Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-01-12

wrongs and outrages enough to transform
angels into devils, or in commercial life
within their own counting rooms in timo
Of Black Friday pnnics, or in mechanical
life in their own carpenter shop, or on tho
scaffolding of walls swept by cold or
smitten by heat. No telcgraphc wires ro-
ported the crisis of tho conflict no banner
was ever waved to celebrate their victory,
but God knows and God will remember,
and God will adjust, and by him the fall
ing of tear is as certainly noticed as tho
burning of world and the lluttor of u
sparrow s wing as the flight of the apoca
lyptic archangcl
Oh what God we have for small things
as well as big things David no moro
helped at the front than helped at home.
The four regiments modified for tho de-
tense of tho throne of Israel were right in
protesting against David's exposure of his
| life mt the front Had he been pierced of
| an arrow, or cloven down with n battlcax,
| or fatally slung from snorting war charger
what q disaster for the throne Of Israeli
Absalom, his son, was % low fellow and
unfit to reign; his two chief characteristics
were his handsome face and his long hair
so long that when no had it cut that
which was scissored off weighed 1900
shekels after tho kings weight" and
when Il man has nothing but IA handsome
! face and an exubcranCe of hair, there is
not much of him Tho capture or slaying
of David would have been u calamity irrcp-
arabic. Unnecessary exposure would
have been crime for David, as it is "a
! crime for you.
| Some people think 1t Is bright thing
TO put themselves in unnecessary peril
| They like to walk up TO the edge Of prec
| s,,t, loft
among contagious when they can be of
no use but to demonstrate their own bra
yado, or with glee drive horses which arc
only harnesscd whirlwinds, or sec how
close they can walk in front of trolley
car without being crushed, or spring on
rail train after it has started, or leap off
rail train before it has stopped. Their life
| is n series of narrow escapes, careless of
what prcdicament their family would suf-
! fer at their sudden taking off, or of tho
misfortune that might come to their bust
ness partners or the complete failure of
their life work II "a coronor's jury must he
called in to decide the style of their exit.
| They do not take into consideration what
| their life is worth to others. Taken off
through such recllessness they go crimi-
nails. There was not one man among those
! four full regiments of 4, 600 Israelites that
would have so much enjoyed being in the
fight as David, but he saw that he could
serve his nation best by not putting on
helmet and shield and sword, and so ho
took the advice of tho armed men and
said, what seemeth to you best l will
do" l warrant that you will die soon
enough without teasing and bnnterinG
casualty to see if it can launch you into
the next world.
Evils of Reclslcasness.
In nine cases out of ten the fatalities
every day reported are not the fault of en-
gineers or brakcmen or conductors or cab
drivers, but of the stupidity and reckless
ness of people at street or railroad cross
ing. They would like to have the Chicago
limited express train, with 300 passengers,
and advertised to arrive at certain hour
in a certain city, slow up to lot them get
two minutes sooner to their destination,
not one farthing Of their own or any ono
else's welfare dependent on whether they
arrive one minute before II O'Clock or ono
minute after. You ought to get permits
sion from railroad superintendent to
mount beside the engineer on a locomo-
tive to realize how many evils of reckless
ness there arc in tho wOrld-funeral pro-
cessions whipping up to get across before
the cowcntcher strikes tho hearso; man II
family, with wife and children beside him
in wagon, evidently having made close
calculation as to whether a stroke from
the locomotive would put them backward
or forward in the journey to the village
grocery traveller on railroad bridge hop
ing that he could get to the end of the
bridge before the train reaches 1t. You
have no right to put your life in peril un-
less by such exposure something is to be
gained for others. What imbecility in
thousands Of Americans during our re-
cent Americo-Spansh war disappointed
because the surrender came so soon and
they could not have the advantage of be-
ing shot at San Juan hill or brought down
with the yellow fever and carried on n lit
ter to transport steamers already so many
floating la2arettos. instead of thanking
God that they got no nearer to tho slaugh-
ter than Tampa or Chattanooga or the
encampmcnt at their own state capital,
mad at the government, mad at God be-
cause they could not get to the front in
time to join the 4, 600 corpses that are now
being transported from the tropics to the
national cemeteries of the United States
Exposure and daring are admirable when
duty calls, but keep out of peril when
nothing practical and useful is to be gain
cd for your family or your country or
your God. l admire the David of my text
as he suppresscs himself and enters the
gate of his castle ms much as l admire him
when with his four fingers and thumb
clutched into tho grsly locks of Goliath :
head, which he had decapitated, and saul
admiringly asks, Whose son art thou,
young MANI" and David, blushing with
genuine modesty, responds, Il am the sen
of thy servant, Jesse, the Bethlehemite
Make Yourself n David.
Now, here is another important point;
AS there arc so many people in the worll
who amount to little or nothing, you
ought to augment yourself, and If not
able, like David, to be worth TO- 600 time;
moro than others, you can command God
reinforcing grace to make yourself four
times or three times or twice as much as
some others. Pray twice as much read
twice rs much give twice as much, go tC
church twice as much. Instead of spend
ing your time finding fault with others
substitute your superior fidelity for theil
, Gereliction and default. In any church
there are ten members worth all tho Other
1000. In every great business firm there
, is one man worth tho other three partners
In every legislative hail. state or ns,!onal
there are five men worth all the other 5C
or 100 Take tho suggestion of my text
and augment yourself. Mako your one
talent do the work of two or your five
, talents do the work Of ten, or your ter
talents do the work of 20. Multiply youl
words of encouragement Multiply the
- number of boosts you can give to those
yl, tp,,i ,,,, ~ al, as lot,