The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1898-01-13


foresaw how It was to be be, and they
tied up everything in the will. Now,
there Is nothing Of that unworthy &c.
scendant but his grandfather's name
and roast beef rotundity. And yet Tow
many steamers there are which fcI
honored to lash fast to that 'H-
eaten tug. though II dracs t.,Il
stra 'ght into the breakers
A third test by which you may Lnaw
whether the club to which you belong
or the club to whose membership you
are invited is a legitimate club or an
illegitmate club, Is this: What is its
effect on your sense of moral and re-
ligious obligation? Now, II l should
take the names Of all the people in any
audience and put them on a roll and
then l should lay that roll back Of the
organ and 100 years from now some
one should take that roll and call it
from A to Y there would not one of
you answer. say that any associa
ton that makes me forget that fact Is
a bad association.
The influence which some of the
clubhouses are exerting is the more to
be deplOred because it takes down the
very best men. The admission fee Sits
out the penurious and leaves only the
best fellows. They are frank, they
are generous. they are whole souled,
they are talented. Oh, begrudge the
devil such prize! After awhile the
frank look will go out of the face and
the features will be haggard, and
when talking to you, instead of looking
you in the eye, they will look down,
and every morning the mother will
kindly ask, MY son, what kept you out
SO late last nightY and he will make
no answer, or he will say, "Thats my
business" Then some time he will
come to the store or the bank cross
and befogged and he will neglect
some duty, and after awhile he will
lose his place, and then with nothing
to do he will come down ut 10 o'clock
in the morning to curse the servant
because the breakfast Is cold. The lad
who was clerk in the cellar has
got to be chief clerk in the great COM
mercial establishment; the young man
who ran .errands for the bank has got
to be cashier; thousands of the young
men who were at the foot of the lad
der have got to the top Of the ladder,
but here goes the victim of the dissi-
pating clubhouse, with staggering step
and blood-shOt eye and mud-bespat-
tered hat set sldewise on a shock of
greasy hair; his cravat dashed with
cigar ashes. Look at him! Pure heart
ed young man, look at him! The club.
house did that. I know one such who
went the whole round, and turned out
Of the higher clubhouses, went into the
lower clubhouses, and on down, until
one night he leaped out Of a third-story
window to end his wretchedness.
Let me say to fathers who are be-
coming dissipated, your sons will fol-
low you. You think your son does not
know. He knows all about 1t. have
heard men who say, ~ am prOfane,
but never in the presence Of my chill
dren." Your children know you swear.
l have heard men say, ~ drink, but
never In the presence Of my children"
Your children know you drink. l de-
scribe now what occurs in hundreds
Of households In this country. The tea
hour has arrived. The family are
seated at the tea table. Before the rest
Of the family arise from the table the
father shoves back his chair, says he
has an engagement, lights cigar,
goes out, comes back after midnight.
ana that is the history of 1866 nights of
the year. Does any man want to stul-
tify himself by saying that that is
healthy, that that is right that that
is honorable? Would your wife have
married you with such prospects?
Oh, my heart aches! see men strug-
Cling against evil habits, and they
want help. have knelt beside them
and have heard them cry for help,
and then We have risen, and he has
put one hand on my right shoulder and
looked into my face with an infinity
of earnestness which the Judgment
day will have no power to make me
forget, as he has cried out with his lips
scorched in ruin, God help mel" For
sGch there is no help except in the
Lord God Almighty. am going to
make very stout rope. You know
that sometimes n ropemaker will take
very small threads and wind them to-
gcther until after awhile they become
ship cable. And am going to take
scme very small, delicate threads and
wind them together until they make a
very stout rope. I will take all the
memories of the marriage day, n
thread Of laughter, thread of light,
II thread of music, thread of banquet
Ing, thread Of congratulation, and l
twist them together and have one
strand Then | take thread Of the
hour Of the first advent I'm your house,
u thread of the darkness that preceded
and Il thread of the light that followed,
and a thread Of the beautiful scarf
that little child used to wear when she
hnl1nIpI nIrt nt nynptiIA fn upant Won