The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1894-07-23


and-out rakes in American society whose
names are mentioned among the distin-
guished guests at the great levees. They
have annexed all the known vices and are
longing for other worlds of dabolism to
conquer. Good morals are not necessary III
many of the exalted circles of society.
Neither is intelligence necessary. You
find in that realm men who would not
know an adVerb from an adjective if they
met it a hundred times a day, and who
could not write letter of acceptance
regrets without the aid of a secretary.
They buy their libraries by the square yard,
only anxious to have the binding Russian.
Their ignorance is positively sublime, maxi
ing English grammar almost disreputable.
And yet the finest parlors open before
them. Good morals and intelligence are
not necessary, but wealth, show of
wealth. is positively indispensable. 1t does
not make any difference how you get your
wealth, if you only got it. The best way
for you to get into social position is for
you to buy large amount on credit, then
put your property in your WIfeS name,
have a few preferred creditors and then
make an assignment. Then disappear from
the community until the breeze is over, and
then come back and start in the same bus
mess. Do you not see how beautifully that
will put out all the people who are in COM
petition with you and trying to make an
honest living? How quickly it will get you
into high social position! What is the use
Oh lOTly OF ully wears OIL nara Work Wncn
you can by two or three bright strokes
make a great fortune? Ah my friends,
when you really lose your money, how
quick they will let you drop, and the high
you get the harder you will drop.
There are thousands today in that realm
who anxious to keep in it. There are
thousands in that realm who are nervous
for fear they will fall out of it, and there
are changes going on every year, and every
month and every hour which involve heart
breaks that are never reported. High So
cial life is constantly in futter about the
delicate question as to whom they shall let
in and whom they shall push out, and the
battle is going on--pier mirror against pier
mirror, chandelier against chandelier, wine
cellar against wine cellar, wardrobe against
wardrobe, equipage against equipage. I'm
certainty and insecurity dominant in that
realm, wretchedness enthroned, torture at
a premium, and life not worth living.
A life of sin, life of pride, life of in
diligence, life of WorldlineSS, life devo-
ted to the world the flesh. and the devil
is a failure, dead failure, an infinite fail
ure. | not how many presents you
sent to that cradle, or how many garlands
you send to that grave. you need to put
right under the name on the tombstone
this inscription: Better for that man il
he had never been BORN
But / shall show you life that is worth
living. A young man says: Il am here
| am not responsible for my ancestry
others decided that. l am not responsible
for my temperament; God gave me that
But here [ am, in the afternoon of the nine
enth century, at twenty years OF age
am here and l must take an account OF
stock Here 1 have a body which is
divinely constructed engine. [ must put 1t
to the very best uses, and L must allow
nc hing to damage this rarest of machinery.
Two feet, and they mean locomoton Two
eyes, and they mean capacity to pick out
md
ephones of communication with all the out
side world, and they mean capacity to catch
sweetest music and the voices of friendship
the very best music. A tongue, with al
most infinity of articulation. Yes, hands
with which to welcome or resist, or MT
or smite or wave, or blesS-hands 10 help
myself and help others.
Here is a world which after SIX thou
sand years of battling with tempest and &C
cident is still grander than any architect
human or angelic could have drafted.
have two lamps to light me--a golden lamp
and a silver Tampa golden lamp set on
the sapphire mantel of the day, silver
lamp set on the jet mantel OF the night
Yea, l have that at twenty years OF age
which defes all inventory of Valuables-a
soul, with capacity to choose or reject
to rejoice or to suffer, to love or to hate
Plato says it is immortal. Seneca says
it is immortal Confucius says it IS M
mortal,
family relics-a book with leather cover al
most worn out, and pages almost oblter-
ated by oft perusal, joins the other DOCKS
in saving | am immortal. l have elShty
wears for a lifetime, sixty years yet TO IVe'
| may not live an hour, but then must
Law out my plans intelligently and for
long life Sixty years added to the twenty
I have already lived, that will bring me to
eighty I must remember that these
eighty years are only brief preface TO the
five hundred thousand millions 81 0WHth-
lions of wears Which will be my chief 1esl-
dence and existence Now, understand
nv opportunities and my responsibilities
eff there is any being in the universe
all wise and all benefcent who can help Il
man in such a juncture, l want him. Inc
old book found among the family rehcs
tells me there is a God, and that 1or tle
sake of His Son, one Jesus, He VIII give
help to a man. TO Him l appeal Goa
help me! Here I have yet sixty years to
do for myself and to do for others. / must
develop this body by all industries, by all
gymnastics by all sunshine, by Al fresh
air by all good habits. And this soul
must have swept, and garnished, ana IL
lumined, and glorified, by all that can 90
for it and all that can get GOD to 90 LOT
it. 1t shall be d Luxembourg of fine pict-
ures It shall be an orchestra of grand
harmones. 1t shall be palace FOR Goa
and Righteousness to reign in. l wonder
how many kind words l can utter in the
next sixty years? l will try. | wonder
how many good deeds | can do in the next
sixty years? | will try. God help me!'
That young man enters life. He is buff
feted he is tried, he is perpleXed. a grave
opens on this side and a grave opens on
that side. He falls, but he rises again. He
gets into a hard battle, but he gets the
victory The main course of his life is
In that direction. He blesses everybody he
comes in contact with. God fOrSives his
mistakes, and makes everlasting record of
his holy endeavOrs and at the close OF 1T
God says to him: "Well done, good and
faithful servant; enter into the joys of thy
Lord" My brother, my sister, | do not
care whether that man dies at thirty, forty,
fifty sixty, seventy, or eighty years of age;
you can chisel right under his name on the
tombstone these words: His life was
worth living
Amid the hills of New Hampshire, in
olden times, there sits d mother. There
are six children in the household-four
boys and two girls. Small farm. Very
rough, hard work to coax living out or
it, Mighty tug to make the two ends OF
the year meet. The boys go to school in
winter and work the farm in summer
Mother is the chief presiding spirit. With
her hands she knts all the stockings for
the little feet and she is the mantuamaker
for the boys, and she is the milliner for