Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1905-05-15
Caln1aQe
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee. d. D.

foundations of character Is shown in
this sermon. The text is Luke xiv, 80,
''This man began to build and was not
able to finish"
~ hat is the matter with yonder
block of housesT' I asked one of my
church officers some time ago when
walking along the Chicago streets. II
came to this city at least four years
ago Then the walls were up. The
floors In many of the houses were laid.
The buildings then seemed almost
ready for the plasterers. Why this
vast amount of money lying idle? 1t
must be worth at least $4,000 a year
as interest. 1t would have been far
better to have laid no foundation and
erected no walls and allowed the land
to be turned into a vegetable garden
than to leave those buildings In that
state" 81 know It," answered my
friend, "but the owner Of those build
ings overreached himself. When the
buildings were half completed his mon
ey ran out. Then, on account of his
debts, all his properties were thrown
by litigation into the city courts. Now
/ do not know what is to be the out
come. Anyway, he cannot go on unless
he gets out of his present difficulties.
His property must still lie idle in this
incompleted form"
what is the purpose of those two
mammoth sheds?" 1 asked naval
friend some years ago while we were
walking through the Brooklyn navy
yard why" said he, those are the
sheds erected over two immense hulls
of half completed warships. During
the civil war the navy department was
building as many and as large ships
as it could, but as soon as the Apo
mattox peace agreement was signed
the work was stopped upon these two
vessels The government had at that
time no use for them. Now they are
lying there, rotting away. The wood
will be used for nothing but kindling,
as the plans upon which those keels
were laid are already obsolete"
Incomplete beginnings" were both
the Chicago houses and the navy yard
ships. We do not have to go clear
back to Bible times to find Illustrations
for mystext. We can see them every
where around us in our present day
and generation.
We have right to draw new illus
tfhtions and up to date applications
For this sermonic theme Indeed, the
ikresher and more modern the applica
4 fions the better. The reason why this
Efmile OF my text made an overwhelm
Ing Impression upon Christ's hearers
was that it was an object lesson near
at hand. When Christ was seated in
the fishing smack upon the waters of
Lake Galilee and said, Behold, there
went out a sower to SOW" he looked
on upon the hillsides overhanging the
lake and pointed to a farmer scatter
ing his seed upon the rich soil Of the
; east. I'm the same way legend tells
that when Christ spake these words of
: my text Ne pointed to the half con-
structed was of tower which PLATE,
the governor, Ia ID begun to build, over
locking one of the Jerusalem aque
ducts, and had left In an incompleted
state There it STOOD powerful OBJ
1ect lesson, showing that what ONT
commences in life 'bne should carry OF
to its full completion. SO today
would draw my illustrations from
every whittier 1 Would find them i
the home, the store, the factory, in tn
church and on the street. would fin
them in your life as, well as in mine.
Half Built Towers of Life.
The half built towers of life have
modern application in the averag
schoolroom education. They can b
found in the preparations with whic
many of US were sent forth to th
struggle Of life. They can especial
be found in the smattering of Frenc
lessons and painting and music an
aesthetic culture in which some sister
and daughters are being dipped for
few months a year on the principl
that the mere outward color of the dy
decides whether or no the garment
closely woven and Of good wearin
quality. They are the ''incompleted b.
ginnings' of the schools and college
which often send a young man or
young woman forth into the worl
knowing a little of everything and ne
any one study perfectly. They max
their students know little Of astront
my. a little of chemistry, a little c
Greek, a little of mathematics, littl
Of mythology, a little of architecture,
little of mechanics, a little OF electri,
ity, little of this. that and the othe
thing and yet not we'll versed in an
one subject or along any one line {
work What true education should &
is to teach a man to do at least OF
thing as well as any one else could {
Il and not to know many things poor
Jack OF all trades is master of none
l would illustrate my thought with
reference to n remarkable speech viii
Charles Francis Adams delivered s0n
years ago before the Phi Beta Kapl
society Of the Harvard university. Z
title of this address was a Cole
Fetich.v In it Mr. Adams denoune
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