The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1889-05-24

As one Sabbath morning a father came to
the foot of the pulpit as l stepped out or
it, and said: go, my son, my SON"
There is many young man proud of his
mother, who would strike into the dust
, any man who would insult her, who is at
this moment himself, by his evil doing
and his bad habits, sharpening a dagger
to plunge through that mothers heart. A
telegram brought him from afar. He
went blOated and SCARED into the room
and he stood by the lifeless form of his
mother.
Her hair gray; it had turned gray in
sorrow. Those eyes had wept floods OF
tears over his wanderings. That still
white hand had done him many kind
ness, and had written many a loving in
vitation and good counsel. He had
broken her old heart He came into the
room and threw himself on the casket
and he sobbed outright: 'MOther,
mOtherr' but those lips that had kissed
him in infancy and uttered so many kind
words spake not; they were sealed.
Rather than have such a memory come
on my soul, I would prefer to have roll
over me the Alps and the HimaIayas.
But while sometimes there are sons who
turn out very badly coming from good
homes, 1 want to tell you for your en-
couragement it is a great exception. Yet
| an unhappy and undsciplined home is
! the poisonous caldrOn from which vast
multitude drink their Heath.
| I remark that another caldron of in
! iquity is an indOlent life. All the rail
! trains down the Hudson river yesterday,
all the rail trains on the Pennsylvania
route, all the trains on the Long Island
road brought to these cities young men to
begin commercial life. Some of them
are here this morning, I doubt not Do
you know what one of your great tempta-
tions is gOiUg to be? 1t is the example of
indolent people in our cities. They are
in all our cities. They dress better than
some who are industrious. They have
access to all places Of amusement-plenty
of money, and yet idle. They hang around
our great hotels-the Fifth Avenue, the
Windsor, the Brunswick, the Stuyvesaut,
the Gilsey House-aIl our beautiful hotels,
you find them around there any day-men
who do nothing, never earn any thing,
yet well dressed, having plenty. Why
should l work? Why should you work?
Why drudge and toll in bank, and shop
and Office, or on the scaffolding or by the
anvil, when these men get along so well
! and do not work2
Some of them hang around the City
Halls of our great cities, toothpick in
their mouth, waiting for some crumb to
fail from the oficebolder's table. Some
of them hang around the City Hall for the
| city van bringing criminals from the sta
| ton They stand there and gloat
| over it-really enjoy the disgrace and
suffering of those poor creatures as they
get ont of the city van and go into the
courts. Where do they get their money?
That is what you ask. That is what ask
Only four ways of getting money-only
| four: by inheritance, by earning it, by
| begging it, by stealing it; and there ore q
vast multitude among us who get their
| living not by Inheritance, nor by earning
| IL, nor by begging il. I do not like to
take the responsibility of saying how
they get it. ,s ....s
| Now, these men are a constant tempta-
ton. Why should toll and wear myself
out in the bank, or the Office, or the store
or the shop, or the factory? These men
have nothing to do. They get along a
| great deal better. And that is the
| temptation under which a great many
young men fall. They begin to consort
with these men, these idlers, and they go
down the same awful sleeps. The num-
| Der of men in our cities who are trying to
! get their living by their wits and by
| sleight of hand is all the time increasing.
! A New York merchant saw a young
man, one of his clerks, in half disguise,
! going into q very low place of nmuse
| ment. The merchant said to himself: Il
must look out for that clerk; he is going
! in bad company and going in bad places;
| / must look out for him." A few months
| passed on, and one morning the merchant
! entered his store, and this clerk of whom
l have been speaking came up in as
| sumed CONSERVATION and said: ''Oh, sir,
| the store has been on fire; / have put out
the fire, but there are great many goods
lost; we have had great crowd of peO-
pie coming and going" Then the mer-
chant took the clerk by the collar and
said: 81 have had enough OF this; you
! can not deceive me; where are those
goods you stole?" The young man in
stantly confessed his yillainy.
| o, the numbers of people ia these great
elites who are trying to get their living
not honestlyI Aud they are a mighty
| temptation to the industrious young man
who can not understand it. While these
! others have it so easy they have it so
hard. HOratius Of olden time was told
| that could have just as much ground
as he could plow around with a yoke Of
oxen in one day. He hooked up the oxen
! to the plow, and he cut a very large circle
and plOwed until he came to the same
| point where he started, and all that prop
erty was his. But / have to tell you to-
day that just so much financial, just so
much moral, just so much spiritual pos
1 session you will have as you compass
with your own industries, and just so
much as from the morning OF your life to
the evening Of your life you can plow
around with your own hard work. go
| to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her
ways and be wise" One Of the most
awful. caldrons Of death to-day is an in
| doIent life. Thank God that you have to
| work.
Once more I remark: that tho dram
| shop is a great caldron of iniquity in our
/ time. Anacharsis said that the vine bore
| three grapes: the first was pleasure, the
/ next was drunkenness, and the next
| misery. Every saloon above ground or
4 under ground is a fountain Of iniquity.
| 1t may have license and it may 90 along
! quite respectfully for awhile. but after
awhile the cover will fall off and the
color OF the iniquity will be displayed.~
"Oh," says some one. "you ought 10 be
| easier on such a traffic when IL pays such
| q large revenue tO the Government, and
| helps to support your schools and your
/ great institutions Of mercy" And then
! think Of what William z. Gladstone said
/ Il think It was the first tine he was
! Chancellor of the Exchequer-when men
| engaged in that ruinous traffic came to
I him and said their business ought to have
more consideration from the fact that it
| paid such a large revenue to the English
| Government. Mr.. Gladstone said: ''Ger-
tlemen, don't worry yourselves about the
/ revenue; give me thirty millions Of sober
people. and wen have revenue enough
and a surplus"
We might in this country-this traffic
| perished-have less revenue, but we
would have more happy homes, and we
would have more peace, and we would
/ have fewer people in the penitentiary,
/ and there would be tens Of thousands Of
( men who are now on the road 10 hell who
] would start on the road TO Heaven. But
/ the financial rnin is a very small part Of
/ it. This iniquity Of which speak takes
every thing that is sacred ont Of the fanni-
! 1y, every thing that is holy in religion,
every thing that Is infinite in the soul
- ,r,Tor f1nf The rFfurrfa o.