The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-03

And bright bees are humming through forest and glade;
 Der hilltop and mountain are merrily heard
 The voice of the fountain and song of the bird
 Like the Song Bird.
 First, like the song bird, God bids us sing because he has given to us musical threats with which to sing As the brown thrush or the redbird or the nightingale Is able to lift his voice in treble or fam tasa or lullaby or cantata or serenade, God. by anatomical construction of the throat, has made it possible for us to sound forth musical notes in His name. He has not disconnected our wndpipes from the great bellows of the lungs. He has had not had us born with palsied tongue, or with deaf ears. But as God has placed in the larnyx of every singing birds throat a thin membrane, so he has stretched over the end of almost every human being wndpipe fbrous, elastic tissue which will vibrate as we attempt to sing or speak. We ought one and all, to be grateful that God has given to us anatomicaly a musical throat with which we can sing His praises. Thank God today for the power of the speaking throat. We are all ready to acknowledge our indebtedness to Him for the blessings of the eye. If you are not, then read that wonderful story written by the most fa- nous of living English authors. The book opens with a description of a noted war artist who is growing blind. Frenzedly he works at his last canvas, then the dark cloud of total obscuration falls upon him His friends leave him one by one for the Egyptian war. He sits in his room alone, an object of pity, until at last crazed by horror, he starts for the front and is there mercifully shot by an Arabs bullet. Sight! Oh. yes, with every glorious sunrise, with every architecture of frost upon window pane, with every masterpiece of autumn foliage. with every walk over country hill or through city street. we are all ready to say: Thank God for twf eyesl Thank God for the windows of the soul,''
 Power of the Human Voice.
 Not only for visual, but for auditory organs are we also thankful. If the sounding board of one of our eardrums is in any way deadened we guard the other ear more carefully than we do our jewel boxes of securities. which we place in the safety vaults. We never let our well ear become overloaded by stove or register. We never in railroad train let the draft blow upon it through opened windows. At the least sign of disturbance then away we rush to the specialist to have 1t treated and cared for by the best of aurists. An. yes, we all appreciate the blessings of the ear. But how many of LIS appreciate the blessings of the voice? How many of us have in the past thanked God that we can sing His praises as the birds can change every tree branch into a into a choir loft in the temple of the woods? How many of are ready to thank God for this wonderful instrument of human voice, which can laugh out our joys and sob out our sorrows and make bo nat IOd dofp for awhile under the domes-of our fore heads and the loves that are billing and cooing in the silent retreats of our hearts?
 never realized so much what the bles- sing of the human voice meant as the other day, when lady and gentleman from the east, with their little daughter, full face. She was as lovely a young girl as I ever saw While we were talking she would watch us closely and sympa- theticaly smile when we smiled But though she smiled she never laughed. At last I turned and addressed sentence directly to her With that shadow iit- ted across the mothers countenance as she said My little daughter cannot an- swer you. She is dumb Her tongue has been palsied since she was three years old. We have taken her to the best of doctors, but they all say her case is hope less. Merciful heaveni' l e1aculated of human voice. which can laugh out our a child." And as I looked sympathetic ally at the bright little creature, so sadly shut out of one of the joys of life, said to myself How thankful ought 10 be for the power to sing Gods praises and to proclaim the gospel of Christ to my fellow men"' Have you ever thanked God in the springtme for the power of the human voice?
 
 God Bids Us Sing.
 Like the song birds. God bids us sing because He has given to us an open heay- en in which to sing It Is one thing to have voice with which to sing, but 1t is just as essential to have a suitable place place in which you can sing. It is one thing to have a musical throat like the song thrush, in which all the siren spirits of the hills and valleys can find melo- dous expression, but 1t Is another thing to have the beautiful voice of the yellow tipped canary hushed into perpetual si- lence by being domiciled in a dark room or in a dungeon. If singing bird were compelled to live in q ground mole's tun- mel. or to work like the moths with their mouths wrapped up with woolen gar ments, he would be as dumb as they.
 Thank God then. for your musical throat and for your opportunities for using 1t. David Glasgow Farragut, one of the most resplendent characters in na- val history. was born July D. 1891. With the exception of an engagement in which he participated as a mere boy of E, Far ragut never smelled gunpowder in actual battle until he was 61 years of age. For