The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-11-19

Rev. DIR. Russell II. ConwelI. the not
| cd Baptist preacher of Philadelphia,
| was greeted by a large audience in
| the High school auditorium last even
| ing. His lecture was the second num-
| Der of the High school lecture and
| entertainment course.
Acres OF Diamonds. or Where TO
| Get Rich and Become Great" was Or.
| Converts topic. 1t was the second
| time that he was heard in this city
| on that subject but it lost nothing by
| repetition, judging from the large au-
| dience and the interest and fervOr with
| which the lecturer was greeted. His
| remarks seemed to be particularly ad-
| dressed to young people, and this clc-
! ment largely composed the assembly.
DIR. Conwcll aimed to discourage the
disposition on the part of certain class
| of people to decry against wealth, and
| showed how the failure to possess
wealth and greatness was the individ-
ual disability to grasp opportunities.
| His address was almost wholly COmpos-
ed of illustrative anecdotes and stories.
| a running fire of them. interposcd with
| trite comment. lie had his hearers
stirred with laughter during nearly all
Of the two hours that he spoke. The
close of his talk was marred by some
trouble with the electric lights which
kept the auditorium in darkness for
| nearly five minutes.
A SOURCE OF PROFIT.
In beginning. DR.. Conwel asked the
| audience to put aside the question of
entertainment. He hoped his lecture
hC &C e. .,
a medium of diversion. Otherwise he
would feel that he was not fulfilling
his mission and would go away dissat-
isficd. He told the story of Al IIabed,
the wealthy Arab farmer who sold his
land to go in search of diamonds about
which Buddhist priest had told him.
He came to want and distress after
wandering through "a part of Asia, the
Holy Lands and Europe in search of
the jewels. Meanwhile Al Habeds sue
Cessor found on his recently purchased
land acres of diamonds, the field from
which came the monster Koh-i-noor,
field more valuable now than even
the famous and comparatively recently
| opened Kimberly mines.
DR.. Conwell said that Al IIabcd was
once COntented because he was wealthy,
and wealthy because he was Contentcd,
but he finally became a pauper and a
suicide, because he had been discOn-
tented. A similar lesson was drawn
from the action of the man who, for
$S50.33 sold the oil land on which Titus
VILE now stands. and which is worth
millions of dollars.
a young professor of mines and min
eralogy sold his homestead in Massa-
Chusetts and went to Superior, Wis,
TO fill a position for a large mining
company. The man who bought the
farm discovered in one of its stone
walls a block of stone containing a
piece of silver eight inches square.
| and on that stone" DIR. COnWell said,
"the professor sat when he made the
bargain to sell the homestead. On
the farm was unearthed a native silver
mine of considerable value. The joke,
/ however, was spoiled, he said, by the
| professors comment from Superior TO
the effect that Dr. Conwell and other
| men had made just such mistakes.
RIGHT ALL AROUND.
"The righteous man shall gather
riches" says the Bible. But he must
| be right all around--not right in one
direction. DR.. Conwell did not believe
that more than one man in a thousand
got rich dishonesty. He said the one
exception had money which scared his
hand, burned his brain and shrivclled
his heart.
In this world a man gets just what
he is worth, with rare exceptions. If
a man has kept store in Scranton for
twenty years and has but 81 900 to show
for it, he ought to be driven from town
in return for being kept for twenty
years, and having gained so little prof
ii from il.
4 man should be put in prison who
places in his store window a sign read
| ing "These goods to be sold for less
than cost" If you are in business and
run it on the principle of don't care"
you won't succeed, and you don't de-
serve to succeed, said the speaker. A
| man who don't care is violating a
| business law as well as religious one.
Men don't get rich on capital 1t is
no help to borrow money or to inherit
it; rich mans son is to be pitied and
not congratulated. The father thinks
it a disgrace for him to work, and the
mother fears he will soil his lilly-white
hands. Proper sense and not common
sense is what is wanted.
\. n. Stewart and his dollar and a
half We're used as another of DR.. Con-
wells many illustrative stories. lie
urged his younger hearers to remem-
Der not to invest themselves in some
thing people didn't want or they would
find themselves on their own hands. ."
A BAWLING CRY-BABY.
The man who in excuse for his bad
fortune says he has no capital, is a