Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1901-09-27

ry you could hardly tell which was the
petunia aud which the morning glory;
but the morning glory blooms only n
few hours and then shuts up for the
day, while the petunia is I'm as wide
spread glow at II o'clock at noon and
q O'Clock I'm the evening as at sunrise.
And this grace OF kindness Is not spas
modic, IL is not intermittent, Is not for
little while. but IL irradiates the
whole nature all through and clear on
till the sunset of our earthly existence.
Kindness, L am resolved to get II.
Are you resolved to get IL? 1t does not
come by haphazard. but through cul-
ture under divine help. Thistles grow
without culture. Rocky mountain sage
grass grows without culture. Mullen
stalks grow without culture. But that
great red rose in the conservatory, its
leaves packed on leaves, deep dyed as
though 1t had been obliged TO fight for
its beauty and it were still reeklng with
the carnage of the battle, that rose
needed to be cultured. and through
long years its floral ancestors were cul-
tured- . God. implant kindness In
all our souls. and then give us grace to
watch IL. 20 enrich II. TO develop it,
A Royal Flower.
The king OF Prussia had presented to
him by the empress of Russia the root
OF a rare flower. and II was put in the
royal gardens on an island. and the
head gardener. Herr Fintleman, was
told to watch it. And one day IL put
forth its glory. Three days of every
week the people were admitted to these
gardens. and young man. probably
not realizing what wrong thing he
was doing. plucked this flower and put
IL in his buttonhole, and the gardener
arrested him as he was crossing at the
ferry and asked the king to throw open
no more his gardens to the public. The
king replied: "Shall deny to the thou
sands of good people of my country the
privilege OF seeing this garden because
one visitor has done wrong? No; let
them come and see the beautiful
grounds" And when the gardener
wished to give the king the name of the
offender who had taken the royal flow
er he said. ''No: my memory is very
tenacious, and do not want to have I'm
my mind the name of the offender lest
it should hinder me granting him q ia
vor some other time" Now, l want
you TO know that kindness Is q royal
flower, and, blessed be God, the King Of
Mercy and Grace. that by a divine Gift
and not by purloining we may pluck
this royal flower and not wear il on the
outside of our nature, but wear il In
our soul and wear it forever, it's radi-
ance and aroma not more wonderful
for time than wonderful for eternity.
Still further, l must speak OF kind
ness Of word. When you meet any one,
do you say pleasant thing or an un-
pleasant? Do you tell him OF agreea-
BILE things you have heard about him or
the disagreeable? When he leaves you.
does he feel better or does he feel
worse? Oh, the power OF the tongue
for the production Of happiness or mis-
cry! One would think from the way
the tongue is Gagged In we might take
the hint that It has n dangerous pow
or. First, II is chained to the back part
or the mouth by strong muscle. Then
IL is surrounded by the teeth OF the
lower Jaw. so many ivory bars, and
then by the teeth of the upper Jaw,
more ivory bars. Then, outside Of all.
are the two lips, with the power of
compression and arrest. And yet, not
withstanding these four imprisonments
or limitations, how many take no hint
In regard to the dangerous power OF
the tongue. and the results are lacera-
ton. scarification and damnationl There
are those IL they know a good thing
about you and bad thing will men,
ton the bad thing and act us though
they had never heard the good thing.
Now. there are two sides 20 almost cv-
cry ones character, and we have the
choice OF overhauling the virtue or the
vice. We can greet Paul and the shlp's
crew as they come up the beach OF
Malta with the words; what sorry
looking set you are! How little OF nav
igation you must know to run on these
rocks! Didn't you know better than TO
put out on the Mediterranean this win
try month? IL was not much of n ship
anyhow or Il would not have gone to
pieces so soon as that. Well. what do
you want? We have hard enough work
TO make living for ourselves without
having thrust on Us 2I6 ragamulins."
Not so said the Maltese. / think they
said: Come In Sit down by the fire
and warm yourselves. Glad that You
all got or with your lives. Make your.
selves ut home. You are welcome TO
all we have until some ship comes I'm
sight and you resume your voyage.
Here, let me put bandage on your
forehead, for that is an ugly cash YOU
got from the floating timbers. And
here is man with a broken arm. We
will have a doctor come to attend TO
this fracture" And, though for three
months the kindness went on, we have
little more than this brief record: 1.-THE
barbarous people showed us no little
kindness"
Power OF Kindness.
oh, say the cordial thingl Say the
useful thingl Say the hospitable thingl
Say the helpful thingl Say the Christ.
like thingl Say the kind thing! admit
that this easier for some temporal
ments than for Others. Some are born
pessimists, and some are born opti-
mists, and that demonstrates itself all
through everything. 1t is cloudy
morning. You meet a pessimist, and
= w say w nat WcalntT lOQNy 2 lie
answers, ''Its going to Storm" and
umbrella under arm and waterproof
overcoat show that he Is honest In that
utterance. On the same block a min
ute after you meet an optimist, and
you say, what weather todayYo
Good weather; this is only a fog and
Will soon scatter" The absence Of um-
brelia and absence of waterproof over
coat show 1t is an honest utterance.
On your way to noon luncheon you
meet an optimistic merchant, and YOU |
say, What do you think OF the COM |
mercial prospects?' % and he says: "Glo- |
rious! Crops not so good as usual, but |
foreign demand will make big prices. |
We are going to have such an autumn |
and winter prosperity as we have never !
SEEN" On your way-back to your store |
you meet a pessimistic merchant.
What do you think of the commercial |