Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1898-01-19
'TALMAGE'S SERMON.
GOOD AND BAD CLUB
HOUSES" THE TEXT.
From the Text: II. Samuel, II. IA, as
Follows: Let the Young Men Now
Arise and Play Before Us"-Reign of
Imperial Debauchery Is Here.

"ulScOuTSe OF LII. lalmdSe Will De Hclp-
ful to those who want to find places
with healthful and improving sur
roundings, and to avoid places dele
ferrous. His text is ii. Sam. 2: ID: Let
the young men now arise and play be-
fore us.
At this season of the year the club
houses of our towns and cities are in
full play. l have found out that there
Is legitimate and an illegitimate use
of the clubhouse. In the one case 1t
may become healthful recreation,
like the contest of the twenty-four men
in the text when they began their play;
In the other case it becomes the mas
sacre OF body mind and soul, as in the
case OF these contestants of the text
when they had gone too far with their
sSsrt. All intelligent ages have had
their gatherings for political, social,
artistic, literary purposes gatherings
characterized by the blunt old Anglo
Saxon designation of CLUB"
If you have read history you know
that there was Kings Head Club, a
Ben Johnson Club, a Brothers Club,
to which Swift and Bolingbroke be-
longed; a Literary Club, which Burke
and Goldsmith and Johnson and Bos-
well made immortal; a Jacobin Club,
Benjamin Franklin Junto Club. Some
of these to indicate justice, some to
favor the arts, some to promote good
manners, some to despoil the habits,
some to destroy the soul. If one Will
write an honest history of the clubs of
England, Ireland, Scotland, France
and the United States for the last one
hundred years, he will write the his
tory of the world. The club was an
institution born on English soil, but it
phere. Who shall tell how many be-
long to that kind of club where men
put purses together and open house,
apportioning the expense of caterer
and servants and room, and having
sort Of domestic Establishments style
of clubhouse which in my opinion is
far better than the ordinary hotel or
clearinghouse. But my object now
Is to speak of club-houses of a differ
ent sort, such as the Cosmos, or Chevy
Chase, or Lincoln Clubs Of this Capital,
or the Union Leagues" of many cities,
the United Service Club of London, the
Lotos of New York, where journalists,
dramatists, sculptors, painters and ar
lists, from all branches, gather togeth-
err to discuss newspapers, theaters and
elaborate art; like the Americas,
which camps out in summer time.
dimpling the pool with its hook and
arousing the forest with its stag hunt;
like the Century Club, which has its
large group of venerable lawyers and
poets; like the Army and Navy Club,
where those who engaged in war-like
service once on the land or the sea
now come together to talk over the
days of carnage; like the New York
Yacht Club, with its floating palaces of
beauty upholstered with velvet and
lpaneled with ebony, having all the ad-
vantages of electric bell, and of gas
light, and of kings pantry, one pleas
ure boat costing three thousand, an
other fifteen thousand, another thirty
thousand, another sixty-five thousand
dollars, the fleet of pleasure boats be-
longing to the club having cost over
two pulion dollars; like the American
Jockey Club to which belong men who
have a passionate fondness for horses,
fine horses, as had Job when, in the
Scriptures, he gives us a sketch of that
king Of beasts, the arch of its neck, the
nervousness of it's foot, the majesty of
Its gait, the whirlwind of its power,
crying out: Hast thou clothed his
neck with thunder? The glory of his
nostrils is terrible; he paweth in the
valley and rejoiceth in his strength;
he saith among the trumpets ha! ha!
and he smelleth the battle afar off, the
thunder of the captains, and the shout
ing" like the Travellers Club, the
Blossom Club, the Palette Club, the
Commercial Club, the Liberal Club, the
Stable Gang Club, the Amateur Boat
Club, the gambling clubs, the wine
clubs, the clubs Of all sizes, the clubs
of all morals, clubs as good as can be,
and clubs as bad as bad can be, clubs
innumerable. During the day they are
comparatively lazy places. Here and
there an aged man reading a newspa-
per, or an employe busting sofa, or
clerk writing up the accounts; but
when the curtain of the night falls on
the natural day, when the curtain of
the clubhouse hoists for the entertain
ment. Let us hasten up, now, the mar
BILE stairs. What an imperial hallway,
See! here are parlors on the side, with
the upholstery Of the Kremlin and the
Tuilleries; and here are dining halls
chat challenge you to mention any lux
Try that they cannot afford; and here
are galleries with sculpture, and paint
ings, and Autographs. and drawings
from the best Of artists, Cropsey, and
Bierstadt, and Church, and Hart, and
Gifford-pictures for every mood,
whether you are impassioned or plac-
i'd: shipwreck. or sunlight over the
sea; Sheridan's Ride, or the MONDAY
party Of the farmers under the trees
foaming deer pursued by the hounds
In the Adirondacks, or the sheep on
the lawn. On this side there are read
ing rooms where you find all newspa-
pers and magazines. On that side there