The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-10-08

his gold with a death grip Is no reason why you and I should not go and move his heart 10 use some of that gold for a mission of mercy.
 Esther's Common Sense.
 Dark and forbidding as were her sur roundngs, there were two or three bright lights in this oriental, historical picture which show that though Queen Isther's dangers might seem to be insurnountable yet in truth they were not. Queen Es- ther won her mighty victory for the salvation of the Hebrew race by the use of plain. practical common sense, which in this age would be called brilliant Christian strategem. The queen was not fool She was not one of those mis- erable shrews, always going around with mussed hair and shoes run down at the heels. with her dresses ll-htting and caught together with pins. She was not one of those women who wield Q sharp tongue, priding herself upon the fact, that she is always speaking the truth. because she is always saying lot of dis agreeable things. Some women may ne good women, but they are very coarse and stupid and impolite and repulsive women There are women who are good and irreproachable in character whose temper is so bad and whose tongues are so vtriolic that some good men would sooner make a pillow out of porcuplne quills and go to sleep upon a mattress of Canada thistles than to associate with them. Their tongues may be as bitter as gall. Queen Esther never prided her self upon her sharp tongue. Like Sarah. the wife of Abraham, she knew that it was no disgrace for woman to be fair to look upon. Thus as a woman of great common sense she tried to do her work with sweet looks and gentle words and not with the verbal sledge hammer, spear, sword. batterng ram and hurri- cane.
 How as a beautiful woman of great common sense did Queen Esther win her brilliant victory? In the first place she goes to the king and asks as an especial favor that he, with his contemptibe and dishonorabe prime minister, Haman by name, would come and take dinner some night in her royal palace. Though this was against the law. yet the king con- sented. Then methinks l can see this beautiful woman preparing for her plan of battle. She puts on her most attrac- tive robes. She has her hairdresser in- twine her black locks in the way most becoming to her dark Hebrew features. She has the dining room fragrant with flowers and adorned with the most beau- tiful of tapestries. She has the banquet table laden with the choicest of delicacies. And while the guests are eating and the musicians are playing this beautiful queen picks up one of her strnged instruments and softly the notes are sounded. Then she begins to sing an old love song, and the king enraptured with her beauty, looks at her in tender and passionate af- fiction. She drops her eyes and with quivering voice and heaving breast elo- quently tells the story of her life and how Haman wanted to say her people. She paves the way for victory by what we may call today Christian strategy
 When you and I want to win our vlc- tories for Christ. do we do as Queen Es- ther did? Do we use Christian strategy? Do we, to use q vulgar term. try to rub people the right way? Do we go to them tenderly. lovingly, gently and yet firmly and try to lead them to Christ, as Queen Esther paved the way in an oriental banquet hall for the rescue of her people?
 Faith in God.
 But. though Queen Esther went into this battle for her people determined to use Christian strategem. yet this. after all was only the secondary part of her strength Her great strength came from the fact, that she, first and last and all the time. was depending upon the God of