Newspapers / The Orphans’ Friend (Oxford, … / Feb. 9, 1876, edition 1 / Page 2
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THE ORPHANS’ ElilEND. \Vrliicsd:>y. I'eJ>r»iuy », IS? 6. THE SPECtAE EOEEMN-' It lins been Bometime since we have received a communication I’rom our little readers for ourspec- ial column for boys’ and girls’; we aie always glad to bear from our little friends and our readers like to hear from them too. In the salutatory of the Okphans’ Fkiend children are invited to speak freely and “help us to lay their wants before the people parents teachers and all friends of educa tion are requested to use our col umns as a medium to disseminate and compare their views and Asvlum monthly. No doubt the sil nt pleaders will catch many stray pennies that will nev'er be missed by the donors, and these accumulated trifles in the course of the year may amount to a con siderable sum. A lady once dropped in a-box all the nickel pieces she received in change, and at the close of the year gave them to her little sister. On counting them found she nad enough money to purchase a nice Bible. ______ For tho Orphans’ Friend. SCEiVlC EFFECT. opinions on the best methods of teaching, school government &c. As those countries which have the greatest variety of exports and im ports are most interesting to trav elers so those papers which have tho greatest number of correspon dents, will be most interesting to the general reader and we cor dially invite communications from all interested in our work. THE ELOWEK MISSIOIS. Among the many charities of our great cities, one of the most iutere.sting, is the distribution of flowers among the sick in the hospitals, only those who have been for weeks shut up in dark rooms where the sunlight is ex cluded, and even the pure air of heaven has not free ingress, can know how refreshing is the sight of a flower. As soon as the first spring flowers, such as cro cus, hyacinths and violets, make their appearance, they are tied in tiny bunches and sent on their mission of love to the hospitals W'here the sick and weary are cheered by their bright presence. Sometimes a text of Scripture is wrapped around the stems, but usually the little flower is left to preach its own eloquent sermon. While the stars in their ceaseless course proclaim to millions in voice sublime the power and glory of their great Creator, the humble little blossom is also tell ing us manifold and wondrous truths; the unfolding hud, the gorgeous blossom and the scat tered petals of the fading flower, allcontainrevolations from above; they tell of the Divine hand that shaped and colored their delicate petals; the wondrous labratory where their fragrant perfume was distilled, and of our Savior’s lov ing care to suffering humanity, and nowhere is their voice more powerful thau at the bed-side of the suffering. It is touching to see how the pale faces of the patients brighten as their feeble hands are extended for the sweet silent comforters.' As the flower season advances they are sent in such profusion that the almoners scarcely know what to do with them ; after the hospitals have been supplied, the surplus is frequently sent to the sewing rooms, so tluit the weary toilers there whose lives have been sliorn of all that is lovely may he re freshed by these sweet gifts, and long after flowers ai'e faded and scattered their influence will live and the blessing of grateful hearts ■will follow those who have liter ally strewn flowers in the path way of their tolling, suffering sis ters CONTKItSETIOIV BOXES. Sevekal merchants write that they have placed contribution boxes in conspicuous places on their counters, and jiropose send ing the contents to the Orphan The wonderful effect of scenery on the developemeut of both men tal and physical natures is never questioned in this enlightened age, and we don’t propose to pre sent any original proposition in the subject which we now lay be fore our readers, but merely to pause a moment and examine some of the wonders which it works. Its effect on the imag- illation is perhaps as interesting as any wo^may observe. External beauty so impresses itself on hu man thought and action as to be reproduced in both. Every thing in nature is engraved in ait even in the infancy of our race in the rude stone age, man cov ered in rock the animal ho was familiar with in tho chase or else the tree by liis hut which he had so often observed that it pos sessed for him a marked individ- ualitj’ a strange human compan ionship and all of us have more or less sympathy with this feel ing for we all have our favorites among the trees as they seem the emhodimeiit of some idea to which we ai*e partial. The peo ple highest in the scale of civili zation have been blessed by a country most biglily endowed by nature ; few of those who have obtained “comfortable quarters on Parnassus” hail from an ice bound region ; there is little in frozen streams, scanty vegetation and a colorless sky to develop tho em bryonic sentiment within, and those sons of the North who have immortalized themselves in verse have traveled long in a sunnit'r realm. Where in holy converse with nature there he views her stores unrolled and the devotee’s reward is the high priest-hood of nature. To him she interprets the strain that her songsters are ever singing what the brook is babbling as is it goes murmuring or the “wild waves saying” as they dash on shore ; she bids him hark to the wind as it shrieks on the lonely barren mountain, mourns in the distant pines, whis pers among the orange bowers or trembles all over the aspen till she teaches him to ever be heed ful of her voice whether it speaks in the “laughter that comes from the ocean’s lips” or the comfortless winds unrest.” To him she comes with her cherished secrets and hand in hand with her he revels amid the favorite haunts of the immortal nine. With nature in all her phases under all aspects he becomes familiar led captive at his will no change it matters not how small is without its effect on him morn noon and night he ex ults intheever veering phenomena he is in the confidence of a uni verse: then it is that he is called upon to translate tlie language he has learned to Ids kindred race. The metamorphosis it works on the physical nature is not less striking, tho stalwart mountaineer has little in common with the den izen of the valley, the one is in perfect sympatiiy with the charac teristic boldness of his country, counterfeiting in form and feature the rugged aspect which it views with a frame seemingly as en during a.s its hoary hills and an impetuosity of disposition like unto its own mountain torrents. With something loftier in his na ture than is the portion of all men accustomed as ho is to gaze on those “heralds of eternity,” and posessed of a language never en ervated by conformnity to the laws of euphony. The other relaxed in mind and body by the softening influence of his climate presents a striking contrast to his h’ghland brother, less \ ig wous he may be but he compensates for that by symmetry of form and grace of movement, representing the sinuous outlines of his own landscape by his undulatory pace; for as utility is represented by .straight lines in nature so is the beautiful by curves. But wel come to both their types for the combination of strength beauty antedates perfection. and E. EAYIiXCi UP MONEY. Economy as a principle has not been taught of late years. For this parents are mostly to blame. Wise saving has been excluded from the list of house hold virtues, and reckless expen diture substituted iii its stead. Dress, jewelry of every kind, ci gars, matinees, and amusements almost infinite in variety—to say nothing of evils of far greater magnitude have been doomed in dispensable. Just and honest obligations have been put aside to gratify the prurient taste for outward show and inward corruption. A family that could not pay their rent or grocer’s bill, could find the moans to pay one dollar and fifty cents a pair for white kid gloves to wear to a concert. Who will pretend to say that just demands could not be met, and sometliiug saved beside, bad not all been swallowed up in the maelstrom of fashionable folly and extravagance ? Even limited incomes and small salaries could be made to yield something for future emergencies, were the prin ciple of economizing properly en forced—those disposed to lay by for a rainy clay” affirming that ■they have done better, in propor tion, with limited means than with larger incomes, and increasing facilities. A woman whose wages before tlie war did not exceed one dollar and fifty cents a week, managed to lay up one dollar of that, bought a small house, and from the rent paid the balance due on tlie purchase. Yet she was .always neatly dressed, and paid her proportion of the expen ses of the church of which she was a member. To the youth of the present age these are idle words. “It cannot he done. There is no use talking, it cannot be done,” said a young man with whom a friend was pleading “to lay up something.” “Wait a moment, let us see,’ said his friend. “Your salary is six liundred dollars a year ?” “Yes.” “And you pay five dol lars and a half for hoard. Does that include washing 1” “It does, as I board at home.” “Call it three hundred dollars in round numbers and that will cover all.” “Very well, yes.” “Tlien you have three hundred dollars left?’ “Yes.” “Now then, suppose you take ten per cent, or thirty dol- Irrs of that for charitable puri:o ses, and lay aside seventy dollars for future use ; you have loft two hundred dollars, will not that be sufficient to clothe you 'i” “'Veil, yes, under some circumstances it would ; but you sec a fellow can not go into good society unless he is well dressed.” “Young man,” said his friend seriously, “depend upon it, the best pastport into really good society is not the clothes the tailor makes for you; but your character for honesty, fidelity, and self-denial, and its fruits laid up in the hank.” “Gather up the fragments, lot nothing be lost,” said the wise economist by whom the worlds were made. Because of our reckless disre gard of this injunction, thousands and tens of thousands are suffer ing all the evils of poverty to day. Is it not time to mend our ways ? And may we not look to the house of God for an example of sobriety and godly living, or do we lieed further chastisement ere we are prepared to “crucify the flesh with its afflictions and lusts f ’ Take heed. God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reap.” We have sowed the seed of folly, of pride and extravagance. Wo are reaping its bitter fruits. May we all learn wisdom from the lesson.—Church Union. TEESNSStr EOiXTS tW MFE. The switch-tender was weary and he sat at Ids post, his eyes were heavy, and he fell asleep The train came tliundering along, and as it neared tlie [ilace, the man heard the whistle and rose to adjust the switch for the train. He sprang aside, tho oars moved on, were thrown from the track, and a scene of death and disaster was the consequence. It was only a little switch. A bar of iron a few feet in length which opened one end only one inch to allow tho flange of the wheels to pass througli the nar row way. Only a few second; more would have placed the lit tle bar at the right angle, and all vrould have been well. But the few seconds were lost, the little bar was out of place, and tho train, with its invaluable freight of life and jiroperty, was nearly all buried iu a mass of death and ruin. A young man was once under a state of deep inquiry about his eternal interests. Two or three of his companions learned that he was going to prayer-meeting, and they determined to change his purpose. They persuaded him only this once, to go to the ac customed place of resort. He fi nally yielded. They plied their art of amusements, gaiety and pleasure, and bound him at last in the snares of a wicked compan ion. It was his 'fatal moment. Ill a few weeks from that time he bad committed murder, and fol lowed the deed with instantan eous self-destruction. A young man had appointed to meet some friends to go to one cf the public gardens in London, c n Sunday evening. "While waiting at the place assigned for ren dezvous in one ol the streets, a Ohristian friend, a lady, passed by and asked him where he was going. He was ashamed to con fess his liiteiitioD, and readily yielded to her invitation to go with her to church. It was the turning point with him. He was arrested by divine truth, was brought under a sense of sin, be came a Christian—a faithful mis sionary, a devoted and exalted hero, an apostle of Christ—and died a martyr on the isle of Er- romango, a victim of liteathen rage, but a sacrifice of love to ids Redeemer. It was John Wil liams, the missionary. A young man went to visit his friends on New Year’s day ac cording to the custom of New York. He had abandoned the in toxicating cup. He had suffered from its evils, and was a sworn total abstinent. He uniformly refused to taste or handle until he called upon a young lady, who, finding her invitations all declin ed, began to banter him with a want of manhood, and plied her idicule so far that he at last yielded. It was tho setting of the switch. Ho was taken home in a state of intoxication, and a few months afterward he died, uttering terrible curses upon the tempter who had been the cause of bis ruin. A young man who had been prayfully trained, came to tho city to enter a place of business. His fellow clerks invited him to join in their pleasures and past times. For a time he resisted, but at length he thought he would go to the theatre, only once, just to please his friends and see what a theatre was. The devil was the switch tender that night, and the course of that young man subse quently lay through the paths of extravagance, gambling, shame and the grave. Two }'ou!ig men were walking one evening toward a prayer meeting, when they were accost ed by several acquaintances, who ■were on tlieir way to a place of usual resort. Thc}^ entreated them to join them, but tiiey re fused. Finally one of them con sented and turned aside, only once more, for an evening of worldly pleasure, and let his friend go to the prayer meeting alone. One found peace with God ; but his companion became havdeiied, and iu throe montlis, while his associate on that event ful iiiglit was honoring his Mas ter by his failhful and consistent life, ho was tlie inmate of a prison awairing the penalty of tho law. Our life is full of these turning points of our fortune, and of ill, of peace and of woe, of life eter nal or of despair and death. Tlie tract wo travel has a switch at al- mist every step. We need to have them well guarded. The eye must be kept open, the hand must be steady, the arm must be strong. The soul should be well armed, so that it may be prepared for every attack, or for every ex pedient of tho enemy. Life;, honor, virtue, success and immor tality are before us. Little things, at first unaccounted of, may lead to the other extreme !—BiUied Recorder. RicSics of tho SSiliilc* Some writer gives the following analysis of th® “book of books,” the Bible:—It is a book of Laws, to sliow the right and wrong. It is a book of Wisdom, tliat makes the foolish wise. It is a book of Truth, which detects all human errors. It is a book of Life, which shows how to avoid ever lasting death. It contains the most authentic and entertaining Histories ever published. It is a perfect book of Divinitju It is a book of Biography. It is a book of Travels. It is a book of Voy ages. It is the covenant ever made :—the best deed ever writ ten. It is the young man’s best companion. It is tho school-boy s best instructor. It is the learned man’s masterpiece. It is the ig norant man’s dictionary, and every man’s direoto'cy. It prom ises an eternal reward to the faitliful and believing.
The Orphans’ Friend (Oxford, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Feb. 9, 1876, edition 1
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