The Portland daily press., 1893-02-10
DR.. TALMAeE's LECTURE.
He Amuses His Audience With Talk
on Big BIunders.

oAiNS0 "o Olty Hall ldSJ evening w d lesi 20
audience. The platform was occupied
by the clergy of the city. Rev. DR..
Blanchard in a few appropriate and COM
plimentary words introduced the
speaker.
DR.. Talmage's subjectwas ''Big Blund-
ers." 1t was an optimistic lecture FULL
OF stories, told in the Doctors peculiar
inimitable style and illustrated by stor-
les and anecdotes of every description.
am to talk to you, said the Doctor, on
big Blunders." The men who never
made blunder better never have been
born for that was his first blunder.
Laughter Th first blunder was made
in Paradise, and it had a big family of
big and little blunders. My text is big
blunders because little blunders do not
attract much attention. A blunder to
make any show at all must be large at
the girth and great in stature, in other
words, big blunder. used to make
big blunder when used to deliver pro-
found lectures. / stopped that. First,
because people didn't know what | was
talking about and secondly, because I
didn't know myself. / simply, in this
lecture, bring motto of good cheer Ii
you could put your shoulder under my
burden you are good friend. If | can
put my shoulder under your burden, |
am a good friend. Ny religion is
mostly sunshine. 1t is the difference be-
tween earth and heaven. In earth the
sunshine sometimes gets clouded. In
heaven, never. [Applause.] 20! Out
upon that other solemn, long faced re-
ligion." The misunderstanding man
ever saw was minister. He borrowed
$25 of me, and out of pure delicacy of
feeling never referred to it again.
Laughter.
Blunder number one, said the Doctor,
is multiplicity of ideas. The speaker
said many clever things about it. Find
your sphere. Stick to it. Old poets
liked to picture inspiration gained from
sleeping on Mt. Parnsssus. | say it is
not the man on the mountain but the
mountain on the man. Persecution, hard
luck, obstacles develop men. By thirty
five years of age a man ought to have
found his calling. 1t don't matter what
it is SO long as you do it and it is honora-
BILE. Bear in mind that nobody else in
the world can do your work. God sends
no man on FOOLS errand. Ask only
yourself what you best can do. Marshal
your resources into companies, regi-
ments, brigades, armies, Forward,
March! Be awake and be commander.
You are tremendous man. Look out
for him. Dignity your work. Nobody
else can do it. You love it. Stick to it,
Fight for it. Never say die. Up and at
The second blunder is indulgence in
bad temper. There is no country in the
world where bad temper is SO inexcusa-
BILE. Why? / have $50, 1000 new reasons;
$4,000 people came to this country last
year. Why did they come if this Were
not the best country? / told them down
at Atlanta that this was the Jest of win
tiers even though they had suffered bit
terly. 1t will kill the cholera germs and
every snow flake is snow pit. Every
thing is rosy. All our difficulties are
amicably settled. The United States
and Canada are making love. Laughter
The time will come when the United
States will offer hand and heart in mar
rage to beautiful and hospitable Canada
[applause7 and Canada will blush and
look down and thinking of her allegiance
across the sea will say, ASK Mother"
Laughter and applause. We are rails
ing oats for our horses, carrots for our
cattle and oleomargarine butter for our
hogs. The speaker allegorically typified
Growl Spittire & Bros. as against Merry
man & Warmgrasp. Mental equilibrium
good humor, pleasant ways, brightness
of life will win. The man who can sing
and won't sing, ought to be sent to Sing
Sing.
The third blunder is excessive amuse-
ments The speaker had nothing against
amusements. He urged joy among the
children. "Let's play ball." said he.
And then he told the vivacious story of
game of ball, in pantomime, in gesture,
in bubbling phraseology. But beware of
making life of but one object, and that
amusement. Souls are thus lost, and
life rendered futile. Beware of the
dram shop; of eserting wife and family
for amusements, and woe to the man
who despoils home. He had better never
been born. Home! | hear in the word
the ripple of meadow brooks in which,
Knee Qo6p, L WdQCo q IVY. ciiO Ao"ihso
of cattle coming up from the pasture, the
sharp hish of the scythe in fragrant clio
yer. the creaking of the hayrack, in
which laughing children trample down
the load. Home! When l see the word
in book OF newspaper, it seems to rise
and sparkle, leap, and thrill, and weep,
and chant, and pray, and sing. 1t gilt
tiers like shield, trills like a bird, twin
kles like star, leaps like flame, CLOVIS
like divine sunset, sings like an angel.
If the photographer should seek to cast
it forth, children would hide it under
garlands, kings hide it under their
Crowns, and after Herods had driven it
from bethlehem to Egypt and given up
the search, some warm and gentle day it
would shine from the gems and CLEAN
from among the coronets, and the world
would bear it forth, and fondle and ca
ress it, bright, and beautiful, and reso-
nant as before.
The third blunder is the formation OF
the wrong kind of domestic relations.
Don't be mean to your wives. Some
drunkards are better than some mean
men. Don't find fault. Adopt he old