The Brookhaven leader., 1889-02-21

i wan cheeks and broken hearts, In behalf
Of themselves and their families, are
| pleading for bread.
Let us take another look around to see
how we may serve our generation. Let
us see as far as possible that they have
snough 10 wear: God looks on the human
race and Knows just how many inhabitants
the world has. The statistics Of the
worlds population are carefully taken in
civilized lands, and every few years OF.
ficers Of government go through the land
and count how many people there are in
the United States or England, and great
accuracy is reached. But when people
tell tis how many inhabitants there are In
| Asia or Africa, at best It must be a wild
guess. Yet God knows the enact number
of people on our planet, and he has made
enough apparel for eaoh, and IL there be
| fifteen hundred million, fifteen thousand,
! nftesp hundred and fifteen people, then
there is enough apparel for fifteen hun
dred million, fifteen thousand, fifteen
hundred and fifteen. Not s1ouchy ap-
parel, not tagged apparel, not insufficient
apparel, but appropriate apparel. AT
least two suits for every being on the
earth, a summer suit and a winter stit A
good pair Of shoes for every living mortal.
A good coat, good hat, or q good bonnet,
and good shawl, and complete
masculine or feminine outfit of apparel.
A wardrobe for all nations adapted to all
climes, and not string, or button, or
pin, or hook, or an eye wanting. But,
alas where are the good clothes for three
fourths of the human racer The other
one-fourth have appropriated them. The
fact Is, there needs to be and will be re-
Distribution Not by anarchistic violence.
II outlawry had Its way, 1t would rend
and tear and diminish until instead OF
three-fourths Of the world not properly
attired, four fourths would be in rags.
let you know how the redistribution will
take place. By generosity on the part Of
those who have surplus and increased
industry on the part Of those suffering
from deficit. Not all, but the large
majority Of cases Of poverty in this
country are a result Of idleness or
drunkenness, either on the part OF
the present sufferers or their ances-
tors. In most cases the rum jug is the
maelstrom that has swallowed down the
livelihood of those who are in rags. But
things will change, and by generosity on
the part Of the crowded wardrobes, and
industry and sobriety on the part Of the
empty wardrobes, there will be enough
for all to wear. God has done His part
toward the dressing of the human race.
He grows surplus of wool on the sleeps
back, and flocks roam the mountains and
valleys with a burden OF warmth intended
for transference to human comfort, when
the shuttles of the factories reaching all
the way from the Chattahoochee to the
Merrimac shall have spun and woven it.
And here come forth the Rocky Mountain
goat and the cashmere and the beaver.
Here are the merino sheep, their origin
traced back to the fOcks of Abrahamic
and Davidic times. In white letters Of
snowy fleece God has been writing for
a thousand. years his wish that there
might be warmth for all nations. While
others are discussing the effect of high or
low tariff or no tariff at all on wool, you
and had better see if in our wardrobes
we have nothing that we can spare for the
shivering, or pick out some poor lad Of
the street and take him down to a cloth
ing store and fit him out for the winter.
Don't think that God has forgotten to send
ice and snow, because of this wonderful
mild January and February. We shall
yet have deep SHOWS and SO much frost on
the window-pane that in the morning you
can not see through it; and whole focks
of billiards, for God long ago declared
that winter as well as summer shall not
cease, and between this and the spring
crocus we may all have reason to cry out
with the psalmist: "Who can stand out
before His cold?"
Again, let US look around and see how
we may serve our generation. What short
sighted mortals we would be if we were
70 cln ha lv ha
insignificant part of a man, namely, his
body, while we put forth no effort to
clothe and feed and save his soul. Time
is little piece broken of great eternity.
What are we doing for the souls of this
present generation: Let me say it is
generation worth saving. Most magnif-
cent men and women are in it. We make
a great ado about the improvements in
navigation, and in locomotion, and in art
and machinery. We remark what won
ders of telegraph, and telephone and
stethoscope. What improvement in cleo
trio light over tallow candle! But
all these improvements are insignificant
compared with the improvement in the
human race. In olden times, once in a
while, q great and good man or woman
would come up and the world has made a
great fuss about it ever since, but now
they are so numerous we scarcely speak
about them. We put halo about the peo-
pie of the past, but think if the times de-
manded them it would be found we have
now living In this year 1889 fifty Martin
Luthers, fifty George Washingtons, fifty
Lady Huntingtons, fifty Elizabeth Frys.
During our civil war more splendid war
riOrs in North and South were developed
in four years than the whole world devel-
oped in the previous twenty years. l
challenge the four thousand years before
the food and the eighteen centuries after
the food to show me the equal of charity
on a large scale of George Peabody. This
generation of men and women is more
worth saving than any of the one hundred
and eighty generations that have passed
off.
But where shall we begin: With our
selves. That is the pillar fl ON which we
must start. Prescott, the blind historian,
tells us how Pizarro saved his army for
the right when they were about deserving
him. With his sword he made q long
mark on the ground. He said: my men,
ON the north side are desertion and death,
on the south side is victory; on the north
Panama and poverty, on the south side
Peru with all its riches. Choose for your
selves; for my part 1 go to the south" /"
Stepping across the line one by one, his
troops followed and finally his whole
army. The sword of Gods truth draws
the dividing line to-day. On one side of
it are sin and ruin and death, on the other
side are pardon and usefulness and hap
piness and Heaven. You cross from the
wrong side to the right side and your fam
lily will cross W ith you and your friends and
your associates. The way you go they will