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HATS OFF TO THE MERRY
WIDOW.
Here is the story of one woman who
has had a romance thick enough to cut
in slices. The Nashville Tennesseean
is authority for the facts in the case.
This is a story of a real merry wid
ow and exactly 1,001 men. Each and
every one of the 1,001 begged for a
chance to marry her. The I,oolst man
is the lucky one and the wedding will
occur shortly.
The merry widow is a Mrs. Rilla
May Dike, a ’phone operator. It is
questionable if Mrs. Dike ever saw
more than a scant half dozen of the
1,001 suitors. But that did not detract
from the ardor of their love epistles.
They wrote from the north, the south,
the east and the west. They were old
and young men, tall and fat. They
kept up such a bombardment that the
pretty little widow was forced to leave
her claim in South Dakota.
Mrs. Dike was formerly an lowa girl
—Ottumwa being her home. Three
years ago she married and with her
husband went to South Dakota. He
was killed in a wreck and Mrs. Dike
bravely faced the world and took up a
claim.
She called her place “Ottumwa,” and
it is still known by that name in South
Dakota.
At the state fair in Huron, S. D., in
1908, Mrs. Dike was awarded the prize
for being the prettiest young woman
in the state. Newspapers devoted col
umns to her photo and beauty.
At first letters came by twos and
threes, but finally the rural delivery
men had to put on an extra mule to aid
in hauling the mail out to “Ottumwa.”
There were letters, fat ones, too, pho
tos, pictures, boxes of candy, dress
goods, articles for the toilet, perfume,
THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS.
October 2, 1910.
Matt. 25:1-13.
Time —A. D. 30.
Place—Mount of Olives.
GOLDEN TEXT—“Be ye therefore
ready also; for the Son of Man cometh
at an hour when ye think not.” Luke
12:40.
SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS.
What should I do?
I. Study Carefully This Parable.
Vs. 1-13.
This parable contains instruction
that is most weighty and interesting.
It deals with the end of this age, the
second coming of our Lord, and those
who are and are not ready for His
coming. It is important that ve dili
gently and carefully study this lesson,
so we can make known its impoitant
truths to our classes.
11. Consider Well the Little Word
“Then”. V. 1.
The word “then" —the first word of
this parable—fixes the time when the
Kingdom of Heaven assumes the pre
cise shape herein indicated, which will
be at the end of this age and after the
bride has been taken up as set forth
in Matt. 24:40-42. After the one is
taken and the other left, “then” shall
the Kingdom of Heaven be likened
unto ten virgins. (Matt. 25:1.)
111. Know the Bridegroom.
It is important that we know the
Bridegroom, for the Master says,
“This is life eternal that they might
know Thee, the only true God, and
PINEY WOODS SKETCHES
Margaret Deberly Upshalv.
SUNDA y SCHOOL LESSON
By B. Lacy Hoge.
plumes, hatpins, ribbons and pet ani
mals.
Mrs. Dike has a bungalow on her
160 acres. There she opened and read
every one of the proposals. Did she
file them carefully away, tied with
pink ribbons? Not Mrs. Dike.
Her house needed papering. Noth
ing would better serve for. the purpose
than a ton or two of love letters. Mrs.
Dike plastered the walls and the ceil
ings and used photos for roofing, and
with the surplus built a chicken cor
ral. Over all she pasted this large
sign:
“Love letter shack. Tack new pro
posals on vacant space.”
Mrs. Dike was literally driven off
her claim. She came to Seattle in 1909
and found employment. There, how
ever, her beauty attracted other woo
ers, and though she fought them off
with her rugged South Dakota expe
rience, she at last fell victim to Cupid
and a Seattle business man won her
hand.
At one time Mrs. Dike had 1,000 pro
posals, now the number is 1,001. And
that one makes all the difference in
the world.
STATEMENT OF BEAUTY DOCTOR
MAY HAVE BEEN TRUE, BUT
IT WAS NOT GALLANT.
William F. Oldb im, bishop of Sing
apore, talked at a dinner, on his last
visit to New York, about missionary
work.
“A certain type of man,” he said,
“goes about declaring that we dom
inant races civilize the savage out of
existence —that we do them harm in
stead of good.
‘ Well, as a matter of fact, if these
cavaliers knew what I know about
some tribes, they would speak less
Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.”
(John 17:3.) The Lord Jesus Christ is
the Bridegroom. (Eph. 5:22-32; Matt.
9:15; John 3:28-30f 2 Cor. 11:2; Rev.
21:9.)
IV. Know the Truth Concerning
the Bride.
The bride is not the whole Church,
for the Church is the body of Christ.
“He is the head of the body of the
Church.” (Col. 1:18; Eph. 1:22, 23.)
As the bride of the first Adam was
taken out of his body, so the bride of
our Lord Jesus Christ will be taken
out of His body. Eve was not the
body of Adam, but was of the body;
so the bride of Christ is not His body,
the Church, but is of the body. The
bride is that part of the saints of both
the old and new dispensations that
lived in sacred nearness to the Lord.
“These are they which followed the
Lamb whithersoever He goeth.” (Rev.
14:4.) They are all built upon the
same foundation and corner-stone.
(Eph. 2:20.) They are all “of the
same body”. (Eph. 3:6.) The Bible
teaches that there will be a great dif
ference between the saints. There are
the least and the greatest in the King
dom. There are the body, the bride
and the virgins. Some will be first
and some last; some will get crowns
and others will not; some will rule
over ten cities and others over five;
some will have an abundant entrance
and some will be saved as by fire;
some will receive a reward, while the
works of others will be burned and
they themselves suffer loss. (Matt.
5:19; Matt, 19:30; Matt, 20:16; Luke
The Golden Age for September 22, 1910.
confidently. Some tribes are so de
based that to do them anything but
good would hardly be possible. They
are, in fact, just like the ugly wom
an who visited the beauty doctor.
“This woman was ugly in every fea
ture, but her nose was particularly
ugly. That, no doubt, was why she
desired the beauty doctor to begin
on it.
“ ‘I am willing,’ she said, ‘to pay you
liberally, doctor, but I demand in re
turn substantial results. We will start
with my nose. Can you guarantee to
make it ideally beautiful?’
“The doctor, after looking attentive
ly at. the woman’s nose, replied:
“ ‘Well, madam, I can’t say as to
ideal beauty, but a nose like yours I
couldn’t help improving if I hit it with
a mallet.’ ”
THE MINUS SIGN.
The blunders of children are often
due to bad teaching. “This,” said a
teacher to her class in arithmetic, “is
a unit.” She held up a pencil. “This
book is a unit, too,” she said, “and
these are units.” And she showed
them a ruler, a flower, and an apple.
Then she peeled the apple and, hold
ing up the peel, sa’d, “Now, children,
what is this?” A little hand went up
slowly. “Well, Johnny?” said the
teacher.
“Please, ma’am, the skin of a unit.”
—Harper’s.
THINNER THAN HE THOUGHT.
A fine robust soldier, an Irishman,
after serving Uncle Sam for some time,
says the Philadelphia Public Ledger,
became greatly reduced in weight, ow
ing to exposure and scanty rations, and
became very weak. Consequently, he
got leave of absence to go home and
19:17-26; 2 Peter 1:11; 1 Cor. 3:11-15;
1 Peter 5:4; 2 Tim. 4:8.) This para
ble speaks of the Bridegroom and the
virgins, and their going in to the mar
riage, but does not mention the bride.
“They went in;” where? why? Into
“the King’s palace”, where the bride,
robed and ready, is waiting the com
ing of the Bridegroom and the virgins.
Read in this connection Psalm 45:13-
15.
V. Be Ye Ready. V. 10.
Our Lord is surely coming again,
and the central lesson taught by this
parable is that we should always be
ready and watching for His return.
(V. 13; Matt. 24:42-44.) The wicked
servant failed to be ready because his
lord came earlier than he expected.
(Matt. 24:48-51.) The virgins were
sleeping because the bridegroom did
not come as soon as they expected.
(Matt. 25:5.) In both instances he
came at an hour they thought not.
(Luke 12:40.) Let us, like the faith
ful and wise servant, be always ready,
so when the Lord comes He will find
us doing the things He commanded.
(Matt. 24:45-47.) When our Lord
comes the cry will be, “Behold, the
Bridegroom cometh! Go ye out to
meet Him.” (V. 6.) Are we ready
“to meet Him”? Read and give heed
to these Scriptures: 1 John 2:28; Rev.
19:7-9; Heb. 12:14; 1 John 3:3; Luke
21:34-36; Isa. 61:10.
VI. Wake Up.
Had the wise virgins been wide
awake, instead of sleeping, they would
have seen the sad condition of the
foolish virgins and helped them before
recuperate.
He arrived at his home station look
ing very much of a wreck. Just as he
stepped off the train one of his old
friends rushed up to him, and said,
“Well, well, Pat, I’m glad to see
you’re back from the front.”
“Begorra, I knew I was thin, but I
niver thought you could see that
much,” said Pat.
*
THE GOSPEL OF LABOR.
This is the gospel of labor—
Sing it, ye bells of the kirk:
The Lord of Love came down from
above
To live with the men who work.
This is the rose He planted,
Here is the thorn-curst coil:
Heaven is blest with perfect rest,
But the blessing of earth is toil.
- Henry Van Dyke.
*
A SAFE PILL TO TAKE.
One Sunday evening the old colored
pastor o fa church in the South step
ped before his flock, and, as was his
habit, began, “Well, breddern and sis
tern, what am de text to be dis ebon
ing?”
There was a pause, and then a
voice in a rear pew was heard saying:
“Speak on pills.”
“What’s dat?” asked the pastor.
“Speak on pills!” was repeated.
For a moment the old servant of the
Lord seemed disconcerted. Recover
ing himself he began: “Pills! Pills!
Well, breddern and sistern, dere am
pills an’ pills. Dere am quinine pills
an’ headache pills an’ physic pills,
an’ dere am de kind ob pills our brud
der in de rear pew takes when he has
been out all night; but de kind ob pill
dat I am goin’ to speak about this
ebening am the Gospil.”
it was too late. It is a sad fact that
the Church is sleeping now and does
not see the sad plight of sinners, and
therefore is not working for their sal
vation. We should obey these words
of Paul’s: “Awake, thou that sleep
est!” (Eph. 5:14; Rom. 13:11, 12;
Isa. 52:1; Isa. 60:1.)
VII. Don’t Be Too Late.
The foolish virgins, roused up by
the midnight cry, sought to make
preparation to meet the Lord, but it
was too late. While they were getting
ready, the bridegroom came and went
in, with the wise virgins, to the mar
riage, and the door was shut, and the
foolish virgins were shut out. If our
Lord should rise up now and “shut the
door", would He shut us out or in?
(Luke 13:25.) Don’t wait, but go at
once to Christ and buy what you need.
(Rev. 3:18; Isa. 55:1; Luke 11:13.)
VIII. Don’t Depend on Others.
The foolish virgins appealed to the
wise ones for help, but they could not
help them. There was none to supply
their need at that late hour. It was
“too late”.
IX. Take Oil With You. Vs. 3, 4.
Taking the lamp without oil is
“having a form of godliness, but deny
ing the power thereof” (>2 Tim 3:5);
without the oil, we can not obey the
Word of the Lord and let our lights
shine. (Matt. 5:16; Luke 12:35.) Oil
is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. (Acts
10:38; 1 John 2:20, 27; Psalm 45:7.)
“Be filled with the Spirit.” (Eph.
5:18.) If always filled with the Spirit,
you will at all times be ready for the
coming of the Lord.
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