The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1901-03-21
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
eRIN rER,s INK THE. SUBJECT
LAST SUNDAY.

Good Influence of Newspapers and Books
The Public Conscience IL easily
Awakensd N Letter Writin: y Good
Habit for the Young.
Copyright. 1901, by Louis Klopscb. n. W
Washington, March 17.-In new
way and from peculiar text DR.. Tai
mage Mscourses of good influences
Drought to bear for the worlds i'm
provement The text is Ezekiel ix.. Q.
AND one man among them was cloth
ed with linen. with writer's inkhorn
by his side.'
fhe poem from which my text is
eaKen Is epic, lyric, dramatic, weird
ana overpowering. 1t is more than
Homeric or Dantesque. No one ever
mad such divine dreams as Ezekiel. In
vision this prophet had seen wrath
iul angels, destroying angels, each with
sword, but in my text he sees a mer-
clIul angel with an inkhorn. The re-
ceptacle for the ink in olden time was
maze out OF the horn of COW or a
ram or a roebuck. as now it is made
out OF metal or glass, and therefore
was called the inkhorn, as now we say
inkstand. We have all spoken of the
power OF the sword, of the power of
wealth. OF the power of office, of the
power OF social influence but today
speak OF the power for good or evil in
the inkstand. 1t is upon your tables,
no!olng black or blue or red liquid
It is fortress. an armory, a gateway,
a ransom or a demolition. "You mis-
lake., says some one; at is the pen
mat has the power" No, my friend
what Is the influence of a dry pen?
fass 1t up and down sheet of paper,
ana 1t leaves no mark. 1t expresses
no opinion. 1t gives no warning. 1t
spreads no intelligence. 1t is the liquid
wnlcn the pen dips out Of the inkstand
tnat does the work. Here and there a
celebrated pen, with which Declara-
ton of independence or Magma
Charta or treaty was signed has been
Kept in literary museum or national
archives, but for the most part the
pens, whether. as of old, made out Of
+ reed or later Of wing OF bird or still
later OF metallic substance, have dis
appeared, while the liquid which the
pens took from the inkstand remains
In scrolls which. if put together, would
De large enough to enwrap the round
world. For practical, for moral. for re-
l1gious, for eternal purposes. speak
OF the mission of "the writer's ink
( horn"
Writing to Old Folks at Home.
Q We who have with recent years set
up homes of your own, out of the new
nome lnkstand write often to the old
folks. If they be still living! A letter
means more to them than to us, who
are amid the activities of life and to
whom postal correspondence is more
than we can manage. They await the
coming of the letter. Undertake no
great thing in life without their adj
vice. Old people for counsel; young
people for action. Even though through
decadence they may he incompetent to
give vssiuabtfe OH por.sat-
affairs. compliment them by asking
their counsel. 1t will do them good. 1t
will make their last days exhilarant.
Make that home inkstand a source of
re1uyenescence to those who are near
the terminus of the earthly journey.
Domestic correspondence is not at
tended to at once. The newspaper,
joining with the telegraph, bears the
tldlngs Of all the neighborhood. but
-swiftest revolving wheel of modern
printing press and quickest fash along
the electric wires can never do the
sympathetic work of the home ink
stand. AS the merciful angel of my
text appeared before the brazen altar
With the inkhorn at his side in Eze-
'kiel's vision, so let the angel of filial
kindness appear at the affairs Of the
old homestead.
Tho Authors Responsibilities
II; Furthermore, the inkstand of the
business man has its mission. Between
now and the hour of your demise, O
commercial man, professional man,
there will not be a day when you can
not dip from the inkhorn a message
that will influence temporal and eter-
nal destiny. There is rash young
man running into wild speculation, and
with as much ink as you can put on
the pen at one time you may save him
from the Niagara rapids of ruined
life. On the next street there is a
young man started in business who,
4 through, lack Of patronage or mistake
in purchase of goods or want of adapta-
ton, is on the brink Of collapse. One
line of ink from your pen will save him
from being an underling all his life
and start him on a career that will win
him fortune which will enable him
to become an endower of libraries. an
opener of art galleries and builder of
churches.
. Furthermore, great are the respon-
sibilities of the authors inkhorn. All
the people, or nearly all the people,
read; and that which they read decides
their morals or immorals, their pros
perity or failure. their faith or their
unbelief, their purity or corruption,
their heaven or hell. Show me any
{ mans library, great or small, and after
y examining the books, finding those
with leaves UNCUT. but displayed for
sake Of the binding, and those worn
with frequent perusal. and without
ever seeing the man or knowing his
name, l will tell you his likes and his
,5jsIiJ,ae. to r,nrolc Onod or had nr