The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1901-03-29
] 5Ml1sSfO l Oh INK HORN
Power for Good u Evil Itss Contents
1 8 }| s.a d: May Weld.
Or IA lihaa g ID Diseourscs y on In nfucncss
Drought to Bear for w orld's
/, ,53 xsapro oyeni q II en "a 1.-THE 1nLhorn
! y; - 8 ,S I sssso8 81 81 tsl,e ahiercy. q Il 4

"a \ ~ sf'e B / n I srs,, J
l9o 5sSs S|epssh Sh sfs, E II
II In q neSwyyay md fromn peculiar text
Dr. fslaegS disssugse II q good influ;;
encosSb rong 80 bear for the worlds
improvement. Tho text is Ezekiel 0:2:
And ono man among them was
clothed with linen, with q writer's ink
horn by his side."'
$i The poem from which my text is
taken is epic, lyric, dramatic, weird
and ovcrpowering. 1t is moro than
iHomefio or Dantesque, No one over
had suoh divine dreams ms Ezekiel. In
q vision this prophet had seen wrath
tul angels, destroying angels, each
with q sword, but in my text he secs
q mcrciful nngcl with an inkhorn.
The receptacle for tho ink In olden
GkiNlcA Awas 1nado out Of tho horn Of u
COW OF % ram or q 3roobuck, rs now it
! Is made out of metal or glass, and
therefore was called tho inl<horn, as
now we say inkstand. Wo hayo oil
spoken Of the power Of tho sword, of
the power Of Wealths Of the. power Of
but to-day speak Of tho power for
upon your tables, holding q black or
blue Sr rsd liquids It ism fortress, an
armory,s Q gateway, n ransom or q
demolition. "You mistake," says
some one; ut is tho pen that has tho
powcr." No my friend. What is tho
influence Of q dry pcn2 Pass it up md
down sheet Of paper, and 1T leaves
no mark. It expresses no opinion. It
gives notwarning. 1t spreads no intel
ligence. It is the liquid which tho pen
dips out Of the inlsstnnd that docs tho
work. Here md there n celebrated
pom, with which Declaration of Inde-
pendence or aMagna Charta or q
treay was signed has'beenE1ept inilit-
orary. museum or national archives,
but for tho most part tho pcns,s
whether, rs Of old, made out,o reed or
stttti,,, l:sS;.; SSs e !ng nfbird or. stilllnter
of metallic substance, have disnp-.
peared, while tho liquid which tho
pens took from tho inkstand remains
In SCROLLS Is which, If put together,
would be large enough to enwrap tho
world. For practical, for moral, for
roligioWs, for ctornat purposes,
spcak Of tho mission Of "the writer's
inlshoyn."
First. mention that which is pure
ly domestic. The inkstand is i'll every
household. It awaits tho opportunity
60 express affection or coincidence or
ndvico, Father uses it; mother uses
It; the aons and daughters use it.. 1t
tolls the homo news; it announces the
marriage, the birth, tho departure,
tho accident, tho last sickness, tho
death. That homo inkstand, what n
mission it has already executed, and
what other mission will it yet fu.ill!
May itfstand Off from all insinccrity
and all querulousncss. Let it tell only
that which it would be we'll to read
after tho hand that wrote 1t and the
hand that received It, cen write no
more. Dipl6,ft Of that inlstnnd only
that which is paternal, maternal, fllial,
asistorly, brotherly. Sacred let it be
not to what nressometimcs called the
s ss''household godp,,d, but to tho ono and
sthee only God WEo s.sctteth the solitary
in familie ess" sfDip out Of it solace for
parenats pore a i. ssonS 5the$ descending grade OF
years~and soncoura agcmenti for those
who arc climbing tho sleeps.
q Furthcrmore,s the inkstand3 Of the
business man has its mission. Be-
t~een now ahd5 tho hour Of your de-
misc, 0 commercial man, o profess
aional man, there will not bo a day
3whene you cannot dip from tho inls-
horn o nebsdge that will influence
temporal and eternal destiny. There
- O rash young man running into
wild speculation, and with as much
tnk as you can put on tho pen Mt
one time youbmny save him from tho
Niagara sTapida Of q ruined life. On
the 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
being sen undorling MI his lifo and
start him on a career that viii Win
him asfortuno which will enable him
to become an endower Of libraries, an
opener Of art galleries and builder Of
churches.
Furthermore, great are the re-
sponsibiiitiesEofstho authors inkhorn.
All the people, or nearly MI the
people, road, and that which they
Eend daoides their morals or i'm
morals, their prosperity or failure,
their faith or their unbelief, their
puritXasor ycorfuption, their heaven
or hellss sh'o1 mo 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 fre-
quent, peruBal, and, without ever see
ing Che man or knowing his name,
I will tell you his likes and his dis
likes; his morala, good Or bad or in
different; his qualification for busi-
ness or artistic or professional or
mechanical Flife. The best index to
any mans charaotor Is the book no
prefors above all others. Oh, the
power Of book for good or evil
a Abraham Lincoln In early lifo read
Paine's "Ago Of Rcason,' and it SO
influenced him that no wrote an cs-
say against Christianity, but after
ward some Christian books camo into
his hands and gloriously changed his
mind and made him most ardent
friend Of ,3the. Bible and man Of
prayer. ,Kiettsf.in Mr.. Lincoln's own
handwriting Is IN my house, the lot
Tor In response to somo resolutions
passed by o Methodist conference,
sayings I'm response to your adj
dress, allow mo to attest the nc.
.---~-.------.-l
Burned to Death.
Taft Hill hia wifo and f,yo ob;IdXon