Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-05-17
Caln1aSe
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Tslmaee. D. d.

Los Angeles CAL May 13-1n this
sermon the preacher records his OBJ
servations during a tour Of the wrecked
city Of San Francisco after the disaster
and draws some timely lessons from
the experience. The text Is Psalm civ,
80, Gle looketh on the earth, and It
trembleth; he toucheth the hills, and
they smoke"
Yes, have been to San Francisco.
I have felt the earth heaving beneath
my feet. With my own eyes have
seen the blackened, smoking ruins.
have walked under the tottering walls.
I have heard the exploding dynamite
razng the ruins TO the ground. Some
people said could not get into the city
II I went there, and some said I might
be able to get into the city, but If
did | would certainly he put to work
cleaning the streets and plling up
bricks. And some people said that If
l got into the city would be quaran-
tined and not he allowed to come out
because the smallpox was raging there
And some people said | would get kill
ed by the falling walls If entered the
burned district. And some said | would
have to drink water out Of the broken
sewers and get typhoid fever if ever
entered the ruined city What some
! 80 IL
King Solomon understood this fact
thousands Of years ago when he wrote
the proverb, "fIe that observoth the
wind shall not SOW" The man who
simply goes ahead doing his work as
God gives it TO him to do will accom-
plish that work. And the man who is
always looking for obstacles and dan
gers ahead will Hnd these obstacles by
the hundreds and thousands if he will
only turn his tinid ears and listen to
what other people may say.
Obstacles Mny BE Overcome.
Obstacles ahead always have i'm
pressed me like the steady stream OF
wagons and carriages and automobiles
and electric ears which go rumhing
,.
The average countryman who goes TO
the great metropolis for the first time
stops at the curbstone and looks on
that steady line of vehicles in amaze.
ment. He stands on the curbstonc. as
| have often seen him stand waiting
Tor cessation of those revolving
wheels; but like Tennysons brook
l,V
the vehicles Of Broadway, New York,
seem TO go on forever. Not thus does
the old New Yorker do. He wants to
cross Broadway. He does not hesitate
half minute at the curbstone. He
steps out into the street at once. He
lodges this way: he runs that way;
he grips hold Of the bride OF horse
here, and in a few seconds he is over
the street. That is the way got into
San Francisco. only a few days inter
it was burned. People said | could
not get in, but went ahead. lodged
this way; pushed that way; showed
Il little here and begged farther on I'M
I'll not only crossed the ferry, but by
Monday night following that catastro-
phe l had tramped over every nook
and corner of the burned district.
From the encampmentS in Golden
Gate park into the burned out district
of old Chinatown | went. Thus am
able today to render an account of my
visit and teach few gospel lessons
from the bright side Of an earth
quake"
"The Bright Side of nm Earthquake"
"Oh, you say, there is no need Of
talking about the bright side of an
earthquake unless you are going to
talk about the lurd flames which. with
their famished tongues, licked up near
ly ten square miles Of as fine buildings
as any city ever had. Three hundred
| million dollars worth of property was
certainly destroyed. A friend of mine.
on the morning that San Francisco
! burned. was coming from Honolulu.
Away of at sea they saw the blac ok
ened clouds. They could not make out
what was the matter. Nearer and
nearer they came, until suddenly some
one cried out, San Francisco is burn
ing" Then as they came nearer and
they saw the awful flames in their
work Of death no one spoke. All was
silence except the surging of the
waters as the prov OF the boat cut
through them. and the steady painting
and puff, puff, puff Of the machinery.
Oh, do not talk to me about the bright
side of an earthquake. Is there
bright side to Dante's inferno? Is
there bright side to streets strewn
| with corpses? Amid the ruins which
you saw there must have been hun
dreds Of unknown dead Talk about
the agonies and the tears and the
! wrecked fortunes Of this holocaust If
you will, but not about its bright side"
Yes, my friend, ! am going to talk
about the bright side of this earth
quake even against your protest. For
in all my trampings about this ruined
town, and In my intercourse with these
noble people, | found more bright
ness than sorrow, more joy and con
gratulntions than heart sobs and COM
plants. This Is why I have taken for
my subject the sunrise of the morning,
instead Of the dark eclipse.
Not One Complaint.
The most natural course for me to
pursue, In the first place is to tell you
that from tho p,omout MT INV foo&