Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1905-11-11
Caln,aSe
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee, d. d.


sermon the virtue OF self sacrifice and
generous recognition of the rights Of
others Is clearly set forth and Is shown
To be one of the chief essentials of a
noble character. The text Is Matthew V,
II. whatsoever shall compel thee TO 20
with him one mile. go with him twain"
What Sir Walter Scott was to the
moors aud glcns of old Scotland, ro-
mantle with their legends and folklore,
and what Charles Dickens was to the
quaint vcrnacular of the London
streets. and what Fenimore Cooper
was to the North American Indian.
with his wigwam and his campiires,
his hates aud his loves. Frederic REM
ington. the great American figure and
animal painter. has been TO the habits
and customs. the comedies and TRACE
dies of the western cowboy. now al
most u relic of the past Future stu
dents Of our past history reading TheO
dore Roosevclt's winning of the
West" will gain II clearer idea Of the
scenes and the people there described II
those four volumes are illustrated with
Remington's famous pictures - "The
Last Stand" "rhe Crooked Trail"
''Thc Frontier Sketches" ana "A Dash
For tue Timber" But above all the
pictures that Frederic Remington has
sketched do not believe there are any
more powerful than those IN which he
depicts the daring exploits Of the mes
sengers Of the pony expresses. Now
the east and the west have been married
by the wedding ring Of the iron rail
and the swift locomotive dashes across
the continent. but in former times the
gold fields Of California would have
been cut of from communication with
the busy east IL II had not been for the
useful system of the pony relays.
Every thirty or forty miles there was
station. This chain Of stations
stretched clear across the continent.
Then between these stations every day
Il cowboy would ride. Alone upon his
horse he rode forth with the mail and
with his saddlebags often loaded down
with gold and precious stones. He
rode straight out into the deserts and
over the pr:iirics: he rode forth In de-
fiance Of Indian murderer and white
skinned highwaymen and ferocious
wild beast: lie rode with his life de-
pending not SO much upon the sureness
Of his aim and the steadiness of his
gun as upon the swlftness OF the four
footed beast he bcstrode. There In
some OF Frederic Rcmington's "Fron-
tier Sketches you can see the messen-
ger % the pony express" riding with
score of red skinned savagcs OH his
trail You can almost hear the pant
ings Of his exhausted horse and the
whizzing of the rifle balls as they fly
past the cowboys ears. There he Is
digging In the spurs In his race with
death, or. rather. In his race for life.
Now. In order to get clear grasp or
my text we should take some of Rem
ington's Frontier Sketches" In refer
ence 10 tile pony express and give
them an oriental coloring and put them
among the Palestine hills of 1000
a.c. of over 2OO0-years ago.
Albert Barnes tells us that the word
compel" OF my text is Of Persian ORR
gin. II comes from the royal court Of
Cyrus the Great, who died In go Il. G..
There was no postal system In that
dry. King Cyrus planned n system Of
pony expresses all over his empire.
Thus by system of relays OF horses,
when the king wished to send royal
command to one Of the governors Of
his provinces, his message could be
handed from courier to courier with
the greatest expedition. As these cou-
ricrs had to go through wild regions.
like those Travelled by the messengers
OF the pony express during the fifties
and the sixties. they had right to
compel any man they met to go with
them and protect them rs the county
sheriff today has II right TO compel you
or me to help him arrest an offender
against the law.
A simple Illustration.