The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1888-09-13

Chief Aim of Life Should be Useful
ness-Mistakes of Young People.
Dr. Talmage took for his text the fol-
lowing words: She that liveth in pleas
urc is dead while she liveth." He said:
The editor Of Boston newspaper. a
few days ago, wrote asking me the terse
questions: What is the road to happi-
nessY' and, 'Ou9ht happiness be the
chief aim Of lifc?'' Ny answer was:
''The road to happiness is the continuous
effort to make others happy. The chief
aim of life ought to be usefulness. not
happiness. but happiness always follows
usefulness. . This mornings text i'll a
strong way sets forth the truth that a
woman who seeks in worldly advantage
her chief enjoyment will come to disap-
poiutment and death. She that liveth
| in pleasure is dead while she Hveth.n
Ny friends, you all want to be happy
You have had great many recipes by
| which it is proposed to give YOU salts
| facrion-sold satisfaction. At times you
| feel a thorough unrest. You know as
well as older people what it is to be de-
| pressed. AS dark shadows sometimes
fall upon the geography Of the school
| girl as upon the page Of the specialized
philosopher. | have seen as cloudy days
in May as in November. There are 10
deeper sighs brcathed by the grandmother
than by the granddaughter. [ correct
the popular impression that people are
happier III childhood and youth than they
ever will be again. If we live Alright, the
older the happier. The happiest woman
that | ever knew was Christian Octoge-
marian; her hair white as white could be;
| the sunlight of heaven late in the afternoon
gliding the leaks Of snow. have to say
| to a great many of the young people
that the most miserable time YOU are
ever to have is just now. As you ad
vance III life, as you come out into the
world and have your head and heart all
full of good, honest, practical Christian
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
thistlrdown and grasping bubbles. We
have rot found it SO. 70 many of Us it
has been discovering diamonds larger
than the kOhinoor, and [ think that our
joy will continue to increase until moth
Ing Short Of the everlasting jubilee Of
Iltlhtil " Ill )t slDc " OK press II.
IIoratio GrcenouGh, at the close of the
hardest life Il man ever liyc3--thc life of
an American arti5t-wrote: Il don t
want to leave this world until | give
some sign that. born by the grace Of God
i'll this land, | have found life to be a
very cheerful thing. and no; the dark and
bitter thing with which my early pros
poets were cloUdcd."
Albert Barnes. the good Christian,
known the world over, stood in his pull
pit in Philadelphia at 70 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
do!OrOus things about this world. and
three times declared: VANITY Of vani-
ties. all is vanity l suppose it was a
reference to those times in his career
when lis seven hundred wives almost
pestercd the life out of him. But
would rather turn to the description hc
gave after his conversion, when he saws
i'll another place: Her ways are WAYS
S of pleasantness, and all her paths are
peace 1t is reasonable to expect it will
: he so. The longer the fruit hangs on Tho
: tree, the ripper and more mellow it ought
to grow. You plant one grain Of
corn and it will send up a stalk
with two ears, each having 95C
grains, so that one grain planted will
produce 1000 grains. And ought moi
the lmplantatlon OF a grain of Christian
principle i'll a youthful soul develop into
! 4 large crop of gladneSs on earth, to {
= harvest of eternal joy in heaven? Heal
= me, then, while l discourse upon some
Of the mistakes which young people
make in regard to happiness. and point
out to the young women what I consider
to be the source of complete satisfaction
And, III the first place, | advise yor
not to build your happiness upon mere
social position. Persons at YOUR age
e looking off upon life, are apt to thinl
! that if, by some stroke of what is called
7 good luck, YOU could arrive in an ele
l. waited and atHuent position. little higher
than that in which God has called YOU tc
hV" you would be completely happy
Infinite mistake. The palace floor OF
Ahasucrus is red with the blood of Wash
us broken heart. There have been nc
more scalding tears wept than those
Z N'i44Nii NoNIoLtI lIlS ClleehS OF Josephine
e II the sob of unhappy womanhood il
/ the great cities could break through
the tapestried wall that sob would
come along your streets today like tn,
SIMEON OF the desert. Sometimes [ have
heard III the rustling of the robes on tht
cry pavement the hiss of the adders tha
followed in the wake. You have com,
out from your home. and you hav,
" looked up at the great house, and cove
HE Under those arches when. perhaps
al that very moment, within that house
there may have been the wrirsing O
hahdN, the start of horror and the yer,
agony ot hell. | knew such a one. lie
lalhers house was plain, most of tn
people who came there were plain; but
pE change of fortune such as some
tiAeS comes. a hand had been offere,
'lat led her into brilliant sphere. Al
- me helsRbors congratulated her upol
hcr grand prospects; but what an ex
cnahSe! On her side it was heart ful
-, 1i generous Impulse and affection. O
\, HIS side 1t was 4 soul dry and withere
as the stubbla of the field On her sid
II was fathers house, where God wa
: honored and the Sabbath light fioode
II lhe rooias with the very mirth of heaven
is Ol his side it was a gorgeous residence
anu the coming of mighty men To be .er
Lert2iTol there. Int within IL were rex