The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1901-03-29
MIS- J / q 1NKlH0RN
a as IS AZ m E N & b r q Hgs 9s,
/ Power fol. ood 3 Evil Its Soontsnitsi
I i ~ # a., May Weld.
DE- T7ainnge Discourscsion InHucn oes
SIS Drought to Hear for w orId,s
], \, Mnproye ent--T InIShorn


lcopyslg ~, slsol by II.euis ,1Sl lopsoh IN VI
@ 81 81 IL N, ia shiti etons Mafpi.17.
81 In n newway and frona pecu1iartext
Dr. Ialr9ag disc coArscae IS ca 20 cd influ7
orlcesSb ohgh ghttto bear fdr 'bhe worlds
n impr roySment. HPhe text is Ezekiel o:2:
81 And one man among them was
clothed with linon, with writer's ink
s3S horn by his side."
The poem from which my text Is
taken is epic, lyric, dramatic, weird
end oyerpowering. 1t is moro than
Homefio or Dantesque, No one over,
had such divine dreams 'as Ezekiel. In
81 g vision this. prophet had seen wrath
tul angels, destroying angels, each
with q sword, but III my text he sees
Tho receptacle for tho ink in olden
IS kime AWas made out Of tho horn Of q
4 COW or a ram or q Sroobuclt, as now it
1 u made out of metal or glass, and
therefore was called tho inlehorn, ns
now wc say inkstand. Wo hayo oil
4 spoken Of the power Of tho sword, of
Office, of the power Of social influence,
but to-day I speak Of tho power For
good or evil In tho inkstnnd. It is
i. upon youg tables, holding a. black or
bluo Srlred liquid. It isa fortress, an
armory, q gateway, u ransom or q
81 demolition. "You mistnke," says
some one; ut is tho pen that has the
powcr." No my friend. What is tho
influence Of dry pen? Pass it mp and
& down sheet Of papcr, and it leaves
y no mark. 1t expresses no opinion. / t
gives no.warning. 1t spreads no intel
, ligence. It is tho liquid which the pen
dips out Of tho inl1stand that does tho
work. Here md there n celebrated
G pen, with which Declaration Of Inde-
pendence or ai$Magna Charta or q
treay was Signed his been'lsept inllit-
erary. museum or national archives,
but for tho most part tho pens,
whetheg, as Of old, made out. Of reed or
. etiU later; or wing of,bird or. still later,
OF nlettaiiio substance, have disnp-,
peared, while tho liquid which tho
pens took from the inkstand remains
in SCROLLS which If put together.
would be largo enough to enwrap tho
world. For practical, for moral, for
religioIs, for }ctornaf purposes, j
speak Of the mission Of "the writer's
fnl1horn."
First. / mention that which is pure
ly domestic. The inkstand is in every
household. It awaits tho opportunity
TO express affection or coincidence or
ndvico, Father uses It; mother uses
q 1t; the Bons and daughters use it. It
tells the home news; it announces the
marriage, the birth, tho departure,
tho accident, the last sickness, tho
Il death. That homo inkstnnd, what a
II mission it has already executed and
what other mission will it yet fulfill!
May Il stand Off from all insincerity
and oil querulousncss. Let it tell only
that which 1t would be we'll to read
after the hand that wrote 1t and the
hand thntlreceived it can writo no
moro. Dip]oft Of that inkstand only
that which is paternal, maternal, f1lial,
sisterly,t brotherly. Sacred let it bo
not Q what arc times called tho
5f housaholds gods,,, but to the one and
til d only God WRo Hsct tteth the solitary
An familiss," Dip out Of IT. solace for
parentHsons thes descending grade Of
years.. and sonc6urag for those
who arc climbing tho sleeps. II
Turthermore,s the inltstand of the
n business man has its mission. Be-
tweon now and tho hour Of your de-
nnise, 0 commercial man, o profcs-
sional man there will not bo a day
whanf you cahn6ts dip from tho ink
horn Q mebsage that will influence
* temporal and eternal destiny. There
la q rash young man running into
wild speculation, and with as much
ink an you can put on tho pen nt
one timo you may save him from the
Niagara srapida Of ruined life. On
tho next street there is young man
started in BUSINESS who, through lack
OF patronage or mistake in purchase
Of goods or want Of adaptation, is on
the BRINK, of collapse. One line Of ink
from your pen will save him from
beinggan ,un1dcrling MI his life and
start him on''a' career that will win
him aifortune which will enable him
to become an endowcr OF libraries, an
opener Of art galleries and builder Of
churches.
Furthermore, great are the re-
sponaib}littesSofStho author's inkhorn
All the people, or nearly all the
people, road, and that which they
rend dacides their morals or i'm
morals, their prosperity or failure,
4 Sheir faith or their pnbelief, their
puritXa>or scorfnption, their heaven
or hell;s Show me any mans, library.
great 6r' small, and after examining
VIZ OOO1hDp luuluB CiiOSo With lettVeS
uncut. but displayed for sake Of the
binding, Gnd those worn with fre-
quent. peyueal, and, without evor see
ing tho man or knowing his name,
will toll you his likes and his dis
likea; his morals, good or bad or in
different; his qualification for busi-
ness or artistic or professional or
mechanical tlife. The best index to
any mans chdraotcr is tho book no
prefers above MI others. Oh, the
power Of o book for good or evili
Abraham Lincoln in early lifo read
Paine'a "Ago Of Reason,n and It so
Influenced him that he wrote an es-
say against Christianity, but after
ward somo Christian books camo into
his hands ana gloriously changed his
snind and made him most ardent
friend Of ..;tthc. bible and man OF
prayer. Kiettefii in Mr.. Lincoln's own
handwriting 10 IN my house, tho let.
ter in response TO some resolutions
passed by q Methodist conference
sayingi "In response to your nd.
dresB, allow mo to attest the nc
s----~-srs..s.-a..s1 ,------------
!. Burned to Death.
4 Taft Hill hia wifo and five oh;ldroy