The San Saba weekly news. (San Saba, Tex.) 18??-1???, 1891-12-25
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE's SUN.
DAY SERMON.
sHbieo': 'The Plague of Crime

-A@' n Ae@fa u CAAAAE.
TEXT; IAN the ieuters that ,oere in tn.
r1ver s0ere turned 10 blood Exodus vii,
Among all the Egyptian plaques none could
nhse been worse than this. The Nile Is the
wealth of Egypt. Its fish the food, its waters
the irrigation of garden and fields. It, con-
oltion decides the prosperity or the doom OF
the empire. What happens TO the Nile hap
pens 10 all Egypt. And now in the text that
great river is incarnadined 1t is a red cash
across an empire. In poetic license we speak
OF WAITS which turn the rivers into blood
But my text is not poetic lcsnse. 1t was
Iaeta great crimson, appalling condition
described. The Nile rolling deep Of blood,
Can you imagine more awful plaguey
The modern plague which nearest CORE
spends with that Is the plague OF crime in
all our cities. 1t halts not for bloodshe1
1t shrinks from no carnage. It bruises and
cuts and strikes down and destroys. It re-
vels IN the blood Of body and soul, this plague
OF crime rampant for ageS and never holder
OF more rampant than now
The annual police reports Of these cities as
examine them are to me more suggestive
than Dante's Inferno, and al Christ an pc pie
asvel as relcrmers need toawaSen 70 pres.
ent and tremendous duty. II you want this
Plague Of Crime 10 stop there are several
kinds OF persons you need to consider. First,
The public criminals You ought not 70 be
eurprisea that these people make up a large
portion in many communities. The vast
majority of the criminals who take ship from
Europe come into our own pert In 1865, OF
the forSy-nine thousand people who were in.
csrcerated in the prisons of the country
thirty-two thousand were of foreign birth.
Many Of them were the very despsPadoes of
society, 06zing into the siums OF our city,
waiting Tor an opportunity to riot and steal
and debauch, joining she large gang OF
American thugs and cut-throats-
There are in this cluster OF ciiies-Nsw
York,-JSgsey City 5gd oklvea-fcss.
thousand people wbOss entire Business Ia
life ito commit suicide. That is as much
their business as Jurisprudence or medicine
OF merchandise is your business. To it they
bring al their energies Of body, mind and
soul, and they look upon the intervals which
hey spend in prison as 50 much unfortunate
loss Of time, just as you loosl upon an attack
OF influenza and rheumatism which fastens
you in the house for Few days II Is their
lifetime business to pick pockets and blow
up safes and shoplitt and ply the panel game,
and they have as much pride OF skill In their
business as you have in yours when you up
ST the argument OF an opposing counsel, or
cure gunshot fracture which other sur
geons have given up, or foresse turn in the
market as you buy goods just before they 60
up twenty per cent. i Is their business %
5nce in year the thought of the immortality
Ifrikas them
Added TO these professional criminals
American and foreign, there are a large
class Of men who are more or less Industrious
n crime. In one year the police in this
cluster Of cities arrested ten thousand people
Tor theft, End ten thousand for assault and
battery, and Fifty thousand for intoxication.
drunkenness Is responsible for much of the
theft since it confuses a mans ideas Of
property, and he gets his hands on things
that do not belong to him. Rum isresponsi-
Die for much OF the assault ana battery, in
IpirtnE men to sudden bravery, which they
must demonstrats though it be on the face
Of the next gentleman
Ten million dollars worth Of property |
Etolan ia this cluster Of cities in one yeaFl |
You cannot as good citizens. be independent |
Il that fact twill touch your pocket, since |
[ have 70 give you the fact that these three |
sities pay about eight million dollars worth
d taxes year 70 arraign, try and support |
the criminal population You help 70 pay
the board of every criminal, from the sneak
ihlef that snatches a spool Of cotton up 70
pou7e man who swamps bank. More than
hat Il touches your heart in The moral de
presslcn OF the community. You might as
well think TO stand IN a closely confined
room where there are fifty people and yet
not breathe the vifiated air as 10 stand in
community where there is such great
multitude Of the dspraved without some
that being contaminated What IS the fire
that burns your store down compared with
The conhagrEticn which consumes your
noralss What is the theft Of the gold and
ulFer from your money safe compared with
he theft Of your children's virtaef
We are all ready 70 arraign criminals,
" sncut at the top OF our Voice. stop
tnietr and when the police get on the track
We come out, hatissa sod IL our slippers and
assist In tie arrest We come around the
baWltng rufiian and hustle him ol to iustice
and when be gets Il prison what do we do for
ami With great gusto We put on the hand
cuits and the hopples; but what preparation
are We making for the day when the hand
cuffs and the hoppies come ofTg Society
seems 10 say to these criminals, VILLAIN, 60
In there and rot when it ought to say
You Are an offender against the law, but
We mean 70 give you an opportunity 70 re-
pent; We mean 10 help you. Here are Bibles
and tracts and Christian influences Christ |
died for you Lock and live
Vast Improvements have been made BY |
introducing industries into the prison; but
We want something more than hammers
snd shoe lasts 10 rsclaim these people. Ave, /
We Eant more than sermons on the Sabbath /
day sccaty Ulust impress these men with
the tact that Il Goes not enjoy their suf- 1
fering- and that i Is attempting 70 reform 1
and elevate them The majority OF Grimm
- III 49, A-4t 1NNAEtH AAAEc
them. and they in turn have a grudge against
society.
They are harder In heart and more infuri-
rte when they cone out o. jail than when Il
they uent n. Many Of the people who 20 4
10 prison 60 again and again and again
Some yeers ago, Of fifteen hundred prisoners
who during the year had been in Sing Sing, 1
four hundred bad been there before. In 1
house x correction in tne country, where /
during q certain reach OK time there had /
teen frH thousand people, more than three 4
Ahoussnd had been there before, So. in one
cssz Tts Issssl, and in the other tie hcirs1jr I
eurrectsn. lsft tim lst i Is BAD as they we're
b4foro
1bs rseTsf5ry Of one OF the benevolent
societies OF New York says 8 lad fifteen years
q age lad spent three years Of his life in
r.-sson, and be said 10 the lad, 'fWhat have
they done FOR you TO make you betterP
"N Ell, replied the lad, "the first time I
vas brought up before the judge he said,
'Fou ought 70 be ashamed Of yourself, And
then committed \ crime again. and l was
brought rp before the same judge and he
Eaid, Yea rascalf And after while 1
committed some other crime, and ] was
brought before the same judge and he said,
You ought 70 be hanged That was all
fhey had done for him in the way Of reforma-
sicn and salvation. 'Oh, you say, ''these
people are incorrigible." suppose there
NAE 44LllAAlEA41 u kEl1llt- the
prison bunks who would leap up at the
prospect q reformation If society would
c1lly sliow them q way into dscency and
Tesqectability.
'-Oh," you say. II have no patience with
these rogues-n / ask you in reply, how
much better would you have been under the
same circumstances Suppose your mother
had been a blaspheiner and your father
sot and you had started life with a body
stuffed with evil procilvities, and you had
spsnt much OF your time In q cellar amid
obsceuities and cursing, and Il at ten years
OF age you had been compelled % 20 out and
steal battered and banged at night II you
came in without any spoils. and suppose
your early manhood and womanhood had
been covered with rags and filth and decent
society had turned It's back upon you, and
LETT you 10 eonsort with vagabonds and
wharf rats-how much better would you /
have beens have no sympathy with that
executive ciemency which would let crime ]
mi loose, or which would SIT IN the galery
OF court room weeping because some hard
hearted wretch IS brought 10 justice; but /
DO say that the safety and life Of the COM
Eunify demand more poteatial influences in
behalf OF public oIendess
In some OF the city prisons the air Is like
that Of the Black aole Of Calcutta have
visited prisons where, as the air swept 4
through the wicket. It almost knocked me