The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1895-12-04
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE
NOTED DIVINE.
Subject: GA Word With Women"

The text was the following letter received
by DR.. Talmage:
Reverend Sir-You delivered discourse
IN answer to letter from six young men OF
Fayette, o.. requesting you to preach SER
mon on advice to Young Men, Are we
justified in asking YOU to preach sermon on
Advice to Young Women?
LETTER SIGNED BY SIX 9oUNG WOMEN"
Christ, who took His text from flock OF
birds flying overhead. saying. "Behold the
fowls Of the air. and from the flowers in the
valley. saying. "Conslder the lilies Of the
field" and from the clucking Of barnyard
fowl. saying, GAS hen gathered her chick
ems under her wing" and from a crystal of
salt picked up by the roadside. saying. "Salt
is good" will grant US a blessing If, instead
Of taking text from the Bible, I take for my
text this letter from Cincinnati. which is only
one of many letters which I have received
from young women in New York. New
Orleans. San Francisco. London, Edinburgh
and from the ends of the earth. all implying
that, having some mon. his ago preached the
sermon on "Advice TO Young Men," could
not, without neglect OF duty. refuse to
preach a sermon on "Advice to Young Wo-
men,"
Advice the first: Get your soul right with
God and you will be in the best attitude for
tNcrytuiIS lutl CULucs. NOW ways VI NOyds-
ing by sea, new WAYS Of travelling by land,
new WAYS Of thrashing the harvest. new ways
Of printing books-and the patent office is
enough TO enchant man who has mechanl-
cal ingenuity and knows good deal Of
levers and wheels-and We hardly do any
thing as it used to be done: invention after
invention, invention on top OF invention.
But IN the matter OF getting right with God
there has not been an invention for 5000
years. It is on the same line. OF repentance
that David exercised about his SINS and the
same old style OF prayer that the publican
used when he emphasized it by All inward
Christ that Paul suggested to the jailer the
night the penitentiary broke down. Aye,
that is the reason have more confidence in
it. 1t has been tried by more millions than
dare to state lest I come far short of the
brilliant facts. All who through Christ carr
estly tried to get right with God are right
and always will be right. That gives the
young woman who gets that position superb
ority over all rivalries, all jealousies, all
misfortunes. all health failinSs, all social
disasters and all the combined troubles of
eighty years, If she shall live to be an octo-
genarian. II the world fails to appreciate
her, she says, "God loves me, the angels in
heaven are in sympathy with me. and can
afford to be patient until the day when the
imperial chariot shall wheel to my door to
take me up to my coronation II health
goes. she saws, "I can endure the present
distress. for am on the way to a climate
the first breath of which will make me nroof
against even the slightest discomfort" II
she be jostled with psrturbations of social
life, she can say. "Well, when l begin my
life among the thrones Of heaven and the
kings and queens unto God shall be my as
90 ~ ol,n I'M
who on earth forgot me when the Invitations
to that reception were made out" All right
with God, you are all right with everything.
Martin Luther, writing letter Of con-
dolence to one OF his friends who had lost
his daughter, began by saying. This is a
hard world for girls" 1t is for those who
are dependent upon their own wits, and the
whims OF the world, and the preferences OF
human favor, but those who take the
Eternal God for their portion not later than
fifteen years Of age, and that is ten years
, later than It ought to be, will find that
while Martin Luther's letter Of coincidence
respect to those who have the wisdom and
proEptitude and the earnsstness to get
right with God, declare that this is good
world for girls.
Advice the second: Make it matter Of
religion to take care Of your physical health.
do not wonder that the Greeks deifled
health and hailed Hygeia as a goddess.
rejoice that there have been 80 many modes
OF maintaining and restoring young wo-
manly health invented into our time. They
may have been known long time back. but
they have been popularized in our day
lawn tennis, croQuet and golf and the
bicycle. 1t always seemed strange and
inscrutable that our human race should be
so slow of locomotion, when creatures Of
less Importance have powers Of velocity,
wing Of bird or foot OF antelope, leaving
us far behind, and while It seems so i'm
portant that We be In many places in short
while we were weighed down with incapaci-
ties, and most men If they run mile are
exhausted or dead from the exhaustion. It
was left until the last decade Of the nine
teenth century to give the speed which we
SOC whirling through all our cities and along
the country roads, AMI with that speed
comes health. The woman of the next de-
cade will be healthier than at any time since
the world was created, while the invalidism
which has so often characterized woman
hood will pass over to manhood. which by
its posture on the wheel Is coming to curved
spine and cramped chest and a deformity for
which another fifty years will not have pow
er to make rescue. Young man, sit up
straight when you ride.
Darwin says the human race is descended
from the monkey, but the bicycle will turn
hundred thousand meu of the present gener-
alton in physical condition from man to
monkey. For good womanhood, thank
God that this mode of recreation has been
invented. Use it wisely, modestly, Chris
tianly. No good woman needs to be told
what attire Is proper and what behavior is
right. II anything be doubtful, reject 1t. A
hoydeniSb. boisterous. masculine woman Is
the detestation Of all, and every revolution
OF the wheel she rides Is toward depreciation
and downfall. Take care Of your health, o
woman: OF your nerves In not reading the
trash which makes up ninety-nine out OF 100
novels, or by eating too many cornucopias OF
confectionery! Take care OF your eyes by
not reading at hours when you ought to be
sleeping. Take care Of your ears by stop
ping them against the tides Of gossip that
surge through every neighborhood.
Health! Only those know its value who
have lost it. The earth Is giriled with pain,
and vast proportion of it is the price paid
for early recklessness. 7 close this thought
with the salutation in Macbeth:
Now good digestion walt on appetite
And health on both.
Advice the third: Appreciate your mother
while you have her. 1t Is the almost uni
versal testimony OF young women who have
lost mother that they did not reaizs what
she was to them until after her exit from
this life. Indeed mother Is in the apprecia-
tion OF many young lady a hindrance. The
maternal inspection is often considered an
obstacle. Mother has so many notions about
that which is proper and that which is i'm
proper. 1t is astounding how much more
many girls know at eighteen than their
mothers at forty-fve. With what al elabe-
rate argument, perhaps spiced with some
temper, the youngling tries to reverse the
opinion OF the oldling. The sprinkle of gray
on the maternal forehead is rather an indi-
cation to the recent graduate of tie female
seminary that the circumstances of to-day or
tonight are not fully appreciated.
What wise boarding school that would