Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-25
GOOD GAME WASTED.
Lazy Men, the Causes Which Pro.
duce Them, and the Bad Results.
SOME PEOPLE TOO PROSPEROUS.
Encouragement, Reverie and Fad Habits
Fruitful Causes.
TALNAGrS REGULAR SUNDAY SERMON


text to-day was Prov. xII:27, ''The slothfu
man roasteth not that which he took i
hunting
David, and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. an
Micah, and solomon of the text showed tina
some time they had been out on a hunting
expedition. Spears, lances, swords, an
nets were employed in this service. A dee
pitfall was would be digged In the centero
st there some raised ground with q pole o.
which lamb would be fastened, and tn
wild beast not seeing the pitfall, but onl,
seeing the lamb would plunge for its pre-,
and dash down, itself captured. Birds wer
caught in gins. or pierced with arrows.
The hunters in olden time had two mis-
sions-one to clear the land of ferociou
beasts and the other to obtain meat Tor them
selves, and their families. The occupation
and habit OF hunters are a favorite Bibl
simile. David said he was hunted by hi
enemy like partridge upon the mountain
My text is a hunting scene.
sportsman arrayed in garb appropriate
TO the wild chase lets slip the blood:hirst,
hounds from their kennels, and mounting
his fleet horse with halloo and the yell o
the greyhound pack, they are off and away
and the hunter has just time to be in at the
death. Yet, after all the haste and peril o
the chase, my text represents this sports
man as being too indolent to dress the game
and prepare it for food.
All Nature Despises Laziness.
AS If to create in us a hatred for Incidence
God has made those animals which are slug
gish to appear loathsome in our eyes, while
those which are fleet and active, he ha:
clothed with attractiveness The tortoise
the sloth, the snail, the crocodile repel us
while the deer and the gazelle are as pleas
ing as they are fleet, and from the swift
wings of innumerable birds God has spared
no purple or gold or jet or crimson or snowy
whiteness. Besides all this the Bible is con.
stantly assaultlng the vice OF laziness.
Solomon seems to order the idler out of his
sight as being beyond all human instruction
when he says: Go to the ant thou slug.
gard: consider her ways and be wise"
Now, what are the causes OF laziness and
what are its evil results? knew a man who
was never up to time. 1t seemed impossi-
bic for him to meet an engagement. When
he WAS to be married, he missed the train.
His watch seemed to take on the habits of
its owner and was always too slow. He had
a constitutional lethargy, for which he did
not seem responsible. So Incidence often
arises from the natural temperament. / do
not know but that there is q constitutional
tendency to vice in every man. However
active you may generally be, have you not
on some warm spring day felta touch of this
feeling on you, although You may have
shaken 1t of as you would a reptile? But
some are so powerfully tempted to this by
their bodily constitution that all the work
of their life has been accomplished with
this lethargy hanging on their back or tread
ing on their heels.
Incidence as Shown in Childhood.
You sometimes behold it in childhood.
The child moping and lounging within doors
while his brothers and sisters are at play, or
If he join them he is behind in every race
ana beaten in every game, His nerves, his
muscles, his bones are smitten with this
Ila,
rather than walks, yawns rather than
breathes. The animal in his nature is
stronger than the intellectual. He is gen.
orally great eater and active only when he
cannot digest that which he has eaten. 1t
requires as much effort for him to walk as
Tor Others to run. Languor and drowsinesS
are bis natural inheritance. He is built for
q slow-saiing vessel, "a heavy hulk and an in
sufficient cut-water. Place an active man in
such bodily structure and the latter would
be shaken to pieces in one day. Every law
OF physiology demands that he be supine.
Such one is not responsible for this pow
erful tendency of his nature. His great duty
is resistance. When / see man fighting an
unfortunate temperament all my SYM
pathies are aroused.
Furthermore. Incidence is often result of
easy circumstances. Rough experience in
earlier life seems to be necessary in order to
make a man active and enterprising. Mount
aineers are nearly always swarthy, and
those who have toiied among mountains of
trouble get the most nerve and muscle and
brain. The warm summer sun of prosperity
has weakened and relaxed them. Born
among the luxuries of life, e1ertion has
been unnecessary, and, therefore, they
spend their time In taking it easy.
Encouragement Causes IndoIenoe.
Another cause of Incidence is severe dis
couragement. There are those around us
who started life with the most sanguine ex-
pectation. Their enterprise excited the re-
mark of all compeers. But some sudden
and overwhelming misfortune met them,
and henceforth they have been inactive
Trouble, instead of making them more de-
termined, has overthrow them. They have
lost all selfreliance They imagine that all
men and all occurrences are against them.
They hang their heads where once they
walked upright. They never look you in
the eyes. They become misanthropic and
pronounce all men liars and scoundrels
They go melanchoIic and threadbare to
their graves. You cannot rouse them to
action by the most glittering Offer
In most cases these persons have been
honored and upright all their lives, for
roc ues never get discouraged as there is al
ways some other plot they have not sprung.
There are but few sadder sights than a man
of talent and tact and undoubted canacity
giving up life as a failure, like line of mag
nificent steamers rotting against wbarves,
from which they ought TO have been carry
ing the explorations of nation. Every
great financial panic produces a large crop
-
dolence. There are multitudes of men who
expect to achieve great success in life, who
are entirely unwilling to put forth any phys
ical, moral or intellectual effort. They have
a great many eloquent theories of life They
are all the while expecting something to
turn up. They pass their lie in dreaming.
The Evils of Vicious Literature.
They have read in light literature how
men suddenly and Unexpectedly came to
large estates, or found a pot of buried gold
at the foot of the rainbow of Good Luck, or
had some great offer made them. They
have passed their lives in reverie. Notwith-
standing he is pinched with poverty and
any other man would be downcast at the
forlorn prospect, he is always cheerful and
sanguine ana jovial, for he does not know
but that he may be within q day or two of
astounding success. You cannot help be
with his cheerfulness of temper.
All the world wishes him well. for he never
did anybody any harm. At last he dies in
Just the same condition in which he lived,
sorrowful only because he must leave the
world Just at the time when his long
plans were about to be success
full.
Let no young man begin life with reverie
There is nothing accomplished without
hard work. Do not in idleness expect some
thing to turn up. 1t will turn down. In
dolence and wickedness always make bad
luck.
Again, bad habits are a fruitful source of
Incidence. Sinful indulgence shuts mans
shop and dull his tools and steal his profits
is generally the end of in
dustry. There are those who have the rare
faculty Of devoting occasionally a Gay or a |
week to loose indulgences, and, at the ex-
piration of that tiIue. go back with bleared |
eyes and tremulous hands and bloated |
checks to the faithful and successful per-
formance of their duties. Indeed their en- |
ployers and neighbors expect this amuse- |
nent or occasional season OF frolic.
Rushing to Destruction on Wings.
But, as the time rolls on, the season of dis |
,ipation becomes more protracted and the |
eason of steadiness and sobriety more |
tied, until the employers become dis |