News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-04-09
THE SUNDAY FIRESIDE.
SERIOUS THOUGHTS AND REFIEC-
TIONS FOR DAY OF REST.
BeecheF the Unfolding of NIau-Loyv
Wages and ImmOrality-Ways of Doing
Good, Rtc.. Etc.
Low WAGES CAUSE MINOR Atty.

Low WAGES CAUSE IMMORTALITY.
The Rev. DR.. De Costa on Sunday de
llvered sermon on the subject o
'Wages," selecting as his text Malachi
ill.,, 5.
On the subject of wages, said DIR. d.
Costa, the Bible does not say a grea
deal, but that to the point. Indeed, il
early times the question of wages doe
not appear to have given rise to any yer,
serious difficulties. The dangers of thI
poverty begotten of low wages are in
temperance and crime, common alike t,
overwork and underpey will notice thu
postmen. who in all sorts of weather full
fiji their arduous duties, and the thou
sands of needle-women in New Yorl
city, whose miserable lives can best b
understood by reading Hoods ''Song O
the Shirt"
Thousands of young girls are EN-
ployed in various establishments VIII,
for the mere pittance of dollar week
attired in convict garb, are on thei
feet from morning until night. AnC
boys do this same work for even less
Yet they are learning business, prepar.
ing for the future. Do we ever remem
Der for what these girls are being pre-
pared ? 1t is the curse of low wages
which fills houses of ill-repute and
crowds to overfowing charitable institu.
tions all over the country. As a case in
point I will read some figures-for the
first time made public, 1 believe-of an
institution containing 1900 Magdalens.
Of these, previous to their fall, 534 had
been earning but 81 per week; 1856, 81
per week; 230, So; 127, 81; 68, $5; 27,
Sc; 8, ST, and but l who had been re-
ceiving 800 weekly. Is further proof
needed9
It is often said that high wages will
not cure these evils and that persons
possessing ample revenues often steal;
yet it cannot be denied that high wages
give men at least chance to be honest.
Men say that all these matters are
governed by the universal law of supply
and demand, but this is an inhuman law
and humanity will annul it. Thank
God it is not so universally observed as
it is believed. There are men in New
York city, merchants, who could reduce
their office expenses fifty per cent, yet
they refuse to profit by the misfortunes
and poverty of their fellows, and all
honor to them for their nobility of
character. Only through the instru-
mentality of such men as these can the
salvation of our country be worked out.
In this age industry is falling into the
hands of a few men, who, by tap upon
the wire, can disarrange the whole
system or machine of labor. Yet what
is the use of denouncing corporations
when you all belong to them, expressing
all you can, squeezing all you can ? The
influence of the government should be
invoked to the aid of labor, for this gov
ernment can afford to be just, and if not
it should be whipped into justice. Ii
this new administration means to carry
but one-tenth the reforms which it has
50 boisterously proclaimed, why let
them begin by paying its employees
Christianly wages. The law of supply
and demand is the great lever by which
the rich oppress the poor. This law,
which Malachi ignored for the greater
one OF eternal justice, destroyed the de-
Practical Christianity alone can solve
this question. Homes there are enough
and to spare. Shall we not have them !?
Surely at last the Father will hear his
chiidren's cry.
BEECHER ON THE UNFOLDING OF MAN.
The general theme of Mr.. Beecher's
sermon on Sunday, was the development
of liberty. Speaking of the liberty
which man has to enjoy himself as he
pleases, Mr.. Beecher alluded to horse
racing. 81 don't think that horse racing
hurts the horse" he said, "but it hurts
the man good deal. Some people urge
that the men who are developing horses
ought not to be interfered with. / say
it is very poor economy to feed horses
with young men. I hold that every
thing that makes it proper to open pub
lie schools and churches, everything that
makes morality in law and morality in
public procedure, everything of this
sort says: These gambling dens in New
York and Brooklyn, these pools on the
race track, which are now the worst
form of gambling, are to be condemned
by public sentiment, and no false ap-
peals made to our reason or our magma
nimity should be permitted to weigh
with us one single moment. They are
bad; the men who administer them are
not good; their consequences are mis-
chievous. And though, in the abstract,
there is no more harm in running one
horse against another than there is in
running one boy against another boy, we
are warned by experience that unless
they are carefully administered horse
races, as an institution may improve the
breed of horses by deteriorating the
breed of men,"
'It isn't true" cried q man in the
gallery.
"What isn't true p answered Mr..
Beecher, while everybody turned and
looked for the interrupter.
There was no response, and the man,
whom nobody knew, remained quiet.
81 say it is true" cried Mr.. Beecher,
'and L repeat it with laundering en-
ohasis. Applause. 1 sympathize with
every thing that enIarges the liberty of
but insist that liberty shall
be so administered that it shall not damn
he lowly and the ignorant, but shall in
,pire them and lift them"
CHRISTIAN CHEERFULNEss AND FAITH.
Rev. DIR. John r. Paxton: A smile
s tonic to all that see it. while a
BODY, Some Christians make the room
jeem colder the moment they enter it,
md neutralize all the good they try to
10 by the repelling air with which they
10 it. Men shun them, and dislike
'eligion like that which they profess. 1t
s the happy, cheerful Christians face
which attracts them and makes them
feel that such q religion amounts to
and ought to be theirs. If
robs us of our Joy, then our
religion is useless. We may not be able
to go through life with the full faith
that Paul had. He lived at the dawn
Of Christianity; it was the romance of
his early life; he expected to meet his
Lord at any moment, at any turn in the
road. Dangers, shipwrecks, wild beasts
were nothing; they would but bring
him more quickly to his Master. We
are not so close to Christ as Paul was
then; he could have shaken hands with
Him, he lived so near. But faith is go
ing down somewhat in this nineteenth
century. We cannot keep Christ in
sight; neither could Paul if he lived to-
day. Still, rejoice in your faith. / see
Christianity everywhere pulling down
the strongholds of iniquity. Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday, to-day and
forever. His cross is the only source
of moral regeneration; it bestows bless
ings and hope, and makes man child
of God with an immortal destiny. Let
us then shed abroad in this community
Joy and happiness by our lives. If we
have been healed, let us communicate
of our health, not of disease. This is
what the world needs and looks for.
ONE WAY OF DOING GOOD.
Professor Ls Grand B. Cushman, in a