Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1905-06-05
Calnage
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talnaee. D. D.

Los Angeles. Cal, June Ain his ser
mon the preacher, drawing an object
lesson from the insect world, shows
the Importance ia human affairs of
honest, intelligent, unremitting indus
try and the folly of those who belittle
or undervalue it. The text Is Proverbs
vi, 6, Go to the ant. thou sluggard,
consider her ways and be wise"
1t was a hot, sultry afternoon in
summer on the famous Chautauqua
grounds of New York when Bishop
John H Vincent knocked at Wilbur
Chapman's door. Come in," called
the evangelist In walked the founder
of the Chautauqua movement In this
country. He said, Chapman, 1 want
you to go and hear lecture this after
noon" What onT at is given by a
college professor. The lecture is en-
titled My Friends the ella Monster,
the Horned Owl, the Opossum and the
Rat" mo, bishop" said DR.. Chap
man; II cannot 60 1 am utterly worn
out by speaking. Besides that, have
a big meeting for tonight for which /
must rest and prepare. You must let
me off this once" NO. Chapman, I
will not let you off. You must come.
There is a great treat In store for
you" So, under the pleading demands
Of Bishop Vincent, he went.
"At first" said DR.. Chapman after
ward, II sat away back in the audi
ence, that might be able to slip away
unseen. But as the speaker began to
talk about his novel friends / became
more and more absorbed. Uncon-
sciously l went halfway down the
aisle and took q seat nearer to the
speaker. Then, as he talked on and
on, l crept farther and farther until l
was in the front seat. There | sat for
nearly two long hours laughing and
crying and learning the great lessons
Of life from the lives of the most hum
bic of Gods creatures. never before
realized that there was so much love
and affection and unselfshness and
brain power in creeping things and
loathsome reptiles and poisonous liz
ards and repuIsive rats"
The little things of earth reveal the
power of Gods love and care, as well
as the greater things. King Solomon
would Introduce to US one of his little
friends. he would have US use an ant
hill for a pulpit. He would have for
the preacher of the morning one of the
ordinary, commonplace, large mandi-
bled many jointed, long antennaed,
six legged insects that we can see in
almost every country bypath. He
would tell us that the ants intelligent
|forethought, her persevering energy,
her many social affinities, her mortal
hatreds, her sensitiveness to smell and
color, her architectural genius with
which she constructs the palace in
which are to be deposited the precious
eggs, her slaves and nurses who serve
her In peace, her military captains who
marshal her great armies in war, her
care for the cocoons in which the grubs
are developed into the perfect insects,
as the caterpillar unfolds the transf1g-
ured life Of a butterfly, offer unlimited
fields for gospel illustration. go to
the ant, thou sluggard, consider her
ways and be WISE
~
1EBusy as an Ant"
Busy, busy, busy. Busy as an anti
is an old proverb. Whether she Is car
Ing for her eggs or finding the grubs;
whether she belongs to foraging par
ty or is going forth upon a war of con-
quest to capture the eggs of another
hive, which eggs she intends to devel
op into future slaves; whether she is
migrating from one part Of the country
to another or is building the walls anG
the Railways, squaring the chambers
laying the foundations or arching thu
dome of a new house, the ant is al
ways busy. She works during the day
she works during the night, she work
while she eats; it almost seems tina
she works while she sleeps. Her ambi
ton is not to find out how little sh
can do, but how much she can do. Sh
works, and works, and works. Sh
keeps on working. To do something
the very breath of her existence.
This proverb is automatic. You
out for a summer stroll and one Of you
little children calls: ''Oh, mother, com
and look. See these little black things
What are theyY' ''Ants, my dear
you say. Then you stoop over that hiv
and watch them. They are moving, al
ways moving. Some are busy hOus
cleaning. If you could enter the cham
Der Of an. ant mound, you would tint
that each room and connecting hall
way are absolutely clean. Every par
ticle of dust which once chOked thosO
galleries has been carried out, piece b!
piece, and deposited afar, of, where i
viii not obstruct the openings of the
ant hill. Some Of these ants are house
cleaning. Some are going after food
Some are caring for the grubs. Blu
they are all woTking-the ants are al
ways working Their working hour
are simply unlimited. Sir John Luh
book, the famous naturalist, reports
that he once watched a single ant VIII
worked without intermission or relaxs
ton from 6 o'clock in the morning unit
nearly III O'clock at night For Sixtee