St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1901-03-30

ST. TAMMANY PARI
In all lands there are veterans q
war who may not have had their fac
scraped with one bullet or their foe
lamed by one bursting shell and VIII
could not roll up their sleeve an
show you one mark suggestive G
battle, yet carry with them veal
nesses got in exposures to diseas
along malarial swamps or fror
many miles of marching, and eve
and anon they feel twinge Of pair
each recurrence of which is sharpe
or more lasting, until after awhil
they will be captured for the tom
BY disorders which started 20 or
or 40 years before. And their scar
| are all unseen by human eyes. Blu
those people are as certainly the vic
Tins Of war as though they had beel
blown up in an undermined fortres
or thrust through with . cavalry
mans lance. What I want to maxi
out II that there are scars whicl
are never counted except as Coz
counts them, and I want to enlarg,
your sympathies.
There is a woman who has suffered
domestic injustice Of which there is NJ
cognizance. She says nothing about 1t
An inquisitor's machine Of torture
could not wiring from her the story o.
domestic woe. Ever since the day o.
orange blossoms and long white vel
she has done her full duty and received
for 1t harshness and blame and neglect
The marriage ring, that was supposed
to be sign of unending affection, has
turned out to be one link of chain OF
horrible servitude. A wreath Of nett1e
and nightshade Of brightest form
would have been . more accurate
prophecy. There are those who find
it hard to believe that there is such a
place as hell. but you could 60 right out
in any community and find more than
one hell Of domestic torment. There is
no escape for that woman but the
grave, and that, compared with the life
she now lives. will be an arbor of jas
mine and of the humming birds song
poured into the ear of the honeysuckle.
Scars! If there be none on the brow
showing where he struck her arriving
home from midnight carousal, never
theless there are scars all up and down
her injured and immortal soul which
will be remembered on the day when
there shall leap forth for her avenge.
ment the live thunderbolts of an in
censed God. When we see veteran
in any land who has lost limb in bat
tie, our sympathies are stirred. But.
oh, how many have in the domestic
realm lost their life and yet are denied
a pillow of dust on which to slumber!
Better enlarge your roll of martyrs.
Better adopt new mode OF counting
human scarifications. A broken bone
is not half as bad as a broken heart.
There are many who can, in the same
sense that Paul uttered it. say: 81 bear
in my body the marks Of the Lord Je-
sus"-that is, for the sake Of Christ
and His cause they carry scars which
keep their indenture through all time
and all eternity. Do you think that
Paul was accurate when he said that?
II. you have studied his career, you have
no doubt of it. In his youth he learned
how to fashion the hair Of the Cilician
goat into canvas. a quiet trade, and
then went to college. the president Of
which was Gamaliel, an institution
which scholars say could not have been
very thorough because of what they
call Paurs imperfect command Of
Greek syntax. But his history became
exciting on the road to Damascus.
where he was unhorsed and blinded.
His conversion was q convulsion.
that fall from the horse may
have left . mark upon him I know not,
but the mob soon took after him and
fiogged and imprisoned and maltreated
him until he had scars more than
enough to assure the truthfulness Of
his utterance: Il bear in my body the
marks of the Lord Jesus"
All Of, Paul's suffering was for
Christ's sake. He had intellectual
powers which could have achieved for
him all worldly successes. You see
what he could do in a courtroom when
with extemporaneous speech he made |
the judicial bench tremble; when on
Mars hill he confounded the .Athenian |
critics; when he preached amid the ex-
element Of q tumbling penitentiary;
when in . storm at sea he took COM
mand Of the ship. the only one on board
ool headed. With his inspired logic,
ind his courage of utterance, and his |
,ower of illustration, and his capacity |
10 move audiences, and his spirit of de-
lance, there was no height of worldly |
,ower he might not have gained.
What Hannibal was to an army,
What Draco was in making laws. what
Homer was to poetry, what Demos
henes was in power Of persuasion,
What Socrates was to philosophy, what
Aeschylus was to-the drama, that Paul |
night have been to all centuries. God
,ever before and never since made an
,ther human being like him. But with
II his capacity and opportunity of
achieving worldly renown he turns his
ack on home and becomes an exile. on
,ounteous tables and eats his hard
rust by the roadside, on the pleasure
achts that sailed the Mediterranean
nc embarked on a freightboat from
on scholars in Athens and
alks to fishermen. Instead Of plaudits
I aroused and enthusiastic as
emblages he addressed audiences that
alked back and asked insolent ques-
ions and broke up in q riot. Instead
t garlands flung at his feet they hurled
tones upon his head. Five times he
vas scourged, at each whipping 80
trokes, the fortieth stroke spared not
rom mercy, but because 10 strokes
ere the severest punishment the law
llowed, and they feared, through
ounting wrong, they might make it
| and SO themselves be punished.
vhy, Paul must have been SCARED all
yer, and he only tells the plain truth
,ithout any commentary when he de-
lares: II bear in my body the marks
{ the Lord Jesus" 1t was AZ much as
, say: "See those long scars? There