Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1901-12-20

down PENNSYLVANIA avenue. Washing
ton, or Broadway. New York, or IRE
mont street. BOSTON, your eyes scruti'
MIXING the pavements looking for tur-
uuoises and emeralds and rub.es. Per-
haps you might find them. but there is
not much probability that In @ fly years
you would find one OF them.
surprising Discoveries.
No one has come to midlife who has
not been stung OF ingratitude. On the
battlefield of Alma In 1864 n wounded
Russian was crying In anguish of thirst
for water. Captain Eddington of the
English army ran to him and gave him
drink. AS the captain was running by
to join his regiment the wounded sol
der shot him. Almost all languages
have proverbs setting forth this per-
versity. English proverb. Bring up a
raven, and II will pick out your eyes"
Arabic proverb, Eat the present and
break the DISH" Italian proverb. "The
ass, after having drunk, gives kick
to the bucket" An old proverb says
IF God were to be so complacent as
to carry us on his back to Rome, we
would not thank him for his pains II
chair" You will never be happy IN this
world IL you do not do all the good you
can and look for no responsive graft
tude. All the damage did a man who
Is my enemy was to take him from a
position where he received S70o year
salary into position where he has
ever since received $1,000 a year. BE
never forgave me. but has pursued me
with a pen vitriolic ever since. The
worst enemy you ever had Is the man
you Introduced and favored and help
ed. But be not disturbed or even fri
tated- You are no better than your
Lord. If the world had had any thank
full appreciation OF bis coming II would
have filed that Bethlehem caravansary
with flowers, which bloom there clear
on into the December month. and Her.
cd, instead OF attempting his death,
would have sent chariot TO fetch the
infant to the palace. and the oyer and
termiDer of Pilates courtroom would
have pronounced him not guilty, and
instead of n cross and crown of
thorDs Ii would have been q corona
ton, with all the mighty ones of the
earth kneeling at the foot OF his throne.
Another discovery that surprises us
because we had not passed this way
before Is the fact that il two be In
quarrel or in war with each other the
one who Is the most wrong is the hard
est and the slowest to make up. Who
wrote them 1 know not, but cut these
two lines out and pasted them Ia my
scrapbook twenty years ago, for the
words are so strikingly true:
Forgiveness to the injured does belong.
But they ne'er pardon who have done the wrong.
We talk about the great discoveries
OF the age, the electric power, the
steam power, the telescope and micro
scopic power. but do not say anything
about the discoveries we all make year
by year and day by day. There are
surprises all the time. 1t is n new road
we are travelling. Eye have not passed
this way before"
Our Only Opportunity.
But closely allied Is the other fact
which we hinted at In the opening
that we Will not pass this way again.
This is our only opportunity for doing
certain things that ought to be done.
On all sides there are griefs we ought
to solace, hunger we ought to feed, cold
that we ought TO warm. kind words
that we ought TO speak. generous deeds
we ought to perform. All that you and
do toward making this world better
and happier we must do very soon or
never do ut all Joshua and his troops
never came back over the way they
were marching toward the crossing of
the Jordan. The impress of the sandal
or the bare feet Of each soldier showed
In what direction he was going, but
never did the impress of the sandal of
any one OF them show that he had re-
turned. We are all facing eternity to
come. There is no retreat. Alertness
and fidelity would not be so important
IL we could truthfully say: 81 will be
back here again. The things neglect
now win do the next time come.
will be reincarnated, and ] will resume
my earthly obligations. Having then
more knowledge than l have now.
VIII discharge my earthly duties better
than / can now discharge them. / do
not give solemn farewell to these obli-
cations and opportunities, but smiI-
Ing and CHEEKY goodby until see them
again" No, we cannot say that. There
Will be no new and corrected edition OF
the volume OF our earthly life. After
we make exit from the stage at the
close or the fifth act we cannot re-en
ter. How many millions OF people have
lived and died know not. but OF all
the human race who have gone only
seven persons that l now think OF have
returned. the son OF the widow Mt
Zarephath, the young man OF Main, the
rulers daughter. Tabitha, Eutychus.
Lazarus and Christ Among all the
ages to come I do not suppose there
will be one more who will return to
this life, having once left it.
Put Your Trust In God.
At this point ask you to notice the
fact that my text does not call atten-
ton to the crossing Of the Jordan, but
to the way leading thereto. We all
think much OF our crossing OF the Jor-
dan when the march of our life Is end
ed, but put too little emphasis on the
way that leads to the crossing. What
you and i need most to care about Is
the direction of the road we are trav-
cling. We need have no fear OF the
crossing IL we come to It in the right
way. In other words. we need not
care about death If our life has been
what 1t ought to be. We will die right
II we live right
What an absurd!ty 1t would have
been for Joshua and his men to have
asked each other questions like these:
How can we cross the Jordan IL we
get there? VIII not the water be too
deep to allow us to wade? VIII we not
all be so saturated that we may lose
our lives by exposure? How many of
us can swim? Had we better not wait
until the annual freshet has subsided?"
NO such folly did they commit. They
were chiefly anxious about the way
that they had mot passed before" and
We're ignorant OF and to keep their eyes
on the golden covered acacia box, wing
mounted, which was the ark of the
! covenant.
Il - 4.