Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1896-12-10
THE DYING CENTURY,"
on TAIMAGE,s SUNDAY THEME
aa Discusses it at an Hour When GU
Rational Legislature is About TO "A
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E0t1OnalL eplSAdCu.C 10 AOo"
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TEXT: .sThus saith the Lord. Set thine
house in order. for thou shalt die and not
1--we. Kings Xxx, !.
No alarm bell do I ring in the utterance OF
this text. for in the healthy glow OF your
countenaEces l find cause only for cheerful
prophecy, but 1 shall apply the text as
spoken in the ear Of Hezekiah. down with a
bal carbunc,e. to the nineteenth century,
now closing. 1t will take only four more
long breaths. each year a breath. and the
century will expire. Ny theme is 1.-The Dy-
ing Century," | discuss it at an.hOur when our
; National Legislature is about to assemble.
some Of the members now here present and
Others soon to arrive from the North, South.
East and West. All the public conveyances
coming this way will bring important addi-
tions Of public men, 50 that when on Deem
Der Z, at high noon, the gavelS OF Senate and
House Of Representatives shall lit and fall
the destinies Of this Nation. and through 1t |
the destinies Of all Nations struggling TO DO
free. will be pnt on solemn an tremendous
trial. Amid such intensifyinS circumstances
i stand by the venerable century and address
it IN the WORKS Of my text, linus saith the
Lord, Set thine house in order, for thou
shat die and not live
Eternity is too big a subject for US to
understand. Some one has SAID 1t is a
: great clock that SAYS Tick" in one CEN
fury and Tack in another. But we can
better understand old time, who has many
children-and they are the centuries-and
many grandchildren-and they are the
years. With the diving nineteenth century
We shail. this morning have a plain talk,
telling him some Of the good things he has
done, and then telling him some Of the
things he ought to adjust before he quits
this sphere and passes out to join the
eternitieS. We generally wait until people
ara dead hef0rh wa say mnph IN DrA1CA OF
them. Funeral enlogium IS generally very
pathetic and eloquent with things that
ought TO have been said ynars before. We
put on cold tOmbstOnes what We ought to
hav, put in tao warm ears of the living.
We curse Charles Sumner while he is liv-
ing and rudgel him INFO spinal meninCitis
and wait nn'il, in the rooms where l haVa-
been living the last year. he puts his hand
on his heart and cries oh" and is goue,
and tnen we make long procession in his
honor. DR.. Sunderland. chaplain OF the
American Senae. accompanying; stoppin.
long enough t. allow the lea Senator to lie
in slate in Independence Hall, Philadelphia,
and hating at Boston StatehOu,e, where not
} long before damnatory Resolutions had been
passed in regard to him., ana then move en-,
amid the toiling bells and the boom Of min
ute guns. until We bury him at Mount Au-
burn ami cover him with flowers five feet
deep. What a pity he could not have been
awake at his own funeral to hear the graft
tu'lp " kIC ~ IL ~ pty thIl OlN
green leaf could not have been taken from
each one OF tho mortuary gar ands AMI pa
upon his table while he was We; alive at the
Arlington! What a pity that out Of the great
choirs who chanted at his obsequieS one lit
= tie girl dressed in ,Ehite might not have suns
to his living ear Il conplimentarys solo! Tht
postmorten expression contradicted the ante
mortem. The Nation cou, d not have spoSeI
the truth both times about Charles Sumner
Was it before or after his decease it lied?
No such injustice shall be inflicted upot
this venerable nineteenth century. Betor'
he ( ". re- t,ia his hearing some OF the
%: t9inss he has AGO npiis'ei. What
/. III, !: iii - 10 the worlds intelligence 81
has matt. look a. the Old schOolhOuSe
i with 1he sa3w sitting through the roof aud
tho filthy tin cup hanging over the waite
pail in the corner, and the little victims OF
the long b-nches without backs, and tn
S i~lliterate scboolmaster with his hickory CAD
and then -ook at our modern palaces O
Z free schools under men and women cul
- turod and refined to the highest excellence
- so that whereas in our childhood we had t.
bs whipped to go to school, children nov
cry when they cannot so. Thank you
venerable century; while at the same tim
we thank God! What an addition to tn
world 5 nventiOnS-wlthi our century tn
cotton gin. the agricultural machines fo
planning. rnaplng and thraShing: the tels
graph: tac phonograph, capable Of pre-
II serving Il human voice from generation t
generations; the typewriter, that rescues tn
~ world from worse and worse ppnmanshil
and steno@raphy, capturing from the lips
the swiftest speaker more than 200 words
* minutei Never was | SO amazed at til
rs facilities Of our time as when a few days az
NY ny [ teiegrapled from Washington to New Yor
- a long and elaborate manuscript. and a fe
minutes after, to show its accuracy, it W.
real to me through the long-distance tell
phone. and it was exact doWn to the la!
x sem colon and comma.
( What hath GOD wrought. Oh. I am
8 glad l was not born sooner For the tallo
3 candle the electric light. For the writhins
Q of the surgeons table God given anesthetic
2 and the whole physical organise explore
7 by sharpeSt instrument, aud giving not
( much pain as the taking of a splinter fro
4 unOer u childts finger nail. For the Iumbe
q B Ing stagecoach the limited express trail
70 Au1 there is the spectrOscOpe OF FraunhOfe
by which our modern scientist feelSthe pull
* of other worlds throbbinS with light, Je
$, I ner's arrest by inocuiation OF one of Il
% worlds worst plaques. DIT. Keelev's emanc
9 patton for inebr.ety. Intimation that Il
le Q virus Of maddened canine and cancer al
{. 2 consumption are yet 70 DO baked by macr
:. Z ticrnt medical treatment. The eyeSight
the doctor sharpenedtlll he can i0Ok thrOu.
5 thick flesh an i find the hiding pace OF II
9 bullet. What advancement IN geology,
Q the catcr1isIn OF the mountains; chenistr
{ or tie catechjSm Of the elements; astr0nom
or the r&tpchism Of the stars; eectrpioyv,
the catccl5sN OF toe lishtuinSS. What a
vanceUeut II music. Atthe beginning Oft
sent century. cgntlninS Itself. 50 far as t
GA great masses of the people wero &C
eerncl. to a few airs drawn out
accordion or ma~Sse VI on church b;
vloi, now ~"nchanttn-iy dropping frl
- thou-aud>c q tin-crS'ia Haudels '.Conoe
II In & Rat. or GuIlhaEt's "Son2tu III
MiEcr.' Ihaaks>to YOU, Q century, bef(
You die, for the aSylums OF mercy that V
have founded-the blind seeing with tn
-. fingers. the deaf hearing by the motion
your lips, the born imberile by skilllul obj
Ala iessoL lifted 10 to!erable lntelliCen
Thanks TO this century for theimproved 1
" ditiop OF most Nations. The reason that
poieon MAZE such a successful sweep acr
MS Europe At the beginning of the century '
that most of the thrones Of Europe were
-. cupiel either by imoeciles or profliga'
49, But most Of the thrones OF Europe are too
men occupied by kings and queens compete
France q republic, Switzerland a repub
" and about tifty free constitutions. I am tc
In Europe. Twenty million serfs of Rus
'@se, On this Western ~continef
cin call tue roll OF many repuolic>-M-xi
rade Guatemala. san Salvador. Costa Rica. Pa
cIeN' quay Uruguay, Honduras. New Grena
- Y pNp-Itnla tp.rY- T,,o1nr p1I.v vi, rh