The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1897-06-04


DIR. Talmage took for his sermon
the subject Contrary Winds, and the
text Matthew xiv, "a, THE winds was
contrary"
As l well know by experience on
Lake Galilee, one hour all may be calm
and the next hour the winds and waves
will be so boisterous that you are in
doubt as to whether you will land on
the shore or on the bottom of the deep.
| The disciples in the text were caught
in such a stress of weather and the
sails bent and the ship plunged, for
| 1.-The wind was contrary" There is in
one of the European straits a place
where, whichever way you sail, the
winds are opposing. There are peo-
pie who all their life seem sailing in
the teeth of the wind. All things
seem against them. 1t may be said of
their condition as of that of the dis
ciples in my text, 1.-The wind was con-
trary."
A great multitude of people are I'M
der seeming disadvantage, and l will
to-day, in the swarthiest Anglo-Saxon
that l can manage, treat their cases
not as nurse counts out eight or ten
drops of a prescription and stirs them
in half glass of water, but as when
man has by a mistake taken a large
amount of strychnine or paris green
or belladonna, and the patient is
walked rapidly round the room and
shaken up until he gets wide awake.
Many of you have taken a large
draught of the poison of discourage
ment. and l come out by the order of
the Divine Physician to rouse you out
of that lethargy.
| First, many people are under the dis
advantage of an unfortunate name
given them by parents who thought
they were doing good thing. Some
times at the baptism of children while
| have held up one hand in prayer l
have held up the other hand in amaze
ment that parents should have weight
ed the babe with such a dissonant and
repulsive nomenclature. l have not
so much wondered that some children
should cry out at the christening font
as that others with such smiling face
should take a title that will be the
burden of their lifetime. 1t is out
rageous to affiict children with an I'M
desirable name because it happened to
! be possessed by a parent or a rich I'M
Gle from whom favors are expected or
some prominent man of the day who
may end his life in disgrace. 1t is no
excuse, because they are Scripture
names, to call child Jehoiakim or
Tiglath- Pileser. l baptized one by
the name Bathsheba. Why, under all
the circumamb ient heaven, any parent
should want to give to child the
name of that loose creature of Scripture
times l can not imagine. l have often
felt at the baptismal altar, when
names were announced to me, like
saying, as did Rev. DR.. Richards,
of Morristown, n. j., when a child
was handed him for baptism and the
name given, Hadn't you better call it
something else?'
Impose not upon that babe name
suggestive of fippancy or meanness.
There is no excuse for such assault
and battery on the cradle when our
/ language is opulent with names music
al and suggestive in meaning, such as
John, meaning the gracious gift of
God" or Henry, meaning the chief
! of a household" or Alfred, meaning
good counselor" or Joshua, meaning
God, our salvation" or Ambrose,
meaning immortal" or Andrew,
meaning manly" or Esther, meaning
star" or Abigail, meaning my
fathers joy" or Anna, meaning
grace" or Victoria, meaning vic
tory" or Rosalie, meaning 'beauti-
full as a rose" or Margaret, meaning
"a pearl" or Ida, meaning ''godi Ike"
or Clara, meaning 'illustrious," or
Amelia, meaning busy" or Bertha,
meaning beautiful" and hundreds of
other names just as good that are a
help rather than hindrance.
But sometimes the great hindrance
in life is not in the given name, but
in the family name. While legisla-
lures are willing to lift such incubus,
there are families which keep
name which mortgages all the gen.
erations with a great Disadvantage
You say, 81 wonder if ne is any rela-
ton to "So-and-so," mentioning some
family cele brated for crime or decep-
ton. 1t is wonder to me that in all
such families some spirited young man
does not rise, saying to his brothers
and sisters, If you want to keep
this nuisance or standardization of
name, will keep it no longer than un-
til by quickest course of law can
slough off this gangrene." The city di-
rectory has hundreds of names the
mere pronunciation of which has been
lifelong obstacle. If you have start
ed life under a name which either
through ridiculous photography or
vicious suggestion has been an in
cum brance, resolve that the next gen.
Grafton shall not be so weighted 1t is
not demeaning to change name. Saul
of Tarsus became Paul the Apostle.
Hadassah, 'the myrtle" became
Esther, 1.-The star" We have in Amer
lea, and 1 suppose it is so in all coun-
tries, names which ought to be abol-
ished and can be and will be abolished
for the reason that they are libel and
a SANDER But if for any reason you
are submerged either by given name
or by a family name that you must