Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1888-07-28
TALmAGE ON "souR EXPERIENCE.

TALmAGE ON SOUR EXPERIENCE"
In some lives the saccharine seems
to predominant. Life is sunshine On
a bank of flowers. A thousand
hands to clap approval. In Decem.
Der or in January, looking across
their tables, they see all their family
present; health rubicund. Skies fam.
boyant. Days RESILIENT. But in a
great many cases there are not SO
man, sugars as acids. The annoy.
ance, and the vexations, and the dis.
appointments of life overpower the
success. There is gravel in al.
most every shoe. An Arabian le-
gend says that there was worm in
Solomon's staff, gnawing It's strength
away; and there is a weak spot in
every earthly support that a man
leans on. Miss Langdon, honored
all the world over for her poetic gen.
ius, is SO worried over the evil re-.
ports set afioat regarding her, that
she is found dead, with an empty
bottle OF prussic acid in her hand.
Goldsmith said that his life was a
wretched being, and that all that
want and contempt could bring to it
had been brought, and cries out !:
f" What, then, is there formidable in
a Jail 7" COrreggio's fine painting
is hung up for IL tavern sign. Ho-
garth cannot sell his best paintings
except through Il rattle. Andrew
Delsart makes the great frescOe in
the Church of the Annunciata, at
Florence, and gets for pay IL sack of
corn; and there are annoyances and
yexations in high places as we'll as
in low places, showing that in a
great many lives the sours are great.
err than the sweets. "When Jesus
therefore had received the vinegar"
In the first place, there is the
sourness of betrayal. The treachery
of Judas hurt Christ's feelings more
than all the friendship of His discl-
Piles did Him good. You have had
many friends; bat there was one
friend upon whom you put special
stress. You feasted him. You loan
ed him money. You befriended him
in the dark passes OF life, when he
especially needed friend. After
ward he turned upon you, and he
took advantage Of your former in
timacies. He wrote against You.
He talked against you. He micro
scopized your faults. He flung con.
tempt ut you when you ought to
have received nothing but gratitude.
At first, you could not sleep at
nights. Then you went about with
a sense Of having been stung. That
will never be healed, for
though mutual friends may arbitrate
in the matter until you shall shake
hands, the old cordiality will never
come back. Now, | commend to all
such the sympathy Of a betrayed
Christ. Why, they sold Him for
less than our twenty dollars: They
all forsook Him, and fed. They
cut Him to the quick. He drank
that cup of betrayal to the dregs.
He took the vinegar. ...
There is also the sourness of pow
eIry. Your income does not meet
your outgoings, and that always
gives an honest man anxiety. There
is no sign of destitution about you
pleasant appearance, and o cheerful
home for you; but God only knows
what a time you have had to man
age your private finances. just as
the bills run up, the wages seem to
run down. But you are not the only
one who has not been paid for hard
work. The great Wilkie sold his
piece, "The Blind Fid-
dler," for fifty guineas, although af-
terward it brought les thousands.
The world hangs in admiration over
the sketch of Gamsborough, yet that
very sketch hung for years in the
shop window because there was not
any purchaser. Oliver Goldsmith
sold his Vicar of Wakefield" for
a few pounds in order to keep the
bailiff out of the door; and the vast
majority OF men in all occupations
and professions are not fully paid
for their work. You may say moth
ing, but life to you is "a hard push ;
and when you sit down with your
wife and talk over the expenses,
yon both rise up discouraged you
abridge here, and You abridge there,
and you get things snug for smooth
sailings, and 10! suddenly there is a