Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1903-01-02


OF the Three Parce." the fates that
are supposed to decide the destinies OF
every man. Clotho is there pictured
as beautiful woman. holding the
birth spindle out of which the thread
OF life is 10 be drawn. Atropos is
beautiful woman pulling forth that
thread. AMI thereby deciding what the
mans life is to be. Lachcsis Is an old
hag. with pair OF sharp shears cut
ting that thread and making nm end of
that mortal life. But | want TO re
mind you today that In the story OF
life every mans life is intwined in
Other lives. Before that thread is cut
Ii passes into the worlds loom. among
and around other threads, adding its
textile strength TO the warp and wool.
In the nursery the fates are not alone
the three in the picture. but a multi
tude which are weaving that thread.
What mother does may decide to a
great extent what her children will do.
In the dining room there are more than
three fates influencing the lives OF
young men. What the father does
may decide what his boys will do. a
wifes position upon the temperance
question may decide whether or no her
husband shill die of dclirium tremens.
The tale OF human life Is a plot In
which the happiness of a mother. q IA
ther, brother. n sister. n wife. a child,
a friend. may be dependent upon the
purity and the nobility OF one man.
When the heart of the old oak Is eaten
out. not only does the mighty tree fall,
but also oil the clinging vines which
have clambered up the sides OF the
tree; oil the birds nests I'm which the
feathered mothers have laid their eggs;
also all of the leaves which are kissed
OF the sunlight and are rustling with
Joy. In the story OF life, when the hero
does wrong. II brings disaster upon
every life with whom that hero comes
In touch. Our lives are all intwined
with other lives.
The Lights and Shadows.
Every tale. whether fictitious or no,
has its depressions as well as its ele-
vations. 1t has its disappointments
and heartaches and sorrows, and often
Its graves, as well as Its joys and re-
unions and happy marriage affairs. 1t
has it's dark nights and quicksands and
precipices and often its murderers and
highwaymen as well as its cities OF
refuge and gardens OF Eden and ITO
pias and rescuers and, If might rev.
erently use the word, it's saviors or
redeemers. 1t may have its Franken-
stems, its Wandering Jews and its mer-
CHESS Javerts as well as its Bishop
Myriels and It's Jean Valjeans and Its
Christians and its Eternal Cities" Ii
has always been so. An auditor would
not sit hour after hour, as the ancients
used TO do, listening to the imaginative
story tellers of old IL lights and shad-
ows had not continually chased each
other across their fictitious heavens.
But, though every story, whether fic-
titious or no, may have its ups and
downs, yet the general rule is, the
greater the danger and the blacker the
sorrow and the more overwhelming
and imminent the threatening destruc-
ton the nearer is the appearance OF
the deliverer. the savior or the redeem
er. 1t is when all hope seems to be
forever gone that we are relieved by
the entrance OF some character who Is
able TO chase away the black winged
demon Of despair and lead forth the
white robed angel OF hope. You may
remember an illustration OF this rule
in Lord Lytton's famous historical nov
el. THE Last Days of Pompeii." While
old Mount Vesuvius was writhing In
agony and belchlng forth a reservoir
OF burning lava and while the heav-
ems were raining n tempest OF fire aud
the midday was as black as the dark
ness of the Egyptian plague did not
the blind girl Nydla take her lover by
the hand and lead him forth out OF
the doomed city, out past the Roman
sentinel who stood by the gate. pre-
ferring to die rather than to desert his
post. out to the blue waters OF the
Mediterranean, In which there was
safety? Is not this statement true OF
the beautiful story OF Dickens Tale
OF Two Cities or OF SCOTS "Ivanhoe."
or Cooper's Pathfinder" OF Shake
speare's king Lear" and true OF al
most any of the works OF the ancient
story writers as well as the stories
written by the authors OF the present
dayf
So general is this rule that the psalm
list may have had II In mind when he
declared that I'VE spend our years as
tale that Is told" and Is practically
saying. You know that In the tale the
time OF the greatest darkness Is usually
the time or rescue; So In real life. ey-
cry man and woman, every human
hero or heroine, even In the darkest
days OF life, can have a divine rescuer.
Redeemer. Saviour" We can have
the Redeemer or the Saviour that Gen.
eral Lew Wallace depicted In his ia
nous religious novel, "Ben-Hur." First
the author leads us into the home of
wealth. Then, with ruthless hand, he
tears down the tapestries. He skaters
that home. He drives forth the moth.
er and the beautiful daughter as ac-
cursed. He drives them forth covered
with the white flakes OF fatal leprosy.
he drives them forth until as outcasts
they are living among the tombs and
associatins with the corpses. Then he
brings forth the Saviour-it is the same
Jesus who once said to the ten lepers.
Co. show yourselves unto the priests,
and IL came 10 lnss rs they went they
We're cleansed." The same Saviour. by
a few words, cleanses the two helpless
women I'm the same way as John Bun
yam depicted him as saving Christian
at the cross, when he wrote: $50
saw In my dream that just as Chris
tan came up with the cross his burden
loosed from of his shoulders and fell
from or his back and began to tumble.
and SO continued to do until 1t came to
the mouth of the sepulcher, where II
feil in. and saw II no more. Then
was Christian glad and iIthesome and
said with merry heart, He hath civ.
Ell me rest by his sorrow and life by
his DEATH" We can be saved In tho
story of-life as David was saved. when
ne cried out In rapture. God is our
refuge and strength, very present
help in trouble" Thus Ii remains with
us, and with us alone, whether or no
In our story of life we will take Jesus
Christ to be our Saviour, our Redeem