The Russellville Democrat. [volume] (Russellville, Ark.) 1875-1898, 1889-04-18
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Discourse on the Pitfalls and Dan
gers that Beset Young Men.
The Influences OF Society and Their Ten
dsncy to Beget Extravsgsnce-Dsbts
and Dishonesty the sequei-Re-
iigion the Only Anchor.

Inc 1OllOWlnR sermon Dy rev. IL De
Witt Talmage is directed particularly Il
the young men Of our great cities 1t was
predicated on the text:
AS an OK to the slaughter.-Prob erbs vii, 81
There is nothing in the voice or manner
of the butcher to indicate to the OK thai
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 th'
herbaceous luxuriance; but after awhile
the men and the boys close in upon hin
with sticks and stones and shouting anC
drive him through bars and into door
way. where he is fastened, and. with Q
well-aimed stroke, the axe fells him; and
so the anticipation Of the redolent pasture
field is completely disappointed. SC
many young man has been driven OIL
by temptation to what he thought woulC
be paradisiacal enjoyment; but after
awhile influences with darker hue and
swarthier arm close in upon him, and he
finds that instead of making an incursior
into garden he has been driven "as al
OK to the slaughter"
l. We are apt to blame young men FOL
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 boarding
house. If you haven't the money, bor-
row. If you can't borrow make false
entry, or subtract here and there bill
from bundle of bank bills, you will only
have to make the deception a little while i;
in few months, or in a year or two, you
can make all right. Nobody will be hurt
by it; nobody will be the wiser. You
yourself will no. be damaged" By that
awful process hundred thousand men
have been slaughtered for time and
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
money. Money borrowed for the pur-
pose of starting or keeping up legitimate
enterprise and expense, and money bor-
owed to get that which you can do with
out. The first is right the other is wrong.
# you have money enough of your own to
5uy a coat however plain, and then you
borrow money for a dandy's outfit, you
have taken the first revolution of the wheel
down grade. Borrow for the necessities; !;
that may be we'll. Borrow for the lux
aries; that tips your prospects over in the
wrong direction.
The Bible distinctly says the borrower
is servant of the lender. 1t is bad state
of things when you have to go down some
other street to escape meeting some one
whom you owe. If young men knew what
Is the despotism OF being in debt more Of
hem would keep out of it. What did debt
10 for Lord Bacon. with q mind towering
above the centuries? 1t induced him to
lake brlbes and convict himself as a GRIM
nal before all ages. What did debt do
.or Walter Scott? Broken he arted at
Abbottsford! Kept him writing until his
hand gave out in paralysis, to keep the
sheriff away from his pictures and statu-
ary Better for him if he had minded the
maxim which he had chiseled over the fire.
place at Abbottsford: "Waste not, want
aot.n
The trouble is, my friends, the people
10 not understand the ethics OF going in
iebt, and that if you purchase goods with
40 expectation of paying for them, or go
INTO debts which you can not meet you
Just steal so much money. IL go into a
yrocer's store, and buy sugars and cof-
lees and meats, with no capacity to pay
ior them and no intention of paying for
them, | am more dishonest than If l go
into the store, and when the grocer's face
Is turned the other way fill my pockets
With articles of merchandise and carry
off a ham. In the one case | take the
merchants time, and / take the time OF
ais messenger to transfer the goods to
my house, while in the other case / take
none of the time Of the merchant, and
wait upon myself, and 1 transfer the
goods without any trouble to him. In
other words, a sneak thief is not so bad
as a man who contracts for debts he never
expects to pay.
Yet in all our cities there are families
that move every May day to get into prox-
unity to other grocers, and meat shops,
and apothecaries. They owe every body
within half mile of where they now live,
and next May they will move into a dis
tant part OF the city, finding new lot OF
victims. Meanwhile you, the honest fam
ily in the new house, are bothered day by
pointed bakers, and butchers, and dry
goods dealers, and newspaper carriers
and you are asked where your predecessor
is. You do not know. 1t was arranged
you should not lnow. Meanwhile your
predecessor has gone to some distant part
Of the city, and the people who have any
thing to sell have sent their wagons and
stopped there to solicit the ''valuable'
~. 10, Il ha tIa
new neighbor, with great complaceney
and with an air Of affiuence, orders the
finest steaks, and the highest priced
sugars, and the best of the canned fruits
and, perhaps, all the newspapers. And
the debts will keep on accumulating unit
he gets his goods on the 30th of next April
on the furniture cart
Now let me say, if there are any suol
persons in the house, if you have any re-
| gard for your own convenience you haC
better remove to some greatly distan
part OF the city. 1t is too bad that, hav.
| ing had all the trouble in consuming thu
goods, you should also have the trouble
Of being dunned. And let me say that i
you find this picture your own photo
| graph, instead of being in church yoI
ought to be in the penitentiary. No won
| der that SO many of our merchants fail il
| business. They are swiadled into bank
| ruptcy by these wandering Arabs, thes
nomads Of city life. Thes cheat the gro
Ger out Of the green apples which mad
them sick, the physician who attend
their distress, and the undertaken VIII
| fits them out for departure from tn
neighborhood where they owe every bod
when they pay the debt of nature, tn
| only debt they ever do pay.
Now our young men are coming up il
this depraved state Of commercial ethics
| and am solioitous about them. / wan
to warn them against being slaughtered
on the sharp edges Of debt. You wan
many things you have not, my youn
| friends. You shall have them if you hav
| patience and honesty and industry. Ger
| tain lines OF conduct always lead out l.
| certain successes.
There is a law which controls eve
tt,ges tIf,,,,s that yaav,, ho,1.aF Fard h.v