The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1879-02-05

without having my onJnuSlaem alOu0Ou'
God converted my soul and put me III |
the ministry, and by variety OF circum'
stances shut me mp in that profession.
L know personally about 5000 clergy
men, and they are all excellent men.
Some are living on starvation salaries,
with worn health, trying to bring com
fort to the human race. Ithas been the |
chief ambition of my ministry to apply |
a religion 5000 years old to the present |
day. I saw in the Garden of Eden re-
lieion that was to bruise the serpents
head-I never see that head now without
throwing something at it. Every time
have bruised it he has Kissed. l have
trod on him thus far with only one foot,
but before I get through with him |
shall Jump on him with both feet. L
here declare war against the fraud, cor
ruption and iniquities of cities Tor the
next twenty-fv years, If God let's me
live. Between here and my rest in Green
wood there shall be no compromise. At
ter am dead ask for no marble slab,
draped church, or long funeral Grafton.
A plain body in a plain box will be
enough, if the elders of my church will
stand at the alter and say that never
compromised with sin. Then let Father
Pearson pronounce the benediction and
the congregation go home.
It has been understood that at install
lations and dedications that Talmage
was to be excoriated Qaughter), and
now it congregations get dull through
lack of ventilation, perhaps, and the
pastor wakes up and makes some sharp
allusion, people nudge each other and
say, ".Chat's Talmadge.' (Renewed
laughter.) The favorite illusions to me
are " montebank, ''sensationalism" and
buffoonery" Qaughter), and variety
of phrases that show that my dear Chris
tian brethren are not happy. The dear
souls, L wish them all the good in the
world, with large audiences, $15, 900
salaries, house full of children, and
heaven to boot. l am so busily engaged
assailing the powers Of darkeness that 1
have no time TO stop and stab any OF my
regiments in the back. I let them go.
It relieves them and it don't hurt me.
answer them only by good advice that
they can never build themselves up by
trying to pull anyone else down.
During the ten years of my pastoral
duties I have been misrepresented.-
Spurgeon. Beecher and others have had
stories told about them also. They we're
lies, lies, all lies; every one OF them
lies
But story has been told which in
vades the sanctity of my home. 1t has
been stated in private circles and news
papers, until ten Thousand people have
heard the report, that sixteen or seven
teen years ago went sailing on the
in-law, that the boat capsized, and that
having an opportunity of saving either
my wife or her sister, that I let my wife
drown and saved my sister, and that /
married the latter within sixty days. I
propose to nail that infamous lie on the
forehead of every man or woman who
shall utter it again, and shall invoke
the law in my behalf. (Applause.) The
facts in that casualty were as follows:
Sarah Talmage Whiteneck, my own Sis
ter, with her daughter, who was an only
child, was visiting at my house in Phil
adelphia. Accompanied by my wife, we
started for Fairmount. was ignorant
of the topography of the country. I
suggested sail, and hired a row-boat.
We all got in, and not knowing of the
dam across the river, and unwarned by
the keeper of the boat of the danger, [
pulled straight for the brink. Isuspect-
ed nothing wrong until saw people on
the shore wildly gesticulating, as if there
was danger ahead. [ looked back and
found that we were already On the dam.
I turned back the boat in vain, and we
went over. The boat capsized with US.
NV wife disappeared, and she was drawn
under the dam, from which her body
was not recovered for days. was able
to swim, and chung TO the boat, my
neice hanging On me, while my sister
WAS c!inging 10 the other side of the boat.
A boat pushed out from the shore and
saved us. After trying to resurrect the
child, already nine-tenths dead-and I
can now see her blackened body as it
was rolling on barrel to resuscitate her
"a carriage came. Leaving my wife at
the bottom of the Schuylkill, and with
the little girl still unconscious, sitting
on my lap, my sister and rode home.
Since the world was created more
ghastly catastrophe never happened.
This is the scene over which some
ministers of the Gospel and one publica-
ton have dared to make sport. My
present wife was not within a hundred
miles of the place where my first wife
lay, and they had never heard OF each
other. It was not until nine months
afterward that / met my present wife,
being introduced by nv brother, the
Rev. Going Talmage. My first wife was
Mary r. Avery, q member of the Re-
formed Presbyterian Church in Harri-
son ST., Brooklyn My present wife was
Susan Whittemore, q member of the !
church at Greenpoint. There are null
titudes at both these churches in Brook
lyn and Greenpoint, and multitudes of
people on the banks of the Schuylkill to