The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1899-10-06

] ''N hutu NlNdclll, Dul 100 mut n SOM
nolence. The one is an irritating rnat
that may be easily strained out. the
other is a great sprawling and sleepy
eyed camel of the dry desert. In all our
Sabbath schools, in all our Bible
classes, in all our pulpits. we need to
brighten mp our religious message With
such Christlike yiyacity as we ind in
/ the text.
Oh, how particular a great many peo-
pie are about the iniiuitesimals while
/ they are quite reckless about the mapni-
tudes! What did Christ say? Did lie
not eXcoriate the people in his time who
were so careful TO wash their hands be-
fore a meal, but did not wash their
hearts? 1t is a bad thing 10 have un-
clean hands. II is a worse thing to have
an uncloan heart. How many people
there are in our time who are very anx-
ious that after their death they shall be
buried with their faces toward the east
and not at all anxious that during their
whole life they should face in the right
direction, so that they shall come up in
the resurrection of the just, whichever
way they are buried. How many there
are chiefly anxious that a minister of
the Gospel shall come i'm the line Of
apostolic succession. not caring so
much whether he comes from Apostle
Paul or Apostle Judas They have a
way Of measuring a gnat until it is
larger than camel.
Again. my subject photographs all
those who are abhorrent Of small sins
while they are reckless in regard to
magnificent thefts You will find
many a merchant who, while he is so
careful that he would not take a yard
of cloth or spool of cotton from the
counter without paying for il, and who.
if bank cashier should make a mistake
and send in a roll of bills five dollars too
much, would dispatch a messenger I'm
hot haste to return the surplus, yet who
will go into a stock company. in which
after awhile he gets control of the
stock, and then waters the stock and
makes 100000 appear like 100000
lie only stole 100000 by the operation.
Many of the men of fortune made their
wealth in that way.
One of those men engaged in such un-
righteous acts that evening, the evening
of the very day when he watercd the
stock, will find a wharf rat stealing q
daily paper from the basement doorway
and will 20 out and catch the urchin by
. If.,. ].
the poor fellow has no power to say that
it was thirst for knowledge that led him
to the dishonest act, but grip the collar
tighter and tighter, saying: 81 have
been looking for you a long while. You
stole my paper four or five times.
haven't You, you miserable wretch?"
And then the old stock gambler. with
voice they can hear three blocks, will
cry out: "Police, police." That same
man the evening of the day in which he
watcred the stock will knoel with his
family in prayers and thank God for the
prosperity of the day. then kiss his chill
dren good night with an air which
seems TO say: II hope you all will grow
up TO be as good as your father" Pris-
ons for sins insectile in size. but palaces
for crimes dromedarian. No mercy for
sins animalcule in proportion. but great
leniency for mastodon iniquity. a poor
boy slyly takes from the basket of a
market woman choke pear-saving
some one else from the cholera-and
YOU smother him in the horrible at
mosphere of Raymond street Jail or
New York tombs. while his cousin, who
has been sdllful enough to steal $4,000
from the city. you make a candidate for
the state legislature.
There is a good deal Of uneasiness
and nervousness now among some peo-
pie in our time who have got unright-
eous fortunes-a great deal Of uneasi-
ness about dynamite. tell them that |
God will put under their unrighteous |
fortunes something more explosive than |
dynamite-the earthquake Of His ON |
nipotent Indignation. 1t is time that I
we learn in America that sin is not eX- /
cusable in proportion as it declares /
large dividends and has outriders in /
equipage. Many a man is riding to per-
ditiOn, position ahead and lackey be- |
hind. 70 steal one copy Of a newspa- /
per is a gnat; to steal many thousands /
of dollars is a camel. There is many /
fruit dealer who would not consent TO /
steal a basket Of peaches from neigh
bor's stall. but who would not scruple /
TO depress the fruit market, and as long /
as can remember we have heard every /
summer the peach crop of Maryland is
a failure. and by the time the crop i
comes In the Misrepresentation makes !
a difference of millions of dollars. y /
man who would not steal one basket of
peaches steals $4,000 baskets of peaches.
Go down into the public library, in
the reading-rooms, and see the newspa-
per reports of the crops from all parts
Of the country, and their phraseology is
very much the same, and the same men
wrote them. methodically and infa-
mously carrying out the huge lying
about the grain crop from year to year
and for score of years. After awhile
there will be corner" in the wheat /
market. and the men who had a con-
tempt for petty theft will burglarize
the wheat bin Of a nation and commit I
larceny upon the American corn crib.
And some of the men will sit in churches \