Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1905-02-18
URDAY, FEBRUARY IS, 1905.

Yes. as TIE Egyptians for centuries
wOrshped the river Nile because lts
rise or fall meant to them food or ram
inc. clothing or nakedness, prosperity
or noyertv health or disease, the rivers
Of orr land are the source of fertility
TO the soil and prosperity to our people.
If the peace of our hearts is to be IKE
river it must give help temporal and
spiritual to all around us.
Are we temporal and spiritual "rlv-
ers of life" to our fellow men? Some
of us are truly "rivers of death or
"rivers of seclusion." Our lives are like
the stygian stream in the great Nam
moth cave of Kentucky. We are sur
rounded by grandeurs and beauties Oh
every side, but we have walled our
solves i'm by solid rock, where we can |
do no good to others and where others
cannot do any good to u.s.
Like Lurny Cave.
Or our lives, if they are not IKE the
Stvx of Mammoth cave, supporting
only n few blind fish swimming nun
dreds of feet below the surface OF the
earth NAV be like the wonderfully
suggestive beauties of a Luray cave OF
old virginia, which likewise are doing
no good to any one. That Luray cave
ia marvellous place. Though its beau
ties were buried for centuries, yet I'M
dor the flash of light it looks as though
IFS walls had been erected only yester-
u,ai
are a glttering mass of dead precious
stones. Yonder stand the columns OF
stalagmite as statuary in yestal gar
ments of purest white. Here are the
drippings Of a cataract as though the
mad rush of a Niagara had been IN
stantly halted and like an open mouth
ed lion, dared not utter one grow, al
though even now we seem to hear the
echo Of its last wild, mad roar Ionder
is the ballroom" where our magma
ton tells us the nymphs and the FAIRIES
used to sport and dance and make mer-
! rv Near TO this "ball halp' is the Gem
etery ridge" where those nymphs and
fairies were buried ages on ages ago.
Here are the Hanging wells OF the god
] desses." so thin that through them
: flashes the light of our guides lamps,
t so red that they seem to have been
D dinned in the blood of the soldiers who
i over this very mountain once followed
3 Stonewall Jackson in his last raid or
e into the blood of those soldiers who re-
s coiled before the cavalry charge OF
+ lightning Horse" Phil Sheridan.
: From wonder cathedral, with its domes
s and spires and steepleS and minarets
! and strange carvings, there come echo-
i ing up the solemn notes OF an organ
), which roll and swell and thunder and
It vhisper and pray and chant ana dle
6 From out of every grotto stretches
some hand or lifts some snowbank or
faps some wing or, like a cats eye,
# blinks some emerald or, tiger-llke,
t glares the bloodshot eyeball of some
: ruby or flashes some emerald. And
It while all the chimes Of all the towers
a are beginning to ring suddenly a sta
d lactite many tons in weight breaks
assd. crashes upon the h0or. IL
a shivers. rolls over once or twice and
}? then lies still, to be decomposed by the
t. coming ages. A marvellous and en-
t, chanting place is Luray cave Of old
Virginia.
lie All its walls are strangely sculptured,
lie Column high and chasm wide
- 'Tis the place where all the shadows
OF the past years silent hide
Rut when I stood within the walls
Of that fascinating place / said to my
- self. How like selfish man is this cave
- His heart is a heart of stone. Amid
. the sufferings and troubles of a sinful
Ts world. with all his vast resources foI
doing good. he bures himself in wall
ed citadel, which is called his home OF
his store. He lives, he breathes, he
- eats he sleeps, he works for himselI
~ and himself alone. Oh, brother, may
u your gospel peace be not like the gllt
tering grandeur hidden in the darkness
- Of Luray cave in Virginia or of 81
lent river Styx flowing through thu
- dark halls of Mammoth cave of ole
~ Kentucky! May it be a river OF life
.. bringing peace and Joy and hope to al
80 who are willing to bend down thel
~ parched and sinful lips to lap Of th'
70 spiritual waters.
no A River of Triumph.
le But I cannot close this sermon upol
% this beautiful text without finding on
on more symbol. The pleading river i
mn not only a river of conservation to God
in but n river of triumph. 1t is not onl,
no the crystal gates through which, as tn
2i- Jordan of death, we shall enter IN
oh tomb. but it is the crystal gates b.
be which we shall leave the wilderness o
no trouble and earthly wanderings and Ell
nt fer into the promised land Of heave
If and eternal Joy. Shall our peace, whic
lrs is like a river. stop at the brink OF tn
yn grave?
Of We have read how George Frederic
nd Handel on the river Thames won hi
IDS great musical victory over the irat
George l. of England. When Kin
lly George was elector of Hanover he b'
)ut friended the young unknown musicla
nip Handel and made him court musician
M But after Handel had won music'
pei fame he tired of the Hanover coul
,od and hied himself to London. This grea
ied " enraged the eector. When he becam
s." king of England as George l. he woul
M have nothing to do with his old favo
iod ite But one day the king gave grei
md fete upon the river Thames. AS IL
it; royal barge moved along another bars
ur- followed, playing twenty-five concerto
hat of music. These concertos, gathered I
gh gether under one musical head, al
py known as the celebrated "water M
Dy. sic" of Handel. Every musical instr
i'm ment then known was utilized in II
his orchestra. "Ah," said King George, Il
or -. .o,,l1 ooroposo cuoh ro1cic nc th.