Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-05-21
air into my face. You crowd me too hard.
1t Is getting dark In tho room"
Tdlanasa RaOafa Gin


It Is getting dark in tho room."
Idleness Begets Sin.
Again urge you to shun the comphn.
ionship of idIers. There are men hanging
around every store and office and shop
who have nothing to do, or act as if they
had not. They arc apt to come in when
the firm are away and wish to engage you
in conversation while you are engaged in
your regular employment. Politely sug-
gest to such persons that you have no time
TO give them during business hours.
Nothing would please them so well as to
have you renounce your occupation and
associate with them. Much of the time
they lounge around the doors Of engine
houses, or after the dining hour stand
upon the steps of fashionable hotel or
an elegant restaurant, wishing to give you
the idea that that Is the place where they
dine. But they do not dine there. They
are sinking down lower and lower day by
day. Neither by day nor by night have
anything TO do with idles.
Before you admit man into your &C.
quaintance ask him politely, "What do
you do for a livingP" If he says, Moth
ing; am gentleman, " look out for him.
He may have very soft hand and very
faultless apparel and have high sounding
family name, but his touch is death. Be-
fore you know it, you will In his presence
be ashamed of your work dress. Business
will become to you drudgery, and after
awhile you will lose your place, and after
ward your responsibility, and, last of ell,
your soul. Idleness is next door to vii
lainy. Thieves, gamblers, burglars shop
lifters and assassins are made from the
class who have nothing to do. When the
police go to hunt up and arrest culprit,
they seldom go to look in at the busy car
riage factory or behind the counter where
diligent clerks are employed, but they go
among the groups of idlers. The play Is
going on at the theater, when suddenly
there is scuffle In the top gallery. What
is it9 A policeman has come in, and,
leaning over, has tapped on the shoulder
of young man, saying, "I want you,
sir" Ho has not worked during the day.
but somehow has raked together shilling
or two to get into the top gallery. He is
an idler. The man on his right hand Is
an idler, and the man on his left hand Is
an idler.
During the past few years there has been
a great deal of dullness in business
Young men have complained that they
have little to do. If they have nothing
else to do, they can read and improve their
| minds and hearts. These times are not
always to continue. Business Is waking
| up, and the superior knowledge that in
| this interregnum Of work you may obtain
will be worth $4,000 of capital. The
| large fortunes of the next 20 years are
| having their foundations laid now by tho
young men who are giving themselves to
self improvement. went into a store in
| New York and saw five men, all Chris
tians, sitting round, saying that they had
| nothing to do. 1t Is an outrage for a
| Christian man to have nothing to do. Let
| him go out and visit the poor, or distribute
tracts, or go and read the Bible to the sick,
or take out his New Testament and be
making his eternal fortune. Let him go
into the back office and pray.
Shrink back from idleness in yourself
and in others If you would maintain a
| right position. Good old Ashbel Green at
more than 80 years of age was found busy
| writing, and some young man said to him:
"Why do you keep busy? 1t is time for
you to rest" He answered, 81 keep busy
| to keep out of mischief" No man is strong
enough to be idle.
Are you fond of picturesp II so, will
| show you one of the works of an old mas
ter. Here it is: II went by the field of the
slothful and by the vineyard of the man
void of understanding, and lol 1t was all
| grown over with thorns, and nettles had
covered the face thereof, and the stone
wall was broken down. Then I saw and
considered we'll. looked upon it and re-
ceived instruction. Yet a little sleep, a lit
| tie slumber, little folding of the hands to
sleep. So shall thy poverty come as one
that traveleth and thy want as an armed
man." don't know of another sentence in
the Bible more explosive than that. 1t first
| Kisses softly, like the fuse of a cannon, and
at last bursts like 81 FOUNDER. The old
proverb was right, "The devil tempts
most men, but idlers tempt the devil"
The Harvest of Eternity.
| A young man came to man of 90 years
of age and said to him, "How have YOU
made out to live so long and be SO weIlgf'
The old man took the youngster to an
orchard, and, pointing to some large trees
full of apples, said, II planted these trees
when was a boy, and do you wonder that
now am permitted to gather the fruit of
themP" We gather in old age what we
plant in our youth. Sow to the wind, and
we reap the whirlwind. Plant in early life
the right kind of Christian character,
and you will eat luscious fruit In old age
and gather these harvest apples in eternity.
| urge you to avoid the perpetual pleas
ure seeker. believe in recreation and
amusement. God would not have made
us with the capacity to laugh if he had not
intended us sometimes to indulge it, God
hath hung in sky and set in wave and
printed on grass many aroundelay, but he
who chooses pleasure seeking for his life
work does not understand for what God
made him. Our amusements are intended
to help US in some earnest mission. The
| thundercloud hath an edge exquisitely
| purpled, but with voice that jars the earth
it declares, "I go to water the green
felds.' The wild flowers under the fence
are gay, but they say ave stand here to
make room for the wheatfeld and to re-
fresh the husbandmen in their nooning. {"
| The stream sparkles and foams and frolics
and says: II go to baptize the moss. I
lave the spots on the trout. I slake the
thirst of the bird. turn the wheel of the
mill. rock in my crystal cradle muck
shaw and water lily" And so while the
world plays, it works. Look out for the
man who always plays and never works.
You will do well to avoid those whose
regular business it is to play ball, skate or
go a-boating. All these sports are grand
in their places. 1 never derived so much
advantage from any ministerial associa-
tion as from ministerial club that went
out to play ball every Saturday afternoon
in the outskirts of Philadelphia. These
recreations are grand to give us muscle
and spirits for our regular toll. believe
in muscular Christianity. A man is often
not SO near God with weak stomach as
when he has a strong digestion. But shun
| those who mako 1t their life occunation TO