| Show I I MISS CLEVELAND OX THE S3UTHS A Halfriayful lEnlfSJarucol So rial Kisay From the White lou c From the Christian at Work July udJ Lady Mary Wortloy Montague said the world was composed of wor men < women and Smiths Not being a person by the name of Smith of myself and not S1 10t having any friends by that enclature thatllmC Lady Marys nom enlfu to me as very happy in II mvJiefid of an appropriate 31 designation a species of creature very much in the way of every good cause undertaken by clnuxjh State or society Everybody knows the Smiths even the Smiths themselves though tho Smiths are not anybody Any pastor who reads my wonte can call to minds cal eye a row long or short of these nonentical enti ties They are never lacking nonentcal the ranks of anv good cause rank ecclesiastical caust1 or eccesia ticl or secular They fall in numerously when the cause is popular numerousy fal numer ously when it is unpopular Their char acterlessness gives them character Their indfstinctiveness is always distinct and their imprcdicability of position is i always posion j 1o be di n t d A u predicated As a species they are suigeneris and may be very precisely Classified a the nobodies of the cause Now inn and women do not want Smiths around but Smiths are especially qualified to fulfil this one function of being around I is their peculiar sphere of activity They are gifted with Idvita tion as opposed to gravity They arc like certain of those encountered by Dante though they cannot be encoun tered in the Inferno very definite to the eye but wholly impalpable to the touch You can see them as clear cut as any other dark object between you and Uio light but you can walk right through them Like Miltons Michael in his fray with Satan you can get up close and careful to Cit nothing else slash right through them with that sword Hno solid might resist and after all cut nothing There is not a drop of blood to bo spilled They Cannot but by annihilation die I Nor in their liquid texture mortal wound I Receive no more than can the liquid air i These elusive Smiths come to be iveli known after a while and nothing whatever what-ever is to b expected from them They are wholly useless to any cause and save for the sad persistence of that inexorable law by which no such thing as moral i neutrality is i possible in Gods universe would be wholly harmless as well But because this law persists because he that is not for me is against me therefore there-fore itis that these useless shadows on the right side become with no change of base useful substances on the wrong side sideThere There is nothing a good friend of these ignes fatui Smith can as a friend do for them but to cutthem ofT from the ranks ofriighting men and women and remand them to an abstract space where they may Huddle with their own Give them space for repentance the benefit of clergy and then swing them from the pillory of the worlds high scorh to mix hereafter with their bloodless hearts content with their elemental kindred in the thin air of mortal noncommitment I Give them ply just time for repentance Do not delude yourself with any hope that having repented they will be any thing to the cause they have so long I I clogged The first whiff of influence from any quarter will blow them from I that place they have sought carefully and with tears Do not dream it wise or kind to give them another chance The only wisdom for the cause they disgrace the only kindness to them is to hum them away finally from any contact with anything whatever These people are too ethereal for this world They are like certain dazzling creatures who swing from nodding blossoms on a summers day held i this sunny oscillation by the power of suction We never see their feet if they have any It is their nature fo not stand but swing Milton says they cannot but by annihilation die but they can be ignored out of moral existence exist-ence as impediments to a good cause and they should be In the stress and strain of the battle we are set to wage I with real folks we are not called to fight J like Tennysons Prince with shadows You dear pastor who are seeking to win men and women to the cause of your Master cannot afford to be deceived rand exhausted by the Smiths Have you rayed and labored in your cold and lifeless less Zion for a revival of pure and undefiled unde-filed religion in your midst and is your heart cheered by a full lecture room and a crowded church Beware of the Smiths in this crowd Do not count them They will always and numerously put in an appearance at the meeting I is their mission to put in appearances Are you seeking to set the temperance ball rolling in your dull indolent little town whisky and world besotted Do not put too much faith in the large audiences audi-ences at those lectures that seem to promise men and women for the work The Smiths are there Substract the Smiths When you come to call your committees the places that know them now will know them no more forever wl Under its columns of Facts and Theories in the World of Science a late Theores CHstian at Work had an item descriptive of a Frenchmans theory to account forte I for-te mysterious disappearance notices which we so often see in our newspapers news-papers and which cause so much trouble to friends and so much employment to the police He maintains that death is occasionally actual dissolution Persons attacked by this form of disease suffer no previous illness and without warning suddenly ceased to exist and fade from do actually now sight He thinks people actaly and then melt into thin air He was discussing a political situation with a friend once who thus melted and he has never seen him since At the moment of his friends disappearance a strong hi frells but sulphurous odor was to be obseryed oor nothing besides that was remarkable of He thinks the phenomenon worthy medical investigation besides the Frenchman A good many have Witnessed the same phenomenon I Tile Smiths are alt liable t attack by S1itis this form of disease No occasion is better bet-ter adapted t develop u fade than apolitical a-political situation We have seen some pltcf sihiton outside of thing of melted Smiths lately outid I time the France But we would not take I Fance for their search An ordi of the police thCr nary pointer would do h well the smell or sulphur would be sufficient suggestion to their whereabouts I as I a t there then no hope for the Smiths t1 Ip I I I that question open Probably I leave queston I I mind to tell if he has a l knows some one own small part I have very little I For my I ow I bOeofthCSm1tl Expenencehasjttiade hope 1 hqe rand wise about them Turncoats 1 Turn-coats me are always turncoats A person j I his own who persists in never knowing h I I I rit I it wI to know orS mincLBither i wishes never t It mia to know Kapertonnewr else has none I is ie la to hold his ground you must youfm is known hi youf for his or conclude that be has no leg 1S cnclude for his legs And ground theWbtical omo import ground in either leg is the I sale r Itas myadvicetomenandwomen i madvjcQtmenal I Do not see s rto bother with Smiths PO notTho i ner delusions me I I They are optical them a the Smtths hevdeadjana jht and re s1epi ga1d l eJl t but as5icturess I = V P SiArd ylm a Siniffi by uanie Do not be nae Offended fended for if a philological I Smith you will qe that phiolorical have been talking so hat tCSths I tlkjtg ajrfully about not Smiths s aJluly are Sniths at all Vide Webster l7dc Smith the striker the beater ftlCfi bater one who forces with tho hammer Now my Smiths Smihs am no ways strikers hammerers 10 strkerH beaters or I hamn rrs They never do anything tho sort auythu of i s it They only seem cmn Uinc lll HiHI Ictchrymce I Tako heart oh thou smith JGJ j Smith and forsGaway at thy anvil smitlj hammer olle at tho baser ores and strike V out the fine gold proud of thy vocation and I I i vocable You would not smell as Sweet by any other name Are smel Smithby II Smihbi nature rid super I I ROSE ELIZABETH CLEVELAND |
