Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1891-03-21

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him in lawful salary.
How brightly the path of unrestrained
amusement opens. The young man says:
Now / am off for good time. Never mind
economy. I'll get money somehow. What
a fine road What beautiful day for a
ridel Crack the whip, and over the turn
pike! Come, boys, fill high your glasses.
Drink Long life health, plenty Of rides just
like thisl Hard working men hear the clat-
ter Of the hooss and look w and say "Why,
| wonder where those fellows get their
money FROM We have to toll and drudge.
| They do nothing" To these gay men life
| is thrill and an excitement. They stare at
other people. and in turn are stared at. The
watch chain jingles. The cup foams.
The cheeks flush. Their eyes flash.
The midnight hears their guffaw.
! They swagger. They jostle decent men
of thu sidewalk. They take the name
Of God in vain. They parody the hymn they
| pictures Of coming disaster they cry out
who earesm and to the counsel of soma
| Christian friend, "Who are your
Passing along the street some night you
hear a Shrek in grog shop, the rattle Of
the watchman's club, the rush of the police.
What is the matter now2 Oh, this reckless
| young man has been killed in a grog shop
| light. Carry him home to his fathers house.
Parents will come down and wash his
wounds and close his eyes in death. They
| forgive him all he ever did although he can
not in his silence ask it. The prodigal has
| got home at last. Mother will go to her
| little garden and get tine sweetest flowers
and twist them into chaplet for the silent
heart of the Maynard boy; and push back
| from the bloated brow the long locks that
| were once her pride, and the air Will be rent
with the agony. The great draDlatist says:
| How sharper than a ssrpent's tooth it is to
| aayea thankless child"
] go further, and say these are unchristian
/ amusements which become the chief business
| Of mans life. Life is al earnest thing
Whether we were born in palace or howell
whether we are affuent or pinched we have
| TO work Ii you do not sweat with toll, you
will sweat witt disease. You have a soul
| that is to be TRANSPORTED amid the pomp of
Judgment day; and after the sea has sung
its last chant and the mountain shall have
come down in an avalanche of a rock, you
will live and think and act, high on a throne
where seraphs sing, or deep in a dungeon
where demons howl. In world where there
is so much to do for yourselves, and so much
to do for Others, God pity that man who has
nothing to do.
Your sports are merely means to an end
| They are alleviations and helps, The arm of
toll is the only arm strong enough to bring
up the bucket out of the deep well of pleas
ure. Amusement is only the bower where
business and philanthropy rest while on their
way 10 SURFING acDleVeuleubS. AuuSeDenbS
are merely the vines that grow about ths
anvil of toll aud the bossomiDg Of the ham,
mers. Alas for the man who spends his life
in laboriously doing nothing, his days in
hunting up lounging places and loungers,
his nights III seeking out some gas lighted
foolery The man who always has on his
sporting Jacket, ready to hunt for game in
the mountain or fish in the brook, with no
time to pray or work on read. is not so well
| off as the greyhound that runs by his side or
the fly bait with which he whips the stream.
A man who does not work does not know
how to play, If God had intended us to do
nothing but laugh He would not have given
us shoulders with which to lift, and hands
with which to work. and brains with which
to think The ADJUSTMENTS of life are mere
ly the orchestra playing while the great
tragedy Of life plunges through its five acts
infancy, childhood, manhood, old age and
death. Then exit the last earthly opportun-
ity. Enter the overwhelming realities of an
eternal world!
l go further, and say that all those amuss-
ments are wrong which lead into bad COM
pany. II you so to any place where YOU
have to associate with the Incorporate, with
the unclean, with the abandoned, however
well they may be dressed, in tie name of
God quit it. They will despoil your nature
They will undermine your moral character.
They will drop you when you are destroyed.
They will give not one cent to support your
children when you are dead. They will weep
not one tear at your burial. They will
chuckle over your damnation.
| had friend at the west-a rare friend
He was one of the first to welcome me to his
new home. To fine personal appearance he
added generosity, frankness and ardor of
nature that made me love him like brother.
But | saw evil people gathering around him.
They came up from the saloons, from the
gambling hells They piled him with thou
sand arts They seized upon his social ma
ture, and he could not stand the charm.
They drove him on the rocks like ship full
winged, shivering on the breakers. | used
to admonsh him. | would say, "Now |
wish you would quit these bad habits and
become Christian :" "0h,' he would reply,
81 would like to. Iwould like to- but have
gone so far | don't think there is any way
back In his moments of repentance he
would go home and take his little girl of
eight years, aud embrace her convulsiyely,
and cover her with adornments and strew
around her pictures and toys and every thing
that could make her happy; and then, as
though bounded by an evil spirit, he would
go out to the enhaming cup and the house of
shame, like fool to the correction of the
stocks
I was summoned to his deathbed.
FASTENED. l entered Che room. found him,
tony surprise, lying in full every day dress
on the top of the clothes. | put out my hand.
He grasped it excitedly and said 'Sit down.
air. Tamage right here ! sat down He
said; Last night [ saw my mother, who has
been dead twenty years, and she sat just
where you sit now 1t was no dream. was
wide awake. There was no delusion in the
matter. I saw her just as plainly as see
/ you. Wife, l wish you would take thoss
| strings off of me. There are strings spun
all around my body. I wish you would
take them OF of me- l saw it was de-
! lirium.
"Oh, replied his wife, my dear, there is
nothing there there is nothing there" He
went on, and said Just where you sit, Mr..
! Talmage, my mother sat. She said Henry,
| do wish you would do better | got out of
| bed put my arms around her. and said,
| Mother, 1 want to do better l have been
! trying TO do better Won't you help me to
do better2 You used to help me- No mis-
take about it. No delusion. saw her-the
cap, and the apron, and the spectacles. Just
/ as she used to look twenty years ago; but |
! do wish you would take these things away.
1hey annoy me so. l can hardly talk.
Won't you take them away?' l knelt down
and prayed conscious of the fact that he did
not realize what | was saying. got up [
sald, Goo1-by; hope your will be better
soon" He said, 'iood-by, good-by.n
That night his soul went to the God who
/ rave it. Arrangements were made for the
sbsequies. Some said, Don't bring him in
the church; he was TOO dissoluten ooh"
slid, bring him. He was a good friend
Of mine while he was alive, and shall stand
by him now that he is dead. Bring him to
| the church,
/ As sat in the pulpit and saw his body
coming up through the aisle 1 fe't as if |
could weep tears of blood. told the people
that Gay: This man had his virtues and a
good many of them. He had his faults, and
good many of them, butt there isany man
IN this audience who is without sin let him
cast the first stone at this coffin lid.r On ons
side the pulpit sat that little child, rosy,
sweet faced, as beautiful as any little child
that sat at your table this morning,
| warrant you. She looked UP visit
July, not knowing the full sorrows
ot an orphan child. On, her coun-
| tenance haunts me to-day like some sweet
/ face looking upon us through a horrid dream
On the other side of the pulpit wers the men
who had destroyed him. There they sat,
hard visage1, some of them pale from ex-
hausting disease, some of them flushed until
t seemed as il the fires of iniquity famed
through the cheeks and cracked the lips
/ They were the men who had done the WORK
they were the men who had bound him hand
and foot. They had kindled the fires They
mad poured the NORWOOD and gall into that
orphans cup. Did they weep? No. Did
they sigh repentincly? No. Did Il ey 81,
IVY nat pity rnaE sucn brave man should
I be slain" No, no; not one bloated hand was
lifted to wipe tear from bloated cheek
/ They sat and looked at the coffin like yuI-
/ lures gazing at the carcass of lamb whose
heart they had ripped out. l cried in their
ears as plainly as / could: "Thpre is God
and Judgment dayp Did they tremble?
Oh, no. no. They went back from tue house
] I'D of,1f hat ,srrl,% a..