? Dorcas the benefactress. l come now to speak of Dorcas the lamented. When death struck down that good woman, oh, how much sor- row there was in the town of Joppa I suppose there were women there with larger fortunes, women perhaps with handsomer faces, but there was no grief at their departure like this at | the death of Dorcas. There were not | more turmoil and upturning in the Mediterranean sea dashing against the wharfs at that seaport than there were surgings to and fro of grief be- cause Dorcas was dead. There are a | great many who go out of life and are unmissed. There may be a very large funeral, there may be great many carriages and a plumed hearse, there may be high sounding eulogiums, the | bell may toll at the cemetery gate, there may be a very fl le marble shaft reared over the resting place, but the whole thing may be a falsehood and a sham.
 | Nothing Lost.
 The church of God has lost nothing the world has lost nothing. It Is only a nuisance abated. It Is only grum. bier ceasing to find fault. It Is only an idler stopped yawning. It Is only a dissipated fashionable parted from his wine cellar, while on the other hand no useful Christian leaves this world without being missed. The 1 church of God cries out. like the prophet, Howl, fir tree, for the cedar has fallenw Widowhood comes and | shows the garments which the depart ed had made. Orphans are. lifted UT | to look into the calm face of the sleep l ing benefaetress. Reclaimed yagrancy comes and kisses the cold brow of hel who charmed 1t away from sin, and all through the streets of Joppa there is mourning-mourning because Dorcas Is dead. When Josephine of France was carried out to her grave, there were great many men and women oi pomp and pride and position that wen
 out after her. But I am most affected
 by the story of history that on tha
 day there Were 10000 of the poor o1 | roll