Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

THW LEDGER: GAFFNEY, S. C., FEBRUARY 10, 1898. A FAITHFUL SISTER. TALMAGE TELLS AGAIN STORY OF MIRIAM. THE Hop SoptIco to Mokps Wa» Like Tliat Which Thousandi! of Noblo Siateri, Have Rendered to Rrcthern Whoiie Lives They Have Influenced For Good. tCopyright, 1898, by American Press Asso ciation.] Washington, Fob. 6.—In this ser mon of Dr. Tahnugo the character of a •wise, sympathetic and self denying sis ter is set forth as an example, and tho story will set hundreds of men to think ing over old times; text, Exodus ii, 4, “Aud his sister stood afar off to wit what would be done to him. ” Princess Thermutis, daughter of Pharaoh, looking oat through tho lat tice of her bathing honso, on tho banks of tho Nile, saw a cnrious boat on the river. It had neither oar nor helm, and they would have been useless anyhow. There was only one passenger, and that a-baby boy. But the Mayflower, that brought the pilgrim fathers to Amer ica, carried not so precious a load. The boat was made of the broad leaves of papyrus, tightened together by bitumen. Boats were sometimes made of that ma terial, as we loam from Pliny and Herod otus and Theophrastus. “Kill all tho Hebrew children bora,” bad been Pha raoh’s order. To save her boy, Jochebed, tho mother of little Moses, had pnt him in that queer boat and launched him. His sister Miriam stood on tho bank watching that precious craft. She was far enough off uofc to draw attention to the boat, but near enough to offer pro tection. There she stands on the bunk— Miriam the poetess, Miriam the quick witted, Miriam the faithful, though very human, for in after time she dem onstrated it. She Had Rep Faults. Miriam was a splendid sister, but had her faults, like all tho rest of us. How carefully she watched the boat contain ing her brother! A strong wind might upset it. The buffaloes often found there might in a sadden plunge of thirst sink it. Some ravenous waterfowl might swoop and pick his eyes out with iron beak. Some crocodile or hippopota mus crawling through the rushes might crunch tho babe. Miriam watched and watched until Princess Thermutis, a maiden on each side of her holding palm leaves over her bead to shelter her from the sun, came down and entered her bathing house. When from the lattice she saw that boat sho ordered it brought, and when tho loaves were pulled back from the face of the child and tho boy looked up ho cried aloud, for he was hungry aud frightened and would not even let tho princess take him. The in- j faut would rather stay hungry than acknowledge any one of tho court as [ mother. Now Miriam, the sister, incog nito, no one suspecting her relation to i the child, leaps from the bank and rushes ' down and offers to get a nurse to pacify the child. Consent is given, and she brings Jochebed, the baby’s mother, in cognito, none of the court knowing that she was the mother, aud when Jochebed arrived tho child stopped crying, for its ; fright was calmed and its hunger ap- , peased. You may admire Jochebed, the mother, and all the ages may admire Moses, but I (Cap my hands in applause at the behavior of Miriam, the faithful, brilliant and strategic sister. “Go home," some one might have said to Miriam. “ Why risk yourself out there alone on tho banks of tho Nile, breathing the miasma and in danger of being attacked of wild beast or ruffian? Go home!” No; Miriam, the sister, more lovingly watched and bravely de fended Moses, the brother. Is be worthy her care and courage? Oh, yes; the 60 centuries of the world’s history bavo never had so much involved in the ar rival of any ship at any port as iu the landing of that papyrus boat calked with bitumen! Its one passenger was to be a nonsuch iu history—lawyer, states man, politician, legislator, organizer, conqueror, deliverer. He had such re markable beauty in childhood that, Josephus says, when he was carried along tho road people stopped to gaze at him, and workmen would leave their work to admire him. When the king playfully put his crown upon this boy, he threw it off indignantly and put his foot on it. The king, fearing that this might be a sign that the child might yet take down his crown, applied another test. According to the Jewish legend, the king ordered two bowls to bo put before the child, one containing rubies and the other burning coals, and if he took tbe coals he was to live and If be took the rubies he was to die. For some reasou tbe child took one of tho coals aud put it in bis mouth, so that his life was spared, although it burned tbe tougno till he was indistinct of utterance ever after. Having come to manhood, bo spread open the palms of his hands in prayer, aud tho Red sea parted to let 2,600,000 people escape. Aud ho put the palms of his hands together iu pray er, and tbe Bed sea closed on a strangu lated host. Grand In Life and In Death. His life so unutterably grand, bis burial must be on tbe same scale. God would let neither man nor saint nor archangel have anything to do with weaving for him a shroud or digging for him a grave. Tho omnipotent God left bis throne in heaven one day, and if tho question was asked, “Whither is tbe King of the Universe going?” the answer was, “I am going down to bury Moses.” And the Lord took thismighli- •st of men to the top of a hill, aud the day was clear, and Moses ran bis eye over tho magnificent range of country. Hero tbe valley of Esdraelon, where tbe final battle of all nations is to be fought, aud yonder the mountains He) • mon, and Lebanon, and Gemini, aud the bills of Judaea, and tbe village of Bethlehem there, and tho city of Jeri cho yonder, and tbe vast stretch of landscape that almost took tho old law- fiver’s breath away as he loosed at it And then without a pang—as I learn from tho statement that thf®? 0 rj ^ Mosos was uudimmed aud lyiatural force unabated—God touched^ great lawgiver’s eyes and they and his lungs aud they ceasedmd his heart and it stopped, aud coiiauded, saying, “To the skies, thou.umortal spirit!” And then one divimaud was put agaiust tho back of Mos and the other baud against the pulses breast, and God laid him softly dowm Mount Nebo, aud then tho lawgiv lifted iu tho Almighty’s arms, wasarried to the opening of a cave amJaced in a crypt, aud one stroke of tho *’ine hand smoothed the features into» everlast ing calm, and a rock was led to tho door, aud tho only obsequi at which God did all the offices of pst and un dertaker and gravedigger «t mourner, W’ere ended. Oh, was cot Miriam, ) sister of Moses, doing a good thb an impor tant thing, a glorious th? when she watched tho boat woven o*iver plants aud made water tight witasphaltum, carrying its ono passeugejDid sho not put all the ages of timea*)f a coming eternity under obligatiofben she de fended her helpless brow from tho perils aquatic, reptiliamd ravenous? She it was that broughlhat wonder ful babe and his mothttogether, so that he was reared to bcho deliverer of his nation, when otheise, if saved at all from the rushes (the Nile, ho would have been only c more of tho God defying pharaohrfor Princess Thermutis of tho bathiihouso would have inherited tho crowjf Egypt, aud us she had no child -her own this adopted child would hutJome to coro nation. Had there been Miriam there would have been noMoe What a gar- laud for faithful sisterW! For how many a lawgiver, and h'many a hero, aud how many a deliver, and how many a saint are the orld aud the church indebted to a vokful, loving, faithful, godly sister? *me up out of the farmhouses, come tout of the in conspicuous homes, co up from tho banks of the Hndson^d Penobscot, aud tho Savannah, undo Mobile, and tho Mississippi, aud alhe other Niles of America, and let us) you, the Mir iams who watched a: protected the leaders in law, and mciuo, and mer chandise, aud art, audiriculture, aud mechanics, and religic If I should ask all physicians, aud afneys, aud mer chants, and minister^ religion, aud successful mon of aljrofessious and trades who are iuded to an elderly sister for good iufla<eB and perhaps for an education or prosperous start to let it be kuown, hired* would tes tify. God knows 1/ many of our Greek lexicons aud 'W much of our schooling were paid * by money that would otherwise ha gone for the re- pleuishing of a sistervardrobe. While the brother sailed ofor a resounding sphere the sister waod him from tho banks of self denial. The Blder 8I«» Influence. Miriam was tbe &it of tho family. Moses aud Aaron,* brothers, were younger. Oh, the per of tho eldpr sister to help docidbe brother’s char acter for usefulness*! for heaven! bhe can keep off from I brother more evils than Miriam coulhave driven back waterfowl or crocoe from tbe ark of bulrushes. The o} sister decides the direction iu wbicbo cradle boat shall sail. By gentlene by good sense, by Christian priucip she can turn it to ward tho pulacet of a wicked Pha raoh, but of a hcBod, end a brighter princoss than T'mutis should lift him out of peril/en religion, whose ways are ways oleesautness and oil her paths are pee Tbe older sister, bow much tbe wd owes her I Born while yet the faiy was in limited cir cumstances, she »d to bold and take caro of her youjr brothers And if there is anythiithat excites my sym pathy it is u lit'girl lugging round a great fut childud getting her ears boxed because o cannot keep him quiet By tbe no she gets to young womanhood sbs pale and worn out, and her attra'eaess has been sacri ficed on the » of sisterly fidelity, and she is coguod to celibacy, and society calls hay on unfair name, but in heaven theyll her Miriam. In most families tbe vo most undesirable places in the 9*d of births are the first and the 1—the first because she is worn out w the cares of a homo that cannot a*d to hire help and the last because • is spoiled as a pet Among the xndest equipages that ■weep throu the streets of heaven will be the occupied by sisters who sacrificed thrives for brothers. They will have tbueit of the Apocalyptic white borsemd many who on earth looked dowipon them will bavo to torn out to them pass, the charioteer crying: “er the way! A queen is coming!” Let sisteiot begrudge the time and care bestol on a brother. It is hard to believe at any boy that yoa know so well nsar brother can ever turn out anythivery useful Well, he may not be a There is only ono of that kind >ded for 6,000 years. But I tell you vt your brother will be— either a tping or a curse to society and a canate for happiness or wretch edness. will, like Moses, have the cboioo be:on rubies and living coals, and yomfloence will have much to do with decision. He may not, like Moses, the deliverer of a nation, but he may your father and mother are gone the deliverer of a household. What asauds of homes today sro piloted brothers! There are proper- ties novcll invested and yielding in come i the support of sisters aud younge brothers because tbe older brothepso to tho leadership from tbe day thither lay down to die. What ever ydo for your brothers will come back fnu r.gain. If you set him an ill nutarr censorious, unaccommodating exam) it will recoil upon you from his oprrltated and despoiled nature. If yij patience with his infirmities and Mobility of character dwell with him tho few years of your compan ions) you will have your counsels re* fleefbaok upon you some day by his splendor of behavior in seme crisis ' where bo would have failed but for you. I Don’t snub him. Don’t depreciate his i ability. Don’t talk diHcourugingly about his future. Dou’t let Miriam get down off the bank of tho Nile aud wade out aud upset the ark of bulrushes. Don't tease him. Brothers aud sisters do not consider it any barm to tease. That spirit abroad iu the family is ono of the meanest aud most devilish. There is a teasing that is pleasurable aud is only another form of innocent raillery, but that which provokes and irritates and makes the eye flash with anger is to be reprehended. It would be less blame worthy to take a buuch of thorns aud draw them across your sister’s cheek or to take a knife and draw its sharp edge across your brother’s hand till the blood spurts, for that would damage only tho body, but teasiug is the thorn aud tho knife scratching and lacerating the dis position and the soul. It is tho curse of innumerable households that the broth ers tease the sisters and the sisters tbe brothers. Sometimes it is the color of the hair or the shape of tbe features or au affair of tho heart. Sometimes it ie by revealing a secret or by a suggestive look or a guffaw or an “Ahem !’’ Tease tease, tease! For mercy’s sake, quit it! Christ says, “Ho that hateth his brother is a murderer.’* Now, wheu you by teasiug make rour brother or sister hate, you turn him or her into a mur derer or murderess. Heware of Jralouay. Don’t let jealousy ever touch a sis ter’s soul, as it so often does, because her brother gets more honor or more means. Even Miriam, tho heroine of tho text, was struck by that evil passion of jealousy. She had possessed unlimited influence over Mosos, aud now he mar ries, and not only so, but marries a black woman from Ethiopia,and Miriam is so disgusted and outraged ut Moses, first because ho had married at all aud next because ho had practiced miscegeu- atiou, that sbo is drawn into a frenzy, and then begins to turn white aud gets white as a corpse and then whiter tlian a corpse. Her complexion is like chalk. The fact is sho has the Egyptian lepro sy. And now tho brother whom she had defended on the Nile comes to her res cue iu a prayer that brings her restora tion. Let there bo no room iu all your bouse for jealousy either to sit or stand. It is a leprous abomination. Yonr broth er’s success, O sisters, is your success. His victories will be your victories. For while Mosos, the brother, led tho vocal music after tho crossing of the Rod sea Miriam, the sister, with two sheets of shining braes uplifted and glitteriug in the sun, led the instrumental music, clapping the cymbals till the last frightened neigh of pursuing cavalry horse was smothered iu the wave and the last Egyptian helmet went under. How strong it makes a family wheu all the sisters and brothers stand to gether, aud what au awful wreck wheu they disintegrate, quarreling about a fa ther’s will and making tho surrogate's office horrible with their wrangle! Bet ter when you wore little children in the nursery that with your playhouse mallets you had accidentally killed each other fighting across your cradle than that having come to the age of maturity and baring in your veins and arteries the blood of tbe same father and mother you fight each other across tho parental grave in the ccmetory. If you only knew it, your interests are identical. Of all the families of tho earth that ever stood together perhaps the most conspicuous is tbe family of tho Rothschilds. As Mayer Anselm Rothschild was about to die in 1812 ho gathered hia children about him—An selm, Solomon, Nathan, Charles and James—and made them promise that they would always be united on 'change. Obeying that injunction, they have been the mightiest commercial power on earth, and at the raising or lowering of their scepter nations have risen or fallen. That illustrates bow much, on a large scale and for selfish purposes, a united family may achieve. But suppose that instead of a magnitude of dollars as tbe object, it be doing good and making salutary impression ami raising this sunken world, how much more ennobling! Sister, you do your part aud brother will do his part. If Miriam will lovingly watch the boat on the Nile, Moses will help her when lep rous disasters strike. When father and mother are gone— and they soon will be if they have not already made exit—the sisterly and fra ternal bond will bo tbe only ligament that will bold the family together. How many reasons tor yonr deep and unfal tering affection for each other? Rocked iu the same cradle, bent over by the same motherly tenderness, toiled for by tbe same father’s weary arm and aching brow, with common inheritance of all tho family secrets, and with names giv en you by parents who started you with the highest hopes for your happiness aud prosperity, I charge you, be loving and bind and forgiving. If the sister see that the brother never wants a sym pathizer, the brother will see that tbe sister never wants an escort. Oh, if tho sisters of a household knew through what terrific and damning temptations their brother goes in oity life, they would hardly sleep nights in anxiety for bis salvation. And if you would make a holy conspiracy of kind words and gentle attentions and earnest pray ers, that would save his soul from death and hide a multitude of sins. But let the sister dash off in one direction in disciple:);!!' of tho world and the broth er flee off in another direction in dissi pation, and it will not bo long before they will meet again at the iron gate of despair, their blistered foot iu the hot ashes of a consumed lifetime. Alas, Ibat brothers and sisters, though living together for years, very often do not know each other, and that they see only tbe imperfections and none of the vir tues. General Banerof tho Russian cavalry had in early life wandered off in the army, and tho family supposed he was dead. After he gained a fortune be en camped one day iu Husain, hia native place, and made a banquet, and among IN HEALTH every atom of waste material which is c-ol!octeuC/uM blood on Ha rounds tbrougiiUtesystein j: t:;rered out by tue Klc;ieys ruil thrown luto . rhm.y trac.s, this process be!:)* necessary to 1! find a >»'«s on continually la every healthy body t .en r the constant strain ot a torpid or dl_- -L liver, t'.-.e Lidueys break de vn a:.d fail to a lount 1 eci'iiies so great as to pel. on t!: v. li h; system luvluding the olrtacy r;:‘ f ring LUIrcys themselves. Tne re- mills a general eu;pension of tr.o ’7,^4 f 1 ictlons or the urtao bcar.r.g J • guns, thus leaving th*> a.<*u1«.s Uf d the b.jc'.y to accumulate un-<■ . til dropsy lu established, then the S.\!bv p'lL it becomes thcron-hly SV- rr .are that is m tho clutches of iihlGHTS DISEASE. there is l'it one way to control and euro this disease at any stage oi its progress and that Is to bring to tx-nr n npiroprlato restorative for tho pros:nr kidneys; a healing Influence that will '■au=n them to resume their blood clean sin urine gathering functions. To establt renewal ot activity permanently, tho ' Kr? and th© Inactive liver must be removed and that organ stimtt* to toe iiatUial iicrionuance of l.s A iv.aoby y)}* reio.o to be ^vioce^sfu! turn <1 t oxer- decided curative power 1 r Ixrht rTi . : ,r and V. treys, and toe org^is lnv(;ived*\v!M"r them a ho frilDNe.Y_Ht.MuDY is i*s \ c ) of* y \ met. It contains all of tae r.f dlr'ml agents h -3 Shewn t j bo most Important In t.io treatment c' tk-msed “ 3 f^ r '' ; Vtthen.agand restorative ucU'.o In those orgar.s b •! i -1, ru eiflcie..:. IsalsoatitrmVeyet' Y‘ e F*. st,Klaiari t and regu- tor. i t tho stomach it i us nn Important tonic c-.7c-ct, ar.; las' ly but r.ot. least, Is its eneeUeut bowel cleansing proper:. The combined eliec: r; these various restorative in:' , s 's i irmonictis ellott on the part of all vital organs to throw on diseased conditions. Tlreltidniysares:. oxtben- ed. and being assisted by the 1 ver and bowels, rapidly extract tho accumulated poisons la the blood, the stomach Is toned tip and tho digestion Improve l so that, sutn- 4* PREPARED " tr> Piiolciu flsti ElttGrs th.. = 1 ht LOUIS MO. clent. food is assimilated for building up anew the constitution and restoring strength, and vigor of body and brain. PRICE G". .00 PER DOTTLE. SOLD BY ALL DRUGGISTS. ‘Cherokee Drug Co. Special Agents. the great military meu who were to diue ho invited a plain miller and bis wife who lived near, by and who, affrighted, came, fearing some harm would be done them. The miller aud his wife were placed one on each side of the general at the table. Tho general asked the miller all about bis family, aud the miller said that - he bad two brothers ami a sister. “No other broth ers?” “My younger brother went off with the army many years ago and no doubt was long ago killed.’’ Then the general said, “Soldiers, I am this man’s younger brother whom ho thought was dead.” Aud how loud was the cheer, and bow warm was tho embrace 1 Kuow Kttch Other. Brother and sister, you need as much of au introduction to each other as they did. Yyu do not kuow each other. You think your brother is grouty and cross and queer, aud he thinks you are selfish aud proud and unlovely. Both wrong! That brother will bo a prince in some woman's eyes and that sister a queen iu the estimation of some man. That brother is a magnificent fellow, aud that sister is a morning iu June. Come, let me introduce you. Moses, this is Miriam. Miriam, this is Moses. Add 75 per cent to your present appreciation of each other aud wheu you kiss good morning do not stick up your cold cheek, wet from the recent washing, as though you bated to touch each other’s lips in affectionate caress. Let it have all the fondness and cordiality of a lov ing sister’s kiss. Make yourself as agreeable and help ful to each other us possible, remember ing that soon you part. The few years of boyhood and girlhood will soon slip by, and you will go out to homes of your own and into the battle with tho world and amid ever changing vicissi tudes and on paths crossed with graves and up steeps hard to climb and through shadowy ravines. But, oh, my God and Saviour, may the terminus of the jour ney be tho same as the start—namely, at father’s aud mother’s knee if they have inherited the kingdom. Then, as in boyhood and girlhood days, we rushed iu after the day's absence with much to tell of exciting adventure, aud father and mother enjoyed tbe recital as much as we who made it, so we shall on the hillside of heaven rehearse to them all tho scenes of our earthly expe dition, and they shall welcome ns home os we say, “Father and mother, we have come and brought our children with us." Tbe old revival hymn de scribed it with glorions repetition: Brothers and sisters there will meet, Brothers and sisters there will meet. Brothers and sisters there will meet, Will meet to part no more. I read of a child in the country who was detained at a neighbor’s honse on a stormy night by some fascinating stories that were being told him and then looked oat and saw it was so dark he did not dare go home. The incident impressed me tbe more because in my childhood 1 had macb the same experience. Tbe boy asked bis comrades to go with him, but they dared not. It got later and later— 7 o’clock, 8 o’clock, 0 o’clock. "Oh," he said, “I wish I were home I” As he opened tbe door tbe lost time a blinding flash of lightning and a deafening roar overcame him. But after awhile be saw in the distance a lantern, and, lo, his brother was coming to fetch him home, aud tbe lad stepped oat and with awift feet bu^tenod on to his brother, who took him home, where they were so glad to greet him aud for a long time sapper had been waiting. So may it be when the night of death cornea and our earth ly friends cannot go with as, and we dare not go alona May oar Brother, onr Elder Brother, our Friend closer than a brother, come ont to meet ns with the light of tbe promises, which sbfll be a lantern to our feet, and then we will go in to join our loved ones waiting for us, supper all ready, the marriage supper of the Lamb. IletJ The modern Pain Annihilator, will positively cure Rheumatism, Neuralgia, Sprains, Bruises, Cuts, Sores, Earache, Backache and all other aches. SALVATION OIL is sold everywhere for 25 cents. Only the genuine will do the work^ Chew LANCE’S PLUGS, The Great Tobacco Antidots,IOc. Dealers or mail JLC.Meyer & Co., BaltoJML CANDY CATHARTIC r V CA I rlAKI IC £ CURE CONSTIPATION THE ALL DRUGGISTS The Place To Buy Flour, Sugar, Coffee, 1 Lard, Meat, Tobacco, Hay, Seed Oats, Cotton Seed Meal aiwl Hulls, Coal, Steel Plows, Barbed Wire, Nails, Shovels, Mattocks, Picks, Axes, in fact a full line of Hardware, Shoes, Dry Goods* Groceries, etc., for the least money IS AT 5| Mr. F. C. Melbig. a prominent druggiet of Lynchburg, Va., aayt: “One of our citizens was cured of rheumatism of two years standing, by one bottle of Chamberlain’s Pain Balm. This liniment is famous for Its cures of rheumatism; thousands have been delighted with the prompt relief which it affords. For sale by DuPre Drug Co. No-To-Uae for Fifty Cents. Guaranteed tobacco habit cure, mule* weak meu strotitf, bluoa pure. 60c. II. All UrucffisU. r Are Ton Weak! Weakness manifests itself in the loss of ambition and aching bones. The blood is wutery; the tissues are wasting—the door is In-mg opened for disease. A botue of Browns’ Iron Hitters taken in time will restore your strength, sooths your nerves, make your blood rich and red. Do yon more good than an expensive epeHs) course of medicine. Browns' Iron Bitters is sold by all dealers. ‘Goods delivered to any part of the city. Telephone No. 39 Building and Plastering Lime, Coal, Shingles, Lath*, and Plaster Hair, [Dynamite, Blasting Powder, Fuae and Dynamite Caps, call on THE LIMESTONE SPRINGS LIME WORKS, Telephone 37. CARROLL &. CO., Lessees THE NATIONAL BANK OF GAFFNEY. CAPITAL $50,000.00 This bank respectfully solicits the accounts of individual finae 1 and corporations and will extend every reasonable accommodt tion to those doing business with it. Call to see us if you wish to borrow money. F. G. Stacy, Prest, J. G. Wardlaw, Vice-Prest, D. C. Ross, Cashier. Rlce'a Oooee Oreak© I,liniment, cures all aches and pains. Sold and guaranteed by Cubhokk* Dbco Co. IF YOU WANT TO BUY IVInles, and. TV old Cheap CALL ON J. I. N. B.—Oak wood delivered at 75c per load.