Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1906-10-01
CalnaQe
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaae. D. d.

the preacher deals with the discomfort
in the human heart, which often in
spires the wish that we might live life
over again. The text is Job IA. "All !
that man hath will he gise for his
life"
This question naturally arises on
this last Sunday of Ie year: would
we like to live our lives over again?
Would we like % have the year of
1905 again greet us in the swaddling
clothes of a newborn babe? Would
we like to ulaIe the plea Of the old
poet when In rhyme he sang these
now familiar lines:
Backward, turn backward, oh. time in
your fight!
Make me "a child again just for tonight.
Some Of Us frankly admit that we
would IKE TO live our past years over
again. kOthers just as frankly state
that tltey do not so desire. Benjamin
Franl4in belonged to the first group.
In oneOf his letters to his son he wrote
thus AeI should have no objection to
repetition of my life from it's begin
mind only asking the advantages au-
thoH have in a second edition to cor
reef some faults of the first. SO l
IN kht, besides correcting the faults,
claange some sinister accidents and
cents Of it for others more favorable.
But. though this were denied, should
ktin accept the offer" But perhaps
EBenjamin Franklin would not have
written thus if he had taken all the
Possibilities into account. l would
Ike to show you in this sermon that
Gods way Of giving only one earthly
life to one man is the best way. May
God help us today as we, ON this last
Sunday of the year, take retrospect
OF the years that are gone.
No man. in the first place, could take
the Journey of life over again unless
he took with it the dangers that he
escaped in his first experience, which
might be fatal to him in his second,
nor could he be sure of achieving again
the successes that he had before. l
have been told that when gold was
discovered in California every boat in
New York harbor that could be
brought or rented was drafted into
the service to carry to the western
shores those who were possessed by
the gold fever. SO anxious were men
TO dig, in California hills that they
were ready to risk their lives in any
old hulk. Some three or four hundred
crazy crafts in the year 1850 rounded
Cape Horn. Some of these tubs were
not fit to sail across Lake Michigan on
summer day. One, l have been told,
81 T,-rA 60. hon
strange to say, all those cranky boats
reached California in safety. Not one
was wrecked that year. Many an iron
boat with screw propeller has since
been destroyed upon the dangerous
rocks of South America. But during
the first year of the California gold
fever not one boat was lost on the
voyage SO with us in the journey OF
life. We know not how we have
weathered the financial and the do
nestle storms, but we have. We know
only too we'll how fierce the cyclones
have blown off our Cape Horns. But,
having weathered them once and real
lied what the dangers We're, we have
grave doubts whether we should evel
be able to weather them again.
And this fact is especially empha
sized by the awful failures that some
of our friends have made in life whC
were great deal smarter than we an(
who were iii every way better equipped
for the struggle. It. is such liutl
thing that will turn the scales of sue
cess up or down. That little thing
always seemed to be on the wrong sid
----rrTTT -sse- scales for some of our friends
Did you eveB know how Hanniba
Hamlin was first defeated for tn
United States senate? Mr.. Hamlin wa
a great Joke lover Away back in tn
early forties Mr.. Hamlin was speake
of the lower house of the Maine legiS
lature. There was at that time men
Der of the house whose hair was yer
thin. This member was very sensltlv
about his bald head. In "a joke Nj
Hamlin leaned over his desk one da
and said: Mr.. So-and-so, you hav
made a mistake in parting your hail
You have got two more hairs on on
side than you have on the other" Iha
was q harmless joke. was it n0tF 1e
that man through that joke becam
MI -tddL4lll rUllltA tAACAIss III s'eAiN
"ALr Hanffin mas insHlted me-" y fey
years later Hannibal Hamlln was tn
candidate of his party for the Unite
States senate All members of tn
Maine legislature who were of his PAL
" voted-fOr him, with the exception o
this one member who had a scarcit
OF hair, about which Hamlin ono
made It harmless joke. But the. cas-
ing OF that one vote was the means c
keeping Hannibal Hamlm out of I'll
senate for six. years. That one vOt
was necessary. 20 his election. Thus W
find thar scores and scores Of OF
friends have failed in life, as it wer
By the turning Of r. hair. Furthe
more. az we look. back we can see OF
successes have seemed TO come to l
by the turning of hair. Almost wei
80 e,,uo rot Ouca Or twice or tlrlc