Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 May 1885 — CIRCUMSTANCES. [ARTICLE]

CIRCUMSTANCES.

Aw Abstract of John B. Gough’s Famous —i Lecture. Circumstances is a term so common M to bo on most men’s lips every day. The word is never a hermit, and is always dependent on others. It is always an adjunct, and never a principal, Bet us see what there is of in! erest and value in this well trodden path. Sometimes a trifling circumstance may give a new turn to one's whole life. I well remember one night while in Glasgow, Scotland, I was the guest of one of the merchant princes of the city. I spoke that evening to . 2,500 people. It was my last night but one in Scotland. "When the lecture was over my friend bade me take my seat in his carriage, while waiting for the ladies. Several men and women gathered round to ■hake my hand. One of the men who approached me was covered with rdgs and dirt. His face was almost ghastly. His white lips parted showed the whiter tongue. Holding out hie dirty trembling hand he asked me, “Do you know me?” I placed my hand in his and ■looked into that miserable face. I * called him by name. Tn 1842 he and I worked together in a book bindery at "Worcester. I remembered him well for he was a better workman than I. As I sat there in that gorgeous carriage, drawn by silver caparisoned horses, surrounded by luxury on every hand, with the applause of the people still ringing in ray ears and my hand still warm with the grasp of friends, I could but think of our change condition, of the gall that separated us; my miud went back sixteen years to a s ngle circumstance that made the difference; it was the dart of a pen on a temperance pledge. That changed my destiny for • time and eternity. Circumstances change our relations to each other. I remember what an old colored man once told me. Said he: “Three years ago I subscribed $5 to the church and everybody tcok off their hats when they met me and called me ‘Brother Dixon.’ % The next year I subscribed $3. and they said, ‘How do you do, Dixon ?’ The next year I” had sickness in the family and I was unable to give a cent and when they came around I put down nothing. Now they say, ‘There goes old nigger Dixon.’" Circumstances often change quickly. A learned professor met a sailor on a boat and fell into conversation with him. “Have you ever studied the Natural Sciences?" “No," replied the sailor. “Then half your life is lost.” In a few minutes tlje boat began to sink and the sailor asked the professor, “Can you swim?” “No,” said he. “Then all your life will be lost,” retorted the sailer. Factscan never be altered by circumstances. It is an advantage to be able to make the best of circumstances. Some times it is hard to do this. lam reminded of the old negro woman who was asked how she could live in such a smoke. She answered that she was thankful to have something to make a smoke with. Perhaps you have heard of the young man who was to be married by the Episcopal service and learned the responses. Unluckily he learned the responses in the baptismal service, and when the parson asked “Do you take this woman to be your wedded wife?” the bashful vouth responded: “ I renounce them all.” “You are a fool,” interrupted the minister. “All this I do believe,” was the young man’s response. A thoughtless word has often, stained a reputation and partad friends. Faith has been changed to doubt through a word * of scandal and the miserable mutterings of gossip. The meanest thing on earth is a scandalizing, gossiping man or woman. Don’t touch ® pure reputation. Character can never be touched A man is what he is. not what men say he is. Reputation is for time, but character is for eternity. Young men, it is important to keep a clean record. If you have a spot on it your enemies will go to it and magnify it. lam 67 years of ago I have lived sixty years. I lost •even years and more than wasted it in •ireng drink. One can never wholly recover frem such a thing. A stained reputation will stare you in the face When you don’t want it to. Often an jujlffnd word has crushed ambition, anti a generous word has made a man mtccesuful. In 1842, forty-two years •go last October, on the morning after I had signed the pledge I began a terrible strnggle, but I conquered. E. U. Bailey, city missionary in London, was once a prize fighter. A man said akind 1 word to him when he signed the pledge •nd gave him a lodging. Change of circumstances sometimes occasbn a change of conduct. In a sleeping car on one of our great railroads was an old bachelor, and you know some old bachelors are cross and crusty and most of them hate babies. On thesame car was a baby who cried and yelled to the annoyance of every passenger. At last .the old bachelor, unable to stand it any Konger, put his head out of the curtains and said that he wished the mother of that child would take care of it and give other people a chanceto sleep. At this the father of the baby stepped into the aisle flaying, “Sir, the mother of this babv in her casket in the baggage car of thia train. I have been traveling for two days and nights with this infant to take it and. its mother to the child’s 1 emdparerfts. I will d® my best mot •nnoy you, for I have not had sleep ■iace we started.” Instantly tho know!-

edge of the circumstances changed the crusty old bachelor's behavior. He insisted on taking the child to his own berth and caring for it, that the weary father might have the needed rest. Those of you who know how old bachelors hate children knovir how great was his sacrifice. Knowledge of circumstances often will change our conduct. It is wrong to folrm too hard and harsh a judginent of other men. In New York l city a printing house employed sixty men. One of them begged the privilege of sleeping on the heaps of paper in the office, to savp the expense of lodgings. He ate the meanest, cheapest food, and was looked down on by his fellows and shopmates. They made fun of hitii and ridiculed him, but he bore it all meekly and pleasantly. At length, one day in June, they stood at the imposing stone counting their money as they had just been paid. It was the custom of the shop to have an annual excursion, and one of the number proposed that it be held soon. It was suggested that a barge be chartered and that they sail up the river or down the bay. A paper was started and all but one signed it, and Tie said he could not. One of the. men insulted him beyond endurance and he struck him to tlie floor. Then speaking to the young men standing by, he said: “I suppose I have made This place too hot to hold me, and, in this crisis, before I leave the shop, I will tell you w fi hy I have done as I have. My sister and I were left orphans, and 1 worked hard that she might go to school and tedeive an education. She was at a young ladies seminary and making rapid advancement when she was stricken blind. I learned that in Paris thete is a physician who is very skillful in the treatment of just such cases as hers, and can restore their sight. lam saving all I can. to take her to Paris, and in two months more I will have enough and hope to go.” The effect of his words was like magic. The in an w h oin hn had kn ocked do wn was the first to speak—Said he: “Boys, we will haVe no excursion this year. The money shall go to take that poor girl to Paris- Put down your names for $lO, every man.” And they did. The money was given and the voyage begun. The operation was successful, and sight was restored, and that sister returned like one coming from the dead. Before you judge, know the eircumstances, and it may change your opinion. Take into consideration all the facts of the cake. Ex-Secretary Chase once asked me what was the saddest sight I ever saw, and I answered air . old child—a little one made prematurely old. Under rags and dirt there may be a noble heart. Education anti training make all the difference in the world. The little street boys are the smartest lads in your j citv. Some of them are brave little follows. They learn by hard, knocks. When you deal . with them remember their circumstances. One day some years ago I secured admission into a London prison. In the party was a fine appearing gentlemen who, as we passed along,.sudden! v stopped, his eyes rivet ted on the occupant of a cell near us. The prisoner was a young woman, who grasped the iron grating and gazed fixedly at the visitor. The gentleman turned and left the prison without speaking. The officer in charge spoke to the girl and she said, “You saw that man look at me? Well he might. He ruined me. Before I knew him I was a pure and happy girl in my mother’s home, and see where I am.” If you brand a woman a criminal, burn the brand just as deep in the forehead of the man. In the journey of life two men start together. One is good, the other bad. Sometimes men are negatively good. Men are not to blame for having a fiery temper, but they are tc blame if they do not control it. Some men go through life and always look as if ihey were just coming out of a band-box. Others meet and overcome the obstacles in the way. The latter is the worthier of the two. Sometimes, too, there are unpleasant circumstances. Men often have to drop their dignity as the man did when another asked him, “Pardon me,but are you anybody in particular ?” It is an important thing to endeavor to overcome circumstances. Once,when lecturing on temperance in Dundee, I spoke to an audience of 800 outcasts. In thd front row sat a brazen-faced, muscular - looking woman. I was .warned that she would make a disturbance and that she was the most abandoned woman in the.city. She was absolutely incorrigible and was feared by all. The committee told nle that I must not speak to her if she addressed me. At the close of the lecture an opportunity was given for those that wished to sign the pledge, and this fearful tvoman came on the stage. She spoke to me, but I did not answer her. She asked me if I would give her a pledge, and turning to the committee I asked for one. The gentlemen told me she would not keep it a day, and that she would be drunk before she slept I said to her: “One of-the gentlemen says you will not keep the pledge if you do sign it. Will you Keep it?" She answered: “I’ll keep it if I say I will, and F will." She signed.,the pledge and kept tt Shoe earned, a living sewing bags and spent all her. spare time in rescuing fallen women. . When she died tbeie were hundreds at her funeral. Magistrates and ministers were there to pay their tribute of respect to the Scotchwoman who kept the pledge when she said she would. Will power can accomplish anything. Young men, if you are bound by any habit, stop it, and you ban if you say you wilh Your neighbor is every human being on .this earth. You are bound to help him to the best of your ability. I don’t, believe in coddling men that do wrong. It often does as much harm as good, when men determinedly dp what they know to be wrong. If a man can leave liquor alone for six weeks ho can , leave it alone,, for six months or sixty years. Help men,’ stoop to their weakness, but not to their determined wickedness. Wo are bound to do the best we can for all mankind. Use kindness when yon can. Some people are afraid of coining in contact with and touching these poet, degraded creatures. They have souls worth more than all the diamonds in the world.

Clean linen may be a means of grucu < as well as a prayer. If you would sav« souls you must come in contact with them. Supply their necessities ami then give them spiritual attendance, it? is a great thing to save a human life .On a rockbound coast.a windy winter's night a ship was in distress ami its crew in danger. • All was beneath the , waves save a few spars where hung the half frozen sailors. Onshore the wreck could bo-seen and the cry went up “Man the life boat,” and one by one volunteers came forward to breast the storm and save a human life. They are biff Ou that treacherous sea and can pnly guide their course by the sound of the voices as they are wafted on the wind from the wreck. Now a lull in the storm ; reveals the njgst—“Steady, boys, steady.” Now they are under those spars and the half, dead men fall into the life boat and again they face the fearful storm to gain the shore. The sailors bend to their ashen oars and hum a we rd sea songi “Are they saved?” comes from the anxious watchers on the hind. “Aye, aye,” is the response and a shout of thanksgiving goes up. It is noble to save a human life, but it is nobler still to save a soul that is wrecked on life’s great sea. Let us seek to overcome circumstances and achieve a victory in spite of them. a