Newspapers / Orange County Observer (Hillsborough, … / Nov. 24, 1904, edition 1 / Page 1
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ESTABLISHED IM 1373 HILLSBORO, N. C, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER. 24, 1904. NEW SERIES-VOL. XXIV. NO. 3. A THANKSGIVING! INSPIRATION HOW A fA&TOS AND HIS YfttTMr. Pimpi watc wwi-k I) 8 1 ii I H UNDBED SOWS HAPPY ' H tt f O 5 9 r rr.,wtiiH. JTajrlr c T wrs in the early winter of '90. I had un dertaken the pastorate of a small church in a country town in central New York, and was desirous of re viving the 'in terest -of a young people's club. Thanks giving was ap proaching, and I was anxious the society should under take something which would promote the spirit of the day. The county jjiouse, containing about 200 of the poor and insane, was located two miles from the town, and I conceived the plan of having our society give them a genuine Thanksgiving treat. At the first meeting of the society I made the suggestion. Of course, it interested the young people, but then there came the difficulties. How could twelre or fifteen young people, poor ones at that, with a burden already too heavy to bear, contribute to the happi ness Gf 200? Expense, labor, time all the costly factors in such undertak ings, loomed up, and though bright eyes sparkled and cheeks glowed at the thought, the young people sadly eheok their heads, fearing the under taking beyond their ability. I had, however, planned the matter in my own mind, and having faith that we would not be left to our own resources in the matter., I laid bare my plans, and finally, by vote, committed the so ciety to the undertaking. The first thing we did, was ;to dele gate a person to go to the village mil ler to secure 200 eight-pound paper bags, instructing him to make'known to him, in detail our plans and 3?ur oose. The miller became interested Immediately, and when the pay-tor the bags was tendered, -he xef rtsed to ac cept it, sayingr 'No! no! I want a share in your work, and if I were a young person I think I would want to associate myself with a society such as yours." Next I went to the publisher of the Tillage newspaper and asked him to print fcr "us 200 slips of paper like this: , ' -OP THE- Imping ganfc Cjmrd) IS desirous of giving the poor and unfortunate in our County Alms House and Asylum a Thanksgiving, treat, and to that end are willing to be the almoners of the gifts of generously disposed persons. If you will kindly nil this bag with confectionery, nuts, foreign and domestic' fruit or candies, we will see that they are conveyed to them. The bags and contents will be called for on the evening before lnanksgiving Day. "Blessed is he that considereth the Poor. The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will keep mm ahve and he shall be blessed upon the earth. The Lord will strengthen nim upon the bed of languishing. Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness." -Pt. 41:13. Of course, the newspaper man was Jeeply interested and glad to contri bute the slips as his share toward the benefaction. The slips were then past ed upon the bags, and by the committee appointed for the distribution, left at Jae homes of those who had been se ated. No consideration was given jo either the denominational or the re Jpons character of those - solicited, "oman Catholics, Jews and infidels ttere asked, and responded generous- y- The entire population of: the vil lage felt the generous thrill and the appy glow. Two hundred households . ere made happy for days in dlSCUSS S tllPir (VmfriKiU.V YTTt 4-V. - wiuuuu nuuo. yv lit: IX tiltr jags were gathered together it was. Tnn .1 mat we had nearly half a ton goodies for the poor people and not WAS "A 8A.D THANKSGIVING FOB ttINE 1CAEXS IT LESS DMSABY." rlLf !?e bags as foan& missing or or the genetonity and kindly svm - y of People those bags were. ID ."am Some of them were estimated as worth not less than $3. In them were or anges, bananas, apples, nnriaga grapes, figs, nuts, cakes, boxes of candies, cakes of chocolates, cough drops, chew ing gum, booklets, fancy pictures and other articles. v These bags were carefully carried to the county house by a committee on Thanksgiving morning, and with the aid of the keeper, his wife, and the do mestics; - assorted and distributed First, the bags were placed upon a large table and the contents assorted into baskets, pails and tubs. There were bushels of oranges and apples, more than a bushel of bananas, pairs of grapes, nuts and candies and other things. Then 200 plates were spread along the sides of the long corridor of the hall, and one article from each was placed upon each plate, till the plates were heaping .high and lusciouslv beau tiful. Yet one-third only of the con tribution had found place. One hundred of these nlates were taken into the dining hall of the insti tution, placed upon the tables and then the aged inmates to the same number were invited to be seated. The members of the committee were then jDheif Est 1 nvited in and introduced by the keeper and given the opportunity to convey to them the greetings of the loving hearts which had inspired the kindly remembrance. After a few words by the pastor the responses began. One I NJBVEB SEED SUCH A SPREAD IN MY LIFE BEFORE. by one, beginning at the head of the table, and passing around it, the whole 100'gave'oral testimony to their grati tude for the kindly consideration. . We sometimes say we cannot pray and speak in- pray er meeting. If -we were incarcerated In the poor house and some kindly friend remembered us, We would speak. Our " tongues would not be tied. "God bless you, sir, the longest day you live for your thoughtfulness." "Say thank yotf for one to your young people, sir., J never, seed such a spread in my life before." "I thank you, and our Heavenly Fath er for you." "This fs a sad Thanks giving to me, but this bright ray of sunshine makes it less deary. I thank you." Such were the expres sions of gratitude we heard. Some of them seenied Jlke the welling up of the great frozen depths the rmeltmg again Into emotion of hearts that had become hard and flinty. The expression of their gratitude well-nigh broke our hearts. After making the rounds of the hos pital and the asylum, wCJk our d- f partnre, feeling that in addition to the1 blessedness of having remembered the poor, we had established a red-letter day in the history - of the institution.; The keeper, in a communication to our society many weeks afterwards, add-, ed to previous expressions of gratitude, the assurance that the event had caused a happy divergence"; in the thoughts of the inmates, and instead of dwelling upon their unfortunate condi tion, they had continually talked of the thoughtfulness of their friends. It ought to be added that our contribu tion provided the inmates of the insti tution with a tasty dessert after each Sabbath dinner till some time after New Year's, and also gave pur feeble society the first spur of inspiration which led it out into larger, andnnore active spheres of altruistic endeavor. Ram's Horn. Sonnet Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving Day! The memory of bur sires Comes o'er us-at the murmur of thy -name; And once again Ave see them as they came Weary and heartsick, hushing their desires For homes and kindred far across the sea, That, without fear or hindrance,, they might raise " " Daily to God their prayers and hymns of praise, And walk His paths in all humility. We knew thee first in sixteen twenty-one; The shores of bleak New England claim thy birth ; -And though thy cradle buried was in snow, And chill November winds, with icy tone, Hushed thee to sleep, yet now with joy and mirth We celebrate that day of long ago. Louise Boyd. , Ml & From Harper's Bazar. SEASON OF COOD CHEER. Thankscivins: Day an Occasion Foi (General Kejoicinp. Next Thursday, by proclamation pro vided, every civilized corner of this country will Throb with the thanks giving spirit and resound with hymns of praise for the bountiful blessings of the year. The most sober celebra tion on the Americancalendar, Thanks giving is yet an occasion for general rejoicing and feasting, andL it ' is al ways heralded with joyous anticipa tions.. And this year's observance promises to be most heartily enjoyed by the great mass of people through out .the land. It is an occasion that opens the great, broad heart of the country to the dis tress of the unfortunate, when the mil lionaire is (sometimes) thankful he has purse strings to unloosen, when the financially comfortable indulge in un usual luxuries, when one struggling tradesman is satisfied with a medium sized turkey, when the ragged child of poverty gets only a smell of the savory dishes of the day and philosophically murmurs that he is thankful to be alive However, there are few unfor tunates -unprovided for on this festive anniversary. The Inmates of hospitals, jails, poorhouses and other public in stitutions all fare generously, and even the homeless outcast renews acquain tance with edibles that have lone been strangers to his stomach. Thanks giving Is a. day for pleasant family re unions, when the widely . scattered members of a once united household gather at bountiful dinners of roast turkey, ' plum pudding, : mince and pumpkin pies, etc.- - ' t .1 X: A SERHON FOR SUNDAY API ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED. "SLEEP AS GOD'S GIFT." V'V : - - ' ... " : The Iter. T. A . Kelson, TD. Delivers s Stirring f Address on the Subject. "SlrepleS8neg8," With an Appropriate Text f Comprehensive Meanfa, , ROoktJyjt, N. Y. At the Second Pres byterian Church Sunday morning the pas tor, the Rev. T.NA. Nelson, D. D., preached on the subject, "Sleeplessness." He took for his text, Daniel ii, part of first verse. Mis spirit was troubled and sleep -went from him," and said: That line of the poet Young, "Sleep, na ture s sweet restorer," like every other true poet s saying, was inspired. "Blessings light' on him who first invented sImi:" s&iys Sancho Panza, in Don Qaixote' and voienage exclaims, m the Ancient Man ner," "O, sleep, it is a gentle thing!" Ten nyson speaks f 4the mystery of golden sleep," and what a mystery indeed it is. It is the most interesting and the most per plexing of all physical and metaphysical mysteries. The mother bends lovingly over her infant in the cradle and wonders what it means this harmless, painless, lapsing of all life into unbroken tranquil lity. Those little hands, now so ouiet. but "so busy most of the time, how" beautiful and still they are now. Those limbs com posed in attitudes of such' unconscious grace, lying on the pillow; how hard it generally is to keep them in order during wakeful hours. And how unspeakably sol emn it is to think how far the child is now beyond our reach. Who is it, when the face of the mother fades from the vision, that takes its "soul in charge V - But when a man sleeps the spectacle is more suggestive. Think of Caesar on his couch, his vigilant eyes closed, his voice si lent, his brain un working and still. Think of Alexander in the night, looking' as ; he finally looked in the coffin, dead. Imagine how David felt when he saw Saul entering the cave. Think of Cicero fast asleep. Think of the sleeping, Christ lying asleep in the midst of the tempest, as if He were resting in the heart of God. When Christ turns away from ua with closed eyes there is al ways afforded opportunity for the storm. We are only at peace while He is wakef ully with us. While He sleeps not only is the light Avithdrawn, but the darkness is felt to the utmost; life's ship is tossed with the storm and we are threatened with mortal danger. A sleeper Christ will do me no good. A painted Christ will not be of the vaguest service in, my lifc A wooden cru cifix or ivory cross will not help me. It ri)ust be a Avalceful Christ with every en ergy astir; power in very look and move ment; an actual, positive,- real and per sonal Christ. We are mocked by; His figure; we arc saved by His personality. It is Christ, not in, the temporary paralysis of unconscious sleep, but Christ alert in -watchful omnipotence that I need. Unless we nightly sink into sleep we arc not pre- E'ared to live,vand anything over which ave control which prevents out: sleeping in proportion . to our need should be es teemed guilt before God. Since the strength, liberty to "waste it. evertneless, in our day we live, in such fashion that, like the eastern monarch, bur spirits are troubled o our sleep departs. This has come about sometimes from the haste to get rich. People rise early and sit up late in their eager pursuit of wealth, and when the jading day is done at last and they lay tneir heads upon their pil-l lows, sleep may fly from them and they may seek it in vain. Now this is not a light matter. There are few things -more dispiriting and truly exhausting than the loss .'of natural sleep; to count hour after hour in feverish wakefulness; seeking for getf ulness which will not come. . . ' Now what is the root of all this dis tress? The physician will doubtless diag nose it as owing to unhealthy excitement i of braii and undue sensitiveness of the ! nervous system. But in its last analysis you will find as a general rule the great cause of, this weary wakefulness, anxiety and misery is simply -want of faith in God. It is because Ave are not able; as Ave ought to trust ourselves and all that concerns us to' a sure providence, and many of you knoAV that it is mental anxiety that breaks your rest. It is because you are trying to bear the burden and build the house your-, selves, to keep the city yourselves, that you have the anxious hours. It is because you Avill plan toovfar ahead instead of let ting each day" bear its oaat burden; be cause you AviH ask Avhat is to become f of you and your children if such and such an event takes place; because' you will take the future into your OAvn hands insteadof leaving it to Jesus. " But why should Ave not have faith in God? If AAre had, many of us, would riot we sleep? If, once for all, you have in trusted, your soul to His keeping you are sure that all things will go Avell: that noth ing can go amiss; that God will keep you, angels will guide your footsteps and the Holy Spirit will hvell within you from hour to hour. You will then lay your head down upon your pillow and rise again, with the morning light, refreshed. After trying to explain away our weary hours of sleeplessness on the basis of phy sical infirmity, we have to confess that the real source is found in the things that prey on .our minds by day and break our rest at night, arid mixed with those anxious thoughts there are the thoughts that will intrude themselves of a more serious. char acter. In the still, wakeful hours,, even the most heedless one is forced occasionally to think of. Him before whom we 'must surely appear and give account of i our selves. It is impossible, then, quite to sup press a question as to wncre ina soul wilt be when the body shall be down in its lit tle bed, when all earthly things have faded from us. But if you. can truly trust that it is well with you, that amid your deep un-. worthiness you are simply believing' on your Saviour and are striving to grow' like Him; that your task is appointed you of God, however humble, your sphere, it is large enough to achieve character; if you can always feel that Christ is near and ready to help; that you and those near, to you are provided for by Him and that you shall never want; if you have once for all learned whether awake or asleep that you are the Lord's and3 that you shall live to gether with Him, then .surely you may sink into untroubled rest and sleep a refreshing and peaceful sleep. ". . But let me come closer still to the exper ience of some perhaps among professing Christians. You know that healthful sleep is our most peaceful state. You see human nature in that state in which it is most thoroughly free from all ; annoyance and Jrouble, and that is a symbol of the prov ice. - "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose- mind is stayed on Thee." That is a wonderful promise, hut there is no bhnlciriK ' the factthaf comparatively few even among those - who claim to be true followers, fever experience it. in its ful ness. As a rule it is far from being per fect. . One of -the 'ancient sehoolmen wrote in summing up the chief characteristics of Hfe: "I entered this4 world in loneliness; I re lived in anxiety; I shall leave it i fear.". That about expresses the aitaation of many of you. Look at tfor faces on the street. Almost every one is careworn and (anxious. There is no doubt that care sits heavily on mankind. What is wrong? Simply this: Tbat.while God has promised peace and is ready, to give it it must be re ceived by faith. It goes without sayings that the amount of peace and quiet we shall experience will be in proportion to eur, trust in God. If we were Teally able to .: trust God with everything; instead of omg, as mos t Christians; H Ling God and more than they can help and ptever feeling quite sure as to- what He may uo; ir we would east our cares upon Him instead of bearing them ourselves Ayhat unspeakable peace we should enjoy. But Ave have not quite got at the rreal root of the difficulty yet "Doubtless some of you are thinking that if some- particular thing which vexes you Avere out of the way you vfould be all right . and your peace would flow as a river. No. that far not the trouble. " It is not some petty vexation that constitutes the bitterness in your cupv. If you probe your hearts deeper you will discover that the real reason is that you are not. right with -God. You hava not truly and heartily believed in Jesus. You; have thought good deal about religion,, but you have never clearly taken the peace ful step, and until yow do you will never experience a true and abiding peace. Un til you do this fully in obedience and devo tion to Jesus Christ; not until you are able to say, very humbly, yet with sincerity: "I know whom I have believed."" Not till then can you be at peace. i am not called upon to explain the mys tery of Christ by which we are able to ar rive at this blessed conviction of faith. It would be a difficult thing to follow by a logical process. There are many things in the working out of your deepest conscience which are beyond our logic. Nevertheless, I say there is no escape into the realm of rest save by faith in the atoning grace of Jesus Christ. The thing that is at the bot tom of the fear is the latent conviction that you .are not right with God. It is that which kept you vaguely unsatisfied. It is eating the heart out of your enjoyment of life. Get that right once and you will re ceive the "peace of God whieh passeth un derstanding." Perhaps I may not have been sufficiently personal, direct and pun gent, and, if so, I pray God's forgiveness and yours. It Avill not heal a deeply poisoned Avound to skin it over. I pray you, probe your hearts to the uttermost. If you feel you have been Avrong until now begin to be right from- this hour. Get the central stay made firm and strong. Get fast hold of God. The great step is to be really persuaded that God is your Tather To be persuaded that He loved you, unworthy as you 'are; that He reckons jyou among the number of those to Avhom He gives eternal life. The unrest. comes from the fear that you have not got on the solid ground; that you are still worse, risking the losing of your soul. At. any moment the Master may rise and close the door. Your soul may suddenly look back' upon the probation period- f oreVer arid look for ward toward .heaven' for everlasting. . .0, try, I beseech, you, for the hope set forth in the gospeL Have it out with God, once f op afl. Get on ' terms of peace with Him before; the dav may close. Cast yourself I have spoken of two things. First, the consuming care; second, the latent convic tion. There is one other experience that may break our sleep. I pray God that none of you may have it. It is the experience of one Avho has committed spiritual suicide. In one of Victor Hugo's books, there is a character who, after a long series of exper iences, at last arrived at" a great crisis; he wavers, hesitates, and then commits a co lossal sin. Conscience is insulted bevond forgiveness. Then suddenly he hears, as it Avere, an internal burst of laughter laugh ter of the soul and the soul rarely hears this innermost laughter more than once .Avithout hearing it forever. This character afterward falls asleep and dreains. He en ters the town; he comes upon many men standing in A'arious postures, silent and im movable, as if dead. In unspeakable terror he tries to flee out of the lifeless city, Avhen, looking back, he is appalled to feee the inhabitants coming, after him. They overtake him And hold him and cry: "Do you know that you have been dead for a long while?" Now and then, in polite so ciety, in select communities, even in this fellowship, unknown to us, but not un known to God, one ci;mes upon one of these dead men Avho have heard the inter nal burst of laughter, Avho mocks and de fies God and insults divine mercy. There is such a thing as spiritual suicide. Men sometimes by their action or non-action take the life of the soul; they are dead to repentance and to hope, and at last they are dead to God. ' "Thus men drive sleep forever from their eyelids, like Macbeth.' When once the conviction seizes upon the soul then farewell to slumber and peace. God forgive me if I have spoken - too plainly, if I have misrepresented the spirit of truth, but if I have been true to the word of God then let him that hath ears hear what the spirit says: "To-day, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." Lay hold upon eternal life. Then you may lay down in, sleep; since when you awake you shall still be with Him ; and Avhether you wake or not, you will be the Lord's and His forever. : - Keep Moral Ideas Clear. . We need, above all things, to keep our moral ideal clear and high. . "Woe unto him that puts light for darkness and dark ness for light, sweet for bitter," etc. That is, woe unto him that confounds moral dis tinctions.' Not our patriotism or our par tisanship must blind us to truth. Neither for ourselves nor our country nor our party may we condone, sin or falsehood or meanness. If a prophetess, a chosen mes senger of God, could go Wrong, how easily lnay we. Dean Hodges is just publishing a book on "The Human Nature of the Saints." A companion volume might be "The False Judgments of Christian Peo- Ele.'V Bias is almost irresistible. What elps on that which we much' care for we are apt to praise without looking too close ly at its moral quality. So doing, we close our insight, extinguish the light of God kindled within us, and by and by we may find ourselves walking in darkness rather than light, perishing, perhaps, as Balaam perished among the enemies of the Lord. He Completely Satisfies.' God is love! ' God is light! This ancient message is also the most recent report of our own personal experience. Oh, God i our home; indeed! We can no more de scribe this consciousness to a man who hat never possessed it than we can make a foundling from a workhouse understand the mysterious Joys of an earthly Christian home. : Yes, we are at home with God. He satisfies! He satisfies! It is He who gives the completing touch to thought, to work, to pleasure and to life. 'Without Him out, intellectual ladder has neither foundation to stand upon below nor rest to lean against above.. . Without Him our purposes miss their best fruition and our ioys their perfume. He. is our riome indeed, and we know the unmistakable sign when we feel the outstretched love of our Father bend ing over u THE DISOBLIGING BEAK. ' There dnce was a man who said, "OE Please, good Mr, Bear, let me go'; ; ' S,011 yo think that you can ?,,f r , , he bear looked at the man, And calmly responded," Why no'" ' -aroly Wells, in St. Nickolas.v UNCT OPINION, Which'is the luckiest day to btf married, Uncle Joe?" - "Matrimony knws no locky dayJW Houston Post, , ; r - SOTTO VOCE The' Bridegroom (to himself) "What a brute I have been, and how I must have frightened her!" The Bride (to herself) eir,. Fm glad he is going (to be so easily man aged' Brooklyn' Life. . " -- . HE KNEW. Physician "What makes you think you could hot foe permaently cured by; the sun-bath process?" Patient "Because I've tried hot air for years, and I know it's only a stim ulant." Detroit Free Press. ONE MEANS BOTH.. "Which would you rather have, in- fluence or affluence?T asked the earnest man. "Influence replied the practical pol itician. "Give me that, and the afflu ence will come easy ."--Cincinnati Com niercial-Tribune. " ' PARTICULAR. '!Yes siree, this hotel is a historic building. General Washington stopped here in one of his trips across New Jersey." . -. "Oh, that's all right about iris stop ping here. But he dida't stay fcere di4 he?" Baltimore World. , " " - S 'Mlirh Wiir TIPwe 1A tho-nonal. I ims uiuimug ; Jinks "No, the game yesterday waa postponed oh account of rain, but Oyama is trying to persuade Kuropat kin to play a double header to-mor row." Cincinnati Commercial-Tribunje. THE OLD. STORY. Jones "What have you got that Utring around your finger for?" Browtfi-"My wife put it on so that I should 'remember something,-1 forget what it was. I'm keeping it on novn to remind me to ask her what it waa when I get home, this evening." Bos ton Transcript. . 1 ; BUSY. AT TIMES.. "Does that chimney always smoke? "No, not always; only when there's & fire in the stove." Chicago Journal. " THE TROUBLE. . "Yes, sir," said the man -with the frayed collar, "that land is now worth. 300 a foot, and only a year ago I could have bought it for. a mere song." "But you couldn't sing, eh?" cackled the funny man. . ' v "Oh, I could sing, but I couldn't get the right notes'London Tid-Bits. ' INSUFFICIENT. "So your wife has given up the stud), f theosophy." . .' ' "Yes. She. decided that one astral body would be of no use. Unless she could be at a tea, 'a progressive euchre party, a meeting of the sewing circle a matinee and a department store at the" same rtime. it wasn't worth worry ing about." Washington -Star. - RAISING A QUESTION. "At what point," said a delegate to the Congress ot Mothers, - "would yon consider a, boy too old or too large t take upon your knees?" "When he becomes so big that yoa can't lay him across your knee, face downward," replied a large, resolute hard-featured delegate from the fac North west.-Chicago Tribune.,
Orange County Observer (Hillsborough, N.C.)
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Nov. 24, 1904, edition 1
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