The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1896-12-11

I'd like to catch any Teller sneaking on
q sick boy, would" The reporter gave
him a 25 cent piece, and said. "You
keep ten cents for yourself, and give
the rest to Jim" Cant do it, sir; it's
his customer. Here, jim" Such big
souls as that strew all the lower depths
of the cities, and get them converted
to God, this would be the last full CEN
fury of the worlds sin, and but little
work of evangelizatiOn would be left
for the next century. Before this CEN
tury expires let there be a com bined
effort to save the great cities of Amer
lea and Great Britain, and of all Chris
tendon. What an awful thing it would
be for you, o dying century, to be-
queath to the coming century, as
yet innocent and unscarred with
a single sin or burdened with single
sorrow, the blasphemy, the lawless-
ness. the atheism. the profigacy. and
the woes of great cities still unevan-
gelized. What we ought to see, o dy-
| ing century! is revival of religion
that would wrap the continents in con-
| fagrations of religious awakening, and
| that would make legislation. and mer-
chandise, and all styles of worldly
| business wait awhile at the telegraph
offices and the telephone offices because
they are occupied with telling the story
of cities and nations born in a day.
Nearly all the centuries closed with
something tremendous. Why may
not this century close in the salvation
of America? / do not know whether
our theological friends who have stud
| led the subject more than l have are
right or wrong when they say Christ
will come in person to set up His king
dom in this world; but though we
would be overwhelmed with our un-
wOrthiness, 1 would like to see Christ de-
scend from Heaven in one of the clouds
this morning, and planting his feet on
the earth, which he came centuries ago
to save, declare his reign of love, and
mercy, and salvation on earth begun.
And what more appropriate place-I
say it reverentia1ly-for such divine
landing than the capital of continent
never cursed by the tyrannies and SUI
perstitioDs of the old world?
Tell us, o nineteenth century, be-
fore you go, in a score of sentences,
some of the things you have heard and
| seen. The veteran turns upon us and
says: 81 saw Thomas Jefferson riding
in unattended from Monticello, only a
few steps from where you stand, dis
mount from his horse and hitch the
bride to post, and on yonder hill
take oath of the presidential office. l
saw yOnder capitol ablaze with wars
incendiarism. / saw the puff of the
first steam engine in America. heard
the thunders of Waterloo, of SebastO-
pol, and Sedan, and Gettysburg. was
present at all the coronations of the
kings and queens, and emperOrs and
| expresses now in the worlds palaces. l
have seen two pillows roll across this
continent and from ocean to ocean, "a bill
low of revival Joy in 1857, and billow
of blood in 1864. / have seen four gem
erations of the human race march
| across this world and disappear. | saw
their cradles rocked and their graves
dug. | have heard the wedding bells
and the death knells for nearly 100
years. l have clapped my hands for
millions of joys and wrung them in
millions of agOnies. saw Macready and
u.
son pray. | heard the first chime of
LongfellOw's rhythms, and before any
one else saw them read the first line
of BancrOft's history. and the first
verse of Bryant's 'ThanatOpsis, and
the first word of Victor Hugo's
almost supernatural romance.
heard the music of all the grand
| marches and the lament of all the
requiems that for nigh ten decades
made the cathedral windows shake.
have seen more moral and spiritual
victories than all my predecessors put
together. For all you who hear or
read this valedictOry l have kindled all
the domestic iresides by which you
ever sat, and reused all the halloos and
roundelays and merriments you have
ever heard, and unrolled all the pic
tured sunsets and starry banners of
the midnight heavens that you ever
gazed at.
But ere go, take this admonition
and benediction of a dying century:
The longest life, like mine, must close.
Opportunities gone never come back,
as l could prove from nigh 100 years
of observation. The eternity that will
soon take me will soon take you. The
wicked live not out half their days, as
have seen in 10000 instances. The
only influence for making the world
happy is an influence that l, the 10Th
century, inherited from the first CEN
fury of the Christian era-the Christ
of all the centuries. Be not de-
ceived by the fact that 1 have
lived so long, for a century
is a large wheel that turns
100 smaller wheels. which are
the years; and each one of those years
turns 365 smaller wheels, which are
the days; and each one of the 365 days
turns "a smaller wheels, which are the
hours; and each one of those "a hours
turns 60 smaller wheels. which are the
minutes; and those 90 minutes turn
still smaller wheels, which are the sec
onds And all of this vast machinery
is in perpetual motion, and pushes
us on and on toward the great