The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-02-04

through the north and its grave trench
through the south. Hardly was icET
American manhood recovered from
that when the Spanish war anne. with
its malaria and crowded hospitals
Thank God that now four of the great
est nations are allied in good under
standing-the United States, England.
Germany and Russia-and If they will
do the right thing they can forever
stop national and international strife
and put an end to wholesale amputa-
ton There are enough accidents In
time Of peace TO keep the race mutilat-
ed more than 1t ever ought to be. and
the human family needs all its arms
that God calls it to do.
Further, celebrate on the instrument
Of ten strings our illumined nights.
They spread their tents over US, and
some Of US hardly 20 III to look at
them. During the nights other worlds
come in sight. The author Of my text
chimed the silver bells in the tower OF
the midnight heavens. saying. when
I consider the heavens, the work CT
thy fingers; the loon and the stars
which thou hast ordained. what is man
that thou art mindful Of hlmT" We
thank God for the day; we ought also
to thank him for the night. Worlds
on worlds in sight of the naked eye.
I but mere worlds revealed by telescope.
At least one night in his lifetime every
man ought to 90 into astronomical OBJ
%servatory and see what has been done
by the great World Builder. Thank
God for lunar and stellar illumina-
ton!
Further, On the instrument Of ten
strings celebrate the possession Of our
reason. A e stroke upon the head
OF a sudden calamity or any n OF
fifty kinds of accident might dethrone
our reason and leave US worse off than
the brute, for the brute has q substi-
tute for reason in what is called in
stinct, but a mans brain shattered
and he has neither mind nor instinct.
The asylums for the insane, though
all the time multiplying, are not enough
to shelter the demented. Through the
examining system employed in many of
the schools of this country there are
tens of thousands Of children having
their brain depleted. Philosophers at
ten years of age, astronomers at elev-
en- years Of age, biologists at twelve
years of age. They will be first on ex-
animation day, but last in all matters
of useful and successful life. 1t would
be amusing to see how much children
are expected to learn and know if it
were not connected with the tragedies
of damaged intellects which follow.
Amid the increasing dementia Of the
world let us appreciate the goodness of
God to US if our mental faculties are in
equipoise. V%oyaging from New Zea-
land to Australia, a storm swooped
upon us, and we saw all around us
fragments of ships that had been
caught in the same tempest. And how
thankful we were. sailing into Sydney
harbor, that we had escaped! So that
man and that woman whose intellect
goes safely through the storms of this
life, in which so many have foundered:
ought every day and every night en-
ploy n Of the ten strings in gratitude
for that particular mercy.
Tho Blessing of Frfendshfp.
Another string of this instrument l
now OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES, deep and abid-
ing, by which 1 refer to those people
who, when good or bad motive may be
ascribed to you, ascribe the good; those
concerning whom you do not wonder
which side they will take when you are
under discussion; those who would
more gladly serve you than serve them
selves; those to whom you can tell ev-
erything without reserve; those who
are first in your home by person or by
telegram when you have trouble. Oh,
what a blessing to have plenty of
friends! Aye, If you have only one
good friend, you are blessed in that
glad possession. With one such friend
you can defy the world. But he must
be a tried friend. You cannot tell who
are your real friends till disasters come.
As long as you collect vast dividends
and have health jocund and popularity
unbounded you will have crowds of
seeming friends, but let bankruptcy
and invalidism and defamation come,
and the number Of your friends will
NC w pei SSAL JILL Il you lave US6U
through some great crisis and you have
one friend left, thank God and cele-
brate it on the sweetest harpstring.
"While all this is So" says some one.
'there are so many things that others
have which I have not" 1 reply, it is
not what we get. but what we are, that
decides our happiness. With the bare
necessities Of life many are unspeaka-
bly, happy, while others with all the
luxuries are impersonations of misery.
In the Roman empire there was no
man more wretched than the Nero who
ruled 1t. The porticoes of his palace
were a mile long. y statue Of him in
silver and gold 1c0 feet high stood in
the vestibule. The walls OF his palace
were mother OF pearl ard ivory. The
ceiling was arranged to shower flowers
and pour perfumes upon the guests.
His wardrobe was so large that he nev-
er wore a garment twice. His mules
"a. -h@I g. -- -,