Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1901-06-28

wind blows" And IL Is no easy thing
TO defy public opinion. TO be run upon
by newspapers. to bc overhauled In so
cial circles. to be mathematical by
those who heretofore were your friends
and admirers. IL requires heroisu
which few possess Yet no great re.
formatory or clevating movement has
ever been accomplished until some one
was willing 10 defy what the world
should think or say or do. But there
have been men and women of that
kind. They stand all up and down the
corridors of history, examples for us 10
follow. Charles Sumner i'm the United
States senate. Alexander ii. Stephens
Ia Georgia convention. Savonarola
stalking his life in time of persecution
Martin Luther lighting the battle for
religious freedom against the miyhticst
anathemas that were ever hurled. vii
liam Carey leading the missionary
movement TO save n heather world
while churches denounced him as a
fanatic and with attempting an impos.
sibility. Jenner. the hero of medicine.
caricatured for his attempt by vac
cination to beat back the worst dis.
ease that sno.c the nations. They who
watch the wind of public opinion will
not SOW. Ii is an uncertain Indication
and is apt TO blow the wrong way.
Let us have war with England, II
needs be-" said the most of the people
of our northern states in 1861. when
Mason and Slidell. the distinguished
southerners. had been taken by our
navy from the British steamer Trent
and the English government resented
the act of our government I'm stopping
one of their ships. "Give up those
prisoners" said Great Britain. mo"
said the almost unanimous opinion Of
the north. do not give them up. Let
us have war with England rather than
surrender them" Then William ii.
Seward. secretary of state, faced one
OF the fiercest storms of public opinion
ever seen i'm this or any other country.
Seeing that the retention OF these two
men was OF no Importance to our coun-
try and that their retention would put
Great Britain and the United States in
to immediate conflict. said. "We give
them up" They were given up. and
through the resistance of popular clam
or by that one man Worldwide ca
lamity was averted.
Some OF us remember as boys huzza-
ing when Eossuth. the great Hun
garian. rode up broadway. New York.
Most Americans were In favor Of TAX
ing some decided steps for Hungary.
The only result OF such interference
would have been the sacrifice of s.l
good precedent aud war with European
nations. Then Daniel Webster in his
immortal "Uulsemann letter" bravcd
a whirlwiId OF popular opinion and
saved this nation from useless foreign
ENHANCEMENT. Webster did not OBJ
serve the wind when he wrote that let
ter. So In state aud church there have
always been men ut the right time
ready to face nation full-yea. n
world full-of opposition.
Watching the Weather vane.
How many there are who give too
much time TO watching the weather
vane aud studying the barometer.
Make up your mind what you are going
TO do and then go ahead and do IT.
There always will be hindrances. It is
to overmaster all the other graces. The
Bible makes more OF courage and faith
and perseverance than Il does OF eau
ton. IL Is not once n year that the
great ocean steamers fail to sail at the
appointed time because OF the storm
signals. Let the weather bureau proph
esy what hurricane or cyclone il may.
next Wednesday. next Thursday, next
Saturday the steamers will put out
from New York and Philadelphia and
Boston harbors and will reach Liver
pool and Southampton and Glasgow
aud Bremen. their arrival as certain as
their cmbarkation. They cannot afford
TO consult the wind. nor can you In
your life voyage.
The grandest and best things ever nc
complisbed have been In the teeth of
hostility. Consider the rrandest enter
pr'se or the eternitigs-the salvation Of
: world. Did the Noman empire send
up ;Ecitation 10 the heavens inviting
the Lcrd tu descend amid vociferations
or welcoirs. To come and take possess
sion OF the most capacious and ornate
OF the palaces and sail Galilee with
richest imperial 6ot.sla and walk over
flowers or Solomon's gardens, which
were still In the outskirts of Jcrusa-
lem? No. 1t struck him with insult as
soon as 1t could reach him. Let the
camel drivers In the Bethlehem cara.
vansary testify. See the vilest hate
pursue him TO the borders OF the Nile!
Watch his arraignment as n criminal
IN the courts! See how they belle his
every action, misinterpret his best
words, howl at him with worst mobs,
wear him out with sleepless nights on
cold mountains! See him hoisted into
martyrdom at which the MONDAY
cowied itself with midnight shadows.
and the rocks shook into cataclysm.
and the dead started out of their sep.
uicher, feeling IL was no time to sleen
when such horrors were being enacted!
The winds OF stormiest opposition
blew on his cradle, blew on his noun.
tain pulpit, blew upon the homesteads
that dared TO give him shelter. blew
upon his grave. but he went right on
and sowed the earth with sympathetic
tears and redceming blood and conso.
lation and helpfulness and redemption
and victory. 1t was an awful time TO
sow. But behold the harvest of church
es, asylums, worldwide charities, civil.
cations, millenniums!
Just call over the names of the men
and women who have done most for
our poor old world, and you will call
the names of those who had mobs after
them. They were Stunned by the elite;
they were cartooned by the satirists;
they lived on food which you and
would not throw to n kennel. Some of
Them died In prison; some OF them were
burned at the stake; some OF them were
buried at public expense because of
the laws of sanitation. They were
lounded through the world and hound.
ID out OF 1t. Now we cross the ocean
% see the room In which they were
BORN or died and look up at monuments
which the church or the world has
cared to their matchless fidelity and
courage. After 100 or 200 or 800 years
he world has made up its mind that
instead OF being fiagellated they ought |
o have been garlanded; instead of cave