The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-06-12

hour stand upon the steps of a fashionable
hotel or an elegant restaurant, wishing to
give you the idea that that is the place
where they dine. But they do not dine
there They are sinking down lower and
lower day by day Neither by day nor by
night have anything to do with the idlers.
Before you admit a man into your &C
| qualntance ask him politely; "What do
you do for a living?" If he saws Moth
ing; am gentleman" look out for him.
lie may have very soft hand and very
faultless apparel, and have a high-sound-
| ing family name, but his touch is death.
Before you know it you will in his pres
ence be ashamed of your work-dress.
Business will become to you drudgery,
| and after awhile you will lose your place,
aud afterward your responsibility, and last
of all your soul. Idleness is next door to
| vlllainy. Thieves, gamblers, burglars,
shop-llfters, and assassins are made from
the class who have nothing to do. When
the police go to hunt up and arrest cul-
prlt they seldom go to look in among busy
clerks or in the busy carriage factory, but
| they go among the groups of idlers. The
| play Is going on at the theater, when sud-
| denly there is a scuffie in the top gallery.
What is it? A policeman has come in,
and leaning over has tapped on the shout
der OF young man, saying 81 want you,
SIR. be has not worked during the day,
but somehow has raked together a shill-
| Ing or two to get into the top gallery. He
is an idler. The man on his right hand is
an idler and the man on his left hand is
an idler.
Shrink back from idleness in yourself
and in others if you would maintain a
right position. Good old Ashbel Green,
at more than eighty years of age, was
! found busy writing, and some young man
said to him: "Why do you keep busy?
1t is time for YOU to rest" He answered:
Il keep busy TO keep out of mischief" No
man is strong enough to be idle.
Are you fond of pictures? Ii so, will
| show you one of the works of an old mas
/ ter. Here it is: 81 went by the field of
the slothful, and by the vineyard of the
man void of understanding and To- it
| was all grown over with thorns, and net
| ties had covered the face thereof, and the
stone wall was broken down. Then l saw
and considered well. l looked upon it and
received instruction. Yet little sleep, a
little slumber, little folding OF the hands
to sleep. So shall thy poverty come as
| one that traveleth and thy want as an
armed man. | don't know of another
sentence in the bible more explosive than
that. 1t first Kisses softly, like the fuse of
a cannon, and at last bursts like a fifty
| four-pounder. The old proverb was right:
"The devil tempts most men, but idlers
tempt the devil"
A young man came to a man OF ninety
| years of age and said to him: How have
you made out to live so long and be so
| well ?" The old man took the youngster
to an orchard and, pointing to some large
trees full Of apples, said 81 planted these
] trees when was a boy and do you won
/ der that now am permitted to gather the
fruit of them?" We gather in old age
what we plant in our youth. Sow the
wind and we reap the whirlwind Plant
in early life the right kind of Christian
character and you will eat luscious fruit in
ole age and gather these harvest apples in
eternity.
Again ] urge you to avoid the per-
petual pleasure-seeker. / believe in rec
reation and amusement. / need it as
much as l need bread and 60 to my daily
exercise with as conscientious a purpose
as ] go TO the Lords supper, and all per-
! sons of sanguine temperament must have
amusement and recreation. God would
not have made US with the capacity 70
laugh if He had not intended US some
times to indulge il. God hath hung in
sky and set in wave and printed on grass
many a roundelay; but he who chooses
| pleasure-seeking for his life work does not
understand for what God made him. Our
amusements are intended to help us in
some earnest mission. The thunder cloud
hath an edge exquisitely purpled, but,
with voice that jars the earth it declares:
Il 90 to water the green fields" The wild
flowers under the fence are gay, but they
say: owe stand here to made q beautiful
edge for the wheat field, and 10 refresh the
| husbandmen in their morning" The
stream sparkles and foams and frolics and
says: 81 90 to baptize the moss. | lave
the spots on the trout. / Stake the thirst
| of the bird. i turn the wheel OF the mill
rock in my crystal cradle muckshaw and
water lily" And so while the world plays
! il works. Lookout for the man who al
ways plays and never works.
You will do well to avoid those whose
regular business it is to play ball, skate, or
| go a-boating, All these sports are grand
in their places. / never derived so much
| advantage from any ministerial association
| as from n ministerial club that went out to
| play ball every Saturday afternoon in the
| outskirts of Philadelphia. These recrea-
| tons are grand to give us muscle and
/ spirit for our regular toll. | believe in
/ muscular Christianity. A man is often
not so near God with q weak stomach as
when he has a strong digestion. But shun
| those who make il their life occupation 10
/ sport. There are young men whose in
/ dustry and usefulness have fallen over
board from the yacht on the Hudson or
| the Schuylkill. There are men whose
/ business fell through the ice OF the skat-
| ing pond and have never since been heard
| Of There is a beauty in the gliding OF a
boat, in the song OF skates, in the soaring
of a well struck ball. and never see one
! fly bat Involuntary throw up my hands
/ 10 catch il; and, so far from laying an in
! junction upon ball playing or any other
| innocent sport, claim them all as belong.
| ing OF right to those OF us who toll in the
/ grand industries of church and state.
| But the life business OF pleas ure-seek-
| ing always makes in the end a criminal
sot. George Brummell was smiled upon
| by all England and his life was given TO
! pleasure. He danced with peeresses and
swung round of mirth, and wealth, and
applause, until exhausted of purse, aud
worn ont OF body, and bankrupt OF repu-
tation, and ruined of soul, he begged n
I biscuit from grocer and declared that he
thought dogs life was better than n
mans.
Such men will crowd around your desk
or counter or workbench or seek TO decoy
| you off. They will want you TO break out
in the midst OF your busy day 10 take a
/ ,t.Io ,fffl, ~ A.