Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1901-08-29
ro,, think Of ,he nlain woman who sat OBJ

poslte your 1dtneE at the L6UIc VA
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, cor
rectinz your childish waywardness, 1olRinS
in your infantile sports, listening to your
evening prayers, toillng for You with
needle or at the spinning wheel and on
cold nights wrapping you up snug and
warm. And then at last on that day when
she Law in the back room dying and you
saw her take those thin hands with W hich
she toiled for you so long and put them
together in a dying prayer that commend
ed you to God whom she had taught you
to t-ust-oh, she was the queen, 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 rusI
OF tenderness that stirs the deep IoInda-
tons OF your soul. and you feel as mach
a child again as when yol cried on her Jap,
and if you could bring her back again to
speak Just once more YOUR name as ten,
deriv as she used to speak il you would
be willing to throw yourself on the grouna
and kiss the sod that covers her. crying.
Mother. mother" All. she was the
queen. she was the queeni
Now, can You tell me how many thot--
sand miles a 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 al this
work of voting for aldermen and common
counclmen and sheriffs and constab.es
and mayors and presidents. To make one
such grand woman as L have described
how many thousand would you want OF
those people who go in the round of god
lcssness and fashion and dissipation, dis
torting their bodies and going as far to-
ward disgraceful apparel as they dare so
so as not to be arrested or the ,pollce,
their behavior a sorrow TO the good and
caricature OF the vicious and an insult to
that God who made them women and not
gorgons, and tramping on down through
frivolous and dissIpated life to temporal
and eternal destruction?
O woman, with the lightning of your
soul strike dead at your feet all these al
lurements to dissipation and to fashion!
Eour immortal soul cannot be fed upon
such garbage. God calls you up to en-
pire and dominion. Will you have 1t?
Oh, give to God your heart, give to God
your best energies, give to GOD all your
culture, give to God all your refinement,
give vourelf to Him for this word and the
next
Soon all these bright eyes, will be
uuenched and these voices will be hushed.
For the last time you will look upon this
far earth. Fathers hand, mothers hand.
sisters hand, child's hand, will be no
more in yours. 1t will be night, and there
will come up a cold wind from the Jordan,
and you must start. Will it be lone
woman on trackless moor? All, no!
Jesus will come up IN that hour and otter
His hand, and He will say, You stood by
Me when you were well, now l will not
desert you when you are sick" One wave
of His hand and the storm will drop; an
other wave of His hand, and midnight
shall break into midnoon, and another
wave OF His hand and the chamberlains of
God will come down from the treasure
houses of heaven with robes lustrous,
blood washed and heaven .glinted, in
riage supper of the Lamb. And then with
Miriam, who struck the timbrel by the
Red Sea, and with Deborah, who led the
Lords host into the fight. and with Han
nah, who gave her Samuel to the Lord,
and with Mary, who rocked Jesus to sleep
while there were angels singing in the
air, and with Florence Nightingale, who
bound up the battle wounds of the Cri,,
mea, you will from the chalice of God
drink to the souls eternal rescue.
One twilight after l had been playing
with the children for some time l lay
down on the lounge to rest, and, half
asleep and hall awake, seemed to dream
this dream: 1t seemed to me that was
in far distant land-not Persia, although
more Oriental luxuriance crowned the
cities; nor the tropics, although more
than tropical fruitfulness filled the gar
dens; nor Italy, although more than Ital-
ian softnegs filled the air. And | wan
derel around, looking for thorns and net
ties, but | found none of them grew there.
And l walked forth and | saw the sun
rise, and l said, when will it set again."
And the sun sank not. And | saw all the
people in holiday apparel, and l said,
when will they put on workingman's
swelter at the forge?" But neither the
garments nor the robes did they put off
And | wandered in the suburbs and [
said, where do they bury the dead of
this great city?' And | looked along by
the hills where it would be most beauti-
full for the dead to sleep, and saw castles
and towers and battlements, but not
mausoleum nor monument nor white slab
could [ see. And [ went into the great
chapel of the town and l said: "Where do
the poor worship? Where are the benches
on which they sit?' And a voice an
city, And l wandered out, seeking to
find the place where were the novels of
the destitute, and found mansions of am
Der and ivory and gold, but no tear did I
see or sigh hear.
I was bewildered, and I sat under the
shadow OF great tree, and | said, What
am [ and whence comes all this?" And
at that moment there came from among
the leaves, skipping up the fowery paths
and across the sparkling waters, very
bright and sparkling group, and when
saw their step [ knew it, and when heard
their voices [ thought I knew them, but
their apparel was so different from any
thing [ had ever seen 1 bowed stranger
to strangers. But after awhile, when
they clapped hands and shouted, "Wel-
come, welcomed" the mystery was solved,
and I-saw that time had passed and that
eternity had come and that God had
gathered us up into a higher home, and
said, ''Are all here" And the voices of
innumerable generations answered, "All
here" And while tears of gladness were
raining down our cheeks and the branches
of the Lebanon cedars were clapping their
hands and the towers of the great city
were Ginning their welcome we began to
laugh and sing and leap and shout, "Home,
home, home'