The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1901-03-21
GOOD INFLUENCES.
Or. Taimage Talks About the Mission
OF the "Writer's Inkhorn."
How 1t Makes For the Worlds Bctterment
'.Tbe lnkstand of Tie Worlds
Eyangciizaiion.


courses OF good influences brought to bear
for the worlds Improvement. The text is
Ezekiel tx, 2, "And one man among them
was clothed with linen, with a writer's
inkhorn by his side"
The poem from which my text is taken
is epic, lyric, dramatic, weird and over
powering 1t is more than Homcric or
Dantesque. No one ever had such di-
vino dreams as Ezekiel. In vision this
prophet had seen wrathful angels, destroy
ing angels, each with sword, but in my
text he sees a merciful angel with an ink
horn. The receptacle for the ink in olden
time was made out of the horn of COW
or a ram or roebuck, as now it is made
out of metal or glass, and therefore was
called the inkhorn, as now We say ink
stand. 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 speak of the power
for good or evil in the inkstand. 1t is
upon your tables, holding a black or blue
or red liquid. 1t is a fortress, an armory,
gateway, o ransom or demolition.
you mistake. says some one. ut is the
pen that has the power" No, my friend.
What is the influence of dry pen? Pass
it up and down a sheet of paper, and it
leaves no mark. It expresses no opinion.
1t gives no warning 1t spreads no intelli
gence. 1t is the liquid which the pen dips
out of the inkstand that does the work.
II
which Declaration of Independence or a
Magma Charta or q treaty was signed has
been kept in literary museum or national
archives, but for the most part the pens,
whether, as of old made out of reed or
later of wing Of bird or still later of me-
tallic substance, have disappeared, while
the liquid which the pens took from the
inkstand remains in SCROLL which, if put,
together, would be large enough to en-
wrap the round world. For practical, for!
moral, for religious, for eternal purposes,
| speak of the mission of "the writer's
inkhorn."
First, / mention that which is purely,
domestic. The inkstand is in every house,
hold. 1t awaits the opportunity to exl
press affection or coincidence or advice:
Father uses it; mother uses it; the sons
and daughters use it. 1t tells the home
news; it announces %he marriage, the
birth, the departure, the accident, the last
what a mission it has already executed,
and what other missions will it yet full
fill May it stand off 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 re-
ceived it can write no more. Dip out of
that inkstand only that which is paternal,
maternal, filial, sisterly, brotherly. Sacred
let it be, not to what are sometimes called.
the household gods" but to the one and
the only God who ''setteth the solitary in,
families" Dip out of it soace for par,
ents 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 as the old fashioned inkstandi
out of which was dipped the liquid for the
making of the family record ON the blank
N bn hnt n
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 let
tiers that one always makes when learning
to write, and from it are taken the trem-i
bling letters that show the wrinkled hand
is gradually forgetting its cunning.
Oh, ye who have with recent years set
homes of your own, out OF the new home
inkstand write often to the old folks, if
they be still living. A letter means more
to them than to us, who are amid the ac-
tivitics of life and to whom postal corre-
spondence is more than we can manage.
They await the coming OF the letter. I'm
dertake no great thing in life without their
advice. Old people for counsel, young peo
pie for action. Even though through de-
cadence they may be incompetent to give
valuable opinions on important affairs,
compliment them by asking their counsel
1t will do them good; it will make their
last days eyhilarant. Make that home ink
stand source rejuvenescence to those
who are near the terminus OF the earthly
journey. Domestic correspondence is not
attended to at once. The newspaper,
joining with the telegraph, bears the It'd
ings of all the neighborhood, but swiftest
revolving wheel OF modern printing press
and quickest flash along the electric wires
can never do the sympathetic work of the
home inkstand. AS the merciful angel of
my text appeared before the brazen altar
with the inkhorn at his side in Ezekiel's
vision, SO let the angel of filial kindness
appear at the affairs OF the old homestead.
Furthermore, the inkstand OF the busi-
ness man has its mission. Between now!
and the hour OF your demise, o CONNER
cial man, . professional man, there will
not be a day when you cannot dip from
the inkhorn a message that will influence
temporal and eternal destiny. There is Al
rash young man running into wild specu-
lation, and with as much ink as you cam
put on the pen at one time you may save
him from the Niagara rapids of 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 an un-
derling all his life and start him on a ca
reer that VIII win hlm fortune which |
will enable him to become an endower of |
libraries, an opener of art galleries and |
builder of churches. |
The most largely successful and useful |
men of our time once wore an old coat |
because they could not AFFORD a new one, |
and got wages less than that which they |
pay their cook or butler. 1t will be |
mighty thing if out of your inkstand you
can dip mans earthly and everlasting
fortune. Dip out of that inkstand not one
word of disheartenment People have
enough burdens to carry without your
adding one ounce to the heft. From your
inkstand put not one blot on an honest
ambition. Keep all the whole Of your lac
tory, spinning rays of sunshine. II you are
q Christian man, put into your business
letters an adroit, moral, religious sugges-,
tion that will keep the receiver thinking
after he has left the counting room for his
home and far on into the night when he
lies upon a wakeful pillow. Tomorrow
morning at ii o'clock, as you begin to an
swer your letters, you will have ON the nib
Of your pen enough ink TO save soul from
death and hide multitude Of sins.
Furthermore, great are tie o~abih-
ties OF the authors inkhorn. All the peo.,
pie, or nearly all the people, read, and that
which they read decides their morals or
their prosperity or failure, thsir
Iaith or their unbelief, their purity or cor.
ruption, their heaven or hell Show me
any mans library praot ar anoall and |