The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1905-12-01
A CALL OF THE GOOD
Rev. Dr.. Talmage Takes Idea
From a Popular Story.
There l. ~ Call OF the Good IA
Well ~ cali of the Had.
The Voices That summon
to Higher Lite.

l'opNuEht 1870. uy Louis klopschl
LOS ANGELES. Cal. Aug. q In this
sermon the preacher takes for his
theme the hidden voices that call men
TO evil courses and british indulgence
aud those that call us to higher, nobler
auI better living The text is Ecclesl-
aStes X 20, For a bird Of the air shall
carry the voice. and that which hath
wings shall tell the matter"
Ever siuce my boyhood days, when
john Brown introduced me TO "Rab
and Ills Friends" animal stories have
had for me complete fascination.
Seton ThOmpson's Lives OF the Hunt
ed. his wild Animals That | Have
Known" his Biography Of a Grizzly"
and hi> Trail OF Fanhill Stag Rud-
yard Kipling's Jungle Tales" Mar
shall Saunders Beautiful Joe" and
Miss Anna Sewelrs Black Beauty"
offer the widest range for the imagl-
native writer aud the greatest oppor-
tunities for pressing home moral
truths. But, though many books have
been and are being written whose he
roes and herOines are covered with the
shaggy names OF the wild beasts or
with the glossy coats OF the domestic
animals, by far the most interesting
animal story have ever read is Jack
LOndon's Call OF the Wild" Mr. Lon
don was a very young man when be
wrote his masterpiece, yet that story
has found an almost universal appro-
baton. There are always mazy voices
calling MS down TO sin and back TO an
ceStral evils.
This sentiment stirred my heart
when ! first read the book. l was In
a railroad car when "The Call OF the
Wild" was placed In my hand. Day
after day we had been travelling across
the western pralrles. ! bad finished
all the books in my satchel when a
gentleman crossed the aisle and said:
Here is a little story; read H." l
read it through IN a very short time.
But as ! traced Jack London's mighty
ST. Bernard dog from being pet OF
California mlllonalre's home until It
became a wild beast amid the SHOWS
OF the far north, reading on a pack Of
hungry wolves, asked myself this
other question: "Why Is there not A
Can Of the Good as well as a Call
Of the BadT Why do We not hear the
lnnumerable voices which are de
scrIbed by Eccleslastes as everywhere
around us calling us to cease asso-
clating with human wolves and de
structiye wild beasts as well as those
that are calling US TO let loose our
lower and yiler naturesY AS sat In
that car, with the Arizona deserts slip
ping away underneath our wheels,
said TO myself: ayes, there Is "A Cal.
Of the Good II Is even a better theme
for a story than The Call Of the Wlld.'
May God help me to teach the glorious
lesson that there are many voices
about MS, which are calling us up to
his love, instead Of calling us down 10
Chrlsts condemnation.
"The Call OF the Good" In the FIRST
place, is spoken by the lips Of our an
cestors, who have been fifty years.
Seventy-lve, q hundred-aye, perhaps
$50 years dead. 1t comes to US from
forgotten graves, unmarked by tomb
stones, or, IL headstones are there.
with epitaphs moss covered or eaten
away by time, the destroying icoDo-
clast II comes to us not so much
from our fathers and our mothers, but
from great great glAndfathers, whose
names we have never read unless we
have ferreted them out In some genoa
logical library when trying to prove
our descent from the pilgrim fathers
OF the Mayhower time or when trying
TO prove hereditary claim TO some val
liable property in England or Scotland
OF Germany whose late owners, who
bore our family name, died chlldless
and without last will aud testament
This ancestral call Of the good"
comes to us In our dispositions, in
our desires, as well as in our physical
mokeups aud our entaied landed es-
tates.
There Is absolutely no doubt in any
intelligent mind that we inherit our
physical qualities from our ancestors.
II we could only have a family album
which goes back generation after gen
GRAFTON. how easy II would be for some
Of MS 10 tell from whence our physique
and appearance came. l can see you
now turning over the pages Of that I'M
aglnary album and looking at the diff
ferent pictures. Yes" you say,
brother John certainly looks like my
mothers mother, and my grandmother
certainly looks Ike her fathers sister,
and my great -great-aunt certainly
looks like her grandfather" And back,
generation after generation. you go,
tracing the physical resemblance Of
yourself and the other members OF
your family. Even with the few fam
ly pictures you have you can trace
wonderful slmllaritles between your
brothers and sisters and cousins and
lncles and aunts and grestuncles aud
great-aunts and grandparents. Fur
ihermore, outsiders are able TO trace
these likenesses as well as your own
biased eyes.
Some time ago the president of one
II our western colleges was calling az