Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-09-16

ness. Honesty coneronts fraud Every
class Of people meets every other class
Independence and modesty, pride and
humility, purity and beastliness, frank
ness and hypocricy meeting on the same
block, in the same street, in
the same city. OH that is what
Solomon meant when he said: ''The
rich and the poor meet together; the
Lord is the maker of them all - I like
this democratic principal of the gospel
Of Jesus Christ, which recognizes the
fact that we stand before God on one and
the same platform. Do not take on any
airs; whatever position you have gained
in society, you are nothing but man,
born OF the same parent, regenerat ted by
the same spirit ,cleansed in the same blood,
to lie down in the same dust, to get up
in the same resurrection. It is high time
that we all acknowledge not only the
fatherhCod of God, but the brotherhood
Of man.
HARD TO KEEP THE HEART RIGHT.
Again, the street impresses me with
the fact that il is very hard thing for
man to keep his heart right and to get to
heaven. Infinite temptations spring
upon us from these places Of public con-
course. Amid so much afflueuce, how
much temptation to ceVetousness and to
be Disconnected with our humble lot.
Amid so many opportunities for over
reaching, what temptation to eXtortion.
Amid so much display, what temptation
to vanity. Amid so many saloons Of
strong drink, what allurements to
dissipation. In the maelstroms OF
the street, how many make quick
and eternal shipwreck. IF a man
of-war comes back from battle and is
lowed into the navy yard, we go down to
look at the splintered spars and count
the bullet holes, and look with patriotic
admiration on the flag that floated in
victory from the mast head. But that
man is More of a curiosity who has gone
through thirty years Of the sharp-shOOt-
ing OF business life, ana yet sails on.
victor over the temptations OF the street.
Oh! how many have gone down under
the pressure, leaving not so much as the
patch of canvas to tell where thev per-
ished They never had any peace. Their
dishOnesties kept tolling IN their ears. If
I had an ak, and could split open the
beams Of that fine house, perhaps l would
find in the very heart OF it a skeleton.
In his very best wine there is a
smack of the poor man s sweat. Oh! is
it strange that when q man has devOured
widows houses he is disturbed with indi-
g6SllOuE All the lOICGS Oh HdGuI6 are
against him The Hoods are ready to
drown him, and the earthquake to swal-
low him, and the fires to consume him,
and the lightnings to smite him. Bnt the
children Of God are on every street, and
in the day when the crowns of heaven are
distributed some of the brightest of them
will be given to those men who were
faithful to God and faithful to the souls
of others amid the marts of business,
proving themselves the heroes of the
street. Mighty were their temptations,
mighty was their deliverance, and
mighty shall be their triumph.
THE SLAMS OF LIFE.
Again, the street impresses me with the
fact that life is full of pretension and
sham. What subterfuge, what double
dealing, what two facedness. Do all
people who wish you good morning really
hope for you q happy day? Do all the
people who shake hands love each other?
Are all those anxious about your health
who inquire concerning 1t? DO all want
p see You who ask Won to cali? Does all
the world know half as much as il pre-
tends to know? Is there not many
wretched stock of goods with a 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-
sions? Oh! how many there
are who swGgger and strut,
and how few people who
are natural and walk While tops sim
per and fools chuckIe, and simpleton 3
giggle, how few people are natural and
laugh The cOurtesan and the libertine
go down the street in beautiful apparel,
while within the heart there are Yolca-
noes of passion consuming their life
away. 1 say these things not to create
in you incTedulity or misanthTopy, nor
co I forget there are thousands of people
q great deal better than they seem; but [
do rot think any man is prepared for the
conflicts Of this life until no knows this
particular peril Ehud comes pretending
TO pay his tax to King Eglon, and while
he stands i'll front OF the king, stabs him
through with a dagger until the haft
went in after the blade. Judas Iscariot
kissed Christ.
a FIELD FOR CHARITY.
Again, the street impresses me with
the fact that it Is a great field for Christian
charity. There are hunger and suffer-
ing, and want and wretchedness, in the
country; but these evils chiefly congre-
gate in our great cities. ON every street
crime prowls, and drunkenness staggers,
and shame winks, and pauperism thrusts
out its hand asking for aims. Here want
is most squalid and hunger is most lean.
4 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 write?' The boy
made no answer. The man asked
the question twice and thrice:
s'Can you read and write?' and then the
boy answered, with a tear FLASHING
on the back of his hand. He said in
defiance: ''No, sir; 1 can't read nor
write, neither. God, sir, don It want me
10 read and write Didu" He take
away my father so long ago never re-
member to have seen him? and haven't
I had TO go along the streets to get
something to fetch home to eat for the
folks, and didn't l, as soon as 1 could
carry basket, have to go out and pick
up cinders, and never had no school
ing. sir? God don't want me to read,
sir: / cam Z read, nor write neither. -
Oh, these poor wanderers. They have
no chance. Born in degradation, as
they GET ND from their hands and knees