Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-02-25

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before it is time for snow: her Shout
ders are bent long before tae appropri-
ate time for STOPPING. Spectacles are
adjusted, some for close by and some
for far off. years before you would
have supposed her eyes would need re-
enforcement. Here and there is Il short
grave in her pathway, this headStOne
bearing the name of this child and an
other headstone bearing the name of
another child. Hardly one bereave-
ment lifts its shadow than another be-
reavement drops one. After 80 years
of wifehood and motherhood the path
turns toward the setting sun. She can
not walk so far as she used to. Colds
caught hang on longer than formerly.
Some of the children are in the heav-
emily world, for which they were well
prepared through maternal fidelity, and
others are out in this world doing hon
or to q Christian ancestry.
When her life closes and the neigh
bors gather for her obsequies, the Off
ciating clergyman may find apprOpri-
ate words in the last chapter Of Prov
cribs: Her price is far above rubies.
The heart of her husband doth safely
trust in her, so that he shall have no
need of spoil She will do him good,
and not evil all the days of her life;
she stretcheth out her hand to the poor;
she is not afraid of the snow for her
household, for. all her household are
clothed with scarlet. Her husband is
known in the gates when he stitch
among the elders in the land; her chill
dren arise up and call her blessed; her
husband also, and he praiSeth her.
Many daughters have done virtuously,
but thou eXcellest them ALL Then
after the Scripture lesson is read let all
come up and before the casket is closed
look for the last time at the scars Of
her earthly endurance. She never heard
the roll of gun carriage or saw a ban
ner hOisted upon parapet, but she has
in all the features of that dear old face
the marks Of many a conflict-scars of
toll, scars of maternity, scars of self
sacrifice, scars of bereavement. She is
a heroine whose name has never been
heard of ten miles from the old home
stead, but her name is inscribed high
up among the enthroned immortals.
Martyrs In Humble Life.
People think they must look for mar
tyrs on battlefelds or go through his
tory to find burnings at the stake and
fortunes on racks when there are mar
tyrs all about us. At this time in this
capital city there are scores of men
wearing themselves out in the public
service. In ten years they will not
have q healthy nerve left in their body.
In committee rooms, in consultations
that involve the welfare of the nation,
under the weight of great responsible
ties, their vitality is being subtracted.
In almost every village of the country
you find some broken down state or ma
tiOnaI official.
1t is easy for some Washington cor
respondents, writing home to thei" city
or village newspapers, to miSrepreSent
our public men and represent them as
living in idleness and luxury, but I tell
you from my own observation that
many of the representatives in con-
gress and senators Of the United States
and justices of the supreme court and
secretaries in presidential cabinets
work as hard. if not harder, than any
day laborer breaking cobblestones on a
New Jersey turnpike or a driver Of
mules on q tOwpath for Pennsylvania
canalboat. What with the solicitations
for appointments by constituents who
swarm around state and national capt.
tai. and the social eXhaustiOns, and the
Irritating Interruptions, and the unrea-
sonable demands of all kinds, high Of
fetal position is not a Sinecure.
Unseen by Human Eyes.
The heroes and the herOines of any
war are not always at the front, are
not always epauleted, are not always
acquainted with military tactics, and
some Of them would not know how to
present arms or ground arms or stack
arms. Some Of them rendered their
service in hospitals, some by doing
harder work on the farm while the
breadwinner was at Gettysburg. We
all know the names of the distinguish
ed northern and southern women who
bound up the wounds Of the battle
fields, but there were 10000 women
just as brave who never left the farm
house or cotton plantation and who
were so worn out in taking care Of
their bereft homes that when the sol
der came home they had only strength
left to die. And the places where they
sleep the last sleep are not marked
with so much as a plain slab, while
those who suffered not half so much
are in sculptured mausoleum.
In all lands there are veterans Of war
who may not have had their face scrap
ed with one bullet or their foot famed
nv one bursting shell and who could
not roll up their sleeve and show you
one mark suggestive Of battle, yet car
ry with them weaknesses got in expo
sures to disease along malarial swamps
or from many miles of marching, and
ever and anon they feel a twinge of
pain, each recurrence of which is sharp