Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-03-12

Hold thee in full survey;
Forget the steps already trod,
And onward urge thy way.
As last Sabbath the Rev. T. Dewitt
T,Imsge, D D., the pastor, had baptized
nv sprinkling, he this morning baptized
bv immersion those who preferred this
mode, beptistry having been built under
the pulpit. The subject Of his sermon
vas: 1.-THE Age Of STiudie," and the
toxt. Job viii, "A: "Whose trust shall be
: snider's web" DR.. Talmage said:
The TWO most skillful architects in sll
the world are the bee and the
sni.er. The one puts up q sugar
m.pufsctory and the other builds
slaughter house for flies. On bright
summer morning when the sun comes
out and shines upon the SPIDERS web,
bedeCked with dew, the gossamer struc-
ture seems bright enough for suspen
sion bridge for supernatural beings to
cross on. But alas for the poor fy which,
in the Is ter part of that very day, ven
lures on it, and is caught and dungeoned
and DESTROYED. The fly was informed that
It Tas & free bridge and would cost ncth-
ing, but at the other end Of the bridge the
toll paid was its own life. TIE next day
there comes down strong wind, End
away goes the web, and the marS1d.ng
spider snd the victimiZ9d fly. So delicate
are the silken threads of the spiders web
that many thousands of them are put to-
pether before they become visible to the
human eye, and It takes 4 000.0 900 OF them
10 make thread IS large as the human
hair. Most cruel So well as most in2e-
NOUS is the spider. A prisoner in the
Bastile, France, had one so trained that
at the sound OF violin It every day came
for It's meal of flies. job, the 0u5hOr of
my text, and the leading scientist of his
day, had no doubt watched the Vorccious
process of this one insect with smother,
and saw spider end fly swept down with
the same broom, or scattered with the
same wind. Alas, that the world hiss 50
many designing spiders and vjctimizsd
dies.
There has not been time when the
utter and black iTrespons!bitity Of many
men having the financial interests Of 9th
ers in charge, has been more evident than
in these last few years.
The unrooaag OF banks aud disappear
ance of administrators with the iunds of
large estates, snd the disorder amidst
postofifce accounts and deficits amid
United States eff Gals, have made
PssTILENCE OF CRIME
tast solemnizes every thoughtful msn
and woman and lesds everv phiIauthro-
pIst and Christian to ask: What shall! be
done to stay the plague? There is mon
soon abroad, tyD5oOp, sirCcco.
sometimes ask myself if it would not
be better for men msking Wills to be-
questh the property directly to the execu-
tors and officers OF the court and appoint
the widows and orphans committee to
see that the former got sll that did not
baloug to them. Toe simple fact is that
there are lsrge number Of men sailing
yachts and driving fast horses and mem
bers Of expensive club-houses and con-
trolling country seats who are not worth
dollar If they return TO others their just
rights. Under some sudden reverse they
fail and with st1 cted air seem to retire
from the world aud seem almost ready
for monsstic life, when in two or three
years they blossom out sgain, having
compromised with their creditors-that
is, paid them nothing but regrets,
and the only difference between
the second chapter OF pros
perity and the first, is that thei1 pictures
Gre Murillos instead of Kensetts, and
their horses go mile in twenty seconds
less than their predecessors, anG instead
Of one country seat they have three. l
have watched and have noticed that nine
out OF ten Of those who fail In what is
called high life, have more means after
than before the failure, and in many Of
the cases failure is only q strategem TO
escape the payment Of honest debts and
put the world of the track while they
practice G large sWindle. There Is some
thing WoefuDy wrong in the fact that
these things are possible. First Of all,
charge the blame on careless, Indifferent
bank directors and boards having In
charge great hnkncial institutions. 1t
ought not 10 be possible for 8 president or
cashier or prominent oflcer of q banking
Institution TO sWindle it year after year
without detection. 1 will undertake 20
say that If these frauds are carried on for
two or three years without detection,
either the directors are partnersin the IN
fanny snd pocketed part of the theft, or
they are guilty of e culpAb'e neglect Of
duty, for which God will hold them as
responsible as He holds the EckDowl-
edged defraudeIs. What right have
prominent business men to allow their
names to be published as directors in q
financial institution, so that unsopaisti-
Gated people sre thereby induced to de-
posit their money in or buy the scrip
thereof, when they, the published d.
rectors, are doing nothing for the safety
OF the institution It is
CASE OF DECEPTION
most reprehensiole. Many people with a
surplus Of money, not needed for imme-
date use, although it may be s little
further on Indispensable, are without
friends competent to advise them,
and they are guided solely by
the character Of the men whose
names are associated with the
institution. When the crash came, and
with the overthrow of the banks went the
small earnings and limited fortunes OF
widows and orphans, and the helplesslY
Gged, the directors, stood with idiotic
stare, and 10 the inquiry of the frenzied
depositors and stockholders who had lost
their all, and to the srraignment of sn in
dignant public had nothing to say except:
1--WE thought il was all right. we did
not know there was anything wrong GO
ing on" Is was their duty to know.
They stood in position which deluded
the people with the idea that they were
carefully observaIt. Calling themselves
directors, they did not direct. They had
opportunity of auditing accounts and in
specting the books. No time to do sof
Then they had no business to accept the