Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1906-06-30
IN SOM courtroom, or as astronomers
exploring the pathway of the stars

/ type, or as DO0kDln0erS putting OlueT
mems books together. Instead Of be-
| ing a Catherine Booth or a Frances
Havergal or Miss Willard or Fanny
| Crosby or Susan Is. Anthony, we
find ourselves washing dishes and
scrubbing floors and cooking meals and
being household drudges. The yapor
and the msts of early childhood, upon
which were photographed and rejected
/ the dreams of youthful ambitions, have
/ been condensed into the common pud-
dies Of everyday life. "Oh," you say,
"how my early hopes have miscarried.
From living among the clouds l have
dropped to be nothing but a snail
crawling in the dirt. Bitter, bitter, are
the waters which have been condensed
from the mists Of our early dreams
photographed In the mirages OF the
nursery and the schOolroOm."
Yes, my brother it is certainly sad
TO see a Paul Potter eXhausting his
genius as A sign painter. Perhaps you
have been TO Europe and have stood
before The Jewel Of The Hague" 1t
IS the picture Of the farm lands. There
under tree are lying COW, goat, a
mother sheep and a lamb. But above
them all stands the magnificent proper
tions of the male offspring Of that COW.
/ Strong, powerfully formed Is he. From
the looks Of the animal he must be
about a year and half old. Instead Of
the mother protecting him, he now
stands as the protector Of the mother.
! All the artistic world has sat before
that picture as before a shrine. Yet
Paul Potter painted THE Jewel of The
Hague" for tavern sign. For years II
swayed backward and forward, beck
Onlng the traveller to come and ind
rest and refreshment behind the open
doors. There are many Paul Potters.
There are many men and women who
have had beautiful and inspiring earth
" dreams, but they have never been
able to make those dreams materialize.
The vapors which photographed those
mirages Of early childhood have been
changed into the common puddles OF
| prosaic, ordinary life.
But have you and l right to sup
pose that the work Of any Paul Potter
has gone astray and been useless? Let
me mention a few Of the Paul Potters
OF your life. There was your mother
She was what might be called O
household drudge" Was her life q
failure2 She spent far more time in
washing dishes and with the sewing
needle in her hand than you do. Her
| family was larger. Was her life use
| less. humdrum one? Then there was
that proprietor Of the village store near
your fathers farm. Most Of his life
was spent without a coat and In his
shirt sleeves; but were not his quaint
words of wisdom carried far up and
down those valleys? Was not his help
ing hand extended to every one? And
were not the words he so often gave
10 his customers of God bless YOU
the means Of spiritually blessing hun
dreds upon hundreds Of lives? And
there was your old nurse. Was her
life n failure? Henry Ward Beechel
once declared that one Of the greatest
gospel teachers he ever studied under
was an old black man, who used tc
work for his father, and who used tc
sing to him the gospel songs and tel
to the tOwheaded boy Henry the Bible
stories which ever after were so pre-
clous to him. DO you mean to tell me
that your opportunities for working
for God and man are not as great as
those of the old black man who used tc
work in Lyman Beecher's parsonage and
who helped start Henry Ward BeecheI
out on his worldwide ministry?
Farrngut's Opportunity.
Then most people have no right tc
complain about their insignificant posi-
tions. because they are not yet through
with life, and they do not know whai
positions Of conspicuousness they may
vet be called upon to fill. was In
tensely interested the other day IL
reading about the supreme moment Of
Farragut's life. That moment was
when in command of the Hartford he
was leading his ships into Mobile bay
The monitor Tecumseh was at the
head Of the line She struck torpedo
in the most dangerous part of the en-
trance to the bay and almost instantly
disappeared Soon the next boat II
line. the Brooklyn, began to back wa
ter away from the dreaded torpedoeS
and was backing upon the admiraPi
flagship. All seemed lost But sud
denly Admiral Farragut lifted his
trumpet and called, -Four bells, Cap
tain Drayton; go ahead" Instantly
the flagship moved ahead, and all the
other ships followed. AS the ships
PASSED into the harbOr the men coulC
hear the torpedoes humping upon The
hulls. But they were dumb torpedoe'
and exploded not All America anC
the whole civilized world at once hail
ed Admiral Farragut as one OF the
boldest naval heroes. But tarragu
when he entered Mobile bay was al
old man, as General Havelock was al
| Ol0 man WHEN lie leu ulo biOOpo Oh ~
the rescue of Lucknow. For nearl!
threescore years these men had to liv'
in Obscurity before their great oppor
tunity came. AS Unknown men the.
worked and plodded. No one seemed
to take notice of them. But when th'
greatest opportunities of life came II
their old age at once they grasped then
and leaped to the front. Young man
YOU have no right to complain abou
the humdrum work Of an ordinary lif'
if these heroes did not complain. YoV
do not know what God has ahead TO
you. Do your work we'll in obscurity
so that when the great opportunities o
life come later you may be able u
grasp them as did Farragut and Henr.
Havelock.
otis true you say, "that l hav
| +oe+nd +bo hittar wa terS of thp Wreckp,