Connecticut western news., 1901-03-21

thinking AILer he mas leIL the counting
room for his home and far on into the
night when he lies upon wakeful pill
low. Tomorrow morning at IL o'clock,
rs you begin to answer your letters,
you will have on the nib of your pen
enough ink to save a soul from death
and hide multitude Of sins.
Responsibilities of Authors.
Furthermore, great are the RESPONSE
Utilities 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
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, will tell you his likes and his
dislikes, his morals, good or bad or in
different, his qualifications for bust
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 a
book for good or evil!
Abraham Lincoln in early life read
Paine's "Age of Reason" and it so in
f1uenced 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 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 it's historical statements,
indorse the sentiments it 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 it may
fairly be said that the Methodist Epis-
copal church, not less devoted than the
best, is by its great numbers the most
important of all. 1t is no fault in 9th
ers 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 it was that the
Christian books which Mr.. Lincoln read
obliterated from his mind the infidel
literature! William Carey became
missionary by reading 1.-THE Voyages
Of Captain Cook" John Wesley's life
was shaped 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 and the next, the character
Of its reader. ..
When a bad book is printed you do
we'll 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 hypercriti-
cism and malevolence and SANDER and
salaciousness, as from 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 the
world. The destroying angels with
their swords seen in Ezekiefs vision
will be finally overcome by the merci-
full angel with the writer's inkhorn.
The Editors Inkstand.
Among the most important are the
editorial and reportorial inkstands.
The thick ink on the printers roller is
different from the ink into which the
writer dips his pen and is compounded
of linseed oil and lampblack and made
thick by boiling or burning. But the
editorial and reportorial pens are re-
sponsible for that which the printer
| ink roller fmpresses upon the flying
| sheets. Where one man reads book,
| 5000 men read 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 a
pernicious machine Is erected among
| them," 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
day, when the forces which have infiu-
enced the world shall be compared and
announced, will be known the power Of
| the modern newspaper. With its tele-
| phonic and telegraphic annexes, all
the world twice day passes In re-
| view. The manner in which continen-
tai and international events are put be-
fore us makes deep impression. We gaze
on all the CONGREGATIONS and watch the
pursuit Of all the desperadoes and hear
the crash Of all the collisions and re-
| joice In all the discoveries and thank
God for all the noble achievements
| After the editor has corrected the last
proof of his editorial and the reporter
has put into form his last stenographic
report of swift utterance or announced
in best form some great munificence or
| sketched in most forceful style some
| brave rescue by firemen or lifeboat, he
has right to 90 home feeling that he
has done something worth doing, some
thing that his conscience will approve
and God will bless.
A wrong theory is abroad that the
newspaper impression Is ephemeral.
Because 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 influence. No volume Of 500 pages
makes such impression upon the peo-
pie as the daily 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 world is now do
| ing or has recently done, Yesterday