St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-09-10


wish. / wish that there might come
an o,d-fashioned revival Of religion,
that it might break out in congress
an the legislatures, and bring many
of the leading republicans and demo-
Gratis down on the anxious seat Of re-
pentance. That day will come, or
something better, for the Bible de-
clares that kings and queens shall be-
come nursing fathers and mothers to
the charch. and if the greater in
authority, then certainly the less
My charge also to parents is. remem-
ber that this evil OF bribery often be-
gins in the home circle, and in the
nursery. Do not bribe your children.
Teach them to do that which is right,
and not because Of the ten cents or the
orange which you will give them.
There is great difference between re-
warding virtue and ma'sing the profits
thereof the impelling move That
man who is honest merely because HON
esty is the best policy" is already .
moral bankrupt.
My charge is to you, in all DEPART
ments of life, steer clear of bribery all
of you. Every man and woman ut
some time will be tempted to do wrong
for compensation. The bribe may not
be offered in money. 1t may be offered
in social position. Let US remember
that there is u day coming when the
most secret transactions of private life,
and Of public life. will come up for
public apprehension.
We can not bribe death, we can not
bribc sickness. we can not bribe the
grave, we can not bribc the judgments
Of that God who thunders against this
sin. 'sFie!- said Cardinal Beaufort,
..fie!" Can't death be bribed? Is u0ney
nothing? Must die, and so rich? Ii
the owning of the whole realm would
save me, could get it by policy or by
purchase-by money" No, death
would not be bribed then; he will not
be bribed now Men Of the world often
regret that they have to leave their
money here when they go away from
the world. You can tell from what
they say in their last hours that one
of their chief sorrows is that they
have to leave their money. l break
that delusion. 1 tell that bribetaker
that he will take his money with him.
God will wrap it up in your
shroud, or put it in the palm of your
hand in resurrection, and there it viii
lie, not the cool, bright. shining gold
as it was on the day when you sold
your vote and your moral principle,
but there it will lie, y hot metal, burn
ing and consuming your hand forever.
Or, if there be enough Of it for chain,
then it will fall over the wrist, clank-
ing the letters Of an eternal captivity.
The bribe is an everlasting possession.
You take it for time, you take it for
eternity. Some day in the next world,
when you are longing for sympathy,
you will feel on your check kiss.
Looking up, you will find it to bc Ju-
das, who took thirty pieces of silver as
q bribe, and finished the bargain by
putting an infamous kiss ON the pure
cheek of his Divine Master.
Another wrong use of money is seen
in the abuse of trust funds. Nearly
every man during the course of his
life, on . larger or smaller scale, has
the property of others committed to
his keeping. He is, so far, . safety de-
posit, he is IN administrator, and holds
in his hand the interest of the family
of deceased friend. Or he is an at
torney, and through his custody goes
the payment from door to creditor. or
he is the collector for . business house,
which compensates him for the re-
sponsibility; or he il treasurer for =
charitable institution, and he holds
aims contributed for the suffering; or
he is m official OF the city or the state
or the nation, and taxes and subsidies
and salaries and supplies are in his
keeping.
1t 10 rs solemn trust as God can
make it. It Is concentrated and multi
piled condolences On that man de-
pends the support OF q bereft house
hold. or the morals OF dependents, or
the right movement Of = thousand
wheels of social mechanism A man
may do what he will with his own, but
he who abuses trust funds, in that one
act commits theft, falsehood, perjury,
and becomes, in all the intensity OF
the world. . miscreant- How many
widows and orphans there are with
nothing between them and starvation,
but sewing machine, or held up out
of the vortex of destruction simply by
the thread Of needle, red with their
own hearts blood, who . little while
ago had, by father and husband. left
them q competencyi What il the
matter? The administrators or the
executors have sacrificed it-running
risks with it that they would not have
dared to encounter in their own private
affairs.
How often it is that . man will earn
. livelihood by the sweat OF his brow.
and then die, and within o few months
all the estate goes into the stock-gam-
bling rapids OF Wall street! How often
it is that yoA have known the man to
whom trust funds were committed,
taking them out of the savings bank
and from trust companies and admin
istrators, turning old homesteads into
hard cash, aud then putting the entire
estate into the vortex OF specula-
ton. Embezzlement is IN easy
word to pronounce, but it has
10000 ramifcations. There is not
q city that has not suffered
from the abuse Of trust funds Where
is the courthouse, or the city hall. or
the Jail. or the post Office, or the hos
pital, that in the building OF it has not
had q political job? Long before the
new courthouse in New York city was
complet ed it cost over 81, ,0oO, 600 Five
million six hundred and sixty three
Thousand dollars for furniture! For
plastering and repairs, g. $40, 900. For
plumbing and gas worxs, el,23l. .si7.
For awnings, Sa3,553. The bill for
three months coming to the nice little
sum of Sl3, Isl. l9s.39. There was not
an honest brick, or stone, or lath, OF
nail, or foot OF plumbing, or inch o.
plastering. or inxstand, or door-knot
| in the whole establishment.
That bad example was followed In
many Of the cities. which did not stea
quite 70 much because there was mol
| so much to steal. There ought to be q
closer inspection, and there ought u
be less opportunity for embezzlement
Lest man shall take . fve-cent Piecs
that does not belong TO him, the con