Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-08-13

O.; the corner of the street and watch
the countenances of those who go by,
you will see in most instances there is
an intimatiOn that they are on an err
rand which must be executed at the
earliest moment possible; so you are
jostled hither and thither by business
men, up this ladder with a hOd Of
bricks, out of this bank with a roll Of
bills, digging a cellar, shingling roof,
binding a book, mending a watch.
Work, with it's thousand eyes and
thousand feet and thousand arms, goes
on singing its song, work, work,
work.! while the drums of the mill
beat it, and the steam whistles fife it.
In the carpeted aisles of the forest, in
the woods from which the eternal
shadow is never lifted, on the shore Of
the sea over whose iron coast losses
the tangled foam, sprinkling the crack
ed cliffs with a baptism Of whirlwind
and tempest, is the best place to study
God; but in the rushing, swarming,
raving street is the best place to study
man.
Going down to your place of business
and coming home again, L charge you
look about: See these signs of poverty,
Of wretchedness, of hunger, Of sin, Of
bereavement; and as you go through
the streets, and come back through the
streets, gather up in the arms of your
prayer all the sorrow, all the losses, all
the suffer,ngs, all the bereavements Of
those whom you pass, and present
them in prayer before an all SYM
pathetic God. In the great day Of
eternity there will be thousands of
persons with whom you in this world
never exchanged one word, will rise
up and call you blessed, and there
will be q thousand fingers pointed at
you in heaven, saying, ''That is the
man, that is the woman, who helped
me when I was hungry, and sick, and
wandering, and lost, and heart broken.
That is the man, that is the woman"
and the blessing will come down upon
you as Christ shall say: 81 was hungry
and We fed me, l was naked and We
clothed me, I was sick and in prison
and We visited me; inasmuch as We did
it to these poor waits of the streets,
We did it unto me-"
brotherhood of Man.
Again, in all cities [ am impressed
with the fact that all classes and con-
ditions Of society must commingle.
We sometimes cultivate wicked ex-
cluSiveness. Intellect despises ignO-
rance. Refinement will have nothing
to do with bOOriShness. Gloves hate
the sunburned hand, and the high
forehead despises the fat head, and
the trim hedgerow will have nothing
to do with the wild copsewood, and
Athens hates Nazareth. This ought
not so to be. I like this democratic
principle of the gospel Of Jesus Christ
which recognizes the fact that we
stand before God On one and the same
platform. Do not take on any airs.
Whatever position you have gained in
society, you are nothing but a man,
born Of the same Parent, regenerated
by the same Spirit, cleansed in the
same blood. to lie down in the same
dust, to get up in the same reSurrec-
ton. 1t is high time that we all ac-
knOWl9dged not only the FatherhOOd
of God. but the brotherhood of man.
Again. in all cities I am impressed
with the fact that it is very hard
right and to get to heaven. Infinite
Temptations spring upon us from
places of public cOncourse. Amid SO
much affiUence, how much temptation
to c0vetousness and to be discOntented
with our humble lot! Amid so many
opportunities for Overreaching, what
temptation to eXtOrtiOn! Amid SO
much display. what temptation to van
ity. Amid so many saloons of strong
drink, what allurement to dissipation!
In the maelStrOms and hell gates Of the
street. how many make quick and
eternal shipWreck! If a man-of-War
comes back from a battle, and is towed
into the nav. yard, we go down to look
at the SDlintered SparS and count the
bullet holes, and look with patriotic
admiral ton on the flag that foated in
victory from the masthead But that
man is more of a curiosity who has
gone through 80 years of the sharp
shooting of business life, and yet sails
on, victor over the temptations of the
street. Oh. how many have gone
down under the pressure, leaving not
so much as a patch Of canvas to tell
where they persisted. They never had
any peace. Their dishonesties kept
tolling in their ears. If l had an ak,
and could split open the beams of that
fine house. perhaps 1 would find in
the very heart of it a skeleton. In
his very best wine there is a smack
0f~poor mans sweat. Oh! is it strange
THAT when man has devOured
Eidows' houses he is disturbed with
All the forces Of nature
are against him. The floods are ready
to drown him, and the earthquake to
swallow him, and the fires to consume
him. and the lightning to smite him.
Aye. the angels of God are on the
street and in the dav when the croWnS