St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1884-07-19

lage pastor. 1 have met many, very
many eloquent lecturers, without audi
ences, who could teach John b. Cough
the rudiments of temperance lecturing,
and there they were, pegging away ut
everybody's shoes, or selling dry goods,
groceries and hardware in country
store, while Cough, the shallow pre-
tender, usurped their rightful places
on the rostrum. People have shown
me women who could sing more divine
ly than Patti. and know plenty ofmen
who can walk right away from Fitz-
gerald.
ABUNDANT, But HARD To FIND.
Now, believe in hidden pearls.
have no doubt the deep unfathomed
caves of ocean are so full of them that
their feet stick out of the dormer win
dcws. think some of them are rarer
and finer and purer than any that have
graced the diadem Of an Empress up
to the date of this writing. Down in
the gloomy caverns of the earth, there
are diamonds, ! firmly believe, that
would make the kohinoor hide its di-
minished head and sell itself for a pebble
But, dearly beloved, we don't know
where they are. If we did, we would
dive and dig for them; we would bring
them out. and by them gain wealth and
glory and the envy of our neighbors.
In the meantime. as we can't get down
to the unseen pearls and they can't get
up to us, we must accept the stars we
have as the best of their several kinds.
Undoubtedly there may be preachers
more eloquent than Mr.. Beecher.
lecturers more popular and earnest
than Mr.. Cough, .'funnier" humorists
there may be than Mr.. Clemens. But
do not know where they are. They
do not preach. neither do they lecture,
nor yet do they write books. Conse-
quently, have no clue by which may
find them. And what shall it profit an
eloquent man if he have lecture as
long as whistle and have no audienceo
How shall the poet sing if he can find
no publisher to string his voiceful lyre
with golden cords2 Why do not these
blushing flowers cease to waste their
sweetness on the desert and bring their
wares to a buoyant market? Is it not
because they lack the diligence"
which enableth men to stand before
Kings, and is not the diligence just as
essential as the talent?
THE BURIED TALENT.
O, dearly beloved, the talent that is
hid in napkin, buried in the earth, is
ever a curse to the man to whose stew
ardship it has been committed. If YOU
have nothing, nothing will be expected
of you; but if you dig in the ground and
bury the talent that is given you, that
you may not be bothered with the care
of it, Improbable and lazy servant that
you are, You shall be east upon the curb
stone where there is weeping and wall
ing. And the lively fellows, who have
gone on the street jingling their talents
and taking flyers with the boys, will
laugh you to scorn and mock at your
shornness, while they divide your tai
ent among themselves. And the fellow
who hid his talent, my son, did just
what all other lazy men do. He kicked.
He complained of his master, who gave
him start and set him up on the street.
He said he was hard man, on the cent
per day lay, that never laid a dollar
down unless he could pick up two.
while the lazy man was too honest to
touch any business of that kind, and
doubtless he talked the same way about
his fellow servants who were making
things hum, and just doubling their
money on every deal. He probably
button-holed every stranger who came
to their village and showed him the
goings on. and said that he could do
Just as well as these other fellows, and
double his capital even more easily,
but he was too modest or to honest or
too proud, or something of that sort.
The fact is, he was too lazy. He had
the capital, he had the business laid out
for him, but he wasn't "diligent." So
when he essayed to stand before the
King, the King kicked him. 1t is one
thing to run in front of the King. my
son, it is another thing to ''stand" be-
fore him.
KINGS AND KINGS.
HE shall stand before Kings" MY
dear, young brother, that is all well
enough, if, when you shape your am
hitf0us plans to the attainment of that
honor. you are careful in the selection
of your Kings. Is there a young man
within the sound of my voice this
morning who would be proud to stand
before King Kalakaua? There are At
rican monarchs, my hearers, Kings "by
the grace of Cod as much as any
King to-day, who wear no clothes and
eat their missionaries rare. Is it q
coveted honor to stand before these
Kings! There are Kings of Wall Street,
and if you stand before them long
enough they will skin you alive. There
is King over in Russia, and if you
should offer to stand before him, he
would have you seized and searched for
glass bomb. There is King in Bur-
NAH who kills all hisrelations in order
to avoid family quarrels. There are
Kings that are higher than Agag and
there. are Kings not fit for door mats in
respectable houses. Now, to some peo-
pie King is King. but you want to be
little particular about your royalty,
my son, or the publisher will get away
with every dollar of it. In the light Of
this Christian day and generation Henry
VIII. is to you figure no grander than
Brigham Young; not 50 grand, indeed,
for Brigham excelled the English King
in his own specially and left . widow
that occupied every room in the Old
Ladies' Home. And then we were all
young ourselves; some of us more SO