St. Tammany farmer., 1901-04-20

MISSION OF INKHORN

MISSION OF INKHORN
Power for Good o.. Evil lts Contents
Nay Weld.
Dp Talmage DiseouPses en InAuen0es
Brought to Bear for Worries
Improvemeat-The lnkAoPA
Of Gods Mercy.
copyright. 1901. BY Louis Klopsch. N. II
Washington.
In newway and froma peculiar text
DR.. Talmage discourses of good infiu-
ences brought to bear for the worlds
improvement. The text is Ezekiel 9:2:
'And one man among them was
clothed with linen. with q writer's ink
horn by his side"
The poem from which my text u
taken is epic, lyric, dramatic, weird
and overpowering. It il more than
Homeric or Dantesque. No one ever
had such divine dreams as Ezekiel. In
% vision this prophet had seen wrath
full angels, destroying angels, each
with a sword, but in my text he sees
Q merciful angel with An inkhorn.
The receptacle for the ink in olden
time was made out Of the horn OF
cow or . ram or q roebuck. as now 1t
IN made out of metal or glass, and
therefore was called the inkhorn, as
now we say inkstand. We have all
spoken of the power Of the sword. OF
the power of wealth. of the power OF
Office, of the power of social influence,
but to-day 1 speak of the power for
good or evil in the inkstand. 1t II
upon your tables, holding black OF
blue or red liquid. 1t is . fortress, IN
armory, gateway, q ransom or a
demolition. "You mistake" says
some one; "it is the pen that has the
power" No my friend. What is the
influence of dry pen? Pass it up and
down q sheet Of paper. and 1t leaves
NO mark. It expresses NO opinion. 1t
gives no warning. 1t spreads no intel
ligence. 1t is the liquid which the pen
dips out of the inkstand that does the
work. Here and there q celebrated
Den. with which Declaration OF 1nde-
pendence or Magma Charta or
treay was signed has been kept in lit
erary museum or national archives
but for the most part the pens
whether, Is of old, made out of reed OF
still later Of wing Of bird or still later
of metallic substance, have disap.
peared, while the liquid which the
pens took from the inkstand remains
in scrolls which. if put together
would be large enough to enwrap the
world. For practical, for moral. for
religious, for eternal purposes,
speak of the mission of "the writer
inkhorn."
First, mention that which is pure.
" domestic. The inkstand il in every
household. 1t awaits the opportunity
to express affection or coincidence OF
advice. Father uses it; mother usea
It; the sons and daughters use it. II
tells the home news; it announces the
marriage, the birth. the departure
the accident, the last sickness. the
death. That home inkstand. what
mission it has already executed. and
what other mission will it yet fulfill!
Nav it stand OF from all insincerity
and all querulousness. Let it tell only
that which it would be well to read
after the hand that wrote it and the
hand that received it can write nc
more. Dip out Of that inkstand only
that which il paternal, maternal, flial
sisterly, brotherly. Sacred let it be
not to what are sometimes called the
Household gods" but to the one and
the only God who 'ssetteth the solitary
in families" Dip out Of it solace fol
parents ON the descending grade OF
years and encouragement for those
who are climbing the sleeps.
The carvers and glass blowers are
ever busy making more ornate and
skillful bowls for the ink, but not one
of them will be SO sacred a. the old.
fashioned inkstand out of which was
dipped the liquid for.the making OF
the family record ON the blank leaves
in the Bible between the Old and the
New Testaments, not so many leaves
now blank as before recent years
made birthday or mortuary insertions
From that home inkstand the child
dips out material for those large and
awkward letters tnat one always
makes when learning to write, and
from it are taken the trembling let.
ters that show the wrinkled hand il
gradually forgetting it's cunning.
o We who have with recent years
set up homes Of your own, out ol
the new home inkstand write Otter
to the old folks, If they be still liv'
ing! A letter means more to them
than to us. who are amid the activi.
ties of life and to whom postal cor
respondence il more than we can
manage. They await the coming OF
the letter. Undertake NO great thing
in life without their advice. Old
people for counsel; young people fol
action. Even though through decad.
ence they may be incompetent to give
valuable opinions ON important af
fairs, compliment them by asking
their counsel. It win do them good
It will make their last days exhila-
rant. Make th.k home inkstand q
source of rejuvenescence to those
who are near tho terminus of the
earthly journey. Domestic CORE
spondence is not attended to n once
The newspaper, Joining with the tele'
graph, bears the tidings of all the
neighborhood, but swiftest revolving
wheel Of modern printing press and
quickest fash along the electric wires
can never do the sympathetic work
of the homo inkstand.
Furthermore, the inkstand Of the
business man has its mission. Be
tween now and the hour of your de-
mise, o commercial man, o profes'
sional man, there will not be q day
when you cannot dip from the ink.
horn . message that will influence
temporal and eternal destiny. There
is q rash young man running into
wild speculation, and with as much