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AN ORDER ON FORD, THE FLORIST
T WAS Valentine’s eve. Jack Row
an, Superintendent of the Bigbee
Cotton Mills, was all alone in the
I
spacious up-stairs office. Two hours
ago the pretty typists had quitted the
building, and within the next hour
the last clerk had clambered down
from his high stool, stored his
books in the capacious iron safe, and
taken his departure.
Jack’s brow was puckered in a
thoughtful frown. “Dorothy wouldn’t
care for trashy valentines,” he mused,
seriously, “and I -want to surprise her
with something original and cute.”
After profound deliberation, Mr.
Rowan seized his pen, drew two dainty
sheets of note paper to him and be
gan to write eagerly, w’hile a radiant
smile of satisfaction played about his
handsome mouth.
The first letter was intended for the
Florist. It was brief but decisive:
“Gentlemen: Tomorrow afternoon,
at six o’clock, please deliver to Miss
Dorothy Haddon, 926 Fulton Ave., City,
one dozen choice American Beauties.
Be sure that they are absolutely flaw
less, extra long, well packed, and ac
companied with the enclosed note.
“Cordially,
“JACK ROWAN.”
Jack, in his eagerness to get at the
next letter that was chaining his
thought and heart in a rosy tangle of
delicious romance, hurriedly folded the
above order and addressed it simply
“Fords.” Then, with shining eyes and
throbbing heart, he indicted a charac
teristic valentine letter to accompany
his artistic gift, and this is wbat he
said:
“My Dearest Dorothy: When the
twilight begins to roll down its soft
ELIJAH’S FLIGHT AND RETURN.
February 19, 1911.
Time—9o6 B. C.
PLACE —The Wilderness and Ho
reb.
I Kings 19:1-6.
GOLDEN TEXT: —“They that wait
upon the Lord shall renew their
strength.” — 15a.40:31.
SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS.
What Should I do?
I. —Wait upon the Lord. (Vs. 1-3,
Isa. 40:31).
The flight and fall of Elijah is
one of the saddest incidents recorded
in God’s word. Heretofore he had
listened for the word of God and
had fearlessly obeyed, when obedience
meant to face an angry king, 540 fa
natical prophets of Baal and a hostile
people. Now he flees when he hears
the threat of Jezebel to take his life.
Had he waited upon the Lord, he
would not have fled. This black spot
would not have been upon his own
good name. The Elijah reformation
would not have failed. He would
have been used to do a great work
for God, and for Israel. Let us learn
the lesson and never flee from appar
ent dangers but wait upon the Lord
and move at His word. There has
been much failure in our lives be
cause we have not at all times wait
ed on the Lord and the word from
Him.
11. -Keep from Under the Juniper
PINEY WOODS SKETCHES
Margaret Deberly Upshato.
SUN DA Y SCHOOL LESSON
By B. Lacy Hoge.
draperies and envelops you in a gold
fringed, sunset-tinted mist, then shall
I come to you, in the name of good
St. Valentine.
“In my heart I shall bear your name,
engraved upon the unchangeable tab
lets of my truest love. In my thought
I shall bear a crown, jeweled with the
graces of your sweet personality. And
in my arms I bring you a simple gift
TOMMY TO SUE
WARY E. BRYAN.
I’ve been your steady comp'ny for
thirteen months and more,
I’ve been to see you twict a week and
Sunday always sure,
I've took you lots of goobers and pop
corn and store candy,
And Sadday nights at singin’ school I
allers was there handy.
I helped your ma at quiltin’s, and your
pa at the hog killin’,
An’ I’ve said ’at I was yourn for life,
if so be you was willin’.
But, there! you’re sweet on Sammy
Jones, the same as you’re on me,
which Nature, in one of her rare
moods of reckless indulgence, gave to
the favorites in her household.
“Would you care if some kind Fairy
should transform me into one of these,
that I might no longer be jealous of
the caressing touches your dear hands
shall give to them?
“Would you care if my devotion
could be changed into the intoxicating
odor of the rose, that it might pro
claim itself, silently, but eloquently,
Tree. (Vs. 4).
This man under the Juniper tree
offering this foolish and cowardly
prayer is the same man that a few
hours before bravely faced danger,
called down fire from heaven and un
locked the clouds so that they poured
out abundance of rain upon the earth.
The difference between the man on
Mount Carmel and the man under
the juniper tree is that the man on
Mount Carmel was depending upon
God and His power, while the one
that ran and got under the juniper
tree, was depending upon self and
man power. Let us learn that we
cannot stand except in the power of
God. Moses, the meek, “spake un
advisedly with his lips,” John, the
apostle of love,, desired to call down
fire from heaven and destroy the
Samaritans because they would not
receive Christ and His messengers.
The bold and daring Peter fell by cow
ardice. The brave, stern and inde
pendent Elijah runs when threatened
by a woman. So let us remember
never to put our trust in self, but al
ways stay close to God, who can and
will keep us by His power. Self
admiration, self-confidence, and self
righteousness must be put on the
cross, or it will bring us to the
juniper tree. We, like Elijah, must
learn that courage, power and victory
is not in man, but in the living God.
We must die to self to live for God.
111. —Take Care of the Body.
While the spiritual condition was
The Golden Age for February 9, 1911.
when you appear arrayed in my rich
red valentine?
“Would you care if my heart was
converted into an ancient urn that you
might plunge one of these up to your
own pink finger tips in the cavernous
depths, and measure by marks upon
its long and slender stem the depth of
my faith in you?
“Believe me, Dorothy, I think of you
And he helt your hand las’ Sunday; I
was clost enough to see.
My heart’s broke all to pieces, an’ it’s
you has done it
With them bright eyes an’ rosy lips
you carry under your bonnet.
And if you don’t mend it by lovin’ of
me straight,
I’ll jus’ die of the trouble, and you will
be too late,
If you don’t want to see me get slim as
a saplin’ pine,
Just you whisper to me, honey, that
You’ll be my Valentine.
always as one of these. If thou wert
Venus and I Mars, no more fitting
adornment could be found in all my
kingdom for my goddess.
“If I were Adam and thou wert Eve,
Eden would need no richer flower than
your face, lighted with the reflex tints
of Nature’s purest dyes herein com
bined.
“If you were Cinderella and I the
Prince, I would implore the magic
god-mother to sheathe you in one of
the chief cause of Elijah’s fall, yet his
physical condition contributed to
wards his flight and failure. The ter
rible strain of the Mount Carmel ex
perience and the 15 mile run before
the chariot of Ahab had exhausted
his physical strength.
We hear a great deal at this day
about the power of mind over body,
and there is much truth in this, but
it is not the whole truth. The body
has much to do with the mind and
also the spiritual condition. We can
never be at our best mentally or
spiritually, when we do that which
weakens the body. Therefore, we
should take great care of our bodies
and keep them in the best possible
condition.
IV. —Prepare to Stand After the
Mount Carmel Victory.
It is well to prepare for the battle
with kings, prophets and people on
Mount Carmel, but we should not for
get to prepare for the battles with
self and the tempter after the victory
is won. There is great danger that
we will leave God out and begin to
praise self for what was done. We
need God when in defeat, we need
Him when we go into battle, and we
need Him just as much in the hour
of victory.
V. —Remember That God Will Never
Forsake His Servants. (Vs. 5-8).
In the hour of Elijah’s dispondency
God came to him and ministered unto
him. If it should be your lot to get
under the juniper tree, look for God.
these and send you forth from your
seat by the kitchen hearth to bind my
heart in the tyranny of your loveli
ness.
“But I am only a man, and you my
queen. I can only ask that you choose
the longest, the largest, the reddest
and the softest from this box. Catch
just one in the coil of your chesnut
hair; confine two full-blown ones in
the corsage of the clinging white dress
that you wore when first I saw you;
and with the others unloosed and fall
ing down over your feet, let the photo
grapher’s art preserve you in an in
comparable dream-picture. That will
be your valentine to
“Your ever adoring,
“JACK.”
The two letters, inclosed in one en
velope, were sealed and deposited in
the mail box. And Jack conjured up a
mental picture of its effect upon his
peerless Dorothy. But his tender
revery was changed to savage wrath,
and poor little blind Dan Cupid crept
into the overturned waste basket to
weep out his rage and shame, when,
the following evening, the postman, on
his last round, delivered this amazing
acknowledgment:
“February 14, 1911.
“Mr. Jack Rowan, City.
“Dear Sir: Your order received.
We suppose you had reference to our
ad. in yesterday’s paper, and, acting
upon that supposition, we have today
delivered by special messenger to Miss
Dorothy Haddon, 926 Fulton Ave., one
dozen pairs of American Beauty Silk
Hose, all red, with your letter inclosed
in the package.
“Very truly,
“FORDS, The Notioner.”
He will never leave you nor forsake
you. (Gen. 28-15). He loved Elijah
under the juniper tree as well as He
did when he was on Mount Carmel.
VI. —Do Your Work and Leave Re
sults With God.
Elijah’s expectations were not met
and he was discouraged. God calls
us to do a work and we must go and
do as He bids us and if the results
are not what we wished and what we
expected, remember that God will
take care of the results. God never
judges us by the results of our work
but by our faithfulness in carrying out
His commands.
VII. Go Where God Calls You. (Vs.
9-16.)
If we are not where God would
have us, He is putting the question
to us that He put to Elijah: “What
doest thou here.” Can we say, I am
here at Thy commands? or must we,
like Elijah, dodge the question by tell
ing of the unfaithfulness of others,
and in praising ourselves?
If in this self-righteous condition
God calls us to “go forth and stand
before the Lord,” and listen to the
“still, small voice,” and learn that
God is not always in the man of wind,
earthquake and fire, but often in the
man of quiet influence, we will soon
learn that God has men to carry on
His work, and that He is not depend
ent on us, but has an Elisha to take
our place. If we stand before God
and confess our sin, He will forgive
us and use us again,
