The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-02-19


From newspaper that was printed for
thirty years withou. one word Of deta-
mamatlOn, or scCrri.ity. or scandal, ana
putting chief emphasis on virtue and
charity, and clean Intelligence. he reaped
a fortune tor himself and then distributed
vast amount of IL among the poor
and struggling, putting his invalid and
aged reporters on pensions, until his
name stands everywhere for large
heartedness and sympathy and help and
: highest style of Christian gentleman. In
an era which has in the chairs Of its Jour
nalism a Horace Greeley, and a Henry j.
/ Raymond. and James Gordon Bennett.
and an Erastus Brooks, and a George VIII
liam Curtis, and an lreuBus Prime, none
of them will be longer remem bered than
George W Childs. Staying away from
the unwilling of the monument he had
reared a. large expense in our Greenwood
! in memory Of Professor Proctor, the
astronomer, lest I should say something
in praise Of the man who had paid for the
monument. By all acknowledged a repre-
sentative of the highest American
journalism If you would calculate
his influence for good you must count
how many sheets of his newspapers have
been published in the last quarter of a
century, and how many people have read
them, and the effect not only upon those
readers, but upon all whom they shall in
uuCLCC lOE dll bllue, Wnlle you dQQ 10 All
that the work Of the churches he helped
build, and of the institutions of mercy he
helped found. Better give up before you
start the measuring of the phosphores-
cence in the wake of that ship of the
celestial line. Who can tell the post
mortem influence of a Savonarola, a
Winklereid, a Gutenberg, a Marlbor-
ough, Decatur, Toussaint, a Bolivar,
a Clarkson, a Robert Raikes. a Harlan
PAGE who had 1oS hbafh cOho1orc
eighty-four of whom became Christians,
and six of them ministers of the gospel
With gratitude, and penitence, and
worship l mention the grandest life that
was ever lived. That ship Of light was
launched from the heavens nearlyIl 800
years ago, angelic hosts chanting, and
from the celestial wharves the ship
sprang into the toughest sea that ever
tossed. Its pillows were made up of the
wrath of men and devils. Herodic and
SanhedrimiC prosecutions stirring the
deep with red wrath, and all the hurri-
canes of woe smote it, until on the rocks
OF Golgotha that life struck with a re-
sound Of agony that appalled, the earth
and the heavens. But in the wake of that
life what phosp horescence of smiles on
the cheek of souls pardoned, and lives re-
formed. and nations redeemed. The mil
lennium itself is only one roll of that ira
dated wave of gladness and benediction.
In the sublimest of all senses it may be
said of him. He maketh path to shine
after him"
But cannot look upon that luminosity
that follows ships without realizing how
fond the Lord is of life. That fire of the
deep life, myriads of creatures all a-swim,
and a-play, and a-romp in parks of marine
beauty laid out, and parterred, and rose
ated, and blossomed by Omnipotence
What is the use of those creatures called
by the naturalist "crustaceans" and cope
pods not more than one out of hundreds
of billions of which are ever seen by hu-
man eye2 God created them for the same
reason that he creates flowers in places
where no human foot ever makes them
tremble, and no human nostril ever in
hales their redolence, and no human eve
ever sees their charm. In the botanical
world they prove that God loves flowers,
as in the marine world the phosphori
prove that he loves life, and he loves life
in play, life in Drilliancy of gladness, life
in eXuberance.
And so am led to believe that he loves
our life II we fulfill our mission as fully as
the phosphori fulfill theirs. The Son of
God came that we might have life, and
have IL more abundantly." But / am
glad to tell you that our God Is not the
God sometimes described as a harsh critic
at the head of the universe. or an infinite
scold; or a God that loves funerals better
than weddings; or a God that prefers
tears to laughter, an omnipotent Nero, a
ferociouS Mana Sahib; but the loveliest
Being in the universe, loving flowers, and
life, and play, whether of phosphori in
the wake of the Majestic, or of the human
race keeping holiday.
But, mark you. that the hosphorescence
has a glow that the night monopolizes.
and | ask you not only what kind of in
fidence you are gong TO leave in the world
as you pass through it, but what light are
you going to throw across the worlds
night of sin and sorrow? People who are
sailing on smooth sea and at noon do not
need much sympathy, but what are you
going to do for the people in the night of
misfortune. viii you drop on them
shadow, or Will you kindle for them phos-
phOrescence2 At this moment there are
more people crying than laughing: more
people on the round world this moment
hungry than well-fed; more households
bereft than homes unbroken. What are
you going to do about it, ''Well," saws
yOnder soul, Il would like TO do some
thing toward illumining the great
ocean of human wretchedness, but
| can not do much" Can you do
as much as one of the phosphori in the
middle of the Atlantic ocean, creatures
smaller than the point of sharp
plu N(lls YES, you say. lUen 10 tAdb.
Shine Stand before the Iooking-glass and
experiment to see if you cannot get that
scowl of your forehead; that peevish look
out of your lips. Have you at least one
bright riboOn in your bonnet. EmtrOider
at least one white cord somewhere in the
midnight of your apparel. Do not
any longer impersonate a funeral! Shine!
Do say something cheerful about society,
and about the world. Put a few drops
of heaven into your disposition. Once in
a while substitute n sweet orange for
sour lemon. Remember that pessimism
is blasphemy, and that optimism is
Christianity. Throw some light on the
night ocean. II you cannot be a lantern
swinging in the rigging, be one of the
tiny phosphori back of the keel Shine!
Let your light so shine before
men that Others seeing your good
works may glorify your Father
which is in Heaven" Make one
person happy every day and
do that for twenty years and you will
have made 300 happy. You know man
who has lost all his property by an unfor-
tunate Investment, or by putting his name
on the back of friend s notel After YOU
have taken brief nap, which every man
and woman is entitled to on a Sunday
afternoon, go and cheer up that man.
You can. if God helps you, say something
that will 90 him good after both of you
have been dead a thousand years. Shine!
You know of family with a bad bow who