The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1888-03-01
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Weekly Disoourses of the Great
Brooklyn Preacher,
Subjects s'Nhnt Gun and What
Cannot Make ~ Woman
Happy"
TEXT; "She that hpeth in pleasure Is dead
uhile she krethn

Inc euitor OF boston newspaper rev
days ago wrote, asking me the terse ques,,
lions; what is the road to happiness" and
Fought happiness be the chief aim of lifee'
My answer was; "The road to happiness is
the continuous effort to make others happy.
The chief aim of life ought to be usefuless,
not happiness, but happiness always follows
usefulness" This mornings text in strong
way sets forth the truth that woman who
seeks in worldly advantage her chief enjoy
ment will come to disappointment and death,
"She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she
liveth.n
My friends, you all want to be happy.
You have had great many recipes by which
1t is proposed to give you satisfaction--solid
satisfaction. At times You feel a thorough
unrest. You know as well as older people
what it is to be depressed. As dark shadows
sometimes fall upon the geography of the
school girl as on thu page of the specialized
philosopher. have seen as cloudy days in
May as in November, There are no deeper
signs brcathed by the grandmother than by
the granddaughter, correct the popular
impression that people are happier in child
hood and youth than they ever will be again.
II we hive Alright, the older the happier. The
happiest woman thst l ever knew was a
Christian octogenarian; her hair white as
whits could be; the sunlight of heaven, late
IN the afternoon, gliding the peaks of snow.
have to say to great many of the yonng
people that the most miserable time you are
ever to have is just now As you advance
In life, rs you come out into the world and
have your head and heart all full OF good,
honest, practical Chistian work, then you
will know what it is to begin to be happy.
There are those who would have us believe
that life is chasing thistledown and grasping
bubbles. We have not found it So To
many of us it has been discovering diamonds
In hn II oh Nd ,i,,I, 81, =
our Joy will continue to increase until moth
'rc short OF the everlasting jubilee OF heaven
will be able to express it.
Horatio Greenough, at the close of the
hardest life man ever lives-the life of an
American artist-wrote: 81 don't want to
leave this world until give some sign that,
born by the grace of God in this land, have
found life to be very cheerful thing, and
not the dark and bitter thing with which my
early prospects were clouded."
Albert Barnes, the good Christian, known
the world over, stood in his pulpit in Fhila-
delphia, at 20 or 50 years of age, and said :
"This world is so very attractive to me, am
very sorry | shall have to leave it."
know that Solomon said some very dolo-
tous things about this world, and three times
declared: Vanity OF vanities, all is van
ity." suppose it was a reference to those
times in his career when his seven hundred
wives almost pestered the life out of him. But
would rather turn to the description he gave
after his conversion, when he says in another
place: Her WAYS are ways of p'easantness,
and all her paths are peace 1t is reason
able to expect it will be so. The longer the
fruit hangs on the tree, the ripper and more
mellow 1t ought to grow. You plant one
grain of corn and it will send up stalk with
two ears, each having nine hundred and fifty
grains, so that one grain planted will pro
doce nineteen hundred grams. And ought
not the implantat on of grain of Christian
principle in youthful soul develop into
large crop of gladness on earth, and to har-
vest of eternal joy in heaven, Hear me,
then, while discourse upon some OF the mis-,
taAes which young people make in regard to
happiness, and point out to the young women
what l consider to be the source of complete
satisfaction.
And, in the first place, advise you not to
puild your happiness upon mere social posi-
t!on. Persons at your age looking off upon
lie, are apt to think that if by some stro Ike
OF what is called good luck, you could arrive
at an elevated and aftluent position, little
higher than that in which God has called you
to live, you would be completely happy. In
finite mistake! The palace floor of Aha suerus
is red with the blood of Vashti's broken heart.
There bave been no more scaldng tears wept
than those which coursed the cheeks of
Josephine. If the sob of unhappy WON an.
hood IN the great cities could break through
the tapestried wall, that sob would come
along your streets to-day like the simeon of
the desert. Sometimes I have heard in the
rustling of the robes on the city pavement
the hiss of the adders that followed
IN the wake You have come out
from your home, and you have looked
up at the great house, and covet a
IRE under those arches, when, perhaps. at
that very moment, within that house. there
may have been the wringing of hands, the
start Of horror and the very agony of hell.
knew such one. Her fathers house was
plain, most of the people who came there
were plain; but. by change in fortune such
as sometimes comes, a hand had been offered
that led her into brilliant sphere All the
nelghbors congratulated her upon her grand
prospects; but what an exchange! On her
side it was heart full of generous impulse
and affection. On his side it was a soui dry
and withered as the stubble of the field on
her side it was a fathers house, where God
was honored and this Sabbath light flooded
the rooms with the very mirth of heaven.
On his side it was a gorgeous residence. and
the coming of mighty men to be enter.
tanned there; but within it were revelrv and
godlessness. Hardly had the orange blossoms
Of the marriage feast lost their fragrance, than
the night of discomfort began to cast here and
tnere Its shadow. Cruelties and unkinilnesses
changed all those splendid trappings into a
hollow mockery. The platters of solid silver.
the caskets of pure gold, the head dress Of
gleamlng diamonds were there: but no Col.
no peace, no kind words, no Christian sym
pathy The festal music that broke on the
captive ear turned out to be a dirge and
the wreath in the push was a REPTILE coil.
and the upholstery that swayel in tn, wind
was the wing of a destroying angel, and the
bead drops on the pitcher were the sweat of
everlasting despair. Oh, how many rival
res and nnhappnesses among those who seek
IN social life their chief happiness. It mat
YES not how fine you have things, there are
other people who have them finer. Taking out
your watch to t I'll the hour of the dav: some
one Will correct your timepiece by pulling
out watch more richly chased and jeweIed
itlde In a carriage that cost you $780, and be-
lore you get around the park you will meet
with one that cost $4,000 Have on your
you Will hear OF some one who has picture
1resh from the studio of Church or Bier
stadt.
All that this world can do for you in sill.
yer, IN gold, in Administer plush. in Gobelin
tapestry, in wide halls, in iordly acquaint-
anceshlp, will not give you the ten-thou-
sandth part of grain of solid satisfaction,
me English lord, moving. in the very highest
sphere, was one day found seated with
his chin on his hand and his elbow on the
window sill, looking out and saying: "Oh, l
wish could exchange places with that dogl
Mere social position will never give happi-
ness to woman's soul have had wide and
CONTINUOUS observation, and / tell the young
women that they who build on mere social
position their souls immortal happiness are
building on the sand.
suppose that young woman expends the
brightness of her early life in this unsatisfac-
tory struggle and omits the present oppor-
tunity Of usefulness in the home circle: what
, mistake!
So surely as the years roll around that
home in which you now dwell will become
extinct. The parents will be gone, the prop
erty will go into other possession. YOU your
self will be in other relationships, and that
home which. only a year ago, was full of
congratulation, will be extinguished. When
that period comes you will look back to see
what you did, or what you neglected to do in
the way of making home happy. 1t will be
too late to correct mistakes. If YOU did not
smooth the path of your parents toward the
tomb; if you did not make their last days
bright and happy; if you allowed your
younger brother to go out into the world,
unhallowed by Christian and sisterly inf1u-
ences: il you allowed the younger sisters Of
your family to come up without feeling that
there had been Christian example set them
on your part, there will be nothing but Bit
terness of lamentation That bitterness will
be increased by all the surroundings of that
home; by every chair, by every picture, by
The old time mante ornaments. by every
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