Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1869-02-23
WAhTED. A BALANCE WHEEL.

III GEo. W. BUNGAf.
Adam fell because he lost his balance
balance wheel-and, his descendants
have inherited his infrmity, 50 that with
many excellencies we have our imperfec-
ton. We say of this man he is good
and generous fellow, but he drinks; and
of that man, he correct and honest man
in trade, but he is penurious; of the other,
he is man of talent and culture, but he
does not pay his debts, IF Diogenes,
could rise from his grave and re-light his
lamp he would not be able to find per-
feet man As race we are better, wiser
and stronger than we were centuries ago.
We are apt scholars, and we are approxi-
mating the good time. We stand in front
of great events, and nations as we'll as in
dividuals are rising in the scale of high
er and purer civilization.
Mr.. I. is a gifted man, good writer,
and pleasant speaker. He writes model
letters for the press, and is exceedingly
popular before an audience. In the pull
pit, on the platform, at the press, he has
few equals, and yet he fails to win fame.
and is SO poor he lives from hand to mouth.
Why? He has no expensive habits his,
family is not extravagant; then why is he.
such a brilliant failure? Because he is
not well balanced. He is not an old man,
and yet he has made the tour of theology.
He has been playing the game of religious
leapfrog fer at least quarter of centu-
ry. Now he claims to be the champion
of liberal Christianity, and his sermons
grow into books in defence of his creed.
Suddenly he turns summersault and lands
upon his feet in an orthodox pulpit, where
he assails his former arguments with all
the fervor of new convert His elo-
quence secures call from one of the rich
est churches inB. But he becomes weary
in well doing, and seeks to crafty his love
Of change by going over to another denom-
nation, and then to another. g Presto,
change )" again the Presbyterian becomes
an Episcopalian, the Episcopalian Meth
odist, the Methodist Baptist, the Bap-
tist a lawyer, the lawyer lecturer, then
a Bohemian correspondent and author.
Now this man, so ready of speech and elo.
quent-so industrious and enterprising--
is almost failure, because he lacks sta
bility of mind. His fine presence, his
magnetic utterance, and his superior tai.
ents would have raised him to the front
rank in any profession if he had been
well poised and steadfast in his adherence
to what he deemed to be just and right.
When Sylvester Graham inaugurated
his dietic system Of reform in the old
Clinton Hall in this city, among other en-.
thusiastc friends and disciples of this re-
former was young clergyman, whose
prospects were rosc-colored and radiant.
He was a fluent speaker, wrote rythmic
lines which looked like poetry, and he won
the admiration of crowds of delightful au-
diences. But he was human weather
vane, turning whichever way the winds
blew, and although he never turned his
back upon his religious creed, he has been
in the pulpit and out of it, layman and
} minister, over and over again. He left
the pulpit to edit a newspaper he left the
pulpit to accept a political mission and
now he is in the pulpit again at the West,
Ahere his services as preacher and an
advocate of temperance are very popular.
Now, if this mans heal could have
, been trepanued forty years ago, and a
bance wheel nicely adjusted to his vast
' brain, SO as to move harmoniously with
{ his impulsive heart, he would have been a
doctor Of divinity in theology, or sun
t crowned Statesman in politics, or star Of
: the first magnitude in the armament o.
0 Of literature. itH
s / know Of man whose influence reach
o es across sbn continent He can rise be
/ fore the masses and move them to tear
y and smiles by the magic of his speech. I
y debate his argument is logic afama viii