The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1888-11-09

1880
shall be hung not with the symbols Of
carnage, but with the victories that art
which was so long ago recognized in my
text as pleasant pictures" o, the power
Of pictures! / can not deride, as some
have done, Cardinal Mazarin who, when
told that he must die, took his last walk
through the art gallery Of his palace, say
ing: 'Must quit all this? Look at that
Titan? Look at that 'Corregiop Look
at that Deluge Of Caracciv Farewell,
dear picturesw As the day of the Lord
Of Hosts, according to this text, will scru-
tinize the pictures, implore all parents to
see that in their households they have
neither in book or newspapers or on can
vas any thing that will deprave.
Pictures are no longer the exclusive pos.
session of the affluent. There is not q re-
spectacle home in these cities that has not
specimens Of woodcut or steel engraving,
il not of painting, and your whole family
will feel the moral uplifting or depression
Have nothing on your wall or in books
that will familiarize the young with scenes
Of cruelty or wassail; have only those
sketches made by artists in elevated
moods, and none of those scenes that
seem the product Of artistic delirium
tremens. Pictures are not only q strong
but a universal language. The human
race is divided into almost as many Ian
guages as there are nations, but the pict-
rues may speak to people of all tongues.
Volapuk, many have hoped, with little
reason, would become a worldwide lam
guage; but the pictorial is always q world
wide language, and printers types have
no emphasis compared with it. We say
that children are fond of pictures, but no.
tice any man when he takes up book, and
you will see that the first thing he looks at
is the pictures. Have only those in your
house that appeal to the better nature.
One engraving has sometimes decided an
eternal destiny. Under the title of fine
arts there have come here from France a
class of pictures which elaborate argument
has tried to prove irreproachable. They
would disgrace bar room, and they need
to be confiscated.
Furthermore let all reformers, and all
Sabbath school teachers, and all Christian
workers realize that if they would be
effective for good they must make pict-
ures, il not by chalk on blackboards or
kindergarten designs, or by pencils on
canvas, then by words. Arguments are
language or in colors, are what produce
strongest effects. Christ was always tell
ing what a thing was like, and his sermon
on the mount was a great picture gallery,
beginning with a sketch Of q "city on q
hill that can not be hid" and ending with
tempest beating against two houses, one
on the rock and one on the sand. The
parable of the prodigal son, a picture;
parable of the sower who went forth to
sow, a picture; parable of the unmerciful
servant q picture; parable Of the ten vir-
gins, picture; parable of the talents, a
picture. The world wants pictures and the
appetite begins with the child who con-
sents to go early to bed if the mother will
sit beside him and rehearse a story, which
is only a picture. When we see how much
has been accomplished in secular direc-
tions by Observation-Disclosures tragedies
a picture, Victor Hugo's writings ali pict-
ures, John Ruskin's and Tennyson's and
Longfellow's works all pictures-why not
enlist, as far as possible, for our churches
and schools and reformatory work and
evangelistic endeavor, the power of
thought that can be put into word pictures
in color? Yes, why not all young men
draw for themselves On paper with pen or
pencil their coming career, of virtue if
they prefer that, or vice if they prefer
that. After making the picture put it on
the wall or paste it on the fly leaf of some
favOrite book, that you may have it before
you.
read the other day of a man who had
been executed for murder and the jailer
found afterward a picture made on the
wall of the cell by the assassin's own
hand, picture of flight of stairs. On
the lowest step he had written, s'Disobe-
dience of parents;" on the second, "Sab-
bath breaking;" on the third, Drunken
ness and gambling;" on the fourth, "Mur-
der" and on the fifth and top step, "a
gallows." If that man had made that pic
ture before he took the first step, he never
would have taken any of them. o, man,
make another picture, bright picture,
an evangelical picture, and 1 will help
you make it! suggest six steps for this
flight of stairs. On the first step write
the words, "a nature changed by the
Holy Ghost and washed in the blood Of the
Lamb" on the second step, Industry and
good companionship;" on the third step,
"a Christian home with a family altar"
on the fourth step, Ever widening USE
fulness;" on the fifth step, "a glorious
departure from this world;" on the sixth
step, Heaven! Heaven! Heavenw Write
it three times, and let the letters of the one
word be made up of banners, the second
of coronets, and the third Of thrones.
Promise me that you will do that, and I
will promise to meet you on the sixth step,
if the Lord will through His pardoning
grace bring me there too.
And here l am going to say a word of
cheer to people who have never had a
word of consolation on that subject.
There are men and women in this world by
hundreds of thousands, and some of them
are here to-day, who have a fine natural
taste, and yet all their lives that taste has
been suppressed, and although they could
the galleries of Dresden and
Vienna and Naples far more than nine
hundred and ninety-nine out Of one thou
sand who visit them, they never may 60,
for they must support their households,
and bread and schooling for their children
are of more importance than pictures.
Though fond of music they are compelled
to live amid discord, and though fond of
they dwell in clumsy abodes,
and though appreciative Of all that en-
cravings and paintings can do, they are in
deprivation.
You are going, after you get on the
sixth step Of that stairs just spoken of, to
find yourselves in the royal gallery Of the
universe, the concentered splendors of all
worlds before your transported vision. In
some way all the thrilling scenes through
which we and the Church Of God have
passed in our earthly state will be
pictured or brought to mind. At the cy-
clorama of Gettysburg, which We had in
Brooklyn, one day a blind man, who lost
his sight in that battle, was with his child
heard talking while standing before that
picture. The blind man said to the daugh-
ter: care there at the right of the picture
some regiments marching up a hill:"
ssves Oshe said swell - ca III the him n man