The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1886-10-14
DR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
"TWO YOUNG MEN WHO CAME TO
LIVE IN THE CITY"
S1t: "Ponder the path Of thy feet"-Prov.

u0Poo' AWo young men are TO take Une cars
10 the city. Father brought them in wagon
with two trunks The evening before at the
OLD nome was rather sad time. The neigh
pors had gathered in to say good bye In
deed, all the Sunday afternoon there had
been a strolling that way from adjoining
farms for it was generally known that the
Two boys the next morning were going to the
city to live and the whole neighborhood was
interested, some hoping they would do well
and others, without saying anything, hoping
lor THEM city failure. Sitting on the fence
talking over the matter, the neighbors would
lnterlard their conversation about the wheat
crop of last summer and the apple crop vet to
be gathered with remarks about the city pros
poets OF Edward and Nicholas, for these
were the names of the two young men; Ed
ward, seventeen, and Nicholas, nineteen, but
Edward, although two years younger, being
! quicker to learn, knew as mut h as Nicholas.
They were both brown faced and hearty and
had gone through all the curriculum of coun-
Try sports by which muscle is developed and
the chest filled out.
Father and mother on Monday morning
had both resolved to go to the depot with the
/ boys but the mother at the last moment
backed out, and she said that somehow she
feit quite weak that morning, and had no
!, appetite for day or two, and so concluded
to say goodbye at the front door of the old
place. Where she went and what she did
after the wagon left leave other mothers to
guess. The breakfast things stood almost
till noon before they were cleared away. But
little was said on the way to the railroad sta
tion. As the locomotive whistle was heard
coming around the curve the father put out
his hand, somewhat knotted at the knuckles
and one of the joints stitfened years ago by
wound from scythe, and said: Goodbye
Edward, goodbye, Nicholasl Take good
care OF yourselves and write as soon as you
get there and let us know how they treat you.
| Your mother will be anxious to hear"
Landed in the city they sought out with
consider able inquiry of policemen on street
corners and questioning of car-drivers the
two commercial establishments to which they
were destined, SO far apart that thereafter
they seldom saw each other, for it is aston
ishlng how far apart two persons can be in
a large city, especially if their habits are
different Practically hundred miles from
Bowling Green to Canal street or from At
'antic avenue to Futon.
Edward, being the youngest, we must look
after him first He never was in so large a
store in all his life su interminable
shelves, such skillful imitation of real men
and women to display goods on, such agility
of cash boys, such immense stock of goods
and whole community Of employees. His
head is confused as he seems dropped like a
pebble in the great ocean of business life.
'Have you seen that greenhorn from the
countrysn whispers young man to young
uldu ne Is III SUCH anu u ue; larJtnenU. w q
will have to break him in some night" Ed
ward stands at his new place all day so home
sick that any moment he could have cried
aloud if his pride had not suppressed every
thing. Here and there tear he carelessly
dashed OIL as though it were from influenza
or a cold in the head. But some of you know
how O young man feels when set down in a
city OF strangers thereafter to fight his own
battles and no one near by seeming to care
her ic Live. or dies. The centre of q.
desert, months journey to the first settle
uent. is not much more solitary.
But that evening as the hour for closing
has come, there are two or three young men
who sidle up to Edward, and ask him how he
likes the city, and where he expects to go that
night, and If he would like them to show him
the sights. He thanks them, and says he shall
have to take Some evenings for unpacking
and making arrangements, as he has just ar
rived, but says that after while he will be
glad to accept their company. After spend
ing two or three evenings in his boarding
house room, walking up and down. looking
at the bare wall or an old chrome hung there
at the time that religious newspapers, by such
prizes advanced their subscription lists, and
after toying an hour with the match box, ,and
ever and anon examining his watch to sse if
1t is time to retire, and it seems that ten
O'Clock at night, or even nine o'clock, viii
never come, he resolves thereafter to accept
the chaperoning of his new friends at the
vtore
Soon the night comes when they are all
out together. Although his salary is not
large he is quite flush with pocket money
which the old folks gave him after saving up
for some time. He cannot be mean and these
friends are doing all this for his pleasure and
SO he pays the bills At the door of places
of amusement his companions cannot find the
change, or they accidentally fall behind just
as the ticket office is approached, or they say
they will make it all right and will them
selves ray the next time Edward, accus-
toned to farm life or village life is dazed
and enchanted with the glitter of spectacular
sin. Plain and blunt iniquity Edward would
have Immediately repulsed, but sin accom-
panied by bewitching orchestra, sin amid
gilded pillars and gorgeous upholstery, sin
arrayed in all the attractions that the powers
of darkness in combination can arrange to
magnetic young man, is very different
from sin in its loathsome and disgusting
shape.
But after few nights, being very late out,
he says ''1must stop, my purse won't stand
this. My health won't taud this. My rel u
tation won't stand this" Indeed one Of the
business firm one night from his private box,
in whi he applauded play in which atti-
tudes and phraseology occurred which, it
taken or uttered in his own parlor, would
have caused bin to shoot or stab the actor on
the spot,-froln this hi2h-priced box sees in
cheay;er pla"e the new clerk of his store,
and is led to ask questions about his habits
and wonders how, on the salary the house
pays him, he can do as he does. Edward, to
recover his hysical vigor and his finances,
stops while and spends few more even
ings examining tie chromos on the wall and
counting the matches in the match box, or
goes down in the boarding house parlor to
hear the gossi p alb ut the other boarders or a
discourse on the insuf1iciency of the table
fSr 'daripu tho r,ra pa n tina crifi-
cism severe in proportion as the faultfinder
pays little or is resolved to leave unceremoni
Ously and pay nothing at ALL
'Confound itr' cries the young man, II
cannot stand this life any longer, and must
go out and see the world" The same young
men and others of a now larger a quaintance
are ready to escort him. There is never any
lack of such guidance. If a man wants to
go the whole round of sin he can fin l plenty
to take him, a whole regiment who know the
way. But after awhile Edwards money Is
J all gone. He has received his salary again
and again, but it was spent before ne got 1t,
borrowing a little here and little there.
What shall he do now! Why he has seen in
his rounds of the gambling tables men who
put down a dollar and took up ten put down
a hundred aud took up thousand. Why
not hel To re onstruct his finances he takes
hand und wins; is so pleased be takes an
other hand and wins, is in phrenzy of delight
and takes another hand and loses all.
When he first came to this city Edward
was disposed to keep Sunday in quietness,
reading little and going occasionally to
hear a sermon Now, Sunday is day oi
carousal. He Is so full of intoxicants by II
O'Clock in the day he staggers on the street
Some morning, Edward, his breath stencil.
full with rum, take his place in the store. He
Is not fit to be there. He is listless or silly
or impertinen. or in some way incompet mt
and a messenger comes to him and says
"The firm desires to see you in the private
Officer
The gentleman in the private office says
"Edward, we will not need you any more
We owe you a little money for services since
we IA you last AMI here it is.
'fWhat is the matterF says the young
man. 81 cannot understand this. Have
done anythingf'
Tho reply is: 1--WE do not wish any word!
with you. Our engagement with each othel
& ended
"Out of employment" What does tha
mean to good young mani 1t means al
opportunity to get another and perhaps
better place. 1t means opportunity for men
tai Improvements and preparation for higher
work "Out Of employmentln What doe
that moan to a dissipated young mani i
means lightning express train on a dowr
\ grade on the Grand Trunk 10 Perdition. A