The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1889-09-27

much display, what temptation to vanity. |
Amid so many saloons of strong |
drink, what allurement to dissipa-
ton. In the maelstroms of the street.
how many make quick and eternal ship
wreck II a man-Of-war comes back
from battle. and is towed into the navy
yard, we go down to see the splintered
spars and count the bullet holes, and
look with patriotic admiration on the flag
that foated in victory from the mast
head. But that man is more of Gu
riosity who has gone through thirty
years Of the sharp shooting of business
life, and yet sails on, victor over the
temptations of the street. Oil how
many have gone down under the press.
ure, leaving not so much as the patch of
canvas to tell where they persisted. They
never had any peace. Their dishonesties
kept tolIing in their ears.
If had an axe and could split open the
beams Of that fine house perhaps L
would find in the very heart Of it a skel-
etOn. In the very best wine there is a
smack of the poor mans sweat. OIL is
it strange that when a man has devOured
| widows houses he is disturbed with indi-
gestiOn? All the forces of nature are
| against him. The foods are ready to
drown him, and the earthq uake to swal-
low him, and the fires to consume him,
and the lightnings to smite him. But
/ and in the day when the crowns of
/ Heaven are distributed some Of the
/ brightest will be given to those men who
| were faithful to God and faithful to the
souls of others amid the marts Of bust
ness, proving themselves the heroes of
the street. Mighty were their tempta-
/ tons, mighty was their deliverance, and
mighty shall be their triumph.
! Again. the street impresses me with the
/ iS nj of 81
sham. What subterfuge, what double
! dealing, what tWOfacedness? Do all the
| people who shake hands love each other?
| Are all those anxious about your health
who inquire concerning it? Do all want
! to see you who ask you to call? Does all
the world know half as much as it pre-
| tends to know? Is there not many a
| wretched stock of goods with brilliant
show window? Passing up and down
| these streets to your business and your
work, are you not impressed with the
fact that much Of society is hollow, and
that there are subterfuges and preten-
siOns7 Oh, how many there are who
| swagger and strut and how few people
! who are natural and walk. While tops
shipper and fools chuckle and simpletons
giggle. how few people are natural and
laugh.
The courtesan and the Iibertine go
| down the street in beautiful apparel,
while within the heart there are vol
canoes of passion consuming their life
| away. l say these things not to create
| in you Incredibly and misan thrOpy, nor
do forget there are thousands of peo-
pie great deal better than they seem;
! but do not think any man is prepared
for the conflict of this life until he knows
this particular peril. Ehud comes pre-
tending to pay his tax to King Eglon,
| and while he stands in front of the King
stabs him through with a dagger until
the haft went in after the blade. Judas
| Iscariot kissed Christ.
Again, the street impresses me with the
| fact that it is a great field for Christian
charity. There are hunger, and suffering,
| and want, and wretchedness in the cOuu-
try, but these evils chiefly congreg gate in
our great cities. Ga every street crime
prowls, and drunkenness staggers, and
! shame winks, and pauperism thrusts out
| its hand asking for aims. Here want is
most SOU aid and hunger is most lean. A
Christian man going along street in
New York saw poor lad, and he stopped
and said: "My boy, do you know how to
read and writer" The boy made no an
! swer. The man asked the question twice
and thrice: "Can you read and writer"
and then the boy answered with tear
FLASHING on the back of his hand.
He said in Defiance: mo, sir; l can't
read nor write neither. God, sir, don't
| want me to read and write. Didn't He
take away my father so long ago l never
| remember to have seen him? And
| haven't 1 had to go along the street to
get something to fetch home to eat for
| the folks? And didn't l, as soon as l
could carry basket have to go out and
pick up Cinders, and never have no
schooling, sir? God don't want me to
read, sir. 1 can't read nor write neither"
| Oh, these poor wanderers! They have
no chance. Born in degradation, as they
get up from their hands and knees to walk
they take their first step on the road to
despair. Let us go forth in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ to rescue them. If
you are not willing to go forth yours elf,
then give OF your means; and if you are
too lazy to go, and if you are too stipgy
to help. then get out of the way, and hide
yourself in the dens and caves of the
earth, lest, when Christ's chariot comes
along, the horses hoofs trample you into
the mire. Beware lest the thousands of
the destitute of your city, in the last
great day, rise up and curse your stupid
ity and your neglect. One cold winters
day, Christian man was going along
the Battery in New York, he saw a little
girl seated at the gate, shiverng in the
cold. He said to her: {.
"My child, what do you sit there for,
this cold day?'
oh" she replied, 81 am waiting-I am
waiting for somebody to come and take
care of me-"
why" said the man, ''what makes
you think any body will come and take
care of your"
oh" she said, "my mother died last
week and l was crying very much, and
she said: Don't cry, my dear; though
am gone and your father is gone, the Lord
will send some body to take care of YOU
My mother never told a lie; she said
some one would come and take care of
; me, and 1 am waiting for them to come"
o, yes. they are waiting for you. Men
| of great hearts, gather them in, gather
them in. 1t is not the will Of our Heaven
r IL Father that one OF these little ones
: should perish.
} Lastly. the street impresses me with
r the fact that all the people are looking
forward. l see expectancy written OF
almost every face I NEST between here
and Brooklyn bridge, or walking the
whole length Of Broadway. Where you
I find a thousand people walking straight
on, you only find one man stopping and
, looking back. The fact is, God made us
, all to look ahead because we are i'm
mortal In this tramp of the multitude
on the streets l hear the tramp of great
. I r,arnniDty and m arc9iu y for eternity