Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1884-09-23

of the bank. The store on Broadway am
the office on. Wall street swamped bv tb
residence on Madison Square. The father,
craft capsized by carrying too much domes
tic sail. That is what springs the leak !,
the merchants money till. That is wba
stops insurance companies. That is wha
halts this nation again and again in it's tri
umphal march of prosperity. Look at tn,
one fact that it is matter of solid Stats
tictics that in this country, in the cities O
New York and Brooklyn-I will narrow !
down-in the cities of New York ant
Brooklyn it is estimated that there are nov
over five thousand women whose appare
| costs them over two thousand dollars a YEA
each. Things have got to such a pass tha
when we cry over our sins in church W,
wipe the tears away with a one hundred
and fifty dollar pocket handkerchief! j
show you domestic tradegy in five acts
Act la home, plain and beautiful. En-
ter newl y-married pair. Enter content
ment. Enter as much happiness as eye]
gets in one home.
Act IL.-Enter discomfort. Enter desire
for larger expenditures. Enter envy. En-.
ter jealousy.
Act lII.-Enter the queenly dress max
ers. Enter the French Milliners. Enter
the costly plate and all great extravaganza.
Act IV-Tip-top ofsociety. Princes and
Princesses of New York and BROOKLYN
floating in and out. Every thing on large
and magnificent scale. Enter contempt 70,
other people.
Act V. and last-Enter the assignee. En-.
ter the Sheriff. Enter the creditors. En-
ter the humiliation. Enter the wrath of
God. Enter the contempt of society. En-.
ter Death and He'll Now, drop the silk
curtain. The farce is ended and the lights
are out.
I called it a tragedy. This is misnomer.
1t is farce.
Extravaganza accounts for much of the
pauperism. Who are the people you have
to keep? Many of them are the children of
parents who had plenty, lived in luxury, had
more than they needed, spent all they had,
spent more, too, then died and left their
families in poverty. 1 could name a score
OF men who have every luxury. They smoke
the best cigars and they drink the finest
wines, and they have the grandest surround
lngs, and when they die their families will
go to the cold charity of the world. Now,
the death of such a man is grand larceny.
He swindles the world as he goes into his
coffin, and he deserves to have his bones
sold to the medical museum for anatomical
specimens, the proceeds to furnish bread
for the children. Some of you make great
swash of life, and after awhile you will die,
and ministers will be sent for to come and
stand by your coffin and lie about your ex-
cellences; but they will not come. If you
send for me will tell you what my text
will be: ''He that provideth not for his
own, and especially for those of his own
household, is worse than an infidel." And
yet we find Christian men, of large means,
who sometimes talk eloquently about the
Christian Church and about civilization, ex-
pending everything on themselves and moth
ing on the cause of God; and they crack the
back of their Palais Royal glove in trying to
hide the one cent they put in the Lords
treasury. What an apportionment! Twenty
thousand dollars for ourselves and one cent
for God. All my friends, this extravaganza
accounts for great deal of what the cause
of God suffers. The desecration goes on
even to the funeral day.
Look how the cause of God is impoverish-
ed. Men give so much sometimes for their
indulgences they have nothing for the cause
of God and religion. Twenty-Five million
dollars expended in this country year for
religious purposes; but what is $22, 900, 600
expended for religion compared with the
$95, 900, 900 expended on cigars and tobacco
and the s., 100000, 900 spent for rum, ac-
cursed rum! Oh, my friends, let us take a
stand against the extravagances of society.
Do not pay for things which are frivolous
when you lack the necessities. Do not put
one months wages or salary into ticket.
Keep your credit good by seldom asking for
any. Pay! Do not starve whole year to
afford one Belshazzars carnival. Do not
buy coat of many colors and then in six
months be out at the elbows. Flourish not
as some people l have known who took
apartments at a fashionable hotel and had
elegant drawing rooms attached, and then
vanished in the night, not even leaving their
compliments for the landlord. l tell you,
my friends, in the day of Gods Judgment
we will not only have to give an account
for the way we made our money, but for
the way we spent it. We have got to leave
all the things that surround as now. They
that consecratc their wealth, their time,
their all, to God shall be held in everlast-
ing remembrance, while I have the author
ity of this Book for announcing that the
name of the wicked shall die.