The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1898-04-16


bly, have been tempted to do that-no
conjunction of circumstances could
ever have overthrown me-" and there
is a superabundance of indignation,
but no pity. The heavens full of
lightning, but not one drop of dew. If
God treated us as society treats that
man we would all have been in hell
long ago.
Wait for the alternating circum-
stances. Perhaps he may have been
the dupe of others. Before you let all
the hounds out from their kennel TO
maui and tear that man, find out if he
has not been brought up in a CONNER
cial establishment where there was a
wrong system of ethics taught; find out
whether that man has not an extrava-
giant wife who is not satisfied with his
honest earnings, and in the temptation
to please her he has gone into that ruin
into which enough men have fallen,
and by the same temptation, to make
procession of many miles. Perhaps
some sudden sickness may have touched
his brain, and his Judgment may be un-
balanced. He is wrong, he is awfully
wrong, and he must be condemned, but
there may be mitigating circumstances.
Perhaps under the same temptation
you might have fallen. The reason
some men do not steal $500, 900 is be-
cause they do not get a chance! Have
righteous Indignation you must about
that mans conduct, but temper it with
mercy.
God let's the man go. God, who had
kept that man under His protecting
care, let's the man go, and try for him
self the majesty of his integrity. God
letting the man go, the powers of dark
ness pounce upon him. see you some
day in your office in great excitement.
One of two things you can do. Be hon
est, and be pauperized, and have your
children brought home from school,
your family dethroned in social
influence. The other thing is, you
can step little aside from that
which is right, you can only just go
half an inch out of the proper path, You
can only take little risk, and then
you have all your finances fair and
right. You will have large property.
You can leave fortune for your chill
dren, and endow college, build a
public library in your native town.
You halt and wait, and halt and wait
until your lips get white You decide
to risk it. Only a few strokes of the
pen now. But, oh, how your hand
trembles! The die is cast. By the strang-
est and most awful conjunction of cir
cumstances anyone could have imag-
ined, you are Frustrated. Bankruptcy,
commercial humiliation, exposure,
crime. Good men mourn and devils
J hold carnival, and you see your own
name at the head of the newspaper
column in a whole congress of ex-
clamation points; and while you are
reading the anathema in the reportorial
} and editorial paragraph, it occurs to
, you how much this story is like that Of
4 the defalcation fifteen years ago, and
: a clap of thunder shakes the window
| sill, saying: "With what measure We
/ mete, it shall be measured to you
( again."
4 But, you say: 81 am sorry that the
1 innocent should suffer" Yes, am, too
S sorry for the widows and orphans
: who lost their all by that defalcation,
t / am sorry also for the business men,
T. the honest business men, who have had
1 their affairs all crippled by that dcfal-
j. cation. | am sorry for the venerable
a bank president to whom the credit OF
| ba ha uynS rnottar ~ r,,i6a Vac
/ am sorry also for that man who
0 brought all the distress; sorry that he
e sacrificed body, mind, soul, reputation,
, Heaven, and went into the blaclnes, of
: darkness forever.
4 You defantly say; 81 could not be
t tempted in that way" Perhaps you
l may be tested after awhile. God has a
E very good memory, and He sometimes
5 seems to say: This man feels SC
+ strong in his innate power and good,
S ness he shall be tested; he is so full OF
e bitter invectiye against that unfortu-
e nate, it shall be shown now whether
d he has the power to stand" Fifteen
= years go by The wheel of fortune
e turns several times and you are in {
/? crisis that you never could have antici
d pated. Now, all the powers of dark
# ness come around, and they chuckl,
1t and they chatter and they say: AHA
v here is the old fellow who was so PROUD
l. of his integrity, and who Dragged HI
y couldn't be overthrown by temptation
If and was SO uproarious in his demon
re STATIONS of Indignation at the defalca
Y, lion Is years ago. Let us see"'
| In the study of society 1 have com
a to this conclusion, that the most of tn
IN people want to be good, but they d
e. not exactly know how to make it out
re They make enough good resolutions t
lie lift them into angelhood. The vas
majority of people who fall are tn
If victims of circumstances. They ar
lie captured by ambuscade. If their temp
a. tations should come out in regimen
re and fight them in a fair field the
c. would go out in The strength and tn
lie triumph of David against Goliath. Blu
es they do not see the giants and they
We not see the regiment. Temptatio
KS comes and says: Take these bitter.
It. take this nervine, take this aid to d
at gestion, take this night cap" Tn
ty vast majority of men and women VIII
st. are destroyed by opium and by rul
ly first take them as medicines. In NAL
it ing mp your dish of criticism in regar
he to them, take from the caster and tn
i'd cruet of sweet oil and not the cruet c
he cayenne pepper.
n see the scribes of Heaven lookin
ne up into the face of such a man, saying
n What you plead fc- mercy, you. VIII