Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-09-23

1--WE anu nIl(h All ludl SlnElt pair
OF pigeons would produce I'm four years
nearly fifteen thousand descendants.
The fecundity OF the dove is about as
great as the reproductive powers OF the
English sparrow or the Australian
rabbit. The most graphic description
ever written Of the innumeTable multi
tudes OF the doves was penned by
Alexander Wilson, the naturalist.
Statements made by this Scottish
American Traveller were indorsed by
John Audubon. Among the Ornitho-
logical authorities there can be no bet
ter Endorsement tEan this: MIR. VIII
son wrote that down i'm Kentucky, in
a place which migrating doves used to
visit annually their muititudes were
SO great that they literally destroyed
whole forest regions. In this tract
about which he wrote the branches
of every tree were filed with dove
nests wherever n nest could be built.
In many trees over one hundred nests
had been constructed. Above the trees
the mutitudes of the pigeons wings
were so great that their tapping wings
sounded like the boomings of lorna
do. So great was the noise of their
! Tapping wings that the horses of the
farmers in that region often became
unmanageable and could not be
| driven. Near Frankfort. Ky, Alexan-
| der Wilson saw n flock of migrating
doves. The naturalist estimated that
| this single flock was two hundred and
| forty miles long and had an enrolment
| Of at least 30.0oO.252 birds"
Isaiah describing the eonseGrated
worshipers focEing to the millenniai
| church could not have chosen q more
expressive figure. These that fly as
cloud and as doves TO their win
| dows." The readers of his time would
realize by II what countless throngs OF
men he saw i'm prophetic vision hasten
ing into the kingdom OF God. Migrat
ing doves of old were so many In num-
bers that Alexander Wilson said their
moving wings often formed n curtain
able TO shut out the light OF the sun
and changed midnoon into the twilight
OF evening. The church OF God is now
great in membership, but. church mem
bers. do you not look forward III holy
ecstasy TO the time when the thou
sands who are woFshiping Christ now
shall be changed into the millions? ID
you not long for the mllennial da!
when Christs disciples shall flock
through the church's doors in innumer-
able multitudes las the doves fly TO
their windows?"
Men OF Living Faith.
The figure Is expressive not only of
numbers. but OF spiritual qualities.
The church OF the future is not to have
OF lot of members who. as the five
foolish virgins of Christs parable,
lounged around and slept and had no
oil for their spiritual lamps. 1t Is not
to be composed or men and women
who occupy their church pews only on
| Sunday and then when the benedic-
| ton of the sermon IS given turn and
shut their pew doors and say: Good
| by, religion. must go home now. You
| just stay here for week. and next
Sunday morning l Will come back and
| see you and pat you on the back for
an hour again while the choir sings
| and the pastor prays." But in that
| church which Isaiah saw I'm prophecy
not only shall there be multitudes OF
worshipers, but all these multitudes
many worshipers shall he men Of liv-
| ing faith. to whom the presence of God
is an abiding reality, influencing them
wherever they go and in every moment
| Of their lives. AS DIR. Josiah Strong
wrote I'm his opening chapter: "The SUI
preme need of the world is n real God:
not great perhaps, but the great
am; not God of yesterday or tomor-
row, but OF today; not an absentee God.
but one who is precisely here; not n
Sunday God. but an everyday God"
Such shall be the spiritual quality OF
the multitudes OF worshipers seen by
Isaiah in the symbol OF the flying
| doves.
The symbol OF the dove Is also sig
nifcant on account OF the habits and
disposition of the bird II is used as a
smile for gentleness and affection. The
dove always will be recognized from
among all feathered tribes as the most
exceptional of birds. Alfred Tennyson.
poet laureate OF England, I'm a beauti.
ful Rhythmic masterpiece once enun-
ciated the doctrine that multitudes can
make an object despised when IL should
be admired. Said he:
once i'm n golden hour 1 cast 20 earth a
seed
Up there came u iiower-the people said.
weed.
To and fro they went through my garden
And. muttering discomfort. cursed me and
my flower.
light.
But thieves from DER the wall stole the
seed by night.
Slowed 1t far and wide by every town and
tower,
Till all the people cried. "splendid ,s the
Read my little fable: he that runs may
read.
Most can raise the flowers now. for all
have got the seed.
And some are pretty enough, and some
are poor indeed,
And now again the people call IL but a
weed.
But though "black eyed Susans" or
the golden spore' or the blue eyed
violets" on account OF their great null
utudes may be called II common flower
"A weed-the dove, In spite OF her
muititudes, has never been called n
common bird. The dove always has
been and always will be the symbol
OF purity, gentleness and love. This
symbol was recognized in heather
times. Because the dove signified pu-
rity Venus had this bird as her en-
Diem. Dean Stanley in relating his
oriental travels writes thus about the
ruins or Ascalon: The temple erected
10 the Syrian Venus is DESTROYED. but
the sacred doves-sacred by innumer-
able legends OF the spot and celebrated
there even as late as Eusebius-stin
NIL with their cooings the luxuriant
gardens which grow III the sandy hol-
lows within the ruined walls"
Nurtured by n Dove.
In the beautiful NEUROLOGICAL legend
Semiramis, the queen. was said in her
youth to have been nurtured by a dove
and at death TO have been changed
into n dove. We find hoxuava. =,