The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1899-12-01
GOD SENT THE WHEEL
The Theme for DR.. Talmage's
Thanksgiving Sermon.
The wheel ns n symbol of Prosperity
Some Reasons for National
GratItude-Ben OF In
ventIve Genius.
ICopyright, 1899. by Louis Klopsch.l
Washington

Lcopyright, 1899. by Louis Klopschl
Washington.
This discourse of DR.. Talmage is ser
mon of preparation for the national
observance of this week and in an un-
usual way calls for the gratitude of the
| people; the text, Ezekiah 10:13: "As
! for the wheels, it was cried unto them
in my hearing, o WHEEL"
Next Thursday will, by proclamation
| of president and governors, be OBJ
| served in thanksgiving for temporal
mercies. With what spirit shall we en-
ter upon it? For nearly a year and a
! half this nation has been celebrating
the triumph of sword and gun and bat
| terry. We have sung martial airs and
cheered returning heroes and sounded
| the requiem for the slain in battle. Me-
| thinks it will be a healthful change if
| this Thanksgiving week, in church and
| homestead, we celebrate the victories
| of peace, for nothing was done at San
| tiago or Manila that was of more i'm
| portance than that which in the last
| year has been done in farmers field
and mechanics shop and authors
| study by those who never wore an epau-
| let or shot a Spaniard or went a hun
| dred miles from their own doorsill. And
now l call your attention to the wheel
| of the text.
Man, a small speck in the universe,
was set down in a big world, high
mountains rising before him, deep seas
arresting his pathway and wild beasts
capable of his destruction, yet he was
to conquer. 1t could not be by physical
force, for compare his arm with the
ox's horn and the elephants tusk, and
how weak he is! 1t could not be by
physical speed, for compare him to the
antelope's foot and ptarmigan's wing,
and how slow he is! 1t could not be
by physical capacity to soar or plunge,
for the condor beats him in one direc-
tion and the porpoise in the other. Yet
he was to conquer the world. Two eyes,
two hands, and two feet were insuffi-
cient. He must be reinforced, so God
sent the wheel.
Twenty-Five times is the wheel men
toned in the Bible, sometimes, as in
Ezekiel, illustrating providential move
ment; sometimes, as in the Psalms,
crushing the bad; sometimes, as in
Judges, representing Gods eharioted
progress. The wheel that started in
Exodus rolls on through Proverbs,
through Isaiah, through jeremiah,
through Daniel, through Nahum,
through the centuries, all the time
gathering momentum and splendor,
until, seeing what it has done for the
worlds progress and happiness, we
clap our hands in Thanksgiving and en-
ploy the apostrophe of the text, crying:
80, WHEEL"
1 call on you in this Thanksgiving
week to praise God for the triumphs
of machinery, which have revolution
lied the world and multiplied its at
fractions. Even Paradise, though very
picturesque, must have been coDpara-
lively dull, hardly anything going on,
no agriculture needed, for the harvest
was spontaneous; no architecture re-
quired, for they slept under the trees;
no manufacturers loom necessary for
the weaving of apparel, for the fashions
were exceedingly. simple. To dress the
garden would not have required ten
minutes a day.
Having nothing tos6o, they got into
mischief and ruined themselves and the
race. 1t was a sad thing to be turned
out of Paradise, but, once turned out, a
benefcent thing to be compelled to
work. To help man up and on God sent
the wheel. 1t turned ahead, the race
advances; if turned back, the race re-
treats. To arouse your gratitude and
exalt your praise l would show you
what the wheel has done for the domes-
tic world, for the agricultural world,
for the travelling world, for the literary
world. GAS for the wheels, it was cried
unto them in my hearing: WHEEL"
In domestic life the wheel has wrought
revolution. Behold the sewing ma
chine. 1t has shattered the house
wife's bondage and prolonged woman's
life and added immeasurable advan-
tages. The needle for ages had pune
tured the eyes and pierced the side and
made terrible massacre. 30 prepare the
garments of a whole household in the
spring for summer and in the autumn
for winter was an exhausting process.
stitch, stitch, stitch!" Thomas Hood
set il to poetry, but millions of persons
have found it agonizing prose.
Slain by the sword, we buried the
hero with Dead March" in Saul and
flags at half mast. Slain by the needle,
no one knew it but the household that
watched her health giving way. The
winter after that the children were
ragged and cold and hungry or in the
almshouse. The hand that welded the
needle had forgotten its cunning. Soul
and body had parted at the seam. The
thimble had dropped from the palsied
finger. The thread of life had snapped
and let suffering human drop into
the grave. The spool was all unwound.
Her sepulcher was dgged not with sex
tons spade, but with a sharper and
shorter implement-a needle. Federal
and confederate dead have ornafnented
graves at Arlington Heights and Rich
mond and Gettysburg, thousands by
thousands, but it viii take the arch
angels trumpet to find the million
graves of the vaster army of women
needle slain.
Besides all the sewing done for the
household at home, there are hundreds
of thousands Of sewing women. The
tragedy of the needle is the tragedy
of hunger and cold and insult and home
sickness and suicide-five acts.
But hear the rush of wheel. Wom-
an puts on the band and adjusts the
instrument, puts her foot on the treadle