The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1900-08-16
TALMAGE's SERMON.
HE TALKS OF THE GOOD DONE
BY CITIES.
They Are the Birthplace OF Civilization
and Are Not Necessarily Evil -
The Farmer as Dishonest as the
Merchant.

Tue mlSQCy SOOu ludI uldy D6 QOQe Dy
the cities, and also the vast evil they
may do by their allurements to the I'M
suspecting and the unguarded. The
text is zechariah i. IL, "My cities
through prosperity shall yet be spread
abroad"
The city is no worse than the coun-
try. The vices of the metropolis are
more evident than the vices of the
rural districts because there are more
to be bad if they wish to be. The
merchant is as good as the farmer.
There is no more cheating in town
than out Of town-no worse cheating;
1t is only on a larger scale. The coun-
tryman sometimes prevaricates about
the age of the horse that he sells, about
the size Of the bushel with which he
measures the grain, about the peaches
at the bottom of the basket as being
as large as those at the top, about the
quarter of beef as being tender when
it is tough, and to as bad an extent
as the citizen. the merchant, prevari-
Gates about calicoes or silks or hard
ware.
And as to villages, think that in
some respects they are worse than
the cities because they copy the vices
OF the cities in the meanest shape, and
as to gossip it's heaven is country
village. Everybody knows everybody's
business better than he knows it him
self. The grocery store or the black
smith shop by day and night is the
grand depot for masculine little tattle,
and there are always in the village
q half dozen women who have their
sunbonnets hanging near. so that at
the first item of derogatory news they
can fly out and cackle it all over the
town. Countrymen must not be too
hard in their criticism of the citizen,
nor nust the pillow run too sharply
against the yardstick.
Cain was the founder of the first
city, and l suppose it took after him
In morals. 1t takes city a long while
prisons are the shadow of those foun-
der. Where the founders of city are
~ AAAAAAoA ShlAGSs IlC l14l11, IuC WIG, l11C
prisons are the shadow of their foun-
ders. 1t will take centuries for New
York to get over the good influence of
the pious founders of that city-the
founders whose prayers went up in the
streets where now banks discount and
brokers bargain and companies de-
clare dividends and smugglers swear
custom house lies. and above the roar
of the wheels and the crack of the auc-
tioneer's mallet ascends the ascrip-
tioH. 1--WE worship thee, o thou al
mighty dollar" The old church that
used to stand on Wall street is to this
day throwing it's blessing on the scene
of traffic, and on all the ships folding
their white wings in the harbor. In
other days people gathered in cities
for defense-none but the poor, who
had nothing to be stolen, lived in the
country, but in these times, when
through civilization and Christianity it
is safe to live anywhere, people gather
) In the cities for purposes of rapid
gain.
Highway of Prosperity.
Cities are not evil necessarily. as
some have argued. They have been
the birthplace of civilization. In them
popular liberty has lifted it's voice.
Witness Genoa and Pisa and Venice.
After the death of Alexander the Great
among his papers were found extensive
plans of cities, some to be built in Eu-
rope, some to be built in Asia. The
cities in Europe We're to be occupied
by Asiatics; the cities in Asia were to
be occupied, according to his plan, by
Europeans, and so there should be a
commingling and fraternity and
continents and between the cities. So
there always ought to be. The strang-
est thing in my comprehension is that
there should be chickering's and rival
ries among our American cities. New
York must stop caricaturing Philadel-
phia, and Philadelphia must stop pick
ing at New York. and certainly the
continent is large enough for st. Paul
and Minneapolis. What is good for
one city is good fer all the cities. Here
is the great highway of our national
prosperity. ca that highway of ma
tional prosperity walk the cities.
A city with large forehead and great
brain-that is Boston; city with de-
liberate step and calm manner-that
is Philadelphia; city with it's pocket
full Of change-that is New York; two
cities going with rush that astounds
the continent-they are st. Louis and
Chicago: city that takes it's wife and
children along with it-that is Brook
Ign. Cincinnati, Louisville, Pittsburg,
all the cities of the north and all the
cities of the south. some distinguished
for one thing, some for another, one
for professional ability. another for
affluence. another for fashion, but not
one to be spared. What advantages one
advantages all. What damages Boston
Common damages Washington square.
Laurel Hill, Mount Auburn, Greenwood,
weep over the same grief. The statue
!of Benjamin Franklin in New York
greeting the bronze statue of Edward
Everett in Boston. All the cities
confraternity. cannot understand
how there should go on chickering's and
rivalries. plead for higher style
of brotherhood or sisterhood among
the cities.
Important Lessons.