Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1864-12-23
Winter-Gvenins Chats with My Friends
by A COUNTRY EDITOR.
No, sa.-.Thc Loyo OF Money

verify believe, friends, that the Almighty
Dollar has more worshippers than the Al,
mighty God
do wish that men would think less Of
money, and more Of something better and,
making all allowance for human dcpravity
and natural wiekeduess of heart can see
no good reason why they should not You
ard /, and believe all mankind, are tinctur.
ed with the root of all evil" As lay
awake the ether night, waiting to be taken
III the enfolding arms of the drowsy god,
went pretty well over my acquaintance in
search of a man whose hcast was unpol!uted
by the love of money but confess friends,
the god got me before could get the man
This love of money is general because sci
fishaess in the heart is general. If it were
otherwise should feel pretty well assured
that the millennium was not afar off
Money is merely a means to an end. In
our eagcrness to acquire the means, many Of
us lose sight Of the end and when one is
quite blind he is known as a miscr, or a con
temptibly small mqr.
Really, friends, there is nothing more des
picable in = man than penuriousness. There
is no danger a man ought to moro zcalouoly
guard against than the wooing OF sordd
love Of money. Iou know men who have
such love. SO do l.. You have seen them
with martyr like eqnanirnity accept the hear.
ty contempt Of al their townSmcn rather
than part with so snail sum as twenty five
cents. They will go to bed early these win.
ter evenings to save wood and oil, and then
suffer nearly all iho miseries of freezing 10
save the expense OF extra bedding They
look hungry, H. If they hadn't been filed
since they were .caned; and their eyes are
dtep-sot and nervous, and cast fnrtiyc CLAN.
ces nj you, As if you were under suspicion.
They sit in free pew at church, and are in.
yariabIy asleep or sudder ly required to leave
when the contribution box goes round They
never so TO place thai it costs anything to
go to- and, OF course, are generally on hand
at free lectures snd free dinners. They have
a thousand and ono objections to urge against
every charity that may be presented to
them and, in turn, a thousand and one ex
cuscs for withholding their assistance. .--
When, by miachance, they get in a tight
place, and there seems ne alternative but to
give, they initiate 80 far as their conforma.
tion will admit the manners Of a whipped
spaniel Their chief plcasure-I might say
only p'casure--is in their unnatural love, as
they have dwar(ed and warped into henious.
ness oil the noble attributes Of COP in their
natures. They are known as Two penny
men, " Hafpenny men," and such like
honorable and i1attering titles. GoD deliver
us from penuriousness. .a. ss
If it were net for public opinion, am half
inclined to believe there would be, around
the freside with me to night, penurious men.
Now don't be offended at me, friends bear
in mind its only country editor says so.-
As long as the chat is on Others faults, and
kept at a safe distance from ourselves, il is
an easy matter for US ali 10 laugh, and nod,
and say that's so;" but when we got right
down to The work Of getting the beams out
OF our own eyesiw are apt to find a lump in
our throat, stiffness in our neck, ard n
suddsn difficulty affecting our articulation.
But let us, as friends, be honest for mo-
ment in self examination.
Now, in every community, there Is almost
a continuous line of charities demanding the
money and time Of its people. The appeal
may come in tho burning words Of some
earnest advocate, or in the mute supplication
Of a stuffed window in the columns of your
local paper, or in your walks to the postoffice;
in the promptings OF your own warm heart,
or in the plaintive words of the sufferer
Do you ever steel your heart! All yes;
sometimes. Do you ever put on the steel
when without injustice TO yourself or yours
it might be left aside? All! yes, agAin;
sometimes. well, then, does the reason
ever reach the pocket Then, again, the
appeals for aid in local improvement and
social advancement, are particularly nu.
merous in "a -nes country. Here is
Church organization struggling against weak.
ness and poverty to secure suitable place
Of worship, and there is a school house to
be erected, where the children of oil alike
may receive welcome TO the blessing of edu.
cation. Here is society for the purposes
Of profit asd pleasure and there an organi-
zation fighting death in a good cause. Your
aid is required. You, my friends, would
dislike to be accused Of lacking in public
spirit; but, soberly, now, ere you not often
lacking in timer But, friends, it is not only