The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1893-04-21
THE DARK SIDE.
DR.. Talmage Discourses on Social
Life in Our Cities.
The wlckedness of the Midnight Hour in
Town-The Sorrows of the Vicious
Poor The Thieves, Drunk
ards and Gamblers.

In a late sermon at Brooklyn Rev. t.
Dewitt Talmage took for his subject
the dark side of social life in our great
cities. The text chosen was from
Genesis i. >: And the darkness he
called night" DIR. Talmage said:
Two grand divisions of tisne. The
one of sunlight, the other of shadow;
the one for work; the other for rest; the
one type of everything glad and beau
tiful, the other used in all languages as
a type of sadness and aifliction and sin,
Those two divisions were made by the
Lord himself. Other divisions of time
may have nomenclature of human in
vention, but the darkness held up its
duslxy brow to the Lord and he bap-
TIED it, the dew dropping from his
fingers as he gave it name-"and the
darkness he called night" My subject
is midnight in town. The thunder
of the city rolled out of the air. The
slightest sounds cut the night with
such distinctness as to attract your
attention. The tipkling of the
bell of the street car in the
distance, and the baying of the
dog. The stamp of horse in the
next street. The slamming of a saloon
door. The hiccough of the drunllard.
The shrieks of the steam whistle five
miles away. Oh! how suggestive, my
friends; midnight in town
There are honest men passing up and
down the street. Here is city mis-
sionary who has been carrying scut-
tie of coal to that poor family in that
dark place. Here is an undertaken go
ing up the steps of a building from
which there comes a bitter cry which
indicates that The destroying angel has
smitten the first born. Here is a min
lister of religion who has been giving
the sacrament to dying Christian.
Here is n physician passing along in
great haste, the messenger few steps
ahead hurrying on to the household.
Nearly all the lights have gone out in
the dwellings That light in the win
dow is the light of the watcher. Oh!
the midnight in town! What a stupen-
dous thought whole city at rest!
Let the city sleep. But, my friends,
be not deceived. There will be thou
sands tonight who will not sleepat all.
Go up that dark alley, and be cautious
where YOU tread, lest you fall over the
PROSTATE form of a drunkard lying on
his own doorstep. Look about you, lest
you feel the garroter's hug. Look
through the broken window-pane, and
see what you can see. You say, Moth
ing" Then listen. What is it? God
help us?" No footlights, but tragedy
ghastlier and mightier than Ristori or
Edwin Booth ever enacted. No light
no fire, no bread, no hope. Shivering
in the cold they have had no food for
twenty-four hours. You say, "Why
don't they beg?" They do, but they
get nothing. You say, why don't they
deliver themselves over to the aims
house?" All! you would not ask that if
YOU ever heard the bitter cry of a man
or 4 child when told he must go to the
almshouse.
''Ohl" you say, "they are the vicious
poor. and therefore they do not demand
our sympathy" Are they vicious? So
much more need they your pity. The
Christian poor, God helps them.
Through their night there wrinkles the
round, merry star of hope, and through
the broken window-pane they see the
crystals of heaven; but the vicious
poor. they are more to be pitied. Their
last light has gone out. You excuse
yourself from helping them saying they
are so bad they brought this trouble on
themselves. reply, where l give ten
PRAYERS for the innocent who are suf-
fering 1 will give twenty prayers for
the guilty who are suffering.
Pass on through the alley. Open the
door. oh" you say, 1T is locked "
No, it is not locked; it has never been
locked. No burglar would be tempted
to go there to steal anything. The
door is never locked. Only broken
chair stands against the door. Shove it
back. Go in. Strike a match. Now
look. Beastliness and rags. See those
glaring eyeballs. Be careful now what
YOU say. Do rot utter any insult; do not
utter any suspicion if you value your
life What is that red mark on the
wall? 1t is the mark of murderer's
handl Look at those two eyes rising
up out of the darkness and out from
the straw in the cnrner, coming toward
you, and as they come toward you your
light goes out. Strike another match.
All! this is babe; not like the beauti-
full children of your household, or the
beautiful children smiling around these
affairs ON baptismal day. This little
one never smiled; it never will smile.
Oh, Heavenly Shepherd, fold that little
one in thy arms
Strike another match. All. is it
possible that that young woman's
SCARED and bruised face was ever
looked into by maternal tenderness?
Utter no scorn. Utter no harsh word.
No ray of hope has dawned on that
brow for many year. No ray of hope
will ever dawn on that brow.
Do you know it is in the midnight
that criminals do their worst work?
At $50 o'clock you will find them in
the drinking saloon, but toward II
o'clock they go to their .garrets, they
get out their tools, then they start on
the street. Watching on either side for
the police, they go to their work of
darkness. This is a burglar, and the
false key will touch the store lock.
This is an incendiary, and before morn
ing there will be light in the sky. and
cry of Fire! fire. This is an assassin,
and tomorrow morning there will be a
dead body in one of the vacant lots.
During the day time these villains in
our cities lounge about. some asleep
and some awake, but when the third
watch of the night arrives, their eyes
keen, their brain cool. their arm strong,
their foot fleet to fly or pursue, they
are ready. MANY of these poor creatures