Sharp County record., 1891-02-12

that night is Belshazzer, the King OF
the Chaldeans, slain.
Here is a young man who says: Il
can not see why they make such fuss
about the intoxicating cup. Why, it is
exhilarating! 1t makes me feel well. L
can talk better, think better, feel bet
ter. | can not see why people have such
a prejudice against it," A few years
pass on and he wakes up and finds him.
self in the clutches of an evil habit
which he tries to break, but he can not,
and he cries out: "Oh, Lord God, help
me-" 1t seems as though God would
not hear his prayer, and in an agony Of
body and soul he cries out: st biteth
like serpent and it stingeth like an
adder" How bright it was at the start!
How black it was at the last.
Here is man who begins toread cor
rupt novels. "They are SO charming"
says he; 81 will go out and see for my
self whether all these things are So"
He goes in. A sinful sprite meets him
with her wand She waves her wand,
and it is all enchantment. Why,
it seems as II the angels of
God had poured out phials of
perfume in the atmosphere. AS He
walks on He finds the hill becoming
more radiant with foliage, and the ra-
vines more resonant with the falling
water Oh! what a charming land
scape he sees! But that sinful sprite,
with he wand, meets him again; but
now she reverses the wand, and all
the enchantment is gone. The cup
is full of poison. ;. The fruit turns to
ashes. All the leaves of the bower are
forked tongues of kissing serpents,
The flowing fountains fall back in a
dead pool, stenchful with corruption.
The Turing songs become curses and
screams of demoniac laughter. Lost
spirits gather about him and feel for his
heart, and beckon him on with: "Hail,
brother! Hail, blasted spirit, hall" He
tries to get out. He comes to the front
door where he entered, and tries to push
it back, but the door turns against him;
and in the jar of that shutting door he
hears these words: This night is Bel
shazzar, the King of the Chaldeans,
slain" Sin may open bright as the
morning. 1t ends dark as the night,
l learn further from this subject that
Death sometimes breaks in upon ban
quet. Why did he not go down to the
prisons in Babylon? There were peo-
pie there that would like to have died.
| suppose there were men and women
in torture in that city who would have
welcomed death. But he comes to the
palace, and just at the time when the
mirth is dashing at the tip-top pitch
Death breaks in at the banquet. We
have often seen the same thing illus
trated. Here is young man just come
from college. He is kind. He is low
ing. He is enthusiastic. He is elo-
quent. By one spring he may bound
to heights toward which many men
have been struggling for years. A pro-
fession opens before him. He is estab-
lished in the law. His friends cheer
him. Eminent men encouraged him.
After awhile you may see him standing
in the United States Senate, or moving
a popular assemblage by his eloquence
as trees are moved in whirlwind. Some
night he retires early. A fever is on
him. Delirium, like reckless chari-
oteer, seizes the reins Of his intellect.
Father and mother stand by and see
the tides of his life going out to tho
great ocean. The banquet is coming to
an end. The lights Of thought, and
mirth, and eloquence are being extin.
guished. The garlands are snatched
from the brow. The vision is gone.
Death at it's banquet!
We saw the same thing, on larger
scale, illustrated at the last war in this
country. Our whole Nation had been
sitting at National banquet-North,
South, East and West. What grain was
there, but we grew it on ourhills. What
invention was there, but our rivers must
turn the new wheel and rattle the
strange shuttle. What warm furs, but
our traders must bring them from
the Arctic, What fish, but our
nets must sweep them for the
markets. What music, but it must
sing in our halls. What eloquence,
but it must speak in our Senates.
Ho! to the National banquet, reaching
from mountain to mountain and from
sea to sea! TO prepare the banquet the
sheepfolds and the aviaries of the coun-
try sent their best treasures. The or
chards piled up on the table their sweet
est fruits, The presses burst out with
new wines, TO sit at that table came
the yeomanry Of New Hampshire, and
the lumbermen Of Maine, and the Caro-.
linian from the rice fields, and the
Western emigrant from the pines of Ore
gon, and we are all brothers-brother
at q banINet Suddenly the feast end
ed, What meant those mounds thrown
up at Chickamauga, Shiloh, Atlanta,
Gettysburg, South Mountain? What
meant those golden grain fields, turned
iato pasturing ground for cavalry
horses? What meant the cornhelds gul.
lied with the wheels Of the heavy sup
ply train? Why those rivers of tears
those lakes Of blood? God was angryi
I,,a A Ia.