The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-05-21

tian friend, who are you"
Passing along the street some night you
hear a shrek in a grogshop, the rattle Of
the watchman's club. the rush of the 20
lice. What is the matter now? Oh, this
reckless young man has been killed in a
grogshop fight. Garry him home to his
fathers house. Parents will come down
and wash his wounds and close his eyes
in death. They forgive him all he. ever
did, although he cannot in his silence ask
it. The prodigal has got home at last
Mother will go to her little garden and
get the sweetest flowers and twist the-..
Into a chaplet for the silent heart of tho
Maynard boy and push back from the
bloated brow the long locks that were
once her pride. And the air will be rent
with the agony. The great dramatisr
says, How sharper than a serpent
tooth it is to have a thankless child"
/ go further and say those are unI
Christian amusements which become TIE
chief business of a mans life. Life is an
earnest thing. Whether we are born in
a palace or hovel, whether we are af1uent
or pinched, we have to work. II you d.
not sweat with toll, you will sweat Will
disease. You have a soul that is to be-
TRANSPORTED amid the pomp Of a judg
ment day, and after the sea has sung it
last chant and the mountain shall have
comedown in an a~valancheo of rock you vii
live and think and act, high on a thron,
where seraphs sing or deep in a dungeon
where demons howl. In q world wher,
there is SO much to do for yourselves an(
so much to do for others God pity that
man who has nothing to do.
Sports a Meana tn an End
Your sports are merely means 20 al
end. They are alterations and
helps. The arm Of toll is the only arm
strong enough to bring up the bucket on;
of the deep well Of pleasure. Amuse.
ment is only the bower where bust
ness and philanthropy rest while on theii
way to stirring achievements. Amuse-
ments are merely the vines that grow
about the anvil Of toll and the blossom.
ing Of the hammers. Alas for the man
who spends his life in laboriously doinc
nothing, his days in hunting up ~loungins
places and loungers, his nights in seek
ing out some gaslighted f~oolery! TIL,
man who always has ON his sportina
jacket, ready to hunt for game in the
mountain or fish in the brook, with nc
time to pray or work or read, is not 81
well off as the greyhound that runs by his
side or the fly bait with which he whips
the stream. A man who does not work
does not know how to play. If God had
intended us to do nothing but laugh b,
would not have given US shoulders witt
which to lift and hands with which L
work and brains with which to think
The amusements of life are merely t.
orchestra playing while the great TRAGEDY
Of life plunges through it's five acts-in
fancy, childhood, manhood, old age auc
death. Then exit the last earthly op
%portunity. Enter the overwhelming reali
ties Of an eternal world!
/ go further and say that all thoS,
amusements are wrong which lead inc
bad company. If you go to any plac,
where you have to associate with the in
temperate, with the unclean, with III.
abandoned, however we'll they may b,
dressed, in the name Of God quit it. The!
will despoil your nature. They will I'm
dermine you moral character. They
will drop you when you are destroyed
They will not give one cent to supper
your children when you are dead. The!
will weep not one tear at your burial.
I had a friend in the west-a rar,
friend. He was one Of the first to wei
come me to my new home. To fine per
lsonal appearance be added a generosity
%Ifrankness and ardor Of nature that maj.
me love him like a brother. But l saw
evil people gathering around him. The.
lcame up from the saloons, from the gam
bling bells. They piled him with a thou
sand arts. They seized upon his socia
mature, and he could not stand the charm
They drove him on the rocks, like a ship
full winged, shivering on the breakers.
used to admonish him. I would say
"Now, 1 wish you would quit those bao
habits and become a Christian" "Oh.'
he would reply. Il would like to, / would
like to, but l have gone so far I dom
think there is any way back" In hi!
moments Of repentance he would &C HON,
land take his little girl of 8 years and EN-
brace her convulsively and cover her will
|adornments and strew around her pic
lures and toys and everything that coult
make her happy. and then, as though
Ihounded by an evil spirit, he would g
out to the inHaming cup and the house o
lshame, like q fool to the correction Of thu
lstocks.
The Final Scene.
l was summoned to his deathbed.
FASTENED. / entered the room. ! foun'
him, to my surprise. lying in full every
day dress on the top or the couch. ! pu
out my hand. He grasped it excited!
and said, "Sit down. Mr.. Talmage. RICH
there" sat down. He said: LAS
night l saw my mother. who has beer
dead 20 years. and she sat just where y"'
sit now. 1t was no dream. / was will
awake. There was no delusion in III
matter. saw her just as plainly as
see you. Wife. | wish you would TAX
these strings off me. There are string
spun all around my body. / wish yn'
would take them off me-" / saw il Wa
delirium. oh" replied his wife. 'n.
dear. there is nothing there. there i
nothing there" He went on and sal
"Jus. where you sit. Mr.. Talmage. n.
mother sat She said to me. Henry. ! d.
wish you would do better ] got Out q
bed. put my arms around her and sail
Mother, | want to do better. hav
been trying to do better. Won't you he!'
me to do better2 You used to help me
No mistake about it. no delusion. "a"
Iher-the cap and the apron and the spec
l~tacles, just as she used to look 20 year
lspo Rut I do wish Won would take thes.