The Banner-Democrat., 1899-09-09
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
I BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF THF pIYINE's SUN
DAY DISCOURSE

uiJcct: A worldw EviI-nesidence in
Hotels Condeinned-wholesom Innu-
ences That Surround Life In a Private
Home-Children Get in Bad Company.
Copyright. Louis Klopsch, 1921
WASHINGTON. d. c. Especially Home life
versus hotel life Is tho theme of DR.. Tai
mage's sermon for to-day, the disadvan-
tages Of life spent at more or less tenn
porary stopping places being sharply con-
trasted with the blessings that are found
In the real home, however humble. The
text Is Luke K, 81, 35: "And brought him
to an inn and took care OF him. And on
the morrow when he departed. he took out
two pence and gave them TO the hest and
said unto him, Take care OF bin; and what
soever thou spendest more, when come
again l will repay thee"
This is the good Samaritan paying tho
hotel bill OF man who had been robbed
and almost killed by bandits. The good
Samaritan had found the unfortunate on
lonely, rocky road, where to this very day
depredations are sometimes committed
upon travellers, and had put the injured
man into the saddle. while this merciful
and Tell-to-do man had walked till they
got to the hotel, and the wounded man was
put to bed and cared for. 1t must have
been a very superior hotel In its accommo-
landlord was paid at the rate OF what in
our country would be 81 or IS a day,
penny being then u days wages and the
two pennies paid In this case about two
days wages. Moreover 1t was one OF those
kind-hearted landlords who are wrapped
up In the happiness OF their guests, be-
cause the good Samaritan leaves the poor,
wounded follow to his entire care, promis-
ing that when he came that way again he
would pay all the bills until the Invalid got
well.
Hotels and boarding houses are necessi-
ties. In very ancient times they were I'M
known, because the world had compara-
lively few inhabitants, and those were not
much given to travel, and private hospital
ity met all the wants Of sojourners, as
when Abraham rushed out at Mamre TO in
yite the three men to sit down to a dinner
OF veal as when the people were p ssltive-
ly commanded to be given to hospitality.
as in many places In the east these ancient
customs are practiced to-day. But we have
now hotels presided over by good land
lords and boarding houses presided over
by excellent host or hostess In all neighbor-
hoods, villages and cities and it is our con-
graduation that thoso OF our land surpass
all other lands. They rightly become the
permanent residences Of many people, such
as those who are without families, such rs
those who business keeps them migratory,
such as those who ought not, for various
reasons Of health or peculiarly Of circum-
stanccs, to take upon themselves the cares
| OF housekeeping.
But one Of the great evils OF this day is
| found In the fact that large population
| OF our towns and cities are giving up and
| have given up their homes and taken
| apartments, that they may have more Free
| dom from domestic duties and more time
| for social life and because they like the
whirl OF publicity better than the quiet
and privacy OF a residence they can call
their own. The lawful use ofthese hotels
| and boardipg-houses is for most people
while they are in transltu; but as n
| terminus they are In many cases de-
| mo-alization. utter and complete. That is
| the point at which families innumerable
1 have begun to disintegrate. There never
| has been time when so many families,
| healthy and abundantly able to support
and direct homes Of their own, have struck K
| tent and taken permanent abode IN these
| public establishments.
| In these public caravansaries, the sm on
OF gossip Is apt to get iull sway. All the
boarders run daily the gantlet OF general
tnspection-how they look when they como
| down in the morning and when they get In
| at night, and what they do for living,
| and who they receive as guests In their
| rooms, and what they wear. and what they
do not wear, and how they eat, and what
| they eat, and how much they eat, and how
| little they eat. II man proposes In such
| place 10 be Isolated and reticent and
alone, they will begin TO guess about him:
| Who Is he? Where did he come froin1 How
| long Is he going to stayf Has he paid bis
boardp How much does he pay? Perhaps
| he has committed some crime and does not
| want to be known. There must be some-
| thing wrong about him or he would speak.
| The whole house goes into tho detective
business. They NUT find out about him.
They must find out about him right away.
| II he leave his door unlocked by accident,
| he will find that his rooms have been IN
spected, his trunk explored, his letters
! folded differently from the way they were
folded when he put them away. Who is
he? Is the question asked with intcnser in
| terest, until the subject has become q
| monomania. The simple fact is that he is
nobody In particular. but minds his own
business.
One OF the worst damages that come
from the herding OF so many people into
boarding houses and family hotels lis In
licted upon children. 1t Is only another
| way OF bringing them up on the commons.
While You have your own private house
you can, for the most part, control their
companionship and their whereabouts, but
by twelve years Of age In these public re-
sorts they will have picked up all the bad
things that can be furnished by the prurI.
ent minds OF dozens Of people. They will
overhear bLasphemies, and see quarrels.
and get precocious In sin, and what the
bartender does not tell them the porter or
hostler or bellboy will.
Besides that the children will 60 out into
this world without the restraining, anchor
Ing, steadyinR and all controlling memory
OF home. From that none Of us who have
been blessed Of such memory have es-
capped. 1t grips man for eighty years,
X he lives SO long: 1t pulls him back from
doors into which he otherwise would enter.
1t smftss him with contrition In tho very
midst OF his dissipations. As the fish, al
ready surrounded by the long wide net,
swim out to sea, thinking they can 60 as
far as they please, and with gay toss OF
silvery scale they defy the sportsman on
the beach, and after awhile the fishermen
begin to draw in the net, baEd over
hand, and hand over hand, and 1t
Is long while before the captured
fms begin to feel the net, and then they
dart this way and that, hoping to get out,
but find themselves approaching the
shore, and are brought up to the very feet
OF the captors, so the memory OF an early
home sometimes seems to relax and let
men out farther and farther from God, and
farther and farther from shore, five years.
ten years, twenty years, thirty years: but
some day they find an irresistible mesh
drawing them back, and they are COM
PEELED to fetreat from their prodigality
and wandering; and though they make
desperate effort to escape the impression,
and try to dive deeper down in sin,
after awhile are brought clear back and
held upon the Rock OF Ages.
| II {f ha rossihla n fat her and moi n r.