Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-10-24


| member q night spent with him In st. Louis.
Gen. sherman was not well enough to attend
my lecture, but he sent me o note asking me to
| come to his house after was through. did
80 and we spent a long evening together.
| During this time he gave me ideas of the war
| never had before. He went over the whole of
/ 1t, criticising this man and that, and giving
me much unwritten history. He uttered things
| which, had they been given to interruptions
person. would have furnished big newspaper
| sensations and would have brought high prices
| in the literary newspaper markets. He was q
! most lovable man in his family relations and he
had gentle side to his character which was
very charming"
TIE WORLD ouowrNa BITTER
"Dr. Talmage," said I, "don't you think the
! world grows worse as it grows older?"
| NO." replied the preacher, Il do not
think the world 10 growing better
| instead OF growing worse, and / am in all
| things rather an ortImist than a pesslmist
often hear the mechanical inventions, the reap
| ers, the mowers, the electric wires, the steam
| engine, &c. spoken CT as the great wonders of
modern times The greatest marvel to me OF
modern times is the true Christian spirit which
| grows more from day to day. Our greatest
wonders are our good men and good women.
In the ages OF the past there one great
philauthropist in half dozen centuries, and
| for the next ten or twenty generations he was
| the wonder of history. The people placed a
halo around his head and they worshiped
him and wondered at him. Now we
have great philanthropist in every town
and dozen in every city. II took five
hundred years to produce a George Peabody,
and Peter Cooper would have been an imposs-
bility in any other age than ours. That mans
work is the wonder OF modern times. His
institution has mothered thousand other
institutions. From his example have sprung
hundreds of free libraries, hospitals and schools.
and the work of charity grows in an ever-in-
creaslng ratio rs the times go on.
OUR WONDERFUL WOMEN.
'Look at the men and women Of today! !" DR..
Talmage went on. "There has never been such
generation. Take our womeni few years
ago soft flesh. slender waist polite languor,
o do-nothing cir were the elements OF the So
called beautiful woman. Now our girls pride
themselves on being strong. The roses Of
health bloom in their cheeks. They stand firm
upon their feet and swing their arms from the
shoulder. They have strong frames and
healthy, well-trained minds. They are the
apostles Of physical culture and every town has
| It's womans gymnasium. 1t is the same with
| our young men. We are developing a stronger
race and a better race. Thisis true mentally and
| physically. The old saying that there is no
royal road to learning Is thing OF the past.
Our children have such a road. and it is an as
| phalt pavement compared with the rough cor
duroy of my childhood. When was a boy
! children had to be whipped to make them 60
to school. Now they cry if they can't go.
| spent my school days in a country school We
had 100 children i'll one room and We sat on rough
benches SO high that our feet dangled six
! inches above the floor. The rod was not
/ spared. and the rule was one Of terror rather
than kindness. remember the school was al
ways opened with prayer. The teacher prayed.
| He held his hands with his fingers spread wide
| apart over his eyes as he prayed and he kept
1 his eyes on the school to see that the scholars
| preserved a decent reverence and attention.
| When he saw one of us doing otherwise, he
dropped his hand. suspended mis- prayer and
came down and thrashed tho offender and then
| went back and finished the prayer. We had no
music but the crying of the children when
whipped. We had no drawing and our studies
| were OF the most arbitrary kind, forced out Of
| US in the most arbitrary way"
| FREE THOUGHT AND CHRISTIANITY
"How about religion and free thought, doc
! tor" said l. THE churches seem to be grow
ing more liberal every year. Infidelity is grow
/ ing in all religions the world over and the
| tendency seems to be the breaking down of all
| faith
You are right in saying that the churches
| are becoming more liberal, replied DR.. Tai
! mage. I'VE are getting closer and closer to-
gether every year, and religion is becoming
more and more religion OF sympathy and
kindness. We have thousands of real Chris
tians now who hardly know they are Christians.
They cannot be called intellectual Christians,
and the purely intellectual Christian, the
Christian of rather than faith, Is of little
account in the world anyhow. He is an iceberg
and he Is of good neither to himself nor to
any one else. You speak Of the growing inf
deity among the believers Of other religions
the world over. The tendency OF man when
he gives up the God of his fathers il for
time to believe in no God whatever,
and it is only after time that he
comes around to study and believe in an
other religion. / believe that any reli-
gion is better than no religion and believe
that the Christian religion is destined to con-
quer the world. People surprised that the
church does not advance more rapidly. They
forget that the world has just been discovered.
Our hemisphere is but few hundreds Of years
old, and Columbus only discovered its she'll
Asia and Africa have been practically unknown
to US until now, and they are still to great ex-
| tent undiscovered. 1t is the same with the
world In other respects as in its geographical
one. We are just beginning to know it and its
possibilities. Modern inventions are coming in
| to help US. and we are now ready for the first
time to begin to work in earnest
STORY OF GLADSTONE AND LORD NAPIER.
"You say the world is growing worse" Dr.
Talmage went on. 81 tell you, the world is
better than You think. There are spots Of
true Christian feeling and spirit animating the
darkest parts of our darkest continents. re-
member an incident that happened not long
ago when was visiting the great English states
man. Mr.. Gladstone. We were at Hawarden
1t was just after his eghtieth birthday, and we
were out in his big park running together
| along the road. Gladstone called it prone
made. but he kept me on the trot to Keep up
with him. and he asked questions just as fast as
he walked. He kept throwing sticks for his dog
to run after and bring back to him, and he
| would jerk out all sorts of questions. Do you
see that fine sycamore there!' he would say. Il
venture to say that you did not see any
| thing like that in the Holy Land, did
youP At last the conversation drifted
| into this very subject OF which you asking,
| and Gladstone made the same remark that I
have made to you, and illustrated it with this
story Said he: 'On this very spot where we
are now walking Lord Napier walked with me
shortly after his return from Africa. and as he
| walked he told me the story of soldier who
had had his leg broken in one Of the skirmishes
| and who was being carried back with the army
toward home. 'As We went on" said Lord Ma
~ a !.