The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1898-01-20
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
GOOD AND BAD CLUB
HOUSES" THE TEXT.
From the Text: III. Samuel, III. ia, as
Follows: Let the Young Men Now
Arise anu Play Before Us"-Reign of
Imperial Debauchery Is Here.

Washington, January g, 1S9S.-This
discourse OF DR.. Talmage will be help
1ul 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. 1 have found out that there
is a legitimate and an illegitimate use
or the clubhouse. In the one case it
may Hacome a healthful recreation,
like TIE 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
sport. All intelligent ages have had
their gatherings for political, social,
artistic, literary purposes-gatherings
characterized by the blunt old Anglo
Saxon designation of "club"
1t you have read history you know
Ben Johnson Club, a Brothers Club,
to which Swift and Bolingbroke be-
longed; a, Literary Club, which Burke
and Goldsmith and Johnson and Bos-
we'll made immortal; a Jacobin Club,
Benjamin Franklin Junto Club. Some
OF these to indicate justice, some to
favor the arts, some to promote good
IN Ho1~ ire
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
has thrived we'll in American atmos-
pierre 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 a
sort OF domestic establishment-a style
OF clubhouse which in my opinion is
far better than the ordinary hotel or
clearinghouse. But my object now
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-
er to discuss newspapers, theaters and
q 10 tn
which camps out in summer time,
dimpling the pool with it's hook and
arousing the forest with it's stag hunt;
like the Century Club, which has it's
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 it's floating palaces of
beauty upholstered with velvet and
paneled 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-fve thousand
dollars, the fleet of pleasure boats be-
longing to the club having cost over
two million dollars; like the American
Jockey Club to which belong men who
have 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 it's neck, the
nervousness of it's foot, the majesty of
it's gait, the whirlwind of it's 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 newspa-
per- or an employe busting a 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
that challenge you to mention any lux.
ury that they cannot afford; and here
are galleries with sculpture, and paint.
ings, and Autographs, and drawings
from the best of artists, Cropsey, an6
Bierstadt, and Church, and Hart, anl
Gifford-pictures for every mood
whether you are impassioned O. plac
Id; shipwreck. or sunlight over the
sea; Sheridans Ride, or the MONDAY
party of the farmers under the trees
foaming deer pursued by the hound!
In the Adirondacks, or the sheep OF
the lawn. On this side there are read
ing rooms where you find all newspa
DerS and maoazinos On that eide thor