The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1889-04-19
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Discourse on the Pitfalls and Dam
gers that Beset Young Men.
The Influences of Society and Their Ten
deneY to Beget Extravaganee-Debts
and Dishonesty the sequeI-Re-
ugion the Only Anchor.

Witt Talmage is directed particularly TO
the young men Of our great cities. 1t was
predicated on the text:
AS an OK 10 the slaughter.-Prob erbs vii, 21.
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 luxuriance; but after awhile |
the men and the boys close in upon him |
with sticks and stones and shouting, and |
drive him through bars and into a door
way. where he is fastened, and, with
well-aimed stroke the axe fells him; and
so the anticipation Of the redOlent pasture
field is completely disappointed 80
many a young man has been driven on
by temptation TO what he thought would
be paradi disiacal enjoyment; but after
awhile influences with darker hue aud
swarthier arm close in upon him, and ne
finds that instead of making an incursiOn
into a garden he has been driven "as an
OK to the slaughter"
1. 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 keep up appear
ances;" whatever be your salary, you
must dress as well as others, you must
wine and brandy as many friends, you
must smoke as costly cigars, you must
give as expensive entertainments and you
must live in as fashionable a boarding
house. If you haven't the money, bor-
row. If you can't borrow make a false
entry, or subtract here and there Oll
from bundle Of bank bills, you will only
have to make the deception little while;
in a few months or in a year or two, you
81. can make all right. Nobody will be hurt
by il; nobody will be the wiser. ou
yourself will no. be damaged" BY that
awful process a hundred thousand men
have been slaughtered for time ana
slaughtered for eternity.
Suppose You borrow. There is nothing
wrong about borrowing money. There Is
hardly a man in the house but has some-
times borrowed money. Vast estates
have been built on a borrowed dollar.
But there are two kinds Of borrowed
moLey. Money borrowed for the pur-
pose OF starting or keeping up legitimate
enterprise and expense, and money bor-
rowed to get that which you can do with
out. The first is right, the other is wrong.
If you have money enough of your own TO
buy q coat, however plain, and then you
borrow money for a dandy's outfit, you
have taken the frstrevolutiOn of the wheel
down grade. Borrow for the necessities ;
that may be we'll. Borrow for the lux
uries; that tips your prospects over IN the
wrong direction.
The Bible distinctly says the borrower
Is servant of the lender. It is bad state
Wneu
other street to escaTe meeting some on
whom you owe If young men knew wha
is the despotism of being in debt more
them would keep out of it. What did deb
do for Lord Bacon, with a mind towering
above the centuries? 1t induced him {
take brIbes and convict himself as a Grim
tnal before all ages. What did debt d
Tor Walter Scott? Broken hearted q
Abbottsfordl Kept him writing until hi
hand gave out in paralysis, to keep tn
sheriff away from his pictures and statu
airy. Better for him if he had minded th
maxim which he had chiseled over the hrt
place at Abbottsford: "Waste not, wal
not"
The trouble is, my friends, the peop
do not understand the ethics OF going
debt, and that if you purchase goods WI
no expectation of paying for them, or
into debts which you can not meet W
inst steal so much money. If go into
groceris store, and buy sugars and co
fees ana meats, with no capacity to p'
FOR them and no intention of paying f
them, am more dishonest than If L
into the store, and when the grocer's ia
is turned the other way 1 fill my pocke
with articles Of merchandise and car
off a ham. In the one case l take G
merchants time, and l take the time
his messenger to transfer the goods
my house, while in the other case ia
none Of the time OF the merchant, and
wait upon myself, and l transfer t
goods without any trouble to him.
other words, n sneak thief is not so b
as a man who contracts for debts he ney
expects to pay.
Yet in all our cities there are famili
that move every May day to get into Pre-
unity 70 other grocers, and meat sho
md apotheCnries. They owe every bo
within half a mile of where they now II
and next May they will move into
tant part of the city, finding new lot
victims. Meanwhile you, the honest IA
llv in the new house, are bothered day
day by the knocking at the door of dis'
pointed bakers, and butchers, and q
goods dealers, and newspaper carrie
and YOU are asked where your predeces
ia You do not know. It was arrani
YOU should not know. Meanwhile y
predecessor has gone to some distant =
of the city, and the people who have
thing to sell have sent their wagons
stopped there to solicit the ''Valuau
custom of the new neighbOr, and he,
new neighbor. with great complace
and with an air OF affiuence, orders
finest steaks and the highest pri
sugars. and the best Of the canned fru
and, perhaps, all the newspapers
the debts will keep on accumulating u
he gets his goods on the SOth OF next a
on the furniture cart.
Now let me say, if there are any S
persons in the house, if you have any
gard for your own convenience you
better remove TO some greatly dis
part Of the city. 1t is too bad that,
ing had all the trouble in consuming
goods YOU should also have the ro
of being dunned. And let me say TN
YOU find this picture your own pl
grnph. instead OF being in church
ought to be in the penitentiary. No
der that so many of our merchants Ic
business. They are swindled into b
ruDtcv bv these wandering Arabs,
nomads Of city life. They cheat the
Ger out Of the green apples which ]
them sick, the physician who att
their distress, and the undertaken
Ats them out for departure from
neiohborhood where they owe every
when they pay the debt OF nature
only debt they ever do pay
Now our young men are coming
tb{s depraved state of commercial et
and am solicitous about them. l
10 vvern them against being slaugh
IN tbe sharp edges of debt You
MANY things YOU have not my J
Frisnds You shall have them If you
patience and honesty aud industry.
tain lines OF conduct always lead {
at---- certain successes.
There Is law which controls
those things that seem haphazard.
baen told by those who have OPS
that il is possible to calculate lusl
many letters win be sent 70 the
Letter Ohice every year through
direction; that il is possible TO cal
inst how many letters VIII ue uo'
for lack OF postage stamps throul
forgetFulness OF the seuders, and TIA
nossible 10 tell Just how many peop
,t g.. tbe streets bv slipping