The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-07-05
THE LESSON JACOB'SW WELL
Duty of Men to Build Something Not
Only for Themselves but for Others.
Growing Disposition in Civilized Commune
ties to Give Wider Possession to Things
Of Beauty and of General Utility.
Sermon Preached by Rev. NJ. W. Reed, June %.

| we'll that would have answered the needs of him
self and his herdsmen. He did better than that
He dug a well that yields water to-day. In
selection in a reader that l used at school re-
member this line: 1.-THE traveller slakes his
thirst at the we'll of Jacob" Whether Jacob had
in mind the pilgrims that one by one would como
thirsty to his well-Samari.an women, Jesus of
Nazareth Saracen crusader and modern tourist
i know not He did good understanding
that lives after him to keep and to comfort
| In contrast look at the worn out land of Vir
ginia, dear at a shilling an acre. Crop after
crop taken, nothing given to the land until the
life of the earth is gone. "Jimson weed" has
come in and corn gone out. 'Jimson" is free
and easy contraction of jamestown. The pecu-
| liarity Of Jimson weed is that it grows only on
| land that has been cultivated and then forsaken.
| 1t fourishes on land that tobacco and corn have
| robbed 1t is faund on the forsaken streets of
| stagnated towns.
| A man that lives for himself alone makes the
earth alittle poorer than he found it-harder,
more arid. In the wolds general enterprise he
| proves himself dead head. He rises up from
the feast of life, and goes off without paying his
bill. There is a trout stream in Northern Mich
used to visit it in the summer. Themoney these
men left in the woods for guides, for food, for
| horses, was the principal revenue of the inhabl
| tants. But there has change been made Three
years ago a native Of that country concluded
| that rod and line were too old fashioned too
| slow for his purpose SO he made contract
| with commission man in a city to furnish so
| many pounds of fish in a week. When / saw
| him he was going fishing with a boy-no rod.
| no seine, no spear. He used the same material
| that the Nlhlilsts catch car with. To-day the
| famous stream yields nothing The summer
revenue of the people has ceased. The peren
| NAL sport OF a hundred anglers has come to
| grief. The man who did this is simply private
| spirited man. The woods not full of that
| kind, but there are too many One is too many.
| hear of him on ali our rivers. The Adirondack
! region of New York has furnished pleasant
summer month for thousands of tired people.
| From what hear it is only question of time.
The land will be stripped, and the streams poi
| soned with sawdust. All this that few men may
| have little more money
Last Fourth of July, after vigorous Chamber,
| / came out on "Seven Falls" on "Seven Lakes
| in the neighborhood of Pixies Peak was ad-
| miring what | came to see, when man in
| formed me that he owned that scenery. l could
| not believe 1t. L saw a more incredible thing
| soon after-a man who owned "a canyon" The
| thought of little freckled man wearing No.
| hat owning a canyon of the Rocky mountains
| is ridiculous The canyon owns him. There IS
at present growing public opinion on this sub
| ject that may cause this spoation of public
| property to cease. The Yellowstone Park was
very nearly stolen by individuals. The State of
| New York has only just in time interfered in
| behalf of Niagara. By statute, there is now
something to see besides factories and hackmen.
The State has power to condemn private proper
| ty for public uses and it is likely now that this
| right will be so used that the Yosemite, Yellow
| stone Park, Niagara Falls and the canyons of
| the Rocky mountains will belong 10 the people.
All anybody feels like paying to see scenery is
| fatigue.
| 1t is within the power of money to buy and
| sequester, lock away from the people, the finest
works of art but it is not popular, and it will
less and less be done. If man absolutely owns
anything on earth it is his invention, but he
does not absolutely that He gets
his patent, but it expires after while.
The state comes in and makes the private
property public property, sees by the laws gov
ernng patents that the inventor is rewarded
and stimulated, but Sees also, that the people
share in the benefit. This right of the state will
more and more be exercised. But public
spirited man needs no law He is law unto him
self
In the old feudal times a man walled himself
in-partly for defense, partly through feeling
that what was was his and he wanted outsiders
to understand it. The passers-by of the home of
Mary Queen of Scots. would get little notion of
the interior. There is a change in the minds of
men. On the best of the streets of some of our
American cities there are no fences, marks
Of division. Instead of hiding the work of art
or nature, it is exposed, free a sunset There
are days when a stranger can see the pictures
that even Mr.. Vanderbilt has collected
The exclusive feeling is passing out. I can
remember when man owned his pew in church;
it was his real estate. If anything did not 90 to
suit he could, and sometimes did, put paddock
on the door-lock it and go off. The lock no
longer exists-the pew has door even. A
man now takes pew subject to the good of the
congregation.
A city in which every man attends strictly to
his own business-does only what he is paid for
IL. 4 - E.
he can get, putting a solid foundation under
three sides of ahouse-isnot good city; because,
when the law has done all it can to employ work
and pay for it, there still remains mass of
necessary work that some people must do for
nothing. The physicians that l know do not
| stop to inquire whether sick man is poor
man. They all do a great deal of work for
| nothing A minister called to attend funeral
does not refuse to go because it is case outside
| the congregation. That has nothing to do with
| it. The time of the average minister is more
| taken outside his church than in it. His bust
ness makes him the common property of whoever
wants anything, and who does not know where
| else to 90. That is as it should be. A private
| spirited man will have hard work to follow
| pubic-spirited Christ.
The state has its hard and fast methods of
dealing with the poor. and the stranger, and the
| sufferer by the accidents of lfe but neither the
| state the city officially cover the neces-
sary ground. man gets hungry in less time
than he can obtain residence, except it may
| be Just before election. The rules of official
charity are of necessity not so elastic as the
needs of the poor. Here is where private non
official charity has field, and societies are
formed for the purpose of attending to those
| needs We have them here. and as efficient as
any have ever known. But then these socie:
ties have rules And it is possible to imagine
a case of real need that does not properly belong
to any organization. You remember the story
| of "GinXs Baby" He came within The condi-
tons of no society. His folks were not members
| of any church. His father was not Mason, or
| Oddfellow, or Elk. The baby was not even an
| orphan or half orphan. He was not a negro
| or Indian, or heather Chinee He had no points
of advantage. He was simply child too many
in London, and having no other place to CO. he
finally went over London Bridge, The sorrow
| full river had condition. 1t will always re-