The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1900-01-22
OUR TALK OF OTHERS
DR.. rALMAae PoRTRAvs TWO NNbs
OF eUsYBopIEs.

OF euSYBODIES.
Some People Seem to Have the Gift
of EVIL speech-How We May Have
q Benevolent Interest In the Affairs
Of others.
copyright. Louis Klopsch, 1901 -
WASHINGTON, Jan. 21.--In this dis
course DR.. Talmage shows how we should
interest ourselves in the affairs of others
for their benefit. but never for their dam
age; text, Peter, ", IL, "a busybody
in other mems matters"
Human nature Is the same in all ages.
In the second century of the worlds ex-
istence people had the same characteris.
tics as people In the nineteenth century,
the only difference being that they had
the characteristics for longer time. 1t
was 500 years Of goodness or 500 years Of
meanness instead Of goodness or mean
ness for 40 or 50 years. Well, Simon Pc
ter, who was a keen observer of what
was going on around him, one day caught
sight Of q man whose characteristics
were severe inspection and blatant criti-
cism of the affairs belonging to people for
whom he had no responsibility and with
the hand once Drowned and hardened by
fishing tackle drew this portrait for all
subsequent ages: "A busybody in other
mems matters"
That kind of person has been trouble
maker in every country since the world
stood. Appointing himself to the work
Of exploration and detection, he goes
forth mischief making. He generally be-
gins by reporting the infclicity discover
ed. He Is the advertising agent Of infrm-
tiles and domestic inharmony and oc-
currences that but for him would never
have come to the public eye or ear. He
feels that the secret ought to be hauled
out into light and heralded. II he can get
one line Of It into the newspapers that he
feels to be noble achievement to start
with. But he must not let it stop. He
whispers 1t to his neighbours, and they, in
turn, whisper 1t to their neighbors until
the whole town Is a-buzz and agog. You
can no more catch ii or put it down than
you can malaria. II Is in the air and
| on the wing and af1oat. Taken by itself
1t seems OF little importance, but after a
hundred people have handled It and each
has given it an additional twist 1t be-
comes story In size and shape marvel.
Gus. II II can be kept going, after awhile
| It will be large enough to call the atten.
ton of The courts or the presbyteries or
conferences or associations. The most Of
| the scandals abroad are the work Of the
one whom Peter In the text styles "a
busy body In other mems matters"
First. notice that such mission is most
Updopsro hlh hnna,yen vyn oil poouiro a1l
the time we can get to take care of our
own affairs. To carry ourselves through
the treaeherous straits of this life de-
mands that we all the time keep our hand
on the wheel Of our own craft. While, as
shall show you before get through, we
all have n mission of kindness to others
we have no time to waste In doing that
which Is damaging to others.
Winding Our Own Business.
There Is our worldly calling which
must be looked after or It will become
failure. Who succeeds in anything with
out concentrating all his energies upon
that one thing? All those who try to do
many things 60 to pieces, either as to
their health or their fortune. They go on
until they pay 10 cents on the dollar, or
pay NhCit UuOy IHtO luC SluNCs wv
not manage the affairs Of others and keep
our own affairs prosperous. While we
are inquiring how precarious is the BUSH
ness Of another merchant and finding out
how many notes he has unpaid and how
soon he will probably be wound up or
make an assignment or hear the sheriff's
hammer smite his counter our own at
fairs are getting mixed up aud endangcr-
ed. While we are criticising our ncighbor
for his poor crops we are neglecting the
fertilization of our own fields or allowing
the weeds to choke our own corn. While
we are trying to extract the mote from
our neighbours eye we fall under the
weight of the beam in our own eye. Those
men disturbed by the faults of others are
themselves the depot at which whole
trains of faults arrive and from which
whole trains Of faults start. The men
who have succeeded in secular things or
religious things will tell you that they
have no time for hunting out the deficits
Of others. On the way to their counting
room they may have heard that firm in
the same line Of business was in trouble,
and they said, Sorry, very sorry" but
they went in and sat down at their table
anu uptuGu lhG pVOh NohttihihS i"i
statement Of their affairs to see il they
were in peril Of being caught in similar
cyclone.
Gadders about town, with hands in
pockets and hats set far back on the
head. waiting to hear baleful news. are
failures now or will be failures. Chris
tan men and women who go round with
mouth and looks full of Interrogation
points to find how some other church
member is given to cxaggeraton or
drinks too much or neglccts his home for
greater outside attractions have them
selves so little grace in their hearts that
no one suspects they have any. In pro.
portion as people are consecrated and
holy and useful they are lenient with
others and disposed to say: wait until
we hear the other side Of that matter. |
cannot believe that charge made against |
that man or woman until we have some |
better testimony than that given by these |
scandal mongers | guess it is lie"
No Time For Judging Other People.
IL God had given us whole weeks and
months and days, with nothing to do but |
gauge and measure and scrutinize the at |
fairs Of others, there might be some ex-
cuse for such employment, but do not
know anyone who has such surplus Of !
time and energy and qualification that he |
can afford much Of the time to sit rs
coroner upon the dead failures of others.
| can imagine that an astronomical crank
could get SO absorbed in examining the
spots on the sun as to neglect clearing
the spots off bis own character. A very
successful man was asked how Ia. had
accumulated such vast fortune. He re.
piled, ~ have accumulated about one
half of my property by attending strictly
TO my businessshd the other half by let
ting other peoples alone"
Furthermore, we are incapacitatcd for
The supervisal Of others because we can.