Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1901-02-27
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husband also, and he praiseth her. Many
daughters have done yirtuously, but thou
excellest them all. Then after the
Scripture lesson is read let all come up
and before the easket is closed look for
the last time at the scars OF her earthly
endurance. She never heard the roll Of
a gun carriage or saw a banner hoiSted
upon a parapet, but she has in all the
features of that dear old face the marks
OF many Il c0ntlict--searS Of toll, sears
of maternity, sears of self sacrifice scars
of bereavement. She is a heroine whose
name has never been heard of ten miles
from the old homestead. but her name is
inscribed high up among the enthroned
immortals
Martyrs All Around JTs.
People think they must look for mar
ty.rs on battlehelds or go through his
tory to find burnings at the stake and
fortunes IN racks when there are martyrs
all about us. Az this time in this capital
city there arr ores OF men wearing
themselves out in the public service. In
ten years they will not have a healthy
nerve left in their body. In committee
rooms, in consultations that involve the
welfare of the nation. under ne weight
of great responsibilities, their vitality is
being subtracted. In almost every village
of the country you find some broken
down State or national official After
exhausting himself ia the public service
rough American politics kicks him out OF
Congress or cabinet or legislative hall,
and he goes into comparative obscurity
and comparative want, for he has been
long enough away from home TO lose his
professional opportunities. No man that
was ever put to death by sword or instru-
ment of torture WAS more Of a martyr
than that man who has been wrung to
death by the demands OF official position.
The sears may not be visible, for, these
are scars on the brain and sears on the
nerve and sears on the heart bsi. never
theless are they scars, and tfod counts
them and their reward Will be abur dant.
II is easy for some Washington, ARE
spondents, writing home to their city or
village papers. to misrepresent our pubic
men and represent them as living In idle
ness and luxury, but tell you FROM my
own observation that many Of the Repre-
sentatiyes III Congress, and Senators of
the United States. and justices of the
Supreme Court, and secretaries in presi-
Dental cabinets work as hard as if not
harder than, day laborer breaking cob
blestones on q New Jersey turnpike or a
driver of mules on a towpath for Penn
sylvania canalboat. " hat with the sollc-
itations for appointments by constituents
who swarm around State and national
capital, and the social exhaustions, and
the irritating Interruptions, and the I'M
reasonable demands of all kinds high Off
cial position is not Il sinecure. Their in
digestions and neuralgias and premature
old age are sears that God will honor,
though the world may never appreciate.
The heroes and the heroines of any war
are not always at the front. are not al
ways epauleted are not always aequaint-
cd 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 distinguished Northern and Southern
women who bound up the wounds of the
hattlefelds, but there We're 10000 women
just e. brave who never left the farm
houEe or cotton plantation and who We're
SO worn ont in taking care of their bereft
homes that when the soldier 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 plain
slab, while those who suffered not half
50 much are in sculptured mausoleum.
The Unseen Scars.
In all lands there are veterans of war
who may not have had their face seraped
with one bullet or their foot famed by
one bursting shell and who could not roll
UP their sleeve and show you one mark
suggestive Of battle, yet carry with them
weaknesses got in exposures to disease
along maariai swamps or from many
miles of marching, aud ever and anon
they feel q twinge of pain. each recur-
renee of which is sharper or more lasting.
until after awhile the will be captured
for the tomb by disorders, which started
twenty or thirty or forty years before.
And their scars are all unseen by human
eyes. But those people are as certainly
the victims of war as though they had
been blown up in an undermined fortress
or thrust through with 4 cavalryman's
lance. What | want to make out is that
there are scars which are never counted
except as God counts them, and | want
to enlarge your sympathies.
There is a woman who has suffered
domestic injustice of which there is nc
cognizance. She says nothing about it,
An inqlisitoris machine of torture could
not wiring from her the story of domestic
woe. Ever since the day of orange bios
SONS and long white veil she has done
her full duty and received for lit harsh
ness and blame aud neglect. The mar
riage ring. that was supposed TO be q sign
of amending affection has turned out to
be one link of chain of horrible spryi.
tude. \ wreath of nettle ana nighfshade
of brightest form would have been a
more accurate prophecy There are those
who find it hard to believe that there is
such a place as hell. but you couLl 90
right out in any community and find more
than one hell of domestic torment. There
is no escape for that woman but the
gra re. and that, compared with the life
she now lives. will be an arbor of las
mine and of the humming birds song
poured into the ear Of the honeysuekle
Scars Ii there be none on the brow
showing where he struck her arriving
home from midnight carousal, neverthe-
less there are sears all up and down her
injured and immortal soul which viii he
remembered on the day when there shall
leap forth for her Arrangement the live
thunderbolts Of an incensed God. When
We see veteran in amy land who has
lost limb in battle, our sympathies are
stirred. Bur. oh. how many have in the
domestic realm lost their life and yet are