The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-25
SOME SINS OF THE TONGUE.
On. TALMAGE POINTED THEM OFT
IN HIS SERMON YESTERDAY.

Who Have Maintained Their In
tegrtty Amid Temptation-OtheI
Features OF This interesting sub
ject.
Washington, Oct. 2.-Dr. Talmage in
this discourse gives a vivid classification
of the vices Of speech. and pleads for hon.
es;y in all that is said and done. His text
is: Acts >. 10: A certain man named
AnaDias. with Sapphira his wife, sold a
possession, etc.
A well matched pair, alike in ambition
and In falsehood, Ananias and sapphira.
They wanted a reputation for great bene-
ncence. and they sold all their property,
pretending TO put the entire proceeds in
the charity fund. while they put much OF
it in their own pocket. There was no ne
cessity that they give all their property
away. but they wanted the reputation OF
so doing. Ananias first lied about it and
dropped down dead. Then Sapphire lied
about It, and she dropped down dead.
The two fatalities warning TO all ages
of the danger of sacrificing the truth.
There are thousands of ways Of telling
q lie. A mans whole life may be false
hood and vet never with his lips may he
falsify once There is a way Of utterRg
falsehood by look, by manner, as well as
by liz. There are persons who are guilty
of dishonesty Of speech and then after
ward say may be" calling it a white
lie. when no lie is that color. The whit
est lie ever told was as black as perdition.
There are those so given to dishonesty of
speech that they do not know when they
are living. With some it is an acquired
sin. and with others it is a natural infirm-
ity. There are those whom you Will rec
ognize as born liars. Their whole life,
from cradle TO grave. is filed up with vice
of speech. Misrepresentation and pre-
varication are as natural to them as the
infantile diseases. and are a sort of moral
Group or spiritual scarlatina. Then there
are those who in after life have opportuni-
ties of developing this evil, and they go
from deception TO deception, and from
class TO class, until they are regularly
graduated liars. At times the air in our
cities is filed with falsehood, and lies
cluster around the mechanics hammer
blossom on the merchants yardstick, and
sometimes sit in the door of churches.
They are called by some fabrication, and
they are called by some, fiction. You
might call them subterfuge or deceit, or
romance. or fable, or misrepresentation,
or delusion; but as I know nothing to be
gained b. covering up a God-defying sin
with a photographer blanket, 1 shall
call them in plainest vernacuIar, lies They
NAV be divided into agricultural, CONNER
clal. mechanical, social and ecclesiastical.
First Of all I speak of agricultural
IA schools. There is something in the
presence Of natural objects that has a
tendency to make one pure. The trees
never issue false stock. The wheat fields
are always honest Rye and oats never
move out in the night, not paying for the
place they occupy. Cornshocks never
make false assignment Mountain brooks
are always current. The gold of the
wheat fields Is never counterfeit But
while the tendency of agricultural life is
TO make one honest, honesty is not the
Characteristic of all who come to the city
markets from the country districts. You
hear the creaking of the dishonest faFm-
wagon in almost every street of our great
ciJies-a farm wagon in which there Is not
one honest spoke, or one truthful rivet,
from tongue to tail-board. Again and
again has domestic economy in our great
cities foundered on the farmers firkin.
When New York and Washington sit
down and weep over their sins, let West
chester county and the neighborhoods
around this capital sit down and weep
over theirs.
The tendency in all rural districts is tc
suppose that sins and transgressions clus-
ter in our great cities; but citizens and
merchants long ago learned that it is not
safe to calculate from the character OF
the apples on the top Of the farmers bar
rel what is the character of the apples all
the way down toward the bottom Many
of our citizens and merchants have learn
ed that It is always safe to see the far
mer measure the barrel of beets. Min
cans are not always honest There are
those, who in country life. seem TO think
they have a right to overreach grain deal
ers and merchants of all styles. They think
1t is more honorable to raise corn than tC
deal in corn. The producer sometimes
practically says to the merchant: you
get your money easily, anyhow" Does he
get it easily? While the farmer sleeps
and he may go to sleep. conscious Of the
fact that his corn and rye are all the time
progressing and adding to his fortune OF
his livelihood, the merchant tries to sleep
while conscious of the fact that at that
moment the ship may be driving on the
rock, or a wave sweeping over the hurri
cane-deck, spelling his goods, or the spec
ulators may be plotting a monetary revo
luton, or the burglars may be at thai
moment at his money safe, or the fire
may have kindled on the very block where
his store stands.
Easy, is it? Let those who get theil
living in the quiet farm and barn take th'
place of one of our city merchants and SEE
whether it Is so easy. 1t is hard enough
to have the hands blistered with outdoor
work, but it is harder with mental anxi
cites TO have the brain consumed. Goo
help the merchants. And do not let thos,
who live in country life come to the con
clusion that all the dishonesties belong t
city life.
I pass on to consider commercial lies
There are those who apologize for devia
tons from the right and for practical de
ception by saying it is commercial Gus
tom. In other words lie by multiplied
ton becomes a virtue. There are larg
fortunes gathered in which there is no
one drop of the sweat of unrequited toll
and not one spark of bad temper flashe,
from the bronze bracket, and there is no
one drop Of needlewoman' hearts bloo(
on the crimson plush; while there arr
other fortunes about which it may be sale
that on every door-knob and on every