The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1897-08-28
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Discourse to Young Men on the
Despotism of Debt.
Zines of Conduct which Lead to Certain
succcss-Dangers OF borrowing
How to Keep ON the Right
Side of tho Ledger.

There Is nOthlnB In the voice or man
ner of the butcher to indicate TO the OK
that there is death ahead. The OK
thinks he is going on to a rich pasture
field of clover where all day long he
will revel herbaceous luxuriance; but
after awhile the men and the boys
close in upon him with sticks and
stones and shouting, and drive him
through bars and into u doorway,
where he is fastened, and with we'll
aimed stroke the AK fells him; and 80
the anticipation of the redolent pas
ture field is completely disappointed.
So many n young man has been driven
on by temptation to what he thought
would be paradisiacal enjoyment; but
after awhile influences with darker hue
and swarthier arm close in upon him,
and he finds that instead of making an
excursion into a garden he has been
driven las an OK to the slaughte."
We are apt to blame young men for
being destroyed when we ought to
blame the influences that destroy them.
Society slaughters a great many young
men by the,behest: ''You must keep up
appearance; whatever be your salary,
you must dress as we'll as others, you
must give wine and brandy TO as many
friends, you must smoke as costly CT
gars, you must give as expensive enter
tainments, and you must live in as
fashionable boarding house. If you
haven't the money, borrow. If you
can't borrow, make a false entry, or
subtract here and there a bill from
bundle of bank bills; you will only
have to make the deception little
while; in few months, or in a year or
two, you can make all right. Nobody
will be hurt by it. nobody will be the
wiser. You yourself will not be dam
aged" BY that awful process n hun
bred thousand men have been slaugh-
tered for time and slaughtered for eter-
nifty.
Suppose you borrow. There is moth
ing wrong about borrowing money.
There is hardly a man who has not
sometimes borrowed money. Vast es-
tates have been built on borrowed
dollar. But there are two kinds of bor-
rowed money: Money borrowed for the
purpose of starting or keeping up
legitimate enterprise or expense, and
money borrowed to get that which you
can do without The first is right. the
other is wrong. II you have money
enough Of your own to buy coat,
however plain, and then you borrow
money for a dandy's outfit, you have
taken the first revolution of the wheel
down grade. Borrow for the necessi-
ties; that may be well. Borrow for
the Injuries; that tips your prospects
over in the wrong direction.
The Bible distinctly says the bor-
rover is servant of the lender. 1t is a
bad state of things when you have to
meeting some one you owe. If young
men knew what is the despotism Of
being in debt, more of them would
keep out of it. What did debt do for
Lord Bacon, with a mind tower
ing above the centuries? 1t in
duced him to take brides and con-
Wet himself as q criminal be-
fore all ages What did debt do for
Walter Scott? Broken hearted at Alb
botsford. Kept writing until his hand
gave out in paralysis to keep the
sheriff away from his pictures and
statuary. Better for him il he hao
minded the maxim which he had CHS
eled over the fireplace at ADbotsford
"Waste not, want not"
The trouble is, my friends, that peo
pie do not understand the ethics of go
ing in debt, and that If you purchase
goods with no expectation of paying
for them, or go into debts which you
can not meet, you steal just so much
money. II go into a grocer's store
and fbuy sugars and coffees and meats
with no capacity to pay for them, and
no intention Of paying for them, an
more dishonest than if go into the
store, and when the grocer's face i!
turned the other way q fill my pockets
with the articles of nerchandise anc
carry off haml In the one case
take the merchants time, and take
the time of his messenger to transfer
the goods to my house, while in the
other case take none of the time o.
the merchant, and wait upon myself
and transfer the goods without any
trouble to himl In other words, 9
sneak thief is not SO bad as man wht
contracts debts he never expects t
pay
Yet, in nil our cities there are fami
lies who move every May-day to ge
into proximity to other grocers ant
meat shops and apothecaries. They
owe everybody within half mile o
where they now live, and next Ma,
they will move into distant part o
the city, finding new lot of victims
Meanwhile YOU, the honest family IL
the new house, are bothered day b,
day by the knocking at the door Of
disappointed bakers and butchers, ant
dry goods dealers, and newspaper car
riers, and you are asked where you
predecessor is. You do not know
1t was arranged you should
not know. Meanwhile your prede
cessor has gone to some distant part o
the city, and the people who have any
thing to sell have sent their wagon
and stopped there to solicit the ''valu
able" custom of the new neighbor
and he, the new neighbor. with grea
complaceny and an air of affiuence
orders the finest steaks and the highest
priced sugars and the best of tn