The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-06-11

course DR.. Talmage arraigns the spirit OF |
wild speculation and gives some account
of the financial ruin Of other days; Prov
erbs xiii, 5, "Riches certainly make |
themselves wings; they hy away as an
eagle toward heaven"
Money is a golden breasted bird with
silver beak. 1t alights on the Office desk |
or on the parlor center table. Men and
women stand and admire it. They do
not notice that it has wings larger than
a ravens, larger than a f1amingo's, larger
than an eagles. One wave Of the hand
of misfortune and it spreads its beautiful
plumage and is gone-"as an eagle to-
ward heaven" my text says, though
sometimes 1 think it goes in the other di- |
rection. |
What a verifcation we have had Of the
flying capacity of riches in Wall street,
And Wall street is one Of the longest
streets in the world. 1t does not begin at
the foot OF Trinity church, New York,
and end at the East river, as many sup |
pose. 1t reaches through all our Amer |
lean cities and across the sea. Encour-
aged by the revival Of trade and by the
fact that Wall street disasters of other
years were so far back as to be forgotten,
spectators run up the stocks from point
to point until innocent people on the out
side suppose that the stocks would al
ways continue to ascend. They gather in
from all parts of the country. Large
sums of money are taken into Wall street
and small sums of money. The crash
comes, thank God, in time to warn off a
great many who were on their way thith-
er, for the sadness Of the thing is that a
great many of the young men OF our cities
who save n little money for the purpose
Of starting themselves in business, and
who nave $500 or $1,000 or $4,000 or
$4,000 go into Wall street and lose all.
And if there ever was n time for the pull
pit to speak out in regard to certain kinds
of nefarious enterprises now is the time.
Stocks rose and fell, and now they be-
gin to rise again, and they will fall again
until thousands Of young men will be
ruined unless the printing press and the
pulpit give emphatic utterance. My coun-
sci is to countrymen, so far as they may
hear OF this discourse, if they have sur
plus to invest it in first mortgages and in
moneyed institutions which, though pay
ing comparatively small interest, are
sound and safe beyond dispute, and to
stand clear of the. Wall street vortex,
where so many have been swamped and
swallowed. What a compliment it is to
the healthy condition of our country that
these recent disasters nave in nowise de-
pressed trade! / thank God that Wall
streets capacity to blast this country has
gone forever.
A Street With a History.
Across the island of New York in 1855
a wall made of stone and earth and can
non counted was built to keep off the
savages. Along by that wall a street
was laid out. m as the street followed
the line OF the wall it was appropriately
aaIIaI We'll S+rao+ II iv N - 80
architectural. and yet its history is
unique. Excepting Lombard street, Lon
don, it is the mightiest street on this
planet. There the government Of the
United States was born There Wash
ington held his levees. There Mrs. AID
ans and Mrs. Caldwell and Mrs. Knox
n other brilliant women OF the Revolu-
ton displayed their charms. There
Witherspouu and Jonathan Edwards anG
George WhitefiP!d sometimes preached.
There DIR. Mason chided Alexander
Hamilton for writing the constitution of
the United StateS,without any God in it.
There negroes We're sold in the slave
mart. rAere criminals were harnessed
to wheelbarrows and. like beasts of bur
den, compelled TO draw or were dashed
through the street behind carts to which
they were fastened. There fortunes
have come to coronation or burial since
the day when reckless spectators in
powdered hair and silver shoe buckles
lodged Dugan. the governor general of
his majesty, clear down 10 yesterday at 3
o'clock. The history of Wall street is to
a certain extent the financial. CONNER
cial, agricultural. mining. literary, arts
tic, moral and religious history of this
country. They are the best men in this
country and there are the worst. Every
@h1~- @a~~~ A@--r e. 4sD
top Notwithstanding from heay-
en- born charity to bloodless Shylockism.
I want to put the pillow in at the curb
stone of Trinity and drive it clear
through to Wall street ferry. And SO it
shall go if the horses are strong enough
to draw the pillow.
First of all. Wall street stands as a
type in this country for tried integrity
and the most outrageous villainy. Farm
ers who have only a few hundred dollars
worth OF produce to put on the market
have but little to test their character, but
put a man into the seven times heated
furnace Of Wall street excitement and he
either comes out a Shadrach. with hair
~unsinged. or he is burned into a black
moral cinder. No half way work about
it. II / wanted to find integrity bomb
proof, I would go among the bankers and
"eKCuduIS u WdlI SdSSls yet DSCduSe
there have been such villainies enacted
there at different times some men have
supposed that it is a great financial de-
b%auchery, and they hardly dare go near
the street or walk up or down it unless
they have buttoned up their last pocket
and had their lives insured or religiously
crossed themselves. Yet il you start at
either end Of the street and read the bust
ness signs you viii find the names Of
more men Of integrity and Christian be-
nevolence than you can find in the same
space in any street of any Of our cities.
When the Christian commission and the
sanitary commission wanted money to
send medicine and bandages to the
wounded, when breadstuffs were wanted
for furnishing Ireland. when colleges were
: to be endowed and churches were to be
supported and missionary societies were