Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-03-09

bLCu diUulu on "a cane, an Ola man q
forty. After a while paralysis struck
him. Having by poor | ealth been com
PEELED suddenly 10 quit business, ne lost
what property lie had. Then his beauti.
full daughter died. Then a son became
hopelessly demented. Another son,
splendid Of mind and commanding Of
presence, resolved that he would take
care OF his fathers household; but under
the swoop of yellow fever at F%ernandina,
Fla he suddenly expired. So you knew
good men and women who have had
enough trouble, you think, TO crush fifty
people. No worldly philosophy could
take such a trouble and set it to music, OF
play it o. violin or flute or dulcimer or
sackbut, but | dare TO open that dark
saying on a gospel harp.
You wonder that very consecrated peo-
pie have trouble2 Did you ever know
any very consecratcd man or woman who
lad not had great trouble2 Never. 1t
was through their troubles sanctified thai
they were made very good. If you find
anywhere in this city a man who has now
and always has had perfect health, and
never lost a child, and has always been
popular, and never had business struggle
or misfortune, who is distinguished for
goodness, puff your wire for a telegraph
messenger boy and send me word and
will drop everything and go right
away to look at him. There never
has been a man like that, and never
Will be. Who are those arrogant,
self conceited creatures who move
about without sympathy for others and
who think more Of "a st. Bernard dog, or
al Alderney COW, or IL Southdown sheep,
or a Berkshire pig thar OF "A man? They
never had any trouble, or the trouble was
never sanctiiied. Who are those men
who listen with moist eyes as you tell
them suffering and who have n pathos In
their voice and a kindness in their man
ner and an excuse or an alienation Tor
those gone astray? They are men VINO
have graduated at the Royal Academy of
Trouble and they have the diploma writ
ten in wrinkles on their own counter
anccs. My. my What heartacheS they
had What tears they have wcpt, What
injustice they have suffered! The
mightiest influence for publication and
salvation is trouble. No diamond is tit
for a crown until It is cat. No wheat fit
for bread till il is ground. There are
only three things that can break off a
chain-a hammer, - file or a fire; and
trouble is All three Of them. The greatest
writers, orators and rctOrmers get much
Of their force from trouble. What gave
10 Washington Irving that exquisite ten
derness and pathos which will make his
books ~favorites while the English
language continues to be written and
spoken2 An early hcart-brcak that he
never once mentioned; and when, thirty
years after the death Of Matilda Hoffman,
who was to have been his bride, her
father picked W a piece Of embroidery
and said: That is r piece of poor
Matilda's workmanship" Washington
Irving sank from hil&rity into silence and
walked away. Out Of that lifetime grief
the great author dipped his pens might
lest reinforcement. "CGlvin's Institutes
Of Religion" than which a more wonder
full book was never written by human
hand, was begun by the author at 20
years of age, becsuse Of the persecution
by Francis, king Of France. Earaday
toilcd for all time on "a salary OF ESQ a
year and candles. As every brick of the
wall Of Babylon was stamped with
the letter n, standing for N~ebuChadnez.
yer, SO every part eff the temple of CHRIS
tian achievement is stamped with the
letter r, standing for trouble.
When in oldcn times a man was to be
honored with knighthood, he was struck
with the fiat of the sword. Bat those
who have come to the honor OF knight
hood in the kingdom Of God were first
struck not with the fat OF the sword, but
with the keen edge of the cimeter. To
build his magniticence Of character, Paul
could not have spared n laeh, one
prison, one stoning, One a%nathelna, one
poisonous viper from the hand. on ship
wreck. What is true of individuals Is
true of nations. The horrors Of the
American revolution gave this country
this side of the Mississippi river to indie
pendence, and the conflict between Eng
land and France gave the most Of this
country west Of the Mississippi to the
United States. France owned 1t, but
Napoleon, fearing that England would
take it, practically made "a present 10 the
United States for he received only Sl5,
600, 000-of Louisiana, Missouri, Aiken.
sas. Kansas, E,ebrashe, Iowa, Minnesota,
Colorado. Dakota. Montana, NyOming
and the InGian territory. Dat Of the lire
Of the American revolution CaIne tlii
country east of the Mississippi, ont OF
the European WAY came that west d thC
Mississippi river. The British empire rose
10 its present overtowcring grandeur
through ~guDpowdcr plot, and Guy
Fawkcs' conspiracy, and Northampton
instruction. apd Walter Raliegh'g be
heading. and Baccn's bribery, and Cr0m
wells dissolution Of parliament, end tht
battles of Edge Hill, and Grantham, anC
Newberry, snd MGrstOn Moor, ant
Naschy, and Dunbar. and S~edgeiaoor
and execution Of Charles the First, ant
London plague, and London fire, ant
London insurrectioo, and Ryehouse plot
and the vicissitudes of centuries. SO th'
earth itself. before it could become ap
propriate and beautiful residence for th;
human family had according to geology
10 be washed by universal delugc, III;
scorched and made incGndescent by uni
versal fires, and pounded by sledgcharl
mcr Of iccbergs, and wronched by earth
quakes that split continents, and SHAKER
by volcanoes that tossed mountains, ant
passed through the ~catastgopbes of thou
sands of years before paradise becam
possible and the groves could shake ou
their green banners and the first gardes
pour its carnage OF color between tR
Gihon and the Hiddekel. Trouble a goo'
thing for the rocks, a good thing TO
nations, az well AS a good thing for indi
viduals. So when you push me with
sharp Interrogation point. Why do tn
good suffer- open the dark saying on
harp and, though, l can neither play a
. ~ - cnrnat ar hauthoy or luplp q