The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-06

We all know that it Is only by gentle ness we have our greatest influence over our loved ones. Yet, strange to say, when
 anything goes wrong at the store or in the home and we lose our tempers We nearly always turn our anger against
 our own children or our own wives or
 our own husbands or our own brothers and sisters. If the cook is mean and sud
 denly leaves uh in the lurch or the laun-
 dryman ruins our best washed dress or
 we become fatigued from the spring or
 fall house cleaning our clerks cheat US at
 the store, then we are very apt to vent
 our displeasure upon our helpless child
 ren or our wives or husbands who have done nothing The domestic squalls and
 upheava1s are often due entirely to out
 side causes and not to inside dissentions
 Now, my friends, let us one and all guard
 against speaking harsh words against
 those we love. Let us deal gently with
 those who are by our side and who are
 bound to use by the strong ties of dom
 estic affections.
 Remember that in the Influence of the
 gentle life in the home we can serve God
 just as truly in the small things and in
 the little duties as in the great. Tn the
 effort to appreciate various forms of
 greatness" wrote Edwadd Howard Greggs we must not underestimate the value of simple. good life. Just to be
 good, to keep life pure from degrading clements to make 1t constantly helpful
 in Title ways to those who who are touch- ed by it, to keep ones spirit always sweet and avoid all manner of petty anger and irritabiity, that Is an ideal as noble
 as it Is difficult" But that is an ideal which God will let us reach if we daily go to him in prayer. That is an ideal we all should try to reach. for in order to have our loved ones spiritually sweet we must set them an example and avoid all manner of petty anger and iritability 1 We ourselves must learn by practice to be true types of the Christians gentle life.
 Deal gently with father mother. hus- band, wife. brother sister and child. Yes, but the text goes farther than this It bids us deal gently with those who are fighting us and our work because they do not see conditions as we see them We should deal gently with our enemies as well our friends, with our defamers and with those who are doing all they can to destroy us. In the great coliseum of the worlds struggles We should never do as did the ancient aristocrats, brutal ized by the spectacle of the gladiatoral combat When the victor in one of these fierce fights had beaten his foe to the
 earth, he looked up to the spectators for signal to tell him if his prostrate enemy was to be killed or to have mercy shown him. Then even women so far forgot the tenderness of their sex as to turn down their thumbs which was the signal to finish the wounded man. We should always lift our thumbs up. We should not give the signal Ito destroy" We should signal always Ito save" no matter how much the prostrate foe may hate us and our work. If this Pauline commandment bids young Timothy to be gentle with his friends, it also commands him him to deal gentle with his enemies.
 Thousands of men are ready to say they will be kind and gentle to their friends. They are not ready, however, to say they will be kind and forgiving to their enemies. They pride them selves upon the fact that they are good lovers They also pride themselves upon the fact that they are good haters. If a man does them kindness they store that fact away in the most secure treas room of the temple of memory" They will wait, If need be, ten, twenty, thirty or even forty years to pay back that kindness. l was reading the other day of noted eastern politician whom Will liam c. Whitney many years ago be- friended. This politician, when a young man stood under the shadow of the pen itentiary walls. Whitney came to his rescue Twenty-Five years later Will liam Whitney was nightly in need of a certain help. He went to this man and asked it. This famous politician turn ed and said Whitney I have been wait ing for nearly thirty years for the chance to repay you for that kindness you once dld me. Now the chance has come. I never forget a friend" He at once came to Whitney's rescue But, though some people never forget a friend on the other hand others never forgive an injury done by an enemy. They may have to abide their time a quarter or even half a century, but when the time comes they are as vindictive as though the past injury was of yesterday Now, my text emphatically says: Deal gent ly with friends. Deal gently with ene- mics also" Love those who love you. Yes. But love those who who hate yoJ and i'll treat you and despise you. That is the commandment of my text also"
 Dare you :isobey Gods orders to deal gently with those who have done you an injutry? If you do God will make you rue your defiance in more ways than one. Tie sword of hate" is two edged and keener than any Damascus blade. With one stroke 1t stays a foe, but when the swordsman draws forth the blade of vengeance" whetted with mortal blood of his dying enemy. this SWOTu SDTilSS Ddth Wlii liS uiiAlStu tbbt and stays the vindictive swordsman al- so Two lives are generally destroyed, and not one. Some of us have read the terrible philippic uttered by James G. Blaine, the brilliant son of Maine, when he tried to retaliate on Roscoe Conkling of New York for his gibes and sneers. He acquitted himself with vigor, winning the app'ause of his friends. With all the force If his eloquent tongue he ridi- tuled and castigated his political oppo- nent. An. that was a terrific denuncia- ton! That was one of the most bitter ly crushing attacks ever made in for ersic a.enl. James G. Blaine waited for just the right time when he could most successfully hit his foe. But that terrible denunciation against Roscoe ConHl!ng cost James G. Blaine mighty dear Ile rad the price of that ven. gaarce at costly .ate. That one speech without a doubt cost him the presidency of the United Sl tes. Conkling never forgave him, Had Blaine tried to con- ciliate Roscoe Conkling instead of trying to destroy hlm the "plumed knight oi the Maine hiIls would have landed in the White House, where all his freinds as well as himself longed to have him. With bludgeon you can knock a man down
 With a keen. cutting speech you car make him wilt and compel him to curse you under his breath. But the sharT word the bitter word, the sarcastic
 word. never yet changed a foe into 2 friend. Now, my text demands that vol 1 shall try to destroy your foes not by | crushing them, but by winning them tt | your ranks. You are to destroy them even as Napoleon on his escape from Fl | ba made Marshay Ney and his grena | diers fall at his feet because they felt h' | loved them by dealing with them, by for | giving them as well as forgetting th