San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-01-24
SUNDAY, JANUARY "a. 1897.
DANGER /! THIN ICE!!

skating parks in the east, those out
door skating ponds in the city parks
and suburbs, will readily recall what
the above caption means. They have
seen that sign stuck up in Il thousand
places, just as is found that other
sign, keep off the grass 1t Is
public warning that the ice is not
thick enough ut that place to bear
with safety skaters weight, ana
that it must not be skated too near
for fear of the consequences. Had
sign like this been stuck up in that
old quarry in st. Louis where those
four children We're drowned week
ago, by skating onto the ice that would
not bear their weight, there would
have been no accident such as follow
ed and no mourning households IOr
their dear ones dead.
This is but an illustration of the
careless manner in which danger
places are left exposed all over the
country. into which the unwarned
may skate at will, no friendly voice
or danger signal to stand between
them and sudden destruction. How
many little lives, full of the sweetness
of their early spring time, lives that
were the fragrance and color OF homes
In which their untimely taking off
has left all desolate, how many Sucp
have gone out from mothers kiss. full
of health and the expectation of pleas
ure, to return in one short hour their
sweetness crushed out under cruel
hoofs, or drowned out in cold waters.
How the light has gone out of those
homes to give place to the darkness
and silence that kills. the darkness of
the closed room where the coffin lies.
and the silence of voices that are
heard no more forever.
How many of the Light cOngrega-
ton have had experiences of this kind.
or mercifully spared the agony them
selves. have seen the tightneSS draw
about the heartStrings of others when
the hope of their homes was swept
away with the breath of destruction.
The world is full of the wrecks of
lives, whose idols thus broken have
never again been able to substitute
any other for the ruthlesSly shatter-
ed one. What a world of cruelty hid
den in the paltry fate that so changes
the pleasure of all the afterward Of
life and makes of existence a living
pain. What mockery of security to
realize that at every turn of the road,
death waits upon life to choke out its
breath with the fingers of cruelty, or
chance accident, or carelessness.
These things are so common that we
cease to feel their weight, until the
arrow strikes home and our loved ones
are stricken. Then the wall rises from
orr hearts and we curse the fate that
did not permit us to see far enough
ahead to ward off the danger, or 10
warn against it. So the destruction
goes on, and homes are orphaned, and
hearths are made desOlate, and hearts
are widowed, and joy is killed. and
earth turned into Il tomb, because we
do not see the turn in the road. be
yond which danger is lurking on the
sly to devour the innocent. Why it is
so is beyond our ken. Why no voice
less. viewless spirit is commissioned
i'm the infinite wisdom of which we
speak so much and know so little. tC
warn us away from the thin ice upOr
which we laughingly skate TO Ou1
death. is one OF those things neither
you nor. / may know.
And vet. for the one little human
blossom thus blighted, for the ont
little child thus ruthlessly snatcheC
from home and love, for the one fam
ily circle thus broken, for the one
thus made desolate, you will
find~a. dozen in which the hope of thu
heart has been killed while the life o.
the body has not been endangered
For the one pond upon which the lit
tie ones skate unknowingly to thei
deaths, you will find score of thil
ice places upon which the reputation
of tender women and strong men ar
as cruelty done to death. The thil
ice of the ponds in well regulated
parks and pleasure grounds is pla
carded with the warning Danger
Thin Icer' But who warns against tn
thin ice through which characte
breaks to its destruction, or through
which innocent confidence is Wicked.
iured to it's cold and clammy rest il
the ooZe of disgrace.
To set up such danger signals, her
and there, has been the object of tn
Light preacher in these Sunday dis
courses. The evidence accumulate
that the warning has not been in val
in all cases, and that despite the cav
ilings of foolish gOssippers these dan
ger signals have been read and heed
ed in numerous instances.
Thus it is to you again this morn
ing that the word of Ammunition
comes. Danger! Thin ice! While tn
~ world is full of brightness and beaut
and the sun shines and the crisp frOS
ty air inspires to freeness Of breat
and to fUllness Of life. behold the ska
ers as they take their skates and sa
ly out with ringing laughter and n
thought of danger on the ponds of III
man pleasure and business. Not on
of all these but has it's danger hole
its thin ice spots. where the weigl
OF your body and the sharp edge I
your skate will cut through and drC