Crawfordsville Review, Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, 18 September 1897 — Page 6

Is'

II:

A, VITAL SUBJECT.

LIFE, ITS FAILURES AND POSSIBILITIES, ELOQUENTLY DISCUSSED.

Ilrth-Llf I

But the Dawn of a Life That

Never Ends—Dr. Talmage't Sermon.

In this rcrmon he Rev. Dr. Talinage discusses a subject vital to all, and never more timely than now. when the struggle for power, position, wealth and happiness is so absorbing. The text is

James 4:14, "What is your life?"

If we leave to the evolutionists to guess where we came from and to theologians .to prophesy where we are going to, we still have left for consideration the important fact that we are here. There may be some doubt about where the river rises and some doubt about where the river empties, but there can be 110 doubt about the fact that we are sailing on it. So I am not suprised that everybody asks the question, "Is life worth living?"

Solomon in his unhappy moments says it is not. "Vanity," "vexation of spirit," "no good," are his estimate. The fact is that Solomon was at one time a polygamist, and that soured his disposition. One wife makes a man happy. More than one makes him wretchcd. But Solomon was converted from polygamy to monogamy, and the last words he ever wrote, as far as we can read them, were the words "mountains of spices." But Jeremiah says life is worth living. In a book supposed to be doleful and lugubrious and sepulchral and entitled Lamentations" he plainly intimates that the blessing of merely living is so great and grand a blessing that though a man have piled upon him all misfortunes and disasters he has no right to complain. The ancient prophet cries out in startling intonation to al! lands and to all centuries. "Wherefore doth a living man complain?

A diversity of opinion in our time as well as in olden time. Here is a young man of light hair and blue eyes and sound digestion, and generous salary and happily affianced and on the way to 'become a partner in a commercial firm •of which he is an important clerk. Ask !him whether life is worth living. He •-'will laugh in your face and say, "Yes, :yes, yes!" Here is a man who has come 'to the forties. lie is at the tiptop of "the hill of life. Every step has been a 'Stumble and a bruise. The people lie rtrusted have turned out deserters, and 'the money he has honestly made he has 'been cheated out of. His nerves are out -of tunie. He has poor appetite, and the food he docs eat does not assimilate. 'Forty miles climbing up the hill of life have been to him like climbing the Matterhorn, and there are forty miks yet "to go down, and descent is always more dangerous than ascent. Ask him whether life is worth living, and he will drawl out in shivering and lugubrious and appalling negative, "No, no. no!"

In the first place. I remark that a life of mere money-getting is alway a failure because you will never get as much 'as you want. The poorest people in this country are the millionaires. There is not a scissors grinder on the streets of

New York or Brooklyn who is so anxious to make money as these men who have piled up fortunes year after year in storehouses. 111 government securities, in tenement houses, in whole city blocks. You ought to see them jump when they hear the fire bell ring. You ought to sec them in their excitement when a bank explodes. You ought to see their agitation when there is proposed a reformation in the tariff. Their nerves tremble like harp strings, but no music in the vibration.

And then you must take into consideration that the vast majority of those who make the dominant idea of life money getting fall far short of affluence. It is estimated that only about two out of a hundred business men have anything worthy the name of success. A man who spends his life with the one dominant idea of financial accumulation spends a life not worth living.

But I shall show you a life that is worth living. A young man says: "I am here. I am not responsible for my ancestry. Others decided that. I am not responsible for my temperament. God gave m: that. But here I am, in the evening of the nineteenth century, at twenty years of age. I am here, and I must take an account of stock. Here I have a body which is a divinely constructed engine. I must put to the very best uses, and I must allow nothing to damage this rarest of machinery. Two feet, and they mean capacity to pick out my own way: two cars, and they are telephones of communication with all the outside world, and they mean capacity to catch the sweetest music and th'f voices of friendship, the very best music a tongue, with almost infinity of articulation. Yes, hands with which to welcome or resist or lift or smite or wave or bless—hands to help myself and help others.

Here is a world which after 6,000 years of battling with tempest and accident is still grander than any architect, human or angelic, could have drafted. I have two lamps to light me, a golden lamp and a silver lamp—a golden lamp set on the sapphire of the day, a silver lamp sct 011 the jet mantel of the night. Yea, I have that at twenty years of age which defies all inventory of valuables— a soul, with capacity to choose or reject, to rejoicc or to suffer, to love or to hate. Plato says it is immortal. Seneca says it is immortal. Confucius says it is immortal. An old book among the family relics—a book with leathern cover almost worn out and pages almost obliterated by oft perusal—joins the other books 111 saying I am immortal. I have eighty years for a lifetime, sixty years yet to live. I may not live an hour, but. then. I must lay out ray plans intelligently for a long life. Sixty yean, added to the twenty I have adready lived-

&

—that will bring me to eighty. I must rememb'JT that these eighty years are only a brief preface to the five hundred thousand millions of quintillions of years which will be my chief residence and existence. Now, I understand my opportunities and my responsibilities. If there is any being who can help a man in such a juncture, I want him. The old book found among the family relics tells me there is a God, and that for the sake of His Son, one Jesus, he will give help to a man. To Him I appeal. God help me! Here I have sixty years yet to do for myself and to do for others. I must develop this body by all industries, by all gymnastics, by all sunshine, by all fresh air, by all good habits, and this soul I must have swept and garnished and illumined and glorified by all that I can do for it and all that I can get God to do for it. It shall be a Luxembourg of fine pictures. It shall be an orchestra of grand harmonics. It shall be a palace for God and righteousness to reign in. I wonder how many kind words I can utter in the next sixty years? I will try. I wonder how many good deeds I can do in the next sixty years? I will try. God h-elp me!

That young man enters life. He is buffeted, he is tried, he is perplexed. A grave opens on this side, and a grave opens on that side. He falls, but he rises again. He gets into a hard battle, but he gets the victory. The main course of his life is in the right direction. He blessed everybody lw comes in contact with. God forgives his mistakes and makes everlasting record of his hoiy endeavors, and at the close of it God says to him: "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of thy Lord." My brother, my sister, I do not care whether that man dies at thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy or eighty years of age. You can chisel right under his name on the tombstone these words: "His life was worth living."

Amid the hills of New Hampshire in olden times there sits a mother. There are six children in the household—four boys and two girls. Small farm. Very rough, hard work to coax a living out of it. Mighty tug to make the two ends of the year meet. The boys go to school in winter and work the farm in summer. Mother is the chief presiding spirit. With her hands she knits all the stockings for the little feet, and she is the mantau maker for the boys, and she is the milliner for the girls. There is only one musical instrument in the house—the spinning wheel. The food is very plain, but it is always well provided. The winters are very cold, but are kiept out by the blankets she quilted. On Sunday, when she appears in the village church, her children around her, the minister looks down and is reminded of the Bible description of a good housewife, "Her children arise up and call her blessed her husband also, and he praiseth her."

But one day there start five telegrams from the village for these five absent ones, saying: "Come. Mother is dangerously ill." But before they can be ready to start they receive another telegram, saying: "Come. Mother is dead." The old neighbors gather in the old farm house to do the last .offices of respect, but as that farming son and the clergyman and the senator and the merchant and the two daughters stand by the casket of the dead mother taking the last look or lifting her little children to see once more the face of dear old grandma I want to ask that group around the casket one question, "Do you really think her life was worth living?" A life for God, a life for others, a life-of unselfishness, a useful life, a Christian life, is always worth living.

I would not find it hard to persuade you that the poor lad, Peter Cooper, making glue for a living and then amassing a great fortune until he could build a philanthropy, which has had its echo in 10.000 philanthropies all over the country—I would not find it hara to persuade you that his life was worth living. Neither would I find it hard to persuade you that the life of Susannah Wesley was worth living. She sent out one son to organize Methodism and the other son to ring his anthems all through the ages. I would not find it hard work to persuade you that the life of Frances Leere was worth living, as she established in England a school for the scientific nursing of the sick, and then when the war broke out between France and Germany went to the front, and with her own hands scraped the mud off the bodies of the soldiers dying in the trenches, and with her weak arm —standing one night in the hospital— pushing a German soldier to his couch, as. all frenzied with his wounds, he said, "Let me go, let me go to my liebe mutter," major generals standing back to let pass this angel of mercy.

But I know the thought in the minds of hundreds of you today. You say, "While I know all these lived lives worth living: I don't think my life amounts to much." Ah, my friends, ^vhether you live a life conspicuous or inconspicuous, it is worth living if you live aright, and I want my next sentence to go down into the depths of all your souls. You are to be rewarded, not acocrding to the holy industries with which you employed the talents you really possessed. The majority of the crowns of heaven will not be given to people with ten talents, for most of them were tempted only to serve themselves. The vast majority of the crowns of heaven will be given to people who had one talent, but gave it all to God, and remember that our life here is introductory to another. It is the vestibule to a palace, but who despises the door'of a Madeleine because there are grander glories within? Your life, if rightly lived, is the first bar of an eternal oratorio, and who despises the first note of Haydn's symphonies? And the life you live now is all the more worth living because it opens into a life that shall never end, and the last letter of the word "time" is the first letter of the word "eternity!"

Mrs. Sarah Hoose, of Muncie, has been granted a divorce from her husband. The plaintiff Is the mother-in-law of Hlnshaw, the preacher-convict, convicted of murdering her daughter, and her belief In his innocence led to Btrained relations,

Obin Stevens, the little gn, ndson of Conrad Stevens, of Huntington, fell under the wheels of a iheavy wagon ana was 'ataHy crushed. fC.V

••THE CONQUEROR WORM."

Lo! 'tig a gala night Within the lonesome latter years I An angel throng, bewlnged, bedlght

In veils, and drowned in tears, J31t In a theater, to see A play of hopes and fears. While the o.-chestra breatnes fitfully

The music of the spheres.

But, see, amid the mimic rout A crawling shape intrude— A blood-red thing that

(writhes

from out

The scenic solitude! It writhes!—It writhes!—with mortal pangs

The mines become Its food, And the angels sob at vermin fangs In human gore imbued.

Out, out are the lights—out all! And over each quivering form The curtain a funeral pall.

Comes down with the rush of storm. And the angels, all pallid and wan. Uprising, unveiling, affirm That the play is the tragedy "Man."

And its hero the Conqueror Worm. —Edg ar Allen Poe.

STOP SAVEAKING.

Organization of Society 'Which Guarantees to Heud OflfProfanity.

In an essay to reduce the regular local output of profanity the Non-Swearing Knights are preparing to establish divisions in Chicago. The work of organizing is in charge of R. C. Wynn. Hie candidate for unprofane knighthood is required only to promise to try to abstain from swearing. It is not even insisted that he will swear to this pledge. There are no penalties for violating the vow, and the society has no objects other than the diminution of the use of ultra-strong adjectives. Women are eligible, but men with deep, bass voices and unlimited vocabularies are most in demand. The organization has as yet no school in which members can be taught to restrain their impulses to thunder expletives, but such an auxiliary is contemplated.

A non-swearing knight indorses a printed statement that reminds one of W. Kerr's anti-spitting notices. It affirms that "swearing is a violation of the laws of God, of this State, and of good society, and I am therefore neither a Christian, a good citizen, nor a gentleman if 1 swear.'* When a man or woman signs this statement and incloses it with 5 cents to the Secretary, he or she becomes a member.

Ten years ago Mr. Wynn conceivcd the idea of organizing the Non-Swear-ing Knights. He first worked among the railroad men. The result was speedily pleasing. Instead of securing only a few members, he has enrolled 2,100 railroad men who have promised to try not to swear when their fingers get pinched between buffers or when their slwe heels are torn off by frogs,-^Chicago Chronicle.

CURIOUS LANDS IN FLORIDA.

A Subterranean Pnsnag# Which Is Enveloped in Mystery.

Payne's prairie, three miles south of this city, says the Gainesville Sun, covers an area of 50,000 acres. A large proportion of the prairie is now covered with water, but there are thousands of acres around the borders of the lake which have been formed on which horses and cattle graze. There is no way of estimating the number of cattle, but there are many thousands, and they arc in fine condition. The prairie, or savanna, which it really is, occasionally goes dry, the water passing out through a subterranean passage called the sink. Where the water goes to has never been determined.

When the sink is open the lake goes dry, and when the outlet becomes gorged or choked a lake from five to seven miles wide and about eighteen miles long is formed. When the waters of the lake suddenly leave it thousands of aligators, snakes, fish and turtles are left with nothing but mud for their places of abode. The fish and turtles perish, but the saurians and reptiles seek and find other quarters. For miles along the northern border of the lake there is a succession of sinks, averaging in depth all the way from twenty-five to 100 feet. Subterranean passages run in every direction, leaving the ground in the shape of a honeycomb. The ground is liable to give way at any time, creating a new sink. ihe scenery around the lake, especially on the north side, is unique and grand, aiid is an attractive feature to strangers who visit this city. The sink ha3 for many years been a popular resort for citizens of Gainesville, who go there to fish, boat ride and in other ways enjoy themselves. It is said that this vast area of land, could be drained at trifling expense, and were it drained it would be the largest as well as the richest tract of productive land in Florida. It is for the most part a bed of muck. The land is owned by various individuals.

ALL SORTS.

Jay Gould once wrote an essay entitled, "Honesty is the best policy,' but he was only 14 when he did it.

Thirteen thousand gallons of whisky are said to be on the way to the Klondike. That will certainly be a good locality in which to take the gold cure.

According to a writer in the Independent, only four of the states of the union use officially the term commonwealth, these being Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky.

Kansas and Missouri are rejoicing in big apple crops, while everywhere else in the union the fruit seems to be scarce, small and of rather poor quality. New York buyers are reported to be swarming in the two states, buying up all the apples in light

This charming mauve muslin gown has the lengthened skirt which is, no doubt, to appear this coming season also the tunic or overskirt. The silk mantilla is the latest development of the summer costume ideas, while the lace with which the entire toilet is decorated is remarkable for a perfectly new treatment, in which straw embroidery appears on ttoe surface of the lace." The collar and waistband are of pink velvet.

FOR SUDDEN ILLNESS. "r A Prudent Woman "Who Prepared for Sickness in Time of Health.

I was strongly impressed by a novel plan put into execution at a friend's house where I happened to stop for a short time. I discovered it through an accident which happened to my hostess' little daughter, who had been severely stung by a bee. Instead of the usual tearing madly around in search of something to relieve the pain, the little sufferer was carried into the store-room where on the wall hung a huge card with the title "Accidents." It hung upon the wall like a map. At the top was printed in big letters what to do and how to do it.

At the bottom was the name and address of several good doctors to be called in if the case warranted it. Between followed a list of accidents or diseases that arc suddenly developed and common among children, and what to do for them.

The first on the list was bites in plain, large letters to the left of the card. Below this, and to the right, were written in a plain, large hand the remedies.

Then followed the other things written in the same way, so that the list of ailments and accidents stood out clear and plain, and could be read at a glance. Among them' were broken limbs, bruises, burns, fainting, convulsions, croup, cuts, fits, falls, nose bleeding, poisons, scalds, sprains, substances in the eye, nose, etc.

Beside the card hung a big box fastened to the wall, containing all the remedies needed bandages, linen thread, cord, needles and thread, pins, court plaster, absorbent cotton and lint.

The idea filled me with admiration. Who but a woman could have thought of s,« simplifying affairs? When an accident does occur every one is apt to lose his head and can neither recollect remedies nor where to find them. By means of this arrangement the most ignorant and inexperienced can do the proper thiag and help until the doctor can be called.—Philadelphia Times.

WOMEN AS DIPLOMATS.

In This Role They Are Generally a Decided Success.

The strong-minded of the gentler sex claim that woman is peculiarly adapted by nature to diplomacy, and would make a success at the various courts of the world. However that may be it cannot be denied that many of the sex possess the diplomatic instinct in high degree, and they exercise it too in matters that are, however, foreign to politics. Woman is a domestic diplomat, and smoothes the rocky places of everyday life. She does not bruise herself by bumping up against a stone wall when there is an easy way round, recognizes the futility of fighting against the inevitable and does not needlessly cloud the sunshine of today with the gloom of yesterday, or darken it with the melancholy forebodings of tomorrow.

Just how much comfort and peace we owe to the feminine diplomat we hardly recognize. She it is who steers the talk away from conversational breakers, she knows when to see a^d hear and when to bfe as blind as a bat and as deaf as an adder she knows how to say the gra­

cious word in season, and how to even give a reproof in such a way as to leave us not smarting with wounded self-love, but feeling that faithful, indeed, is the reproof of a friend.

Such a woman recognizes the value of times and seasons. When her husband comes home worn and weary and famished, she does r.ot present a bill for her new bonnet, or pour over him a deluge of household woes. She knows that a tired and hungry man is neither just nor reasonable, and that he may say things that no after-apology or "mak-ing-up" can ever quite wipe out. The use of a little timely tact and forbearance would save many a heart-burning. —Chicago Chronicle.

Pretty Picture Cot Cover. Children, as a rule, awake early in the morning, therefore something to keep them quiet for awhile is welcomed as a boon by elder members of the household. Cot covers and embroidered quilts are easily made into very attractive picture books for the little ones. For summer use pongee silk is a very nice material for these covers, it being both light, pretty and washable. Some in delicate shades of color are now decorated with floral designs, which may be lightly and rapidly worked in washing silks to look very effective one, a pretty cover of pale yellow silk (backed with white linen to give substance), is decorated with a good design of carnations these are worked in delicate shades of salmon filo-floss, and look delightful. This cover is rendered distinctive by its treatment in the "makingup." A piping of a contracting colored silk to the background is sewn round the edge, in this case pale green being used. The piping edges a frill of cream colored lace by way of a pretty heading to the yellow silk frill, which finishes off the whole. Some of the covers have one end turned back and lined with silk, the "foldover" in many cases being fastened down with a bow of ribbon.— The Gentlewoman.

Modes for Summer Days. Veils to be worn exclusively with walking hats have very deep borders.

Ever so many designs in kid and leather belts are developed in bright red and greens.

White hats are seen trimmed with big bunches of white violets, with immense green leaves.

Tiny collets for midsummer evening wear are of plaited mousseline trimmed with ribbon and artificial flowers.

The surplice waist is coming in again, and muslin bodices cut in this style, finished with a soft fichu, will soon be seen.

Apple-green chiffon and white and purple lilacs make a magnificent trimming for a stylish large hat of fine black Milan straw.

A new glove for midsummer use is of a mixture of silk and linen, and the colors shown are white, tan and black. There are also new styles in lisle gloves. —Chicagb Chronicle.

A company has been organized at Seattle, Wash., to develop the coal and oil fields recently discovered in Alaska, 350 miles west of Juneau 3,000 feet of pipe has been ordered for the purpose foi this district.

SHOES FOR DUEssT

•U*.

IjarKfly.

1,1

Colored kid take? Ulc jar„ to a great extent in the newest

Slt'n

footgear. 1 he varietv of tonef' ?ln8 kid is dyed makes it' possible ,'0

ch

every shade of gown. A prciv has a band of gold leather u.rnmc from the top and forming

Wn

across the instep. A little 1,1., 1 ,quare has an ornamental design

ppcr

leather, the gold laid beneath k-

tlJe

heel makes a gay and preUv

a,g.°'d

Slipper toes are frcauentlv 1

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embroidered pyramid of colored^ stals. I hese are of ali tints 1,1=, 1

y"

Sold, red and white. blue and black vcr and green and white ami gold The harlequin shoe is a nood in Hon with its side seams, i„t0 wh

",Xen"

applique of leather of some contra^

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rOLKA DOTS. —Chicago Record.

color is introduced. The gypsy shoe is Dpcn on the instep, fastening on the toe and above it the filigree gold harlequin shoe having the heels and the front to match, with plain leather for the sides. There are very few people who do not suffer from the effects of patent leather shoes in hot weather, but the scientific shoemaker now introduces a band oi glace kid between the patent leather toe and the upper quarters, which are brogued. Most of the fancy ties display some steel or black buckles, but some of them have large square buckles, which give great finish to the flapped shoe. The directoire is a pruty shape, the flap being pointed and rising above the big buckle.—N. Y. Commercial Advertiser.

Chamoise Gloves.

Bargains in chamois gloves (and they ire the only glove in this weather to wear) are usually dear in the end. They ran be bought for less than a dollar, but after one day's wear lose shape and beauty, and when washed either develop an alarming elasticity or shrink so that a good-sized doll could not possibly wear them. A very good Biarritz chamois glove can be had for $1.25, or— when a spasmodic streak of generosity seizes the merchant—98 cents. The back is stitched with black, so that a

FLOWERED ORGANDIE GOWN

rip may be mended without showing in the least, and having no buttons it

ca

be drawn on and off easily, ft'hich is great comfort on a warm day. If

caI

fully washed in warm water with cas soap one pair of these gloves can worn all summer long and retain fresh, smart look till the end peason. N. Y. Commercial-A^ tiser.

Over 400 mining companies were 1censed to mine gold in the Rossland re gion, D. C., last year.

One of the best known loan agents in the state is authority for the (hat the people of South Dakota in last four years have paid off Sa0'000' of their obligations.