The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1896-06-19

not complimentary W Humou uotuhC
that most men, as soon rs they get
great power. become overbearinR.
The more power men have the better,
II their power be used for good. The
less power men have the better, IL they
use il for evil
Birds circle round and round and
round before they swoop upon that
which they are aiming for. And il my
discourse so far has been swinging
round and round, this moment it drops
straight down on your heart and asks
the questions: Is your life benedic-
ton 10 others, or an enlightenment, a
blessing or a curse, a balsam or
wormwood?
Some of you, / know, are morning
stars. and you are making the dawn
ing life of your children bright with
gracious influences, and you are beam
ing upon all the opening enterprises OF
philau thropic and Cnristian endeavor,
and you are heralds of that day of gos-
pelization which will yet q BOD all the
mountains and valleys of our sim
cursed earth. Hail, morning star!
Keep on shining with encouragement
and Christian hopel
Some of you are evening stars, and
you are cheering the last days of old
people; and though cloud sometimes
comes over you through the querulous-
ness or unreasonal leness of your old
father and mother, it is only for
moment, and the star soon comes out
clear again and is seen from all the
balconies of the neighborhood. The
old people will forgive your occasional
short comings, for they themselves
several times lost their patience when
you were young, and slapped you when
you did not deserve it. Hail, evening
start Hang on the darkening sky your
diamond coronet
But are any of you the star Worm
woodP d. you scold and growl from
the thrones paternal or maternal?
Are your children everlastingly pecked
at? Are you always crying "Hush!'
to the merry voices and swift feet, and
their laughter which occasionally
trickles through at wrong times, and
it is suppressed by them until
they can hold it no longer, and
all the barriers burst into un
limited guffaw and exclamation,
as in high weather the water has
trickled through a slight opening in
the milldam, but afterward makes
wider and wider breach until it car
ries all before it with irresistible
freshet? Do not be too much offended
at the noise your children now make.
1t will be still enough when one of
them is dead.
What is your influence upon the
neighborhood, the town or the city OF
your residence? l will suppose that
you are a star of wit. What kind OF
rays do you shoot forth? Do you use
that splendid faculty to irradiate the
world or to rankle it? | bless all the
apostolic college of humorists. The
man that makes me laugh is my
benefactor l do not thank anybody
to make me cry. / can do that with
out any assistance. We all cry enough,
; and have enough to cry about. Goo
bless all the skillful punsters and rep
, arteeists, all propounders of ingenious
! conundrums, all those who mirthfully
surprise US with unusual juxtaposi'
ton of words. Thomas Hood and
Charles Lamb and Sidney Smith had q
divine mission, and so had their sue
cessors in these times. They stir into
acid beverage of life the saccharine.
They make the cup of earthly exist
ence, which is sometimes stale, eff r.
vesce and bubble. They placate ami
( mosities. They foster longevity. They
slav follies and absurdities which all
. the sermons of all the pulpits cannot
reach.
But what use are you making of your
, wit? Is it besmirched with profanity
and uncleanness? Do you employ il
, in amusement at physical defects for
which the victims are not responsible:
Are your powers of mimicry used tc
put religion in contempt? Is it bunch
of nettlesome invective? Is it a bolt
of unjust scorn? Then you are the
star Norwood. Yours is the fun Of
a rattlesnake trying how we'll it can
sting. It is the fun of a hawk trying
. how quickly it can strike out the eye
of dove.
} But / will change this and suppose
you are star of Worldly Prosperity.
: Then you have large opportunity.
You can encourage that artist by buy
ing his picture. You can improve the
fields, the stables, the highway, by in
Producing higher style Of fowl. and
horse, and COW. and sheep. You car
bless the world with genealogical
achievement in the orchards. You
can advance arborculture and arrest
this beautiful iconoclasm of the Ameri-
can forests. You can put a piece o.
sculpture into the niche of that public
academy. You can endow a college.
You can stocking a thousand bare feet
from the winter frost. You can build
. church. You can put a missionary
of Christ on that foreign shore. You
can help ransom a world
But suppose you grind the face OF
the poor. Suppose when a mans
wages are due you make him wait for
them because he cannot help himself.
Suppose that, because his family is
sick and he has had extra expenses. he