Clothes Line Stories Part 2

13 -- From Gathered Fragments
By Luke Woodard

       It matters not what the annoyance has been, you become the copy by which the temper of your little one will be influenced. If you fly into a passion, and fall to beating the animal, if your cow chances to overturn your pail, or your horse accidentally steps on your foot, or the pup has pulled the sheet from the clothes line—you have given your child an impressive object lesson in bad temper, revenge and cruelty. Unless you wish your child to be a rogue, set before it an example of honesty.

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       The remaining stories all mention some variation of "The Broken Clothes-Line" story.  However, they are all different, so I hope the reader will find them all profitable, as well as interesting.  It seems interesting to me that "The Broken Clothes-Line" story was used by so many preachers and writers. -- Bro. Duane

14 -- From FAITH
By Billie Holstein, R.N.
Compiled by Cheryl Byers

       Yes, we will have to admit that "tongues are for a sign," but to whom? "Not to them that believe!" Not to those of the faith! Not to the saved! Why? Because they are not depending upon signs. They, through the faith route, are depending upon the reality, upon that which abides within. They have the WITNESS of the Holy Ghost, the witness that is Godlike in all its ways and works, that keeps the washer-woman sweet when the clothesline breaks, or that witnesses to the fact that the fire of a hot, burning temper had not only met the still hotter fire of the Holy Ghost, but had been annihilated on that field of battle, being no longer alive to vex the soul, but whose place is now filled by that sustaining sweetness of the Holy Spirit, that passeth all understanding and that so amazingly puts within us the shout of victory amidst the most trying adversities of life.

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15 -- From Holiness & The Human Element
By H. A. Baldwin

       How will I behave under trying circumstances? One answers, "You will always sing and shout, no matter how severe the trial." Perhaps you will, but, it may be, you will not. I have known a hard working, nervous, little woman, after toiling all the morning over the wash tub, and meeting various disagreeable circumstances, to sit down and cry like a child when the clothes line broke and let the clothes in the mud. This was just one straw too much for those over-wrought nerves. Now you big, strong men, who never knew what a nerve is, stand back and call her foolish and accuse her of a lack of grace if you wish, but in so doing you are wounding one whom God would have you comfort.

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16 -- From The Carnal Mind
By H. A. Baldwin

       The children do not behave as they should, they actually seem to be "possessed;" it is blue Monday; for the second time the clothes line has broken and the clothes are in the mud. Right in the midst of all the trouble your unsaved husband comes home, and, manlike, scolds because dinner is not ready. You feel something rising in your heart which, if you should yield to it, would cause you to say harsh, bitter words, but if you keep the real blessing of God you do not say them, but hold your peace, crush down the feeling within, and go meekly about your duties. The principle is there, its presence causes a twinge of pain, and the joy you had in your private devotions is gone; as soon as possible you rush to your closet and with tears entreat the Lord for His help and the deliverance you now feel that you so much need.

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17 -- From The Devil And Your Closest Neighbor
By Thomas Hayes

       When you get sanctified and sweetened down, you can stand a little boosting. God's grace is sufficient and if we have both blessings, as we should have them, we will not go down and up. We will not go down if the clothes line breaks on wash day just when we have hung out the clothes, or when the old tire punctures. You can get right out and fix it and say, "I am happy with Jesus alone." Now it is one thing to claim the blessing and another to have the goods on hand. I might claim to own a new automobile and make some people believe it, but really to be honest with you I do not have one. Well, it is not what I claim to have, but what I really have, that will count when this old world is on fire and when Jesus comes.

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18 -- From Looking Heavenward
By William H. Pratt

       Shouting for joy, when the clothes line breaks may be an exaggerated illustration of spiritual triumph. We are all very human, even after being sanctified. A sanctified mother who has toiled to get a big washing on the line is still human enough to feel the shock of disappointment when the line breaks and the clean clothes have to be washed the second time. Under such adverse circumstances the first impulse would hardly be that of praise. Nevertheless it is profitable and, by the grace of God, possible to lay aside our feelings and say with Isaiah, "I will praise thee." The clothes may be soiled but the heart can be kept clean and free from the contamination of an ugly and unholy temper. To still be cleansed from sin and unstained by the pollution of carnality is a victory which promotes the spirit of praise, even when the clothes line breaks.

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19 -- From Twenty-Five Years On The Firing Line
(Life of John T. Hatfield -- The Hoosier Evangelist)
By John C. Patty

       "Temperance," self-restraint. This means the power to stand under all temptation, keep cool and sweet, a very necessary grace in our Christian experience. There come up in our lives so many unexpected things to try our faith, that temperance is an indispensable virtue at every moment of our lives. The devil is always around watching for an opportunity to give us trouble when our faith is being tried. He delights in watching a mother with several cross children, and a growling husband when dinner is not on time, and especially when the clothes line breaks just as the last piece is being hung up, in such moments as these now needed is that virtue that gives power of resistance so that we may keep sweet and shout "glory" in spite of the devil.

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20 -- From Holiness Typology
By William Edward Shepard

       Oh, for more honey in our lives! A salvation that keeps sweet in trying circumstances: when there is a heavy washing to put out on blue Monday. Happy over the wash-tub! Saying "Praise the Lord!" when the clothesline breaks. Smiling for the Lord when the children seem possessed. Loving your neighbor when his boy whips your boy, or when their chickens get into your yard, or the cow gets into your pumpkin patch. Shouting "Glory!" when the cow kicks the milk over you; singing a song when the horse balks or steps on your foot. Saying "All right, dear," when you have to get up in the middle of a cold night and rock the sick baby. Is this your experience, reader? These are practical experiences. These are not happenings in heaven, but right down here where we live.

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21 -- From The Palm Tree Blessing
By William Edward Shepard

       When God described the beauties and benefits of Beulah Land, He told the people it was a land of honey. Honey was one of the leading commodities of Canaan. One of the prime factors of the palm tree blessing is spiritual honey. It is certainly a sweet experience, both in its inward enjoyment and outward manifestation. In the various tests of life one will find the inward proclivities making way to the surface, and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak. Sister, do you find yourself saying, "Praise the Lord," when the clothes line breaks, or the bread burns? What comes to the surface when your children tug at your apron by the hour in their fretfulness? How is it when your neighbor's chickens clean up your radish and turnip patch? or husband scolds, or the older children are disobedient and saucy? It is true one may be tried in these disappointing ordeals, and have the smile of heaven at the same time, but is there an overcoming sweetness in it all that convinces others that you have the palm tree blessing?

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22 -- From The Carnal Mind And The Cure For It
By Heny Albert Erdmann

       When you are out about your own labors and something "goes wrong," is there a feeling of anger on the inside? If so, deadly carnality is lurking there and endeavoring to do its work. When the wrench slipped while you were trying to tighten that nut, did you feel like saying something ugly? When the clothesline broke, did you feel like singing the doxology, or did you "fly off the handle"? We once saw a man up on a roof shingling. While driving away at his work, for some cause or other he drove a shingle nail through his thumb. The first words he uttered were, "Glory be to God!" There was glory in his soul, and a circumstance a little different from the usual brought some of that glory to the surface. When ugly words are spoken, it is because there is something ugly in the heart. Jesus said, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." The German translation reads thus: "What the heart is full it runs over at the mouth."

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23 -- From Fire From Heaven
By Seth Cook Rees

       Before I close I want to call your attention to the fact that there is a secret of joy about which the rank and file know nothing. When you get this blessing you can follow James' injunction, "When ye fall into divers temptations, count it all joy." You can rejoice on Monday as well as on Sunday. You can rejoice when everything is against you, when you are out of a job; you can rejoice when you are out of money; you can rejoice when your friends go back on you; you can rejoice when the devil is near; you can whistle and sing and shout and laugh and praise God when there is nothing in sight to rejoice about! If you put your washing out, and the clothesline breaks, and all your week's laundry has to be washed over again, why, Hallelujah! I know a woman who shouted over just such circumstances, and exulted in her kitchen as much as on the platform before a large congregation.