Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1902-02-06

Human Family Along the Decade.
of the Past.

The Difficulties That Fave Beset the
Human Family Along the Decade.
of the Past.
WASHINGTON, D.s C.-From an unusual
| looks at the duties and trials which be-
long to thu. different decades of human
life; text, Palms &c, 10, THE days Of our
years are threescore years and ten."
The SEVENTEEN milestone Of life is here
| planted as at the end of the journey. A
few go beyond it. Multitudes never reach
it. The Oldest person Of modern times ex-
of Stravaride lived to 1872 years. An Eng
lishman Of the name of Thomas Parr lived
l52 years. Before the time of Moses peo-
pie lived $50 years, and if you go far
enough back they lived 600 years. Well,
that was necessary, because the story of
| the world must come down by tradition,
and it needed long life safely to transmit
had been short lived the story would so
, often have changed lips that it might have
got all astray. But after Moses began to
write it down and parchment tod it from
| century to century it was not necessary
that people live so long in order to au-
thenticate the events the past. Ii in
our time people lived only twenty-five
years, that would not affect history, since
it is put in print and is no longer depend
ent on tradition. Whatever your age, |
will to-day directly address you, and l
shall speak to those who are in the TWEEN
ties, the thirties, the ~forties, the ffties,
the sixties, and to those who are In the
| seventies and beyond.
First, then, I accost those of you who
are in the twenties. You are full Of ex-
| pectation. You are a~mbitious-that is,
If you amount to an~ything-for some kind
| of success, commercial or mechanical or
professional or literary or agricultural or
social or moral. If I find some n in the
twenties without any sort of ambition, |
on the wrong planet. This is not the
world for you. You are going to be in
the way. Have you made your choice OF
poorhouses? You will never be able to
pay for your cradle. Who is going to set
tie for your board? There is a mistake
about the fact that you were born at all"
But, supposing you have ambition, let
thing through divine manipulation, and
then you will get all you want and some
thing better. Are you looking for wealth?
Well, remember that God controls the
money markets, the harvests, the %droughts,
the caterpillars, the ~locusts, the sunshine,
the storm, the land, the sea, and you will
get wealth. Perhaps not that which is
stored up III Cue DdukS, III Sdlc uepooAtS,
in United States securities, in houses and
lands, but your clothing and board and
shelter, and that is about all you can ap-
propriate anyhow. You cost the Lord a
great deal. TO feed and clothe and shelter
you for a lifetime requires a big sum Of
money, and if you get nothing more than
the absolute necessities you get an enor-
nous amount of supply: Expect as much
as you will Of any kind of success, 1t you
expect it from the Lord you are safe. De-
pend on any other resource, and you may
be badly chagrined, but depend on God
and all will be we'll. It is a good thing in
the crisis of life to have a man of large
means back you up. It is a great thing
to have a moneyed institution stand be-
mightier thing to have the God Of heaven
and earth your coadjutor, and you may
have Him. I am so glad that I met you
while you are in the twenties. You are
laying out your plans, and all your life
yjssatfss ;7 OF '; y0a4 ss22iast ths en&a1ftt Wit f So $ 249 cagjd5l'99y 81
those plans. It is about 8 o'clock in the
morning of your life, and you are just
starting out. Which way are you going
to start? Oh, the twenties!
"Twenty" Is a great word in the Bible.
Joseph was sold for twenty pieces of sill
Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities; the
flying roll that Zechariah saw was twenty
cubits; when the sailors of the ship on
which Paul sailed sounded the Mediterra-
mean Sea, it was twenty fathoms. What
mighty things have been done in the
twenties! Romulus founded Rome when
he was twenty; Keats finished life at
nowned soldier at twenty-three; Oberlin
accomplished his chief work at twenty.
seven; Bonaparte was victor over Italy at
twenty-six; Pitt was prime minister OF
England at twenty-five; Calvin had com.
pleted his immortal institutes" by the
time he was. twenty-six; Grotius was at
torney general at twenty-four. Some Of
nave feen lone in the twenties. As long
as you can put the figure 2 before the
other figure that helps describe your age ]
have high hopes about him. Look out for
that figure 2. Watch it's continuance with
as much earnestness as you ever watched
anything that promised you salvation OF
threatened you demolition. What a criti
cal tlme-the twenties.
While they continue you decide youl
occupation and the principles by which
you will be guided; you make your most
abiding friendships; you arrange your home
life; you fix your habits. Lord God Al
mighty, for Jesus Christ's sake, have
mercy on all the men and women in the
twenties!
Next I accost those in the thirties. Yoy
are at an age when you find what a tough
thing it is to get recognized and estab
lished in your occupation or profession
Ten years ago you thought all that was
necessary for success was to put on you
shutter the sign of physician or dentist o.
attorney or broker or agent and you would
have plenty of business. How many hour
you sat and waited for business, anc
waited in vain, three persons only know
God, your wife and yourself. In CONNER
cial life you have not had the promotion
and the increase in salary you anticipated
or the place you expected to occupy in thu
firm has not been vacated. The produc.
of the farm with which you expected tt
support yourself and those depending OF
you and to pay the interest on the mort
gage has been far less than you anticipated
or the prices were down, Or special ex
penses for sickness made drafts on your re
sources that you could not have expected
In some respects the hardest decade O
life is the th;~ties. because the results ar
generally so far behind the anticipations
It is very rare indeed that q young NAL
does as did the young man one Sunda,
night when he came to me and said. 8"
have been so marvelously %prospered sine,
I came to this country that I feel as a mat
ter of gratitude that T or,rht IN dcd;cot,