Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1901-07-18

course DIR. Talmagc shows the causes OF
the great financial disturbances which
take place every few years and arrnigns
the people who live beyond their means;
text. Jeremiah xviii / AS the partridge
stitch on eggs and hatchcth them not, 50
he that gctteth riches, and not 10y right,
shall leave them in the midst Of his days
and at his end shall be- a fool"
Allusion is here made to well known
fact in natural history. If IA partridge or
quail or n robin brood the eggs of an
other species, the young will not stay
with the one that happened TO brood
them, but at the first opportunity will
assert with their own species. Those If
us who have been brought up in the
country have seen the dismay of the
farmyard hen, having brooded aquatic
fowls, when after awhile they tumble in
to their natural element, the water. so
my text suggests that man may gather
under his wings the property of Others
hut it will after awhile escape. It will
leave the man in sorry prcdicament
and make him feel very silly.
What has caused all the black days Of
financial disasters for the last 60 years?
Some say 1t is the credit system. Some
thing back OF that. Some say it is the
spirit of gambling ever and anon becom-
ing epidemic. Something back Of that.
Some say it is the sudden shrinkaGe in
the value of securities, which even the
most honest and intelligent men could not
have foreseen. Something back OF that.
! will give you the primal cause of all
these disturbances. 1t is the cxtrava-
gance of modern society which impels n
man to spend more money than he can
honestly make, and he goes into wild
speculation in order TO get the means for
inordinste display, and sometimes the
man is to blame aud sometimes his wife
and oftener both. Five thousand dollars
income, $4,000, $20,0 income, is not
enough for a man TO keep up the lyle Of
living he proposes, and therefore he
steers his bark toward the maelstrom.
Other men have suddenly snatched up
$4,000 or 100000. Why not hef The
present income OF the man not being
large enough, he must move earth and
hell TO catch up with his ueighbors. 9th
ers have q country seat; so must he.
Others have an extrayagaut caterer; SO
must he. Others have palatial resi-
dence; so must he.
Extravaganza Is the cause of all the
defalcations of the last co years, and il
you will SO through the history Of all the
great panics and the great financial dis
turbances, no sooner have you found the
story than right back of it You will find
the story Of how many horses the man
had, how many carriages the man had,
how many residences il the country the
man had, how many banquets the man
gave always, and not one exception for
the last so years. either directly or udi-
rectly extravaganza the cause
The Rcfnements OF Life.
Now for the clcgances and the refine
ments and the decorations Of life. | cast
my vote. While | am considering this
subject a basket of flowers is handed in
flowers parndisiucal in their beauty
White Gala with a green background If
begonia. A cluster OF holotropes nes-
Ting in some gerauium. Sepal and pc
rianth bearing on them the marks Of
Gods finger. When | see that basket Of
flowers, they persuade me that God loves
beauty and adornment aud decoration.
God might have made the earth so as TO
supply the gross demands Of sense, but
left it without adornmeut or attraction.
Instead Of the varicgated colors Of the
seasons the earth might have worn an I'M
changing duh brown. The tree might
have put forth its fruit without the
prophecy OF leaf or blossom. Niagara
might have come down in gradual descent
without thunder and winged spray.
Lock out Of your window any morning
after there has been dew and see
whether God loves jewels. Put a crystal
of snow under microscope and see what
God thinks Of architecture. God com
manded the priest Of ollon time to have
his robe adorned with wreath of gold
md the hem Of his garment 10 be en-
broidered in pomcgranatcs. The earth
sleeps, and God blankets it with the bril-
lants of the night sky. The world wakes,
and God washes it from the FURNISHED
laver Of the sunrise. So ! have not much
patience with Il man who talks as though
decoration and adornment and the cle-
&ances of HE are sin when they are
divinely recommended. But there is a
line to be drawn hctWecn adornment and
decorations that We can afford and those
we cannot afford and when a man crosses
that line he becomes culpable. cannot
tell YOU what is e1trAvagant for you.
You cannot tell me what is eXtrayagaut
for mo. What is right for queen may
be squandering for duchess. What
may be economical for you, man with
larger income, will be wicked waste for
me, with smaller income There is no
iron rule on this subject. Every man be-
fore God and on his knees must Judge
what is extravaganza, and when man
goes into expenditures beyond his means
he is eXtravagant. When q man buys
anything he cannot pay for, he is ex-
travagaht.
There are families in all our cities who
can hardly pay their rent and who owe
all the merchants in the neighborhood
and yet have IN apparel unit for their
circumstances and are all the time sailing
80 near shore that business misfortune or
an attack of sickness prepares them for
pauperism. You know very well there
are thousands of families in our great
cities who stay in neighhorhoods until
they have exhausted all their capacity to
get trusted. They stay in the neighbor.
hoods until the druggists will let them
have no more medicines, and the butchers
will sell them no more meat and the
bakers will sell them no more bread, and
the Srocerylucll Wiz. -,. tu"m no more
sugar. Then they find the region I'M
healthy, aud they hire q carman, whom
they never pay, to take them to some
new quarters where the merchants, the
druggists, the butchers, the bakers and
the grocerymen come and give them the
best rounds of beef and the best sugars
and the hest merchandise of all sorts un
til they find out that the only compensa
ton they are going to get is the acquaint
ancc of the patrons. There are thou
sands Of such thieves in all our big cities