Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1902-02-03


at noon and II o'clock at night. We
are told of six of Christ's miracles for
the cure Of these sightless ones, but l
| suppose they were only specimens OF
| hundreds of restored visions. What
pitiful spectacle Saul of Tarsus, the
mighty man, three days led about in
| physical as well as spiritual darkness,
he who afterward made Felix tremble
| by his elOQuence and awed the Atheni
an philosophers on Mars hill and was
the only cool headed man in the Alex
andria cornship that went to pieces on
| the rocks of Miletus, once the mighty
| prosecutor of Saul, afterward the glOri-
Gus evangelist Paul, for three days not
able to take a safe step without guild
ance!
Two Strings of Gratitude.
Have you ever given thanks for two
eyes-meda between the soul inside
and the world outside, media that no
one but the infinite God could create?
! The eye. the window of our immortal
nature. the gate through which all col
| Ors march, the picture gallery Of the
soul. Without the eye this world is a
| big dungeon. | fear that many of us
have never given one hearty expression
of gratitude for treasure of sight, the
loss of which is the greatest disaster
| possible unless it be the loss of the
| mind. Those wOndrOus seven muscles
| that turn the eye up or down, to right
| or left or around. No one but God
! could have created the retina. If we
have ever appreciated what God did
when he gave us two eyes, it was when
we saw others with obiterated vision.
| Alas, that only through the privatiOn
of others we came to a realization of
our own blessing! If you had harp in
! hand and swept all the strings Of graf
itude, you would have struck this,
which is one of the most dulcet of the
! ten strings.
Further, notice how many pass
| through life in silence because the ear
| refuses to do it's office. They never
! hear music, vocal or instrumental The
! thunder that rolls it's full diapasOn
! through the heavens does not startle
the prolonged silence. The air that
has for US so many melodies has no
sweet sound for them. They live in a
! quietude that will not be broken until
heaven breaks in upon them with its
| harmOnies. The bird voices of the
| springtime, The chatter of the children
| the sublime chant of the sea, the solo
OF the cantatrice and the melody Of the
| great wOrshiping assemblies mean
nothing to them. Have we devOutly
| thanked God for these two wonders of
! our hearing, with which we can now
! put ourselves under the charm of sweet
| sound and also carry in our memories
| the infantile song with which our
mothers put us to sleep. and the voices
! of the great prima dOnnas like Lind
and Patti and Nelson, and the sound
! Of instruments like the violin of the
! Swedish performer, OF the cOrnet of
! Arbuckle, or the mightiest of all in
! struments, with the hand of Morgan
on the keys and his foot on the pedal,
or some Sabbath tune like Corona
tiOn," in the acclaim of which you
could hear the crowns of heaven COM
ing down at the feet of Jesus? Many
of us have never thanked God for this
hearing apparatus of the soul. That is
one of the ten strings of gratitude that
we ought always to thrum after hear
ing the voice of a loved one or the last
strain of IN oratorio or the cang of
cathedral tower
Further, there are many who never
recognize how much God gives them
when he gives them sleep. Insomnia
! ;, 10 l.
than in any other. By midlife vast
multitudes have their nerves so over
wrought that slumber has to be coaxed,
and many are the victims of choral
and morphine. Sleeplessness is an
American disorder. If it has not touch
ed you and you can rest for seven Or
eight hours without waking-if for that
length of time in every twenty-fOur
hours you can be free of all care and
worriment and your nerves are returned
and your limbs escape from all fatigue
and the rising sun finds you q new
man, body, mind and soul-you have an
advantage that ought to be put in
prayer and song and congratulatiOn.
The French financier, almost wealthy
victim of insomnia, wrote, mo Slumber
to be bought in any market" He was
right. Sleep is a gratuity from him
who never sleeps. Oh, the felicities of
slumber! Let all who have this real
benefaction celebrate it. That is one
of the sweetest strings in all the mstru-
ment of ten strings.
Further, let us gratefully acknowl-
edge the power of physical locomotion
To be able to go where we wish and all
. unaided-what a Kindness! What mul.
titudes have to call in the aid of cane
and crutch and invalid's chair, and
their whole life is Underwent! How
hard to get about with lack Of strong
and healthy and supple limbs! Con
graduated ought you all to be if you
have the usual physical endowment
and sympathized with ought all those
81 ~ H. IL