Milford chronicle., 1889-04-12
THE SLAUGHTER.
DR.. TALMAeE's DISCOURSE IN ST.
LOUIS.

Neither a Borrower Nor a Lender Be-"
A Loss That Cannot BE RePlaced-The
Equipment of a AIan--Dangers to Young
Men in Great Cities.
ST. LOUIS, April 7.-The Rev. T. De Witt
Talmage, d. D., Of Brooklyn, preached here
this evening to a vast audience. His subject
was "The Slaughter, and his text, Proverbs
vii, %; "As an OK to tho slaughter The
eloquent preacher said;
There is nothing in the voice or manner of
the butcher to Indicate to the OK that there
is death ahead The OK thinks he is going on
to a rich pasture field of clover, where all
day long he will revel in the herbaceous lux
uriance: but after a while the men and the
boys close in upon him with sticks and stones
and shouting, and drive him through bars
aud into a doorway, where ne is fastened,
and with well aimed stroke the AK fells
him, and so the anticipation Of the redolent
pasture field is completely disappointed So
many young man has been driven on by
temptation to what he thought would be
paradsiacal enjoyment; but after awhile in
fiuences with darker hue and swarthier arm
close in upon him, and he finds that instead
Of making an excursion into garden he has
been driven "as an OK to the slaughter"
l. We are apt to blame young men for
being destroyed when We ought to blame
the influences that destroy them. Society
slaughters a great many young men by the
behest, "You must keib up appearances;
whatever be your salary, you must dress rs
well as others, you must wine and brandy as
many friends you must smoke as costly
cigars, you must give as expensive entertain
ments, and you must live in US fashionable a
boarding house. If you haven't the money,
borrow. If you can't borrow make a false
entry, or subtract here and there bill from
a bundle Of bank bills; you will only have
TO make the deception a little while; in
a few months, or in year or two you can
make all right Nobody will be hurt by it,
hobody will be the wiser. You yourself viii
not be damaged By that awful process q
hundred thousand men have been slaughtered
for time and slaughtered for eternity.
THE MIsERIRs or GETTING IN DEBT.
Suppose YOU borrow. There is nothing
wrong about borrowing money. There is
hardly man in the house but has sometimes
borrowed money Vast estates have been
built on a borrowed dollar. But there are
two kinds Of borrowed money Money Dor
fowed for the purpose Of starting or keeping
up legitimate enterprise and expense, and
money borrowed to get that which you can
do without The first is right, the other is
wrong. If you have money enough of your
own to buy coat, however plain, and then
you borrow money for a dandy's outfit, you
have taken the first revolution Of the wheel
down grade Borrow for the necessities; that
may be we'll Borrow for the luxuies; that
tips your prospects over in the wrong direc-
tion.
servant Of the lender. It is a bad state
of things when you have to go down some
other street to escape meeting some one whom
you owe. II young men knew what is the
despotism of being in debt more Of them
would keep out of it, What did debt do for
Lord Bacon, with a mind towering above the
ccnturiesl 1t induced him to take bribes and
convict himself as u criminal before all ages
What did debt do for Walter Scottl Broken
hearted at Abbotsford. Kept him writing
until his hand gave out in paralysis to keep
the sheriff away from his pictures and stat
uary. Better for him if he had minded the
maxim which he had chiseed over the fire
place at Abbotsford, Waste not, want not"
The trouble is, my friends, the people do
not understand the ethics Of going in debt
and that if yOu purchase goods with no ex-
pectation of paying for them, or go into debts
which you cannot meet, you steal just so
much money. If 90 into grocer's store,
and buy sugars and coffees and meats, with
10 capacity to pay for them and no intention
81 paying for them, am more dishonest than
If go into the store, and when the grocer's
face is turned the other way fill my pockets
with thearticles OF merchandise and carry of
aham In the one case | take the merchants
time, and take the time of his messenger to
transfer tue goods to my house, while in the
other case / take none Of the time of the
merchant, and | wait upon myself, and
transfer the goods without any trouble TO
him. In other words, a sneak thief is not so
bad as a man who contracts for debts he
never expects to pay.
Yet in all our cities there are families that
move every May day to get into proximity to
other grocers and meat shops and apothe
carries. They owe everybody within half
mile of where they now live, and next May
they will move into n distant part Of the city,
finding a new lot of victims Meanwhile you,
the honest family in the new house, are both
cred day by day by the knocking at the door
Of disappointed bakers, and butchers, and
dry goods dealers, and newspaper carriers,
and you are asked where your predecessor is.
You do not know It was arranged you
should not know Meanwhile your predeces-
sor has gone to some distant part OF the
city, and the people who have anything to
sell have sent their wagons and stopped there
to solicit the valuable" custom Of the new
neighbor. and he, the new neighbor, with great
complacency and with an air Of ailluence
orders the finest steaks and the highest priced
sugars, and the best of the canned fruits. and,
perhaps, all the newspapers And the debts
will keep on accumuating until he gets his
goods on the 3Oth of next April in the furni
ture cart.
Now, let me say, il there are any such
persons in the house, if you have any
regard for your own convenience, you
had better move To some greatly distant part
1 of the city 1t is too bad that, having had
/ all the trouble Of consuming the goods, you
should also have the trouble Of being dunnedl
/ And let me say that if you find that this pic
tures your own photograph, instead Of being
/ in church you ought to be in the penitentiaryl
/ No wonder that so many Of our merchants
fail in business. They are swindled into bank
ruptcy by these wandering Arabs. these no
mads Of city life. They cheat the grocer out
Of the green apples, which make them sick,
the physician, who attends their distress, and
| the undertaken, who fits them out for de
parture from the neighborhood where they
| owe everybody when tney pay the ueot OF
nature, the only debt they ever do pay
"HEIrHER BORROWER NOR A LENDER Be" i"
Now our young men are coming up in this
depraved state Of commercial ethics, and
am solicitous about them ! want to warn
them against being slaughtered on the sharp
edges Of debt You want many things you
have not, my young friends You shall have
them If you have patience and honesty and
industry. Certain lines OF conduct always
lead ont to certain successes
There is law which controls even thuse
things that seem haphazard- have been
told by those who have observed that it is
possible TO calculate just how many letters
Wal be sent to the Dead Letter office every
year through mlsdirectiOn; that it Is possible
to calculate just how many letters viii b
detained for lack OF postage stamps through
the forgetfulness Of the sendeTs, and that It Is
possible 10 tell just how many people will TALL