Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1905-09-08


store. as typewriter or n salesman or
n saleswoman you are not an insirnif-
icant atom, though you may be occu-
pying small place. You are not a
drop OF water amid an ocean OF heav-
ing pillows. You are not leaf or a
candlelight dimmed by the glory OF
the noontide sun. but you are the cogs
or wheel which are absolutely essen
tial TO make the wheel move. III the
little cogs are gone. Ten the wheel
stops. III the wheel stops. then all the
vast machinery OF the factory Is halt
ed. IN the great railroad engine the
boiler, generating the steam which
draws the long line OF freight cars. is
absolutely essential, but are not the
piston rods and the driving wheels and
the truck and the coal tender and the
furnace and all the other parts OF the
locomotive Just as essentially
Not to He Despisea.
What would you think OF the long
branches OF great tree looking down
In disgust at the roots just exposed
when the sod is turned over by the
farmers spade? What would you think
il those branches would say: ''Oh, you
filthy, dirty roots. Why are you I'm
yonder darkness? Can You not array
yourselves In my coat OF many eOlors?
i will have none of YOU" Well, today
the owner of the great dry goods store
can no more be independent Of his
clerks than the tree branch can be in
dependent of the tree root What
would you think of the wood of the
tall mast despising the wood of the
ships keel? Can the hand say to the
wrist, II have no need of thee?' Can
the foot say to the eye, Il have no
need of thee?" Can the heart say TO
the lung. Il have no need of thee?'
Neither can the glass Office say to the
counter, az have no need OF thee" The
one talent clerk IS just as essential for
the marvellous developments of the
mercantile world Us is the ten talent
merchant or the ten talent capitalist
The Hebrew talent is no insignificant
capital which God places in the hand
or the ordinary, everyday, common
place clerk who sells us our goods over
the store counter.
But II we speak well OF the one talent
clerk shall we not also speak we'll of
the worldwide influence of the one tai
ented mechanic and the one talented
laborer and the one talented engineer
and the one talented carpenter and the
one talented mason and all the one tai
ented men who WELD saw and strike
hammer and drop plumbline and push
plane? Is not the workman whose deft
fingers make the piano Just as essen
tial for the worlds melodies as the
musicians whose sensitive touch make
the great bellows OF harmony rear
themselves and dash themselves into
white foam upon the coral reefs OF
white ivory keysI Shall we not honor
today the Stradivarius who manufac-
lures the violins. as well as the Paga-
minis and the Ole Bulls who can make
the strings weep and wall or laugh and
sing when they wave over them the
touch Of their magic bows? Are not
Gutenberg's disciples who give TO us
the printed page just as essential for
the dissemination OF knowledge as the
brain OF Galilei or the sacred pen of
Thomas kempis or the rugged elo-
Quence Of Thomas Carlyle or the match
less literary creations OF William
Shakespeare or the fireside songs OF
Henry Longfellow or Eugene Field?
The chisel OF the one talented stone
cutter writes whole pages in the chap
tiers or the worlds progress as well as
the pen OF the statesman, the architect
and the social sage. Henry Ward
Beecher some years ago in a sermon
wildly described an expert stonecut-
ter coming into this country as an i'm
migrant. He knows no one and no
one knows hiIl. but when he applies
for work at one OF the big stoneyards
In Brooklyn the foreman gives him a
stone TO cut. Here is n querl or fern;
there is a branch OF what Is TO be e
flower. He works on ana on patient
ly. After awhile, when the work
on that block Is done, the foreman
comes and gives TO him another stone.
After awhile that stone and still nm
other are taken away. He has no idea
what use will be made or those stones,
but one day. walking down the street
In front OF the art gallery, over the
doorway he sees the stones upon which
he has worked. He did not know what
those stones were for, but the archi-
tect did. and as he stands looking at
his work. which is the beauty OF the
whole street, the tears drop down from
his eyes and he says, 81 am glad
did It well" and every day as he
passes that way he says to himself
exultantly: II did IL well! All, / am
glad did It wellr' All, yes, that stone
cutter had n right to exultantly cry, 'I
did It WELL" for had he not done his
work well tho design OF the architect
would have been utterly helpless with
out his execution. Thus today / find
every stone wall and every printing
press and every paved street and every
house and every railroad and every
ship and every bridge and every tower
and every aqueduct q pulpit for the
one talented man. The carpenters and
the masons and the mechanics and
the laborers are all calling 10 us from
these rOstrums: ~ made these tall
buildings. Without me they could not
have been lifted. made them. / am
the one talented mechanic. Did / not
do my work well?" Alb, We laborers
and mechanics Ia overalls, never neg
lect the essential work God has given
you to do.
The Talents OF Servants.
But must speak to another class OF
one talented folks. They are the house
hold servants. whom the parable OF my
text mentions by name. They are the
servants, the tried servants, who, as
King Solomon expressed Il, "were born
In my house" They grow up under
the very eye OF their master. Because
ne felt he could trust them he delivered
unto them his precious possessions.
Let me illustrate the parable. The
master Is about to leave for the coun-
try. All the different men and women
about the farm and the fields are gath
cred into one room. The master turns
to one and says. "John, / will make
you responsible for my cattle" To an
other he says. Peter, will let Won
tend to the blowing and the sowing"
To another ne says, James, you take
care or the sheep and see that their
oh "a