St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-09-15
CITY AND COUNTRY.
Dr.. Talmage Talks Of the Good
Done by the Former.
He Says II II the Birthplace Of Civlll-
sation and Not NeeessAfii}
Evil-go1e Advice to
the Young.
Copyright. 1900. by Louis Klopsch.l
Washington,

Copyright 1900 BY Louis Klopsch.l
Washington.
From st. Petersburg, the Russian
capital where he was cordially re
ceived by the emperor and empress
and the empress dowager, DR.. Tai
mage sends this disco arse, in which he
shows the mighty good that may be
done by the cities, and also the vast
evil they may do by their allurements
to the unsuspecting and the unguard-
ed. The text is Zechariah 1:17. 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 ru-
raj 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;
it is only on 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 a quarter of beef az
being tender when it is tough, and to
as bad an extent as the citizen, the
merchant prevaricates about calicoes
or silks or hardware.
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
rs to gossip its heaven is . country
village. Everybody knows everybody's
business better than he knows 1t him.
self. The grocery store or the black
smith shop in day and night is the
grand depot for masculine title tat
tie, and there are always in the viii
lage q half dozen women who have
their sunbonnets hanging near, 80
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 must the pillow run too
sharply against the yardstick.
Cain was the founder of the first
city, and suppose it took after him
in morals. 1t takes = city q long
time to escape from the character Of .
founder. Where the founders of .
city are criminal exiles, the filth, the
vice, the prisons, are the shadow Of
those founders. It will take centuries
for New York to get over the good
influence Of the pieus founders Of that
city-the founders whose prayers
went up in the streets where now
banks discount and brokers bargain
and companies declare dividends and
smugglers swear custom house lies,
and above the roar of the wheels and
the crack OF the auctioneer's mallet
ascends the ascription: sWe worship
thee, o almighty dollar!" The old
church that used to stand on Wall
street is to this day throwing its
blessing on the scene Of traffic and on
all the ships folding their white wings
in the harbor. In other days people
gatheredin cities for defense-noneb 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 any
where. people gather in the cities for
purposes of rapid gain.
Cities are mot evil necessarily, as
some have argued. They have been
the birthplace of civilization. In them
popular liberty has lifted its voice.
Witness Genoa and Pisa and Venice.
After the death of Alexander the
Great among his papers were found ex-
tensive plans of cities. some to be
built in Europe, some to be built in
Asia. The cities in Europe were to be
occupied by Asiatics; the cites in Asia
were to be occupied, according to his
plans, by Europeans, and so there
should be commingling and fra
ternity and q kindness and . good
will between the continents and be-
tween the cities. So there always
ought to be. The strangest thing in
my comprehension il that there
should be chickering's and rivalries
among our American cities. New York
must stop caricaturing Philadelphia,
and Philadelphia must stop picking at
New York, and certainly the CONT
nent is large enough for st. Paul and
Minneapolis. What is good for one
city is good for all the cities. Here
il the great highway of our national
prosperity. On that highway Of ma
tional prosperity walk the cities.
A city with large forehead and
great brain-that is Boston; a city
with deliberate step and calm manner
that is Philadelphia; city with its
poke. full Of change-that il New
York; two cities going with rush
that astounds the continent-they are
St. Louis and Chicago; q city that
takes its wife and children along with
it-that is Brooklyn. Cincinnati,
Louisville, Pittsburgh, all the cities
OF the north and all the cities Of the
south, some distinguished for one
thing, some for another, one for pro-
fessional ability, another for aflluence,
another for fashion, but none to be
spared. What advantages one advan-
tages all. What damages Boston COM
mon damages Washington square.
Laurel Hill, Mount Auburn, Green
wood, 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 a confratcrnity. I cannot un-
derstand how there should 60 on bick-
erings and rivalries. plead for =
higher style of brotherhood or sis
terhood among the cities.
But while there are great differences
in some respects have to tell you
that all cities impress upon me and
ought to impress upon you three
or four very important lessons. al Of
them agreeing in the same thing. It
does not make any difference in what
part Of the country we walk the
streets of . great city there is one
lesson think which ought to strike
every intelligent Christian man, and
that is the world is a scene Of toll and
struggle. Here and there you find
man in the street who has his arms
folded and who seems to have no par
ticular errand, but il you will stand at