Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1900-01-22
AFFAIRS OF OTHERS.
WE SHOULD BE INTERESTED IN
THEM, SAYS Or. TALMAGE.
The Busybpdy Hns n Mission to Per-
form When His Motive Is Good.
Search Out the Miserable nnd OFFER
Them Consolation.

lCopyrfght, Louis Aiopsch, l9VO.l
WASHINGTON. Jan. 21.--In this dis
course DR.. Talmage shows how we
should interest ourselves In the affairs
of others for their benefit, but never
for their damage; text, 1 Peter iv, 10,
"a busybody In other mems matters"
Human nature Is the same in all
ages. In the second century of the
worlds existence people had the same
characteristics us people In the nine
tecrth century, the only difference be-
ing that they had the characteristics
for longer time. 1t was 500 years of
goodness or 500 years of meanness in
stead OF goodness or meanness for 40
or 80 years. Well, Simon Peter. who
was keen observer of what was go
Ing on around him, one day caught
sight of n man whose characteristics
were severe inspection and blatant crit
icism OF the affairs belonging 10 people
for whom he had no responsibility, and
with the hand once Drowned and hard
ened by fishing tackle drew this por-
trait for all subsequent ages, "a busy
body in other mems. matters"
That kind of person has been trou-
bic maker in every country since the
world stood. Appointing himself to
the work of exploration and detection,
he goes forth mischief making. He
generally begins by reporting the infs-
licity discovered. He Is the advertis.
ing agent of infirmlties and domestic
inharmony and occurrences that but
f., IA ha, 10. h.
public eye or ear. He feels that the
secret ought to be hauled out into light
and heralded. IL he can get one line of
1t into the newspapers, that he feels to
be noble achievement to start with.
But he must not let 1t stop. He whis-
pers II to his ncighbors, and they In
turn whisper It TO their neighbors. until
You can no more catch 1t or put 1t
down than you can n malarla. Ii Is In
the air and on the wing and afloat.
Taken by Itself, II seems of little I'm
portance. but after hundred people
have handled 1t and eDch has given II
an additional twist It becomes story
in size and shape marvellous. If II can
be kept going, after awhile II will be
large enough to call the attention of
the courts or the presbyterles or con
ferenccs or associations. The most of
the scandals abroad are the work OF
the one whom Peter In the text styles
"A busybo1y In other mems matters"
Mission of Kindness.
First, notice that such a mission ls
most undesirable. because we all re
quIro all the time we can get to take
care of our own affairs. TO carry our
selves through the treacherous straits
Of this life demands that we all the
time keep our hand ON the wheel OF
our own craft. While, as ! shall show
you before get through. we all have
mission Of kindness TO others, wo
have no time to waste In doing that
which Is damaging to others
There is our worldly calling. which
must be looked after or II will become
failure. Who succeeds In anything
without concentrating all his energies
upon that one thing? All those who
try to do many things go to pieces Ell.
ther as to their health or their fortune.
the dollar or pay their body into the
grave. We cannot manage the affairs
of others and keep our own affairs
prosperous. While we are inquirlpg
how precarous is the business Of an
other merchant and finding out how
many notes he has unpaid and how
soon he Will probably be wound up or
make an assignment or hear the sher-
iif's hammer smite his counter our own
affairs are getting mixed up and on
dangered. While we are criticIsIng
our nelghbor for his poor crops we are
neglecting the fertilization OF our own
fields or allowing the weeds to choke
our own corn. While we are trying to
extract the mote from our ncIghbor's
eye we fall under the weight of the
beam In our own eye. Those men dis.
turbed by the faults of others nrc
themselves the depot at which whole
trains Of faults arrive and from which
whole trains OF faults start. The men
who have succeeded IN secular things
or religious things win tell you that
they have no time for hunting out tho
deficits OF others. On the way to their
counting room they may lnve heard
that a Arm In the same line Of busl-
ness was In trouble, and they said,
Sorry, very sorry" But they went In
and sat down at tholr table and opcn.
ed the book containing full state
mcnt of their affairs To see II they
were IN peril Of being caught In slmi-
lar cyclone.