The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1900-01-03
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that, sworn to, would balk any proposed
irreverent and blasphemous behavior.
! In what way could the fact that inf
deity will not help any one die well be
SO powerful presented as by the incl
dent concerning man failing ill in Paris
just after the death Of Voltaire, when a
professional nurse was called in and she
asked, lis the gentleman a Christianw'
why do you ask that!' said the mes
! senger. II am the nurse who attended
| Voltaire in his last illness, and for all the
wealth Of Europe I would never see an
other infdel die" What discourse in
| its moral and spiritual effect could equal
a tale like that?
Saving Brother.
You might argue upon the fact that
those fallen are our brothers and sisters.
but could we impress any one with such
truth so we'll as by the scene near Vic
toria park, London, where men were Dig
glng deep drain and the Snoring gave
way and great pile Of earth fell upon
the workmen. A man stood there with
his hands in his pockets looking at those
who were trying to shovel away the
earth from those who were buried, but
When some one said to the spectator
! Bill, your brother is down there" then
| the spectator threw off his coat and went
! 10 work Wlth an agony of earnestness to
fetch up his brother. What course of
argument could so we'll as that incident
| set forth that when we toll for the saliva
ton of a soul it is brother whom Nv e
are trying to save?
/ A second reading Of my text reminds
me that life is not only a story told but
that it is brief story A long narrative
stretched out indefinitely loses its inter-
est. 1t is generally the story that takes
only "a minute or half a nlinuteI to re-
hearse that arrests the attention. And
that gives additional interest to the story
| OF our life. 1tis a short story Subtract
from our life all the hours of necessaryy
sleep, all the hours of incapacity through
fatigue or illness, all the hours. Of child
hood and youth before we get fairly to
work, and you have abbreviated the story
of life SO much that you. can appreciate
the psalmist's remark when he! saws,
,"Tlhou hasa made my davs'as q Hands
BREADTH, and can appreciate the apostle
James expression when he, compares
life to9"a vapor chat appeareth for lit
tiea, season and then vanishes away, i,
! bodttdoes3notstake long toiteli5 alllthe WI.
/ cissitudes Of 'life-the gladness and the
srlefssf the arrivals and the departure>ss,,.
theesuccessess and the failures, the victo-
| RES and the; defeats, the ups land the
downs. The longer ne live tho shorter
the years. We hardly get over the bewils
dering fatigue of selecting gifts for ehfi-
dren and friends and see, that the pres
ents get Off in time to arrive on the an
spropriate day than we see another adj
Faneins group of holidays e E Autumnal
fruit 50 sharply chases cthc summer har-
vest. and the snow Of the white blossoms
of sprlngtinle come so soon after the.
/ SHOWS of winter.2It is a remark so often
made that it fails to make any impress
sion and the splatitude that calls forth no
reply, ''How rapidly time goes."s
Every century is a big wheel Of years.
which makes a hundred revolutions and
breaks down. Every year is q big wheel
Of mouths and makes twelve revolutions
and then ceases. Biologists and theolog
lans go into Celebrations of guesses as TO
how long the world will probably last:
how long before the volcanic forces will
explode it, or meteoric stroke demolish
1t, or the cold OF long winter freeze out
It's population, or the fires Of a last confa-
grafton burn it. That is all very well.
but so far as the present population of
the earth is concerned the world will last
but a little longer We begin life with
cry and end it with groan, and the
cry and the groan are not far apart.
Life, job says. is like the flight Of a
weayer's shuttle, or, as David intimates
In my text, story quickly told and
laughed at and gone and displaced by
another story, as a tale that is told"
No Time to Waste.
| have to say that if life is so short
we have not much Of it to waste. In all
our engagements 10 o'clock ought to be
10 o'clock and o'clock 3 o'clock and s
o'clock 8 o'clock. I will not waste your
times and you must not waste my time.
My friends, as our life is short, punctu-
atty is one of the important virtues and
lack Of punctuality one of the worst OF
crimes. How many who know nothing
of punctuality! They arrive at the depot
five minutes after the train is gone. They
get to the wharf in time to see that the
steamer has swung 500, yards from the
dock. They are late at church and annoy
all who have promptly taken their places
the late corners not being as good as
she could always be so early at church
replied, st is part of my religion not to
disturb the religion Of others" The tardy
ones mentioned are apt to speak the
word of counsel when it is too late. They
are resolved to repent at some time in the
future, but when they come up '.the door
is shut" They resolve to save a soul
when it is already ruined.
But short as, time is it is long enough
if we rightly employ it. The trouble is
we waste so much time we cannot catch
up. Some of us have been chasing time
we lost at 20 years of age, Or 80 years Of
age, or 40 years Of age, and if we lived
700 years we could never overtalze it. Jo-
seph, poor apprentice, every morning
passed a5eertain store as the church clock !
struck 6 at the moment when the mer-
chant took down his shutters, each Of
them saying "Good morning, sir,'' and
nothing else. What was Joseph's surprise
to find that the merchant had suddenly
died and left him his store and business.
That is not the only instance where a
man has made a fortune by punctuality.
The Significance of Life.