St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-04-22
ON THE CITY STREETS
The Contrasts Of Splendor and Woe
Seen Upon Them.
DR.. TAln1ge says They Are Unlfke
the Democratic Gospel Of Christ
TAeir SAana, PretensiOns and
Temptati0ns.

DE-. IAlD1ge says They Are Unlfke
the Denecratie Gospel of Christ
Their Shana, Prefer ensions and
Temptati0ns.
washington, Copyright. 1s99)
In this discourse DIR. Talmage. who
has lived the most of his life in cities
draws practical lessons from his own
observation; text. Proverbs 1:20:
Wisdom crieth without. She uttereth
her voice in the streets"
We are all ready to listen to the
voices of nature-the voices of the
mountain. the voices cf the sea. the
voices of the storm. the voices of the
star. As in some of the cathedrals in
Europe there is an organ at either end
OF the building, and the ore instrument
responds musically to the other. so in
the great cathedral of nature day re-
spends to day, and night to night. and
hover to flower. and star to star in
the great harmonies of the universe.
The springtime is an evangelist in bios.
SONS preaching of Gods love. and the
winter IS a prophet-white-b bearded
denouncing woe against our sire. We
are all ready to listen to the voices cf
nature. But how few of us learn any
thing from the voices of the noisy and
dusty street. You go TO your mech
anism. and to your work, and to your
merchandise, and you come back again
and often with how different a heart
you pass through the streets. Are
there no things for us to learn from
these pavements over which we pass?
Are there no tufts of truth growing up
between these cobblestones. beaten
with the feet of toll and pain and pleas
ure, the slow tread of old age and the
quick step of childhood2 Aye. there
are great haryests to be reaped, and
now thrust in the sickle because the
harvest is ripe. Wisdom crieth with
out. She uttereth her voice in the
streets"
In the first place, the street impreskes
me with the fact that this life is
scene of toll and struggle. BY ten
o'clock every day the city is jarring
with wheels and shutting with feet and
humming with voices and covered with
the breath of smokestacks and a-rush
with tEaffickcrs. Once in awhile you
find a man going along with folded
arms and with le:surely step. asthough
he had nothing to do. but, for the most
part, as you find men going down these
streets on the way to business. there
is anxiety on their faces. as though
they had some errand which must be
executed at the first possible moment.
You are jostled by those who have bar
gains to make and notes to sell. Up
this ladder with a hod. of bricks. out
of this bank with . roll of bills. on this
dray with load of goods. digging a
celisF- or ehingEng q roof, or shoeing
q horse, or building wall. or mending
> watch, or binding book. Industry.
with her thousand arms and thousand
eyes and thousand feet. goes on singing
her song of work. work, work, while
the mills drum it and the steam
whistles fife it. All this is not because
men love to toll. Some one remarked:
A:.Every man is as lazy as he can afford
10 be-" But it is because necessity
with stern brow and with uplifted whip
stands over you, ready whenever you
relax your toll to make your shoulders
sting with the lash.
Can it be that passing up and down
these streets on your way to work and
business you do not learn anything OF
the worlds toll and anxiety and strug-
gle? Oh. how many dropping hearts,
how many eyes on the watch. how
many miles travelled, how many bur-
dens carried. how many losses snf-
fened, how many battles fought, how
many victories gained. how many ex-
asperations endured-what losses, what
hunger. what wretcheGness. what pal
lor. what disease. what agony. what de-
spair. Sometimes | have stopped at
the corner of the street as the multi
tudes went hither and yon, and it has
seemed TO be great pantomime-a and as
i looked upon it my heart broke his
great tide of human life that goes
down the street is a rapid tossed and
turned aside and dashed ahead and
e6riven back-beautiful in its confusion
and confused in it's beauty. In the car
Detcsl aisles of the forest. in the woods
from which the eternal shadow IS never
lifted. on the shore of the sea over
whose iron coast tosses the tangled
foam sprinkling the cracked cliffs with
= baptism of whirlwind and tempest.
is the best place to study God. but in
the rushing. swarmirg. raring street
is the best place TO study man.
Going down TO your place of business
and coming home again l charge you
to look about-see these signs of power
ty. of wretchedness. of hunger. cf sin,
Of bereavement and as you go
through the streets ard cone back
through the streets. gather up in the
arms OF your prayer all the sorrow. all
the losses. all the sufferings, all the be-
reaxements of those whom you pses
and present them in prayer before an
all sympathetic Gcd. In the great Gay
of eternity there will be thousands Of
persons with whom you in this world
never exchanged one word who will
rise up and call you blessed. and there
viii he a thousand fingers pointed at
YOU in Heaven. saving: That Is The
man. that is the woman. who helped
me when I was hnngry and sick and
wandering and lost and hcartbroken.
That is the mar. that is the woman"
And the, blessing will come down upon
you as Christ shall say: Il was hun
rry. and ye fed me: | was naked. and
= clothed me: was sick and in pris
N. and ye visited me. Inasmuch as We
did II to these poor waits of the street.
e did it to me.
Again, the street impresses me with
tAe fact that all classes and conditions
~ society must commiIgle. We some
4imes culture wicked exclusiveness.
Intellect despises Ignorance. Refine
uent win have nothing TO do with
hoorsshnessl Gloveshate the sun burned
kand. and the high forehead despises
a. nat head. and the trim hedgerow
will have nothing to do with the wild
cep.e~,ood. and Athens hates Naz-
.erefh. This ought not so to be. The