Newspapers / Spirit of the Age … / Sept. 25, 1868, edition 1 / Page 2
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V. .Ies. ME. WHITAKER, Editress. SEWING GOOD SEED. One lovely afternoon, early in the month of May, a Itltler girl1, not more than eight years old,' sat at the win dow overlooking a" Beautiful lawn and fishpond She had .been reading, but the book had fallen from' ber hands. There was a sad and pensive expres sion on her countenance ; for she vras thinking how she used to love to run about in the green fields, and-play with her hoop or skipping-rope ; but fBeea she had to exchange for a crutch she was a cripple. Jost then some little sparrows came to pick up the crumbs which the child had thrown from the window. She watched them with the deepest interest, as they lop ped about in their happy freedom,' till at length, having satisfied their hun ger, with a chirrup, they flew away to join their companions. The little girl turned away : sorrow fully from the window, and stooped to reach her crutch which had fallen to the floor. In vain did she try to drive back her tearsthey, would come ; and, covering her face with her hands, she wept bitterly, Whilst thus troubled, . she - felt a hand laid sof tly upon her head, and looking up, she saw her mother bending over her- with a mingled look of anxiety and love in her face. i r "What is the matter with my Nel lie?" she asked, in. a gentle voice. " O, mamma," exclaimed the child, as she threw her arms around i her mother's neck) " it is of no use for me to live, now that I am lame. I can never be of any use !" The mother, breathing a silent pray er to God for a blessing on her instruc tion, seated herself ion a low chair, and drawing; Nellie on her lap, whis pered words of comfort to. the trou bled little one. She told her also of the lame and the blind, the deaf and the dumb, who were brought to the loving Saviomy and were healed ;,and then, with a mother's tenderness, she pressed the child to her 'heart, 1 and - tried to show her in how many ways even a cripple might be useful. She told her of the glowworm, whose tiny light cheers the traveller on his way in the dark night. "But, mamma," said Nellie, "I am not a glowworm." : "No, my dear,"' said1 her, mother," "but you may do- what the glowworm does you may 'let your light shine.' Have you forgotten those lines which your papa taught you,. not long ago?" "Do what you can being what yori are; Shine like a glowworm, if you can't be a star." "You cannot do much, I know; and yet, by your example, you may be made a blessing to otheri. You may sow the seeds of kindness and love, andmercy and truth; which, by-and-by, will with the Divine blessing, grow up bright and beautiful fiowers, that shall bloom throughout eternity." "But, mamma, how can I do this ?" "Well," my dear," replied her moth er, "by giving up your own will for an other's pleasure, you sow the seeds of love and kindness,; by immediately confessing when you have done wrong, you sow the seeds of truth; and you 'were sowing' the -seed -of .mercy when you gave your sixpence to the poor blind man at the doer this morning." With a bright smile of hope the child looked up into her mother's face!' and pressing a warm kiss on her cheek, she said: "Thank you, dear mamma; I trill try to be more happy and' use ful 1" . " In an intended wedding in Provi dence, just as the eererconies were to Begin the bride suddenly called upon the groom to abjure tobaeco on pain of forfeiture of wedding- bliss, etc., which he refused to do and then and there taking a fresh quid from his to bacco box, to show His independence. Whereupon the young lady took out a dainty box, took a chew' amid the ap plause pf the guests, and ordered the clergyman to go anead; tins was too much for the groom, who fled the scene; leaving the grrl triumphant with a piece of licorice in her mouth. ' Of all the books in the Old Testa ment Daniel Webster preferred Ha bakkuk. ' ? ; ; - 1 l-. : ; WThat length ought a lady's crino line to bo? A little above two feet HEXKY J. TERXOX. He gave it to his wife with a sigh, yet with a look of resignation. "It is our last dollar," he said. "But the Lord will provide." j The Rev. James Spring was minister in the Ettle'mountain village of Thorn ville. He was poor, and his congrega tion was poor. Often before he had been very near his last dollar, but he had never actually got to it until to day. :'.V;:o ''So you've been always saying," sobbed his wife ; " but what is to be come of us when this is gone ? .They won't trust any more at the store ; and your salary won't be due these three weeks, even if you get it then. Why do you stay here James, where the people are so poor ?'V 1 V "I have no other place to go to ; nor money to travel to it, if the Lord opened a Way. My work, for the pres ent, is here. He feedeth . the "young ravens ; He will surely feed us." "I wish I had your faith, but I have'nt ; and it wont come to me. Oh 1 what shall we do?" And she wrung her hands despairingly. " My poor children!" ' " Once I was young, and now I am old," solemnly said her husband; speaking in the words of the Psalmist " yet never have I seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." As' if in answer to this pious ejacu lation, there came a sudden " knock at the door. All the while the minister and hisi wife had been talking, a storm had been raging outside. On opening the door, a traveler quite wet through, entered. ' . a 'jl was coming through; the forest from Mary ville," he said, " and venture to stop at the first house I see. My horse is in the shed. Do I take too great a liberty ?" "Not at all," answered the master of the (house. " We have but a poor shelter, as you see ; but, such as it is, you are welcome to it ; there is a good fire, aVany rate." For it was in the la tch en where this conversation took place. Indeed, this humble home boasted no parlor, and the kitchen was dining room, drawing room, living room and all. The stranger proved to be a man of education and intelligence, and, in conversation with him, the minister forgot "his trouble, and he was remind ed of earlier and brighter days, when intellectual companionship had not been the rare thing it is now, up among these hills. At last the storm abated, and the stranger rose to go. His host accom panied him to the gat, and watched him till he disappeared. behind a turn of the road. :' " See here, James," cried the wife eagerly,, when he returned to the house, " I founds" this, on the table, near which the gentleman sat. ' It was a fifty dollar greenback, wrapped hastily in a bit of paper, that looked as if it had been torn from a pocket book, and on the inside of the paper was4 written the verse of the psalmist, which it was now apparent the traveler had overheard. " I thought he was writing the di rection he asked for," said the minis ter. Thanks be to the Lord Did 1 not say, my dear, He would provide ?" His wife'bUjPSt inttf'tears " God forgive me she said, " I will never doubt again. The Lord surely sent this stranger to our aid." And He will still provide," replied her husband. " Whatever my lot be, here or elsewhere, in Him I trust." A month afterward, a letter, a rare event, came to the; " Rev. James Spring." It was as follows : " Rev. and Dear Sir. The church at Mary ville has unanimously called you to its pastorate. The salary is fifteen hun dred dollars, and a good parsonage house." The letter concluded by say ing : Ihe writer of this first came to know you by your hospitalities to him during a storm, a few weeks ago. He overheard you, in a moment of great distress, speak with such full faith, that he feels you are just the person for this charge, and on his recom mendation this call has been made." Maryville was the- county town, a rich and thriving place, in a broad and fertile valley, at tne foot of the hills. It was a far fitter sphere of labor for a .man of the minister's abilities than the wild village in the mountains. So a young man, as yet without a family, took the missionary church among the hills, and the Rev. J imes Spring accepted the calL But he does not forget the past, and often, when people show want of faith tells the story of the La3t Dollar. Arthur's Magazine. THE FLOATING CITY. Venice,' queen city of the Adriatic, has been immortalized in song, and its streets of water alive with gliding gon dolas, and gay with revelry, are famil iar to'alL But' though less known, not less worthy of note is the capital city of Sianyof whiclr traveller thus discourses in the Springfield Union. One of the most wonderful cities in the world is Baniok. Did you ever witness sckM igt in ypur life ? On either 2 sifte f the wide, ' majestic stream, moored in regular streets and alleys, extended as far as the eye can reach, are up ward of 70,000 neat little houses, each house floating on a com pact raft of bamboos, and the whole intermediate' space of the river pre sents to our astonished gaze one dense masi of ship3, junks and boats, of everr conceivable shape, color, and size.; As we glide among these, we occcjsionally encounter a stray house broken loose from its moorings, and hurrying down the stream with the tidi amid the uproar and shouts of inhibitants and all the spectators. "Wc, also notice that all the front row of houses are , neatly painted shops, in which various tempting com modi ties are 'exposed for sale; behind these again, at equal distances, rise the lofty, elegant porcelain towers of the various temples. On 'our right hand side, as far as we can see, are three stately pillars, erected to. the memory of three default kings cele brated for the performance - Of some act of valor and justice ; and little be yond these, looming like a line of bat tle ship, among a lot of cockle-shells, rises the straggling and not very ele gant palace of the king, - where his SiameseMajes wUh3 ever sq many wives, and children, resides. ' Now, be careful how you step out of the boat into te balcony of the floatingiiouse, for it will i ecede, to the force of your effort to mount, and if you are not aware of this, you will lose your ballance and fall into the river. Now we are safely transhipped, for we cannot as yet say landed ; but we now form an item, though a very small one, of the vast population of the city of Bankok. j " Every house has a canoe attached to it, and no nation detests walking so much as the Siam ese ; at the same time they are expert swimmers, and both men and women begin to acquire this very necessary art at an early age. Without it, man runs a momentary risk of being drowned, as when a ca noe upsets, none of the passers by ever think it necessary to lend any aid, supposing them fully adequate to the task of saving their own lives. Ca noes are being hourly upset, owing to the vast concourse , of vessels, and boats plying to and fro ; and owing to this negligence or carelessness in ren dering assistance, a Mr. Benham, an American missionary, lost his life some twelve years ago, having upset his ca noe when it was just getting dusk, and"1oreemingn it-necessary to stop and pick the poor man up." The Three Friends An Illustra tion. Trust no friend before thou hast tried, for they abound more at tne festive board than at the prison door. A certain man had three friends ; two of them he gloved warmly; the other he regardedx with indifference, though that one was the truest of his well-wishers. The man was summon ed before a tribunal, and though inno cent his accusers were bitter against him. '- ' . 'Who among you, w said he,: "will go with me and bear witness for me ? For my accusers are bitter against me, and the judge is displeased." The first of bis friends at on.ee ex cused himself from accompanying him on the plea of . other business. The second followed him to the door of the tribunal ; there he turned back and went his way, through fear of the offended judge. The third; on whom he relied the least, spoke for him, and bore witness to his innocence, so that the judge dismissed and rewarded him. r' Man has three friends in this world ; how. do they demean themselves to wards him, in the hour of death, when God calls. him to judgment ? His best beloved friend, gold, is the first to leave him, and accompanies him not. His friends" and kinsmen accompanjr him to the portal of the grave, and then turn back to their own houses. The third, whom he is most neglectful of, is his good works. They alone go with him to the Jada'a throna thv I o- - "J tand before him and obtain mercy Vtnd grace. . ' , A ' For the Friend of Temperance. B0 VP TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. ' i ChjlrlottesvilJV v It may not be known that such an Institution as the Boys' Temperance Society exists in Charlottesville. To such as are ignorant of the ex istence of this organization, we state, that Hopewell Council No. 33, Friends of Tempeiance, has a membership, numbering forty, and holds very inter esting meetings, Thursday nights in Temperance Hall, Bank .Building. Many objections are made to this. Society: we have heard a great many arguments to prove that such Socie ties do more harm than good; we have often been pained while listening to professors of religion denouncing our organization. After mature consideration, we find the only, real argument used against us, is that the members are in the habit of behaving badly'on the streets after the meeting adjourns; and that it is demoralizing for boVs - to be out at night. We reply to this argument, by say ing that if boys are rightly taught at home, they will behave when away from home. Nay more ; ;those Trho have heretofore been guilty of this rude behavior mentioned, are boys who run the streets every night in the week, and are only gentlemanly in theTrl)ehavior Wiite at the Urpperdnce meeting. It would surprise the pa rents of such to see them, (as we see them,) every Thursday night dignifi ed in all their actions, taking part in the debates and giving evidence of thought which we hope will lead them to usefulness when they are called to take part in the great battle of life. J From those who oppose us through ignorance those who hate our objects, and those who approve our motives but do nothing to aid us, 'we ask a pa tient hearing. . The war left all of us demoralized old and voung. Men who never before tasted intox icating drinks are ' now drunkaids. Men who oiice labored in the great Temperance Reformation, now drink and are seen going in and out of bar rooms and reeling along the streets, half crazed from the effects of liquor Husbands once kind, affectionate and happy, are now worse than brutes.. Fathers once loving, gentle and pa tient, are now careless, rough and ill natured. Sons once the pride of fond parents, are now loafing around bar-rooms, swilling liquor and making themselves I disgusting by day an4 ' the terror of ine community at nignu ; , - Can it be that any wife wishes to see her husband a drunken vagabond ? Can it be that any mother wishes to see her son a worthless sot? - We propose to begin in time.' We desire to take boys within the protect ing folds of our order and teach them sobriety while young, before evil hab its bind them with fetters stronger than life, V r; We desire to lead them in paths of Temperance, where they may learn to be useful ornaments in Society; and proud objects of affection in the fami ly circle. .We desire to raise up a generation of men, honored at home and abroad, for Virtue, Industry and Sobriety; men who will develop our rich resources, improve our wasted lands and elevate Virginia to that exalted position whica should be occupied by the mother of States and Statesmen. v V To succeed in these objects we need aid and encouragenient from parents. Our Society has. been in existence more than a year. We have not been encouraged by th ose from whom we expected encouragement. At times we felt that our Society must go down; but thank 6ot we per severed surmountedi difiiculties which have blasted societies with better pros pects and wiser heads, and to-day wo come before the public, firmly resolv ed never to give up the fight never to yield the battle to the 'enemy, but armed with that noble weapon, Charts ty, and with the firm conviction that God will strengthen bur weak arms in such a noble cause, fling our flag to' the breeze and appeal to Fathers,- Mothers, Brothers, and Sisters to en list with us, and take part tn our war fare against the greatest enemy of Peace, Home and Happiness. ' For information, we would state .thai all applicants for membership in the Junior Council must W at Je&sjt twelve and not over eighttpT years of ? age,- Must believe in the existence of God ... - -,-.' i . - . and reverence the . teachings of the. Holy, Scriptures. Musi tnke a pledge to abstain from the use as a beverage. of all spirituous and malt liquors, wine and cider. j The Initiation fee is small and monthly dues only sufficient to pay necessary expenses. K. Sf Morgan. tor the t nend ol Temperance. ; Suffolk, Va., ) .? S.-pt. 15th, 1868. J ' De.vr Bro. Wiiitakekt Your state- 3 ment of the lack of support affordeel the Friend oj ' Trmptrattcet surprises and mortifies me. The naner is'chean. well printed and well edited. It does not contain dnite'tis mnoh TiftWH frnm me wruer as coiuu oe aesirea. out - this cannot well be obtained by the stances surrounding" him. Permit me to suggest that you make an effort td secure an agent at every point whero a Subordinate Council has been con stituted. A general dissemination of the paper, will impart ne : life and energy to the whole br'qtherhood A loon into tne urawer ana a glance 4 1 t : t '""- at the correspondence of the Secreta ry of the Stat e Council Of "Virginia,, enables me to say to you, with pleas ure,1 that we have nothing to discour age us in Virginia. The Councils; working at the last semi-annual ses sion, arc all holding their own. and some of them enjoying much prosperi ty. Suffolk Council, No. 8, at this, place, had a larger meeting on Mon day evening last; than it "has had in several months, Our members are standing firm. The other Council in this county, Yeates, No. 40, is piepar ing to have a public meeting soon. news . is cneenng. Jro. Ceo. A. Bruce, D. V. P., in the Angu3ta Dis trict,; writes encouragingly,' concern ing affairs in his District. Doe Hill Council, No. 17, in Highland . county, which had well nigh become extinct, has rallied, and is doing better than ever. At Harrisonburg, quite a nuih-- ber of lady associate members have been admitted, and the; noble young men, wbich make up the Council in that place, are filled with new zeal for the good Cause. Mount Crawford No. 19, has arranged for a picnic, and' Harrisonburg, v No. 37, and McG'a heysville, No. 35, have been invited to join them.; A good time is expected. i -Bev.r. TTinle jmtea ItppMWin Chester, that the new Council there will openunder the most favorable auspices. . At Collierstown, No; 5, they are enjoying:- considerable' pros, perity. Dr. J. jL. Leatch ha recently been appoinjed D. V. P., for RocK bridge District Bro. J. G Murrell of the Nelson; District, has not been, heard from recently, but a good re port is expected soon. At Charlotte ville, where President Abell resides both the Councils are dong well 1 Bro. James B. Blanks, so well known in the Order, has recently removed from Petersburg to Norfolk, and ia connected with tlie new Coinmission House of Wright, Lee, & Co. Tbia will almost surely result in the revivi. ing of Stonewall Council No. 24, in, the latter city, ? ? :;f ' . '-;; :': The revised Bitual is' delayed ' yet another week, but I think that I may say with confidence, that .it. ,wiU.; be ready for distribution ne&t week,-. Yqu. sliall beajr from me ajs often as X have ajiy thing worth communicating . Yours, in F. T. & a, r , ! W. B. WwxoVs
Spirit of the Age [1873-1???] (Raleigh, NC)
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Sept. 25, 1868, edition 1
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