The Woman Who Adventured
The International Sunday School Lesson for April 29 Is
“Ruth, the Faithful Daughter.”—The Book of Ruth.
—By WILLIAM T. ELLIS--—
One diy I was riding up from the
Jordan Valley, through a rock defile,
into the land of Moab. There came to
ward us a little company of the sort
often seen in the migratory East.
There was first the man, afoot, and
without Shoes and in poor raiment,
oarrylng a -staff. Beside him walked
a donkey on which rode his wife and
little child—a picture like that of Jo
seph, Mary and Jesus, fleeing to Egypt
We tarried for a moment of greetings
by the way, and the man told us that
his home was in Beersheba, but a local
famine had driven him over into the
fertile uplands of Moab, there to work
and live until a harvest should be
gleaned. Now he was on his way home.
The incident was so like that of
Elimelech and Naomi and their two
sons that it has stayed in my memory.
Famine, which comes so Quickly and
easily to primitive people living always
near the hunger line, had sent these
Bethlehemites to the East. They had
crossed the Jordan above the Dead Sea.
On the high plain of Moab, where the
winds blow chill In the mornings, there
is to this day successful agriculture.
I saw the farmers plowing with the
same sort of crooked stick with oxen
used in Elimelech’s day. A fat land is
Moab, and it gave Buccor and a home
to the Bethlehemite immigrants.
Life In a New Land
Who knows the heart of an immi
grant? Only he who has / been a
stranger in a strange land; and he is
never heard to disdain the alien, be he
ever so poor. The four Jews from
liethlehem made a home for them
selves In the new land; and the two
sons, Mahlon and Chilton, took to
themselves wives of the Moabite maid
ens. It seemed as if the family had es
tablished itself permanently in the
healthful uplands of Moab.
Death, that great nullifier of all
plans, destroyed this prospect, for the
father and the two sons died, after ten
years of life in Moab. leaving three
childless widows behind them. New ,
ties were thus created for the surviv- j
ors with the land which had so hos- j
pitably provided for them. The three
graves were strong links.
Nevertheless, Naomi, the mother, and
now the head of the family, found her
grief-smitten heart turning back to
Bethlehem and Its hills. The famine j
was long since past. Fond memory
called her to the home of her girlhood
and young wifehood. What homesick
ness is filling the hearts of aliens In
America, only the° Comforter of the i
lonely knows.
In Bethlehem dwelt the past; and the j
best promise for the future also. Ellm- j
elftch had property there, and there j
were kinsmen, ready to fulfill the obll- f
gations which the hospitable East, j
with its strong sense of family ties, j
always imposes. Sentiment and pru- i
dence alike called Naomi back to Beth- j
lehem.
The Wemon Who Stayed By.
What should he done .jrith th'se
young widows? The natural recourse
was for them to return to their own
people, anUmake a new bei; nnlnt; in
die Moabite hfe. Orpha so c'nos’, rts
pi-e he- fondness for Naomi.
As wo read the silly and cyn'eal and !
criit-l j'.ki'B about mothera-la -lf.ws, l« t
us- rf.flierate; Naiml, whose charac»r
was such that she bound her dear ones
in closest affection; and whose love for
her daughters-in.Iaw was so real and
tender and abiding that one of them,
Ruth, even made the great adventure
of foreaking her blood-kindred, and the
land of her birth, for the sake of cleav
ing to the mother of her husband.
Ruth and Naomi are among the most
cherished personalities whom the Old
Testament history has given to the
world. They are an answer to the
sneer that womenare never loyal to'
women; and that there cannot be a
true and noble friendship between wo
men. Everybody knows instances of
love and loyalty, between women as
beautiful as that of Naomi and Ruth;
and a fair counterpart for the friend
ship of David and Jonathan. Blessed
for both is the reciprocated affection of
an older woman for a younger. Ruth
prised Naomi’s love above her life’s old
tiea
So she cried, .when unselfteh Naomi
would have parted from her, in that
spirit of self-sacrificing love which
marks human nature at its highest
level—and the beautiful cry of Ruth
has given literature one of its richest
her kindred, upon the possibility of a
myriad hearts since:—
“Entreat me not to leave thee, and
to return from following thee; for
whither thou goest, I will go; and
whither thou lodgeet, I will lodge; thy
people shall be my people, and thy Ood
shall be my Ood; where thou dlest, will
I die, and there will I be buried; Jeho
vah do so to me, and more also, if
aught but death part thee and me.”
The Great Decision.
Courageously making choice, Ruth
dared all consequences. She had turn
ed her back upon her old home, upon
her kindred, upon the poshsibiltty of a
seoond husband from among her own
people, upon her ancestral faith; and
she had elected to share the fortunes,
good or ill, or a lone widow. Naomis
people, Naomi's God, were henceforth
to be as her own.
God blesses the daring High faith
and nobly loyalty are not forgotten by
Him. He favors those who are brave
enough to make decisions and to ad
venture new enterprises. He seems
particularly a God of pioneers. The
splendid fortitude of Ruth was not to
go unrewarded. For to her it was to
be given that. In the new land, she
should become an ancestor of Israel’s
great king, and of the world’s Prince of
Peace. We hear never another word
about Orpha; she sank back Into the
commonplace prosperity of the major
ity who take no risks.
Back to Bethlehem (what a place of
personalities that little old town has
been, and Is'to this very day!) we fol_
low the two Widows. The unknown
writer of this beautiful story vividly
pictures the welcome given Naomi by
her old neighbors and kinsfolk:
"So they two went until they came to
Bethlehem. And It came to pass, when
they were come to Bethlehem, that all
the city was moved about them, and
the women said. Is this Naomi? And
she said unto them. Call me not Naomi
(pleasant), oall me Mara (bitter); for
the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly
with me. I went out full, and Jehovah
I hath brougrht me home aagln. empty;
■why call ye me Naomi, seeing Jehovah
hath testified aaginst me, and the Al
[mlghty fiath afflicted me?”
In the Hard Daya.
Loyalty Is more than a matter of
beautiful sentiments. It costs. The
j genuineness of loyalty Is tested ■wihen
it Is required as It always Is, to des
cend from the high plane of noble
words to the dead level of humdrum
living. Protestations must be support
ed by practice. The ecstatlo mood ol
swearing fealty had to be followed in
Ruth’s case by providing a livelihood
for herself and her mother-in-law.
Despite all the new dogmas concerning
emancipated womanhood, most of us
feel that there is something wrong
with an order of society which does not
provide that men shall earn a liveli
hood for women.
Gleaning after the reapers—how art
has seised upon the picture I—Ruth
gathered the stray sttawa of grain that
remained, to provide food for her com
panion and herself. The pictures of
the soeen are romantic, but was back
breaking, wearisome and monotonous
work with the label of poverty attach
ed to It. Thank God for the men and
women, the world around, who are
'dally repeating the Ruth story and
bearing the day’s dreary load unoom.
plainingly, all for love’s sake.
While about this lowly task, In the
field of duty, Ruth won the notice of
Boas, a wealthy landowner and a kins
man of her husband’s father. The tale
ends in story-book fashion for rich far
mer and poor gleaner were married,
and that union was blessed by a son,
Obed, the grandfather of David, the
great king. The woman who adven
tured became the woman who won.
' Clear Your Complexion
With Cuticura
Bathe with Cuticura Soap and hot
water to free the pores of impurities
and follow with a gentle application
of Cuticura Ointment to soothe and
heal. They are ideal for the toilet,
fcs is also Cuticura Talcum for pow
dering and perfuming.
Sample Bach Free by Matt. Ad drees; •Onttcura lab*
ontorlee. Dept f <*, Maiden 48, Mae** Sold every
where. Soap 26c. Ointment2o and 50c. Talcum 26c.
pmyXuticnr* Soap shaves without mug.
Hjsaaaa
work
/ ICatOM fM to
K you «o tooof your aonlr ««u#ti ■ ■ if you ■■
ou diyoto or oJlrong lraa> lox tulily boa
a olfcor fjua ClANOTUNE w# aockly kJo«
-1 amOtk ad yoakfal *l»or a «• Ouu»e wij tu
Wria aidUr ftm ■*"»'»■ UoUa maid fm)
.TORn-AN l-*aOMTORI»9
The new Cop
AWS have been made in
I j many cities requiring police
inspection of motor brakes at
regular intervals. -
Results of a redsnt investiga
tion in Brooklyn, N. Y.show that
80% of all auto accidents are due
to defective brakes.
Whether your brakes have to
undergo police inspection or not
you want to be sure of them
always—for safety’s sake.
The sure way is to have your
lining and brake meohanism
examined periodically at a reli
able garage or service station.
There is onenear you. You will
find the name and address at the
bottom of this advertisement.
BRAKES
aresafer
and last
longer
with
These dealers endorse, sell or apply Johns-ManviUe Non'Burn:—
Henry’* Ginte, MacMillan and Marahbnrn Bunoaw Motor Co. ^ TeOniend Motor Oo.
Wilmington. N. C. •> - Wilmington, N. C. ■ Burgaw, N. C,_ ^ V ' Lumberton, N. C.
Jobnsoa Motor* Co. ‘ >. F. Walter*» Brat and Harrell ;4*f Blades Auto Co. • Underwood Motor Co.
Wilmington, N. C. Wilmington, N. C. Wallace, N. .C. ElUabetbtown, 3M. C. . Roeeboro, N< G
. .: :7! . : * . ‘ . ' ’ • ~rv - , ~r-V»., ■ <■ * ' VV »: [ . j.
. - I:



Down in the rich farming belt of Southern Illinois
lives Mrs. Mary Alice Larrison, about 40 miles
from Terre Haute, who one day wrote a letter
telling of the benefit she had received from Cardui,
the woman’s tonic. One of our lady investigators,
being in that neighborhood, was detailed to make a
little journey to her home and learn some further facts
about her use of the medicine. Her report follows:.
Casey, Illinois, where Mrs. Larrison lives, is a
picturesque little town on the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Twelve miles from Casey the Larrison farm lies amid
wide-spreading fields dotted with bursting bams,
cribs of com, herds of fine white cattle and hogs.
: We drove out to the farm—to a white house
with green window shutters and a wide porch. A little
i terrier, followed by two spotted pups, greeted us and
summoned Mr. Larrison. We were cordially invited
I in, and I introduced myself to Mrs. Larrison. She
said she had been expecting a rich aunt, and when
! ever she saw a stranger coming imagined the visitor
| might be the long-looked-for relative. I hastened to
assure her how I regretted that she should be disap
pointed again, since I had only called to inquire about
her use of Cardui and to take some pictures, if she
! would permit, to print with her statement She re
plied that, in this case, she was as glad to see me as
if I had been the wealthy “lost” aunt herself.
Some twenty-odd years ago, Mr. and Mrs. Lar
rison bought the farm on which they now live. It has
been the childhood home of their fourteen children,
the youngest of which is 14 years old. Mrs. Larrison
told me that care for her large family had called for
millions of steps “and many corners to turn to give
them what they needed,” but happily she had come
through it all with sound, robust health, due partly,
so she said, to Cardui.
About sixteen years ago when oil was struck in
Clark County, Illinois, wells were drilled on the
Larrison place. While they did not come in gushers,
or even yield a heavy flow, they have withstood
steady pumping for sixteen years, and probably will
hold out many years longer. I went out into the
back yard with Mrs. Larrison and examined and
photographed one pump which was pounding away.
n
Below—One of
the Oil Wells;
Mrs. Larrlson
Standing By.
A J.
A Portrait of
MRS. MARY ALICE LARRISON
She pointed out several others, out in the fields,
some of which we visited. These not only yield a
substantial income to the Larrisons, but one furnishes
natural gas for kitchen fuel, a great convenience.
The back yard was full of chickens, and out on
the pasture I saw upwards of 100 hogs. Some dozen
or more big porkers were enclosed in a barnyard lot
for special feeding. They were enormous. I saw
several pens of yellow corn that was to be fed to the
hogs, and there was scarcely an ear that looked less
than a foot in length. They also had large stores of
potatoes and apples, cord after cord of furnace wood,
a room full of books and a newspaper every
day—why should they worry that it was winter,
snowing* and twelve miles from town!
What Mrs. Larrison Says
About Cardui, The Woman’s Tonic
ABOUT 20 years ago I was in very* bad health. I
had some nervous trouble. 1 was weak. I
couldn’t rest I was never hungry, but always tired;
couldn’t sit down contented and still not able to go
about—a dragging, tired feeling like I had weights on
my feet, and I would give out
[ heard of Cardui and what a .help it was for
weak women. I sent for six bottles. I had not taken
it long till I felt stronger. I would eat and it seemed
to help the nervous, tired fueling. I grew stronger.
I took twelve bottles in all and for a long time I never
knew what it was to feel bad.
When change of life began with me, down I
went again—nervous, depressed, sick all over. I was
so weak . . . it looked like life was ebbing out of
me. I hurt in the lower part of my body. I felt sore
across the sides. My family was very uneasy about
me when I was down in ^ bed, not able to get
up. I tried medicines ... , still I lay there. I
then remembered Cardui. I sent for it, and when
I had taken one-half bottle I felt better. The family
insisted, seeing it was doing me good, so I took it
right along. Soon I was out of bed, able to go about
I owe my health to Cardui, I feel sure. I was
much benefited. '
MARY AUCE LARRISON.
Casey, Illinois.