The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1901-09-20

Better be there than wear a queens cor
onet. Better be there than carry tho
purse Of a princess Your abode may be
humble, but you can by your faith In God
and your cheoriulnesa Of demoanor gid It
with splendors such as an uphOlsterer'a
hand never yet kindled.
There are abodes in the city-humble
two stories, four plain unpapered rooms,
northumberland yet there
Is a man here to-day who would die on the
threshold rather than surrender IL. Why!
IL Is home. Whenever be thinks Of IL he
sees angels Of God lowering around It.
The ladders Of heaven ara let down to this
houss. Over the ehild's rough crib there
are the chantings of angels, as those that
sounded over Bethlehem. IL is home.
These children may come up after
awhile, and they may win high poation1
and they may have an afluent residence,
but they win not until their dying day
forget that humble roof under which their
father rested and their mother sang and
their sisters played.
Oh, II you would gather up all tender
memories, oil the lights and shades OF the
heart, oil banquetings and reunions, al
hlial, fraternal, paternal and coniugal at.
fections, and you had only just four let.
ters to spell out that height and depth and
length and breadth and magnitude and
eternity of meaning you would with
streaming eyes and trembling voice and
aQitated hand, write II out in those four
living capitals, H-O-M-El
What right does woman want that is
grander than 10 be queen in such realmI
Why, the eagles of heaven cannot fly
across that dominion. Horses, painting
and with lRthered tanks, are not swift
enough TO run to the outpost OF that realm.
They say that the sun never sets on the
British empire, but have 10 tell you that
on this realm Of woman's influence eter-
nifty never marks any bound.
Isabella fled from the Spanish throne,
pursued by the nations anathema, but
she who is queen In a home will never lose
her throne, and death itself will only be
the annexation Of heavenly principalities
When you want to get your grandest
idea of a queen, you do not think OF Cath
crime of Russia OF of Anne of England or
Maria Theresa Of Austria, but when you
want to get your grandest idea Of queen
you think OF the plain woman VINO SAT OPP
posite your father at the table or walked
with him arm In arm down life's pathway,
sometimes to the thanksgiving banquet,
sometimes to the grave, but always to-
gether, soothing your petty griefs corr
recting your childish waywardness, joining
in your infantile sports, listening to your
evening prayers, toiling for you with
needle OF at the spinning wheel and on
cold nights wrapping you up snug and
warm. And then at last on that day when
she lay in the back room dying and you
saw her take those thin hands with which
she toiled for you so long and put them
together in dying prayer that commend
ed you to God whom she had taught you
to trust-oh, she was the queenl The cha.
riots of God came down to fetch her, and
as she went in all heaven rose up. You
cannot think of her now without rush
of tenderness that stirs the deep tounda-
tions Of your soul, and you feel as much
a child again as when you cried on her lap,
and if you could bring her back again to
speak Just once more your name as ten.
derby as she used to speak 1t you would
be willing to throw yourself on the ground
and kiss the sod that covers her, crying,
Mother, motherl" All, she was the
queen, she was the queenl
Now, can you tell me how many thou
sand miles woman like that would have
TO travel down before she got to the
ballot box? Compared with this work OF
training kings and queens for God and
eternity, how Insignificant seems all this
work of voting for aldermen and common
councilmen and sherihs and constablea
and mayors and presidentsl To make one
such grand woman as ! have described
how MANY, thousand would you want q
those people who 60 in the round OF god
lessness and fashion and dissipation, dis
torting their bodies and going as far. to
ward disgraceful apparel as they dare b
90 as not TO be arrested Of the police
their behavior sorrow to the good and 9
caricature Of the vicious and an insult tt
that God who made them women and moi
gorgons, and tramping on down through &
frivolous and dissipated life to tempora
and eternal destruction?
o woman, with the lightning of you
soul strike dead at your feet all these al
lurements to dissipation and to fashion
Your immortal soul cannot be fed upor
! such garbage. God calls you up to EN-
4 pire and dominion. Win you have it
/ Oh, give to God your heart, give to Goo
your best energies, give to God all you
culture, give to God all your refinement
/ give yourelf to Him for this world and the
next!
Soon all these bright eyes viii b,
quenched and these voices will be hushed
For the last time you will look upon thi
fair earth. Fathers hand, mothers hand
sisters hand, child's hand, will be n,
more in yours. 1t will be night, and Their
will come up q cold wind from the Jordan
; anu JOu must 5GdIg w III ~ NC u 4Ou
woman on a trackless moor? All, no
Jesus will come up m that hour and offe
His hand, and He will say, "You stood b,
Me when you were well, now / will no
desert you when you are sick" One wav
Of His hand and the storm will drop; an
other wave of His hand, and midnigh
shall break into midnoon, and anothe
wave of His hand and the chamberlains O
God will come down from the treasur
houses of heaven with robes lustrous
blood washed and heaven glinted, il
which you will array yourself for the mar
riage supper of the Lamb. And then wit
Miriam, who struck the timbrel by tn
Red Sea, and with Deborah, who led tn
nah, who gave her Samuel to the Lord
and with Mary, who rocked Jesus to sleeI
while there were angels singing in tn
air and ..-ith Elnrnnen MI G.u..la u.