Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1901-03-20
1kY1I|lA(NA21 EzSt1l1)17


sionary by reading "Ihe Voyages of Cap
tain Cook" John Wesley's life was shap-
ed by reading Jeremy Taylor's Holy
Living and Dying" There are books in
your library or lying on your parlor table
or secreted in some place by your child
that will decide for two worlds, this anu
the next, the character of its reader
While passing, as in parenthesis, | adj
wise: Read books Of poetry, that the bells
in your soul may be set a-chiming. Read
history, that you may know how wrong
doing in time comes TO defeat and right
eousness 10 victory. Read books OF law,
that you may see that anarchy has no
right in a world so precisely governed.
Read books of wit and humor. that you
may experience the healthfulness of
laughter. Read books Of religion. that
you may appreciate how small is the yes
tibule of time compared with the palaces
of eternity.
The Influence of Books.
Through books we sit down and talk
with the mightiest spirits of all H. ages.
Oh, the books. Thank God for ne books.
and thanks be to all the ar .norsi May
the inkhorn ever be under Iyine inspira-
toni
When a bad book is printed you do well
to blame the publisher, but most of all
blame the author. The malaria rose from
his inkstand. The poison that caused the
moral or spiritual death dropped in the
fluid from the tip OF his pen. The manur
facturer of that ink could tell you that it
is made of tannin and salt of iron and
nutgalls and green vitriol, but many an
author has dipped from his inkstand
hypercriticism and m.leyolence and
SANDER and salaciousness as from foun-
tain of death. But blessed be God for
the authors inkstand in 10000 studies
which are dedicated to pure intelligence,
highest inspiration and grandest pnr-
pose. They are the inkstands out of
which viii be dipped the redemption of
the world The destroying angels with
their swords seen in Ezekiers vision will
be finally overcome ~ lhI :rerciful angel
with the writer's inkhorn.
Among tine most important are the edi
torial and reportorial inkstands. The
thick ink on the printers roller is diff
ferent from the ink into which the writer
di' ) bis pen and is compounded of lin
SEED oil and lampblack and made thick
by boiling or burning. But the editorial
Fad reportorial pens are responsible for
hat which the printers ink roller inn
presses upon the flying sheets Where
one man reads a book 5000 men read
newspaper. What change of opinion in
regard to the printing press since the
day when the great Addison, wrote con-
corning it. "One cannot out be sorry that
such pernicious machiue is erected
among them" and when, under the reign
of Charles ii, only one newspaper, the
London Gazette, was allowed to be
printed, and that only on Mondays and
Thursdays. Not until the judgment day,
when the forces which have influenced
the world shall be compared and an
nounced, will be known the power of the
modern newspaper. With its telephone
and telegraphic annexes, all the world
twice a day passes in review. The man
ner in which continental and information
al events are put before US makes deep
impression. We gaze on all the confla-
grations and watch the pursuit of all the
desperadoes and hear the crash of all the
collisions and rejoice in all the discov-
cries and thank God for all the noble
, achievements. After the editor has cor
the reporter has put into form his last
stenographic report of swift utterance
or announced in best form some great
mHniicence or sketched in most forceful
style some brave rescue by firemen or
lifebeat, he has a right to 20 home feel
ing that he has done something worth do
ing. something that his conscience will
approve and God will bless.
Newspaper mpressious.
A wrong theory is abroad that the
newspaper impression is ephemeral. Be
cause we read and cast it aside in an
hour and never see it again we are not to
Judge that we are parted from its infu-
ence. No volume of 800 pages makes
such impression upon the people as the
newspaper. 1t is not what we put away
carefully upon the shelf and once in
awhile refer to that has as close relation
to our welfare as the story of what the
woi Id is now doing or has recently done.
Yesterday has more to do with to-day
than something occurring a century pre-
vious. The engineers who now guide the
rail trains. the sea captains who now
command the ships. the architects who
now design the buildings. the batons thar
now control the orchestras. the legislators
who now make he laws, the generals
who now march the hosts, the rulers who
now govern the nations. the inkhorns
that now food the world with intelli-
gence--these are what we have most to
do with.
You have all seen what is called indeli-
Bile ink, which is weak solution of sill
yer Mn: ate, and that ink you cannot rub
out or wash out Put it there, and it
stays. Well, thu liquid Of the editorial
and reportorial inkstands is an indelible
ink. 1t puts upon the souls of the pass
ing generations characters of light or
darkness that time cannot wash out and
eternity cannot efface. Forever indelible.
Be careful how You use it. The impress
sion made with it will be resplendent or
repusve on the day for which all other
days were made.
But how shall | speak of the inkhorn
Of the worlds eyangelization? Oh how
many loving and brilliant and glorious
pens have been dipped into it. Thomas
kempis dipped into it and brought up
his Limitation of Christ" Horace Bush
nell dipped into it and brought mp "Ev-
cry Mans Life a Plan of God Thomas
Bnney dipped into it and brought up
his Weigh House Chapel Discourses.'
Conybeare dipped into it and brought up
she Life aud Epistles of Paul" Arch
bishop Trench dipped into it and brought
up the "Epistles to the Seven Churches"
Stuart Robinson dipped into it and
brought W Discusses of Redemption"
Austin Phelps dipped INFO it and brought
up THE Sill Hour" Mark Hopkins
dipped into it md brought up Eylde ices