The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-05-11
LESSONS OF MOVING.
DR.. TALMAGE breaches ON SPRING
TIME CHANGES OF RESIDENCE.
A Timely Discourse in Which the
Need OF Patience and Equipoise is
Set Forth-Moving Into the Fathers
House.

This discourse Of DR.. Talmage Is
pertinent at this time OF year, when
many people are moving from house
to house, it teaches lessons OF pa
thence and equipoise in very trying cir
cumstances; text, Philippians Nv, IL,
at know both how TO be abashed, and
I know how to abound"
Happy Paul, Gould you really &C
commodate yourself to all circum-
stances in life? Could you go up with
out pride, and could you come down
without e~xasperation? Teach the
same lesson to us all.
We are at a season of the year when
vast populations in all u cities are
changing residence. Having been born
in a house, and having all our nves
lived in a house, we do not nave Iuii
appreciation Of what a house is. II Is
the growth of thousands Of yeas. The
human race first lived in clefts or
rocks. the beasts of the field moving
out of the cavernS to let the human
race move in. The shepherds n the
robbers still live in caverns OF the
earth. The ~troglodytes are a race
which to this day prefer the caVerns
to a house. They are warm, they are
large, they are very comfortable, they
are less subject to violent changes OF
neat and cold. We come on along
down inthe history of the race, n
we come to the lodge, which was a
home quilt out Of twisted tree branch
es. We come further on down in the
history of the race, and We come to
the tent, which was a home built with
a round pole in the center and skins
of animals reaching out in all direc-
lions, mats on the floor for the people
to sit on.
much invention, came to build a mouse
which was a space by
broad stones, against which n earth
was heaped from the outside. The
roof was made of chalk and gypsum
and Goals and stones and ashes pound
ed together. After awhile the porch
was born, after awhile the gate. Then
hundreds of years passed on, and in
the fourteenth centeury the modern
chimney was constructed. The old
Hebrews had openings in their houses
from which the smoke might escape
If il preferred, but there was not in
ducement offered for it to leave until
the modern chimney. Wooden keys
opened the door, or the keyhole was
large enough to allow the finger to be
inserted for the lifting of the latch or
the sliding of it. There being no Win
dowS, the people were dependent Tor
light upon latticework, over which a
thin veil was drawn down in time OF
winter to keep out the elements. Win
dow glass was, so late as two or three
hundred years ago., in England and
Scotland so great a luxury that only
the very wealthiest could afford it. A
hand mill and an wen and a few leath-
ern bottles and some rude pitchers
and plates made up the entire equip
ment of the culinary department. But
the home planted in the old cave or at
the foot of a tent pole has grown n
enlarged and spread abroad until we
have modern house, with its branches
and roots and vast girth and height
and depth of cOmfor and accommo-
datiOn.
GOOD HOUSES TO LIVE IN.
Architecture in other days busted
itself chiefly in planning n building
triumphal arches and basilicas n
hippodromes and mausoleums and col
umns, while they allowed the people
for residences to burrOw like musk
rats in the earth. St. Sophia'S of Con-
stantinople. ST. Marks of Venice. St.
Peters of Rome are only the Raphael
ed walls against which lean the
squalor and the pauperism OF many
nations. l rejoice that, while our mod
ern architects give US grand capitols
in which to legislate and grand court
houses in which to justice
and grand churches in which to wor-
ship God they also give much of their
time to the planning of comfortable
abodeS for our tired population. 1
have not SO much interest in the arch
of Trajan at Beneventum as I have
in the wish that all h people may
have a comfortable shelter, nor have
] so much interest in the temple of
Jupiter Olympus at thens as I ave
in the hope that every man may have
an altar for the worship of the true
God in his own house. And i have
not so much interest in the science Of
ceramics, which goes crazy over a
twisted vase, or a queer handled jug
in use 5000 years ago., OF a pitcher
out of which the ancient pharaohs
poured their drunken debauch, as I
have that every man have on his table
a plate with plenty Of healthful food
and an appetite to attack it.
Thank God for our home-not mere
ly the house you live in now, but the
house you were born in and the many
houses o have resided in since you
began your earthly residence. When
you go home today count over the
number Of those houses in which you
have resided, and you will be surpriS-
ed. Once in awhile you will find a man
who lives in the house where his father
was born and his grandfather was
OOTu ana his great STduuldlHeT was
born, but that is not one out of a
thousand cases. I have not been more
perambulatory than most people, but
i was amazed when I came to count
up the number Of residences 1 have oc-
cupied. The fact is, there is in this
world no such thing as permanent res
idence.
In private vehicle and not in a rail
car, from which you can see but little,
j rode from New York to Yonkers and
Tarrytown, on the banks of the Hud-
son-the finest ride on the planet for
a man who wants to see palatial resi-
dences in fascinating scenery. 1t was
in the early spring and before the
gentlemen of New York had gone out
to their country residences. 7 rode
into the grounds to admire the gard
ems, and the overseer Of the place told
meeand they all told me-that all the
houses had been sold or that they
wanted to sell them, n there was
literally no exception, although I call
ed at many places, just admiring the
gardens and the grounds n the pa