Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1901-03-23

become an endower of libraries. az
opener of art galleries and builder OF
churches.
The most largely successful and use
ful men OF our time once wore an old
coat because they could not afford q
new one and got wages less than that
which they pay their cook or butler
1t will be mighty thing If out Of your
inkstand you can dip a mans earthly
and everlasting fortune. Dip out OF
that inkstand not one word Of dlsheart-
enment People have enough burdens
to carry without your adding one
ounce to the heft. From your inkstand
pat not one blot OH an honest ambition.
Keep all the wheels of your factory
spinning rays Of sunshine. If you are
a Christian man, put into your bust
ness letters an adrolt, moral religious
suggestion that will keep the receiver
thinking after he has left the counting
room for his home and far on into the
night when he lies upon a wakeful pill
low. Tomorrow morning at IL O'Clock.
as you begin to answer your letters.
,',u will have on the nib Of your pen
enough ink to save q soul from death
ard hide multitude of sins.
Responsibilities of Authors
Furthermore, great are the responsl
bilities Of the authors inkhorn. NJ
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
unbellef, their purity or corruption.
their heaven or hell. Show me any
mans library, great or small. and after
examining the books, finding those
with leaves uncut, but displayed for
sake of the binding, and those worn
with frequent perusal, and without
eyer seeing the man or knowing his
nqme will tell you his likes and his
dislikes, his morals, good or bad or in
different, his qualifications for busI-
ness or artistic or professional or me-
chanical life. The best index to any
mans character is the book he prefers
above all others. Oh, the power of
book for good or evil
| Abraham Lincoln in early life read
Paine's age of Reason" and it so in
fiuenced him that he wrote an essay
against Christianity. But afterward
some Christian books came into his
hands and gloriously changed his mind
and made him a most ardent friend Of
the Bible and a man Of prayer. A let
ter in Mr.. Lincoln's own handwriting
| is in my house, the letter in response to
some resolutions passed by Methodist
conference, saying: "In response to
your address allow me to attest the
accuracy of its historical statements,
indorse the sentiments 1t expresses and
thank you In the nations name for the
sure promise It gives. Nobly sustained
as the government has been by all the
churches, would utter nothing which
might in the least appear invidious
against any. Yet without this 1t may
fairly be said that the Methodist Epis
copal church, not less devoted than the
best, is by It's great numbers the most
important of all. 1t is no fault in 9th
ere that the Methodist church sends
more soldiers to the field, more nurses
to the hospital and more prayers to
heaven than any God bless the Meth
odist church, bless all the churches,
and blessed be God. who in this, our
great trial, giveth us the churches"
What a great thing 1t was that the
Christian books which Mr. Lincoln read
obliterated from his mind the intdel
literature William Carey became a
missionary by reading THE Voyages
Of Captain Cook" John Wesley's life
was shaped by reading Jeremy Taylor's
"IIoly 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 and the next, the character
of its reader
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 manufacturer of that Ink |
could tell you that It Is made OF tan
min and salt Of iron and nut gals and |
green vitriol, but many an author has
dipped from his inkstand hypercrlti' |
cism ard malevolence and SANDER and |
salaciousness, as from q fountain OF |
death. But blessed be God for the au-
thor's inkstand In 10000 studies which |
are dedicated to pure intelligence. high
est inspiration and grandest purpose.
They are the inkstands out Of which |
will be dipped the redemption OF tho
world. The destroying angels with
their swords seen In Ezekiers vision
will be finally overcome by the merci-
full angel with the writer's inHhorn.
The Editors Inkstand.
Among the most important are the
editorial end reportorial inkstands.
The thick Ink on the printers roller Is
different from the Ink into which the !
writer dips bis pan and is compounded
Of linseed oil and lampblack and made
thick by boiling or bun lg. But the
editorial and reportorlal pens are re-
sponssble for that which the printers
ink roller impresses Upon the flying
sheets. Where one man reads book,
5000 men read q newspaper. What
change of opinion In regard to the
printing press since the day when the
great Addison wrote concerning It,
zone cannot but be sorry that such
pernicious machine Is erected among
theIn," and when, under the reign Of
Charles II only one newspaper, the Lon
don Gazette. was allowed to be print.
ed, and that only on Mondays and
Thursdays Not until the judgment
DacK, may evoke Queruious reply. may
be answered by a joke, but good,
warm. gospel letter, written in prayer,
and started with prayer. and followed