The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-01-11


osuppiy the soul waste. For mems souls waste
1wsy- Faith in immortality is often very dan
ssious' Tor IL induces some men to lay aside
auer souls, like piece OF armor, on a high
sneii, In DARK closet They suppose they can
saNe them out and furbsh them up on occasion,
a. ~. a,ess parade at the last great day. Souls
0"inuis and starvs, and become diseased like
minus and bodies, and by and by their prepor-
IONS are microscopic, or their shells are thin.
Ahosner temptation of Western cities Is pro-
miscuous society. Men are called intelligent
enimais But IL anything could suggest doubt
OF the Tact. 1t 10 their conduct in Q new home
insy imagine themselves hidden in large city,
removed from their friends They neglect to
notice that the man at their elbow came from the
same section OF the country with themselves.
Ihey tell US that the ostrich hides her head in
the sand and supposes that she is hidden. The
oaugnter OF prominent and very blue clergy
msn, while visiting at some distance from
nome, attended places of amusement 70 which
sne had never been permitted to go. and In
duiged In recreations which would have shocked
ner isther. DO you suppose he learned Of it?
Let us do our questionable deeds in the presence of
our best friends. Our character Is indicated by
what we wish TO do, not by what we really do.
HOW many OF us live under the false assump-
uon that we are gagged by the best exhibits OF
our characters. Waters are catalogued accord
Ing TO their depth at low tide. man can never
De depended upon to do better than his worst,
unless God has really lifted him above the plane
OF his past The society q man keeps makes
credit at the bank, and is u more tangible matter
than he 10 willing to admit
temptation more common to us than to
Eastern people Is eovetousness. The Eastern
man usually has his property in snug invest
nents, without membranes. He gets, per-
haps, per cent. interest, and it seems to him
that ne may AZ well give it away as to keep it
Here IL IL very different. Do not tell our East
hY1f fha f.n
Atlantic slope are human al here, and their ma
ture prompts them to give as here. An analysis
OF gifts Will show that we are not any more
benevolent than they, in proportion to our abil-
lily. The reason is that we become possessed
with the idea that a dollar now is of great i'm
porfsnce. We buy lot, and find that by mort
gaging IT we can buy another, and you will
probably bear me ont when say that perhaps
the larger part OF the property in this city was
bought with borrowed money in the hope of
rise. There 10 the temptation to let benevolent
objects wait, or TO dismiss them with trifle,
until We are in good financial condition. But
the habit contracted by this financial strain re-
mains with man. Old residents will tell us
that when trade revives speculation revives Is
IL right Tor man to absorb his entire income in
ventures which devour every generous impulse?
What is ut first reason finally becomes an ex-
cuse. To regard the present something to
endure, and to think of home az a camp is per-
tation OF newcomer. A man should adopt the
town where he lives as his own, enter its life
with the best that Ii in him, and live now as he
intends TO live ten thousand years from now, so
lar as conduct is concerned. great hue and
cry Ii made against the Chinese race because
they come here to take away with them what
they earn. In what respect are we better than
they II We regard our present home simply as q
means to wealth or society that will be enjoyed,
IL at ali, elsewhere? Have you any patience
with man who Is courteous to one class and
churlish to another? What despicable TEN pta-
ton IL 1t to toss the head at the society or the
crude institutions of a new city while an in
habitant OF it. pity the man who il waiting
till he can reach place that is good enough for
him, and who is meantime only existing. The
people who make place unattractive are they
who complain of its lack of attractions 1t is
our part to shine with every virtue that is in us,
to become one with the people where we live,
and we shall soon find that friendships
may be just as strong. loves as pure,
opportunities as good, sweetness commend
able and heaven as near to Puget sound as to
Massachusetts, bay People shrug their shout
ders and exclsim under their breath, "They are
Western people," But whence came they?
They preceded you only few years; they had
the same education, the same antecedents and
perhaps more enterprise than We
II Is q grisvous mistake to suppose that the
place you live in is not good enough for the dis
play of your most cultivated grsces and for the
natural life you have been taught to live /
know of two families in this city from the cul-
tivated centers OF the East. They lived here not
far apart and languished fer the society OF such
persons as they had left They made remarks
about their crude neighbor across the way, and
commented on the Western practices he fol-
lowed. After about year OF repining and con-
scious martyrdom at their exile, both these fam
lilies discovered that they each came from the
sane REGION and each had secluded themselves
from their kind under the peculiar impression
that there was only one cultivated family west
OF The Missouri river
II we are better than our neighbors, which
very much doubt, we have come to the place
where we can do good. II the light is needed
anywhere Ii Ia needed in the dark. The proof
that we are fit to live is found in the fact that
we are Mt to live where we are. If q
man cannot be Christian where he
makes his living, he cannot be a
Christian In heaven. 1t is bur business to seek
out and make society. People stand on the out
side of churches and wish they were acquainted.
But when their wish becomes strong, tney step
inside. We believe in peoples grievances when
they take measures TO correct them. Until then
no man need fear that they suffer acutely. The
work that needs every man most is the work he
can do, aud he must do it where the Almighty
has put him.
In the ancient days, as feudalism was broken
down, the kings warrant ran further and
further, and wherever Ii ran, Ii was the symbol
OF the sovereignty OF the king. The temptation
comes to n man who has left the East, to forget
that Gods warrant runs throughout Washington
also. A sense that God is everywhere present
fades from minds relieved OF the influence that
have come TO them from God by channels now
removed. He may leave his busiaess, his home,
and even his wife, but whittier shall he fee from
Gods presence7 1t is childish in US to dodge
duty in the hope of being rid Of it, By the
unaltsrabe law OF nature and of God every
burden must be borne sometime. There lies
before US a crushing weight in the future, if we
wander free in the present The mother who
mourns the careless departure of her son, and
the father who pinched to furnish funds TO send
young man here, may not have any notes to
show his obligations TO them, but no debt can
be lodged. Every penny must be paid in cash
or its equivalent, IN some world. Dcdging debs
is sin not confined to new countries, but it is
game played in them with greater hope of
success, though with the same monotonous
failure There are those, we hear, who look
forward, without a sign OF shrinking, from an
un:oryiyen life in another world. But, "lf
make my bed in the grave, Thou art there"
We know the more we stretch an elastic cord,
the greater will its resistance become. The love
Of God is an elastic cord, which makes our
proCress all the more difficult, the farther we
proceed from him. These blue waters to the
westward have a blessing TO more than one
man az they have recalled 70 his ind the i'm
posi- oility OF lodging divine law. The cesponst-
be being, mai, must lace the issue OF settle
meut with his Father in heaven. IL is said shat
one lost i'll the woods Will make circular
track ana reach his ttarting point Some time
the soul lost in the mazes of its own wander
ings will meet God face 10 face for we are blind
"a o,r Al ractiou unless God lead us. In every