The Indianapolis world., 1900-01-27

peOJlt uitu lHe same cIlaFdCIeflStlcS a.
people in the nineteenth century. tn,
only difference being that they ha(
the characteristics for a longer time
1t was 500 years Of goodness or 50t
years of meanness instead of goodness!
or meanness for 40 or so years. Well
Simon Peter, who was a keen Observ
er of what was going on around him
one day caught sight of a man whose
characteristics were severe inspection
and blatant criticism of the affairs be
longing to people for whom he haC
no responsibility, and with the hand
once Drowned and hardened by fishing
tackle drew this portrait for all subse
quent ages, "a busybody in other
mems matters"
First. notice that such n mission is
most undesirable, because we all re.
Quire 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 l get through, we all have
mission of kindness to others, we
have no time to waste in doing that
which is damaging to others.
There is our worldly calling. which
must be looked after or it will become
a 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
either as to their health or their for
tune. They go on until they pay 10
cents on the dollar or pay their body
into the grave. We can not manage
the affairs Of others and keep our own
affairs prosperous.
Furthermore. we are incapacitated
for the supervisal of others because
we can not see all sides of the affair
reprehended. People are generally not
so much to blame as we suppose. It
is never right to do wrong, but there
may be alleviatiOnS. There may have
arisen a conjunction Of circumstances
which would have flung any one of us.
The world gives only one side of the
transaction, and that is always the
worst side. That defaulter at the bank
who loaned money he ought not to
have loaned did it for the advantage
of another, not for his own. That
young man who purloined from his
employer did so because his mother
was dying for the lack of medicine.
That young woman who went wrong
did not get enough wages to keep her
from starving to death. Most people
who make moral shipwreck would do
right in some cXigency, but they have
2"t the ccurH &c to say NO"
Furthermore, we make ourselves q
disgusting spectacle when we become
busybOdies. What n diabolical enter
prise those undertake who are ever
looking for the moral lapse or down
fall of others! AS the human race is
most imperfect race. all such hunt
ers find plenty of game. There have
been sewing societies in churches
which tore to pieces more regulations
than they made garments for the poor.
There is not an honest man in Wash
ington or New York or any other city
who can not be damaged by such in
fernalism. In a village where 1 once
lived steamboat every day came to
tire wharf. An enemy of the steam
boat company asked one day. 81 won
der if that steamboat Is s~safe?" The
man who heard the question soon said
to his neighbor, There is some sus
picion about the safety of that steam
boat" And the next one who got hold
of it said. "There is an impression
abroad that there will soon be an acci-
dent on that steamer" Soon all that
community began to say, "That steam
er is very unsafe" And as q conse-
quence we all took the stage rather
than risk our lives on the river. The
steamer was entirely sound and safe.
but one interrogation in regard to her
started suspicion that went on until
the steamboat company was ruined.
Precisely so noble regulations and
good enterprises and useful STYLES of
business are slain by Interrogation
points. Can you imgaine any creature
so loathsore as the one who feels
himself or herself called to question
all integrity, all ability. all honesty. all
character? BuZZards looking for car
rion.
All people make mistakes - say
things that afterward they are sorry
for and miss opportunity of uttering
the right word and doing the right
thing. But when they say their pray
CA . CT LIS ~ AbCGC dCIGCIS are sure 10
be mentioned somewhere between the
name of the Lord, for whose mercy
they plead, and the amen that closes
the supplicatiOn. THAT has not ! cen
my observation" says some one. Well.
l am sorry for you, my brother. nv
sister. What an awful crowd YOU
must have got into! Or, as is more
probable, you are one of the characters
that my text sketches. You have not
been hunting for partridges and quail.
but for vultures. You have been mi
croscopiZing the worlds faults. You
have been down in the marshes when
you ought to have been on the I'D
lands. l have caught you at last. You
are "a busybody in other mems mat
ters."
The habit I deplore is apt to show
itself in the visage. A kindly man
who wishes everybody we'll soon DEM
onstrates his disposition in his looks.
His features may fracture all the laws
or handsome physiognomy. but God
puts into that mans eyes and in the
curve of his nostrils and in the upper
and lower lip the signature of divine
approval And you see it at glance,