Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1897-11-16

| would not live Away.
u one be pleasantly circumstance
ne never wants to go. William Cutler
Bryant, the great poet, at So years O
age, standing in my house in fiesta
group, reading "Thanatopsis' withou
spectacles, was just as anxious to live
as when at is years of age he wrote
that immortal threnody. Cato feared
at so years of age that he would moi
live to learn Greek. Monaldesco, al
Ito years, writing the history of his
time. feared collapse. Theophras
tus. writing a book at 80 years
OF age, was anxious to live to com.
plete it. Thurlow Weed. at about sc
years OF age, found life as great a de-
STABILITY as when he snuffed out his
first politician. Albert Barnes, so well
prepared for the next world at 70, said
he would rather stay here So it is all
the way down. | suppose that the last
time that Methuselah was out of doors
in storm he was afraid of getting his
feet wet, lest it shorten his days. In
deed, / some time ago preached a SER
mon on the blessings of longevity, but
/ now propose to preach to you about
the blessings of an abbreviated earth
ly existence. Ii were an Agnostic |
would say man is blessed in proper
ton to the number Of years he can
stay on terra firma, because after that
he falls off the docks, and if he is ever
picked out Of the depths it is only to
be set up in some morgue of the uni
verse to see il anybody will claim him.
II thought God made man only to last
forty or fifty or hundred years, and
then he was to so into humiliation, /
would say his chief business ought to
be to keep alive, and even in good
weather TO be very cautious. and to
carry an umbrella and take overshoes.
and life preservers, and bronze armor.
and weapons Of defense, lest he fall off
into nothingness and obllteration.
But, my friends, you are not Ag-
nostics. You believe in immortality
and the eternal residence of the right
eous in heaven, and. therefore. / first
remark that an abbreviated earthly
existence is TO be desired, and is a
blessing, because ii makes ones life
work very compact.
Some men go to business at seven
o'clock in the morning and return at
seven in the evening. Others go at
eight o'clock and return at twelve
Others go at ten and return at four.
! have friends who are ten hours a day
in business; others who are FIVE hours:
others who are one hour. They all do
their work well; they do their entire
work and then they return. Which
position do you think the most desir-
able? You say. other things being
equal, the man who is the shortest
time detained in business, and who
can return home the quickest, is the
most blessed.
Now, my friends, why not carry that
good sense into the subject of trans.
ference from this world? If a person
die in childhood, he gets through his
work at nine o'clock in the morning.
II he die at forty-five years of age. he
gets through his work at twelve
o'clock. noon. If he die at seventy
years OF age, he gets through his work
at five o'clock in the afternoon. II he
die at ninety, he has to toll all the way
On up to eleven O'Clock at night. The
sooner we get through our work the
better. The harvest all in barrack or
barn, the farmer does not sit down in
The stubble-field, but. shouldering his
scythe, and taking his pitcher from
Under the tree, he makes a straight
line for the old homestead. All we
want TO be anxious about is to get our
work done, and we'll done; and the |
quicker the better.
Again: There is blessing in an az !
breviated earthly existence in the fact
that moral disaster might come upon |
the man If he tarried longer. Recent
Iy, a man who had been prominent in |
churches. and who had been admired |
for his generosity and kindness every
where, for forgery was sent to state |
prison Tor Il years. Twenty years ago |
there was no more probability OF that |
mans committing a commercial dis |
honesty than that you will commit |
dishonesty The number |
Of men who fall into ruin between
fifty and seventy years of age is SIM
ply appalling. If they had died thirty |
years before. it would have been bet
Ter for them and better for their fam
lies. The shorter the voyage, the less |
chance for cyclone.
There is a wrong theory abroad, that !
Il ones youth be right, his old age |
will be right. You might as well say |
here is nothing wanting for a ships |
safety except to get it fully launched |
On the Atlantic Ocean. | have some
lines asked those who were school
naScs or college-mates of some great |
iefaulter What kind of boy was
le?" What kind of young man
vas he?" and they have said, why, |
lie was a splendid fellow: | had no
dea he could ever go into such an |
outrage The fact is, the great temp
alton Of life sometimes comes far on
II mid-life, or in old age.
The first time | crossed the Atlantic
ocean il was as smooth as mill
ond, and | thought the sea captains
nd the voyagers had slandered the
Id ocean, and l wrote home an essay