The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1901-03-23
GRENADA, MISS, SATURDAY, MARCH %, 1901.

Through books we sit down and talk
with the mightiest spirits of all the
ages. We accompany Tennyson on his
spring-time walk as he falls upon his
knees in the meadows, crying to his
companion: "Niolets, man, violets!
Smell them" Or we ride with Ira jan
in his triumphal march, or stand with
Godfrey at the taking of Jerusalem, or
with arctic explorer hear the crash
of the icebergs, or are received with
Hernando Cortes in the halls Of
Montezuma, or watch in the observa-
tory as Herschel with his telescope
captures another star, or the ink in
the inkhorn turns red as blood, and
we are at Marengo and Arbela and
Eylau and Borodino and Leipsic; or
we sail with Hamilcar from Carthage
to Palermo, or we, see Calico fighting
for the solar system, and around rs
gather for conversation Aristotle and
Plato and Robert South and Sydney
Smith and Locke and Samuel Rogers
and Chaucer and Paul Richter and
Swift and Hazlitt and Leigh Hunt and
Talleyrand and Burke and Edward
Irving, while to make music for US
Handel and Mozart and Mendelssohn
come in, and we watch Columbus land
ing and see John Harvard's legacy of
1900 paid over for the founding of
Harvard university, and Joshua Rey-
nolds and David Wilkie and Rem
brandt tell us of their pictures. Oh,
the books! Thank God for the books.
and thanks be to all the authors.
May the inkhorn ever be under divine
inspiration,
A wrong theory is abroad that the
newspaper impression is ephemeral.
Because we read and cast it aside in
an hour and never see it again we are
not to Judge that we are parted from
its influence. No volume of 500 pages
makes such impression upon the peo-
pie as the daily newspaper. 1t is not
what we put away carefully upon the
shelf and once in awhile refer TO that
has as close relation to our welfare
as the story of what the world is
now doing or has recently done. Yes
terday has more to do with to-day
than something occurring a century
previous. The engineers who now
guide the rail trains, the sea captains
who now command the ships, the ar
chitects who now design the build
ings, the batons that now control the
orchestras. the legislators who nov
make the laws. the generals who nov
march the hosts, the rulers who nov
govern the nations, the inkhorns tina
now flood the world with intelligenc,
these are what we have most to d.
with.
You have all seen what is called
indelible ink, which is a weak -olu
ton OF silver nitrate, and that inl
you cannot rub out or wash out
Put it there, and it stays. Well, the
liquid of the editorial and reportoria
inkstands is an indelible ink. 1t put;
upon the souls of the passing gener
ations characters of light or dark
ness that time cannot wash out ant
eternity cannot efface. Forever in
delible. Be careful how you use it
The impression made with it will bt
resplendent CT repulsive on the day
for which all other days were made
But how shall ! speak of the ink
horn of the worlds eyangelization
Oh, how may loving and brilliant ant
glorious pens have been dipped into
it! Thomas a Kempis dipped into II
and brought up his Limitation OF
Christ" Horace Bushnell dipped into
it and brought up Every Mans Life
a Plan of God" Thomas Binney
dipped into it and brought up his
weigh House Chapel Discourses.'
Conybeare dipped into it and brought
up the Life and Epistles of Paul
Archbishop Trench dipped into il ant
brought up the "Epistles to the Sever
Churches" Stuart Robinson dipped
into it and brought up "Discourses OF
Redemption" Austin Phelps dipped
into it and brought up The Still
Hour" Mary Hopkins dipped into il
and brought up Evidences of Chris
tianity." Thomas Guthrie dipped
into it and brought mp The Gospel IN
Enekiel." John Cumming dipped into
it and brought up THE Apocalypse.
Oh, the opulence OF Christian litera-
ture! Oh, the mighty streams of evan
golistic power that have poured from
the writer's inkhorn that appeared
in Ezekiel's vision.
While you recognize the distin.
gIished ones who have dipped into
the inkstand of the worlds evangeliza
tion do not forget that there are hun
dTeds of thousands of unknown mer
ard women who are engaged in in.
conspicuous ways doing the same
thing! How many anxious mothers
writing to the boys in town! How
many sisters writing encouragement
TO brothers far away! How many in.
valids bolstered up in bed, the inkhorr
on the stand at their side, writing let
ters of coincidence to those worse off
than themselves. They are flying all
the time kind words, gospel words
helpful words, saving words. Call the
evangelistic inkhorn into service IN
the early morning, when you feel wei
and you are grateful for the protec
tion during your sleeping hours, and
write before you retire at close of day
to those who all night long will be say.
ing: would to God it were morn
ing!" How many bruised and disap
pointed and wronged souls of eartt
would be glad to get letter from you!
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