The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1898-01-08

tai threnody. Cato feared at 80 year
of age that he would not live to lear
Greek. Monaldesco, at us years, writ
ing the history of his time, feared
collapse. Theophrastus, writing
book at go years of age, was anxious t.
live to complete 1t. Thurlow Weed
at about SO years of age, found life a
great q d~esirability as when he snuffeC
out his first politician. Albert Barnes
so well prepared for the next world a
20, said he would rather stay here
So It IL all the way down. 1 supposr
hat the last time that Methuselal
waa out of doors in a storm he wa
afraid of getting his feet wet, lest /
shorten his days. Indeed, I some tins
ago preached n sermon on the bless
ings of longevity, but 1 nov propose
to preach to you about the blessings
of an abbreviated earthly existence
II I were an agnostic 1 would say {
man IL blessed in proportion to the
number of years he can stay on terrt
nrma, because after that he falls of
the docks, and If he is ever picked on
of the depths, 1t Is only to be set up In
some morgue of the universe to see Il
anybody will claim him. If 1 thought
God made man only to last 40 or so oil
100 years, and then he vas to go into
annihilation, 1 would say his CHIEF
business ought to be to keep alive and
even In good weather to be very eau
tious, and to carry an umbrella and
lake overshoes, and life preservers,
and bronze armor and weapons of de-
tense, lest he fall off into nothingness
and obliteratiop.
Some men &c to business at z o'clock
in the morning and return at 2 IN the
evening. Others go at 8 o'clock and
return at II. Others go at 10 and re-
turn at 4. / have friends who are 10
hours a day in business; others who
are 5 hours: others who are / hour.
They all do their work we'll; they do
their entire work and then they re-
turn. Which position do you think
the most desirable? You say, other
things being equal, the shortest time
detained in business, and who can re-
turn home the quickest, is the most
blessed
Now. my friends, why not carry that
good sense into the subject of transfer
ence from this worldP If a person die
in childhood, he gets through his work
at Q o'clock in tine morning. If he die
at 4S years of age, he gets through his
work 1T 10 o'clock noon. If he die at
70 years of age, he gets through his
work al 8 o'clock in the afternoon. If
he die at go, he has to toll all the way
up to II o'clock at night. The sooner
we get through work the better.
All we want to be anxious about Is to
ret q work done, and well done; and
the quicker the better.
Again: There is a blessing in an
abbreviated earthly existence in the
fact that moral disaster might come
upon the man if he tarried longer.
Recently, a man who had been prom
inent 10 churches, and who had been
admired for his generosity and kind
ness everywhere, for forgery was sent
to state prison for Is years. Twenty
years ago there was no more probable
ity of that mans committing a COM
mercial dishonesty than that you will
commit commercial dishonesty. The
number of men who fall into ruin be-
tween so and 70 years of age is simply
appalling. If they had died 80 years
before, 1t would nave been better for
them and better for their families.
The shorter the voyage, the less
chance for a cyclone.
There is a wrong theory abroad, that
IL ones youth be right, his old age will
be right You might as well say there
is nothing wanting for q ships safety
except to get it fully launched on the
Atlantic ocean. l have sometimes
asked those who were schoolmates or
collegemates of some great defaulter:
''What kind of a boy was hep What
kind of q young man was hep" And
they have saids "Why. he was a SPLEEN
did fellow; l had no idea he could ever
60 into such an outrage" The fact is,
the great temptation of life sometimes
far on in midlife or in old age.
The first time / crossed the Atlantic
ocean. II was as smooth as q mill pond,
and 1 thought the sea captains and the
had slandered the old ocean
and ! wrote home an essay on THE
Smile of the Sea-" but ] never after
ward could have written that thing,
for before we got home, we got q ter
rible shaking up. The first voyage Of
life may be very smooth; the last may
be o euroclydon. Many who start life
In great prosperity do not end 1t in
prosperity.
The great pressure of temptation
comes sometimes in this direction: At
about IS years OF age a mans
changes, and some n tells
him he must take stimulapts to keep
himself up, and he takes stimulants to
keep himself up. until the stimulants
keep him down; or a man has been GO
along for 80 or 40 years in unsuc-
business, and here Is an OPEN
Ing where by one dishonorable action
be can lift himself and lift his family
from all financial embarrassment He
attempts to leap the chasm and he
falls into it
Then 1t is in after life that the great
of success comes. If man
make a fortune before 80 years of age,
be generally loses IL before &c. The
solid and permanent fortunes for the
most part do not come to their climax
until in mid-life, or in old age. The
nost of the bank presidents have white
hair. Many of those who have been
successful have been flung of
arrogance or worllidness ordissipation
old age. They may not have lost
integrity, but they have be-
come so worldly and 30 selfish
under the influence of large sue
,ess that 1t is evident to everybody
that their success has been q temporal
calamity and an eternal damage. Con-
many people, IL may be said 1t
,sems as If it would have been better
e they could have embarked from this
life at 90 or 30 years Of age. Do you
the reason why the vast majority
Of people die before 809 1t is because
hey have not the moral endurance for
hat which is beyond the 80, and a
nerciAnl God will not allow them TO
De put to the fearful strain.
Again: There Is a blessing in an abb
1reviated earthly existence in the fact
hat one is the sooner taken of tho de-
AS soon as one Is old enough
% take care of himself he is put on his
guard. Bolts on the doors to keep out
he robbers. Fire-proof safes to keep
- A. Q- &C. sna.-a.aa anA aWa