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Bain + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Wit, Humor, Reason, Rhetoric, Prose, Poetry and Story Woven into Eight Popular Lectures + +Author: George W. Bain + +Release Date: October 12, 2005 [EBook #16858] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WIT, HUMOR, REASON *** + + + + +Produced by Bill Tozier, Barbara Tozier, Carol David, +Lesley Halamek and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 60%;"> +<a href="images/001-bain.png"><img src="images/001-bain.png" width="100%" alt="George W. Bain" border="0" /></a></div> + +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + +<h2><i>Wit, Humor, Reason, Rhetoric,<br /> +Prose, Poetry and Story<br /> +woven into</i></h2><br /><br /><br /> + +<h1><i>Eight Popular Lectures.</i></h1><br /><br /> + +<h5><i>by</i></h5><br /><br /> + +<h3><i>George W. Bain.</i></h3><br /><br /><br /> + + + +<h6> +PUBLISHED BY<br /> +THE PENTECOSTAL PUBLISHING COMPANY<br /> +LOUISVILLE, KY.</h6> + + +<h5>COPYRIGHTED 1915</h5> + +<h6>BY</h6> + +<h5>GEO. W. BAIN,</h5> + +<h6>LEXINGTON, KY.</h6> + +<br /><br /><br /> + +<br /><br /><hr /><br /><br /> + +<table cellpadding="10" align="center" summary="Dedication" border="0"> +<tr> + <td class="ded1" width="240">To</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="ded1" width="240">Anna M. Bain.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="ded2" width="240"> +So far as this life is concerned, I +can express no better wish for any +young man who reads this book, +than that he may be wedded to a wife +as loyal, loving and helpful to him +as mine has been to me. + </td> +</tr> +</table> + + + +<br /><br /><hr /><br /><br /> + + + +<h3>INTRODUCTION.</h3> + +<p> +In offering this book to the public no +claim is made to literary merit or originality +of thought. It is published with the +same purpose its contents were spoken +from the platform, namely, to do good.</p> +<p> +With the testimony of many, that hearing +these lectures helped to shape their +lives, came the thought that reading them +might help others when the tongue that +spoke them is silent.</p> +<p> +As a public speaker the author admits, +that how to get a grip on his hearers outweighed +the grammar of language; that +the ring of sincerity and truth in presenting +a proposition appealed to him more +than relation of pronoun or preposition; +besides in the "high school of hard +knocks" from which he graduated artistic +taste in literature was not taught.</p> +<p> +If it is true that "tongue is more potent +than pen," then the mysterious power of +personality and delivery will be missed in +the reading, yet it is hoped the simplicity +of the setting of anecdote and argument, +incident and experience, facts and figures, +story, poetry and appeal will suffice to +make this volume attractive and helpful to +those who read it, and thus the lives of +many may be made brighter and better by +the life work of the author.</p> +<p class="author"> +<span class="sc">George W. Bain.</span></p> + +<br /><br /><hr /><br /><br /> + + +<h2>POPULAR LECTURES.</h2> + +<h3><span class="sc">Index.</span></h3> + + + +<table width="80%" align="center" border="0" summary="contents"> +<tr> + <td class="left" colspan="2" width="75%" valign="top"><span class="sc">Lecture</span><br /><br /></td> + <td class="right" colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="sc">Page</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="left" width="15%" valign="top">I.</td> + <td class="left" width="60%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#I"><span class="sc">Among The Masses, or Traits of Character</span></a></td> + <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page9">9</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="left" width="10%" valign="top">II.</td> + <td class="left" width="70%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#II"><span class="sc">A Searchlight of the Twentieth Century</span></a></td> + <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page59">59</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="left" width="10%" valign="top">III.</td> + <td class="left" width="70%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#III"><span class="sc">Our Country, Our Homes and Our Duty</span></a></td> + <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page101">101</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="left" width="10%" valign="top">IV.</td> + <td class="left" width="70%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#IV"><span class="sc">The New Woman and The Old Man</span></a></td> + <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page137">137</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="left" width="10%" valign="top">V.</td> + <td class="left" width="70%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#V"><span class="sc">The Safe Side of Life for Young Men</span></a></td> + <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page187">187</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="left" width="10%" valign="top">VI.</td> + <td class="left" width="70%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#VI"><span class="sc">Platform Experiences</span></a></td> + <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page233">233</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="left" width="10%" valign="top">VII.</td> + <td class="left" width="70%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#VII"><span class="sc">The Defeat of The Nation's Dragon</span></a></td> + <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page273">273</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="left" width="10%" valign="top">VIII.</td> + <td class="left" width="70%" valign="top"><a class="contents" href="#VIII"><span class="sc">If I Could Live Life Over</span></a></td> + <td class="right" valign="top"><a href="#page307">307</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +<br /><br /><br /><hr /><br /><br /><br /> + +<a name="page9" id="page9"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 9]</span> +<a name="I" id="I"></a> +<h3>I</h3> +<br /> +<h2>AMONG THE MASSES, OR TRAITS OF CHARACTER.</h2> +<br /><br /> +<p> +Whatever criticism I choose to make on +human character, I hope to soften the criticism +with the "milk of human kindness." +As rude rough rocks on mountain peaks +wear button-hole bouquets so there are intervening +traits in the rudest human character, +which, if the clouds could only part, +would show out in redeeming beauty.</p> +<p> +To begin with, I believe prejudice to be +one of the most unreasonable traits in +character. It is said: "One of the most +difficult things in science is to invent a +lense that will not distort the object it reflects; +the least deviation in the lines of +the mirror will destroy the beauty of a +star." How unreliable then must be the +distorting lense of human prejudice.</p> +<p> +I had a bit of experience during the +Civil War which gave me something of +that whole-heartedness necessary to the +service of my kind. In the twilight of a<a name="page10" id="page10"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 10]</span> +summer evening, making a sharp curve in +a road, about a dozen men confronted me. +They were dressed in blue, a color I was +not very partial to at that time. I had +read that "he that fights and runs away +may live to fight another day." It occurred +to me that he who would run without +fighting might have a still better chance, +but the click of gun locks and an order to +surrender changed my mind to "safety +first" and I was a prisoner of the blue-coated +cavalry.</p> +<p> +The commanding officer who had me in +charge (during my visit) was a Kentucky +Colonel. He afterward became a major-general. +I looked at him during the remainder +of the war from the narrow +standpoint of prejudice and cherished revenge +in my heart for his having exposed +me to the flying bullets of the Confederate +pickets, a peril he was not responsible for +and of which he knew nothing until I informed +him in after years.</p> +<p> +A few years after the war our barks +met upon the same wave of life's ocean. +We became engaged in the same work of +reform, I as an advocate of temperance, +he as candidate for the presidency of the +United States on the prohibition ticket.<a name="page11" id="page11"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 11]</span> +From the warmth of friendship, my prejudice +melted like mist before the morning +sun and I found in General Green Clay +Smith a combination of the noblest traits +in human character.</p> +<p> +Whoever would graduate in the highest +franchise of being, and realize the royalty +that comes of partnership with sovereignty, +must have respectfulness of bearing +and feeling toward those from whom +they differ. We are greatly creatures of +education and environment anyway, and +until we can unlock the alphabet of a life +and sum up the mingling, blending, reciprocal +forces that have been playing upon +that life, we have no more right to abuse +persons for honest convictions than we +have to blame them for their parentage.</p> +<p> +You do not know the forces that have +given direction to the lives of others; if so, +you might know why one is a member of +this or that church, this or that political +party, why one lives north, another south, +one on the land, another on the sea.</p> +<p> +Some of you may differ with me, but I +believe if General Grant had been born +in the South, reared and educated in the +South, his father had owned a cotton plantation +and many slaves, General Grant<a name="page12" id="page12"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 12]</span> +would have been a Confederate General in +the Civil War; while Robert E. Lee if +born, reared and educated in New England +would have been a Union General. If +my opinion is correct, if all you northern +people had lived down south, and we +southern people had lived north, we would +have gotten the better of the conflict instead +of you.</p> +<p> +If yonder oak, that came from the finest +acorn and promised to be the monarch of +the forest, was dwarfed by simply a drop +of dew; if yonder rolling river, bearing its +commerce to sea, was turned seaward, instead +of lakeward, by simply a pebble +thrown in the fountain-head; why not +have consideration for those whose circumstances +and early training set in motion +convictions differing from ours. God +did not intend all the trees to be oaks, or +that all the rivers should run in one direction, +but He did intend all to make up +at last His one great purpose.</p> +<p> +Thomas F. Marshall in an address +many years ago, to illustrate the differences +between people of different sections, +said: "If you call a Mississippian a liar, +he will challenge you to a duel; call a Kentuckian +a liar, he will stab you with a <a name="page13" id="page13"></a><span class="pagenum">[page ]13</span> +bowie-knife or shoot you down; call an +Indianian a liar, he will say, 'You're another;' +call a New Englander a liar, he +will say, 'I bet you a dollar you can't prove +it.'"</p> +<p> +Mr. Marshall intended his compliment +for the Mississippian and Kentuckian, but +really his compliment was to the New +Englander. If a man calls you a liar, and +you are not a liar, the manliest thing to +do is to say, "I challenge you, sir, not on +to a field of dishonor, where the better +aimed bullet will tell who's a murderer, +but I challenge you out into the sunlight of +God's truth where I'll prove myself a man +and you a slanderer."</p> +<p> +I use this to show it is not just to look +at character or questions from the narrow +standpoint of prejudice.</p> +<p> +Then again, we should not judge a person +by one trait. There are persons for +whom you may do fifty favors, yet make +one mistake and they will never forgive +you. George Dewey went to the Philippine +Islands, remained in the harbor for +months, never made a mistake and returned +to this country the naval hero of the +world; and never were so many babies, +horses and dogs named for one man in the<a name="page14" id="page14"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 14]</span> +same length of time. But one morning +the papers came out with the statement +that he had deeded to his wife a piece of +property some friends had presented to +him, and within three days after, when +his picture was thrown on a canvas in an +opera house in Washington City it was +hissed from the audience, and when later +on he dared to allow his name used as a +candidate for the presidency of the United +States, we were ready to smash the hero +at once. But we must remember there are +very few men able to withstand the +world's praises. Indeed there never was +but one man who could be successfully +lionized and that man was Daniel.</p> +<p> +Captain Smith of the Titanic was held +responsible by public opinion for the sinking +of the great ship and was harshly +criticised by the press. His forty years of +faithful, careful service on the sea was +erased by the one mistake. It was a tremendous +one, but let it be said to his credit +that experts had declared that a ship with +fifteen air-tight compartments could not +sink, that if cut into halves both ends +would ride the sea. The bulk-head was +made to withstand any contact, and Captain +Smith never dreamt of danger from<a name="page15" id="page15"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 15]</span> +icebergs. But when he saw his idol shattered, +he did all a brave seaman could do +to save human lives. When the last life-boat +was launched he came upon a little +child who was lost from its parents. He +seized a life-belt, buckled it about his waist +and taking the child in his arms, jumped +into the icy ocean. Holding the child +above the water with one hand, he used +the other as an oar, and reaching a boat +he placed the little one in the arms of a +woman. Then returning to his sinking +ship, he threw off the life-belt and went +down to his death. Who knows but in the +great reckoning day, his reward will be +"inasmuch as ye did it unto that little one +on the sea, ye did it unto me."</p> +<p> +The great Joseph Cook had a reputation +that caused many to look upon him as one +who was all brains and no heart. Before +meeting Mr. Cook I was very much prejudiced +against him because of what I had +heard. I lectured for a teachers' institute +at New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, when +the great preacher was to follow me the +next evening. As I was leaving the county +superintendent said to me: "When you +reach the main line Joseph Cook will get +off the train which you are to take. I<a name="page16" id="page16"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 16]</span> +wish you would speak to him and give him +the name of the hotel where I have reserved +a room for him." When I reached +the junction, and the great savage looking +lecturer stepped from the train, I said to +myself: "You can go to any hotel you +please, I'll tell you nothing."</p> +<p> +Some months later I lectured in Cooper +Union Hall in New York City. Just about +time to begin the lecture Joseph Cook entered +the door and took a seat just inside. +When I had talked about ten minutes, he +arose and passed out. I thought he was +not pleased and the incident did not lessen +my unfavorable estimate of the great +thinker.</p> +<p> +Some three years later Mr. Cook was +on our chautauqua program at Lexington, +Kentucky. Doctor W.L. Davidson, superintendent +of the assembly, requested me +to call at the hotel and inform our distinguished +visitor of his hour and see to his +reaching the chautauqua grounds. With +reluctance I went to the hotel and sent my +card to his room. He ordered me to be +shown up to the room at once. Approaching +the door I found it open and Mr. Cook +stood facing me. My impression is that +politeness was sacrificed in my haste to<a name="page17" id="page17"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 17]</span> +explain that I was sent to inform him as +to the hour of his lecture and to offer to +call for him in time to escort him to the +grounds.</p> +<p> +Extending his hand he said: "Come in +and let me make my best bow to you for +the service you have rendered the temperance +cause. I heard you once for about +ten minutes in Cooper Union, when I had +an engagement and had to leave. I see +you are on the program tomorrow and I +shall be there."</p> +<p> +After his first lecture, returning to the +hotel I said: "Mr. Cook, if I can be of any +service to you while you are in our city, +please feel at liberty to command me at +any time."</p> +<p> +He replied: "I order you at once. I am +anxious to see the home of Henry Clay +and the monument erected to his memory."</p> +<p> +Next morning we went to Ashland and +then to the cemetery. After visiting the +Clay monument, we were passing near +where my daughter had been buried only +a few months before. When I had called +his attention to the sacred spot, Mr. Cook +said: "I read Miss Willard's account of +her death, and the beautiful tribute paid<a name="page18" id="page18"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 18]</span> +her in the Union Signal. Please stop a +moment."</p> +<p> +He left the carriage and going to the +grave, took off his hat and stood with uncovered +head for a few moments. Then +taking his seat beside me in the carriage, +he laid his hand on mine and said: "Blessed +are the dead that die in the Lord."</p> +<p> +With tears rolling down my cheeks I +said to myself: "Under the great brain of +Joseph Cook beats a tender heart." Not +to know him was to misjudge him, while +the close touch of friendship revealed one +of God's noblemen.</p> +<p> +Unity in variety is the order of nature. +Out of what seems to us a medley of contradictions +come amendments and reconstructions +that illustrate the benevolent +guardianship of God in working out the +problem of creation. Out of the most discordant +elements God can bring the most +harmonious results. Out of the bitterness +and bloodshed of our Civil War has come +a more harmonious, united, happy and +prosperous people.</p> +<p> +It was said of General Grant: "He's an +artist in human slaughter. He cares nothing +for the loss of men, so he wins the battle." +But, General Grant believed the<a name="page19" id="page19"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 19]</span> +harder the battle the sooner it would be +over. When the end came he gave back +the sword of Lee, and said to the worn-out +Confederate soldiers: "Take your +horses with you, you'll need them on your +farms. Go back to your homes and peace +go with you." That manly strength of +character that enables a man to face shot +and shell on the battlefield, is not any +more sublime than the manly weakness of +heart which "weeps with those who weep."</p> +<p> +While we should not judge one by a single +trait in character we must not overlook +the importance of little traits. In +this age of great movements, great +schemes and great combinations, our +young people are disposed to ignore little +things. A little thing in this great big +age is too insignificant. Yet, we are told +it was the cackling of a goose that saved +Rome; the cry of a babe in the bull-rushes +gave a law-giver to the Jews; the kick of +a cow caused the great Chicago fire; the +omission of a comma in preparing a bill +that passed Congress cost this republic a +half million dollars; while the ignoring of +a comma in reading a church notice cost a +minister quite a bit of embarrassment. +Among his announcements was one which<a name="page20" id="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">[page ]20</span> +ran thus: "A husband going to <i>sea</i>, his +wife desires the prayers of this church." +The preacher read: "A husband going +to see his wife, desires the prayers of this +church."</p> +<p> +Little things are suggestive of great +things. We read that a ship-worm, working +its way through a dry stick of wood, +suggested to Brunell a plan by which the +Thames river could be tunneled. The +twitching of a frog's flesh as it touched a +certain kind of metal led Galvani to invent +the electric battery. The swinging +of a spider's web across a garden walk led +to the invention of the suspension bridge. +The oscillation of a lamp in the temple +of Pisa led Galileo to invent the measurement +of time by a pendulum. A butterfly's +wing suggested the combination of +colors. So little things are suggestive of +great things in character.</p> +<p> +"Boy wanted" was the sign at the entrance +to a store. A boy took the sign +down and with it in his hand entered the +store.</p> +<p> +"What are you doing with that sign?" +asked the proprietor.</p> +<p> +The boy replied: "Well, I'm here, so I<a name="page21" id="page21"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 21]</span> +brought in the sign."</p> +<p> +That boy was given the place. Attention +to small things has made many a successful +man, while a little temper, a little +indifference, a little cigarette, a little drink +or some other little thing has been the +undoing of many a young man.</p> +<p> +What are these little traits in human +character? They are matches struck in +the dark. Do you know what that means, +a match struck in the dark? If not, get +up some night when it's pitch dark in the +room, run your face up against a half +open door, knock the pitcher off the table +and spill the cold water on your bare feet, +sit down on a chair that's not there, and +you'll realize what it means to strike a +match. If I were to go into a parlor of +one of your finest homes at midnight with +all the lights out, I would see nothing, but +let me strike a match and beautifully +decorated walls, fine paintings, and furniture +will meet and greet my vision.</p> +<p> +You cannot be very long in the company +of anyone until a match will be +struck. Of one you will say, "that's good; +I'm glad to find such a trait in that person," +but directly another match will flare +up and you will find another trait as disappointing<a name="page22" id="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 22]</span> +as the other was commendable, +and you are at a loss to know what +"manner of man" you are with.</p> +<p> +It's a wonder to me when so many characters +are so difficult to solve that many +young people rush headlong into matrimony +without striking a match, except the +match they strike at the marriage altar. +A girl sees a young man today; he's handsome, +talks well, and she falls in love +with him, dreams about him tonight, sighs +about him tomorrow and thinks she'll +surely die if he doesn't ask her to marry +him. Yet she knows nothing about his +parentage or his character. No wonder +we have so many unhappy marriages, so +many homes like the one where a stranger +knocked at the front door and receiving +no response went around to the rear +where he found a very small husband and +a very large wife in a fight, with the wife +getting the better of the battle.</p> +<p> +The stranger said: "Hello! who runs +this house?"</p> +<p> +"That's what we are trying to settle +now," shouted the little husband.</p> +<p> +My young friends, I will admit love is a +kind of spontaneous, impulsive, natural +affinity, something after the order of molecular<a name="page23" id="page23"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 23]</span> +attraction or chemical affinity, but +while by the natural law of love, a young +woman may see in the object of her affection +her ideal of perfection in humanity, +she owes volitional conformity to a +higher law than natural affinity. She +owes to herself, to posterity and to her +country a careful study of the character +of the young man to whom she should link +her life and love.</p> +<p> +I believe two dark clouds hanging upon +the horizon of this republic to be the recklessness +with which life is linked with life +at the marriage altar, and the recklessness +with which we elect men to offices of +public trust. While we have many public +men, schooled in the science of government, +whom the spoils of office cannot corrupt, +we have an army of demagogues +who rely upon saloon politics for promotion, +and on all moral questions reason +with their stomachs instead of their +brains. This is especially true in the government +of our large cities.</p> +<p> +Sam Jones, lecturing in a city noted for +its corrupt government said: "Take the +political gang you have running this city, +put them in a cage, then let the devil pass +along and look in and he would say,<a name="page24" id="page24"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 24]</span> +'That beats anything I have in my show.'"</p> +<p> +We don't seem to realize that every public +man is a teacher, every home is a +school, and the education received outside +the schoolroom is often more effective +than the education inside. All the forces +and elements of the organism of society +are teachers and all life is learning. The +birth of an infant into this world is its +matriculation into a university, where it +graduates in successive degrees. And +do you know in this great school of +human life, where I come with you to +study the traits of our kind, that we never +reach a grade that we are not influenced +by what touches us? Here I am past fifty +years of age (and then "some"), yet I am +constantly being influenced by what touches +me.</p> +<p> +Start a new song with a popular air +and it will spread throughout the whole +country. Boys will whistle it and girls +will sing it. A number of years ago, when +at the station ready to leave home for New +England, a lad near me began to whistle +and then to sing a new song. It was a +catchy tune and took hold of me. On the +train I found myself trying to hum that +tune, then I tried to whistle it, and failing<a name="page25" id="page25"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 25]</span> +in both attempts I finally gave it up. Two +days after I left the train up in a New +Hampshire town and took a street car for +the hotel. A blizzard was on, but there +stood the motorman, muffled to his ears, +whistling the same tune I had heard down +in Kentucky, "There'll be a hot time in the +old town tonight."</p> +<p> +When the telephone made its appearance +a good Christian man had one installed +in his store and during the morning +hours of the first day he called up all +his friends who had phones, and "Hello! +Hello!" took hold of him. He went home +to lunch and being a little late he hurried +into his chair at the table. With the +telephone still on his mind, he bowed his +head to return thanks and said: "Hello." +He was a good Christian man, but the telephone +had taken hold of him.</p> +<p> +The very tone of the voice has a tendency +to influence and control character. I +wonder so many parents train their voices +as they do. They have a kind of snap to +the tone which they evidently think makes +the children and the servants "get a move" +on them. Perhaps it does, but at the same +time it falls upon a family like frost upon +a field of flowers. You pay three dollars<a name="page26" id="page26"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 26]</span> +to have your piano tuned, yet you train +your voice to sound harsh and hard.</p> +<p> +How the tone of the voice controls was +illustrated in my own home several years +ago. I went home in the early spring and +found some one had been among my bees +and had left the lids of the hives lifted at +the time the bees were making brood. Going +to the house I said to my wife:</p> +<p> +"Where is Charlie?" He was the colored +man in charge of the barn and garden.</p> +<p> +Mrs. Bain replied: "I suppose he is +about the barn; he doesn't stay in the +house." I knew that, but somehow we +Adams will go to our Eves with anything +that goes wrong.</p> +<p> +"What's the trouble?" my wife asked.</p> +<p> +I told her about the exposure of the +bees, (about the effect of which I knew +very little) and said:</p> +<p> +"I want Charlie to keep out of that +apiary. He'll kill every bee I have."</p> +<p> +Mrs. Bain in a very gentle manner said: +"I did that myself. That's the way father +used to do. I was afraid your bees might +starve during the long cold spell, so I +made some syrup and placed it in the upper +compartments. I lifted the lids so<a name="page27" id="page27"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 27]</span> +that the light would attract the bees up +to the syrup. I'm very sorry I did it, but +I thought it would please you."</p> +<p> +I said: "Well, I believe you did the right +thing, my dear, and I am very much +obliged to you."</p> +<p> +If my wife had said in a harsh tone: "I +did that, sir. What are you going to do +about it?" then I would have said something.</p> +<p> +A little bit of anger let loose in a field +of human nature is as destructible to noble +impulses and generous feelings as a +cyclone is to a town. I was in an Iowa +cyclone some years ago and I noticed when +it was approaching the people didn't run +out of their homes and throw stones at it. +They ran for the storm cellars. When you +see a bit of anger coming toward you from +brother, sister, husband, wife or friend, +don't throw a dictionary of aggravating +words at it; get out of the way and it +will quiet down like the troubled waters +of Galilee when "Peace be still" fell upon +them.</p> +<p> +When we realize how sensitive character +is to the touch of influences, and +how uncertain the character of the influence +that may touch us, how very careful<a name="page28" id="page28"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 28]</span> +we should be as parents as to what +shall touch us, how we shall touch others, +who may be fed by our fulness, starved +by our emptiness, uplifted by our righteousness +or tainted by our sins.</p> +<p> +Sometimes a boy is sent to school with +the idea that the influence of the teacher +will mold the character of the boy, when +the magnetic touch by which the faculties +of the boy are sprung doesn't come from +the teacher, but from some boy on the +playground and perhaps not the best boy. +Some boys are as potent on the playground +as a major-general on a battle-field. +Some persons are like loadstones, +they draw, others are like loads of stone, +they have to be drawn.</p> +<p> +I have known down South in the days +of slavery, coal black queens of the domestic +circle. The cows would come to the +cupping as if it were a spiritual devotion. +Maiden mistresses would tell them their +love stories, when they wouldn't tell their +own mothers. I am a southern man, born +and reared mid slavery, and I pay this +tribute to the black "mammies" of the +South before the war. Down there in that +hale, hearty colored motherhood was laid +the foundation of future health and<a name="page29" id="page29"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 29]</span> +strength for many a white baby, when otherwise +its mother would have had to see it +die. Frail, delicate mothers, who because +of slavery had not done sufficient work to +develop physical womanhood, were not +able to nurse their own infants and gave +them to the care of vigorous, healthy colored +mothers, who took them to their +bosoms and nursed them into strength. +But for that supplemental supply of vigor, +but for that sympathetic partnership in +motherhood, much of the most potent +manhood of the South would never have +been known.</p> +<p> +You who lived in the North before the +war, and you who are younger and have +read about the auction block, the slave +driver and the cottonfield cannot understand +the attachment between one of these +colored mothers and the white boy or girl +she nursed. I know whereof I speak, for +I revere the memory of my old black +mammy.</p> +<p> +There are verses, written by whom I do +not know, the words of which I cannot recall +except a line here and there, hence I +take the liberty to supply the missing lines +and revise the verses to express my feelings +for the slave mammy of my childhood.</p><a name="page30" id="page30"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 30]</span> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"She was only a dear old darkey,</p> + <p class="i2">In a cabin far away,</p> +<p>Down in the sunny Southland,</p> + <p class="i2">Where sunbeams dance and play.</p> +<p>Yet oft in dreams I hear her crooning,</p> + <p class="i2">Crooning soft and low:</p> +<p>'Sleep on, baby boy,</p> + <p class="i2">The sleep will make you grow.'</p></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Oft when tired of fighting</p> + <p class="i2">In a world so full of wrong;</p> +<p>When wearied and worried</p> + <p class="i2">With the tumult and the throng,</p> +<p>I seek again the cabin,</p> + <p class="i2">Where dwelt a heart of gold</p> +<p>And in dreams she loves and pets me,</p> + <p class="i2">As she did in days of old.</p></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Oh, my dear old colored mammy,</p> + <p class="i2">In the cabin far away,</p> +<p>Since you rocked me in the cradle</p> + <p class="i2">Seems forever and a day.</p> +<p>Yet in dreams I hear you crooning</p> + <p class="i2">Above my cradle nest;</p> +<p>'Sleep on, baby boy,</p> + <p class="i2">Mammy watches while you rest.'"</p> +</div></div> +<a name="page31" id="page31"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 31]</span> +<p> +A white baby, whose mother was ill +for months, was given to one of these colored +mothers to nurse. After the war the +white family moved west. As their child +grew up the father and mother often told +her about Aunt Hannah, how she loved +her, petted her, cooked for her, and drove +away her own pickaninnies to let "mammy's +baby" sleep.</p> +<p> +The girl, when she had grown to womanhood, +heard that Aunt Hannah was +still living and she longed to see her devoted +old colored mammy. Her parents +had the same desire, and with other attachments +for the old southern home, they +went back to Georgia on a visit and to the +village where the old woman lived. She +was sent for and the old black mammy +and the beautiful young girl faced each +other. The young lady was disappointed. +She expected to see a nice, comely old woman, +but there she stod, crippled with +rheumatism, gray headed, wrinkled, and +poorly clad. The old woman was surprised, +for there before her stood a beautiful +young woman, with rosy cheeks, +blue eyes, auburn locks and queenly form. +The father and mother stood near, with +tears rolling down their cheeks as memory +came surging up like successive waves<a name="page32" id="page32"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 32]</span> +from out a past hallowed to them, for they +could see in that old woman the health +and strength of their child.</p> +<p> +The old woman broke the silence, saying: +"Is dat my chile? Is dat de chile I +loved and laid wake wif so many nights +and cooked so many sweet things for? +Why, bless yo' heart, honey; dese old +hands ust to take yo' and hug yo' to dis +bosom, but yo's too nice now for dese old +hands to eber touch agin."</p> +<p> +The young girl said: "No, I'm not, +Aunt Hannah. You shall take me in your +arms as when I was a little child," and +she gave a bound into the old woman's +arms.</p> +<p> +That does not mean social equality, but +it does mean gratitude neither condition +nor color can ever bound. If the reciprocities +of that old woman and that beautiful +girl were such as to weave enrichments +into both hearts, why should not all peoples, +and all individuals, see in all others +but a multiplication of the one each of us +is, and that each is enhanced or diminished +in value according to the concentrated +worth of the whole? If man would stand +in his lot of conformity to man, as that old +colored woman stood in her lot, it would<a name="page33" id="page33"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 33]</span> +lift this world to that height from which +we could see the one interest, one reciprocal, +interdependent, together-woven, God-allied +and God-saved humanity.</p> +<p> +But in this we fail. Several men, one +of them an Irishman, were standing on a +street corner when a negro passed. The +Irishman said: "Faith, and if I had been +makin' humanity for a world, I would +niver have made a nager." I suppose in +return the negro would not have made the +Irishman, nor would the white man have +made the Indian or Chinaman, but God +made them all and in proportion as we +have the philanthropic comprehensiveness +to accept them all, and benevolently try to +serve them in their places, do we honor +the place assigned us in the world's creation. +It is not for us to know why God +made this or that; He made everything +for a purpose.</p> +<p> +A father took his boy to an animal +show. The lad had never seen a monkey +and as they played their pranks about the +cage he said: "Father, did God make +monkeys?"</p> +<p> +When the father replied: "Yes," the boy +said: "Well, don't you guess God laughed<a name="page34" id="page34"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 34]</span> +when he made the first monkey?"</p> +<p> +I don't know about that, but if God +made the monkey for a joke it was certainly +a success. If God had made the +monkey for no other purpose than to +create laughter it wouldn't have been a +mistake. The lachrymal glands were +placed in us for sorrow to play upon; we +are commanded to "weep with those who +weep." In antithesis to this the risable +nerves were placed in us for mirthful +music, and I pity the one who has broken +the keys and cannot laugh.</p> +<p> +I believe we owe the Irishman a vote of +thanks for the ringing laughs he has sent +around the world. An Irishman said to a +rich English land-owner:</p> +<p> +"Me Lord, I think the world is very unaqually +divided; it should be portioned +out and each one given an aqual share +with ivery other one?"</p> +<p> +The Englishman replied: "Well, Pat, if +we were to divide today, in ten years I +would have ten thousand pounds and you +wouldn't have a shilling."</p> +<p> +"Then we would divide again," said the +Irishman.</p> +<p> +On an electric car going out of New +York City, a man, who occupied a seat<a name="page35" id="page35"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 35]</span> +next to the aisle, had a pet monkey in a +cage on the seat with him, next to the +window. An Irishman boarded the car +and seeing all the seats taken he remained +standing, holding on to a strap, when suddenly +he spied the monkey in the cage. +He immediately addressed the man who +had the monkey:</p> +<p> +"Sir, is that gintleman in the cage paying +his fare? If not, I'd like to have the +sate."</p> +<p> +The owner of the monkey lifted the +cage to his lap and moved over, giving the +Irishman a seat.</p> +<p> +"What's the nationality of that gintleman, +anyway?" asked Pat.</p> +<p> +By this time the other man was very +much out of humor and said: "He's half +ape and half Irish."</p> +<p> +"Faith, then he's related to both of us," +replied the witty son of Erin, and there +were two monkeys on that car.</p> +<p> +I'll admit this trait of humor comes +in sometimes when it is quite embarrassing, +as it was to Sam Jones upon one occasion, +when in the midst of a sermon before +a large audience, he said:</p> +<p> +"All you who want to go to heaven, +stand up; I'd like to take a look at you."</p><a name="page36" id="page36"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 36]</span> +<p> +The audience arose in great numbers. +When seated again Mr. Jones said: "Now +all you who want to go to the devil, stand +and let's have a look at you."</p> +<p> +All was silent for a moment and then a +tall, lank, lean fellow from the backwoods +arose and said: "Well, parson, I don't care +anything special about seeing the old chap, +but I never desert a friend in trouble, specially +a minister, so I guess I'll have to +stand with you."</p> +<p> +Dr. Frank Gunsaulus told me of a time +when he had to laugh under embarrassing +circumstances. He was called upon to +preach the funeral of a man who had died +from the effects of drink. His friends +had made a box for the corpse and had +placed in the top a ten by twelve window +glass to go over the face, but when the +time came to put the top on the box, being +double-sighted from drink, they reversed +the top and had the glass at the foot of +the coffin instead of the head.</p> +<p> +The preacher took his place, as he supposed, +at the head of the deceased, when +looking down his eyes fell upon a pair of +feet. With great effort he kept his face +straight and conducted the service. At +the close he invited the friends to view the<a name="page37" id="page37"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 37]</span> +remains. One stimulated friend walked +up to the coffin, shook his head and turning +to another said: "Don't look at him, +Jim. He's changing very fast and you +won't know him."</p> +<p> +The great preacher is to be excused if +he did laught at that funeral.</p> +<p> +It's good to laugh, and yet, while I pay +tribute to the trait of humor, I would have +the undergirding trait of all traits of character, +the trait of principle. Though you +may use policy now and then, never use +a policy you must get off the heaven-bound +express train of principle to use.</p> +<p> +I don't like that word policy. There is +another and better name for the trait I +would present just here, and that is <i>tact</i>. +It means the doing of a right thing at the +right time and in the right place. Some +young men win first honors in college and +fail in the business of life for want of +tact. Here is where the Yankee excels. +The Southerner is genial, generous and +has many traits of character to be admired, +but he must doff his hat to Yankee +character for the development of tact.</p> +<p> +Sam Jones, who rarely ever failed to get +the best of whoever tried repartee with +him, met more than his match when he<a name="page38" id="page38"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 38]</span> +ran up against Yankee tact. He was raising +money to pay off the debt on a church.</p> +<p> +A liberal member said: "Mr. Jones, +I have given about all I can afford to give, +but if you will get one dollar from that +old man on the end of the back bench of +the 'amen corner,' I'll give you ten dollars +more."</p> +<p> +"Has he any money, and is he a member +of the church?"</p> +<p> +"Yes," was the answer to both questions.</p> +<p> +The great evangelist said: "Well, that's +easy," and started for the dollar.</p> +<p> +Approaching the old man he said: +"Brother, I'm collecting money for the +Lord. You owe him a dollar. I'm told +you are an honest man and always pay +your debts, so hand over that dollar."</p> +<p> +"How old are you, sir?" asked the old +man.</p> +<p> +When Sam gave his age at about forty, +the old brother said: "I'm nearly double +your age, sir, and will very likely see the +Lord before you do, so I'll just give him +the dollar myself."</p> +<p> +I lectured in New England a few years +ago when before me sat a Yankee with his<a name="page39" id="page39"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 39]</span> +two sons. He sat between them and when +I made a point which he approved, he +would nudge the boys. He seemed to be +driving my advice in with his elbows. At +the close of the lecture I took his hand and +said: "I see you have your boys with you."</p> +<p> +He replied: "Yes, I always take the +two boys with me when I attend a lecture. +I presume when a speaker has prepared +himself he is going to get about the best +things out of his subject, and will put +them in a way to take hold and benefit +young men. If I were going to get the +same information out of books I might +have to spend a dollar or two, when I only +paid fifteen cents each for them to hear +your lecture."</p> +<p> +This trait of tact, however, is moving +south, and even the colored race is getting +hold of it. An old negro who was born on +the plantation where he lived when set +free, remained after the war in his cabin +and worked for the son of his old master. +In his old age his memory began to fail +and he would neglect to do things he was +told to do. The young man was patient +with the old negro for quite a while but +finally said to him:</p> +<p> +"Uncle Dan, you must do better or you<a name="page40" id="page40"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 40]</span> +and I will have to separate."</p> +<p> +The old servant said: "Mars Jim, I does +the best I can. I is mighty sorry I forgits +things and I'se gwine to try to do better."</p> +<p> +But he grew worse and one evening +when he failed to do a very important +chore, the young man said: "I told you +what would happen if you did not do better +and the time has come when you and +I separate."</p> +<p> +Uncle Dan replied: "I'se mighty sorry, +Marse Jim. I was here when you was +born, and when you growed big enuf I ust +to take you on de mule out to de field wif +me, and I members how you ust to take de +lines and dribe de ole mule. Den when +de war broke out and ole Master jined de +army, I stayed here and took care ob ole +Missus and you chilluns. I shore is mighty +sorry we's got to part, but if you says +so den its got to be, but look here, Mars +Jim, if we's got to part, whar's you counting +on moving to?"</p> +<p> +By this time tact had done its work, aggravation +had melted into forgiveness and +the young man said: "I'm not going to +move anywhere, Uncle Dan, nor shall you. +We'll both stay here on the old plantation +together." That was certainly tact on the<a name="page41" id="page41"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 41]</span> +old man's part.</p> +<p> +A young negro, who craved a ride on a +railroad train but had no money, crept under +the baggage car and fixed himself on +the truck. The train started and when at +full speed the engine struck a mule and +tore the animal to pieces. Part of the +mangled remains was carried into the running +gear of the baggage car. The engineer +stopped the train and commenced +pulling out pieces of mule here and there +until he reached the baggage car, when, +looking under for more of the mule, he +saw the white eyes of the negro.</p> +<p> +"Come out, you imp, what are you doing +under there?" said the engineer.</p> +<p> +Back came the tactful reply: "Boss, I +wus de fellow what wus ridin' dat mule."</p> +<p> +The engineer said: "Well, I guess you've +paid your fare; climb into the cab and +help me run this train."</p> +<p> +I commend to you the cultivation of +tact, but don't let it lead you into the +meanest trait of character—selfishness. +To say,</p> +<a name="page42" id="page42"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 42]</span> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Of all my father's family I love myself the best,</p> +<p>If Providence takes care of me, who cares what takes the rest?"</p> +</div></div> +<p> +In the days when there was a community +hearse in a country neighborhood, and +carpenters made the coffins, a young man, +who was ashamed of the old worn-out +hearse, went about soliciting money to +purchase a new one. Presenting the purpose +to an old man of means, he received +from this selfish citizen the reply:</p> +<p> +"I won't give you a dollar. I helped to +buy the old hearse twenty years ago, and +neither me nor my family have ever had +any benefit from it."</p> +<p> +Against this trait of selfishness I place +the most beautiful of all traits—sympathy. +I would rather have the record of Clara +Barton in the great reckoning day than +that of any statesman whose portrait +hangs in a hall of fame.</p> +<p> +During our Civil War she went from +battlefield to battlefield, and was just as +kind to the boy in gray as she was to the +boy in blue.</p> +<p> +After the Civil War Queen Victoria desired +to communicate with Clara Barton +regarding the same mission of mercy for +the German army, where the Queen's<a name="page43" id="page43"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 43]</span> +daughter was then engaged. But Clara +Barton was already on the ocean, and +soon after was in the war zone with the +German army. She was with the first who +climbed the defenses of Strassburg, where +she ministered to the wounded and dying. +At the close of her work there she took +ten thousand garments with her to France. +There she waited till the Commune fell and +again she was with the first to reach the +suffering. In our own war with Spain +she went to Cuba, and though then past +sixty years of age, she stood among the +cots of our wounded and sick soldiers, +soothing their sufferings and cheering +their hearts.</p> +<p> +Still later on in storm-swept Galveston, +Texas, she fell at her post of duty and was +borne back by loving hands to her home, +where she recovered and again resumed +her work of love and mercy, to carry it on +to the end of her long and useful life.</p> +<p> +No wonder the King and court of Germany +bestowed upon her medals of remembrance; +no wonder the Grand Duchess +of Baden placed upon her the "Red +Cross of Geneva;" and in the great day +of reward, He who bore the cross for us +all will place upon Clara Barton the crown<a name="page44" id="page44"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 44]</span> +of eternal life.</p> +<p> +When my wife was president of the +House of Mercy, in Lexington, Kentucky, +a home for the rescue of fallen girls, she +went in her carriage to a dentist with one +of the unfortunate inmates.</p> +<p> +Soon after a business man of the city +said to me: "I hardly see how you can +give your consent to have your wife do +such work. I saw her recently in her carriage +with a girl I would not have my +wife seen with for any amount of money."</p> +<p> +My reply was: "I would rather my wife +should go through the golden gates, bearing +in her arms the spirit of a poor girl, +snatched from the hell of a harlot's home, +than to be the leader of the fashionable +four hundred of New York City."</p> +<p> +There is a beautiful story told of one of +the most influential and wealthy men of +England. He inherited fame as well as +fortune, had an Oxford education and early +in life he was elected a member of Parliament. +One evening he sat in his fine +library, watching the wood fire build its +temples of flame around the great andirons, +and as he heard the beating of the +wild winter storm against the window +pane, his heart went out to the homeless<a name="page45" id="page45"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 45]</span> +hungry poor of the city. Ordering his +carriage he went to the city mission and +asked for a helper, and then drove to London +Bridge, under the shelter of which +the penniless poor gather in time of +storms. He took them two by two to +shelter, gave them food, and cots on which +to sleep, and then returned to his princely +home. We are told that for years after, +when Parliament would adjourn at midnight, +this young man would go through +the slums on his way home, that he might +relieve some poor child of misfortune.</p> +<p> +On Sunday afternoons, while aristocracy +lined the boulevards, this son of fortune +would take his physician in his carriage +and go through the slums, seeking +the sick and suffering. One afternoon, +while he stood outside a tenement door, +awaiting the return of the doctor from +a visit to a poor sick soul inside the tenement, +he became deeply moved by the +ragged children playing in the gutters and +reaching into garbage barrels for crusts +of bread. He said: "Ah! here's the riddle +of civilization. I wish I could help to +solve it; perhaps I can."</p> +<p> +He began the establishment of "ragged +schools" and into these ware gathered<a name="page46" id="page46"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 46]</span> +thousands of poor children. Then followed +night schools for boys who had to work +by day. To these schools he added homes +for working women, and for these women +he persuaded Parliament to give shorter +hours of service. He tore down old rookeries, +built neat dwellings instead, beneath +the windows planted little flower gardens, +and rented them to the poor at the same +price they had paid for the rookeries.</p> +<p> +When he began to fade, as the leaf fades +in its autumn beauty, and the day of his +departure was at hand, he said: "I am +sorry to leave the world with so much +misery in it, but I have lived to prove that +every kind word spoken, and every good +deed done, sooner or later returns to bless +the giver."</p> +<p> +As the end drew near he said to his +daughter: "Read me the twenty-third +Psalm, for 'though I walk through the +valley of the shadow of death, I fear no +evil.'"</p> +<p> +A few days later Westminster Abbey +was crowded with England's nobility to +do him honor. When the funeral procession +reached Trafalgar Square, thousands +of working women stood, with uncovered +heads and tearful eyes, to pay their tribute.<a name="page47" id="page47"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 47]</span> +Children came from the "ragged +schools" bearing banners with the motto: +"I was naked and ye clothed me." From +the hospitals came the motto: "I was sick +and ye visited me," while the working +girls came with a silk flag on which they +had embroidered with their own fingers: +"Inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of +these, ye did it unto me."</p> +<p> +Thus loaded down with the fruits of the +Spirit, Lord Shaftsbury died, and yet lives +in memory as the noblest embodiment of +Christian charity.</p> +<p> +That's sweet music when nature hangs +her wind-harps in the trees for autumn +breezes to play thereon; that must have +been sweet music when Jenny Lind so +charmed the world with her voice, and +when Ole Bull rosined the bow and touched +the strings of his violin; that was sweet +music when I sat in the twilight on the +stoop of my childhood's home and heard +the welkin ring with the songs of the old +plantation; but the sweetest music in this +old world is that which thrills the soul +when spoken in "words of love and deeds +of kindness." Cultivate the trait of sympathy. +The good things you are going to +say of your friend when he's dead, say<a name="page48" id="page48"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 48]</span> +them to him while he's alive. Take care +of the living; God will care for the dead.</p> +<p> +To the trait of sympathy I would add +two grand traits—decision and courage.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Tender handed touch a nettle.</p> + <p class="i2">And it stings you for your pains;</p> +<p>Grasp it like a man of mettle,</p> + <p class="i2">Silk it in your hand remains."</p> +</div></div> +<p> +The decision to throw over the tea in +Boston harbor, to write "Charles Carroll +of Carrolton," and the courage to say, +"Give me liberty or give me death," gave +us this government by and for the people.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"If you come to a river deep and wide,</p> + <p class="i2">And you've no canoe to skim it;</p> +<p>If your duty's on the other side,</p> + <p class="i2">Jump in, my boy, and swim it."</p> +</div></div> +<p> +Have the courage to stand for what you +believe to be right. You may have to go +ahead of public sentiment at times, but +you will be rewarded in having your conviction +and conscience with you.</p> +<p> +A number of years ago in Boston, I gave +a temperance address on Sunday afternoon +in Music Hall. At the close of the +lecture a friend said to me: "You said +some good things but though from the old<a name="page49" id="page49"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 49]</span> +bourbon State of Kentucky, you are ahead +of public sentiment in Boston."</p> +<p> +I replied: "Public sentiment does not +always indicate what is right even in Boston. +On your beautiful Commonwealth +Avenue yesterday afternoon I met an elegantly +dressed lady, I suppose a wealthy +one from her jewels and dress. She had +a poodle dog in her arms, with a blue ribbon +on its neck. Yet, the same woman +wouldn't be caught carrying her six-weeks' +old baby down the street for any +consideration."</p> +<p> +Such is public sentiment in fashionable +society in our cities, and yet the highest +type of the world's creation is a pure, +sweet mother with a babe in her arms, and +another holding her apron strings. I +think it would be a blessing to home life +if an avenging angel should go through +this country, smiting every English pug +and poodle dog bought to take the place of +babies. In their places I would put +bright-eyed, rosy cheeked children to greet +fathers when they return home from their +day's labor.</p> +<p> +Battle for the right, remembering that +far better is a fiery furnace with an angel +for company, than worshiping a brazen<a name="page50" id="page50"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 50]</span> +image on the plains of Dura.</p> +<p> +Some young man may now be saying +in his mind, "For me to always stand for +the right would be to meet difficulties at +every step of the way." Don't get alarmed +over difficulties. Half of them are imaginary.</p> +<p> +I made my first trip to California thirty-five +years ago. One morning I stood on +the eastern edge of the plains with a +sleeping car berth at my service and a +through ticket to San Francisco in my +pocket, while the iron horse stood there all +harnessed and ready for the journey. +Wasn't I in good condition for the trip? +Yes, but I saw trouble before me. One +can always see trouble who looks for it. +I had never been across the plains and before +the time for the train to start I walked +to the front of the engine and looking +along the track as it reached out across +the prairie I saw trouble. What was it? +Why, six miles ahead the track wasn't +wide enough. Yes, I saw it. Then on six +miles more the rails came together, with +my destination nineteen hundred miles +away. Soon the train moved and as we +neared the difficulty, the track opened to +welcome us. Not a pin was torn up nor<a name="page51" id="page51"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 51]</span> +a rail displaced. Again I looked ahead +and a mountain was on the track, but before +I had time to get off the mountain got +off. Next came a precipice and the engine +making directly for it, but we dodged that +and I concluded our train had right of +way, so I stuck to the Pullman car and +went through all right.</p> +<p> +Ever since God made the world principle +has had right of way. Get you a +through ticket, get on the train, battle for +the right and you'll come out victorious +in the end.</p> +<p> +Napoleon said: "God is on the side of +the strongest battalions." He entered +Moscow with one hundred and twenty +thousand men. Snow began to fall several +weeks earlier than usual, the highways +were blocked, frost fiends ruled the +air, the great French army was broken +into pieces and Napoleon had to fly for his +life. God taught Napoleon as well as the +commander of the great Spanish Armada, +that victory is in the hands of Him who +rules weather and waves.</p> +<p> +The next trait I would mention is contentment. +Many persons make themselves +miserable by contrasting the little they +have with the much that others have,<a name="page52" id="page52"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 52]</span> +when if they would compare their blessings +with the miseries of others it would +add to their contentment. Let me give +you an old but a good motto: "Never anything +so bad, but it might have been +worse!"</p> +<p> +It is told of a happy hearted old man +that no matter what would happen he +would say: "It might have been worse." +A friend, who wanted to see if the old man +would say the same under all circumstances, +went into a grocery store where he +was seated by a big fire and said:</p> +<p> +"Uncle Jim, last night I dreamt I died +and was sent to perdition."</p> +<p> +Prompt the reply came: "Well, it might +have been worse."</p> +<p> +When some one asked, "How could it +have been worse," he answered: "It might +have been true."</p> +<p> +Doctor A.A. Willetts, "the Apostle of +Sunshine," used to say: "There are two +things I never worry over; one is the thing +I can help, the other is the thing I can't +help." "Count your blessings," was a favorite +expression of the same beloved old +man.</p> +<p> +There are more bright days than cloudy +ones, a thousand song birds for every rain-crow,<a name="page53" id="page53"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 53]</span> +a whole acre of green grass for every +grave, more persons outside the penitentiary +than inside, more good men than +bad, more good women than good men; +slavery, dueling, lottery and polygamy are +outlawed, the saloon is on the run, the +wide world will soon be so sick of war that +universal peace, with "good will among +men," will prevail, labor and capital will +be peaceful partners and human brotherhood +will rule in righteousness throughout +the world.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"O, this is not so bad a world,</p> + <p class="i2">As some would like to make it,</p> +<p>And whether it is good or bad,</p> + <p class="i2">Depends on how we take it."</p> +</div></div> +<p> +Fanny Crosby, whose gospel hymns are +continually singing souls into the kingdom, +when but six weeks old lost her sight +and for ninety-two years made her way in +literal darkness, without seeing the beauties +of nature about her, the blue sky with +its sun, moon and stars above her, the +faces of her loved ones, and yet at ninety-two +she said: "I never worry, never think +disagreeable things, never find fault with +anything or anybody. If in all the world +there is a happier being than myself, I<a name="page54" id="page54"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 54]</span> +would like to shake that one's hand." No +wonder out of such contentment came +such songs as, "Jesus is calling," "I am +Thine, O Lord," "Safe in the arms of Jesus."</p> +<p> +How different the cultured young woman, +with all her senses preserved, who after +passing through a flower garden where +perfect sight had feasted on the beauty of +the scene said:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"To think of summers yet to come,</p> + <p class="i2">That I am not to see;</p> +<p>To think a weed is yet to bloom,</p> + <p class="i2">From dust that I shall be."</p> +</div></div> +<p> +Poor soul! Instead of enjoying the +summer she had, she was coveting all the +summers between her and eternity. Instead +of thanking God for the immortality +of the soul when done with the body, she +was disappointed because she couldn't carry +the old body along with her. Don't let +these things trouble you. Live one summer +so you will be worthy to breathe the +air of the next if you live to see it; take +care of your body so it will make a decent +weed if God chooses to make one out of +your remains.</p> +<a name="page55" id="page55"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 55]</span> +<p> +Enjoy what you have, don't covet what +you have not, thank God for your home on +earth, follow Fanny Crosby's receipt for +contentment and you will be happy enough +to shake hands with her in the "Land of +the Leal."</p> +<p> +Before I close would you like to have +me point you to greatness? In attempting +to do so, I would not point you to Congress +hall or Senate chamber. You can +find greatness anywhere.</p> +<p> +That was greatness when John Bartholamew +held the throttle of an engine going +over the Sierra mountains, with a train +load of passengers depending upon his +skill and caution, and swinging round a +curve he saw the wood-work of a tunnel +before him on fire. To attempt to stop +the train then, would be to halt in the +flames. He threw on more steam and sent +the train whizzing through the furnace of +fire. Passing out on the other end he was +badly burned, but still held the rein of his +iron horse. A poem dedicated to this brave +engineer closes with the verse:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"I 'spose I might have jumped the train,</p> + <p class="i2">In thought of saving sinew and bone,</p> +<p>And left them women and children</p><a name="page56" id="page56"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 56]</span> + <p class="i2">To take the ride alone.</p></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"But I thought on a day of recknin',</p> + <p class="i2">And whatever old John done here,</p> +<p>The Lord ain't going to say to him there,</p> + <p class="i2">'You went back as an engineer.'"</p> +</div></div> +<p> +History of life on the ocean tells us of a +ship doomed to go down with four hundred +human beings on board. The pumps +were not equal to the task of holding the +water down to the safety line. The captain +said: "We will draw lots for the life-boats, +one hundred and twenty will go in +them and the remainder must go down +with the ship."</p> +<p> +One after another drew his lot. A sailor, +who had drawn the lot of death, +walked to the railing and said to a comrade +in a life-boat: "When you reach the +shore, see my wife, tell her good-bye for +me and help her in getting my back pay, +for she will need it," and he stepped back +and took his place with the doomed.</p> +<p> +Finally the old mate thrust in his +brawny hand and drew a lot for the life-boats. +He stepped aside to watch those +to follow in the drawing, when a very popular +officer of the ship drew his lot. He +was doomed to go down with the ship.<a name="page57" id="page57"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 57]</span> +Though a brave man, the thought of his +loved ones at home overcame him, and +dropping upon his knees he said: "O God, +have mercy upon my wife and little children."</p> +<p> +The old mate went up to him and taking +his hand said: "We have been in many +storms together and have been good +friends for years. You have a wife and +three sweet little children, while I have no +one that will rejoice at my coming, nor +will any one weep if I never return. It +might have been my fate to go down instead +of you, and it shall be. You take +my lot, and I'll take yours."</p> +<p> +The offer was refused, but the mate +forced his friend into a boat saying, +"Good-bye, I'll die for you like a man."</p> +<p> +The greatness of this world doesn't all +belong to your Solons, Solomons, Washingtons, +Napoleons, Grants, Lees or Gladstones, +but yonder in the humbler walks +of life are heroes and heroines, who in the +final reckoning day, will pale the lustre of +some whose names are engraved on marble +monuments and whose praises are perpetuated +in poetry and song.</p> +<p> +If you ask me to point you to greatness +I do not direct your minds to historic<a name="page58" id="page58"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 58]</span> +heights, but that you may win your share +of greatness I close this address by saying, +wherever your lot in life be cast,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"In the name of God advancing,</p> + <p class="i2">Plow, sow and labor now;</p> +<p>Let there be when evening cometh,</p> + <p class="i2">Honest sweat upon thy brow.</p></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Then will come the Master,</p> + <p class="i2">When work stops at set of sun,</p> +<p>Saying, as He pays the wages,</p> + <p class="i2">'Good and faithful one, well done.'"</p> +</div> +</div> +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +<a name="page59" id="page59"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 59]</span> +<a name="II" id="II"></a> +<h3>II</h3> +<br /> +<h2>A SEARCHLIGHT OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.</h2> +<br /><br /> +<p> +But a little more than a century ago, +the old world laughed at the new. Writers +of the old world called our American +eagle, "a paper bird, brooding over a barren +waste;" yet in what they then called +a barren waste, railroads now carry more +of the products of the earth, than all the +railroads of all the lands, of all the peoples +on the face of the earth.</p> +<p> +When New England people believed +there would never be anything worth +having west of the Connecticut River, +what if some seer had prophesied that in +nineteen hundred there would be a city +on Manhattan Island named New York +that would rival London, two southwest, +Baltimore and Washington to equal Venice, +Philadelphia to match Liverpool, +Pittsburg and Buffalo to surpass Birmingham, +and beyond these a city called +Chicago, which in grit and growth would<a name="page60" id="page60"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 60]</span> +beat anything the old world ever dreamt +of; while on still farther west, would be +a State named Iowa, in which in nineteen +hundred and fourteen, would be produced +enough cattle to beef England, enough +potatoes to feed Ireland and hogs to "beat +the Jews."</p> +<p> +What if he had continued; that in the +libraries of the barren waste, there would +be ten million more books, than in the +combined libraries of Europe; that its +college students would outnumber the +college students of England, France and +Germany combined; that its wealth would +be great enough to purchase the empires +of Russia and Turkey, the kingdoms of +Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland, +with South Africa and all her diamond +mines thrown in, and then have +enough left to buy a dozen archipelagoes +at twenty millions each, and still have the +wealth of the republic growing at the +rate of five millions of dollars every +twenty-four hours. What a land in which +to live! Think of it; less than a century +and a half ago, Liberty and England's +runaway daughter, Columbia, took each +other "for better or for worse, forever +and for aye" and started down time's rugged<a name="page61" id="page61"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 61]</span> +stream of years. George Washington, +then Chief Magistrate, performed the +ceremony, and what he joined together +time has not put asunder. It was not a +wedding in high life, such as shakes the +foundation of fashionable society today, +but rather more like the swearing away +of a verdant country couple, in some Gretna +Green, with no other capital than +youth, health and trusting confidence. We +have had some domestic discords; once a +very serious family row, but I of the +South, join you of the North, in thanks to +God, the application for divorce was not +granted, and we are still a united republic.</p> +<p> +The memories which followed that civil +strife were so bitter, doubtless many of +you northern brethren believed the men +who surrendered at Appomattox were not +any too sincere, and if we should ever +have war with any foreign country, the +north, east and west would have to furnish +the patriotism, for the South would +never again march under the stars and +stripes. But when the Spanish-American +war broke out, the first boy to pour out +his heart's blood for his country's flag, +was Ensign Bagley, of North Carolina.<a name="page62" id="page62"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 62]</span> +The young man who penetrated the Island +of Cuba, 'mid Spanish bayonets and +bullets, and searched out Cevera and his +fleet in the harbor was Victor Blue, the +son of a Confederate soldier. The young +man who sank the Merrimac, Captain +Richmond Pearson Hobson, was the son +of another Confederate. Our Consul in +Cuba, whose patriotism no one ever +doubted, was General Fitzhugh Lee, and +the old man who planted the flag in the +tree-tops around Santiago, and led two +negro regiments into the battle, was fighting +Joe Wheeler of the Confederate army.</p> +<p> +If I were to close here, what an optimistic +picture would be left in the glow +of the century's searchlight. But alas! +we have unsolved problems of imperial +moment, and my purpose is to throw the +searchlight upon a few of these unsolved +problems.</p> +<p> +First, being a southern man, I shall +turn it upon the Race Problem.</p> +<p> +A century ago the Indian question was +a perplexing problem, but it cuts but little +figure now, for the Indian is nightly +pitching his moving tepee a day's march +nearer the sunset shore, where one more<a name="page63" id="page63"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 63]</span> +shove, and,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Mad to life's history</p> +<p>Glad to death's mystery,"</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +the red race will go, to where the pale +face will cease from troubling, and the +weary spirit will find its rest at last.</p> +<p> +The Chinese question is of equal insignificance, +since our doors are closed and +barred against the almond eyes of the +Orient.</p> +<p> +The Negro question seems to be the +race riddle of our civilization and it will +take much tact, patience and wisdom to +solve the problem. It may be a revelation +to some of you to know, that at the rate +the negro race has grown since the Civil +War, when the twentieth century goes +out, there will be sixty millions of negroes +in one black belt across the Southland. I +say across the Southland because, the +main body of the negro race will never +leave the track of the southern sun. The +South held the negro in slavery, the North +set him free. We supposed at the close +of the war, he would leave the South and +go to live among his liberators. But after +half a century, he is still clinging to +the cotton and the cane, or sitting in his<a name="page64" id="page64"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 64]</span> +log house home, the "shadowed livery of +the burning sun" upon his brow, the plantation +song still lingering on his lips, the +banjo tuned to memory's melodies on his +knee, a clump of kinky-headed pickaninnies +playing in the sand about his cabin +door, and there he sits multiplying the +Southland and problemizing the century.</p> +<p> +I have not time to discuss at length the +solution of the problems before us, but I +hope to present them in such a manner +as will help you to appreciate their importance +and how they are linked with the +destiny of the republic.</p> +<p> +It seems to me exaltation of character, +dignification of labor, material prosperity, +leaving social equality to take care of itself, +makes up the best solution of the +negro problem. Social equality does take +care of itself even among the white races. +Some of you may have a white servant +who is a good woman, a Christian woman, +you expect to meet her in heaven (if +you get there), but she is not admitted to +your social set.</p> +<p> +There is a vast difference between social +rights and civil rights. Near Lexington, +Ky., where I claim my home, is the country +residence of J.B. Haggin, the multi-millionaire<a name="page65" id="page65"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 65]</span> +horseman. Soon after the +completion of his mansion home, he gave +a reception which cost thousands of dollars. +The "first cut" of society came from +far and near, but I was not invited, nor +did I feel slighted, for I had no claim upon +the millionaire magnate socially. But +when I meet the great turf-king on the +turnpike, he in his limozine and I in my +little runabout, I say, "Mr. Haggin, give +me half the road, sir." Inside his gates +I have no claim, but outside, the turnpike's +free, and J.B. Haggin can't run over me. +So the negro has no claim on the white +man for social equality, but he has a +right to the key of knowledge and a +chance in the world.</p> +<p> +Slavery was not an unmixed evil. Like +the famed shield it had two sides. While +it had its blighting effects it had its blessings. +In bondage the negro was taught +to speak the English language, and in +childhood had the association of white +children with their southern home training. +They were taught two valuable lessons, +industry and obedience, without +which liberty means license. The negro +was compelled to work and obey, two lessons +the Indian never had and never respected.<a name="page66" id="page66"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 66]</span> +Beside these valuable lessons the +negro was taught the fundamental principles +of Christianity and at the opening +of the war nearly every negro belonged +to some church. Their preachers used to +get their dictionary and Bible very amusingly +mixed at times. Elder Barton exhorting +his hearers said: "Paul may plant +and Apolinarus water, but if you keeps on +tradin' off your birthright for a pot of +Messapotamia you'se gwine to git lost. +You may go down into de water and come +up out ob de water like dat Ethiopian +Unitarium, but if you keeps on ossifyin' +from one saloon to another; if you keeps +on breakin' the ten commandments to satisfy +your appetite for chicken; if you +keeps on spendin' your time playing craps, +the fourteenth amendment ain't gwine to +save you. Seben come elebin never took +a man to Heben. I want you to understand +dat." Yet from such crudeness of expression +has come preaching, remarkable for +thought as well as scholarship and eloquence, +while out of the suffering of slavery, +through the law of compensation, we +have matchless melodies in negro choirs +and negro concert companies.</p> +<a name="page67" id="page67"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 67]</span> +<p> +Leaders of thought may differ as to the +methods of solution, but upon one thing +all must agree. The net-work of our republic +is such that if one suffers all suffer, +and the negro is so interwoven with +the various interests of our National life, +we must level the race up or it will level +the white race down. The lower classes +must be lifted to the tableland of a better +life, where they can breathe the pure +air of intelligence and morality, or they +will pollute the whole body politic. They +must also acquire property. Economy is +a lesson the negro race needs to learn. +This lesson was well presented to a drunken +white man by a sober old negro. The +white man spent his money for liquor, and +then started for home. Reaching a river +he must cross by ferry, he found he had +spent his last penny for drink. Seeing an +old colored man seated at a cabin door +near by, he turned toward the cabin. +Nearing the old man he said:</p> +<p> +"Uncle, would you loan me three cents +to cross the ferry?"</p> +<p> +"Boss, ain't you got three cents?"</p> +<p> +"I ain't got one cent," replied the white +man.</p> +<p> +"Well, you can't git the three cents. Ef +you ain't got three cents, you'se just as<a name="page68" id="page68"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 68]</span> +well off on one side de river as you is on +de other."</p> +<p> +I said we may differ as to methods for +solving this race problem. Remembering +as I do the days of slavery, how in Christian +homes the most merciful masters and +the most faithful slaves were found, I believe +the best solution lies in the golden +rule of the gospel of Jesus Christ.</p> +<p> +I now give the searchlight a swing and +it falls upon the City Problem.</p> +<p> +At the opening of the nineteenth century +three per cent. of the people of this +country lived in cities, ninety-seven per +cent. in the country. At the rate migration +is now going from country to city in +twenty years there will be ten millions +more people in the cities than in the country. +This means a change of civilization, +and new problems to solve. It means a +day when cities will control in state and +national elections, and if ignorance and +vice control our cities, then virtue and intelligence +as saving influences will not +suffice to save us. The ignorance prominent +in the machinery of large cities is +illustrated by the police force of New +York City. When applicants for positions +on the police force were being tested a<a name="page69" id="page69"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 69]</span> +few years ago, the question was asked: +"Name four of the six New England +States." Several replied: "England, Ireland, +Scotland and Wales." Another question +was: "Who was Abraham Lincoln?" +As many as ten answered: "He was a +great general." One said: "He discovered +America;" another said: "He was +killed by a man name Garfield;" and another's +answer was, "He was shot by +Ballington Booth."</p> +<p> +The growth of large cities means the +growth of slum-life. Hear me, you who +live out in the uncrowded part of the +country. Maud Ballington Booth tells of +finding five families, living in one attic +room in New York City, with no partitions +between. Here they "cook, eat, sleep, +wash, live and die," in the one room. In +our large cities are armies of children, +whose shoulders "droop with parental +vice," whose feet are fast in the mire of +miserable conditions, whose hovel homes +line the sewers of social life, and who are +cursed and doomed by inheritance.</p> +<p> +Some twenty or more years ago, a +Chicago paper that had money behind it, +and could have been sued for damages +said: "The man who controls the purse<a name="page70" id="page70"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 70]</span> +strings of this city, the school board and +board of public works, is the vilest product +of the slums, a saloon keeper, a +gambler, a man a leading citizen of this +city would not invite into his home." That +man then controlled the purse strings of +the great city of Chicago. I am glad to +say a better man holds the place today. +Hannibal could not save Carthage; Demosthenes +could not save Greece; Jesus +himself could not save Jerusalem. Can +we save the cities of this republic?</p> +<p> +Yet our lads and lassies are eager to +leave the country and go to large cities, +where gas-lit streets are thronged with +humanity and entertainments provided +every hour.</p> +<p> +A country boy said to me: "Mr. Bain, +you go everywhere; you see everything; I +live out here in the country and see nothing." +I have tried it all. For about +twenty-eight years I lived in the country. +Since then my life has been in cities and +on railroad trains between the oceans. My +experience is, there is no life that keeps +the heart so pure and the mind so contented +as life in the country.</p> +<p> +Some years ago I gave two addresses +at Ocean Grove, New Jersey, on Saturday<a name="page71" id="page71"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 71]</span> +evening a popular lecture, and on +Sunday an address to young men. I had +the popular lecture made but not the Sunday +talk. For three months I promised +myself to get that lecture but kept on delaying. +As I neared the time I hoped +something would prevent my going. The +time came, I was at Ocean Grove, knew I +would have a great audience, for the day +was ideal, and still I did not have the lecture +except in skeleton form. After breakfast +Sunday I began to walk the floor, +working out clothing for that skeleton +and racking my brain for climaxes. My +wife was with me and she never would +worry over my having nothing to say. +Into every sentence I would weave she +would inject a piece of her mind about +home or children or some woman's dress +or bonnet. I said: "This is a trying time +with me, won't you take a stroll along +the beach and let me be alone today?" +Like a good wife she gratified my request, +and left me to work and worry over that +lecture. At four o'clock p.m., I could +not see daylight, and in the darkness cried +out: "O Lord, if you will help me this time +I won't ask you again for awhile." The +Lord did help me. My friends said I never<a name="page72" id="page72"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 72]</span> +did so well as that evening. At the +close of the lecture the audience arose and +handkerchiefs, like so many white doves, +fluttered in the air. In the midst of that +scene, an old superannuated minister of +the New York Methodist Conference +planted a kiss on my cheek, and I have +wondered often, why a man should have +thought of that instead of a woman.</p> +<p> +At the close of the service a friend said: +"That must have been the proudest moment +of your life, for surely I never witnessed +such a scene."</p> +<p> +I said: "No, I can recall one that was +greater than the white lilies."</p> +<p> +Away back in Bourbon county, Kentucky, +when I was not quite twenty I was +married to a girl of nineteen. Soon after, +we went to housekeeping in a country +home. It was supper time. I had fed the +chickens and horses, and washed my face +in a tin pan on the kitchen steps, when a +sweet voice said: "Come, supper's ready." +As I entered the dining room my young +wife came through the kitchen door, the +coffee pot in her hand, her cheeks the ruddier +from the glow of the cook stove, her +face all lit up with expectancy as to what +her young husband would think of his<a name="page73" id="page73"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 73]</span> +first meal prepared by his wife. All the +operas I have heard since, and all the cities +I have seen, dwindle into insignificance +compared with that pure, peaceful +home in the country.</p> +<p> +Another sweep of the searchlight brings +us to the Immigration Problem. We are +today the most cosmopolitan country of +the world. At the rate of a million a year +immigrants are pouring in upon us, and +no wonder they come, when they read of +the marvelous fortunes made in the new +world; of Mackay a penniless boy in the +old world, worth fifty millions at middle +life in America; A.T. Stewart peddling +lace at twenty, a merchant prince at fifty; +Carnegie a poor Scotch lad at eighteen, a +half billionaire at seventy. These with +many more such results on a smaller scale, +rainbow the sky that spans the sea, and +from the other end, this end is seen pouring +its gold and greatness into the lap of +the land of the free. So they come, and +though they do not find all they expected, +they do find far more here than they left +behind, and writing letters back over the +ocean, they set others wild with a desire to +live in America. Many of them are excellent +people; their children go into our<a name="page74" id="page74"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 74]</span> +public schools and come out with ours, +one in thought, one in purpose, one in feeling. +A little boy in Chicago said:</p> +<p> +"Papa, you were born in England?"</p> +<p> +"Yes."</p> +<p> +"And mama was born in Scotland?"</p> +<p> +"Yes."</p> +<p> +"And you had a king at the head of +your armies?"</p> +<p> +"Yes."</p> +<p> +"Well! <i>we</i> licked you all the same."</p> +<p> +The children of our foreign born citizens +in our public schools are intensely +American. A boy who was born in this +country but whose parents were foreign +born, was for some misdemeanor chastised +by his father. When his playmates teased +him he said: "Oh, the whipping didn't +count for much, but I don't like being +licked by a foreigner."</p> +<p> +There is another class coming to our +country not only injurious but dangerous. +They bring with them the heresies of the +lands they hail from. They do not come +to be American citizens. There is not an +American hair in their heads, or an American +thought in their minds. Every drop +of blood in their veins, beats to the music +of continental customs, and they come<a name="page75" id="page75"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 75]</span> +prepared to sow and grow the seeds of anarchy. +Many come with tags on their +backs giving their destination; not to +build American homes; not to learn our +language; not to obey our laws, or honor +our institutions, but to undermine the +honest laboring classes who toil to build +homes and educate and clothe their children. +I say, take off their tags and let +them tag back home. Out of this class +came the men who cheered to the echo a +speaker in Chicago when he said: "I am +in favor of dynamiting every bank vault +in this city and taking the money we are +entitled to." Out of such schools of anarchy, +came the man who crossed the +sea from Patterson, New Jersey, to send +a bullet through the heart of King Humbert, +and out of this class came the teachers, +who shrouded our land with shame +and sorrow in Buffalo, New York.</p> +<p> +Just here, I congratulate the spirit of +William McKinley upon its auspicious +flight to the spirit world. There is no +better time and place for one to die, than +at the summit of true greatness, "enshrined +in the hearts of his countrymen, +at peace with his God," the sun of his life +going down, "before eye has grown dim<a name="page76" id="page76"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 76]</span> +or natural force has abated." Take him +from the time he entered the army, where +his commanding general said: "A night +was never so dark, storm never so wild, +weather never so cold as to interfere with +his discharge of every duty." From this +time on, as lawyer, commonwealth's attorney, +congressman, governor, and president, +he was a Jonathan to his friends, a +Ruth to his kindred, a Jacob to his family, +a Gideon to his country. Take him in +private life where an intimate friend said: +"I never heard him utter a word his wife +or mother might not have heard; I never +heard him speak evil of any man." Take +him when stricken down by an assassin, +hear him say: "Let no man harm him; +let the law take its course; good-bye to +all; God's will be done," and in his last +conscious moments chanting "Nearer my +God to Thee," and you have one of the +most touching stories of this old world. +All honor to our martyred president, +William McKinley.</p> +<p> +What a shame that in a land whose +constitution guarantees life, liberty and +the pursuit of happiness to the humblest +citizen, the life of its chief executive is +not safe, though guarded by detectives<a name="page77" id="page77"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 77]</span> +and surrounded by devoted friends. Until +the country is rid of organized anarchy it +would be well to abandon free-for-all +hand-shaking.</p> +<p> +When Senator Hoar made his speech +in the United States Senate against anarchy +he said: "It would be well if the +nations of the earth would combine together, +purchase an island in the sea, +place all anarchists on that island, and let +them run a government of their own." An +Irishman said: "I'm not in favor of any +sich thing; I am in favor of gathering +thim up all right, takin' thim out in the +middle of the ocean, dumpin' them out, +and letin' thim find their own island."</p> +<p> +Out of the personal liberty league, +which is but another form of anarchy, +came the man who in an address a few +years ago said: "This republic is our +hunting ground and the American Sabbath +shall be our hunting day. Down with +the American Sabbath!"</p> +<p> +It has been well said: "The Sabbath is +the window of our week, the sky-light of +our souls, opened by divine law and love, +up through the murk and cloud and turmoil +of earthly life to the divine life +above." Whoever would destroy the Sabbath<a name="page78" id="page78"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 78]</span> +day is undermining the republic, and +any man who does not like the restrictions +of our Sabbath, can find a vessel +leaving our ports about every day in the +year. He can take passage any day he +chooses, and as the vessel steams out we +can afford to sing, "Praise God from +whom all blessings flow."</p> +<p> +Another move of the searchlight and +we have The Expansion Problem.</p> +<p> +Yonder in the Philippine Islands are +seventy different tribes, speaking many +languages. How to mold them into one +common whole, loyal to one flag is a +mighty problem; and yet I am one of those +who believe God intends this American +republic shall be a standard-bearer of civilization +to the darkest corners of the +earth. I do not mean by this that I advocate +imperialism from the standpoint of +wider domain. Indeed I am disposed to +dodge the question of imperialism, as I +dodged the money question in Colorado +when the question was the issue in politics. +I gave three addresses for the +Boulder, Colorado, Chautauqua when the +money question was the all-absorbing one +in the west. At the close of my second +address I was introduced to the superintendent<a name="page79" id="page79"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 79]</span> +of the railroad that runs over the +Switzerland trail. He said: "I understand +your wife is here, and I will be pleased to +have you and Mrs. Bain as my guests tomorrow." +I knew that meant a free ride +and I accepted. The next morning we +were at the station at the appointed hour +and after a wonderful ride mid scenic +grandeur up to where eagles nest, and +blizzards hatch out their young, our host +said: "I want you to have the most thrilling +ride you ever had, and at the next +station be ready to leave the train." As +the brakes gripped the wheels, and the +train rested on the eye-brow of the mountain +height, we stepped off. A hand car +was taken from the baggage car and the +train moved on up the trail. While Mrs. +Bain was captivated by the mountains, I +was looking at that hand car, without +any handles on it, a flat truck with four +wheels. The superintendent said: "Will +you help me lift this on to the track?" I +said: "Yes, but what are you going to do +with it?" When he said: "Going down +the mountain to where we came from," I +said, "What will we hold to?" "To each +other," he replied, and I could see he was +enjoying Mrs. Bain's placidness and my<a name="page80" id="page80"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 80]</span> +apprehension of trouble ahead.</p> +<p> +Determined to sustain Kentucky's reputation +for courage I said no more, but +hoped Mrs. Bain would come to my relief +since she knew her husband was given to +dizziness when riding backwards or +swinging round sudden curves. She said: +"Isn't this a grand sight?" I said: "Yes, +it's grand, but we are going down the +mountain on this hand car." "That will +be fine," was all the comfort she gave me.</p> +<p> +Though I have traveled close to a million +miles behind the iron horse I cannot ride +backwards on a railroad train. In that +respect I am like the husband who when +about to die said to his wife: "I want to +make a special request of you, and that is, +see that I am buried face down; it always +did make me sick to travel backwards." +When a boy I could not swing as could +other boys. My head is not level on my +shoulders. I have never crossed the ocean +and never will. I cannot ride the rolling +waves. Some years ago when out on a +little coast ride for pleasure, (if that's +what you call it) I said to the captain: +"How long till we reach the shore?" When +he answered forty minutes, I felt I +couldn't live that long. But I did, and<a name="page81" id="page81"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 81]</span> +when the boat touched the wharf I felt +as the old lady did who landed from her +first ocean trip saying: "Thank the Lord, +I'm on vice-versa again."</p> +<p> +When Mrs. Bain had seated herself on +one side of that hand car I fixed myself +on the other, gripping the edge of the car. +Off went the brake and we started. In a +few minutes I said to myself: "Farewell +vain world, I'm going home." As we ran +along the wrinkle of the mountain, and +swung out toward the point of a crag +with seemingly no way to dodge the +mighty abyss below, I was reminded of +the preacher's mistake, when in closing a +meeting with the benediction he said: "To +Thy name be ascribed all the praises +in the world with the end out." Around +frost-filed mountain crags, over spider +bridges, through sunless gorges, we went +down that mountain like an eagle swooping +from a storm. When we reached +Boulder, Mrs. Bain jumped from the car +like a school-girl and while she was thanking +our host, I was thanking kind Providence +that we were back in Boulder. On +our way to the hotel I said: "Were you +not frightened when we started down +that mountain?" "Why not at all," Mrs.<a name="page82" id="page82"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 82]</span> +Bain replied; "I knew the superintendent +would not invite us to take the ride unless +it was safe."</p> +<p> +I said: "Well, you had more confidence +in him than you have in me. When I call +at the door with a new horse in the carriage +or phaeton, you won't get in until +you know all about the horse."</p> +<p> +"Yes," she said, "but I know <i>you</i>."</p> +<p> +I do not regret having had that thrilling +experience, but I <i>do</i> feel by that hand +car ride, as the Dutchman felt about his +twin babies. He said: "I wouldn't take +ten thousand dollars for dot pair of twins, +and I wouldn't give ten cents for another +pair."</p> +<p> +That evening I gave my last lecture at +Boulder and in closing said: "I suppose +you who live mid these mines would like +to know how I stand on the money question." +They cheered, showing their desire +to know my views on the then popular +question, and I proceeded to dodge by saying: +"Last evening I stood on yonder veranda +watching the sun as it went down +over the mountain's brow, leaving its +golden slipper on Flag Staff Peak. Colorado +clouds, shell-tinted by the golden +glory of the setting sun, were hanging as<a name="page83" id="page83"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 83]</span> +rich embroideries upon the blue tapestry +of the sky, and soon the full moon began +to pour its <i>silver</i> on the scene. As I stood +gazing at the picture painted by the <i>gold</i> +of the sun, and <i>silver</i> of the moon, I felt +whatever may have been my views on the +money question, the sun's gold-standard +glory, and the moon's free-silver coinage, +as seen from these Colorado Chautauqua +grounds make me henceforth a Boulder +bi-metalist."</p> +<p> +On leaving the platform an old miner +said: "How do you stand on the money +question? You got your views so mixed +up with the sun and moon I couldn't understand +you."</p> +<p> +So if some one should say to me: "Do +you believe in imperialism of humanity:" +If asked: "Do you believe in expansion," +my answer is; "I believe in the expansion +of human brotherhood." "I believe there's +a destiny that shapes our ends," and since +the Philippine Islands were pitched into +our lap in a night, it may be it was done +that the home, the church and the school +might have a chance under civil liberty in +the Philippine Islands. With boundless +resources and immense means, are linked +great responsibilities, and we who live in<a name="page84" id="page84"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 84]</span> +freedom's land, and humanity's century, +are under obligations to help carry the +light of Christian civilization to the darkest +corners of the earth.</p> +<p> +Along with the Christian missionary +goes that other "pathfinder of civilization," +the commercial traveler, who is +known as the "evangel of peaceful exchange" +that makes the whole world kin. +When the Filipinos are fit for self-government, +let us do as we did Cuba, make +them as free as the air they breathe, but +keep the key to Manila Bay as our doorway +to the Orient; for whatever may be +said of the old "Joss House" kingdom with +all her superstitions, she possesses today +the "greatest combination of natural conditions +for industrial activity of any undeveloped +part of the globe." By building +the Suez Canal England secured an advantage +of three thousand miles, in her +oriental trade over the United States. The +Panama Canal wipes out this advantage +and places the trade of New York a thousand +miles nearer than that of Liverpool.</p> +<p> +Now let the United States build her own +merchant marine, then with her own +ships, loaded with her own goods, in her +own harbor at Manila, she has easy access<a name="page85" id="page85"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 85]</span> +to the Orient, with its seven hundred +and fifty millions of people, who purchased +last year more than a billion and a half +dollars worth of the kind of goods we +have to sell, and much of it cotton goods, +which means future employment for the +growing millions of negroes in the South. +While it may be best to confine our territorial +domain within our ocean ditches, +we must encourage commercial expansion, +for we have already one hundred millions +of people; soon we will have one hundred +and fifty millions, and experts tell us +when the present century closes there will +be three hundred millions in this country. +If this republic would build for the future +she must strive to create a world-wide +business fraternity, through which will +go and grow the spirit of the noblest civilization +of the world.</p> +<p> +Another swing of the searchlight and it +falls upon The Labor and Capital Question.</p> +<p> +After all the years of education, agitation +and legislation, we find capital combining +in great corporations on one hand, +and labor organizing in great trade unions +on the other. Like two great armies they +face each other, both determined to win.<a name="page86" id="page86"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 86]</span> +While capital is expanding on one side, +the wants of the laboring classes are expanding +on the other. They see excursion +trains bound for world's fairs; they want +to go. They see stores crowded with the +necessaries and luxuries of life; they want +a share. They live in days of startling +pronouncements, they can read, they want +the morning papers. They live in a larger +world, and knowing their brains and +brawn helped to create the larger world +they feel they deserve a larger share in +its fortunes. When they see avenues lined +with the mansion homes of capital, and +the toiling world crowded into tenement +quarters, and these tenements owned by +capital, not five in fifty of the country's +wage-earners owning their homes, they +naturally conclude there is something +wrong somewhere.</p> +<p> +Over an inn in Ireland hangs a picture +representing the "FOUR ALLS;" a king +with a scepter in his hand saying, "I rule +all;" a soldier with a sword in his hand +saying, "I fight for all;" a bishop with a +Bible in his hand saying, "I pray for all," +and a working man with a shovel in his +hand saying, "I pay for all."</p> + +<a name="page87" id="page87"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 87]</span> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"God bless them, for their brawny hands</p> +<p>Have built the glory of all lands;</p> +<p>And richer are their drops of sweat,</p> +<p>Than diamonds in a coronet."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +I must say, however, all the fault for +present conditions must not be charged to +capital. There are faults within I wish +the laboring world would see and correct. +I travel the country over and note the +men who file in and out the saloons. Are +they bankers or leading business men? +No, they are laborers from factories, furnaces, +fields and work-shops, spending +their money for what is worse than nothing +and giving it to a business that pays +labor less and robs more than any other +capitalization in the world.</p> +<p> +The New York Sun says: "Every successful +man in Wall Street is a total +abstainer. He knows he must keep +his brain free from alcohol when he enters +the Stock Exchange, where his mind +goes like a driving wheel from which the +belt has slipped." The laboring man +needs brain as clear and nerves as steady +as the capitalist if he expects to win in +this age of sharp competition.</p> +<p> +What the laboring classes in this country +spend for liquor in twelve months<a name="page88" id="page88"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 88]</span> +would purchase five hundred of the average +manufactories of the land; what they +spend in ten years would purchase five +thousand, and what they spend in twenty +years would control the entire manufacturing +interests of the country.</p> +<p> +A few years ago a strike occurred with +the Pullman Palace Car Company. What +the laboring classes spend for intoxicating +liquors in three months would purchase +the Pullman Palace Car Company and all +its rolling stock. Instead of a strike, in +which laboring men are out of work and +families suffering for the necessaries of +life, why not stop drinking beer and whiskey +for ninety days, buy the whole business +and let the Pullman Company do +something else. How to husband the resources +of the poor is far more important +than the right use of the fortunes of the +rich. There is less danger in the massing +of money by the rich than there is in +wasting the wages of the working world +in saloons.</p> +<p> +Now I have already thrown the searchlight +upon enough problems for you to +realize I have given you an incongruous +picture. You must be impressed with the +conflicting forces at work upon our republic.<a name="page89" id="page89"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 89]</span> +Never have we had so many advocates +of peaceful arbitration for differences +between nations and never such armament +for war; never such an accumulation +of comforts, never such a multiplication +of wants; never so much done to +make men honest, never so many thieves. +In 1850 seven thousand in our penitentiaries; +in 1860 twenty thousand; in 1870 +thirty-two thousand; in 1880 fifty-eight +thousand; in 1890 eighty-two thousand, +and in 1900 one hundred thousand. In +London, England, last year with over seven +millions of people, twenty-four murders; +in Chicago, one hundred and eighteen. +There are more murders in this republic +than in any civilized land beneath +the sky. Yet in face of all these unsettled +questions, with advancement along all social, +moral, intellectual and religious lines +I have faith to believe this twentieth century +American citizenship will prove itself +sufficiently thoughtful, testful and +tactful to deal with all national issues as +one by one they come within reach of +practical politics, and that this country is +big enough, brave enough, wise enough +and just enough to solve every problem +vexing us today.</p> +<a name="page90" id="page90"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 90]</span> +<p> +Some have not this faith. They see an +army of three hundred thousand tramps +eating bread by the sweat of other men's +brows; the slums of great cities, cradles +of infamy where children are trained to +sin; the "fire-damp of combination trusts" +stifling the working world; gambling +brokers cornering the markets in the necessaries +of life; the wages of working +girls being such as to lead many from +life's Eden of purity; a great battle on +between labor and capital and in this combination +of threatening dangers they see +the overthrow of free government.</p> +<p> +If these pessimists would take a view +from the nether standpoint and see what +we have come through as a country their +fears would be dispelled.</p> +<p> +Look backward fifty years from today +and see the republic wrapped in the +throes of civil strife; the soil of our Southland +soaked with blood and tears; the nation +overwhelmed with debt; four million +negroes turned loose penniless in the +South to beg bread at the white man's +door, and he already on "Poverty row;" +Abraham Lincoln dead in the White +House, shot down by an assassin; the Secretary +of War bleeding from three stab +wounds the same night; and Columbia<a name="page91" id="page91"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 91]</span> +reeling on her throne.</p> +<p> +Now see the harmonious association of +all sections; a firmer establishment of this +"government of the people, by the people +and for the people" than was ever known. +Look over the ocean and see Turkey's +massacre of the Armenians, Russia with +her Siberian horrors, Spain with her +cruelty to the Moors and Jews; or look +closer home over the Mexican border and +see the government torn to tatters and +public men shot down like dogs. Then +turn and note our country's magnanimous +dealings with Cuba; her teachers schooling +Filipinos into nobler life; our President +leading the armies of Russia and +Japan out of the rivers of blood; slavery +gone, lottery gone, polygamy outlawed, +the saloon iniquity tottering to its fall; +hospitals nestled in shadows of bereavement, +hungry children fed on their way +to school, and men who know how to make +money, giving it away for the relief of +suffering and uplift of mankind as never +before. Don't tell me the world is getting +worse.</p> +<p> +I was in New York City for two weeks +at the time of the Titanic disaster. On +Saturday evening before the ocean tragedy<a name="page92" id="page92"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 92]</span> +I stood on the elevated at the corner +of Thirty-third and Broadway. The "Great +White Way" was thronged with pleasure-seekers, +crowding their way to theatres +and picture shows. It seemed to me I +never saw the great city so gay. But, on +Monday morning after, there came on +ether waves the appalling news that the +finest ship in the world had gone down, +and sixteen hundred human beings had +gone with it. I never witnessed such a +transformation. It seemed to me every +woman had tears in her eyes, and every +man a lump in his throat. Actors played +to empty houses that evening; a pall +hung over the great Metropolis. But when +details came, with them came the triumph +of humanity. The rich had died for the +poor, the strong had died for the weak.</p> +<p> +John Jacob Astor had turned away from +his fine mansion on Fifth Avenue, his +summer home at Newport, his hundred +millions of dollars in wealth, and was +found spending his last moments saving +women and children. All honor to the +brave young bridegroom who carried his +bride to a life boat, said, "good-bye +sweetheart," kissed her and stepping +back went down with the ship. All hail<a name="page93" id="page93"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 93]</span> +to that loyal loving Hebrew wife and +mother, Mrs. Straus, who holding to her +husband's arm said: "I would rather die +with you than live without you." Like +Ruth of old, she said: "Where thou goest, +I will go; where thou diest I will die, and +there will I be buried." There side by +side at the ocean gateway to eternity these +old lovers went down together.</p> +<p> +Ah! this republic will never perish +while we have such manhood and womanhood +to live and die for its honor.</p> +<p> +It has been said: "We live in a materialistic +age; that all human activities are +born of selfishness; that manhood is dying +out of the world." All over the land at +midnight, men lean from the saddles of +iron horses, peering down the railroad +track, ready to die if need be for the safety +of those entrusted to their care. Firemen +will climb ladders tonight and their +souls will go up in flames, like Jim Bludsoe's, +to save the lives of imperiled women +and children.</p> +<p> +Look at the orchestra on board the Titanic. +When the supreme moment of danger +came, they rushed to the deck, not to +put on life belts, not to get into lifeboats +but to form in order, and send out over<a name="page94" id="page94"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 94]</span> +the icy ocean, the music of the sweet song, +"Nearer, my God, to Thee." When the +ship lifted at one end and started on its +headlong dive of twenty-seven hundred +fathoms to the depths of the salty sea, +those brave men, without a discordant +note, sent out the sweet refrain;</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Now let the way appear</p> +<p>Steps unto Heaven;</p> +<p>All that Thou sendest me,</p> +<p>In mercy given;</p> +<p>Angels to beckon me,</p> +<p>Nearer, my God to thee;</p> +<p>Near to Thee."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +May we not hope those brave musicians +and those who died that others might live, +"On joyful wings cleaving the sky," ocean +and icebergs forgot <i>did</i> upward fly, and +on their flight to the spirit world continued +the song, "Nearer, my God, to Thee."</p> +<p> +Manhood is not dying out of the world.</p> +<p> +Students of history are asking, "Will +the fate of Rome be repeated in the history +of this republic?" The answer is, we +have saving influences in this republic +Rome never knew. Rome never had an +asylum for her blind or insane; she never +had a home for widows and orphans;<a name="page95" id="page95"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 95]</span> +her "golden house" of Nero never had an +equal, but nowhere in her dusty highways +could be found footprints of mercy. In +Rome the soldier was the cohesive power, +while socially everything was isolated. In +this republic there is an interlacing and +binding together in bonds of human brotherhood. +A Methodist here bound to Methodists +everywhere, Presbyterian to Presbyterian, +Baptist to Baptist, Disciple to +Disciple, Lutheran to Lutheran, Catholic +to Catholic, Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights +of Pythias, Red Men, Maccabees, Woodmen, +Christian Endeavor Societies, Epworth +Leagues, Y.M.C.A.'s, W.C.T.U.'s, +and many other fraternities, making +up an interdependent, together-woven, +God-allied and God-saving influence ancient +empires never dreamt of. These are +the moral lightning rods that avert from +this republic the wrath of God.</p> +<p> +Am I putting too much stress upon the +humanity side of national life? Do you +tell me money is the great question of this +country, tariff the great question? Bring +me the Bible and what do I find? Only a +very few pages given to the creation of +the material universe, with all its gold +and silver, suns and systems, but I find<a name="page96" id="page96"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 96]</span> +page after page, chapter after chapter, +and book after book, given to the healing +of the lame, the halt and the blind, teaching +a kindred spirit of sympathy to meet +the common woes of humanity.</p> +<p> +What I am about to say may seem more +like sermon than lecture, but I believe it +will be the best thing I have said when the +lecture closes. In the formula of human +touch, laid down in the life of Jesus of +Nazareth, there is more saving influence +for national endurance than in all the +wealth of our country's treasury.</p> +<p> +From the time His beautiful mother +wrapped Him in coarse linen, and cradled +Him on cattle straw in that Bethlehem +barn, on up to His death on the cross, He +was ever touching the masses, healing +their diseases, soothing their sorrows and +teaching the lesson, "the more humanity +you place at the bottom the better citizenship +you will have at the top." In the +golden rule of this human touch lies the +hope of this home of the free.</p> +<p> +A little boy boarded a car in New York +City. A few feet from him sat a finely-dressed +lady and as the boy stared at her, +he moved nearer and nearer until he was<a name="page97" id="page97"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 97]</span> +close beside her.</p> +<p> +"What do you mean by getting so close +to me? Don't you see you have put mud +on my dress from your shoes? Move +away," said the lady.</p> +<p> +The little urchin replied: "I'm so sorry +I got mud on your dress; I didn't mean +to do it."</p> +<p> +"Where are you going, all by your little +self, anyway?"</p> +<p> +"I'm going to my aunt's where I live."</p> +<p> +"Have you no mother?"</p> +<p> +"No mam; she died four weeks ago. I +ain't got any mother now, and that's why +I was settin' up close to you to make believe +you wuz my mother. I'm sorry 'bout +the mud, you'll 'scuse me, won't you, good +lady?"</p> +<p> +The woman extending her hand said: +"Yes I will; come here," and soon her arm +was about him, and tears in her eyes, and +the boy could have wiped his feet on any +dress in that car without rebuke. We +want more of human touch in national +and individual life.</p> +<p> +A tramp called at a fine home for his +supper. The owner said: "You can have +something to eat provided you do some<a name="page98" id="page98"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 98]</span> +work beforehand."</p> +<p> +"What can I do," asked the "hobo."</p> +<p> +A set of harness was given him to clean. +The gentleman went to his supper, and +soon after a blue-eyed, golden-haired girl +of four years came out, and approaching +the tramp, said: "Good evening, sir. Is +you got a little girl like me?"</p> +<p> +"No, I am all alone in the world."</p> +<p> +"Ain't you got no mama and papa?"</p> +<p> +"No, they died a long time ago," and +the tramp wiped away a tear as memory +came rolling up from out the hallowed +past.</p> +<p> +"Oh! I'm so sorry for you, 'cause I have +a home and papa and mama."</p> +<p> +The man of the house came out, and +looking at the harness said: "That's a +good job; you must have done that work +before. Come in and you shall have a +good supper."</p> +<p> +The little tot ran around to the front +gate, where a pair of horses, hitched to a +carriage, waited to take the family on a +drive. The tramp finished his supper and +passing out, the little one in the carriage +said: "Good-bye, mister. When you want +supper again you come and see us, won't +you;" and turning to the driver she said:<a name="page99" id="page99"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 99]</span> +"He ain't got no papa, nor mama, no little +girl and no home."</p> +<p> +The tramp, who heard these words +taking off his old hat bowed low to the +little one who had spoken the kind words.</p> +<p> +A few minutes later while standing on a +street corner, wondering where he could +spend the night, some one shouted, "Horses +running away!" The driver had left +the team and the horses started with the +little girl alone in the carriage, screaming +for help. Men ran out but the mad horses +cleared the track. The tramp fixed himself, +and as the team swept by, he gave a +bound and caught the bit of the nearest +horse. The horses reared and plunged +but the tramp held on, until he swerved +them to the sidewalk. As the near horse +struck the curb he fell and the tramp was +crushed beneath the horse. A physician +came and as he bent over to examine the +heart, the tramp said: "Was the little one +saved?"</p> +<p> +The child was brought and as her sweet +blue eyes tenderly looked at the face of +the dying man he smiled, and then the +spirit took its flight, to where He who +died to save the world, looked with compassion +upon the tramp who gave his life<a name="page100" id="page100"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 100]</span> +for "one of these little ones."</p> +<p> +Oh, the beauty and power of human +touch!</p> +<p> +The Panama Canal is considered the +glory crowning achievement of this century; +but the building of a highway of +sympathy over which to send help to the +hopeless is a far greater achievement. If +this republic is to endure with the stars; +if it is to go down the ages like a broadening +colonade of light, and stand in steady +splendor at the height of the world's civilization; +it will not be because of its +money standard, its tariff or expansion +policy, but because the heart-beat of human +brotherhood sends the blood of a common +father bounding through the veins +of the concentrated whole of humanity, +binding high and low, rich and poor, weak +and strong together.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Work brothers; sisters work; work hand and brain,</p> +<p>We'll win the golden age again;</p> +<p>And love's millennial morn shall rise</p> +<p>In happy hearts and blessed eyes.</p> +<p>We will, we will, brave champions be</p> +<p>In this the lordlier chivalry."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +<a name="page101" id="page101"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 101]</span> +<a name="III" id="III"></a> +<h3>III</h3> +<br /> +<h2>OUR COUNTRY, OUR HOMES AND OUR DUTY. A PLEA FOR THE HOME AGAINST THE SALOON.</h2> +<br /><br /> + +<p> +The sweetest word in the language we +speak is home. No matter in what clime +or country, whether where sunbeams +dance and play or frost fiend rules the air, +there's no place like home. At the World's +Fair in Chicago I visited the Eskimo village. +To a woman who could speak English +I said: "How do you like this country?"</p> +<p> +"Beautiful, beautiful country. Oh, the +flowers, the green grass, the lovely +homes!" was her reply.</p> +<p> +But when I ventured to ask: "Will you +remain here after the fair and not return +to your land of ice and snow," she shook +her head and said: "No, I want to go +home. I am so homesick."</p> +<p> +"Be it ever so humble, there's no place +like home." In Lexington, Kentucky, +there is a modest looking house, nestled<a name="page102" id="page102"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 102]</span> +mid linden and locust trees. Visitors who +pass in quest of historic spots about the +far-famed city, seldom give even a glance +at that humble abode. Yet when I am far +away, whether in the wonderful west with +its scenic grandeur, or in the east surrounded +by mansions of millionaires, my +heart goes back in memory's aeroplane to +the old Blue Grass town, where six generations +of my family sleep, the dearest +spot on earth to me—"home, sweet home." +When years ago I was nearing the end of +a three months' lecture tour in California, +a friend invited me to join him on a visit +to Yosemite Valley, saying: "You will see +the grandest scenery and biggest trees in +the world." My reply was: "I thank you +very much, but my engagements in the +golden west close on the eighth and I will +start east on the ninth; my old Kentucky +home is grander to me than Yosemite Valley +and my baby bigger than any tree in +California."</p> +<p> +Someone has said the nearest spot to +heaven in this world is a happy home, +where the parents are young and the children +small. I don't know about that. It +seems to me a little nearer heaven is the +home where husband and wife have lived<a name="page103" id="page103"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 103]</span> +long together, where children honor parents +and parents honor God; where the +aged wife can look her husband in the face +and give him the sentiment of the dame +of John Anderson:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"John Anderson, my jo John,</p> + <p class="i2">When we were first acquent;</p> +<p>Your locks were like the raven,</p> + <p class="i2">Your bonnie brow was brent;</p> +<p>But now your brow is beld, John,</p> + <p class="i2">Your locks are like the snaw;</p> +<p>But blessings on your frosty pow,</p> + <p class="i2">John Anderson, my jo.</p></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"John Anderson, my jo, John,</p> + <p class="i2">We clamb the hill thegither;</p> +<p>And mony a cantie day, John,</p> + <p class="i2">We've had wi' one anither:</p> +<p>Now we maun totter down, John,</p> + <p class="i2">And hand in hand we'll go,</p> +<p>And sleep thegither at the foot,</p> + <p class="i2">John Anderson, my jo."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +James A. Garfield said: "It's by the +fireside, where calm thoughts inspired by +love of home and love of country, the history +of the past, the hope of the future, +God works out the destiny of this republic."</p> +<a name="page104" id="page104"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 104]</span> +<p> +A Spartan general pointing to his army +said: "There stand the walls of Sparta +and every man's a brick." Can I not +point to the homes of our country and say: +"There stand the walls of this republic +and every home's a brick." Suppose a +battery, planted on some eminence outside +this city, were to send a shell through +some building every hour; how long until +your beautiful city would be one of +crumbling walls and flying population? +On yonder heights of law are planted two +hundred thousand rum batteries, sending +shells of destruction through the homes of +the people and every day hundreds of +homes are knocked out of the walls of the +republic.</p> +<p> +Do you realize what it means when an +American home is destroyed by drink? +Some years ago on Sunday afternoon I +visited an eastern penitentiary by invitation +of the chaplain. Passing a row of +cells my attention was called to a man +whose face bore the marks of intelligence +and refinement. The chaplain said: "That +man is an ideal prisoner and a born gentleman, +though here for life. He is the +graduate of an eastern college. He married +an accomplished young woman. In +social life he was led into the drink habit,<a name="page105" id="page105"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 105]</span> +and it grew upon him until at times he +became intoxicated. When under the influence +of liquor his reason was dethroned, +and one night in a brawl he killed a +man. He was given a life sentence. Asking +permission to speak he said: 'I have +no complaint to make of the verdict, but +beg the privilege of saying, God who knows +the secrets of all hearts, knows I am not +a murderer at heart, for I don't know +how nor when I killed my friend.' A few +days after he entered this prison his wife +came to visit him. She had with her a +sweet little golden-haired child. As he +entered the office in his striped prison +garb his wife fell into his arms; the agony +on that man's face I can never forget. The +child shrank from him at first, then recognizing +her father, she ran to him. As he +hugged her to his bosom the little one +twined her arms about his neck and said: +'Papa, please come home with us. Mama +cries so much cause you don't come home.' +The man sinking into a chair said: 'O God, +am I never to see my home again?'"</p> +<p> +This is but one of the thousands of +homes destroyed every year by the drink +curse. If I could draw aside the veil and +let you look into the desolate homes of<a name="page106" id="page106"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 106]</span> +your own city tonight, you would feel Ex-Governor +Hanley of Indiana did not give +an overwrought picture when he said: +"Personally, I have seen so much physical +ruin, mental blight and moral corruption +from strong drink that I hate the traffic. +I hate it for its arrogance; I hate it for +its hypocrisy; I hate it for its greed and +avarice; I hate it for its domination in +politics; I hate it for its disregard of law; +I hate it for the load it straps on labor's +back; I hate it for the wounds it has given +to genius, for the human wrecks it has +wrought, for the alms-houses it has peopled, +for the prisons it has filled, for the +crimes it has committed, the homes it has +destroyed, the hearts it has broken, the +malice it has planted in the hearts of men, +and the dead sea fruit with which it +starves immortal souls." With proof of +the truth of this phillipic on every hand, +it is a strange anomaly in our government +that the degrading influence of the saloon +is linked by law to the elevating influence +of school, church and home.</p> +<p> +When Jesus was on earth He came to a +fig tree, dressed in rich leaves but barren +of fruit; it was in fig season but the tree +had only leaves. We read that Jesus<a name="page107" id="page107"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 107]</span> +cursed the tree and it withered. We have +in this country a upas tree named the +liquor traffic. It is not a barren tree, but +far worse than barren. Its branches bend +with the weight of its fruit, but not a pint, +nor a quart, nor gallon, nor barrel from +its boughs ever benefited a single mortal +by its use as a beverage. Its leaves drip +with poison and the bones of its dead victims +would build a pyramid as high as +Appenines piled on the Alps. Jesus withered +the tree that produced nothing. We +license and cultivate the tree whose fruitage +the Bible compares to the bite of a +serpent, the sting of an adder and the +poison of asps.</p> +<p> +In the earlier days of the temperance +movement, when we discussed the question +along moral lines, the license advocates +made it an economic question, but +since the commercial world is fast becoming +a great temperance league, and great +industries are blacklisting the saloon as +an enemy of legitimate business, the liquor +advocates are taking refuge behind the +Bible, and claiming that He who cursed +the tree that was barren, planted the one +whose root and heart, bark and branches +are poisoning the blood of the nation.<a name="page108" id="page108"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 108]</span> +They pervert scripture, take isolated passages +and present an ominum gatherum +of quotations to prove the Bible indorses +the use of strong drink. By the same +process I can prove one of these Bible license +scholars should hang himself and be +in haste about it. I read on one page of +the Bible, "Judas went out and hanged +himself." On another page I read, "Go +thou and do likewise." And on another, +"Whatsoever thou doest, do it quickly."</p> +<p> +Against these sacrilegious uses of +scripture, I place the estimate of the fruit +of this upas tree from one whose words +are unmistakable, and whose wisdom none +can question. Solomon said: "Wine is a +<i>mocker</i>." Was there ever a word of more +weight in its application? When a boy in +school nothing so vexed me and made me +want to fight, as for a boy to <i>mock</i> me. I +remember when one of the prettiest girls +in school made faces at me and <i>mocked</i> +me; from that hour I could never see any +beauty in that girl's face, nor have I quite +forgiven her to this day. When the Jews +wanted to heap the greatest indignity +possible upon Jesus, when they had driven +the nails in His hands, pierced His side, +placed the crown of thorns upon His head<a name="page109" id="page109"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 109]</span> +and pressed the bitter cup to His lips, they +stood off and <i>mocked</i> Him.</p> +<p> +Is wine a mocker? Did Solomon know +what he was talking about when he gave +it that detestable name? He added still +another word and called it a deceiver. +Does it deceive and mock? It meets a +young man at a social feast, garlands itself +with the graces of hospitality, sparkles +in the brilliant jewels of fashion, +smiles through the faces of female beauty, +furnishes inspiration for the dance and +mingles with music, mirth and hilarity. +Gently it takes the young man by the +hand, leads him down the green, flowery +sward of license, filled with the rich aroma +of the wild flowers of life. When it has +firmly fixed itself in his appetite, it begins +to strip him of his manhood as hail strips +the trees, and when, with will-power gone, +nerves shattered, eyes bleared and face +bloated, he stands with the last vestige of +manly beauty swept from the shattered +temple of the soul, it stands off and <i>mocks</i> +him. It goes to a home, tramples upon the +pure unselfish love of a wife, enthrones +the shadow of a drunkard's poverty upon +the hearth-stone, makes the empty cupboard +echo the wail of hungry children<a name="page110" id="page110"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 110]</span> +for bread, with its bloody talons marks +the door lintels with the death sentence of +an immortal soul, and then stands off and +<i>mocks</i> the home. It goes to the Congress +of the United States and says: "Put upon +me the harness of taxation and I'll pull +you out of the mire of national debt, and +make the administration of the party in +power a financial success." Then with a +government permit, it proceeds to take out +of the pockets of the people five times as +much as it pays the government; creates +three-fourths of the country's crimes, +four-fifths of its pauperism, sixty per +cent. of its divorces, dooms to poverty and +shame a great army of children, blights +rosebuds of beauty on cheeks of innocence, +shatters oaks of manhood, leaves its +polluting taint upon all that it touches, +and then stands off and mocks the republic. +Was there ever more meaning condensed +into one brief utterance than in +Solomon's warning, "Wine is a mocker, +strong drink is raging, and whosoever is +deceived thereby is not wise?" Is it wisdom +in this republic to deliberately, for +revenue, set in motion causes that neutralize +its progress, waste its forces and destroy +the fireside nurseries of the nation's<a name="page111" id="page111"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 111]</span> +destiny?</p> +<p> +If I were an artist I would now place +before you a picture of an ideal American +home. I would not make it the fine mansion +on the avenue, nor would I make it +"the old log cabin in the lane." I would +make it a neat country home with garden +of flowers, orchard of fruits, a barn lot +with bubbling spring and laughing brook. +In the door of this home I would place an +American mother with the youngest of +four children in her arms; the oldest son +driving his tired team to the barn, the +second one the cows to the cupping, the +daughter spreading the cloth for tea, and +the head of the house sinking the iron-bound +bucket in the well for a draught of +cold water when day's work for loved ones +is o'er. Approaching the door a commission +appointed by Congress on political +economy lift their hats as the spokesman +says: "Madam, are you mistress of this +mansion?"</p> +<p> +"I am the wife and mother of this humble +home, gentlemen; the man at the well +is my husband."</p> +<p> +"Madam, we are commissioned by Congress +to investigate the home life of the +country and would like to learn what this<a name="page112" id="page112"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 112]</span> +home is doing for the republic."</p> +<p> +"Come in, gentlemen, and be seated, +while I call my husband. We feel honored +by your visit and would be pleased to +have you take tea with us."</p> +<p> +The invitation is readily accepted and +after a good country supper the investigation +proceeds. In answer to the question +as to the relation of the home to the welfare +of the republic, the head of the +house says: "Gentlemen, we are trying to +keep our home pure; it is our purpose to +make our boys patriotic American citizens +and our daughters true American +women. We love God and endeavor to +keep His commandments, and this is +about all I can say about our home."</p> +<p> +"That is well so far, but may we ask +what sacrifice would this home be willing +to make for the republic if its flag were in +peril?"</p> +<p> +The wife exclaims: "You alarm us by +your question. Is our country in danger?"</p> +<p> +"Yes, madam. The combined forces of +the Old World are nearing our shores and +the republic is in peril."</p> +<p> +"Wait, gentlemen, until we talk it over." +<a name="page113" id="page113"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 113]</span> +The family retires for consultation and +soon the mother appears, and with tears +in her eyes says: "Gentlemen, we've decided. +Take our oldest boy, who is eager +to go. Take him to the battlefield; if he +falls in defense of his country's flag, come +back, we'll kiss the second one and tell +him, 'go fill your brother's place.' Gentlemen, +we love our country next to our +God and this home is pledged to this country's +honor."</p> +<p> +I say, any country that has such mothers +for its patriotism, such guardians for +its homes, should protect these homes and +mothers with all the power of police, all +the majesty of law, and any evil that attempts +to destroy these homes ought not +to be licensed, but should be buried as the +old Scotch woman would bury the devil—with +"face down, so the more he scratched +the deeper he would go."</p> +<p> +I am sick of the hollow sentiment, "the +hand that rocks the cradle rules the world," +insofar as it relates to the drink problem. +If the hand that rocks the cradle did rule +the world, there would not be two hundred +thousand rum-fiend vultures soaring over +the cradle homes of our country today. +If a mother could keep her boy in the cradle +she might rule the world, but the trouble<a name="page114" id="page114"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 114]</span> +is, the boy gets too big for the cradle +and jumps out. In the cradle he's mama's +child, coos if mama coos, and laughs when +mama laughs; but out of the cradle he's +papa's boy, swears if papa swears, smokes +if papa smokes, drinks if papa drinks. If +papa does none of these things, then the +world, ruled by hands that don't rock +cradles, steps in with licensed schools of +vice to teach him to drink.</p> +<p> +When General Grant was President of +the United States he appointed an old +colored man mail-carrier over a route in +the mountains of Virginia. One day, +when in a lonely spot, two robbers faced +the negro and demanded the mail. The +old man, lifting himself in his saddle said:</p> +<p> +"Gentlemen, I is de mail-carrier of de +United States; you touch dis darkey and +you'll have de whole army of dis government +on you in twenty fo' hours."</p> +<p> +Blessed will be the day when every +mother in our land can say to the saloon: +"You touch my home and you'll have the +police power of this republic on your heels +in twenty-four hours."</p> +<p> +But, who is the government? We are +told that in the early history of this country, +a country magistrate rode horseback<a name="page115" id="page115"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 115]</span> +from Maryland to Washington to consult +the government. Going to the White +House he was informed the government +was not there. At the Capitol he was informed +the people are the government. +He returned home, called the voters of his +county to a meeting in the courthouse and +said: "Gentlemen, I have a very important +question I want to present to the government." +So I desire to talk to the government, +you voters who are to decide the +policy of this republic regarding the liquor +traffic.</p> +<p> +An Irishman brought before the court +for an assault upon a saloon keeper was +questioned by the judge, who said: "Mr. +Dolan, what have you to say; are you guilty +or innocent of the charge made against +you?"</p> +<p> +The Irishman replied: "By me soul, +judge, I couldn't tell ye. I was blind, stavin' +drunk on the manest whiskey ye iver +tasted, yer honor."</p> +<p> +"I do not use whiskey of any kind," said +the judge.</p> +<p> +"Ye don't. Thin I don't think ye are +doin' yer duty by such constituents as meself. +Ye license men to sell the stuff; ye +ought to taste the stuff ye license men to<a name="page116" id="page116"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 116]</span> +sell, thin ye would know how it makes a +gintlemen behave himself."</p> +<p> +The judge rapped for order in the court +and repeated the question, "Are you guilty +or innocent of the charge?"</p> +<p> +"Judge, I'll state the case and let yer +honor decide for me, which ye are hired to +do anyway. I was standin' by the corner +of the strate on me way home from work, +when I spied the bottles in the window of +the saloon. The sight of thim bottles made +me thirsty, so I wint in and took a drink. +Jist thin three other thirsty ones came in +and I took a drink with thim; thin they +took a drink with me and we kept on +drinkin' till we thought we were back in +auld Ireland at Donnybrook Fair. Whenever +we saw a head we struck it and I suppose +this gintlemin's head came my way. +Now here's the case, judge. If I hadn't +taken the whiskey, I wouldn't a been in +the row, for I'm always paceable whin +sober; if the saloon hadn't been there I +wouldn't have taken the whiskey; and if +the Court hadn't licensed the saloon it +wouldn't have been there. Ye can take +the case, sir."</p> +<p> +What makes the drunkard? The drink. +What supplies the drink? The saloon.<a name="page117" id="page117"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 117]</span> +What makes the saloon? The law. Who +makes the law? The legislator. Who +makes the legislator? The voter. It's the +"House that Jack built," only I will change +the verbage a little. Intemperance is the +fire the devil built. Strong drink is the +fuel that feeds the fire the devil built. Distilleries, +breweries and saloons are the +axes that cut the fuel that feeds the fire +the devil built. License laws are molds +that cast the axes, that cut the fuel that +feeds the fire the devil built. License voters +and legislators are the patentees who +invented the molds that cast the axes that +cut the fuel that feeds the fire the devil +built. Prohibition ballots are the sledge +hammers destined to destroy the molds +that cast the axes that cut the fuel that +feeds the fire the devil built.</p> +<p> +There is a chain of responsibility running +through the drink question which +many good men fail to recognize. You +know a chain is made up of links welded +together. The drunkard is only one link; +he is not a chain. When you link him to +the drink then you begin the chain; the +drunkard comes from the drink. That is +not all of the chain however; the drink is +linked to the saloon. If you have the saloon,<a name="page118" id="page118"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 118]</span> +you have the drink, you have the +drunkard. This is not all of the chain; +you have the license law. If you have +the license law, you have the saloon, you +have the drink, you have the drunkard. +There is yet another link; the license law +is linked to the license voter. The drunkard +comes from the drink, the drink comes +from the saloon, the saloon from the law, +and law from the license voter. Who are +the license voters? Many of them are +Christian men on their way to heaven; but +the trouble with them is the other end of +the chain is going another road. "No +drunkard can enter the kingdom of heaven."</p> +<p> +I know it is a common remark that this +is a free country, and if a man chooses to +drink, let him do so and take the consequences. +If one could take alone the consequences +of his sin there might be some +claim to personal liberty. But when a +man's liberty involves another life the +scene changes. A young man may commit +a sin in social life and by reform be forgiven, +but when that other life involved +in his sin, is seen in after years, walking +the streets in painted shame, reproducing +the consequences of that man's sin, memory<a name="page119" id="page119"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 119]</span> +and conscience will combine to give +him waking hours while the world sleeps. +A man may never enter a saloon, never +take a drink of intoxicating liquor, but if +he votes for the saloon his life becomes involved +in the consequences of the saloon. +What are the consequences? Here is a +sample. After a three days' blizzard in +one of our large cities a reformer visited +a morgue and seeing a large clothes-hamper +full of dead babies he said: "What +does this mean?"</p> +<p> +The reply came: "They were gathered +from the drunkards' hovels of the city this +morning."</p> +<p> +The visitor tells us: "Their bodies were +frozen, and several arms were sticking up +out of the basket as if reaching out after +life and love."</p> +<p> +The streets of our city slums are rivers +along whose shores at midnight can be +heard the death gurgle of helpless little +ones, while poverty's row is full of children +cursed by inheritance, who are not +living but merely existing by scraping the +moss of bare subsistence from empty buckets +in wells of poverty; and the air is +freighted with oaths and obscenities from +demonized men and demi-monde women<a name="page120" id="page120"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 120]</span> +who pour the poison of their blood into the +social life of city slums.</p> +<p> +I was both grieved and amazed when I +read from the pen of a brilliant Kentucky +editor an editorial denouncing as tyrannical +a sumptuary law that "denies to a citizen +the right to order his home, his meat, +his drink, his clothing, according to his +conscience." I wonder if the great editor +ever considered the sumptuary law of the +saloon. Every woman who fills the holy +office of wife and mother has a right to a +home. The sumptuary law of the saloon +says to hundreds of thousands of such women: +"You shall not have a home; you +shall live in a hovel. You shall not order +your home, your food, your drink, your +clothing, according to your conscience, but +according to the best interest of the saloon +these comforts shall be ordered. You +shall work all day in the harness of oppression +and when night comes instead +of restful sleep, you shall watch the stars +out and wait the return of husband and +sons." What about this inhuman denial +of the right to order meat, drink, clothing +and home life? Such is the sumptuary +law of the saloon.</p> +<a name="page121" id="page121"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 121]</span> +<p> +Every child in this country has a right +to an education and a chance in the world. +The saloons say to hosts of children: "You +shall have neither education nor opportunity. +You shall go to the streets and +sweat-shops to earn bread. You shall live +in ignorance and mid evil environment +that we may gather in the wages of your +fathers." How does this sumptuary law +of the saloon compare with a sumptuary +law that forbids the sale of what is of no +earthly or eternal benefit to any one who +uses it.</p> +<p> +The same distinguished editor said: +"When women gather around voting +booths on election days with sandwiches +and coffee, they present an indecent spectacle +to the public." The man who goes +with gun in hand and shoots down another +in defense of his country is a hero. +The mother lion or bear that defies the +hunter's bullets and dies in defense of her +young we can but respect; but when woman, +who has suffered so long in silence, +goes near where the welfare of her home +is at stake and out of the sore, sad sorrow +of her heart appeals to men for protection +to her home from the ravages of the saloon, +she is not paid the respect given to +a mother hen or bird or bear by the advocate<a name="page122" id="page122"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 122]</span> +of the liquor traffic. When the niece +of Cardinal Richelieu was demanded by a +licentious king, the Cardinal said: +"Around her form I draw the awful circle +of our kingly church; set a foot within +and on thy head, aye, though it wear +a crown, shall fall the curse of Rome." +Shall the crown of gold on the distiller's +and brewer's brow hush into silence the +lion-hearted manhood of our republic +when its sons and daughters are demanded +to feed the maw of the liquor traffic?</p> +<p> +One of the famous pictures of the masters +is of a woman bound fast to a pillar +within the tide-mark of the ocean. The +waves are curling about her feet. A ship +is passing under full sail but no one seems +to see or heed the woman in peril. Birds +of prey hover above her, but she sees +neither bird, nor ship, nor sea; knowing +her doom is sealed, she lifts her eyes to +heaven and prays. This picture represents +thousands of women tied fast to +their doom within the tide-waves of the +ocean of intemperance. The ship of state +passes by, bearing its share of the ill-gotten +gains of the liquor traffic, but heeds +not the moans and cries of struggling, +strangling, dying woman. Oliver Cromwell<a name="page123" id="page123"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 123]</span> +said: "It is relative misgovernment +that lashes nations into fury." The long +suffering in silence by the womanhood of +this country from the misgovernment that +has heaped upon woman the woes of +strong drink by the licensed saloon, whether +a tribute to the patience of woman or +not, is to the eternal shame of man, +whose inhumanity to woman through the +liquor traffic is making "countless millions +mourn."</p> +<p> +To this misgovernment is due the unrest +among women and the impetus behind the +equal suffrage movement today. There +needs to be a saving influence brought into +our political life, and I have faith to believe +that woman's ballot will provide that +influence. Having proved her dignity in +every new field of activity she has entered, +I believe the same flowers of refinement +will adorn the ballot box when she +holds in her hand the sacred trust of franchise. +Her life-long habit of house-cleaning +will be carried to the dirty pool of +politics, where the saloon is entrenched, +and the demagogue and demijohn will be +carted away to the garbage pile of discarded +rubbish.</p> +<a name="page124" id="page124"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 124]</span> +<p> +Now and then I am asked: "What will +become of the men who are engaged in the +liquor business if the country goes dry? +What will become of their families?" I +answer by asking: What becomes of the +men the saloons put out of business? What +becomes of their families? When prohibition +puts a man out of business, it leaves +him his brain, blood, bone, muscle, nerves +and whatever manhood he has left in +store, while his long rest from active toil +has given him a reserve force for active, +useful business. When the saloon puts a +man out of business, he goes out with +shattered nerves, weak will, poisoned +blood and so unfitted for service no place +is open for him to earn a living. Recently +a man put out of business by prohibition +said to me: "This town went dry seven +years ago, and going out of the saloon business +has been such a benefit to me and to +my family, I shall work and vote to put +all other saloon-keepers in this state out +of business for their own good."</p> +<p> +On the other hand, I have in mind a +man who once chained the Congress of the +United States by his eloquence. Clients +clamored for his service, and prosperity +crowned his practice in the courts. In +drinking saloons he lost his clientage and<a name="page125" id="page125"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 125]</span> +in penniless poverty he died—unwept, unhonored, +unsung. The ex-saloon-keeper to +whom I referred is city marshall and very +popular, while the man put out of business +by the saloon has no chance:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Where he goes and how he fares,</p> +<p>Nobody knows and nobody cares."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +Along with the question of what will +become of the men put out of business by +prohibition, comes the question, what will +the farmers do with their corn if distilleries +are closed? Less consumption of +whiskey means more consumption of cornbread +and that means more corn. Less +consumption of whiskey means greater +consumption of bacon, and more bacon +means more corn to feed hogs. When a +liquor advocate said to an audience of farmers: +"If this state goes dry what will +you farmers do with your corn," an old, +level-headed farmer shouted: "We'll raise +more hogs and less hell."</p> +<p> +Prohibition means more of everything +good, and less of everything bad; more +manhood, less meanness; more gain, less +groans; more bread, less brawls; more +clothing, less cussedness; less heartaches +and more happiness. Turn saloons into<a name="page126" id="page126"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 126]</span> +bake shops and butcher stalls, distilleries +into food factories, breweries into stock +pens, and the country will be a thousandfold +better off than feeding its finances by +starving its morality.</p> +<p> +This question lifts itself head and +shoulders above every other question +touching practical politics today. You nowhere +read of a nation going to destruction +because of too much gold or too little +silver, too much tariff or too little tariff, +but always because of the vices of its people. +The nation that bases perpetuity upon +moral character will endure with the +stars, while walls thick and high as +Babylon's will not save a drunken republic.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Vain mightiest fleets of iron found,</p> + <p class="i2">Vain all her conquering guns,</p> +<p>Unless Columbia keeps unstained</p> + <p class="i2">The true hearts of her sons."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +Beautiful Constance of France was +dressing for a court ball. While standing +before a mirror, clasping a necklace of +pearls, a spark from the fireplace caught +in the folds of her gown. Absorbed in +her attire, she did not detect the danger +until a blaze started. Soon, rolling on the<a name="page127" id="page127"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 127]</span> +floor in flames, she burned to death. When +the news reached the ballroom the music +hushed, the dance halted, and "Poor Constance! +Poor Constance!" went from lip +to lip, but soon the music started and the +dance went on. While I am talking now +the youth, beauty and sweetness of American +life is in peril from the flames that +are kindled by the licensed saloon. From +an inward fire men are being consumed +and homes destroyed. Will we say, "Poor +Columbia!" and keep step to the <i>mocker's</i> +march to the nation's death; or will we +put out every distillery and brewery fire +and make this in reality "the land of the +free and the home of the brave?"</p> +<p> +In the name of all that is pure and true +and vital in national life, I plead with every +lover of home and country to come to +the help of the cause that must succeed if +this republic is to live. I plead with +Christians in the name of the church, +bleeding at every pore because of the +curse of drink. If everyone whose name +is on a church roll would step out in line +of duty on this question, very soon God +would stretch out His arm and save this +republic from the liquor traffic. God has +been ready a long time; His people have<a name="page128" id="page128"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 128]</span> +not been ready to do their part. Too +many Christians are like the horse Sam +Jones used to tell of.</p> +<p> +He said: "We have a horse in my neighborhood +in Georgia, which if hitched to a +load of stone or cotton balks and won't go +a step; but in light harness in the shafts +of a race cart he will pace a mile in two-thirty. +We have too many Christians +who are like this horse; they trot out to +church Sunday morning, but hitch them +to a prayer meeting and they won't pull a +pound."</p> +<p> +Dr. McLeod, the stalwart Scotch preacher, +on his way to a session of his church +had with him a small hunch-back member +of his church, a dwarf in size but an earnest +worker. Crossing a certain stream +a storm struck the boat and the waves +were sending it toward the rocks. A boatman +at one end said:</p> +<p> +"Let the big preacher pray for us."</p> +<p> +The helmsman at the other end said: +"No, let that little fellow pray and the big +one take an oar."</p> +<p> +Oliver Cromwell, going through a cathedral, +came upon twelve silver statues. +Turning to the guide he said: "Who are<a name="page129" id="page129"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 129]</span> +these?"</p> +<p> +The guide replied: "Those are the +twelve apostles, life-size and solid silver."</p> +<p> +Cromwell said: "What good are they +doing as silver apostles? Melt them down +into money and let them be of some service +to the country."</p> +<p> +We have too many silver statue church +members who need melting down and +sending out to help save our republic from +the fate of other nations that have perished +through their vices. We need more +men with moral courage to voice and vote +their convictions. When the slavery question +was agitating the country Henry Clay +stood for a compromise he believed would +help to solve the question. Many of his +friends in the South censured him, and +sent him letters calling him a traitor. He +arose in the Senate to speak, it is said, +looking pale from the effect of the censure +he was then receiving day by day. +Addressing the Senate he said: "I suppose +what I shall say in this address will cost +me many dear friends." A reporter said: +"He hesitated as if choked with emotion +at the thought of losing his friends." Then +with the majesty of greatness and magnetism +of manner he proceeded, saying: "I<a name="page130" id="page130"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 130]</span> +am charged with being ambitious. If I +had listened to the soft whisperings of ambition +I would have stood still, gazed upon +the raging storm and let the ship of state +drift on with the winds. I seek no office +at the cost of courage or conviction. Pass +this bill. Restore affection to the states +of this Union and I will go back to my +Ashland home; there in its groves, on its +lawns, 'mid my flocks and herds, and in +the bosom of my family, I will find a sincerity +I have not found in the public walks +of life. Yes, I am ambitious, but my ambition +is that I may become the humble +instrument in the hands of God, in restoring +harmony to a distracted nation, and +behold the glorious spectacle of a true, +united happy and prosperous people."</p> +<p> +There is a grandeur in the mountain +that lifts itself above the hamlets at its +base, and bearing its brow to the threatening +storm clouds says to the forked +lightning, "Strike me!" but grander is the +man who can stand 'mid the allurements +of the world's honors and say: "I would +rather be right than President." Dare to +do right and what you do will have its reward.</p> +<a name="page131" id="page131"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 131]</span> +<p> +"Shamgar, what's that in thy hand?"</p> +<p> +"Only an ox-goad."</p> +<p> +"Come dedicate it to God, and go slay +those Philistines."</p> +<p> +"David, what's that in thy hand?"</p> +<p> +"Only a sling and a little stone from the +brook."</p> +<p> +"Come dedicate them to God, and go kill +the giant."</p> +<p> +"My little lad, what's that you have?"</p> +<p> +"Only five loaves and two little fishes."</p> +<p> +"Come, dedicate them to God; they'll +feed thousands and you will have baskets +full left."</p> +<p> +My brother, what's that in thy hand? +Only a little American ballot. Come dedicate +it to God and home and native land, +go cast it against the licensed liquor +traffic and your life will bear fruit which +the angels will gather when you have "finished +your course" and "kept the faith."</p> +<p> +You are soon to have the local option +test in your county. If I could do one +thing I could make the victory for the +home overwhelming. You know if the +saloons continue they will have their victims +in the future as they have had in the +past. You know too their victims will +come from the youth of your county. +Those who are victims now will soon be<a name="page132" id="page132"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 132]</span> +dead bodies, or "dead broke." The men in +the saloon business do not look to men +who are drunkards now, for future use +nor do they intend to use horses or cattle +or dogs, but <i>boys</i>. If I could announce +that on the evening before the vote is to +be taken I would present to the public the +future victims of the saloons in this county. +If I had a prophet's eye and could select +these victims, how many homes I +would enter where I would not only be an +unwelcome but an unexpected visitor. +When the hour would arrive for the exhibition, +what an audience I would have! +Nothing like it ever gathered in this +county; from every corner of it parents +would come. When placed in line on an +elevated platform so all could see, I would +speak through a megaphone saying: "I +present to you the future victims of the +liquor traffic in your county; here are the +boys who will be your future drunkards +and here are the girls who will be the +wives of drunkards." I imagine some +father, who thinks regulation the best +policy, would exclaim:</p> +<p> +"There's my boy. I never thought the +saloon would take my son. Don't talk to +me about regulation. Come, you fathers<a name="page133" id="page133"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 133]</span> +whose sons are not here, and help me save +my boy."</p> +<p> +Another would press through the crowd +to be sure that he was not mistaken and +say: "There's my daughter. I never +dreamt she would be a drunkard's wife. +I have said prohibition won't prohibit, but +I will say it no more. Come, good fathers +who love your children, and help me save +my child."</p> +<p> +This is but the forecast for some parents +in this audience. Would it be wrong +if I should say: "O God, if the saloons are +to continue in this county, if they are to +have their victims in the future as in the +past, let the fathers who vote the curse on +the county furnish the victims." I do not +offer up any such prayer, but I do say: "O +God, give to the home the protection +of a prohibition law, and may the victims +not be anybody's boy or anybody's +girl. Go out of this hall tonight resolved +you will link your faith in principle with +your work. Faith and work!"</p> +<p> +I like that story of the mother in New +England, who on a visit from home, received +a message calling her to the bedside +of a daughter who was hopelessly ill. +Hurrying to the nearest railroad station<a name="page134" id="page134"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 134]</span> +she said to the conductor: "Sir, do you +connect at the junction with the train that +will take me to my sick child," at the same +time handing him the message.</p> +<p> +"No, madam, we do not run our trains +to connect with trains on that road. The +train will be gone some little time before +we reach the junction."</p> +<p> +"Sir, are you a Christian?"</p> +<p> +"No, madam, I'm a railroad conductor."</p> +<p> +"Have you a Christian man with the +train?"</p> +<p> +"Yes, that man you see oiling the engine +claims to be a Christian, and I think +he is; you might consult him if you like."</p> +<p> +Going to the engineer she said: "Please +read this message and tell me if you can +catch that train at the junction."</p> +<p> +The engineer read the message and +said: "I'm sorry, madam, but that train +goes fifteen minutes before we get there."</p> +<p> +"Please sir, catch that train and let me +see my daughter before she dies."</p> +<p> +"I would give a whole month's wages if +I could," said the tender hearted engineer.</p> +<p> +"Then don't you think God can hold the +train fifteen minutes till we get there," +said the distressed mother.</p> +<a name="page135" id="page135"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 135]</span> +<p> +"Oh yes, God can do anything," was the +reply.</p> +<p> +"Won't you ask God to hold that train? +And I will ask Him."</p> +<p> +The engineer said: "Yes, I will."</p> +<p> +The mother boarded the train, and on +schedule time the engine moved. The engineer +took hold of the lever and up with +the smoke from the engine went the prayer: +"Lord, hold that train fifteen minutes +for that good mother." With this prayer +more steam was turned on than usual and +at the next station the train was two minutes +ahead of time. At the next station +two more minutes had been gained. It +was in the early days of railroading when +rules were not so strict as now; the conductor +knew there was nothing in the way, +so he concluded to let the Christian engineer +have his way. As the train was +starting for its third and last run for the +junction, the engineer said: "Lord, if you +will hold that other train seven and a half +minutes, I'll make up the other seven and +a half."</p> +<p> +When the engineer had made up his seven +and a half, sure enough there stood the +other train. When the engineer said to +the conductor: "What are you waiting +for," the reply was: "Something the matter<a name="page136" id="page136"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 136]</span> +with the engine, but the boys have it +fixed now and we'll go on in a minute."</p> +<p> +"Yes," said the engineer, "you'll go on +when this godly mother gets on and not +before."</p> +<p> +Each one of you do your part, God will +do His part, and the end will be victory for +"God and home and native land."</p> + +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +<a name="page137" id="page137"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 137]</span> +<a name="IV" id="IV"></a> +<h3>IV</h3> +<br /> +<h2>THE NEW WOMAN AND THE OLD MAN.</h2> +<br /><br /> + +<p> +In the exhibition of fine paintings it is +important to have the benefit of proper +light and shadow. So it should be in the +study of questions. Those who look at +the new woman through the distorted +lense of false education or prejudice, see +the monstrosity such as we have pictured +in the public press. They see Dr. Mary +Walker, whose dress offends our sense of +propriety; they see the ranting woman on +the platform, or suffragettes throwing +stones through plate-glass windows, and +defacing costly specimens of art. These +no more represent the genuine new woman +I indorse, than does the goggled-eyed, kimbo-armed +dandy represent true manhood. +Fanaticism marks every new movement, +every life has its defect, the sun its spots +and the fairest face its freckles.</p> +<p> +The new woman is not to be judged by +exceptions, nor is she to be measured by<a name="page138" id="page138"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 138]</span> +the standard of public sentiment. Public +sentiment has often condemned the right. +It ridiculed Columbus; put Roger Bacon +in jail because he discovered the principle +of concave and convex glass; condemned +Socrates, and jeered Fulton and Morse. +It pronounced the making of table forks a +mockery of the Creator who gave us fingers +to eat with, and broke up a church +in Illinois because a woman prayed in +prayer meeting.</p> +<p> +Hume said: "There is nothing in itself, +beautiful or deformed. These attributes +arise from the peculiar construction of +human sentiment and affection; the attractiveness +or repulsiveness of a thing depends +very much upon our schooling."</p> +<p> +Prof. John Stuart Blackie wore his hair +so long that it almost reached his waist. +Seated one day in front of a hotel in London, +a bootblack halted before him and +said: "Mister, will you have a shine?"</p> +<p> +Professor Blackie replied: "No, but if +you will go wash that dirty face of yours +I will give you the price of a shine."</p> +<p> +The boy went but soon returned with his +rosy cheeks cleansed, saying: "Sir, how +do you like the job?"</p> +<a name="page139" id="page139"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 139]</span> +<p> +"That's all right; you have earned your +sixpence," said Prof. Blackie as he held +out the coin.</p> +<p> +The bootblack turning away said: "I +dinna want your sixpence; keep it, old +chap, and have yer hair cut."</p> +<p> +The long hair of Professor Blackie was +as offensive to the boy as the dirty face +of the boy to Professor Blackie. One had +been schooled to short-haired men, the +other to cleanly children.</p> +<p> +I have in my presence now scores of +persons, who believe the sale of a negro +on the auction block in the South to the +domination of a white man was wrong. I +did not think so in my youth. My schooling +was that Japheth was a white man, +Shem a red man and Ham was black; that +it was a divine decree that the descendants +of Japheth should dwell in the tents +of Shem and send for the children of Ham +to be their servants, thereby supporting +the white man in his dealings with the +black and red races. As the Bible was +used to justify slavery, so it is quoted today +in favor of the liquor traffic, and +against the new woman movement. Yet +it's the Bible that has given woman her +broader liberty. It was the Bible that +broke the chains that harnessed woman to<a name="page140" id="page140"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 140]</span> +a plow by the side of an ox. In the vision +of John, a woman is crowned with +stars, the burnt-out moon is her footstool +and the wings of a great eagle given to +bear her above the floods that would engulf +her.</p> +<p> +The viewpoint of schooling has much to +do with our convictions and prejudices. +When the bicycle craze first came upon us, +women bicycle clubs were formed throughout +the country. Wheels were made specially +for woman, and to facilitate the +pleasure and comfort, bloomers were worn +by women in all our cities. The fat and +lean, tall and short, old and young wore +bloomers. At that time if a man from the +country neighborhood where I was reared, +one given to dancing, had gone to Chicago +and seen these bloomer-clad women, he +would have thought the whole sex disgraced. +And I must admit I didn't like +the bloomer girl myself. I can appreciate +the Yankee farmer who lived between Boston +and Wareham, Mass. A young woman +who lived in Boston had a friend in +Wareham, and donning her bloomers she +mounted her wheel and started for the village. +Passing several diverging points, +and thinking possibly she had missed the<a name="page141" id="page141"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 141]</span> +right road, she decided to inquire at the +next house. Seeing the Yankee farmer at +the front gate she rode up, dismounted +and said: "Sir, will you please tell me, is +this the way to Wareham?"</p> +<p> +The farmer, with eyes fixed upon the +new garb, said: "Miss, you'll have to excuse +me. I can't tell you, for I never saw +anything like them before."</p> +<p> +I said our opinions are based upon +schooling. Let the man from the dancing +community leave Chicago, go back to Kentucky, +attend a country ball, see a young +woman with low neck dress and short +sleeves, in the arms of a man she never +met before, and he thinks her the picture +of propriety, as well as grace and beauty. +Yet the bloomer girl was completely clad +from her chin to the soles of her feet while +the other is so un-clad that when a woman, +now noted for her great work among +the unfortunate of New York City, was a +society leader, and was passing through +her library to her carriage one evening, +her little son said: "Mama, you are not going +out on the street looking that way, are +you? Why, you are scarcely dressed at +all." The mother realizing as never before, +the immodesty of her attire, returned<a name="page142" id="page142"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 142]</span> +to her room, changed her apparel to what +met the approval of her boy, and has never +since worn a decollete gown.</p> +<p> +Let a respectable woman in this town +stand on a street corner to-morrow, and +utter an oath; she would shock every one +within sound of her voice. A man can +"cuss" to his satisfaction and, if not a +church member, the community is not +shocked. Let a young woman seeking a +position in a public school in one of our +cities, call a member of the school board +into a saloon and order beer set up for +two; would she get the position? Not +much. Not if the community found it out, +or the remainder of the board who were +slighted. A man can invite a dozen men +into a saloon, order drinks for the company, +and thereby help to win the position +he seeks. In the city where I reside +a young man can get drunk and howl like +a wolf through the streets, yet if he has +wealth and family influence, in ten days +he can attend a social gathering of the +best society. Let a young woman step +aside from the path of right and she is +hurled to the depths of the low-land of +vices.</p> +<a name="page143" id="page143"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 143]</span> +<p> +Some years ago a young man died in +our city whose family name was honored +and whose father was wealthy. The young +man went the pace that kills and in the +very morning of life died a victim to his +vices. A long line of carriages followed +him to our beautiful cemetery, his pall +bearers were from the leading families of +the city; flowers covered his grave and +the daily papers paid a tribute to the +young man cut down before the river of +life was half run.</p> +<p> +Soon after, a poor girl died in one of +the wicked dens of the city. She had been +left an orphan in early life without a +mother's love to guard and guide her, she +went astray. Two carriages followed her +to the stranger's burying ground. In one +were two of her kind; in the other the pastor +of the church of which I am a member. +He afterward said to me: "We had to get +two negro men at work near by to help +lower her body into the grave."</p> +<p> +No wonder woman cries out against +these standards, these peculiar constructions +of human sentiment. Public sentiment +demands of a man that he shall be +physically brave. If a woman appeals to +him for protection, his bosom must heave +with courage like the billows of the ocean,<a name="page144" id="page144"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 144]</span> +though he quake in his boots. Yet the +woman he defends will endure pain without +a murmur, which would make the man +groan for an hour. When my wife is ill +it takes about two days to find it out; she +does not seem so cheerful the first day, and +the second, she will admit she is not so +well. Let me get sick, and the whole family +will know it in half an hour.</p> +<p> +I know a woman will scream if a mouse +runs across the floor, but give her a loved +one to defend, let supreme danger come +and she's no coward. John Temple Graves +tells of a Georgia girl so timid she was +afraid to cross the hall at night to mother's +room. She married a worthy young +man and by industry and economy they +paid for a cottage home. He began to +cough, and the hectic flush told his lungs +were involved. The doctor advised a +change of climate.</p> +<p> +"We'll sell the home," said the little +wife, "and go where the doctor advises, +for the home will be nothing to me if you +are gone."</p> +<p> +They went to Florida and knowing they +must husband their small means, she took +in sewing. A few months later the doctor +advised a higher altitude. They went to<a name="page145" id="page145"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 145]</span> +a little city in the Ozark mountains. Here +again she plied her needle, wearing upon +her face by day a smile to cheer her husband, +while at night her pillow was wet +with tears as she heard him coughing his +life away. After several months she was +informed by physicians that but one +chance in a hundred remained, and that +was still further west.</p> +<p> +"I'll take the hundredth chance," she +said, and on west they went. Soon after, +in the far-away city he died; she pawned +her wedding ring to make up the price of +tickets back to Georgia. There the little +widow buried her dead by the side of his +mother, and after planting her favorite +flowers about the grave, she turned away +to face the duties of life, and though +a dead wall seemed lifted before her, she +met each day with a smile and hid her +sorrow beneath the soul's altar of hope.</p> +<p> +Man has won his title to courage upon +battlefield, and yet the battlefield is not +the place to test true courage.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"The wife who girds her husband's sword,</p> + <p class="i2">'Mid little ones who weep or wonder,</p> +<p>And bravely speaks the cheering word,</p> + <p class="i2">E'en though her heart be rent asunder:</p></div> +<a name="page146" id="page146"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 146]</span> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Doomed nightly in her dreams to hear</p> + <p class="i2">The bolts of death around him rattle,</p> +<p>Hath shed as sacred blood as ere</p> + <p class="i2">Was poured upon the field of battle."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +When elbows touch, ten thousand feet +keep step together, martial music fills the +air, the shout of battle is on, bayonets +glitter in the sunlight, the flag flutters in +the breeze, and the general commands, +men will shout and rush into battle who +without these stimulating influences would +be going the other way. I remember +when a boy how whistling kept up my +courage in the dark. It is told of General +Zeb Vance of the Confederate army, that +while leading his forces across a field into +an engagement he met a rabbit going the +other way. As the hare dodged around +the command, General Vance lifting his +hat said: "Go it, Mollie; go it, Mollie Cotton-tail; +if I didn't have a reputation to +sustain I would be right there with you."</p> +<p> +For Christine Bradley, the eighteen-year-old +daughter of the Governor of Kentucky, +to stand on the dock at Newport +News, against the customs of centuries +and facing the jeers of prejudice, baptize +the battleship Kentucky with water, +required as blood-born bravery as coursed<a name="page147" id="page147"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 147]</span> +the veins of the ensign who cut the wires +in Cardenas Bay, or the lieutenant who +sunk the Merrimac in the entrance to +Santiago Harbor. Because she dared to +violate a long-established custom by refusing +to use what had blighted the hopes +of many daughters, sent to drunkards' +graves so many sons, and buried crafts +and crews in watery graves, the Woman's +Christian Temperance Union presented +her with a handsome silver service. I +was chosen to make the presentation +speech, which I closed by saying: "Heaven +bless Christine Bradley, who by her +example said:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>I christen thee Kentucky,</p> + <p class="i2">With water from the spring,</p> +<p>Which enriched the blood of Lincoln,</p> + <p class="i2">Whose praise the sailors sing.</p></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>I christen thee Kentucky,</p> + <p class="i2">With prayers of woman true,</p> +<p>That wine, the curse of sailors,</p> + <p class="i2">May never curse your crew.</p></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>I christen thee Kentucky,</p> + <p class="i2">And may this christening be,</p> +<p>A lesson of safety ever</p> + <p class="i2">To sailors on the sea."</p> +</div> +</div> +<a name="page148" id="page148"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 148]</span> +<p> +Now if public sentiment has made such +a mistake in the allotment of virtues, why +may it not have made a greater mistake +in the allotment of spheres? It has been +well said: "God made woman a free +moral agent, capable of the highest development +of brain, heart and conscience; +with these are interwoven interests that +involve issues for time and eternity, and +God expects of woman the best she can +do in whatever field she is best fitted for +the accomplishment of results for the +world's good." If a young woman is +fitted to preside over a home, and some +young man desires to crown her queen of +that realm, she can find no higher calling +in this world. There is nothing on this +earth more like heaven than a happy +home. I can give to a young woman no +better wish than that the future may find +her presiding over a home made beautiful +by her character and culture, and safe +through her influence.</p> +<p> +But if a young woman is qualified like +Frances E. Willard to better the world by +public life-work, or like Florence Nightingale +or Jane Addams to relieve the suffering +of thousands, then she should not +confine herself to the limited sphere of +one household. I believe in the call of capacity<a name="page149" id="page149"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 149]</span> +for usefulness in both sexes. There +are men who are called to be cooks; they +know the art of the caterer. There are +men fitted to be dressmakers; they know +the colors that blend and the styles which +give beauty to dress. There are women +who are fitted for science, literature and +medicine. Some of the best cooks we have +are men; some of the best writers and +speakers are women. Abraham Lincoln +never did more by his proclamation to free +the slave, than did Harriet Beecher Stowe +with "Uncle Tom's Cabin." William E. +Gladstone never did more to endear himself +to the people of Ireland by his advocacy +of the home-rule, than has Lady Henry +Somerset endeared herself to the common +people of the "United Kingdom," by +turning away from the wealth, nobility +and aristocracy of England to devote her +great heart, gifted brain and abundant +means to the elevation of the masses, the +reformation of the wayward, and the relief +of the poor.</p> +<p> +There is a fitness that must not be ignored. +Frances E. Willard would never +have made a dressmaker. It is said she +did not know when her own dress fit, or +whether becoming; she depended upon<a name="page150" id="page150"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 150]</span> +Anna Gordon to decide for her. But by +the music of her eloquence and the rhythm +of her rhetoric, she could send the truth +echoing through the hearts of her hearers +like the strain of a sweet melody. Worth, +of Paris, France, would not have made an +orator, but he could design a robe to +please a princess and make a dress to fit +"to the queen's taste." Then let Worths +make dresses, and Frances E. Willards +charm the world by their eloquence.</p> +<p> +Yonder is a boy. His soul is full of +music; his fingers are as much at home on +the key-board of a piano as a mocking-bird +in its own native orange grove. His +sister is a mathematician; she solves a +problem in mathematics as easily as her +brother plays a piece of music. Because +one is a boy and the other a girl, don't +make the girl teach music and the boy +mathematics. What God has joined together +in fitness, let not false education +put asunder.</p> +<p> +Recently I read of a man whose father +left him a large business. Though an exemplary +man he could not make ends meet +in a business out of which his father had +made a fortune. The man worried himself +into nervous prostration. While he<a name="page151" id="page151"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 151]</span> +remained at home for rest, his wife took +charge of the business and made of it a +great success. I say let that woman run +the business and the man take care of his +nerves.</p> +<p> +I know a minister who is a good man, +but his strength is in his limbs. He's an +athlete, but turn him loose in a field as +full of ideas as a clover field of blossoms, +and he can't preach a good sermon. Let +Dr. Anna Shaw enter the same field and +she will gather blossoms of thought faster +than you can store them away in your +mind. Some one in my presence may believe +the man should keep on preaching +and Anna Shaw go to the sewing-room +and run a sewing machine; but I say if +the man's strength is in his limbs, and +Doctor Shaw's in her head, let the preacher +run the sewing machine and Doctor +Shaw preach the gospel of righteousness, +temperance and judgment to come. If +God fitted Anna Shaw's brain and tongue +for the platform, it would be unwomanly +in her to make herself the pedal power of +a sewing machine. We want successful, +useful men and women; and in fields for +which God has fitted woman, don't be +afraid to give her the freest, broadest liberty,<a name="page152" id="page152"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 152]</span> +or be uneasy about her unsexing +herself. She has entered two hundred +fields in the last one hundred years. Yes, +I guess one more field must be added, for +I saw a woman a few years ago in an occupation +I had never seen one engaged in +before. In a city where I lectured a beautiful, +intelligent young lady was running +the elevator of a hotel, and I was completely +"taken up" by her.</p> +<p> +Of all the new fields entered by woman +you cannot point to one where she has degraded +her womanhood, or one that has +not been blessed by the touch of her influence.</p> +<p> +It is true there are fanatics among women +as there are among men, but if the +extreme woman goes too far, the average +woman will call a halt every time. Fifteen +years ago I could stand on Michigan +Avenue, Chicago, in the evening and within +a half hour count twenty young women, +dressed in bloomers, riding bicycles. +Now one may go to Chicago, spend a year +and not see one. Woman is safe enough.</p> +<p> +Some are uneasy lest woman will go beyond +her sphere, but I am not so much +disturbed about the future of woman as +I am of man. Upon virtue and intelligence<a name="page153" id="page153"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 153]</span> +depends the future of this republic. +Have men all the virtue? Go to the saloons; +are they frequented by women? +No; <i>men</i>. Go to the gambling halls; are +they crowded with women? No; <i>men</i>. Go +to the jails and penitentiaries; are they +full of women? No; <i>men</i>. Go to the +churches; are they crowded with men? +No; mostly by women. What about intelligence? +Have men all the intelligence? +Two girls graduate from high schools to +one boy. I am glad to be living now; one +hundred years hence, if I were to be born +again, I would want to be a girl. Woman +goes to the door of death to give life to +man and man should be willing to let her +seek out her own sphere for usefulness.</p> +<p> +Not long since I read a book called +"The New Woman." It was a novel by an +Englishman. In it the author takes a +beautiful young girl, about eighteen years +of age, through a "Gretna-Green" experience +with a young man of twenty. She is +the daughter of a widow; he, the only son +of a wealthy London merchant. They run +away and after a month's search are +found by the father of the young man in +southern France. The girl is sent home +to her mother; the young man sent to<a name="page154" id="page154"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 154]</span> +India in order to get him far away from +his wife. The novelist makes the young +man a noble character, who is determined +to prove himself worthy of his wife, and +he toils to send her means for support. +The young wife becomes a mother, and +the young husband toils the harder to +care for his wife and babe. When time +hangs heavy on the hands of the young +mother, she is invited to join a woman's +club. Here she imbibes the spirit of the +new woman. She soon neglects her child +and appears before the public for a lecture. +She wears a low neck dress, paints +her cheeks, blondines her hair, smokes +cigarettes and drinks wine. A millionaire +in India, who loses his own son, +adopts the hero of the novel, dies and +leaves him the great estate. Then the +young man hurries back to his wife. He +arrives in the evening, but finds she is +not at home; she is delivering a lecture +in the opera-house. He awaits her return; +a storm rages outside; at a late +hour she enters the door, throws off her +wraps and stands before her husband, +with blondined hair, painted cheeks, and +eyes red with wine. He stares, then +starts toward her, when she brings him<a name="page155" id="page155"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 155]</span> +to a halt by her strange manner. He +asks, "Is not this my wife?" she answers, +"No, I am the New Woman." She refuses +to let him see their child, drives him out +into the storm, then goes to her room, disrobes +and lies down to dream of great +audiences and applause.</p> +<p> +It is an insult to any intelligent reader. +Where is the woman, who was a sweet, +modest young mother, and who today is +a public speaker, who has neglected her +child, driven her husband without cause +into the street, blondines her hair, paints +her cheeks, drinks wine and smokes cigarettes? +She would be hissed from the +platform. The author simply shows his +extreme prejudice in an abstract attempt +to prove that to be a new woman means +the surrender of all womanly graces.</p> +<p> +Let me give you, not fiction but real +history, that I may present to you the +kind of new woman I indorse. She was +born in the State of New York, was well +educated, and at proper age married a +young physician. They moved to a western +city, where for a while the young physician +did well; but in an evil hour he +commenced to drink. Like many a noble +young man, he was too weak to resist the<a name="page156" id="page156"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 156]</span> +power of appetite, and soon his practice +left him. His wife, the mother of two +boys, secured a position in the public +schools and by her ability, won her way +to a principalship. The husband wandered +away, while the brave wife and mother +remained with her children, but followed +her husband with letters of loving +appeal. After long separation he was +taken seriously ill in the far Southwest. +She left children, home and school work +to go to his bedside. Her watchful care +brought him back from the very door of +death, and her prayers were answered in +seeing him forsake the cup and hide for +safety in the cleft of the Rock of Ages. +He returned with her to their home, but +soon after passed away. She buried him +beneath the green Missouri sod, planted +flowers about the grave, paid him tribute +of her tears, and returned to her work.</p> +<p> +In the course of these years she had +joined the Woman's Christian Temperance +Union and was recognized as one of +its greatest leaders.</p> +<p> +Several years ago I gave an address in +Hot Springs, Ark. A card was presented +at my door, which bore the name of the +heroine of my story. Going to the parlor<a name="page157" id="page157"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 157]</span> +I said: "What are you doing here?"</p> +<p> +"My boy has been very ill with rheumatism +and I have been here with him +for several weeks. He is better now and +I return to my work tomorrow."</p> +<p> +Months later she was called again to the +bedside of this son, and with all the tenderness +of mother-love, he was cared for +until he too passed over the river. Again +she took up her work on the platform, +where she inspired many young women +to do their best in life, and called many +to righteousness. She was the salt of the +earth, the embodiment of nobility, the +soul of truth; and not only her own state +but the whole country is better because +she lived.</p> +<p> +Ask the author of the novel for the <i>real</i> +to his story; he cannot name her; she does +not live in England or America. Ask me +for mine and I answer Clara C. Hoffman, +for years the associate of Frances E. Willard +as national officer of the Woman's +Christian Temperance Union, and state +president of the white ribboners of Missouri.</p> +<p> +In a magazine article an author said: +"Out of one hundred and forty-five graduates +of a certain female college, only fifteen<a name="page158" id="page158"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 158]</span> +have married." A Chicago editor +quoted the statement and asked: "Is it +possible education breeds in woman a distaste +for matrimony and home life?" In +the first place, I would answer: "You +never can know how many are going to +marry until they are all dead."</p> +<p> +Another explanation is that the average +school girl goes out of school at that impulsive +age when "love acts independent +of all law, and is subject to nothing but +its own sweet will," no matter how many +years father has toiled to give her the +comforts of life, nor how many sleepless +nights mother has spent to give her rest. +She meets a young man; he is handsome, +dresses well and talks fluently. She falls +in love, and sees in "love at first sight," +the "inspiration of all wisdom." In a +week, though she knows nothing of the +young man's character or disposition, she +is ready to say to her parents: "I appreciate +all you have done for me: I love you +devotedly, but I have met such a nice fellow; +he has asked me to marry him, and +I have accepted; ta-ta!" She's gone. If +her parents ask about the prospect for a +living, she answers as did the young girl +whose father said: "Mary, are you determined<a name="page159" id="page159"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 159]</span> +to marry that young man?"</p> +<p> +"I am, Father."</p> +<p> +"Why, my child, he has no trade, no +money, and very little education; what are +you going to do for a living?"</p> +<p> +She replied: "Aunt is going to give me +a hen for a wedding present. You know, +Father, it is said one hen will raise twenty +chickens in a season. The second season, +twenty each, you see, will be four +hundred; the third season, eight thousand; +the fourth season, one hundred and +sixty thousand; and the fifth season, only +five years, twenty each will be three million, +two hundred thousand chickens. At +twenty-five cents each they will bring +eight hundred thousand dollars. We will +then let you have money enough to pay +off the mortgage on the farm and we will +move to the city."</p> +<p> +To a girl in love, every hen egg will +hatch; not a chicken will ever die with +the gapes; they will all live on love, like +herself, and everything will be profit.</p> +<p> +The college girl cannot marry at this +impulsive, air-castle age. She must wait +until she gets through college. By that +time she is old enough for her heart to +consult her head, and her head inquires<a name="page160" id="page160"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 160]</span> +into the character and capacity of the +young man. Beside this, it has been the +custom for women to look up to man, and +when the college woman looks up, quite +often she doesn't see anybody. Young +man, if you want the college girl you must +"get up" in good qualities to where she +will see you without looking down.</p> +<p> +I believe this higher education for women +will tend to arrest the recklessness by +which life is linked with life at the marriage +altar. There is a legend among +the Jews that man and woman were once +one being; an angel was sent down from +Heaven to cleave them into two. Ever +since, each half has been running around +looking for the other, and the misfits have +been many at the marriage altar.</p> +<p> +These misfits remind me of an experience +when I lectured for the Colfax, Iowa, +Chautauqua, some years ago. Frank +Beard, the famous chalk talker, was there +and on Grand Army day he was on the +program for a short talk. I was seated +by Mr. Beard while the speaker who preceded +him was telling war stories of his +regiment and himself. Frank Beard said +to me: "Well! I guess I can exaggerate a +little myself." It was evident he intended<a name="page161" id="page161"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 161]</span> +to measure up to the occasion. After getting +his audience into proper spirit for +the manufactured war story, he said:</p> +<p> +"I was in the war myself and had a few +experiences. At the battle of Shiloh, I +was lying behind a log, when I saw about +forty Confederates come dashing down +toward me. My first impulse was to rise, +make a charge and capture the whole +forty. But I knew that would not be +strategy; generals did not manage a battle +that way with such odds against them, +so I determined to make a detour. Perhaps +some of you young people do not +know what a detour means. It means, +when in such a position as I was, to get +up and go the other way. So I detoured. +The chaplain of our regiment detoured +also; he could detour a little faster than +I, and was directly in front of me when +a shell caught up with me and took my +leg off just above the knee. You may notice +I walk very lame." (Which he did +just then for effect). "Well, the same shell +took off the chaplain's leg, and we tumbled +into a heap. The surgeon came up, and +having a little too much booze, he got +things mixed; he put the chaplain's leg on +me and my leg on the chaplain. We were<a name="page162" id="page162"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 162]</span> +in good health, and the legs grew on all +right. When I recovered, I concluded to +celebrate my restoration to usefulness, so +I went into a saloon and said to the bartender, +'Give me some good old brandy.' +He set out the bottle, and I began to fill +the glass, when that chaplain's leg began +to kick. The chaplain was a very ardent +temperance man, and the first thing I +knew, that temperance leg was making +for the door, and I followed. But what +do you think? As I went out, I met my +leg bringing the chaplain in."</p> +<p> +That's a very absurd story, a rather ridiculous +one, but if the surgeon had made +the mistake Mr. Beard charged, he would +not have made any greater than is made +every day at the marriage altar. Young +women, I would not silence the love songs +in your hopeful hearts, but I would have +every betrothed girl demand of her lover +not only a loving heart, but a well rounded +character and a reasonable store of +useful knowledge.</p> +<p> +A writer on this question said: "This +progress of woman lessens mother love in +our country." Is that true? Before the +opening of a southern exposition, a mother +of four boys applied for and was engaged<a name="page163" id="page163"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 163]</span> +as chime bell ringer. Perhaps +some saw in the selection a woman as +brazen as the bells she would ring. On +opening day she played, "He who watches +over Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps"; +on New York day she played, "Yankee +Doodle" and "Hail Columbia;" on Pennsylvania +day, "The Star Spangled Banner;" +on Kentucky day, "My Old Kentucky +Home;" on Maryland day, "Maryland, +my Maryland;" on Georgia day, +"The Girl I Left Behind Me;" on colored +people's day, the airs of the old plantation; +on newsboy's day, "The Bowery" +and "Sunshine of Paradise Alley;" then +"Nearer, my God, to Thee," "Rock of +Ages, Cleft For Me," soothed the tired +Christian heart. One afternoon she took +two of her boys into the belfry-tower; one +seven, the other about three years of age. +When they tired of the confinement, the +older boy said: "Mother, can we go out +for a walk?"</p> +<p> +"Yes, son, but don't let go little brother's +hand."</p> +<p> +She was so absorbed by the music of +her bells she did not notice the passing of +time until the night shadows began to +gather. Then her older boy came running<a name="page164" id="page164"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 164]</span> +up in the tower crying, "Mother, I've +lost little brother!"</p> +<p> +She quit her bells and running through +the grounds set every policeman looking +for her boy; then she hurried back to her +bells and began to play "Home, Sweet +Home." It is said the bells never rang +so clear and sweet. Over and over again +she played, "Home, Sweet Home;" some +wondered why the tune did not change. +At last, while trembling with dread and +eyes filled with tears, she heard a sweet +voice say, "Mama, I hear de bells and I +tome to you." The mother, turning from +the bells, clasped the child to her bosom +and thanked God for its safety.</p> +<p> +It is said everything is undergoing a +constant change, but until the chime bells +ring in the eternal morning mother love +will live on, the same unchanging devotion. +Several years ago I stood on Portland +Heights, Oregon, in the evening, and +saw Mount Hood in its snow-capped majesty, +when the stars seemed to be set as +jewels in its crown. If you ask me by +what force that giant was lifted from +the level of the sea till its dome touched +the sky, I cannot answer you, but I know +it stands there, a towering sentinel to<a name="page165" id="page165"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 165]</span> +traveler on land and sailor on the sea. So +mother love, which no one can solve, exists +as unchanging as the love of God; +broad enough and strong enough to meet +all the changing conditions of time.</p> +<p> +While I did not make this lecture to +include the suffrage question, I cannot +turn away from the new woman without +a word about the ballot for women. It +is no longer a question of right, but whether +or not men will grant the right. This I +believe men will do when the sentiment +of women is strong enough to force the +issue. "Taxation without representation" +is no less a tyranny to women than to +men. I was the guest of a wealthy widow, +who paid more taxes than any man +in the county, yet a foreigner, who had +been in this country less than three years, +who had not a dollar of property nor a +patriotic impulse, laid down the hoe in +the garden, and going to the polls, voted +additional tax upon the woman he worked +for; and the saloon influence upon her two +boys, while she had no voice in what taxes +her property, or what might tax her heart +by the ruin of a son. There being no +question about woman's right to the ballot, +there should be no hesitation on man's<a name="page166" id="page166"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 166]</span> +part in bestowing the right.</p> +<p> +I now turn from the new woman to the +old man. I do not mean the man old in +years; for him I have only words of honor +and praise. I mean the man set in old +ways and habits that neutralizes the progress +and wastes the forces of the republic. +At the door of this old man lie the causes +of commercial disturbances, depression in +trade and recurring panics more than in +the causes stressed by partisans for political +effect.</p> +<p> +We should never have hard times in +this country. We live in the best land +beneath the sky. It has been well said: +"This is God's last best effort for man." +We have soil rich enough to grass and +grain the world. Our vast domain is inlaid +with gold, silver, iron and lead of boundless +worth. Deep in the bosom of Columbia +are fountains of gas and oil, sufficient +to light and heat our homes for a century +to come. Within these healthful lines of +latitude is room enough not only to house +all the peoples of the earth, but to sty all +the pigs, stable all the horses, and corral +all the cattle of the world.</p> +<p> +To have all these gifts crowned with +sunshine and shower, free from pestilence<a name="page167" id="page167"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 167]</span> +and famine, we are the most prosperous +and should be the best contented people on +the earth. In such a land there should +be perpetual peace and plentiful prosperity. +Yet we have hard times after hard +times, and panic after panic. Why is +this? If I could tell you why, it would +repay for the time and money spent to +hear this lecture. During the great panic +in the nineties Mr. W.C. Whitney of New +York, wrote a letter to a leading New +York daily in which he said: "There are +just two causes for this panic; too much +silver and too much tariff." I do not +disparage these two problems, but I do +say Mr. Whitney had a very narrow view +of a panic. Like many another man, he +had a thorough knowledge of certain +things and was totally ignorant of others.</p> +<p> +A Chief Justice of the United States +was riding in a carriage with his family +when a shaft broke. It was not broken +short off, but shivered by contact with a +post. The Chief Justice had no strings +and was in a dilemma. A negro boy +passed by, dressed in rags, whistling a +merry tune. The great jurist hailed the +boy, saying, "Boy, have you a string?" +<a name="page168" id="page168"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 168]</span> +"No, boss, what's de matter?"</p> +<p> +"I have broken the shaft of my carriage," +said the Justice.</p> +<p> +"Yas, sir, I guess you is, boss. Is you +got a knife? If you is, I think I can fix +it for you."</p> +<p> +Taking the knife, he jumped the fence +and cut withes from a sapling, with which +he lashed a lath to the shaft.</p> +<p> +"I guess da'll git you home, boss."</p> +<p> +"That's a good job," said the Judge; +"why didn't I think of that?"</p> +<p> +The boy replied: "I don't know, sir, +'cept some folks know more than others."</p> +<p> +That boy did know more than the Chief +Justice of the United States about mending +a broken shaft. I think I know a +thing or two about panics which Mr. +Whitney did not seem to have learned. +Let me give you two causes for panics. +They are not all but they rank with Mr. +Whitney's.</p> +<p> +First, the extravagance of the people. +When times are good and money plentiful, +people are extravagant. They buy +everything and pay enormous prices. A +horse, Axtell, brings his owner one hundred +and five thousand dollars; a two-year-old +colt, Arion, one hundred and +twenty-five thousand. A town site is located<a name="page169" id="page169"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 169]</span> +in a barren waste and lots sell at +ten to one hundred dollars a front foot. +All kinds of wildcat schemes are promoted, +and the people bite at the bait. An +era of extravagance is on and "sight unseen" +investments are made. Several +years ago my brother said to me: "Are +you going West soon, as far as Kansas +City?" When I replied that I was he +said: "I have never been in that city but +I have two lots there I wish you would +look at and ascertain their value." He +advised me to call on a certain real estate +agent, who would show me the lots. When +I called on the agent a little while later, +he informed me the lots could not be seen +until a dry spell took off the water. Two +lots my brother never saw and never sold; +decidedly "watered stock."</p> +<p> +A man with a thousand dollars buys a +five thousand dollar lot. He knows he +can't pay for it, but there's a boom and +he expects to sell for six thousand before +the second payment is due. He doesn't +sell. When he can't sell he goes to the +bank to borrow money to make the payment; +he finds there many more in the +same condition as himself. The banks +see the trouble coming and will not loan.<a name="page170" id="page170"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 170]</span> +When the banks refuse to loan the depositors +get scared and take their money out +of the bank. During that great panic in +the nineties three hundred millions of +dollars were taken out of circulation within +four months by depositors who were +scared. Then the country gets flat on its +back with a panic. A friend said to me, +during the great depression: "Don't you +think it will be over soon?" I replied: +"Let a man have typhoid fever until reduced +to a skeleton; let the doctor call +some morning toward the close of the long +siege and say, 'The fever is broken, get up +and go to work.' Can the man obey the +doctor? No; he must have chicken-broth +and gruel, and slowly regain his strength." +So when a panic comes we must creep +out, and we were so deep in the nineties it +took a long time to recover.</p> +<p> +When a panic comes however, the extravagance +ceases; everybody gets stingy. +A man with five thousand dollars doesn't +buy a five thousand dollar lot. He doesn't +buy anything; his wife must wear the old +bonnet, and his church assessment is reduced. +Then the tide turns and the country +recovers from its extravagance. But +when times get good, crops are fine and<a name="page171" id="page171"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 171]</span> +money plentiful, the people begin again; +women spending their money for dry +goods, men for wet goods; another era +of extravagance is on and another panic +coming.</p> +<p> +Mr. Whitney said: "Too much silver +and too much tariff." All the gold and +all the silver money in this country would +not pay the old man's drink and tobacco +bill for five years. We drink, smoke and +chew up all the money in this country, +gold, silver, and paper, every seven years. +Last year we spent about six millions for +missions; one hundred and fifty millions +for churches; two hundred and seventy-five +millions for schools; and eighteen +hundred millions for intoxicating liquors +and tobacco. Awake, O Conscience! and +pour out thy saving influence for the healing +of the nation.</p> +<p> +We live in a marvelous country. What +this republic has accomplished in one hundred +and thirty-eight years, is the wonder +of the world. At the close of the Revolutionary +War those who survived were +poor, wounded, bleeding people, occupying +only the eastern rim of a wilderness +waste, while wild beast and wilder Indians +roamed the mighty expanse to the<a name="page172" id="page172"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 172]</span> +western ocean. From the penniless poverty +of then, has come the wonderful +wealth of now. Where the tangled wilderness +choked the earth, now fields of +golden grain dot the plains, carpets of +clover cover the hillsides, cities hum with +the music of commerce, while rivers and +railroads carry rich harvests to the harbors +of every land. Emerson wrote better +than he knew when he wrote:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"So I uncover the land, which of old time I hid in the west,</p> +<p>As the sculptor uncovers his statue, when he has wrought his best."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +Yet grand as this country has grown +to be, "the eagle of liberty can never reach +the pinion heights its wings were made +to measure," while the shell of wasted resources +to which I have referred bows low +its head. Money won't save us. Babylon +had her gold standard; her images +were made of gold. Media, Persia, had +her free silver standard; her images were +made of silver. Rome had her gold, her +silver, brass and iron; yet they were all +dashed to pieces on the world's highway. +"In the hollow of the hand of God is the +destiny of this republic," and we cannot +buy Him with money. The wealth that<a name="page173" id="page173"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 173]</span> +satisfies the ruler of nations is character.</p> +<p> +Some one said a few years ago, and it +went the rounds of the press: "The question +during the Civil War was, shall we +have two governments or one; now the +question is, shall we have any?" I quote +to you with as much confidence as any +mortal ever proclaimed a truth: "This +republic will never fail or fall until God +deserts it, and God will not desert it until +we desert Him."</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> + <p>"Come the world in arms,</p> + <p>We'll defeat, and then pursue;</p> + <p>Nothing can our flag destroy,</p> + <p>While to God and self we're true."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +I am not one of those who believe our +war with Spain was an accident. For +Dewey to cross that dead line at midnight; +when morning dawned to find +mines of death behind him, an enemy's +fleet of eleven ships before him, these supported +by shores belted with batteries; +and yet within six hours sink or disable +every ship in the fleet, silence the forts, +lift the star spangled banner in triumph +to wave, and not have a warship sunk, nor +a sailor killed, means more than the mere +skill of a Commodore. Some one may say<a name="page174" id="page174"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 174]</span> +we had a better navy. Spain didn't think +so. Before the war the Spanish papers +said: "The United States is bluffing. She +can't go to war with us. She has only +twenty-five thousand soldiers, and they +are kept out west to control cowboys and +Indians. Then the South is waiting for +an opportunity to break out in rebellion." +Columbus discovered America in 1492; +Spain didn't discover the United States +until 1898.</p> +<p> +Do you ask what we are to do with the +Philippine Islands? I cannot tell you +what is best, but I do know we didn't +want them. The day Dewey sailed from +Hong Kong to Manila Bay, if Spain had +said to the United States: "Here are the +Philippine Islands, we would like to make +you a present of them," the United States +would have replied, "We thank you, but +decline the offer." Not one man in ten +in this country would have voted to take +them. But the next day we had them, +had fought to get them; and I believe the +same superhuman power that took from +Spain, the Netherlands, Flanders, Malacca, +Ceylon, Java, Portugal, Holland, San +Domingo, Louisiana, Florida, Trinidad, +Mexico, Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador,<a name="page175" id="page175"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 175]</span> +Peru, Bolivia, Chili, Argentina, Uruguay, +Paraguay, Patagonia, Guatemala, Honduras, +San Salvador, Nicaragua, Porto Rico, +Cuba, and "then some," took away from +Spain the Philippine Islands and gave +them to us, that the home, the church and +the school might be established in the Islands.</p> +<p> +Perhaps some of you think I am getting +off my subject. I am not; I am talking +now about the <i>old man</i>, Uncle Sam, +and his mission in the world.</p> +<p> +It is the opinion of many that we are +under no obligation to the islands of the +sea, but these conservative souls should +not forget that we are not only citizens of +the United States, but of the globe on +which we dwell and of the universe of +God. The world in which we live, lives +because of the light and heat it receives +from other worlds. If the rolling sun in +the heavens is under obligation to furnish +light for our pathway, heat for our soil +and warmth for our blood, are we not under +obligation to carry the light of civilization +to the people whose shores and +ours are washed by the same waters? If +the full orbed moon is under obligation +to pour its silver into our nights, and lift<a name="page176" id="page176"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 176]</span> +the tides until our rivers are full, are not +we under obligation to lift the tide of hope +in the heart of oppressed humanity, and +pour the light of intelligence into the +night of ignorance? Did God give us this +grand country, with its boundless resources, +for us to draw our ocean skirts +about our greatness and pass by our +bruised and bleeding neighbor, lying half +dead on life's Jericho road? If so, then +call back our proud eagle of liberty from +its pinion flight through the skies of national +achievement, and make our national +emblem the barnyard fowl that crows in +the day dawn as if creating light instead +of noise, and then runs for his roost when +the shadows fall.</p> +<p> +The Bible says we are fellow workers +with God. What does this fellowship +imply? It means there are some things +we can't do, which God must do for us, +and some things we can do He won't do +for us. He puts the coal in the earth; +we must dig and blast it out. He puts +oil beneath the soil; we must bore into +its wells and pump it out. He gives us +the earth and "the fullness thereof;" we +must do the sowing and reaping. He +puts electricity in the air; we must bridle,<a name="page177" id="page177"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 177]</span> +saddle and harness it. He empties the +clouds into the basins of the earth and +gives us oceans, gulfs and lakes; but we +must build boats to ride them. He puts +humanity on the earth and bids us love +our neighbor as ourselves.</p> +<p> +Who is my neighbor? Some seem to +think only those who live in our immediate +community. I read of a minister of a +city church who called upon one of his +country members for a contribution for +foreign missionary work. The country +brother said: "I don't believe in foreign +missions, and I must say, 'No'."</p> +<p> +"Brother," the pastor said, "the Bible +says you should love your neighbor as +yourself."</p> +<p> +"I do love my neighbors."</p> +<p> +"Who are your neighbors?"</p> +<p> +"Those whose farms adjoin mine, and +perhaps, those whose farms adjoin theirs."</p> +<p> +"How far do you own eastward?"</p> +<p> +"To the third fence yonder."</p> +<p> +"How far do you own toward the west?"</p> +<p> +"About a half mile?"</p> +<p> +"How deep do you own into the earth?"</p> +<p> +"Well, I never thought of that, but +about half-way, I guess."</p> +<a name="page178" id="page178"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 178]</span> +<p> +"Well, my brother, I am asking you to +help your neighbor China, who joins your +line below."</p> + + <hr class="short" /> +<p> +I have a friend with plenty of this +world's goods, and not a child. When +approached by the ladies of the Foreign +Mission Society he said: "I do not give +to foreign missions; when you want anything +for home missions I'll help you." +Perhaps he would; but many of that class +are represented by a colored man of whom +I heard a Methodist bishop tell. He said +to a friend: "Dat wife of mine is got money +on de brain; it's money, money all the +time. I can't go whar she is, but she's +axing me for money. She's jest sho'ly +gwine to run me to the lunatic 'sylum ef +she don't quit her beggin' me for money."</p> +<p> +The friend asked: "What does she do +with so much money?"</p> +<p> +The colored brother hesitated a minute, +and said: "She don't do nuffin wid it, caze +I ain't never <i>give</i> her none yet."</p> + + <hr class="short" /> +<p> +My friend who opposes foreign missions +said: "So much you give never gets +there." Yes; and so many seed the farmer +puts into the ground never grow, and +so the farmer says,</p> +<a name="page179" id="page179"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 179]</span> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Put five grains in every hill:</p> +<p>One for the cut-worm, one for the crow,</p> +<p>One to blight, and two to grow."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +And you cannot tell which will grow. +A weed grew by the wayside in the old +world. All it did was to furnish seed for +the wind, and worry for the farmer. But +one blustering day, the wind carried a +seed from the wayside weed into a florist's +garden; it sprouted, rooted and +bloomed. The gardener was impressed +by the beautiful coloring of the blossom, +so he nurtured, transplanted and cultivated +it into a beautiful flower. It was from +this bush, once a weed, Queen Victoria +selected the flower she carried when she +entered the Crystal Palace to meet the +world's representatives.</p> +<p> +When Delia Laughlin went astray, her +father drove her from his door. She was +of that temperament that must either go +to the heights or to the depths, and to the +depths she went. Down the rapids of a +sinful life her steps were swift. Along +the Bowery she made her way to Five +Points, where thieves and drunkards +dwelt. It was said she could drink deeper, +curse louder, and fight fiercer than +any inmate of the most wicked spot in<a name="page180" id="page180"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 180]</span> +New York City. Mrs. Whittemore went +one day on her mission of mercy through +the slums. She sought some one to accompany +her who knew the deepest haunts +of the wicked. Delia Laughlin was recommended +to her. Mrs. Whittemore, +with her Bible in one hand and a fragrant +rose in the other, made her rounds. She +was deeply impressed with the intellect +and culture, as well as the beauty of the +wayward girl who had been her guide +through the slums. "Dear girl," she said; +"you are too bright and beautiful to be +down here. I wish you would come to +see me at the Door of Hope Mission," and +slipping a coin and the white rose into +the soiled fingers she said, "Good-bye."</p> +<p> +The girl loved flowers, so she took the +white rose to her room and put it in water. +Then with the coin she went to drown +her misery in drink. Forty-eight hours +later she had slept off the debauch, and +taking the flower from the vase she said: +"Ah! that represents my life. Once I was +as pure as the rose when the good woman +gave it to me. Those withered petals represent +the withered graces of my life." +From out that little flower an arrow went +to the heart of Delia Laughlin. She took<a name="page181" id="page181"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 181]</span> +the street car and went to the Door of +Hope Mission. Mrs. Whittemore met her +and they talked together. While the girl +wept Mrs. Whittemore prayed; she said: +"O God, this poor girl has no other friend +than you. Her father's home is closed +against her. You have promised, when father +and mother forsake, you will take the +deserted one. Won't you take her now?" +And God did take her; from that hour +she was safe in the cleft of the Rock of +Ages. When she addressed twelve hundred +inmates of Auburn prison, a reporter +said: "Never did John Wesley, John +Knox, or Martin Luther do greater work +for the Master." When laid in her +casket in the Door of Hope Mission a few +years later, a New York paper said: +"Never did a fairer face or more eloquent +tongue do work in slum life than Delia +Laughlin."</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"The stone o'er which you trample,</p> + <p class="i2">May be a diamond in the rough.</p> +<p>It may never never sparkle,</p> + <p class="i2">Though made of diamond stuff.</p></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Because someone must find it,</p> + <p class="i2">If it's ever found;</p> +<p>And then someone must grind it,</p><a name="page182" id="page182"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 182]</span> + <p class="i2">If it's ever ground.</p></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"But when it's found, and when it's ground,</p> + <p class="i2">And when it's burnished bright;</p> +<p>Then henceforth a diamond crowned</p> + <p class="i2">'Twill shine with lustrous light."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +You can't tell what seed will grow.</p> +<p> +After the Civil War I lived for two +years in Richmond, Kentucky. During +that time the Klu Klux movement broke +out in fury. Men were hanged, others +whipped and driven from the county. +On my way to market one morning I saw +a man hanging from a limb of a tree in +the court-house yard. On his sleeve was +pinned a piece of paper, on which was +written, "Let no one touch this body until +the sun goes down." All day that body +hung there and not an officer of the law +dared to cut the rope. Such was the +reign of terror no one offered a protest. +One Saturday night a young man named +Byron was hanged in the same court-house +yard. He was the only son of a widowed +mother, and he begged the mob to let him +live for his mother's sake. Sunday morning +several empty bottles lay about the<a name="page183" id="page183"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 183]</span> +tree, indicating that the men were drinking +who did the deed. The evening after +the hanging I gave an address in the +Methodist Church for the Good Templars. +I had no thought of referring to the hanging +of young Byron, but in showing up +the evils of drink, those empty bottles +came to my mind, and I could imagine the +old mother then weeping over her dead +boy. Without considering the consequences +I denounced the Klu Klux and the +cowardice that permitted such lawlessness. +After the lecture a young man of +influence advised me to leave at once and +not dare spend the night in the town. I +felt sure the Klan could not be called together +that night, so I ventured to spend +the night at home. About eleven o'clock +that night the front gate was opened, and +tramp, tramp, tramp, came the sound of +feet toward the cottage, which was about +forty feet from the street. It seemed as +if all was over with me, when the "pluck" +of a string introduced a serenade from the +string band of the little city. Since the +daughters of Judah hung their harps upon +the willows, no sweeter music has ever +fallen upon mortal ears than I heard that +night from the string band of Richmond,<a name="page184" id="page184"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 184]</span> +Kentucky.</p> +<p> +I do not know how much my speaking +out against Klu Klux had to do with arresting +the outlawry that made the roads +rattle with the clatter of the hoofs of +horses at midnight raids, but I do know +young Byron was the last man hanged by +the Klu Klux in Madison county, and may +I not hope the unpremeditated protest +made in that Sunday evening address, +helped in some measure to bring about the +transformation, and contribute a mite to +the public sentiment that has made Richmond +a saloonless place in which to live.</p> +<p> +You cannot tell what seed will grow. +Already out of the new woman movement +has come a host led by such women +as Frances E. Willard, Mary A. +Livermore, Clara Hoffman, Dr. Anna +Shaw, Jane Addams, Maude Ballington +Booth, Susan B. Anthony, and in our own +state, Frances E. Beauchamp. These and +many more have been springing the bolts +that have barred woman from spheres of +great usefulness.</p> +<p> +Allow me to say, I have no patience +with the mannish woman (and about as +little use for a feminine man); but if this +old world is ever to be redeemed it is because<a name="page185" id="page185"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 185]</span> +He who sitteth on the throne has +said: "Behold I make all things new."</p> +<p> +Oh! for a new man, who will stop the +waste of wealth and destruction of morals +to which I have referred. Oh! for the +day when "each sex will be the equal of +the other in the average, each above the +other in specialties; when each can see +in the other a source of inspiration," and +both worthy to have been created in the +beginning a "little lower than the angels" +and in the end to be crowned with glory +and honor.</p> + +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +<a name="page187" id="page187"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 187]</span> +<a name="V" id="V"></a> +<h3>V</h3> +<br /> +<h2>THE SAFE SIDE OF LIFE FOR YOUNG MEN. A PLEA FOR TOTAL ABSTINENCE AND A BETTER LIFE.</h2> +<br /><br /> + +<p> +I do not assert that everyone who drinks +intoxicating liquor as a beverage will become +a drunkard, but I do come before +this audience to hold up total-abstinence +as safer and better for practice. Drunkards +are made of moderate drinkers; +drunkards are never made of total abstainers. +One <i>may</i> drink and never get +drunk; one cannot get drunk who never +drinks. Take away every drunkard from +the earth today and moderate drinking +will soon create another supply; but sweep +all drunkenness from the world, let total-abstinence +be the absolute rule and the +last drunkard will have debased his body, +ruined his character, and doomed his soul.</p> +<p> +Since running the risk of being a moderate +drinker is so great, I commend to the +young people before me the caution of the +Scotch minister, who, when called upon to<a name="page188" id="page188"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 188]</span> +marry a couple, said: "My young friends, +marriage is a blessing to a great many +persons; it's a curse to some; it's a risk +for everybody; will you take the venture?" +I presume they did. I do not believe the +use of intoxicating liquor as a beverage +is a benefit to anyone, yet for argument's +sake I will permit one who drinks to say: +"Moderate drinking is a benefit to a few +persons; it's a curse to a great many; it's +a risk for everybody; let's take a drink!" +Against this I affirm that total abstinence +is a blessing to millions; it's a curse to +nobody; it's safe and right for everybody; +then let's take the pledge and God helping +us, let's keep it.</p> +<p> +A very comforting reply to the infidel +who claims there will be no hereafter is +the inscription on the tomb of a faithful +Christian:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"If there's another world, he's in bliss;</p> +<p>If not, he's made the best of this."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +If there is no hereafter, to say the least +the Christian is even with the infidel, +while if there is a hereafter it's bad for +the infidel. If a moderate drinker has +sufficient self-control to escape being a +drunkard, the total abstainer is equally +safe; but if the moderate drinker loses his<a name="page189" id="page189"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 189]</span> +self-control and becomes a drunkard his +doom is sealed. The safe definition of +temperance is: "Moderation in regard to +things useful and right, total-abstinence +in regard to things hurtful and wrong." +Is alcoholic liquor as a beverage hurtful +and wrong? It's the source of more misery, +cruelty and crime than any other evil +of the world!</p> +<p> +Some years ago after a lecture along +this line, a doubting Thomas said to me: +"What answer have you for the scholar +who claims your very word 'temperance' +is the offspring of a word that signifies +moderation?" I said: "The same I would +give to a Darwinian if he were to tell me +I am a descendant of the ape; and that is, +I rejoice to know I'm an improvement on +my ancestor. To one who charges me +with being a distant relative of the chimpanzee, +I give the reply of Henry Ward +Beecher: 'I don't care how <i>far distant</i>.'" +I acknowledge my ignorance of the derivation +of the word temperance, but I do +know drunkenness comes from drinking +intoxicating liquor, therefore I favor total-abstinence +and recommend it as the +safe side of life for young men.</p> +<a name="page190" id="page190"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 190]</span> +<p> +While, by quoting isolated passages of +the Bible, advocates of moderation have +succeeded in filling the air with dust of +doubt about the teaching of the Scriptures +on the wine question, there is one thing +about which there is no question, and that +is the consent of the Bible to total-abstinence +for anyone who desires and "dares +to be a Daniel." I would rather search +my Bible for permission to give up that +over which my brother may stumble into +ruin, than to see how far I can go in the +use of it without committing sin. Marriage +feasts in Cana of Galilee two thousand +years ago do not concern me so much +as the social feasts of the present age +where "wine is a mocker, strong drink is +raging," and many are "deceived thereby."</p> +<p> +A noted Bible scholar says: "The Bible +is not simply a schedule of sins and duties +catalogued and labeled, but a revelation +of immutable principles, in the application +of which God tests the sincerity of our +profession." To drink intoxicating liquor +in this enlightened age, with all the woes +of intemperance about us and responsibilities +of life upon us, is a violation of +every immutable principle laid down in +the Bible. First, it's against the law of<a name="page191" id="page191"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 191]</span> +prudence, which says of two possible +paths one should take the safer. Which +is the safer, moderation or total-abstinence? +Next, it's against the law of humility, +which teaches where mightier +than we have fallen, we must distrust ourselves. +Have mightier than we fallen +through strong drink? Next, it's against +the law of human brotherhood, which +makes it imperative upon the strong to +bear the infirmities of the weak. Is the +drinker weak? Next, it's against the law +of expediency; "it is good neither to eat +flesh nor drink wine nor anything whereby +thy brother stumbleth." Do our brothers +stumble over strong drink? Last, it's +against the law of self-denial; "if meat +make my brother to offend, I will eat no +flesh while the world standeth, lest I make +my brother to offend." Does strong drink +make our brother to offend? On these +immutable principles the cause of sobriety +is built, and the gates of the devil of +drink shall not prevail against it.</p> +<p> +Young man, let me give you a bit of +advice and assurance. Never take a drink +of intoxicating liquor as a beverage, and +when you are as old as I am you will not +regret it. You cannot find me in all the<a name="page192" id="page192"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 192]</span> +world, one man between forty and eighty +years of age, an abstainer all his life, who +would change that record if he could. +Boys, that's a very safe rule that has not +a single exception. But how many are +there who regret they ever put the bottle +to their lips? "If I had only let strong +drink alone" is the bitter wail of millions +of men and women. From pauper poverty +and prison cells, electric chairs and +dying drunkard's lips comes the cry: +"Drink has been my curse!"</p> +<p> +Does some young man in this audience +say, "I can quit if I please?" Then I beg +you to <i>please</i>, ere you reach the time when +you will strive to quit, but in vain. I know +you don't intend to go beyond your power +of control; neither did the drunkards who +have gone before you. Do you suppose +Edgar Allen Poe dreamt when he took +his first drink in the social gathering of +an old Virginia gentleman's home that it +would bring from his brilliant brain the +weird strain:</p> +<p> +"Take thy beak from out my heart, and +take thy form from off my door!"</p> +<p> +Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."</p> +<p> +Do you suppose Thomas F. Marshall, +our gifted Kentucky orator, dreamt when<a name="page193" id="page193"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 193]</span> +he stood at the foot of the ladder of fame +and all Kentucky pointed him to the golden +glory of its summit, that his last words +would be: "And this is the end. Tom +Marshall dying; dying in a borrowed bed, +under a borrowed sheet, and without a +decent suit of clothes in which to be buried!"</p> +<p> +I well remember the first time I saw +Thomas Marshall. He had returned from +Washington, where he had thrilled Congress +by his eloquence. He was announced +to speak in Lexington on court day +afternoon. I went with my father from +our country home to hear the then golden +mouthed orator. For nearly two hours +he swayed that audience as the storm king +sways the mountain pine. On unseen +wings of eloquence he soared to heights +I had never imagined within the reach of +mortal tongue.</p> +<p> +I also remember the last time I saw this +brilliant Kentuckian. He was standing +on a street corner in Lexington, Kentucky. +His hair hung a tangled mass about his +forehead, his eagle eyes were dimmed by +debauch, and a thin, worn coat was buttoned +over soiled linen. As he straightened +himself and started to the bar-room,<a name="page194" id="page194"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 194]</span> +I could see traces of greatness lingering +about his brow like sheet lightning about +the bosom of a summer storm cloud. Not +long after he was telling political stories +in a drinking tavern. When he tired of +the tumult of the bar-room and a sense +of his better self came over him, some one +said: "Give us another, Tom." Rising to +his feet he said: "You remind me of a set +of bantam chickens, picking the sore head +of an eagle when his wings are broken."</p> +<p> +At one time in a temperance revival in +Washington he took the pledge and kept it +for months. During this time in a temperance +meeting he was called upon to +speak. The following brief extract shows +the charm of his eloquence:</p> +<p> +"I would not exchange my conscious being +as a strictly sober man, the glad play +with which my pulse now beats healthful +music through my veins, the bounding +vivacity with which my life blood courses +its exultant way through every fiber of my +frame, the communion high which my now +healthful eye and ear hold with the universe +around me, the splendors of the +morning, the softness of the evening sky, +the beauty, the verdure of the earth, the +music of winds and waters. No, sir! with<a name="page195" id="page195"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 195]</span> +all these grand associations of external +nature re-opened to the avenues of sense, +though poverty dogged me, though scorn +pointed its slow finger at me as I passed, +though want, destitution and every element +of early misery, save only crime, met +my waking eye from day to day: Not for +the brightest wreath that ever encircled +a statesman's brow; not if some angel +commissioned by heaven, or rather some +demon sent from hell to test the resisting +power of my virtuous resolution, were to +tempt me back to the blighting bowl; not +for the honors a world could bestow, +would I cast from me this pledge of a +liberated mind, this talisman against +temptation, and plunge again into the horrors +that once beset my path. So help me +Heaven, I would spurn beneath my feet +all the gifts a universe could offer, and +live and die as I am—poor but sober."</p> +<p> +Drinking young man, Thomas F. Marshall +once stood where you now stand. He +said then what you say now, yet after that +beautiful tribute to sobriety and the pledge +of total-abstinence, he stood at a blacksmith +shop door, and as the smith drew +the red hot iron from the forge, Mr. Marshall +said to some friends: "Gentlemen, I<a name="page196" id="page196"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 196</span> +would seize that rod of heated iron and +hold it in my hand till it cools, if it would +cure me of my terrible appetite for strong +drink." This is but one of the many fallen +stars the demon of drink has snatched +from the galaxy of Kentucky's greatness +and hurled into the darkness of eternal +night.</p> +<p> +A man who could drink and not get +drunk said to me: "I have no patience +with, nor sympathy for a drunkard. If +I couldn't eat what I want and quit when +I choose, I wouldn't claim to be a man." +Whether he could or not, depends on conditions. +Let my arm represent the scale +of life, with will on one side and appetite +on the other. When a man is healthy his +will stands at eighty, his appetite at fifty. +That man eats when he likes, or lets it +alone as he chooses. But let this healthy, +strong man take typhoid fever, and after +six or eight weeks be reduced to almost +a skeleton. At this stage, the fever having +subsided, let the doctor say to the +once strong man: "The fever is broken; +be careful about your diet, no solid food, +only chicken broth and gruel." Place by +the bed of this once strong man a table +and on this table a roast turkey, stuffed<a name="page197" id="page197"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 197]</span> +with oysters. On the floor place a coffin +and say to the patient: "You see that turkey +and that coffin. If you eat the turkey +today, you'll be in the coffin tomorrow." +Go out and leave the man alone with the +turkey. Will he eat it? I don't care if +he's a preacher or a doctor he will, regardless +of the advice of doctor or terror +of the waiting coffin. Why will he eat +when he knows it means death? Because +his will has gone down to twenty and his +appetite up to one hundred.</p> +<p> +My father had typhoid fever and when +the time of convalescing came my mother +left him alone while she was in the yard +with her flowers. I went into the house +and found father had left his bed, crawled +to the cupboard and had hold of what was +left of a chicken. I called to mother; she +came running, and taking the chicken +from him said: "Don't you know to eat +solid food will kill you?" Father replied: +"I know if you hadn't come in I would +have had one square meal."</p> +<p> +Did I say too much when I said the +preacher would eat the turkey? Years +ago Saint John's pulpit in Louisville, Kentucky, +was filled by a preacher so gifted +that strangers in the city were attracted<a name="page198" id="page198"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 198]</span> +by his fame as an orator. He had an invalid +mother, who in her wheel chair +would attend every service, and was made +happy in her affliction by the sermons of +her eloquent son. He married a wealthy +widow and had everything wealth and refinement +could suggest. He saw no wrong +in the wine glass and kept a supply in his +cellar. Gradually appetite demanded +stronger drinks and one morning his wife +said: "Husband, you were drunk last +night." A few months later he resigned +his position and went west, hoping to +break the spell of his habit. But no mountain +was high enough, nor cavern dark +enough for him to hide from his mad pursuer. +He returned to Louisville and gave +himself up to the maddening bowl. His +wife left him and went to a country home +which she had saved out of her wealth. +One night when he was sleeping drunk in +one room, his old mother in another said: +"Oh God, is my cup of sorrow not yet +full?" The pitying angel pushed ajar the +golden gates and the broken heart entered +into rest.</p> +<p> +Time and again this man took the +pledge, but only to fail. When the "blue +ribbon" wave swept the country he again<a name="page199" id="page199"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 199]</span> +took the pledge, and this time went on the +platform as a temperance advocate. He +drew great audiences, and when he had +kept his pledge for months we invited him +to Louisville. It was my privilege to introduce +him, or rather to present him to +the great audience. Before going on the +platform he said: "I have made a mistake +in coming here. It was here I lost everything +a man could ask to make him happy. +The memory of my sainted mother comes +over me, and my wife is so near and yet +so far from me."</p> +<p> +To bring him back to himself I said: +"These things will help you to give the +greatest lecture of your life. Come, a +great audience of old friends are waiting."</p> +<p> +When introduced he said: "My friends, +if I ever did a dishonorable act before I fell +from the pulpit through drink, rise and +tell me." Soon he had his audience in +tears and lifting his eyes heavenward he +said: "O my sainted Mother, look down +from your home in glory and see your +poor drunken boy. He has staggered all +the way back, his feet upon the up-hillward +way, and will travel it with a martyr's +step."</p> +<a name="page200" id="page200"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 200]</span> +<p> +He further said: "Will I ever drink +again? No; this brow was not made to +wear the brand of a vassal, nor these +hands the chains of a drunkard. Here in +Louisville, where I fell in my manhood's +might, I vow I will never drink again." +Manhood's might is too weak to win alone +in the battle against sin. Poor J.J. Talbott +went down to rise no more, and on +his dying bed, when a minister quoted +passage after passage of promise from +God's word, the answer came: "Not for +me! Not for me!" Peace to his ashes.</p> +<p> +Young man, will you tamper and trifle +with strong drink? Do you say you can +drink or let it alone? I admit you can +drink but are you sure you can let it +alone? If you can <i>now</i>, are you sure you +can two years hence? I saw a giant oak +tree lying in the track of the wind. It +had been called "the monarch of the Sierras." +Under the very nests where tempests +hatch out their young, it grew to its +greatness. It had seen many a storm, +clad in thunder, armed with lightning, +leap from its rocky bed and go bellowing +down the world. But the storms that +shook it only sent its roots down and out +that it might fasten itself the more firmly +to the earth. For long years this old tree<a name="page201" id="page201"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 201]</span> +stood there, bowing its head in courtesy +to the passing storm, while its branches +were but harp strings for the music of the +winds. One evening as the sun went down +over the mountain's brow, not a storm +cloud on the sky, a little wind went hurrying +round the mountain's base, struck +the great oak and down it went with a +crash that made the forest ring. Young +men, why was it a tree that had withstood +the storms of ages, should, before +such a little gust of wind bow its head and +die? Years before, when in the zenith of +its strength and glory, a pioneer with an +axe on his shoulder, went blazing his way +through the wooded wilderness that he +might not be lost on his return. Seeing +the great tree he said: "That's a good one +to mark," and taking his axe in hand, he +sent the blade deep into the oak. Time +passed with seemingly no effect from the +stroke given by the axeman. But steadily +the sun smote the wound, rain soaked +into the scar, worms burrowed in the bark +around it, birds pecked into the decayed +wood and finally foxes made their home +in the hollow trunk, and the day came +when resisting force had weakened, +boasted strength had departed and the<a name="page202" id="page202"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 202]</span> +giant monarch of the Sierras stood at the +mercy of the winds that have no respect +for weakness.</p> +<p> +There are young men before me today, +who can drink or let it alone. Temptation +to them is no more than the gentle breeze +in the branches of the oak in the zenith +of its strength. True, temptation has +been along their way blazing, here a glass +of wine, there a glass of beer and yonder +a glass of whiskey. They can quit when +they please, but the less they please the +more they drink, the more they drink the +less they please. They don't quit because +they <i>can</i>, if they couldn't quit they would, +because they can, they won't. Thus they +reason, while appetite eats its way into +their wills, birds of ill omen peck into +their characters and finally they will go +down to drunkards' graves, as thousands +before them have gone. Young men, in +the morning of life, while the dew of youth +is yet upon your brow, I beg you to bind +the pledge of total-abstinence as a garland +about your character and pray God to +keep you away from the tempter's path.</p> +<p> +I wonder that young men will trifle +with this great "deceiver." I wonder too +at so much ignorance on the question<a name="page203" id="page203"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 203]</span> +among intelligent people. Some years +ago after a temperance address a gentleman +was introduced to me as the finest +scholar in the city. Next morning we +were on the same train, and referring to +the lecture of the evening before, he said: +"I heard your address and was pleased +with your kindly spirit, but I beg to differ +with you, believing as I do, that when +properly used, alcoholic liquor as a beverage +is good for health and strength." I +felt disappointed to hear a great scholar +make such a statement, but I ventured the +reply:</p> +<p> +"If that is true God made a mistake, +since He made the whole phenomena of +animal life to run by water power. He +made it in such abundance it takes oceans +to hold it, rivers and rivulets to carry it +to man, bird and beast, while in all the +wide world He never made a spring of +alcohol. If it's good for strength, why +not give it to the ox, the mule and the +horse?" It takes a good deal of faith to +trust a sober mule; I'm sure I wouldn't +want to trust a drunken one. There is +not a man in my presence who would buy +a moderate drinking horse, and no one +would wilfully go through a lot where a<a name="page204" id="page204"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 204]</span> +drunken dog had right of way. Yet we +license saloons to turn drunken men loose +in the street, some of them as vicious as +mad dogs.</p> +<p> +Good for strength? When Samson +had slain the regiment of Philistines and +was exhausted and athirst; when in his +extremity he cried to the Lord: "Thou +hast given this great deliverance into the +hand of thy servant, and now shall I die +from thirst." What was done to revive +him and renew his strength? Was strong +drink recommended as a stimulant? The +Bible account informs us God "clave an +hollow place in the jaw, and water came +thereout." Don't you think if alcoholic +liquor had been intended as a beverage +for mankind, the great Creator would have +made a few springs of it somewhere? +Bore into the earth you can strike oil, but +you can't strike whiskey. You can find +sparkling springs of water almost everywhere, +but nowhere a beer brewery in +nature. It's water, blessed water all the +time. On your right it bubbles in the +brook; on your left it leaps and laughs in +the cascade; above you it rides in rain +clouds upon the wings of the wind; beneath +you it hangs in diamond dew upon<a name="page205" id="page205"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 205]</span> +the bending blade; behind you it comes +galloping down the gorge "from out the +mountain's broken heart;" before you it +goes gliding down the glen, kissing wayside +flowers into fragrance and singing, +as rippling o'er the rocks it runs: "Men +may come and men may go, but I go on +forever." Oh, bright beautiful water! +may it soon be the beverage of all mankind.</p> +<p> +I know some say: "This is a free country; +if a man wants to drink and be a +brute, let him do so." The trouble about +that is, while strong drink will degrade +some men to the level of the brute, drunkards +are not made of brutes. Some thirty +or more years ago a grandson of one of +the greatest statesman this country ever +produced, was shot in a saloon while intoxicated. +While that young man was +dying, but a few blocks away a grandson +of one of the greatest men that ever honored +Kentucky in the Senate of the United +States, was in jail to be tried for murder +committed while drunk; and in the same +city at the same hour in the station-house +from drink was a great grandson of the +author of "Give me liberty or give me +death." Whom did Daniel Webster leave<a name="page206" id="page206"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 206]</span> +his seat in the Senate that he might hear +his eloquence? S.S. Prentice went down +under the cloud of drink. A gifted family +gave to a Southern State a gifted son. +His state sent him to the halls of national +legislation, but drink wrought his ruin. +Horace Greeley was his friend, and finding +him drunk in a Washington hotel said +to him: "Why don't you give up what you +know is bringing shame upon you and sorrow +to your family?"</p> +<p> +He replied: "Mr. Greeley, ask me to +take my knife and sever my arm from my +shoulder and I can do it, but ask me to +give up an appetite that has come down +upon me for generations, I <i>can't</i> do it." +He threw his cane upon the floor to emphasize +his utterance. A few days later +in the old Saint Charles Hotel, he pierced +his brain with a bullet and was sent home +to his family in his coffin.</p> +<p> +Bring me the men who are drunkards +in this city, strip them of their appetite +for strong drink, and they are husbands, +brothers, fathers, sons, and as a rule, generous +in disposition.</p> +<p> +Thank God, while drunkenness will +drag down the gifted and noble, temperance +will build up the humblest and lowest.<a name="page207" id="page207"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 207]</span> +Bring me the poorest boy in this audience, +let him pledge me he will never +take a drink of intoxicating liquor as a +beverage, let him keep that pledge, be industrious +and honest; my word for it, in +twenty years from now he will walk the +streets of the city in which he dwells, +honored, respected, loved, and the world +can't keep him down. I rejoice we live in +a land where I can encourage a boy, a land +where rank belongs to the boy who earns +it, whether he hails from the mansion of +a millionaire or the "old log cabin in the +lane;" a land where a boy can go from +a rail cut, a tan yard, or a toe-path, to the +presidency of the United States; a land +where I can look the humblest boy in the +face and say:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Never ye mind the crowd, my boy, or think that life won't tell;</p> +<p>The work is the work for aye that, to him that doeth it well.</p> +<p>Fancy the world a hill, my boy; look where the millions stop;</p> +<p>You'll find the crowd at the base, my boy; there's always room at the top."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +Have you a trade? Go learn one. Do +you know how to do things? Go try; you<a name="page208" id="page208"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 208]</span> +may make mistakes, but do the best you +can like the boy who joined the church. +At his uncle's table soon after he was +asked to say grace. He didn't know what +kind of a blessing to ask, but he did know +he was very hungry, so bowing his head +he said: "Lord, have mercy on these victuals." +I have faith in the boy who will +try to do a thing. I believe in a boy like +that one in a mission Sabbath school in +New York, who though he had but little +knowledge of the Bible, had a way of reasoning +about Bible lessons. The teacher +of his class said to him: "James, who +was the strongest man of whom we have +any account?"</p> +<p> +He quickly replied: "Jonah."</p> +<p> +"How do you make that out?" said the +teacher.</p> +<p> +Promptly the answer came: "The whale +couldn't hold him after he got him down."</p> +<p> +Boys, are you poor? Columbus was a +weaver; Arkright was a barber; Esop, a +slave; Bloomfield, a shoemaker; Lincoln, +a rail-splitter; Garfield tramped a toe-path +with no company but an honest mule; +and Franklin, whose name will never die +while lightning blazes through the clouds, +went from the humble position of a printer's<a name="page209" id="page209"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 209]</span> +devil to that height where he looked +down upon other men. If you would win +in the battle of life, take the right side +of life and build a righteous character. +The saddest scene on the streets at night +is the young man, whose clothes are finest +in quality and fittest in fashion, but whose +principles sadly need "patching." I dare +say there are young men before me now +who would not go into refined company +indecently dressed for any consideration, +but who will rush into the presence of +their God before they sleep with a dozen +oaths upon their lips. Will Carleton puts +it this way:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Boys flying kites, haul in their white plumed birds;</p> +<p>You can't do that when flying words;</p> +<p>Thoughts unexpressed, may sometimes fall back dead,</p> +<p>But God Himself can't kill them when they're said."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +Will Carleton puts it in poetry, let's +have it in prose. Boys, pay more attention +to your manners than to your moustache; +keep your conduct as neat as your +neck-tie, polish your language as well as +your boots; remember, moustache grows<a name="page210" id="page210"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 210]</span> +grey, clothes get seedy, and boots wear +out, but honor, virtue and integrity will +be as bright and fresh when you totter +with old age as when your mother first +looked love into your eyes.</p> +<p> +Little Lucy Rome was taken up for vagrancy +in a great city. When brought +before the court an austere judge said: +"Who claims this child?"</p> +<p> +A boy arose and walking down near the +Judge, said: "Please, sir; I do. She's +my sister; we are orphans, but I can take +care of her if you'll let her go."</p> +<p> +"Who are you?" asked the Judge.</p> +<p> +"I'm Jimmy Rome, and I have been +taking care of my sister; but two weeks +ago the man for whom I worked died and +while I was out looking for another place, +Lucy begged some bread and they took +her up. But now I've a good place to +work, Judge, and I'm going to put little +sister in school. Please let me have her, +sir."</p> +<p> +The Judge said: "Stand aside. Officer, +take the child to the children's home."</p> +<p> +The boy with tears streaming down his +cheeks, as he heard his sister sobbing, +said: "Judge, please don't take her from<a name="page211" id="page211"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 211]</span> +me."</p> +<p> +The Judge, moved by the pleading of +the brother, said: "Well, my boy, if you +can find some reliable person to go your +security you may have her."</p> +<p> +"Judge, I don't know anyone to give +you; my good friend is dead, but I told +you the truth. I don't drink, nor smoke +nor swear oaths; I try to be a good boy; I +work hard, but I can't give you any security. +Judge, will you please let me kiss +my little sister before you take her from +me?"</p> +<p> +With this the boy put his arms about +his weeping sister and printed, as he +thought, the last kiss upon her cheek. The +Judge, with a lump in his throat, said: +"Take her, my boy; I'll go your security. +I'll give Lucy to the care of such a brother."</p> +<p> +Hand in hand the homeless orphan pair +walked out of the court room together, +Jimmy Rome to make his mark in the +business world and his sister to be the +wife of a merchant prince.</p> +<p> +Boys, be industrious, be honest, be sober. +"I will" fluttered from the worm-eaten +ships of Columbus; "I will" blazed +upon the banners of Washington and<a name="page212" id="page212"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 212]</span> +Grant; "I will" stamped the walls of Hudson +river tunnel, and dug the canal of +Panama. Young man, write "I will" upon +your brow, give your heart to God and +hope will herald your way to victory as +the reward of a well spent life. Keep +your eye upon the star of ambition. Don't +be like the owl, who when daylight comes +hides himself within the shadows of the +ivy-bound oak and moans and moans the +days of his life away; but rather be like +the proud eagle that leaves its craggy +summit, starts on its pinion flight through +the clouds, rides upon the face of the +storm, then on beyond bathes its plumage +in the "sunlight of the day god, and laughs +in the face of the coming morrow."</p> +<p> +Some one said, and trifled with the secret +of success and happiness when he said +it: "There's only a dollar's difference between +the man who works and the man +who pays, and the man who pays, gets +that." There is an old superstition that +somewhere on the earth, under the earth +or in the sea, there is a stone called the +"philosopher's stone" and whoever finds it +will be "chiefest among ten thousand." +The same superstition prevails with many +today; only the name of the stone is turned<a name="page213" id="page213"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 213]</span> +to "luck," and thousands of young men are +waiting for luck to come along and turn +up something for them. There is a rule +of life, young men, more reliable than +luck. It is called an ancient law and runs +thus: "By the sweat of thy face shalt +thou eat bread." It is the foundation of +more sweet bread and pure enjoyment +than all your luck. On it the feet of +Abraham Lincoln rested, while he wedged +his way to the highest office in the gift of +the American people. On it Shakespeare +stood, driving a shuttle through the warp +and woof of a weaver's loom and wove out +for himself a name and fame immortal. +On it Elihu Burrett wielded a sledge hammer, +while developing a mind that mastered +many different languages. On it +Henry Clay made his way from the mill-sloshes +of Virginia to the United States +Senate, and on it James A. Garfield +tramped his toe-pathway from driving a +mule, to presiding over the destinies of +seventy-five millions of people.</p> +<p> +Boys, don't be idle. I know a man to-day +who always looks so lazy it really +rests me to look at him. A boy working +for a farmer was asked by his employer +if he ever saw a snail. The boy answered<a name="page214" id="page214"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 214]</span> +that he had. "You must have met it, for +you surely did not overtake it," said the +farmer. I know an old man who seems to +take pride in saying he never worked. +The first time I saw this man was in my +youth. While his father was husking +corn in a field, he was seated by a fire +reading a novel. Often after that, when +I would go to the postoffice in the winter, +he would be there by the fire. He moved +to the city thirty years ago, where he +spends his winters sitting around a fire. +He doesn't drink or gamble. I don't think +he will have many sins of commission for +which to answer; he never commits anything; +he sits by the fire. When he dies +an appropriate epitaph for his tomb will +be:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"He was never much on stirrin' round,</p> + <p class="i2">Sich wasn't his desire;</p> +<p>When weather cool, he was always found,</p> + <p class="i2">A sittin' round the fire.</p></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"When the frost was comin' down,</p> + <p class="i2">And the wind a creepin' higher,</p> +<p>He spent his time just that way,</p> + <p class="i2">A sittin' round the fire.</p></div> +<a name="page215" id="page215"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 215]</span> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Same old habit every day,</p> + <p class="i2">He never seemed to tire;</p> +<p>While others worked and got their pay,</p> + <p class="i2">He sat there by the fire.</p></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"When he died, by slow degrees,</p> + <p class="i2">Some said, 'he's gone up higher;'</p> +<p>But if he's doin' what he did,</p> + <p class="i2">He's sittin' round the fire."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +The man or woman who lives in this +age of the world and lives in idleness, +should have lived in some other age. When +ox-teams crept across the plains, and stage +coaches went six miles an hour, idleness +may have been in some kind of harmony +with the age, but now, when horses pace +a mile in two minutes, express trains +make fifty miles an hour, and aeroplanes +fly a mile in a minute; when telephone and +telegraph send news faster than light flies, +the idler is out of place. Carlisle said: +"The race of life has become intense; the +runners are tramping on each other's +heels; woe to the man who stops to tie +his shoestrings!"</p> +<p> +Young man, if you would keep step with +the energy of the age in which you are +living, and be ever found on the safe side +of life, you must not only be equipped<a name="page216" id="page216"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 216]</span> +with education, stability and ambition, but +to make sure you should start right. If +you are going to California tomorrow, +which way would you start, east or west? +You say: "We would start west." A man +riding along a highway said to a farmer by +the wayside: "How far to Baltimore?"</p> +<p> +The farmer answered: "About twenty-five +thousand miles the way you're going; +if you'll face about and go the other way, +it's fourteen miles."</p> +<p> +Young man, which way are you going?</p> +<p> +Does someone in my presence say: "I +have started wrong; I take a glass of beer +now and then; occasionally utter an oath, +and am sowing wild oats in a few other +fields; but I'll come out right in the end." +Two diverging roads keep on widening; +they don't come together at the other ends. +If you would make sure of the safe side +of life in the end of the journey, then start +right. Luke Howard graduated from a +fine college and went to a large city to +practice his profession. He boarded in a +fine hotel and frequented fine saloons. He +became dissipated and one morning after +a drunken debauch the landlord said: "Sir, +you disturbed my boarders last night and +I must ask you to leave." Young men, did<a name="page217" id="page217"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 217]</span> +Luke Howard go to a better hotel? No, +but to a grade lower; he started wrong. +In this hotel a few months later, he was +asked to move on. Did he go to a better? +No, still lower, until at last he went to +board in the low tavern on the river front. +The landlord said: "I remember when +you graduated from college. I was present, +saw the flowers and heard the applause +that greeted your success. I feel +honored to have you as a boarder." A +few months later, on Christmas night, +Luke Howard lay drunk on the bar-room +floor. The landlord had borne all he could +and, with a kick, he said: "Get up and +get out, you brute; I will not keep you +another hour." The drunkard with help +arose and said: "Where am I? Why, this +is my boarding place, my home, and you +are my landlord. You said you felt honored +to have me board here. What's the +matter?"</p> +<p> +"Luke Howard, you're not the man you +once were, and I want you to leave here at +once."</p> +<p> +The poor fellow started for the door +muttering: "I am not the man I was. I'm +not the man I was." Missing the step as +he went out, he fell, striking his head<a name="page218" id="page218"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 218]</span> +against the stone curbing. A physician +was summoned and recognizing the injured +man as an old friend said: "Luke, +speak to your old college chum; I'm here +to help you."</p> +<p> +The poor drunkard, looking through the +blood that flowed from the gaping wound +said: "Listen to me, Tom, I'm not the +man I was, I'm not the man I was." And +thus died the poor fellow.</p> +<p> +Young man, start wrong and end right? +No, start wrong and you may expect in +the autumn of life a penniless, friendless +old age; opportunity gone, health shattered, +and the "long fingers of memory" +reaching out and dragging into its chambers +thoughts that will "bite like a serpent +and sting like an adder." Bad as this is, +it is even worse when your depravity involves +another life. What if that other +life is your mother, who went to the door +of death to give you life, and whose every +breath is another thread of sorrow woven +into her wasting heart while her boy is +bound like Mazeppa to the wild steed of +passion.</p> +<p> +There are some things I cannot understand +about this drink question. I can +understand how a young woman with jeweled<a name="page219" id="page219"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 219]</span> +fingers can tempt a young man to +drink wine. I had a bit of experience +some years ago down in Texas, that helped +me to appreciate how young men are +tempted. I gave an address in a Y.M.C.A. +lecture course in a city, and at the +close of my address a prominent citizen +said to me: "Kentucky has a reputation +for beautiful women, but we think Texas +has the handsomest women in the world. +At the hotel where you are stopping, there +is a leap year ball tonight and the most +beautiful women for a hundred miles +around are gathered there. I will call for +you at your room in a little while and you +must take a look at our Texas girls." A +little later I stood in a hallway where I +could see down the long ball room, and I +declare they were as pretty women as I +have ever seen, and I live in Kentucky. I +was invited to step inside the door, where +between dances I was introduced to couple +after couple. It being leap year the +ladies were soliciting their partners for +the dance, and a very handsome young +lady invited me to be her partner. Having +never danced and being a Methodist +steward, I declined. Another and another +asked me to dance, and again and again<a name="page220" id="page220"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 220]</span> +I declined, giving as an excuse my utter +ignorance of the function. Finally a very +beautiful, blue-eyed, charming young lady +said: "Since you do not dance, may I engage +you for a promenade around the +ball room?" Boys, if I had been a young +man the chances are I would have started +down the "turkey-trot" road that evening. +I can appreciate how young men are +tempted.</p> +<p> +There is one thing, however, about the +drink habit that is difficult for me to understand, +and that is how a young man, +who loves his mother, whose mother loves +him as only a mother can love, loved him +first, loved him best and will love him to +the last, can go from home and mother to +the impure, degrading vileness of a liquor +saloon. If we enter that young man's +home what do we find? Perhaps on one +of the side-walls, "What is home without +a mother," on the altar the family Bible, +every picture on the walls suggestive of +home life and purity, every chair and +piece of bric-a-brac linked with the sweet +association of childhood, the conversation +as pure as the sunlight on which the young +man lives; yet he will kiss his mother, +leave this home, and down the street make<a name="page221" id="page221"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 221]</span> +his way to a liquor saloon, where often +vile pictures hang on the walls, cards lie +on the table instead of the family Bible +and the air is freighted with oaths and obscenities.</p> +<p> +Boys, have any of you done this within +the past month, or six months? Promise +me now you will never do this again. Oh +what a grand meeting this would be if +every young man and boy in my presence +would make the promise! I plead with +you, young man, by the sleepless nights +your mother spent to give you rest; by the +shadow you have hung over her pathway; +by the bleeding heart you've wounded but +which loves you still:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Come back, my boy, come back, I say,</p> +<p>And walk now in thy mother's way."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +I would that every boy in our land were +as grateful to his mother as was that +Southern girl to her father, who stood +years ago in front of an open fire, her +back to the fire, her face toward the door, +her bare arms full of flowers, waiting for +her brother to call with a carriage to take +her to a party. While standing there a +flame caught her dress; she gave a scream, +dropped the flowers and ran through the +door to where her father was standing in<a name="page222" id="page222"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 222]</span> +the yard. When the father saw his child +coming with flame following, he ran toward +her. As he ran he took off his coat +and wrapping it about her face, arms and +shoulders, threw her to the ground. With +his left hand he kept the flame from the +body, while with his right hand he fought +the fire. He saved his daughter but +burned his right arm to the elbow. Day +after day when the doctor would unwrap +the arm to dress it, the girl, though burned +herself, would go to her father's bed, gently +lift the burned arm and caress it. When +the father recovered his hand was so +maimed and scarred, that when introduced +to strangers, he would hold his right +hand behind him and shake hands with +the left. One day his daughter, seeing +him do this, went to his side and reaching +for the scarred hand, held it to her lips +and kissed it. She was not ashamed, for +that hand had been burned for her. When +the father died and lay in his casket ready +for burial, the family came to take their +last look. First came the mother of the +girl, then a brother and sister, and then +the girl herself. She kissed the cold brow +of her father, then kneeling she took up +the disfigured hand and kissed it over and<a name="page223" id="page223"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 223]</span> +over again. My boy, your mother has +suffered more for you than that father did +for his daughter. I beg you, go home and +kiss your mother. If she is dead or far +from you, kiss her memory. Go to your +bed room, kneel there, and pray God to +help you to live worthy the love of your +mother.</p> +<p> +I now turn from young men to parents +and say, use every means possible to make +safe the way of your boys. Some years +ago in one of our cities, after a lecture in +which I appealed to parents, a leading +merchant of the city said: "I wish I had +heard that lecture years ago."</p> +<p> +"You never used liquor?" I said.</p> +<p> +"No, but I am responsible for its use +in my family. I am a Methodist, and a +total abstainer. In my employ I had a +number of clerks, and let it be known I +would not allow any of them to drink even +moderately. One day a man came to my +store with a paper in his hand and said: +'I want to set up a saloon on the next +block and I am getting signers to my petition. +I am one of your customers; you +know me and know I will keep an orderly +place.' I said to myself, 'if he doesn't sell +others will and we need the revenue anyway,'<a name="page224" id="page224"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 224]</span> +so I signed the petition. A few +months later I chanced to see my youngest +boy and one of my clerks coming out +of the door of that saloon. Soon after +when they entered the store I called them +into my office and said: 'Young men, did +I see you coming out of a saloon, and had +you been taking a drink in there?' When +they admitted they had, I said to my +son: 'Did I ever set such an example for +you to follow?' He answered: 'No, father, +but you signed that man's petition to +set up the saloon; whom did you expect +him to sell to? Did you sign it for him +to sell to other fathers' sons and not +yours?' I realized as never before the +wrong I had done, not only to my own son, +but to every father's son to whom that +saloon-keeper would sell if they had the +money to pay for liquor. I said: "Forgive +me, my boy. Promise me you will +never enter a saloon again and I promise +never to sign a petition or vote to have a +saloon-keeper sell to anybody's boy!"</p> +<p> +But it was too late; that boy went to +ruin and carried his old father to financial +ruin with him. The store was sold and +the father went on to a little farm in Missouri, +where he died a disappointed, grief-stricken<a name="page225" id="page225"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 225]</span> +man. He was a good man and +a kind father, but he did not realize the +full meaning of the warning, "whatsoever +ye sow, that shall ye also reap." Fathers, +be careful of your example. Your sons +think they can safely follow where you +lead. Could the turf break above the +drunken dead; could they come back to +earth in their bony whiteness to testify +to the cause of their ruin, how many would +point to the old sideboard filled with all +kinds of liquors, to father's moderate use +of strong drink, or his vote for the saloon +at the ballot box.</p> +<p> +Too often the careless indulgence of +mothers is responsible for the ruin of +their sons. If mothers were as watchful +of their sons as of their daughters, the +magic chain of mother love would be far +more binding to their boys. There are +homes in this city where at night you can +hear the mothers say to servants: "Are +the clothes in off the line; did you bring +the broom and the pitcher from the porch; +are the blinds all down; are the girls in +bed; is everything in order for the night?" +No, mothers, everything is not in order. +Your girls are safe, the windows and doors +are locked, but your boys are on the outside<a name="page226" id="page226"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 226]</span> +with night keys in their pockets, to +come in at midnight from God only knows +where. The double standard reaches too +often back into the home.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Mother, watch the little feet,</p> + <p class="i2">Climbing o'er the garden wall,</p> +<p>Bounding through the busy street,</p> + <p class="i2">Ranging garret shed and hall:</p> +<p>Never count the time it cost,</p> + <p class="i2">Never think the moments lost;</p> +<p>Little feet will go astray,</p> + <p class="i2">Watch them, mother, while you may.</p></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Mother, watch the little tongue,</p> + <p class="i2">Prattling, innocent and wild,</p> +<p>What is said and what is sung</p> + <p class="i2">By the joyous, happy child;</p> +<p>Stop the word while yet unspoken;</p> + <p class="i2">Seal the vow while yet unbroken,</p> +<p>That same tongue may yet proclaim,</p> + <p class="i2">Blessings in a Savior's name.</p></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Mother, watch the little heart,</p> + <p class="i2">Beating soft and warm for you;</p> +<p>Wholesome lessons now impart,</p> + <p class="i2">Keep, O keep, that young heart pure.</p> +<p>Extricating every weed,</p><a name="page227" id="page227"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 227]</span> + <p class="i2">Sowing good and precious seed;</p> +<p>Harvests rich you then shall see,</p> + <p class="i2">Ripening for eternity."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +Once more I turn to the young men to +say, if you would make life safe take the +Bible as the man of your counsel and the +guide of your life; love God and keep His +commandments. In this age of glittering +literature, many consider the Bible dull +reading. Sir William Jones, one of England's +greatest jurists and scholars, said: +"I have carefully perused the Bible, and +independent of its divine origin, I believe +it contains more true sublimity, more exquisite +beauty, purer morality, more important +history and finer strains of poetry +and eloquence than could be contained +within the same compass, from all the +books ever published in any age or any +idiom."</p> +<p> +A passionate lover of poetry has said: +"The Bible is a mass of beautiful figures. +It has pressed into its service the animals +of the forest, the flowers of the fields and +the stars of heaven; the lion, spurning the +sands of the desert; the wild roe, leaping +the mountains; the lamb led to the slaughter; +the goat, fleeing to the wilderness; the<a name="page228" id="page228"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 228]</span> +Rose of Sharon; the Lily of the Valley; +the great rock in a weary land; Carmel +by the sea; Tabor in the mountains; the +rain and mown grass; the sun and moon +and morning stars. Thus hath the Bible +swept creation to lay its trophies upon the +altar of Jehovah." Patrick Henry continually +sought the Bible for gems of expression, +while today the politician on the +rostrum and the lawyer at the bar, quote +the Bible to give force and effect to their +speeches.</p> +<p> +Some say: "There is so much in the Bible +we cannot comprehend." Yes, there's +very much in there doubtless God did not +intend you should understand. One wades +in the ocean knee deep, waist deep, neck +deep, and gives it up that he can't wade +the ocean. If God had intended one should +wade the ocean He would have made it +shallow enough to wade. So, one finds +he can climb to the mountain's top, or sail +thousands of feet above the mountain in +an air ship, but he can't sail to the skies. +Two good women went to Sam Jones and +said: "Mr. Jones, here are several passages +of scripture we don't understand. We +have been to several ministers and they +cannot explain them satisfactorily; perhaps<a name="page229" id="page229"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 229]</span> +you can." The great evangelist said: +"Sisters, you haven't as much good hard +sense as my cow. We keep a cow and +through the winter we give her hay to +eat. Now Georgia hay has a considerable +mixture of briars. When we give the cow +an arm full of hay she has sense enough +to eat the hay and let the briars alone. +But with the blessed Bible full of good +hay, you are 'chawing' away on the briars." +Young people, there is enough in +God's word you can understand to serve +you if you live a thousand years, enough +in there to save you if you die tonight, so +don't worry over what you can't understand.</p> +<p> +During the Civil War a terrible battle +raged all day between the armies of Grant +and Lee. When the night shadows shut +out the light, dead and dying were strewn +for miles. Surgeons were busy and the +chaplains going their rounds. A chaplain +heard a voice say, in clarion tone: "Here." +Going to the spot from whence came the +voice and bending over the prostrate form +of a dying soldier, the chaplain asked: +"What can I do for you?"</p> +<p> +"Nothing, sir; they were just calling +the roll in Heaven, and I was answering<a name="page230" id="page230"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 230]</span> +to my name."</p> +<p> +Blessed book, in which there is enough +a wounded soldier, dying far away from +home and loved ones, can so understand +as to fit him to answer the roll call in +Heaven.</p> +<p> +We may not comprehend the full meaning +of faith, but we can grasp sufficient to +be to our souls what the force of nature +is to the trees, by which they stand with +their branches reaching skyward and their +roots drawing earth-centerward. Take +from me this faith and you take away the +best friend I ever had, the friend that +stood by me in the darkest hour of my +life, when a daughter in the bloom of womanhood +said, "good-bye," and went away +to live with the angels; that stands by me +now pointing to where my child is waiting +for me in the bowers that kiss the very +porch of Heaven. Without this faith how +awful would be the dirge, "earth to earth, +dust to dust." Blessed book that tells us +we shall meet "beyond the river, where +the surges cease to roll;" that death is +but the doorway to a better land, "the +grave a subway to a sweeter clime."</p> +<p> +My dear young friends, accept this faith +and you will find in it a sweet companion<a name="page231" id="page231"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 231]</span> +up the hillward way of life, and down the +sunset slope to the valley of death, where +it will not leave nor forsake you, but will +wait till you throw off your "burden of +clay," then "bear you away on its balmy +wings to your eternal home." Young +men, may you so follow the safe side of +life, that when its great trials come, you +can with the wings of faith cleave the +clouds and soar safely above the thunders +that roll at your feet.</p> +<p> +My closing advice is, "Walk not in the +counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the +way of sinners; but delight in the law of +the Lord; and in his law meditate day and +night. In due season your life will fruit +and whatsoever you do will prosper."</p> + +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +<a name="page233" id="page233"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 233]</span> +<a name="VI" id="VI"></a> +<h3>VI</h3> +<br /> +<h2>PLATFORM EXPERIENCES.</h2> +<br /><br /> + +<p> +Though announced to lecture on Platform +Experiences, it is my purpose to +give you a kind of platform analysis, to +tell you what I know about lecturing, lectures, +oratory and orators, using personal +experiences for illustration.</p> +<p> +We have about eight thousand Chautauqua +days, and fifteen thousand lecture +courses in this country every year, and +yet comparatively few persons know the +history of the platform. Many have an +idea that free speech, like free air, has +ever been a boon to mankind. They have +no conception of what it has cost, in imprisonment, +exile, blood and tears.</p> +<p> +I am indebted to "Pond's History of the +Platform" for facts and illustrations in +the early history of the platform in England. +Two hundred years ago in our +mother land, the word platform meant no +more than a resting place for boxes and +barrels. A religious service was simply a +routine of ritual, while such a thing as a<a name="page234" id="page234"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 234]</span> +public man addressing the masses was unknown. +Sir William Pitt, one of England's +greatest statesman and orators, in +all his public life uttered only two sentences +to the public outside of Parliament. +If William Jennings Bryan had lived in +Pitt's day, he would have been ignored by +the Prime Minister of England.</p> +<p> +The first leaders of thought to come in +contact with the people and thrill them by +the power of speech were John Wesley +and George Whitefield. "On a mount +called Rose Hill, near Bristol, England, +George Whitefield laid the foundation of +the modern platform." From Rose Hill +his audiences grew until on Kensington +Commons thirty thousand people tried to +get within reach of his captivating voice. +It has been truthfully said: "At the feet +of John Wesley and George Whitefield the +people of England learned their first lessons +in popular government."</p> +<p> +This innovation, however, met with +sneers, jeers and persecution from the established +conservatism of church and +state, and when the platform attempted to +enter the arena of politics, Parliament +decided the "public clamor must end." A +bill was framed forbidding any public<a name="page235" id="page235"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 235]</span> +gatherings except such as should be called +by the magistrates.</p> +<p> +In advocating this bill a member of Parliament +said: "The art of political discussion +does not belong outside of Parliament. +Men who are simply merchants, +mechanics and farmers must not be allowed +to publicly criticise the constitution." +To this the platform made reply: +"From such as we the Master selected +those who were to sow the seed of living +bread in the wilds of Galilee." The bill +passed by an overwhelming majority. +Punishment ran from fine and imprisonment +to years of exile from the country, +and from this time on, the battle raged +between Parliament and platform. Later +on we shall note the results.</p> +<p> +I am often interviewed by men, and +sometimes by women, who desire to reach +the platform. They say to me: "What +steps did you take?"</p> +<p> +My answer is, I never took any; I stumbled, +was picked up by circumstances and +pitched upon the platform.</p> +<p> +At a picnic in a grove near Winchester, +Ky., in 1869, a noted temperance orator +was to give an address. He failed to reach +the grove on time, and I was prevailed<a name="page236" id="page236"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 236]</span> +upon to act as time-killer until his arrival. +I was not entirely without experience, +having belonged to a debating society in a +country school.</p> +<p> +When I had spoken about thirty minutes, +to my great relief, the orator of the +day made his appearance. The flattering +comments upon my talk induced me to accept +other invitations to address temperance +meetings, and before I knew what +had happened, the platform was under my +feet, calls were numerous and my life +work was established. I suppose those who +consult me are encouraged to know a mere +stumble directed my course, and if so, by +purpose and preparation they can surely +succeed.</p> +<p> +Some persons seem to think lecturing +a very simple occupation, requiring only +a glib tongue, and a good pair of lungs. +Several years ago, I received a letter from +a young man in which he wrote: "I heard +you lecture last week. I would like to +become a lecturer myself. I have no experience +and very little education, but I +have a very strong voice and am sure I +could be heard by a large audience. I have +been working in a horse-barn but am now +out of a job. If I had a lecture, I think<a name="page237" id="page237"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 237]</span> +I could make a living; besides I would get +to see the country. If you will write me +one I will send you two dollars." I do not +know whether the young man gauged the +price by the estimate of the lecture he had +heard me give, or his monetary condition, +but if audacity is a requisite for the platform, +this young man was not entirely +without qualification.</p> +<p> +This is an extreme case, and yet there +are those whose minds are storehouses of +knowledge, who can no more become popular +platform speakers, than could the +young man, who was ready to set sail on +the sea of oratory, with a lusty pair of +lungs and a two dollar lecture.</p> +<p> +Charles Spurgeon, the great London +preacher, said: "I have never yet learned +the art of lecturing. If you have ever seen +a goose fly, you have seen Spurgeon trying +to lecture."</p> +<p> +Mr. Spurgeon called lecturing an art, +and why not? If the hand that paints a +picture true to life and pleasing to the +eye, is the hand of an artist, why is not +the tongue that paints a picture true to +life and pleasing to the mind's eye the +tongue of an artist?</p> +<a name="page238" id="page238"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 238]</span> +<p> +It is an art to know how to get hold of +an audience. There was an occasion in +my experience when I had extreme necessity +for the use of this art. When President +Cleveland wrote his Venezuela message +in which he threatened war with +England, the threat was published in Toronto, +Canada, on Saturday and I was announced +to lecture in the large pavilion on +Sunday afternoon.</p> +<p> +The message of President Cleveland had +aroused the patriotic spirit of Canada. +The hall was packed. It seemed to me I +could see frost upon the eyebrows of every +man and icicles in the ears of the +women.</p> +<p> +When introduced there was a painful +silence. I began by saying: "Doubtless +many of you have come to hear what an +American has to say about Venezuela. I +must admit I am not acquainted with the +merits of the question. I suppose, however, +the message of our President is one +of the arts of diplomacy. But I do know +I speak the sentiment of the best people of +my country when I say: 'May the day +never dawn whose peace will be broken +by signal guns of war between Great Britain +and the United States.'" I said:</p> +<a name="page239" id="page239"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 239]</span> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"When John and Jonathan forget,</p> +<p>The scar of anger's wound to fret,</p> +<p>And smile to think of an ancient feud,</p> +<p>Which the God of nations turned to good;</p> +<p>Then John and Jonathan will be,</p> +<p>Abiding friends, o'er land and sea;</p> +<p>n their one great purpose, the world will ken,</p> +<p>Peace on earth, goodwill to men."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +The great audience arose and cheered +until all sense of chill had departed.</p> +<p> +It is not only an art to get hold of an +audience, but equally a matter of good +taste to know when to let go. This is a +qualification some have not acquired. I +followed a very distinguished man several +years ago and the comment was: "He was +fine the first hour and a half, but the last +hour he grew tiresome."</p> +<p> +In this busy age, the world wants +thoughts packed into small compass. The +average audience wants a preacher to put +his best thoughts into a thirty-minute +package. The day was, when people +would sit on backless board benches and +listen to a sermon of two hours; now they +won't swing in a hammock and endure +one of more than fifty minutes.</p> +<a name="page240" id="page240"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 240]</span> +<p> +Rev. Dr. Dewey, of Brooklyn, New +York, tells of a minister who was given +to reading his sermons. On one occasion +when he had read about twenty minutes, +he halted and said: "I have a young dog +at my house that is given to chewing paper. +I find he has mutilated my manuscript, +which is my excuse for this short +sermon." A visiting lady after service +said: "Doctor, have you any more of the +breed of that dog? I would like to get +one for our pastor."</p> +<p> +In this age of crowded moments concentration +means executation; energy means +success. If you can't put fire into your +sermon, put your sermon in the fire.</p> +<p> +A few years ago when in New York +City, I went to see Madame Bernhardt in +her famous play, Joan of Arc. She spoke +in French, an unknown tongue to me; but +when she came to her defense before the +court, I realized as never before the power +of speech and action. She had given +one-fourth of that marvelous appeal, +when the great audience arose and began +to cheer. Madame Bernhardt folded her +arms, bowed her head and waited for silence.</p> +<p> +When order was restored she sprang a +step forward. It seemed to me every feature<a name="page241" id="page241"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 241]</span> +of her face, every finger on her +hands, every gleam of eye and movement +of body was an appeal to the stern tribunal. +In the trembling, murmuring voice +that ran like a strain of sad, sweet music +through sunless gorges of grief, the great +audience read her plea for mercy and +wept. Some who could not restrain +their emotion sobbed aloud.</p> +<p> +When from the depths of solemn sound +that same voice arose like the swell of a +silver trumpet, and in clarion tones demanded +justice, cheer after cheer testified +to the power of the orator actress. Never +was there a sob of the sea more mournful, +than the voice of Sarah Bernhardt as +she played upon the harp strings of pity; +and never did words rush in greater +storm fury from human lips, than when +she demanded justice. No stop nor note +nor pedal nor key in the organ of speech +was left untouched by this genius in tragic +art.</p> +<p> +It would be well if every public speaker +could hear Sarah Bernhardt give that +defense of the Maid of Orleans. Indeed I +believe if the forensic eloquence of the +stage could be transferred to the pulpit +greater audiences and greater rewards<a name="page242" id="page242"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 242]</span> +would follow. If you doubt this, go read +the sermons of George Whitefield or the +lectures of John B. Gough and you will +wonder at their success unless you take +into consideration their mysterious power +of delivery.</p> +<p> +I cannot give you one sentence Madame +Bernhardt uttered, but I do know the influence +of that address remains with me +to this day and now and then I find myself +reaching out after the secret of oratory. +"It is not so much what you say as +how you say it," has become a proverb.</p> +<p> +Some years ago I lectured in an Iowa +village on a bitter cold evening. The rear +of the hall was up on posts. When introduced +there was only one inch between +my shoe soles and zero, while a cold wind +from a broken window struck the back +of my head. It occurred to me that if I +would play Bernhardt I might save a spell +of pneumonia.</p> +<p> +In a few moments I was pacing the +platform, swinging my arms and stamping +my feet to keep up circulation. I put +all the intensity, activity and personality +possible into one hour and left the platform.</p> +<a name="page243" id="page243"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 243]</span> +<p> +Returning to the hotel a commercial +traveler who had heard me a number of +times said: "I congratulate you; you get +younger. I never heard you put so much +life into your lecture."</p> +<p> +I replied: "Why man, I was trying to +keep my feet from freezing."</p> +<p> +He said: "I advise you to go on the +platform every evening with cold feet."</p> +<p> +John and Charles Wesley were going +along a street in London when they came +upon two market women engaged in a +wordy war. John Wesley said: "Hold +up, Charles, and let's learn how to preach. +See how these women put earnestness and +even eloquence into their street quarrel. +Can't we be just as earnest and eloquent +in dealing out the truth?" No wonder +John Wesley gave such impetus to the +platform.</p> +<p> +It is said what John Wesley and George +Whitefield were to the religious platform, +Fox and Burke became later on to the +political platform. They saw the platform +was fast becoming the voice of public +sentiment and dared to indorse it.</p> +<p> +When Mr. Fox made his first platform +address he said: "This is the first time +I ever had the privilege of addressing an +uncorrupted assembly." Going back into<a name="page244" id="page244"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 244]</span> +Parliament he said: "Let's put an end +to a policy that separates us from the people. +Let's cut all cables, snap all chains +that bind us to an unfriendly shore and +enter the peaceful harbor of public confidence."</p> +<p> +When Mr. Burke made his platform +debut, he was so inspired by the enthusiasm +of the people, it is said, he made the +greatest speech ever made in the English +language up to that time. When he appeared +in Parliament next evening a leader +of the government took occasion to denounce +the platform as a disturber of +public peace, directing his remarks to Mr. +Burke. The great orator was ready with +the reply: "Yes, and the firebell at midnight +disturbs public peace, but it keeps +you from burning in your beds."</p> +<p> +It would seem after years of fruitless +effort to silence the platform, Parliament +would accept it as a power for good and +give it wise direction. Yet we are informed +that in face of its growing popularity +when Henry Hunt attempted to +address an audience in a grove in England, +a regiment of cavalry charged the +grove. Eleven were killed and several +hundred wounded. Henry Hunt was<a name="page245" id="page245"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 245]</span> +thrown into prison, but when released later +one hundred thousand people welcomed +him to the streets of London.</p> +<p> +As well now had Parliament attempted +to prevent a London fog as to prohibit +platform meetings. John Bright said: +"When I consider these meetings of the +people, so sublime in their vastness and +resolution, I see coming over the hilltops +of time the dawning of a nobler and better +day for my country."</p> +<p> +It is our privilege to live in the good +day of which John Bright spoke. Yet +while a public speaker today is in no dread +of arrest or imprisonment for any decent +expression of opinion, the platform is not +without its hindrances; and some of these +will never be cured, while babies cry, +architects sacrifice acoustics to style, +young people do their courting in public, +janitors smother thoughts in foul air, and +milliners persist in building up artistic +barriers between speaker and audience.</p> +<p> +Here let me give a bit of advice to my +own sex. Gentlemen, when you purchase +a new hat, no matter if a ten dollar silk, +or a twenty dollar panama, do not attend +a lecture, and taking a seat in front of +some intelligent lady forget to remove<a name="page246" id="page246"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 246]</span> +your hat. The lady may want to see the +speaker's face, and he may need the inspiration +of her countenance, while you +are interfering with both. "A hint to +the wise is sufficient." This hint may not +be in accord with the advice of Paul, but +Paul never saw a twentieth century +"Merry Widow" hat. Then too, Paul was +already inspired and didn't need the inspiration +of human countenances. I am +speaking for the uninspired, to whom an +audience of hatless heads is an inspiration.</p> +<p> +But few persons realize how a public +speaker is affected by little influences. The +flitting of a blind bat over a church audience +on a summer evening, will mar the +most fascinating flight of eloquence ever +plumed from a pulpit.</p> +<p> +When Nancy Hanks broke the world's +trotting record at Independence, Iowa, +some years ago, her former owner, Mr. +Hart Boswell, of Lexington, who raised +and trained her, was asked if Nancy +would ever lower that record. He replied: +"Well, if the time comes that the +track is just right, the atmosphere just +right, the driver just right and Nancy +just right, I believe she will." See the<a name="page247" id="page247"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 247]</span> +combination. Break it anywhere and the +brave little mare would fail.</p> +<p> +Just so speakers are affected by conditions, +by acoustics, atmosphere, size and +temper of the audience, and the speaker's +own mental and physical condition. Many +a good sermon has been killed by a poor +sexton. Many a grand thought has perished +in foul air.</p> +<p> +Charles Spurgeon was preaching to a +large audience in a mission church in +London, when want of ventilation affected +speaker and audience. Mr. Spurgeon +said to a member of the church: "Brother, +lift that window near you."</p> +<p> +"It won't lift," replied the brother.</p> +<p> +"Then smash the glass and I'll pay the +bill to-morrow," said Spurgeon.</p> +<p> +Suppose the great horse Uhlan should +be announced to trot against his record; +suppose at the appointed time, with the +grandstand crowded and every condition +favorable, as the great trotting wonder +reached the first quarter pole, some one +were to run across the track just ahead +of the horse, then another and another; +what kind of a record would be made?</p> +<p> +What management would allow a horse +to be thus handicapped? Where is the<a name="page248" id="page248"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 248]</span> +man who would be so inconsiderate as to +thus hinder a horse? Yet when a minister +has worked while the world slept, that +he not only might sustain his record but +gather souls into the kingdom; when the +opening exercises have given sufficient +time for all to be present; when the text +is announced and the preacher is reaching +out after the attention and sympathy of +his audience some one enters the door, +walks nearly the full length of the aisle; +then another and then two more, each one +crossing the track of the preacher and yet +he is expected to keep up his record and +make good. If you are a friend of your +pastor be present when he announces his +text; give him your attention and thus +cheer him on as you would your favorite +horse.</p> +<p> +An eminent minister said: "There, I +had a good thought for you, but the creaking +of the new boots of that brother coming +down the aisle knocked it quite out +of my head."</p> +<p> +One who had heard me many times +said: "Why do you do better at Ocean +Grove than anywhere else I hear you?" +My answer was: "Because of conditions. +The great auditorium seats ten thousand,<a name="page249" id="page249"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 249]</span> +the atmosphere is invigorated by salt sea +breezes; a choir of five hundred sing the +audience into a receptive mood and the +speaker is borne from climax to climax +on wings of applause."</p> +<p> +I would not have you infer from this +that a large audience is always necessary +to success. Indeed the most successful +and satisfactory address I ever made was +to an audience of one. If I can make as +favorable an impression upon you as I did +upon that young lady I shall be gratified.</p> +<p> +In Pauling, New York, Chauncey M. +Depew by his attention and applause inspired +me more than the whole audience +beside; while time and again have I been +helped to do my best by the presence of +that matchless queen of the platform, +Frances E. Willard.</p> +<p> +The very opposite of greatness has had +the same effect upon me. At the Pontiac, +Illinois, Chautauqua after lecturing to a +great audience, I was invited by the superintendent +of the State Reformatory to +address the inmates of the prison. At the +close of a thirty minutes' talk the superintendent +said: "Your address to my boys +exceeded the one you gave at the Chautauqua."<a name="page250" id="page250"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 250]</span></p> +<p> +Why was it better? At the Chautauqua +I was trying to entertain and instruct an +intelligent audience. Within the grey +walls of that prison I was reaching down +to the very depths, endeavoring to lift up +human beings, marred and scarred by sin +and crime, but dear to the mothers who +bore them and the Savior who died for +them.</p> +<p> +If I were a preacher in New York City +and were announced to preach a sermon +on home missionary work I would not go +to the church by way of the mansions of +the rich where children, shod in satin +slippers dance and play over velvet tapestry, +but by way of the slums where I +would meet the children of misery, where,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"To stand at night 'mid the city's throng,</p> +<p>And scan the faces that pass along,</p> +<p>Is to read a book whose every leaf</p> +<p>Is a history of woe and want and grief.</p> +<p>As in tears of sorrow and sin and shame,</p> +<p>You read a story of blight and blame,</p> +<p>Your heart goes further than hand can reach</p> +<p>And you feel a sermon you cannot preach."</p> +</div> +</div> +<a name="page251" id="page251"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 251]</span> +<p> +Whoever would prove worthy of the +platform must have a message and give to +it the devotion of mind, heart and conscience, +no matter whether his purpose is +to convince by reasoning, convert by appeal, +delight by rhetoric, or cure melancholy +by humor. Each has its useful influence +on the platform.</p> +<p> +Some persons have an impression that +the student deals in logic, while the orator +simply starts his tongue to running, and +goes off and leaves it to work automatically.</p> +<p> +Bishop Robert McIntyre was one of the +greatest pulpit orators of his age, yet I +dare say this gifted man gave as much +time and thought to his famous word +painting of the Chicago fire, as Joseph +Cook ever gave to mining any treasure of +thought he laid upon the altar of education.</p> +<p> +I know many teachers of oratory say: +"Study your subject, analyze it well, and +leave words to the inspiration of the occasion." +But suppose when the occasion +comes, instead of inspiration one has indigestion, +then what?</p> +<p> +While a speaker should not be so confined +to composition that he cannot reach +out after, and cage any passing bird of<a name="page252" id="page252"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 252]</span> +thought, yet as the leaf of the mulberry +tree must go through the stomach of a +silk-worm, before it can become silk, so +climaxes should be warped and woofed +into language before they can be forceful +and beautiful.</p> +<p> +At the Lincoln, Nebraska, Assembly +some years ago a noted humorist gave an +address on the "Philosophy of Wit." He +called oratory a lost art, and to prove his +contention he quoted from William Jennings +Bryan's famous Chicago convention +speech. He said: "What would a young +woman think of her lover who would say +'My darling, the crown of thorns shall +never be pressed down upon your fair +brow?'" The humorist expected applause +but it failed to materialize, for Mr. Bryan +is highly respected in his state and his +oratory is a charm wherever he is heard.</p> +<p> +The speaker not only exhibited poor +taste, but his wit was pointless, for when +a man can go before a convention of fourteen +hundred delegates and by one burst +of eloquence capture the convention, secure +the nomination for the presidency, +and then with the press and the leaders of +his party against him go up and down the +country, and from the rear of a railroad<a name="page253" id="page253"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 253]</span> +train, almost capture the White House, +the day of oratory is not gone by.</p> +<p> +Schriner, the great animal painter, +painted the picture of a bony mule eating +a tuft of hay. That picture sold in Petersburg, +Russia, for fifteen thousand dollars, +while the original mule sold for one +dollar and thirty cents. If the painting +of Schriner made in the price of that +mule, a difference of fourteen thousand, +nine hundred, ninety-eight dollars and +seventy cents why is not word painting +worth something?</p> +<p> +Listen, while I give you a short extract +from the address of James G. Blaine at +the memorial service of our martyr President +Garfield. With the audience wrought +up to the greatest sympathy by his tribute +he said:</p> +<p> +"Surely if happiness can come from +robust health, ideal domestic life and honors +of the world James A. Garfield was a +happy man that July morning. One moment +strong, erect with promise of peaceful, +useful years of life before him: The +next moment wounded, bleeding, helpless.</p> +<p> +"Through the days and weeks of agony +that followed, he saw his sun slowly sinking, +the plans and purposes of his life<a name="page254" id="page254"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 254]</span> +broken and the sweetest of household ties +soon to be severed.</p> +<p> +"Masterful in mortal weakness he became +the center of a nation's love, and enshrined +in the prayers of the Christian +world.</p> +<p> +"As the end drew near, his youthful +yearning for the sea returned. The White +House palace of power became a hospital +of pain. He begged to be taken from its +prison walls and stifling air.</p> +<p> +"Silently, tenderly the love of a great +people bore the pale sufferer to the longed-for +healing of the sea. There with +wan face lifted to the cooling breeze, he +looked wistfully out upon the changing +wonders of the ocean; its far-off sails +white in the morning light; its restless +waves rolling shoreward to break in +the noon-day sun; the red clouds of evening +arching low, kissing the blue lips of +the sea, and above the serene, silent pathway +to the stars.</p> +<p> +"Let us believe his dying eyes read a +mystic meaning only the parting soul can +know; that he heard the waves of the ebbing +tide of life breaking on the far-off +shore, and felt already upon his wasted +brow the calm, sweet breath of heaven's<a name="page255" id="page255"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 255]</span> +morning."</p> +<p> +Place behind these utterances the rich +voice and magnetic manner of the +"Plumed Knight" of the platform, and +you can realize what oratory means.</p> +<p> +If you will here pardon me for going +from the sublime to the ridiculous, I will +show you how a bit of a school boy rhetoric +may win its way over solid argument. +In the country school I attended, there +was a debating society. Parents as well +as their sons were admitted to the society +and the public was invited to the debates. +On one occasion the question for debate +was: "Which is the more attractive, the +works of nature or the works of art?"</p> +<p> +There had been an appeal from a general +debate and this time one speaker was +chosen from each side. My father was +chosen to represent the negative and I +the affirmative. My father was a good +speaker but so fond of facts he had no +use for rhetoric. I had the opening address +of thirty minutes, my father had +forty-five minutes and I had fifteen minutes +to close the debate.</p> +<p> +As father talked I wondered how he +ever got hold of so many facts. He piled +them up until my first address was swept<a name="page256" id="page256"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 256]</span> +away by the triumphs of art. The only +hope I had for the affirmative was in the +closing fifteen minutes. Fortunately for +me, the judge was a bachelor and very +much in love with a golden-haired, accomplished +young woman who lived in a +country home very near the schoolhouse, +and was then in the audience. In closing +the debate I referred to father's address +in a complimentary manner, and then +asked the judge to be seated in imagination +on a knoll nearby. On one side of +that knoll I placed all my father had +claimed for art, withholding nothing. On +the other side was the home of this Blue +Grass belle. I began a description of her +home and personality. I pictured "the orchard, +the meadow, the deep tangled wild-wood +and every loved spot" the judge +well knew. I pictured the brook that ran +through the meadow into the woodland +and on down the valley, singing as it ran,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"I wind about and in and out,</p> + <p class="i2">With here a blossom sailing;</p> +<p>Here and there a lusty trout,</p> + <p class="i2">And here and there a grey-ling."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +When my time was half gone I felt I +was gone too unless I could get a little<a name="page257" id="page257"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 257]</span> +nearer the heart of the judge. Opening +the door art had made to shut in the flowers +of a lovely family I brought out the +golden-haired girl.</p> +<p> +Taking off the sun-bonnet of art, that +the good-night kisses of the sinking sun +might enrich her rosy cheeks and golden +tresses, I sent her strolling down the +winding walk hedged in by hawthorn and +hyacinth to the water's brink. Here I +gave her a cushion of blue-grass, and with +the rising moon pouring its shimmering +sheen upon the ripples at her feet, I sent +her voice floating away on the evening air +singing: "Roll on silver moon, guide the +traveler on his way." Here the audience +cheered, the judge smiled and I felt encouraged.</p> +<p> +With but two minutes left I had the +shapely fingers of nature, take out the +hair-pins of art and the golden tresses +fall about the snowy neck of nature. Then +came the untying of the shoe-strings of +art; off came the shoes and stockings of +art, and the pretty feet of nature were +dipping in the limpid stream. I said, +"Judge, the question is, which is the more +attractive, the works of nature or the +works of art? With my father's picture<a name="page258" id="page258"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 258]</span> +of steam engines, stage coaches, reapers, +binders, mowing machines and every +known triumph of art on one side; on the +other the highest type of the world's +creation, a beautiful woman, the stars of +nature stooping to kiss her brow, and +laughing waters of nature leaping to kiss +her feet; where your eyes would rest +there let your decision be given."</p> +<p> +After the debate a friend said to me: +"It was that last home picture that saved +you." My father who heard the remark +said, "Yes, a picture of a red-headed girl +washing her feet in a goose branch." I +may add, I was careful after the contest +not to get very near the young lady with +whom I had taken such platform liberty.</p> +<p> +Reason, rhetoric, pathos, poetry, diction, +gesture, wit and humor, each has its +place on the platform. While logic sounds +the depths of thought, humor ripples its +surface with laughing wavelets. While +reason cultivates the cornfields of the +mind, rhetoric beautifies the pleasure gardens.</p> +<p> +John B. Gough was the most popular +platform orator of his day. He began lecturing +at from two to five dollars an evening. +He grew in popularity until he was<a name="page259" id="page259"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 259]</span> +in demand at five hundred dollars a lecture, +and no one before or since more successfully +used all the arts of the platform, +from the comic that drew the very rabble +of the streets, to flights of eloquence that +captured college culture. It has been well +said: "While Gough was a great preacher +of righteousness, he was a whole theatre +in dramatic delivery." Lecturers, like +preachers, are fishers of men, and there +are as many kinds of people in an average +audience as there are kinds of fish in the +sea. It requires variety of bait for humanity +as well as for fish.</p> +<p> +Sam Jones used slang as one kind of +bait and he used to say: "It beats all how +it draws." I saw this verified at Ottawa, +Kansas, Chautauqua. Giving a Saturday +evening lecture he baited the platform +with slang, satire and humor. Sunday +afternoon an hour before time for his lecture +the people were hurrying to the auditorium. +When presented to the great audience +he said: "Record! Record! Record!" +I remember the sermon as one of +the sweetest and most powerful I ever +heard. Its influence will not cease this +side the eternal morning.</p> +<a name="page260" id="page260"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 260]</span> +<p> +Rowland Hill, the popular London +preacher, used quaint humor to draw the +people, and powerful appeal to sweep +them into the kingdom.</p> +<p> +It is said the fountain of laughter and +fountain of tears lie very close together. +My experience has been, that often the +best way to the fountain of tears is by the +way of the fountain of laughter. Some +years ago at Ocean Grove, New Jersey, I +was to lecture on the subject, "Boys and +Girls, Nice and Naughty." A wealthy +widow and her only son were there from +New York, where the young boy had been +leading a "gay life." Ocean Grove with +its quiet, moral atmosphere was a dull +place for this young man. He happened +to read the subject for the lecture on the +bulletin board, and thinking it suggestive +of humor he went to hear the lecture. He +had what he went for, as the lecture did +deal with the fountain of laughter, but it +also dealt with the fountain of tears. It +swung the red lantern of danger athwart +the pathway of the wayward young man. +Following a story of mother love, I said: +"Young man, let the cares and burdens of +life press you down to the very earth, let +the great waves of sorrow roll over your +soul, but let no act of yours ever roll a<a name="page261" id="page261"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 261]</span> +clod upon the coffin of her, whose image, +enshrined upon the inner walls of your +memory, white winters and long bright +summers can never wash away."</p> +<p> +A minister told me after, that in a +young people's meeting this young man +arose and said: "I attended a lecture at +Ocean Grove, thinking I would have a humorous +entertainment. I left the auditorium +the saddest soul in the great audience. +Going down to the beach I tried to +drive away the spell, but it grew upon me. +I could see how I had grieved my mother, +and the past came rolling up like the +waves of the ocean. I shuddered as they +broke on my awakened conscience and +quickened memory. Behind me was an +unhallowed past, and before me the brink +of an awful eternity. There and then I +resolved to change my course. Alone under +the stars I made my resolve and then +started to my mother. She was waiting +for me, and said: 'My son, I wished for +you at the lecture this evening. I think +you would have enjoyed it.' I then told +her I was determined to lead a new life +and had come to seal my vow with her +kiss."</p> +<a name="page262" id="page262"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 262]</span> +<p> +That young man went to the lecture to +laugh, he left to walk alone with God under +the stars by the ocean deep, there to +decide to lead a righteous life, and seal +the vow with a loving mother's kiss.</p> +<p> +So while in my humble way I have endeavored +to use the arts that entertain I +have cherished the purpose to better human +lives.</p> +<p> +I have referred to the platform as being +baited for humanity. Have you ever considered +how it is baited to resist the forces +of evil?</p> +<p> +The day was when Satan had an attraction +trust that controlled about the whole +output of entertainment. The platform +now is a picture gallery where is to be had +all beauty in nature, from our own land +to the land of the midnight sun.</p> +<p> +In moving pictures it presents to those +who never saw ship, sail or sea, the landing +of a great steamer, with splashing of +spray as real as if seen from the dock. +To those who enjoy music it furnishes +band concerts, orchestra, bell-ringing, +quartettes, solos, plantation melodies, +rag-time tunes and women whistlers.</p> +<p> +The platform today beats the devil in +output of entertainment. It has scoured +field and forest, trained birds and dogs<a name="page263" id="page263"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 263]</span> +to round out the program of a chautauqua.</p> +<p> +Its breadth takes in all creeds and +kinds. While it greets with waving lilies +Bishop Vincent, leader of the great chautauqua +movement, it cordially welcomes +the priest, the Jew, the Chinaman, the +negro, republican, democrat, progressive, +prohibitionist, socialist and suffragist.</p> +<p> +The platform has grown to be a great +university, a musical festival, a zoological +garden, an art institute, an agricultural +college and a domestic science school.</p> +<p> +Do you ask has the platform any blemishes? +I answer yes. All enterprises +have their blemishes. The press is a potent +power for good and yet many bad +things get into print. Sometimes from +the platform come voices without the +ring of sincerity, entertainments without +uplifting influence and anecdotes without +respect to public decency. When attending +platform entertainments one should +discriminate as when eating fish, enjoy +the meat and discard the bones. With +good taste in selection one rarely ever +need go away hungry.</p> +<a name="page264" id="page264"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 264]</span> +<p> +I am often asked: "Where do you find +the most appreciative audiences?"</p> +<p> +First, I would reply, in rural communities +where the people are not surfeited +with entertainment. Second, I would say, +applause does not always mean appreciation. +It is said "still water runs deep." +In Chickering Hall, New York, one Sunday +afternoon a lady sat before me whose +diamonds and dress indicated wealth. A +lad sat by her side. My subject was, +"The Safe Side of Life for Young Men." +It was a temperance address and the +thought came to me; that lady is a wine +drinker and she is disappointed that I am +to talk temperance. She did not cheer +with the audience, nor did she give any +expression of face that would indicate her +interest, except that she kept her eyes +fixed upon the speaker. At the close she +came to the platform and said: "I brought +my son with me and you said what I +wanted him to hear; I thank you," and +with this she took my hand saying, +"Again I thank you," and turning away, +left a coin in my hand.</p> +<p> +I put it in my pocket, and on returning +to the hotel found she had given me a +twenty dollar gold piece. That was gold +standard appreciation.</p> +<a name="page265" id="page265"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 265]</span> +<p> +I am frequently asked: "What do you +recall as the best introduction you ever +had?"</p> +<p> +I have had all kinds, some amusing, but +the one I cherish most was given by Ferd +Schumacher, the deceased oatmeal king of +Akron, Ohio. He came to this country +from Germany. By industry and economy +he accumulated enough money to engage +in making oatmeal. When he had +rounded up more than a million of dollars +in wealth, the insurance ran out on his +great "Jumbo Mills" in Akron. The insurance +company raised the rate and while +he was dickering with the company, the +great plant was swept away in a midnight +fire. Mr. Schumacher was a very earnest +temperance man and was to introduce +me for the W.C.T.U. in the large armory +the Sunday after the fire. It was +supposed he would not be present because +of the severe strain and his great loss. +But prompt to the minute he entered the +door, and 'mid the applause of sympathetic +friends he took the platform.</p> +<p> +In presenting the speaker he said: "Ladies +and schentlemen, I must be personal +for a moment while I thank the people of +Akron for their sympathy. I did not know +I had so many good friends. But the mill<a name="page266" id="page266"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 266]</span> +vot vos burned vos made of stone and +vood and nails and paint. We come to +talk to you about a fire vot is burning up +the homes, the hopes, the peace of vimen +and children and the immortal souls of +men; vill you please take your sympathy +off of Ferd Schumacher and give it to Mr. +Bain while he talks about the great fire +of intemperance."</p> +<p> +I am opposed to indiscriminate immigration +to this country, but if the old +world has any more Ferd Schumachers +desiring to come to America, may He who +rules winds and waves, fill with harmless +pressure the billows on which they ride +and give them safe entrance into our +country's haven.</p> +<p> +Many inquire of me about the lyceum +platform as a profession. My answer is: +"like the famed shield it has two sides." +One who has a lovely home and rarely +leaves it said to me: "I envy you your +life-work. You get to see the country, +visit the great cities, meet the best people +and get fat fees for your lectures." How +distance does lend enchantment to the +view sometimes!</p> +<p> +A few years ago we notified the bureaus +not to make engagements away from the<a name="page267" id="page267"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 267]</span> +railroads in the northwest during the +blizzard months. A letter came saying: +"Enter Wessington College, outside of +Woonsocket." We supposed outside meant +adjacent. Arriving at Woonsocket in a +blizzard I found Wessington seventeen +miles away. Wrapped in robes I made +the drive, arriving about six o'clock in the +evening. On arrival I was informed that +smallpox had broken out in the village. +The hotel had been quarantined but a +room had been engaged for me in a private +home. While taking my supper my +hostess said: "Would you know smallpox +if you were to see the symptoms?"</p> +<p> +"Know what? Why do you ask that?" +I asked.</p> +<p> +She called attention to the face of her +daughter who was serving the supper. +One glance and my appetite fled, as I said: +"Excuse me, please. I must get ready for +my lecture," and I left the room. One +hour later I stood before a vaccinated audience +with visions of smallpox floating +before me, and for days after I imagined +I could feel it coming.</p> +<p> +Add to this experience midnight rides +on freight trains, long drives in rain, mud +and storm, ten minutes for lunch at sandwich<a name="page268" id="page268"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 268]</span> +counter, eight months of the year +away from home—the only heaven one +who loves his family has on earth, and +you have a taste of the side my neighbor +did not see.</p> +<p> +There is, however, a bright side. Whoever +can get the ear of the public from the +platform, has an opportunity to sow seed, +the fruit of which will be gathered by angels +when he has gone to his reward. One +so long on the platform as I have been, +cannot fail in having experiences that +gladden the heart, if he has done faithful +service.</p> +<p> +Out of hundreds I select one experience +that should encourage all who labor in the +Master's vineyard. I had traveled two +hundred miles in a day to reach an engagement, +and the last seven miles in a +buggy over a miserable road. I did not +reach the village until nine o'clock. Without +supper and chilled by the ride, I threw +off my wraps and wearily made my way +through the lecture. A little later in my +room at the hotel, while I was taking a +lunch of bread and milk, a minister entered +and said: "You seem to be very +tired." When I answered, "Never more +so," he replied: "I have a story to tell you<a name="page269" id="page269"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 269]</span> +which will perhaps rest you."</p> +<p> +Continuing he said: "Some twenty +years ago, you lectured in a village where +there was a state normal school. It was +Sunday evening. At the hotel were three +young men, and to see the girls of the college, +these young men went to the lecture. +One was the only son of a wealthy widow. +He had not seen his mother for +months. She had begged him to come +home, but he was sowing his wild oats +and ashamed to face his mother. That +evening you made an earnest appeal to +young men in the name of home and +mother. The arrow went to the heart of +the wild young fellow. On returning to +the hotel he said to his companions: +'Come up to my room, let's have a talk.' +On entering the room he closed the door +and said: 'Boys, I want to open my heart +to you. I am overwhelmed with a sense +of wrong-doing. I am done with the saloon, +done with the gambling table, done +with evil associations. I am going home +to-morrow and make mother happy. +Boys, let's join hands and swear off from +drink and evil habits; let's honor our +manhood and our mothers.'</p> +<a name="page270" id="page270"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 270]</span> +<p> +"Now for the sequel that I think will +rest you. That wild boy is now a wealthy +man. I give you his name, though I would +not have you call it in public. He is a +Christian philanthropist, and has never +broken his pledge. The second boy holds +the highest office in the gift of this government +in a western territory, and the +third stands before you now, an humble +minister of the gospel."</p> +<p> +It did rest me. I would rather have +been the humble instrument in turning +those three young men to a righteous +life, than to wear the brightest wreath +that ever encircled a stateman's brow.</p> +<p> +For such men as Sylvester Long, Roland +A. Nichols, Robert Parker Miles and +Bishop Robert McIntyre to tell me my +lectures helped to shape their lives, fills +my soul with joy as I face the setting sun.</p> +<p> +Chance, the noted English engineer, +built a thousand sea-lights, shore-lights +and harbor-lights. When in old age he +lay dying, a wild storm on the sea seemed +to revive him by its association with his +life-work. He said to the watchers: "Lift +me up and let me see once more the ocean +in a storm."</p> +<p> +As he looked out, the red lightning +ripped open the black wardrobe of the<a name="page271" id="page271"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 271]</span> +firmament, and he saw the salted sea +driven by the fury of the hurricane into +great billows of foam. Sinking back upon +his pillows his last words were: +"Thank God, I have been a lighthouse +builder, and though the light of my life is +fast fading, the beams of my lighthouse +are brightening the darkness of many a +sailor's night."</p> +<p> +When my life-work closes, and my platform +experiences are ended, I would ask +no better name than that of an humble +lighthouse builder, who here and there +from the shore-points of life's ocean, has +sent out a friendly beam, to brighten the +darkness of some brother's night.</p> + +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +<a name="page273" id="page273"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 273]</span> +<a name="VII" id="VII"></a> +<h3>VII</h3> +<br /> +<h2>THE DEFEAT OF THE NATION'S DRAGON.</h2> +<br /><br /> + +<p> +Joseph Cook said in one of his Boston +lectures: "Whenever the temperance +cause has attempted to fly with one wing, +whether moral suasion or legal suasion, +its course has been a spiral one. It will +never accomplish its mission in this world, +until it strikes the air with equal vans, +each wing keeping time with the other, +both together winnowing the earth of the +tempter and the tempted."</p> +<p> +I congratulate the friends of temperance +upon the progress both wings have +made since the beginning of their flight.</p> +<p> +The first temperance pledge we have +any record of ran thus: "I solemnly promise +upon my word of honor I will abstain +from everything that will intoxicate, except +at public dinners, on public holidays +and other important occasions." The first +prohibitory law was a local law in a village +on Long Island and ran thus: "Any +man engaged in the sale of intoxicating +liquors, who sells more than one quart of +rum, whiskey or brandy to four boys at<a name="page274" id="page274"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 274]</span> +one time shall be fined one dollar and two +pence."</p> +<p> +A sideboard without brandy or rum was +an exception, while the jug was imperative +at every log-raising and in the harvest +field. It was said of even a Puritan +community,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Their only wish and only prayer,</p> +<p>In the present world or world to come,</p> +<p>Is a string of Eels and a jug of rum."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +When Doctor Leonard Bacon was installed +pastor of the First Congregational +Church in New Haven, Conn., in 1825, +free drinks were ordered at the bar of the +hotel, for all visiting members, to be paid +for by the church. Today all protestant +churches declare against the drink habit +and the drink sale. Pulpits are thundering +away against the saloon. Children are +studying the effects of alcohol upon the +human system in nearly every state in the +Union. Train loads of literature are pouring +into the homes of the people. A +mighty army of as godly women as ever +espoused a cause is battling for the home, +against the saloon. The business world is +demanding total-abstainers, and fifty +millions of people in the United States are<a name="page275" id="page275"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 275]</span> +living under prohibitory laws.</p> +<p> +Not only in this but in every civilized +land the cause of temperance is growing. +Recently in France it was found there +were more deaths than births, which +meant France was dying. A commission +was appointed to look into the causes. +When the report was made, alcohol headed +the list. Now by order of the government +linen posters are put up in public +buildings, and on these in blood red +letters are these warnings: "Alcohol dangerous; +alcohol chronic poison; alcohol +leads to the following diseases; alcohol is +the enemy of labor; alcohol disrupts the +home!"</p> +<p> +Who would have thought an Emperor +of Germany would ever "go back" on +beer? Emperor William in an address to +the sailors recommended total-abstinence +and forbid under penalty the giving of +liquor to soldiers in the world's greatest +war. The Czar of Russia has put an end +to the government's connection with the +manufacture of intoxicating liquors, and +our Secretary of the Navy has banished +it from the ships and navy yards. The +New York Sun says: "The business world +is getting to be one great temperance<a name="page276" id="page276"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 276]</span> +league." For many years it was confined +to the realm of morals, but today it is recognized +as a great economic question and +the business world is joining the church +world in solving the liquor problem.</p> +<p> +While the temperance cause has been +going up in character, the drink has been +going down in quality. The old time distiller +used to select his site along some +crystal stream, that had its fountain-head +in the mountains and ran over beds of +limestone. With sound grain and pure +water, he made several hundred barrels +of whiskey a year, and after five to ten +years of ripening, it was sent out with the +makers' brand upon it. Now the North +American of Philadelphia, one of our leading +dailies says, rectifiers (and I would +prefix one letter and make it w-r-e-c-k-t-i-f-i-e-r-s) +take one barrel from the distillery +and by a pernicious, poisonous process, +make one hundred barrels from one +barrel.</p> +<p> +It is true the sting of the adder and the +bite of the serpent were in the old-time +whiskey, but it was as pure as it could be +made. Doctor Wiley, Ex-Chief of the Bureau +of Chemistry, says: "Eighty-five per +cent. of all the whiskey sold in the saloons,<a name="page277" id="page277"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 277]</span> +hotels and club-rooms is not whiskey +at all but a cheap base imitation." In +the different concoctions made are found +aconite, acquiamonia, angelica root, arsenic, +alum, benzine, belladonna, beet-root +juice, bitter almond, coculus-indicus, +sulphuric acid, prussic acid, wood alcohol, +boot soles and tobacco stems. No wonder +we have more murders in this republic +than in any civilized land beneath the sky +in proportion to population.</p> +<p> +Along with this adulteration of the +drink has gone the degeneracy of the saloon +and the seller. The day was when +officers in churches could sell liquor and +retain their membership. Today the saloonkeeper +is barred from the protestant +churches, barred from Masons, Odd Fellows, +Knights of Pythias, Red Men, Woodmen, +Maccabees and nearly every other +fraternal organization of the world.</p> +<p> +The saloon itself has become such a vicious +resort, that when the police look for +a murderer they go to the saloon. When +any vile character is sought for, the saloon +is searched. When anarchists meet to +plan for a Hay-market murder in Chicago, +they meet in the saloon. When an assassin +plans to shoot down our President at<a name="page278" id="page278"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 278]</span> +an exposition, he goes from the saloon. +When a fire breaks out in Chicago or Boston +the first order is, close the saloons. +Don't close any other business house, but +close the saloon. If a mob threatens Pittsburg, +Cincinnati, or Atlanta, close the saloons. +If an earthquake strikes San Francisco, +close the saloons. In our large cities +gambling rooms are attached to the +saloons with wine rooms above for women, +and while our boys are being ruined +downstairs, girls are destroyed upstairs.</p> +<p> +There are many thousands of women in +painted shame, who would now be safe inside +life's Eden of purity but for the saloon. +The South Side Club of Chicago +said in 1914: "The back rooms of four +hundred and forty-five saloons on only +three streets of this city contribute to the +delinquency of fourteen thousand girls every +twenty-four hours." Is it any wonder +the saloons hide behind green blinds or +stained glass windows?</p> +<p> +There is a fish in the sea known as the +"Devil Fish." It lies on its back with open +mouth and covers itself with sea moss. +Over its open mouth is a bait. When an +unsuspecting fish nibbles at the bait, with +a quick snap it is caught and devoured.<a name="page279" id="page279"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 279]</span> +Do you see any analogy between this fish +and a certain business that hides itself +behind painted windows or green blinds +and hangs out a bait of "free lunch" or +"Turtle Soup"? A fish that sets a trap +for its kind is called a "Devil Fish;" a +business that does the like is recognized as +a legitimate trade and permitted for the +sake of revenue.</p> +<p> +Every other recognized business has improved +in quality with the years. The saloon +has grown worse and worse, until it +is bad and only bad; bad in the beginning, +bad in the middle, bad in the end, bad inside, +outside, upside, downside. It is so +bad, the liquor dealers are the only business +men who are ashamed to put on exhibition +their finished products. In great +expositions other trades present finished +wares. They do not display the tools used +in making what they present for exhibition +but the finished goods. Not so with +the liquor dealers; they put on exhibition +the tools with which they work, but not a +single specimen of the finished product of +their trade do they present for inspection.</p> +<p> +"That's a fine fit of clothes you have, +sir." "Yes," says the tailor, "I put up that +job; glad you like my work."</p> +<a name="page280" id="page280"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 280]</span> +<p> +"That's a fine building across the way." +"Yes," says the architect, "that's my job +and I am quite proud of it."</p> +<p> +"That's a handsome bonnet you wear, +madam." "Yes," says the milliner, "that's +my creation of style and I am rather +proud of my work."</p> +<p> +Yonder is a man intoxicated. He staggers +and falls; his head strikes the curb-stone; +the blood besmears his face; the police +lift him up and start with him to the +station house. Did you hear a saloon +keeper say: "That's my creation; I put up +that job and I'm proud of my work."</p> +<p> +Some one said recently in defense of the +business: "The saloon keeper deserves +more consideration." This writer should +know that consideration has been the +source of its undoing. Lord Chesterfield +considered it and said: "Drink sellers are +artists in human slaughter." Senator +Morrill, of Maine, considered and pronounced +it "the gigantic crime of all +crimes." Senator Long, of Massachusetts +considered it and called it "the dynamite +of modern civilization." Henry W. Grady, +our brilliant southerner, considered it and +said: "It is the destroyer of men, the terror +of women and the shadow on the face +of childhood. It has dug more graves and<a name="page281" id="page281"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 281]</span> +sent more souls to judgment than all the +pestilences since Egypt's plague, or all the +wars since Joshua stood before the walls +of Jericho." The New York Tribune considered +it and said: "It's the clog upon the +wheels of American progress." The Bible +considered it and compares its influence +to the bite of serpents, the sting of +adders, the poison of asps, and heaps the +woes of God's will upon it.</p> +<p> +Sam Jones said: "When the Bible says +<i>woe</i>, you better stop," and as certain as +seed time brings harvest it will stop, not +because of the Woman's Christian Temperance +Union, or the Anti-Saloon League, +or the Prohibition Party, but because afar +back in the blue haze of the past the seed +of prohibition was planted in the soil of +Divine truth.</p> +<p> +Ever since God declared woe against +the evils of mankind, the batteries of the +holy Bible have been trained upon the +"wine that gives its color in the cup," and +the man who "giveth his neighbor drink +and maketh him drunken also."</p> +<p> +It <i>will</i> stop, because error cannot stand +agitation. Whoever espouses the cause of +error must evade facts, falsify figures, +libel logic, tangle his tongue or pen with<a name="page282" id="page282"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 282]</span> +contradictions and wind up in confusion.</p> +<p> +The able editor of the Courier Journal +of Kentucky came to the defense of this +error, and with all his brilliancy and culture, +he resorted to personal abuse of temperance +workers, <i>because he could not occupy +a higher plane in defense of the saloon</i>. +He made up what he called an +"ominum gatherum," of "bigots," "hay-seed +politicians," "fake philosophers," +"cranks," "scamps," "professional sharps," +"mad caps of destruction," "preachers who +would sell corner lots in heaven," "a riff-raff +of moral idiots and red-nosed angels."</p> +<p> +I could hardly believe my own eyes +when I read this frantic phillipic from one +I had esteemed so highly for his intellect; +one whose element is up where eagles +soar, and not down where baser birds +feast upon rotten spots in a world of +beauty. Only a few days before I had +read his beautiful tribute to Lincoln, delivered +at the unveiling in Hodgenville, in +which he said of the great emancipator: +"He never lost his balance or tore a passion +to tatters," yet the finished orator +who paid the tribute, when he espouses +the cause of error, flies into a paroxysm +of passion and tears the dignity of his<a name="page283" id="page283"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 283]</span> +own self-control into shreds.</p> +<p> +Knowing as I do the culture, refinement +and polished manners of the great journalist, +I wondered what aggravating force +could have so unbalanced his mental +scales and led him to so bitterly denounce +those, whose only offense is, trying to do +what Lincoln did, abolish an evil. If this +resourceful writer were only converted +to the truth on this question, what an +"ominum gatherum" he could make from +the work of the saloon curse.</p> +<p> +The clergymen, called "canting, diabolical +preachers," deserve more respectful +consideration from one who well knows +their sincerity. They are men of brains, +heart and conscience; men who believe +that righteousness rather than revenue +exalts a nation, and that sin, no matter +how much money invested in it, is a reproach +to any people. These ministers +believe it to be morally wrong to convert +God's golden grain into what debases +mankind. They preach that what is morally +wrong can never be made politically +right. With them it is a matter of deep, +permanent conviction. Such attacks are +made to divert attention from the accused +at the bar of public opinion.</p> +<a name="page284" id="page284"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 284]</span> +<p> +It is the saloon that is on trial, not +cranks, or moral idiots, or ministers. +The saloon is charged with being the enemy +of every virtue and ally of every vice, +that it injures public health, public peace +and public morals. The Supreme Court +says: "No legislature has the right to barter +away public health, public peace or +the public morals; the people themselves +cannot do so, much less their servants."</p> +<p> +In face of this declaration of the Supreme +Court, legislators do barter away +public health, public peace and public +morals to the organized liquor traffic. All +along the cruel career of this enemy of +peace, health and morals, it has been +pampered and petted by politicians who +have been as much charmed by its promise +of votes, as was Eve in the Garden of +Eden by the serpent's assurance. Deceived +by the serpent of the still, they have +not only disregarded the decision of the +Supreme Court but defied God's plan of +dealing with sin. They have persisted in +trying to regulate an irregularity in morals +by licensing the greatest sin of the +century, and have done so to their shame +and failure in any regulation effort ever +made. The only way to cure chills is to +kill the malaria. The only way to cure<a name="page285" id="page285"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 285]</span> +the cursed liquor traffic is to cast it out +of our civilization by a universal, everlasting +prohibition of the manufacture, +importation and sale of intoxicating liquor.</p> +<p> +Rev. Howard Crosby, of New York, in +advocating high license as a means of reducing +the number of saloons, said in an +address: "Suppose a tiger were to get +loose in the city, would you not confine +him to a few blocks rather than let him +roam the city at large?" Some one in the +audience answered aloud: "No Doctor, we +would kill the tiger."</p> +<p> +How does regulation regulate? Take +the city of Louisville, Ky., where I resided +a number of years, and where I observed +the practical working of the license +system. Go there any Monday morning +and you will see from twenty to forty +men and women in the cage next to the +Police Court room. A marshal stands at +the door of the cage and takes them out +one at a time. You will hear the judge +say: "ten dollars and cost," which means +thirty days in the workhouse. Forty days +pass and here is the same man in the Police +Court: thirty days to serve his time, +ten days to get a little money and then another<a name="page286" id="page286"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 286]</span> +drunk. Some do not know how many +times they have been before the court. I +was there one day when an Irishman was +arraigned. The Judge said: "Pat, how +many times have you been before this +court?"</p> +<p> +"Faith, and your books will tell ye," replied +the Irishman. Judge Price, the police +judge at the time, said to me: "There +are a number of men, and several women +I know in this city, who pass through the +courtroom on their way to the workhouse +so regularly, I can guess within a few +days of the time they will appear." They +pass like buckets at a fire, going up full +and returning empty.</p> +<p> +There is an asylum in this country +where, I am told, they test a man's insanity +in this way. They have a trough +which holds one hundred gallons of water. +Above is an open tap through which +the water pours constantly, and of course +the trough keeps on running over. The +patient is brought to the trough, given a +bucket and told to dip out the water. If +he dips all day and has not mind enough +to turn off the tap, he is considered a very +serious case. If this test were put to our +license lawmakers, I fear they would have<a name="page287" id="page287"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 287]</span> +to go to the incurable ward. They have +for many years been picking up drunkards +from the gutters and opening taps +for them to keep on pouring into the +streets. Under this system the saloon +keepers are playing ten-pins. You know +in playing ten-pins there is a long alley, +at one end of which stand the pins, while +at the other stands the player with a ball +in his hand. He rolls the ball down the +alley and knocks down the pins. Some +one sets them up, and to that some one, +who is often a boy, the player will toss a +dime and say: "set them up quick." Does +he let them stand? No! he rolls the ball +down the alley and down go the pins. +The saloon keeper has the ball of law in +his hands. No matter whether a high or +low license ball, he paid the price for the +use of the ball. When temperance workers +set up drunkards and they get a little +money in their pockets away goes the ball +and they are down again. When a church +revival picks up a few drunkards the saloon +keeper will say: "Here's a dollar to +help in your meeting." Then in his mind +he says: "Set up the drunkards who are +out of employment and money, get them +positions, and when they can earn money<a name="page288" id="page288"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 288]</span> +again, again I'll bowl them down." Under +the license system the saloon is playing +ten-pins with temperance associations, +ten-pins with the church and ten-pins +with society. I have faith to believe +the time is drawing near when the balls +will be confiscated and the pins can stand +when we do set them up.</p> +<p> +I know many have not this faith because +they believe prohibitory laws are +failures. They base their belief on the +violation of the law. By that rule everything +is a failure. Married life is a failure; +its laws are grossly violated. Home +life is a failure; there are many miserable +homes. The school is a failure; many a +father has put thousands of dollars into +the education of his son and found it +wasted in riotous living. The church is a +failure; many of its members are Christians +only in name and not a few are +hypocrites. But we know by the loyal, loving +husbands and wives of every community +that married life is not a failure. We +know by the happy homes about us, with +sweetest of household ties binding the +family circle, that home life is not a failure. +We know by the education that has +refined our civilization, that the school is<a name="page289" id="page289"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 289]</span> +not a failure. We know by the redeemed +of earth and saved in heaven the church +is not a failure, and we are convinced by +the organized opposition to prohibitory +laws by distillers, brewers, saloon keepers, +gamblers and harlots that prohibition +is not a failure.</p> +<p> +If prohibition is a failure in Kansas as +license advocates charge, then governors, +ex-governors, attorney generals, jailers, +mayors and judges of Kansas are falsifiers. +If prohibition is a failure in Kansas +why has the state grown to be the +richest per capita in the Union, why are +so many jails empty, so many counties +without a pauper and why, according to +the brewers' year book of 1910, was the +consumption of liquor in Kansas one dollar +and sixty cent per capita and in a +neighbor license state twenty-two dollars +per capita?</p> +<p> +Along with the absurd statement that +prohibition is a failure, comes the warning +of the president of the Model License +League to the business men of the country, +that unless the tide of prohibition is +arrested it will "kill our cities." "Blessed +are the dead that die in the Lord."</p> +<a name="page290" id="page290"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 290]</span> +<p> +In a local option contest a prominent +business man said to me: "I do not use +liquor but I am in doubt about how I +should vote on the question." When I +asked; "What's your trouble?" he answered: +"We have six saloons in this little +city and the license fee is one thousand +dollars; how are we to run the city without +the six thousand dollars?" When I +informed him that the six saloons took +from the people eighty thousand dollars +a year, he agreed it was a reasonable estimate. +I said: "Don't you know those +who spend their money for drink, if they +did not spend it over the saloon bars, +would spend it over the counters of merchants +who sell clothing, food, fuel and +furniture?" If you merchants could take +in eighty thousand dollars, couldn't you +pay out six thousand and not get hurt? If +you can't see that you are no better business +man than was Horace Greeley a farmer. +He purchased a pig for one dollar, +kept it two years, fed it forty dollars +worth of corn and sold it for nine dollars. +He said: "I lost money on the corn but +made money on the hog." So, many business +men see the revenue from the license +fee but can't see the cost.</p> +<a name="page291" id="page291"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 291]</span> +<p> +Suppose on one side of a street the +business houses are all bad, in that they +consume money and give worse than nothing +in return; and on the other side they +are all good, in that they give an honest +equivalent for the money they receive; +can't you see if the bad side is closed, the +money that went to the bad side goes to +the good, and can you not see only good +can come of such a change?</p> +<p> +There are three things prohibition of +the saloon does that are illustrated by the +story told of an Irishman who said: "I did +three good things today."</p> +<p> +"What did you do, Pat?"</p> +<p> +"I saw a woman crying in front of a +cathedral. She had a baby in her arms, +and I said: 'Madam, what are you crying +about?'</p> +<p> +"She said: 'I had two dollars in me +handkerchief and came to have me baby +christened but I lost the money.'</p> +<p> +"I said: 'Don't cry, Madam, here is a ten +dollar bill; go get the baby christened and +bring me the change.' She went, and soon +after returned and handed me eight silver +dollars."</p> +<p> +"Well," said the friend, "I don't see any +three good things in that."</p> +<a name="page292" id="page292"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 292]</span> +<p> +"Ye don't! Didn't I dry the woman's +tears, didn't I save the baby's soul, and +didn't I get rid of a ten dollar counterfeit +bill and get eight good silver dollars in +return?"</p> +<p> +That is what prohibition of the saloon +does for a community. It dries woman's +tears, saves human souls, gets rid of a +counterfeit business and puts good business +instead.</p> +<p> +Is it a counterfeit business? It has been +well said, "Go into the butcher stall and +you get meat for money, into the shoe +store and you get shoes for money, but go +into the saloon and the bargain is all on +one side. It's bar-gain on one side and +bar-loss on the other; ill-gotten gains on +one side, mis-spent wages on the other, a +mess of pottage on one side and the birthright +of some mother's boy on the other."</p> +<p> +A great wail is going up from the advocates +of the liquor traffic that statewide +prohibition means the destruction of +immense vested interests and dire results +will follow.</p> +<p> +"This our craft is in danger," has ever +been the cry against reforms or changes +in civilization since the "Shrine Makers of +Ephesus."</p> +<a name="page293" id="page293"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 293]</span> +<p> +When slavery was abolished it was +said: "This means ruin to the South! +Such a confiscation of property, with every +slave set free to beg at the white +man's gate, crushes every vestige of +hope, and five hundred years will not +bring relief." Only fifty years have passed +and the South is richer than ever in +her history.</p> +<p> +Justice Grier of the Supreme Court +said: "If loss of revenue should accrue +to the United States from a diminished +consumption of ardent spirits, she will be +the gainer a thousandfold in health, +wealth and happiness of the people."</p> +<p> +If this is true, then this question is not +only a great moral question but also a tremendous +economic problem.</p> +<p> +If production should be for use and not +for abuse, the existence of breweries and +distilleries are without excuse.</p> +<p> +If one should be rewarded on the basis +of service, the saloon keeper has no claim +for even tolerance, much less reward.</p> +<p> +If labor is the basis of value, men who +live by selling liquor to their fellowmen +are leaches on the body politic, and Ishmaels +in the commercial world.</p> +<p> +The claim that the liquor business is a +benefit to a community or to the country<a name="page294" id="page294"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 294]</span> +is in harmony with the assertion that war +is a "biological necessity" and a "stimulating +source of development."</p> +<p> +General Sherman said: "War is hell." +Certainly the one now raging between the +leading nations of the old world is a hell +of carnage. And yet intemperance has +destroyed more lives than all the wars of +the world since time began. It has added +to the death of the body the eternal death +of the soul and then the sum of its ravages +is not complete until is added more broken +hearts, more blasted hopes, desolate +homes, more misery and shame than from +any source of evil in the world. If what +Sherman said of war is true, and the +liquor curse is worse than war, how can +this government hope to escape punishment +for raising revenue from a business +so abominable and wicked?</p> +<p> +A heathen emperor when appealed to +for a tax on opium as a source of revenue +said: "I will not consent to raise the revenue +of my country upon the vices of its +people." Yet this Christian republic, +claiming the noblest civilization of the +earth, is found turning the dogs of appetite +and avarice loose upon the home life +of the republic that gold may clink in<a name="page295" id="page295"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 295]</span> +its treasury. The politician's excuse for +this compromise with earth's greatest destroyer +is, it can never be prohibited and +therefore regulation and revenue is the +best policy.</p> +<p> +I can well remember when the same +was said of slavery. With billions of dollars +invested in slaves, with a united +South behind it and the North divided, it +could never be abolished. At that time +the prospect for the overthrow of slavery +was far less than the prospect of national +prohibition today. I own I was among +those who said "slavery cannot be destroyed." +Now I am one of the reconstructed. +I'm like the pig I used to read +of, "When I lived I lived in clover, and +when I died I died all over."</p> +<p> +During the Civil War Union soldiers arrested +several of my neighbors and took +them to a northern prison. My southern +blood was aroused. I said: "Let a Yankee +soldier come to take me and he will +never take another Kentuckian." Then +my mother was alarmed. She knew how +brave her boy was. A few days later I +met a squad of Yankee cavalry on the +road near our home. They said "Halt!" +and I halted. They said "Surrender!" I<a name="page296" id="page296"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 296]</span> +did so, and mother did not hear of any +blood being shed.</p> +<p> +Again a half-drunk Union soldier rode +up to our gate and said: "Who lives +here?" When I answered, he asked: "Can +your mother get supper for fourteen soldiers +in thirty minutes?" "No, sir, she +cannot," I replied. Drawing a pistol, the +mouth of which looked like a cannon's +mouth to me, he said: "Maybe you have +changed your mind." I had, and that +supper was ready with several minutes to +spare. We can, and we <i>will</i> stop the liquor +business. I am amazed, however, to +find so many intelligent men of the North +advocating the same policy on this liquor +problem the South adopted on the slavery +question, which cost her so severely. I +find the same effect revenue in slaves had +upon the consciences of the tax-payers of +the South, high-license revenue from saloons +is having upon the consciences of +tax-payers in the North.</p> +<p> +In the early days of slavery, when +wealth in the institution was very limited, +the conscience of the South was against +slavery. Old Virginia, when a colony, appealed +to King George to remove the +threatening danger from her borders. It<a name="page297" id="page297"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 297]</span> +was the voice of a General Lee of Virginia +that was lifted against slavery in the +House of Burgesses. But with the passing +of time slaves grew in value, until a +slave in the South reached about the price +of a saloon license now in the North. +Then the conscience of the South quieted +and slavery was justified by press, politics +and pulpit. There is a remarkable +analogy between the effect of a thousand +dollar slave upon the conscience of South +Carolina and a thousand dollar saloon +upon the conscience of Massachusetts. +The South paid the penalty of her mistaken +policy; the North will reap its reward +in retribution, if it persists in making +the price of a saloon in the North the +same as the price of a slave in the South. +When the value of a world is profitless +compared with the worth of a soul then +even if every saloon were a Klondyke of +gold this republic could not afford to legalize +the liquor business for revenue.</p> +<p> +I believe my northern friends will permit +me to press home a little further the +lesson of southern slavery. The phase I +would impress is that any question that +has a great moral principle involved is +never settled until it is settled right. We<a name="page298" id="page298"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 298]</span> +tried to regulate slavery but it wouldn't +regulate. First it was decided that the +importation of slaves should cease in +twenty years. Did that settle it? Next +came the Missouri compromise, "Thus far +shalt thou go and no farther." Politicians +said: "Now it's settled." But a fanatic +in Boston name Garrison said: "It +is not settled." Daniel Webster, as intellectual +as some of our high license advocates +of today said to Lloyd Garrison: +"Stop the agitation of this question or you +will bring trouble on the country; the +compromise is made and the question is +settled." Lloyd Garrison replied: "I don't +care what compromise you've made; you +may pull down my office, pitch my type +into the sea, and hound me through the +streets of Boston, but you will never settle +the slavery question until you settle +it right."</p> +<p> +It kept breaking out despite all legislative +restrictions. At last Columbia with +one hand on her head, and the other on +her heart, began to reel on her throne, +and Abraham Lincoln seized his pen and +signed the proclamation, "Universal +Emancipation." Then the whole world +said: "It's forever settled." So the liquor<a name="page299" id="page299"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 299]</span> +question will be settled as was the slavery +question, by the universal, everlasting +abolition of the manufacture, sale and importation +of intoxicating liquor in this +country.</p> +<p> +High license is another Missouri Compromise. +If you have the drink you'll +have the drunkenness. If you have the +cause you will have the effect. If you +have the positive you will have the superlative: +Positive drink, comparative drinking, +superlative drunkenness. You may +try high-tax and low-tax but all the time +you will have sin-tax and more sin than +tax.</p> +<p> +You do not change the nature of the +drink by the price of a license, the kind of +a place in which it is sold or the character +of the man who sells it. Put a pig +in a parlor; feed him on the best the marflet +affords, give him a feather bed in +which to sleep, keep him there till he's +grown and he'll be a hog. You don't +change the nature of the pig by the elegant +surroundings; you may change the +condition of the parlor.</p> +<p> +There is but one solution of the liquor +problem and that is a nation-wide prohibitory +law and behind the law a political<a name="page300" id="page300"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 300]</span> +power in sympathy with the law and +pledged to its enforcement.</p> +<p> +Many admit the principle is correct but +insist we should wait until public sentiment +is powerful enough to enforce the +law. If grand ideas had waited for public +sentiment Moses would never have +given the commandments to the world. If +grand ideas had waited for public sentiment, +we would still be back in the realm +of the dark ages, instead of in the light of +our present civilization; back in the dim +twilight of the tallow-dip instead of the +brightness of the electric light; back with +the ox team instead of the speed of the +steam engine, automobile and aeroplane; +and on the temperance question back to +where a liquor dealer could advertise his +business on gravestones. On a tomb in +England are these words:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Here lies below in hope of Zion,</p> +<p>The landlord of the Golden Lion,</p> +<p>His son keeps up the business still,</p> +<p>Obedient to his country's will."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +Years ago a friend said to me: "I admire +your zeal, but I wonder at your faith +when you are in such a miserable minority." +My reply was: "Are minorities always<a name="page301" id="page301"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 301]</span> +wrong or hopeless? How would you +have enjoyed being with the majority at +the time of the flood? It seems to me you +would have been safer with Noah in the +ark."</p> +<p> +As to license and prohibition, that has +always been the question since man was +created. It was the question in the Garden +of Eden when the devil stood for license, +"go eat," and God stood for prohibition, +"thou shalt not." That is the +question today and I am quite sure God +and the devil stand now as then, and +while the Adams are divided, the Eves +are nearly all on one side.</p> +<p> +Another said: "After all the work done +for temperance the people drink as much +or more than ever." My answer is: how +much more would they drink if we had +not done what has been done?</p> +<p> +Yonder on the ocean a vessel springs a +leak and soon the water stands thirty +inches deep in the hold. The captain says: +"To the pumps!" and the sailors leap to +their places. At the end of one hour the +captain measures and says: "Thirty inches; +you are holding it down." Hour after +hour the pumping goes on, with changing +hands at the pumps, and hour after hour<a name="page302" id="page302"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 302]</span> +the captain says: "You are doing well; +she can't go down at thirty inches. Hold +it there and we'll make the harbor." +Twenty hours and the captain shouts: +"Thirty inches; and land is in sight. +Pump on, my boys, you'll save the ship." +Suppose one of our croakers who says, +"Prohibition won't prohibit," had been on +board. He would have said: "Don't you +see you are doing no good; there's just as +much water as when you began." What +would have become of the ship?</p> +<p> +At the close of the Civil War intemperance +was pouring in upon the Ship of +State. Men returned from war enthralled +in chains worse than African slavery, +for rum slavery means ruin to body and +soul. Men, women and children ran to the +pumps, and thank God, state after state +is going dry. Soon we'll see the land of +promise, and the Ship of State will be +saved from a leak as dangerous as ever +sprung in a vessel, and from as cruel a +crew of buccaneers as ever scuttled a +ship.</p> +<p> +When I began the work as a "Good +Templar" forty years ago, Kentucky was +soaked in rum. Bourbon county, where I +was reared, had twenty-three distilleries,<a name="page303" id="page303"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 303]</span> +and a dead wall lifted itself against my +hopes of ever seeing the sky clear of distillery +smoke above old Bourbon county, +a name on more barrels and bottles, on +more bar-room windows, and on the memories +of more drunkards in ruin than any +other county in the world. Yet I have +lived to see the last distillery fire go out, +and Bourbon county dry. While I had +faith in the ultimate triumph of the Cause +I never dreamt it would come to Bourbon +county in my lifetime.</p> +<p> +When I began saloons were at almost +every crossroads village, and the bottle +on sideboards was the rule in thousands +of leading homes. Time and again my life +was threatened. On one occasion twelve +armed men guarded me from a mob, and +once my wife placed herself between my +body and a desperate mountaineer. Those +were perilous times for an advocate of +temperance in my native state. Now out +of one hundred and twenty counties, one +hundred and seven are dry. In Georgia +the licensed saloon is gone; in North Carolina +the saloon is gone; in West Virginia, +Old Virginia, Mississippi and Tennessee +the saloon is gone, while Oklahoma +was born sober.</p> +<a name="page304" id="page304"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 304]</span> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"That which made Milwaukee famous</p> + <p class="i2">Doesn't foam in Tennessee;</p> +<p>The Sunday lid in old Missouri</p> + <p class="i2">Was Governor Folk's decree.</p> +<p>Brewers, distillers and their cronies</p> + <p class="i2">Well may sigh;</p> +<p>The saloon is panic-stricken,</p> + <p class="i2">And the South's going dry.</p></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Soon the hill-side by the rill-side</p> + <p class="i2">Of Kentucky will be still;</p> +<p>Men will take their toddies</p> + <p class="i2">From the ripples of the rill;</p> +<p>Boys will grow up sober,</p> + <p class="i2">Mothers cease to cry;</p> +<p>Glory hallelujah!</p> + <p class="i2">The South's going dry."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +Already seventeen states are dry, and +there are many arid spots in the wet +states. While I cannot hope to live to see +the final triumph, I have faith to believe +my children and my children's children +will live in a saloonless land, a land redeemed +from a curse that has soaked its +social life in more blood and tears than +all other sources of sorrow; a land where +liberty will no longer be shorn of its +locks of strength by licensed Delilahs; +where manhood will no more be stripped<a name="page305" id="page305"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 305]</span> +of its possibilities by the claws of the demon +drink; where fore-doomed generations +will not reach the dawning of life's +morning, to be bound like Mazeppa to the +wild, mad steed of passion and borne +down the blood lines of inheritance to the +awful abuse of drunkenness.</p> +<p> +To this end I appeal to every minister +of the gospel, stir the consciences of +your hearers on this question. I appeal to +the press, that potent power for the enlightenment +of the people.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Pulpit and press with tongue and pen,</p> +<p>Set to new music this message to men:</p> +<p>Let the great work of destruction begin,</p> +<p>And rid our loved land of this shelter to sin.</p> +<p>As before the sun's brightness, the darkness must fly,</p> +<p>So by power of the ballot the rum curse must die,</p> +<p>Then cover the earth as the wide waves the sea,</p> +<p>With the sound of the axe at the root of the tree!"</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +<a name="page307" id="page307"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 307]</span> +<a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a> +<h3>VIII</h3> +<br /> +<h2>IF I COULD LIVE LIFE OVER.</h2> +<br /><br /> + +<p> +Now and then I hear an old man or an +old woman say, "Even if I could I would +not live life over." Well, I own I would, +provided I could begin the journey with +the knowledge I now have of what it +means to live.</p> +<p> +While mistakes have been many there +are some things I would not change. I +would be brought up in the country as I +was. I would play over the same blue-grass +carpet, along the same turnpike +aisle, swing on the branches of the same +old trees and listen to the concert chorus +of the same song birds.</p> +<p> +Indeed I sympathize with the boy who +exchanges the music of birds, melody of +streams, lowing of herds, driving of +teams, diamond dew on bending blade, +morning sun and evening shade, with all +other sweet associations of country life +for a lodging room in a city, where church +doors and home doors are closed against +him in the evening hours of the week, and +all evil places wide open for his ruin. It +has been well said: "The street fair of<a name="page308" id="page308"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 308]</span> +evil associations in our large cities begins +with the night shadows and grows with +the darkness." I dare say if I could draw +aside the veil that will shut in the night +scenes of this city, the revelation would +make some godly fathers tremble for +their boys, and pious mothers long to +gather their children about them when +the sun goes down, as moor birds gather +their helpless young when hawks are +screaming in the sky.</p> +<p> +All hail to the Young Men's Christian +Association, with its open doors for young +men in the evening hours! All hail to its +gymnasium, its swimming pool, basketball +and other sports that develop +strength and furnish entertainment! +Away with the idea that all the pleasures +of the world belong to the devil.</p> +<p> +A distinguished divine was brought up +in New England by a staid old aunt, who +never let him go anywhere except to +church, Sunday school and prayer meeting. +When quite a lad she let him go to +New York City to visit a cousin. That +cousin took him to see Barnum's circus. +It was his first circus, and the wild animals, +the bareback riding, trapeze performance, +clowns and chariot races bewildered<a name="page309" id="page309"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 309]</span> +the country boy. Next morning +he wrote his aunt, saying: "Dear Aunt, +if you'll go to one circus you'll never go to +another prayer meeting as long as you +live." But he did go to prayer meeting +and became a grand good man. There +are many innocent springs of pleasure, +where youth can drink and not be harmed.</p> +<p> +It may surprise some for me to say, if +I could live life over I would be brought +up in the same old state of Kentucky. +"With all her faults I love her still," <i>but +not her stills</i>. It has been my privilege to +visit every state in the union and I find all +the good is not in any one state, nor all +the bad. While Kentucky has had her +night riders, Missouri has had her boodlers, +California her grafters, Illinois her +anarchists, Pennsylvania her machine +politics, New York her Tammany tiger, +and Washington City her blizzards on inauguration +days. God doesn't grow all the +daisies in one field nor confine thorns to +one thicket.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>It's been my lot this land to roam,</p> +<p>O'er every state twixt ocean's foam,</p> +<p>But still my heart clings to its home,</p> + <p class="i8">Kentucky.</p></div> +<a name="page310" id="page310"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 310]</span> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>I've traveled the prairies of the west,</p> +<p>I've seen each section at its best,</p> +<p>There's nothing like my native nest,</p> + <p class="i8">Kentucky.</p></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>No matter through what state I pass,</p> +<p>No matter how the people class,</p> +<p>To me there's only one Blue Grass,</p> + <p class="i8">Kentucky.</p></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>When my wanderings here are o'er,</p> +<p>And my spirit seeks the golden shore,</p> +<p>Then keep my dust for evermore,</p> + <p class="i8">Kentucky.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +Not only would I be brought up in Kentucky +and in the country, but I would go +to the same Yankee schoolmaster, have +the same sweethearts and marry the same +girl, provided she would consent to make +another journey with the same companion. +By the way, we were married in +Bourbon County, Kentucky, when she was +nineteen and I twenty. About four years +ago we celebrated our golden wedding, +and the morning after the celebration,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>She put on "her old grey bonnet,</p> +<p>With the blue ribbon on it."</p> +<p>We didn't "hitch Dobbin to the Shay"</p> +<p>But along the interurban</p><a name="page311" id="page311"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 311]</span> +<p>We rode down to Bourbon,</p> +<p>Where we started for our golden wedding day.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +If I could live life over surely I could +ask no better age than the one in which I +have lived. We no longer toil over a +mountain, but glide through it on ribbons +of steel; telegraphy dives the deep and +brings us the news of the old world every +morning before breakfast; we talk +with tongues of lightning through telephones +and send messages on ether waves +over the sea; we ride horse-cycles that run, +never walk and live without eating; we +travel in carriages drawn by electric +steeds that never tire; the signal service +gives us a geography of the weather, so +the farmer may know whether or not to +prepare to plow, and the Sunday school +whether to arrange or to postpone its picnic +tomorrow; airships mount the heavens, +steamships plough the ocean's bosom, +submarine torpedo boats undermine the +deep with missiles of death, while photography +turns one inside out, and doctors no +longer guess at the location of a bullet. +All these things have come to pass within +my life-time. What may the young before<a name="page312" id="page312"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 312]</span> +me expect in the next fifty years?</p> +<p> +Recently I read an imaginary letter, +supposed to have been written by a Wellsley +College girl. It was dated one hundred +years in the future. She wrote:</p> +<p> +"Father gave me a new airship a few +weeks ago. I leave my home in Baltimore +every morning after breakfast and reach +Wellsley in time for classes. We have only +thirty minutes in school in the morning +and fifteen in the afternoon. Our teachers +are in telepathic touch with all knowledge +and we get it in condensed form. A +few days ago, just after lunch at noon +I took a spin up into Canada; the machine +got a little out of fix, so I jumped on a +gyroscope and returned in time for dinner +at six.</p> +<p> +"Yesterday I sailed over to New York +City and took dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria; +had two capsules for dinner and +they were delicious. I read how the people +used to sit around tables and eat all +kinds of things. It must have been funny +to see their mouths all going at one +time. Then they had stomach trouble--indigestion +they called it. Now we have +everything necessary for the human system +put up in capsules; we get up a thousand<a name="page313" id="page313"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 313]</span> +feet above the earth where the air is +pure, so we ought to live to be two hundred +years old.</p> +<p> +"Last week my classmate and I took a +flying trip to see the Panama Canal, and +while there we decided to take in the Exposition +at San Francisco next day. There +we saw many antiquated machines called +automobiles; they used to run around the +streets in rubber stockings, honking +horns to warn the poor, then turning turtle +they killed or maimed the rich. In one +department we saw an animal with long +tail, and a mane on its neck. They called +it a horse and told us that years ago horses +were harnessed and driven about the +streets, while the fast ones were raced for +money."</p> +<p> +That young woman may be all right +about her capsule dinners and condensed +instruction, but one hundred years from +now, when on her way from the west to +Wellsley if she will stop in Lexington, Ky., +she will see a horse sale in progress; +horses selling from five hundred to ten +thousand dollars that will trot or pace a +mile in less than two minutes, while slow +ones will be hitched to dead wagons, used +to gather up those who have fallen from<a name="page314" id="page314"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 314]</span> +airships and gyroscopes. It may be that +one hundred years in the future airships +will be seen soaring over the cities, delivering +packages in parachutes at the back +doors of residences, but the day will never +dawn when there will be an airship, gyroscope, +or an automobile that will supplant +the fleet-footed, sleek-coated, handsome +Kentucky horse.</p> +<p> +Now I come to the more practical, for I +do not bring you this talk, challenging +your criticism or inviting your praise of +it as a literary production, but with the +purpose of helping some one live as I +would wish to live if I had my life to live +over.</p> +<p> +First, to the boys before me. If I had +life to live over one of my first purposes +would be to seek my calling in life. Do +you know half the failures of life come +from misfits of occupation? There are +lawyers starving for want of clients, doctors +with patients under monuments, and +preachers talking to empty pews, who +might have been successful in factories or +furrows. Cowper was a failure as a lawyer, +he was a success as a poet; Goldsmith +was a bungling surgeon, he was a power +with his pen; Horace Greely was a success<a name="page315" id="page315"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 315]</span> +in the Tribune office, he was a failure as a +farmer and a slow candidate for president.</p> +<p> +When U.S. Grant was a very young +man his father sent him to sell a horse to +a buyer and instructed him to ask one +hundred dollars, but if he could not get +that amount to take eighty-five. The buyer +looked the horse over and said: "Young +man, what is your price?" Young Grant +replied: "Father told me to ask you one +hundred dollars, but if you would not give +that to take eighty-five." It is needless to +say the calling of U.S. Grant was not +horse trading. This same young man afterwards +tried the grocery business and +bought potatoes far and wide to corner +the market, but the price went down, the +potatoes rotted in Grant's bins and his +grocery effort was on a par with his horse +trading. He then tried the ice market but +that became watered stock on his hands +and again he was a failure. Later on in +life 'mid roar of cannon and rattle of +musketry the misfit found his element. +Here he was so sure of his calling he +made his motto, "I'll fight it out on this +line if it takes all summer," and to the +general, who could not drive a horse +trade, or corner the potato market, or deal<a name="page316" id="page316"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 316]</span> +in ice, one of the greatest generals the +world ever knew surrendered his sword, +and from the highest military position +Grant was called to be President of the +United States.</p> +<p> +If it is true that "ever since creation +shot its first shuttle through chaos design +has marked the course of every golden +thread," then every human being is designed +to fill a certain place in life. +There are young women teaching school, +getting to be old maids, who should be the +wives of good husbands, and there are +some wives who ought to be old maid +"schoolmarms."</p> +<p> +We have born architects, born orators, +born bookkeepers, born musicians, born +poets, born preachers, born teachers, born +surgeons, born bankers, born blacksmiths, +born merchants, born farmers.</p> +<p> +Two farmers live side by side; one +doesn't seem to work hard, yet everything +is neatness from one end of the farm to +the other; his neighbor works hard, yet +the cattle are in his corn, the fences are +broken, gates off the hinges and everything +seems out of order. That man was +not made to be a farmer. He should rent +out, or sell out, and go to the legislature,<a name="page317" id="page317"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 317]</span> +or find some other place he can fill.</p> +<p> +Matthew Arnold said: "Better be a Napoleon +of book-blacks, or an Alexander of +chimney-sweeps, than an attorney, who, +like necessity, knows no law." There are +born shoemakers cobbling in Congress, +while statesmen are pegging away on a +shoe-last because their brains have not +been capitalized by education and opportunity. +There are born preachers at work +in machine shops, and born mechanics rattling +around in pulpits like a mustard seed +in an empty gourd; born surgeons are +carving beef in butcher stalls, while here +and there butchers are operating for appendicitis.</p> +<p> +God planted the hardy pine on the hills +of New England, and the magnolia down +in the sunny South-land. Let some horticulturist +compel the magnolia to climb +the cold hills of New England, and the +northern tree to come down and take its +place in the "land of cotton, cinnamon seed +and sandy bottom," and everything in both +will protest against the mistake.</p> +<p> +Lowell said: "Every baby boy is born +with a calling." With some this calling is +very definite. It was definite with George +Stevenson when in childhood he made engines<a name="page318" id="page318"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 318]</span> +of mud with sticks for smoke-stacks. +It was definite with Thomas A. Edison, +who, instead of selling newspapers, went +to experimenting with acids, and charged +a steel stirrup that lifted him into the electric +saddle of the world. With others it +is very indefinite. Patrick Henry failed +at everything he undertook until he began +talking, when he soon became the golden +mouthed orator of his age. Peter Cooper +failed until he took to making glue, then +his business "stuck" to everybody and he +made a fortune out of which he built Cooper +Union for the education of poor boys.</p> +<p> +I have a grandson whose calling was indefinite. +He was named for his grandfather, +to whom fishing is a fad. During my +rest season I go fishing almost every day. +While I make an exception of Sunday I +can appreciate the minister who was a +great fisherman. On his way to an appointment +Sunday morning he came upon a lad +fishing in a wayside stream. Halting he +said: "My boy, this is the Sabbath day +and the good Book says you should remember +to keep it holy." Just then a fish +seized the boy's bait and drew the float +under, when the good minister excitedly +said: "Pull, pull. Ah! that's a good one.<a name="page319" id="page319"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 319]</span> +I'll try that place myself <i>some other day</i>."</p> +<p> +Fishing is my favorite sport. My grandson +was a baseball fiend and a football +player. He was hurt in a football game +and I wrote him, warning him against his +recklessness, and to the admonition I added: +"Twenty-five boys have been killed +already this season playing football; it's +a brutal game anyway."</p> +<p> +He replied: "Dear Grandfather, I am +sorry so many boys have been killed playing +football, but I read recently that last +summer two hundred and fifty men were +drowned while out fishing; would it not +be well for you to keep off Lake Ellerslie? +You say football is a brutal game; I submit +to you, Grandpa, that the man who +takes an innocent worm or a minnow, +strings it on a steel hook, and sinking it +into the water, jerks the gills out of an +innocent fish, is more cruel than the boy +who kicks another around for exercise. I +need a pair of baseball shoes, number six +and a half; send them by express." He +got the shoes, and I decided <i>he</i> was called +to be a lawyer.</p> +<p> +Young man, if you get to be a preacher +and cannot put force into your sermon, +the world doesn't want to hear you preach,<a name="page320" id="page320"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 320]</span> +but if you are a good cobbler it will wear +your shoes, if a good baker it will eat your +bread, or if a good barber it will let you +put your razor to its throat. Remember +in making your choice,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Honor and fame from no condition rise,</p> +<p>Act well your part; there the honor lies."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +If I could live life over, I would not be +content with a common school education. +In my youth circumstances lifted a dead +wall against my hopes, but if given another +chance I would somehow press my +way to where higher education scatters its +trophies at the feet of youth, for while it +is true some of the most successful men +of our country graduated from the high +school of "hard knocks" and universities +of adversity, yet the humblest toil is more +easily accomplished and better done where +college education guides.</p> +<p> +To college education, however, I would +add the education which comes from rubbing +against the world. Some one has +said: "For every ounce of book knowledge +one needs a half dozen ounces of common +sense with which to apply it." Douglas +Jerrold said: "I have a friend who can +speak fluently a dozen different languages +but has not a practical idea to express in<a name="page321" id="page321"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 321]</span> +any one of them."</p> +<p> +An old woman suffering from rheumatism +was asked by a friend: "Did you ever +try electricity?"</p> +<p> +She answered: "Yes, I was struck by +lightning once but it didn't do me any +good."</p> +<p> +In this many sided age one needs to educate +muscle, nerves, heart and conscience +as well as brain. That man who is all +brain and no heart, goes through the world +with his intellect shining above his bosom +like an electric light over a graveyard.</p> +<p> +Young people, do you know you live in +a testing world, a world in which all buds +and blossoms are tested? The bud that +stands the test of wind and frost goes on +to flower and fruitage; the bud that can't +stand the test goes with the dust to be +trampled under foot. Every cannon made +by the government is tested; the cannon +that can stand the test goes into battleship +or land fort, the cannon that can't +stand the test goes into the junk pile.</p> +<p> +Yonder in Virginia a few years ago, +there was a young man who had everything +an indulgent father could give him, +but in school his character could not stand +the test, and he exchanged his books for<a name="page322" id="page322"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 322]</span> +wine and cards. He married a beautiful +young woman, shot her to death in his automobile +and died himself in the electric +chair, leaving his old father in a desolate +home with harrowing memories tearing +his heart; while over the life of an innocent +babe he hung a cloud as dark as was +ever woven out of the world's misfortune, +and sent another life to wander in painted +shame outside life's eden of purity, the +barb of conscious guilt to be driven deeper +and deeper into her soul by the scorn of a +pitiless world. All because young Beatty +could not stand the test!</p> +<p> +Harry Thaw had everything wealth and +refinement could bring into a young life, +but he sacrificed all upon unhallowed altars, +and with the brand of Cain upon his +brow, he was cast into a madman's cell. +He could not stand the test.</p> +<p> +Lord Byron was Britain's brilliant bard. +He could have lived in England's glory +and then slept with England's buried +greatness in Westminster Abbey, if he had +stood the test; but at the age of thirty-seven, +when he should have been on an +upward flight to greater fame, he drew +the "strings of his discordant harp" about +him and over them sent the bitter wail:<a name="page323" id="page323"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 323]</span></p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"My days are in the yellow leaf;</p> + <p class="i2">The flowers and fruits of love are gone;</p> +<p>The worm, the canker, and the grief</p> + <p class="i2">Are mine alone!"</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +Younder in a cabin a babe was born. +When eleven years of age he helped his +mother clear out a patch and raise a garden. +Later on he lay in front of a wood +fire, studying lessons for the morrow. Later +in life he went to college, with only a +few cents in his pocket. He went to +church and there gave part of his little all +in a collection for missionary work. The +next Saturday he earned a dollar with a +jack-plane; at the end of his college term +he had paid his way and had seven dollars +left. At twenty-eight this young man +was in the senate of his state, at thirty-six +he was in Congress, and twenty-seven +years from the time James A. Garfield +rang the bell of Hiram College for his +board he went into the White House as +President of the United States. He could +stand the test. Boys, can you stand the +test?</p> +<p> +During the Spanish American war there +was a regiment called the "Rough Riders." +It was made up of picked young men from<a name="page324" id="page324"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 324]</span> +different states of the Union. It was +this regiment that made the famous charge +up San Juan Hill. At the close of the war, +the regiment was mustered out of service. +The Colonel, giving his farewell address, +said: "You have made an honorable +record in war, now go back to your homes +and make honorable record in peace."</p> +<p> +Sixteen years of that record is made. +The Colonel has been President of the +United States for seven years of that time. +General Leonard Wood has gone to the +front of the army, and others of the regiment +have become successful professional +and business men; but some have gone to +jails and penitentiaries, one died not long +since in the streets of New York City and +was buried in a pauper's grave; some are +fugitives from justice.</p> +<p> +What is true of that regiment, is in +some measure true of every body of young +men and boys I meet. In my presence are +boys who will be leaders of thought and +action twenty years from now in whatever +community they dwell. There is a boy +before me who will be a successful merchant, +there's one who will be a banker, +another will be a lawyer, others will lead +in other lines. But alas! in my presence<a name="page325" id="page325"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 325]</span> +now, looking me in the face this minute, +there may be a boy, or boys, who will stain +with blood the stony path to despair.</p> +<p> +Do you say that no such ignominious +possibility hangs over any boy in this audience? +I tell you it is not always the +first, but sometimes the fairest born. I +know a man who in his youth drove his +father's fine horses, romped and rested on +the richest blue-grass lawn, ate from spotless +linen and lived in luxury, who now +eats from the bare tables of low saloons, +and is often given shelter by an old colored +"mammy," who was once his father's +slave.</p> +<p> +I have in mind a schoolmate, whose father +lived in a fine country home two miles +from the schoolhouse. The influence of +my schoolmate's mother was pure as the +diamond dew he brushed from the bending +grass in barefoot days. But he left the +country home and the last time I saw him +he was a vagabond, begging bread from +negro cabin doors. Ah! mother, you can't +tell <i>which</i> boy.</p> +<p> +In a large city a few years ago a man +stood at the side door of a saloon at two +o'clock in the morning. His clothes were +worn and the matted hair hung about his<a name="page326" id="page326"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 326]</span> +face. He waited, hoping some one would +come along and give him the price of a +drink. Two young men, one of them a +reporter on a leading daily, came down the +street. As they neared the poor fellow, +one said to the other: "Did you ever see +such an appeal for a drink? Here, hobo, +take this dime and buy you one."</p> +<p> +Seizing his hand his friend said: "No, +let's do the job like good Samaritans. +Come in, tramp, and have a drink with +us."</p> +<p> +The three entered the saloon, the glasses +were filled and the tramp took his and +draining it, said: "Young men, I'm very +thirsty, may I have another?"</p> +<p> +"Yes, help yourself," was the reply, and +the tramp took the second drink. Then +lifting his hat he said:</p> +<p> +"Young men, you call me a hobo, but I +see in you a picture of my lost manhood. +Once I had a face as fair as yours, and +wore as good clothes as you have now. I +had a home where love lit the flame on the +altar, but I put out the fire and to-night +I'm a wanderer without a home. I had +a wife as beautiful as an artist's dream, +but I took the pearl of her love, dropped it +in the wine glass, Cleopatra-like I saw it<a name="page327" id="page327"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 327]</span> +dissolve and I quaffed it down. I had a +sweet child I fondly loved, and still love, +though I have not seen her for twelve +years; a young woman now in her grandfather's +home, she is deprived of the heritage +of a father's good name. Young +men, I once had aspirations and ambitions +that soared as high as the morning star, +but I clipped their wings, I strangled them +and they died. Call me a tramp, do you? +I'm a preacher without a charge, a lawyer +without a brief, a husband without a wife, +a father without a child, a man without a +friend. I thank you for the drinks. Go +to your homes and on soft beds may you +sleep well; I'll go out and sleep on yonder +bench in the night wind. A few more +drinks, a few more drunkard's dreams, +and I'll go out into the moonless, starless +night of a hopeless forever."</p> +<p> +Oh! how I would like to help some boy +in this audience stand on his two feet and +with clear brain, manly muscle, and moral +courage fight and win the battle of life. +How it would rejoice my soul if I could, +with earnest appeal, throw about some +mother's boy an armor of celestial atmosphere +against which the arrows of evil +would beat in vain, and fall harmless at<a name="page328" id="page328"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 328]</span> +his feet.</p> +<p> +Hear me, boys; never was there a day +when character counted for so much as +now; never a day when a young man, +equipped with education and stability of +character, filled with energy and ambition, +was in such demand as he is today; +while on the other hand, never was there +a day when a young man with bad habits +was in so little demand as now. The industrial +world is closing its doors against +young men who are not sober, industrious +and competent. Even a saloon-keeper advertised +thus: "Wanted--A man to tend +bar, who does not drink intoxicating liquors." +How would this read: "Wanted--A +young man to sell shoes, who goes bare-footed."</p> +<p> +Young women, just here I have a question +for you. If the railroad company +does not want the drinking man, if the +merchant discriminates against him, and +even the saloon-keeper does not want him +for bar-tender, do you want him for a +husband? Can you afford to wrap up +your hopes of happiness in him and to him +swear away your young life and love?</p> +<p> +Some young woman may say: "If I +taboo the drinking man, I may be an old<a name="page329" id="page329"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 329]</span> +maid." Then be an old maid, get some +"bloom of youth," paint up and love yourself. +John B. Gough said: "You better +be laughed at for not being married, than +never to laugh any more because you are +married."</p> +<p> +If I could live life over there are some +things I would not do. I would not stop +smoking as I did thirty-five years ago, because +I never would begin and therefore +would not need to stop. I am not a fanatic +on the question, but I believe every father +in my presence, who uses tobacco, will +be glad to have me say that which I will +now say to the boys who are dulling their +brains, poisoning their blood and weakening +their hearts by the use of cigarettes.</p> +<p> +Boys, I believe a cigar made me tell my +first falsehood. When I was fifteen years +of age I felt I must smoke if I ever expected +to be a man. Father smoked, our +pastor smoked, and so did almost every +man in our neighborhood. My mother opposed +the habit, but I thought mother did +not know what it took to make a man.</p> +<p> +I heard her make an engagement to +spend a whole day ten miles from home +the following week, and that day I set +apart for learning to smoke cigars. I laid<a name="page330" id="page330"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 330]</span> +in some fine ones, six for five cents, and +when mother went out the gate on her +visit, I started for the barn. In a shed +back of the barn I took out my cigars, determined +to learn that day if it required +the six cigars for my graduation. The +first cigar was lighted and with every puff +I felt the manhood coming; but in about +five minutes I felt the manhood <i>going</i>. +Just then my uncle called: "George, where +are you?" When I answered he said: +"Come here and hold this colt while I +knock out a blind tooth."</p> +<p> +Horsemen before me know some colts +have blind teeth and to save the eyes these +must be removed. I staggered to the colt, +held the halter rein and when the tooth +was removed my uncle, looking at me, +said: "What's the matter with you? You +are pale as death."</p> +<p> +"Nothing, only it always did make me +sick to see a blind tooth knocked out of a +horse's mouth," I replied.</p> +<p> +My uncle said: "You better lie down +on the grass until it passes off," and I did.</p> +<p> +But I kept on after that until I learned +to smoke like a man. When years had +passed and I became editor of a paper it +seemed to me I could write better editorials<a name="page331" id="page331"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 331]</span> +with the smoke curling about my +face.</p> +<p> +One morning I finished my breakfast +before Mrs. Bain had half finished hers. +Lighting my cigar I stood by the fire chatting +and smoking until the stub was all +that remained. Then, as was my custom, +I walked up to kiss her good-bye when she +said: "Good-bye. But, I would like to ask +you a question. How would you like to +have me finish my breakfast before you +are half through yours, light a cigar, +smoke it to the stub, and with tobacco on +my lips and breath offer to kiss you good +morning?"</p> +<p> +I said: "You don't have to kiss me," +and with this I left for my work. On the +way her question seemed to be waiting my +answer, and I gave it in a resolve that she +should never again have cause to repeat +that question, and with my resolve went +the cigar.</p> +<p> +About this time a co-worker joined me +in the same resolution, which helped me +to keep mine. After tea that evening +Mrs. Bain said: "I did not know you were +so sensitive, or I should not have said what +I did." I did not tell her then of my promise, +lest I should fail to keep it. Thirty-five<a name="page332" id="page332"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 332]</span> +years have passed and not a single cigar +have I had between my lips since that +morning.</p> +<p> +Boys, take one five-cent cigar after each +meal, add up the nickels for one year, put +the money at interest, next year, and every +year do the same, compounding the interest, +and in thirty-five years you will have +thirty-five hundred dollars--the price of a +home for your old age.</p> +<p> +I do not hope to convert old smokers, +but if I can persuade one young man in +this audience to throw away the cigarette, +never to smoke one again, then I will have +honored this hour's service.</p> +<p> +If I could live life over I would take +the same total-abstinence pledge I took +fifty years ago and have kept inviolate to +this day. I would take it, not only because +of its personal benefit to me, but because +of what it has led me to do for others.</p> +<p> +It is said reformers never expect to see +the bread they cast upon the waters; inventors +may, but not reformers. Yet I +have lived to see my bread come back "buttered" +in my old age.</p> +<p> +I have lived to see thousands of men +and women to whom I gave the pledge in<a name="page333" id="page333"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 333]</span> +their youth, wearing it still as a garland +about their brows, and their children, by +precept and example of parents, keep step +with the onward march of the temperance +army.</p> +<p> +I have lived to see more than one hundred +counties of Kentucky, in which I established +Good Templar Lodges, when bottles +were on sideboards in the homes, and +barrooms in almost every crossroad village, +now in the dry column.</p> +<p> +I have lived to see seventeen states under +prohibition, fifty millions of people of the +United States living under prohibitory +laws, the Congress of the United States +giving a majority vote for submitting national +prohibition to the people, and the +great empire of Russia going dry in a day.</p> +<p> +Sweet is the "buttered bread" that is +coming to me after these many years since +I cast my bread upon the waters, when +days were dark, discouragements many +and faith weak. I am waiting now for another +slice of this "buttered bread" about +the size of old Kentucky dry.</p> +<p> +If I could live life over I would put a +better bit to my tongue, and a better bridle +on my temper. An Englishman said: +"My wife has a temper; if she could get<a name="page334" id="page334"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 334]</span> +rid of it I would not exchange her for any +woman in the world."</p> +<p> +Two men meet and have a misunderstanding; +one flies into a passion, shoots or +stabs, while the other stands placid and +self-contained, preserving his dignity. +The world calls the first a brave man and +the latter a coward; but Solomon declared +the man who rules himself to be "greater +than he that taketh a city."</p> +<p> +Oh! the tragedies that lie in the wake of +the tempest of temper. On the dueling +field such men as Alexander Hamilton +went down to death for want of self-control. +Andrew Jackson killed Dickerson; +Benton of Missouri killed Lucas; General +Marmaduke killed General Walker. Pettus +and Biddle, one a Congressman, the +other a paymaster in the army, had a war +of words, a challenge followed; one being +near-sighted selected five feet as the distance +for the duel, and there educated +men, with pistols almost touching, stood, +fired and both were killed.</p> +<p> +Senator Carmack of Tennessee, criticised +Colonel Cooper as a machine politician. +Cooper said: "Put my name in your +paper again, and I'll kill you." Young +Cooper felt in his rage that he must settle<a name="page335" id="page335"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 335]</span> +the trouble. Did he settle it? The bullet +that went through the heart of Carmack +went through the heart of his wife, threw +a shadow over the life of his child, and +draped Tennessee in mourning. Did he +settle it? He started a tempest that will +howl through his life while memory lasts +and echo through his soul to all eternity. +Oh! that men would realize that to walk +honorably and deal justly insures in time +vindication from all calumny.</p> +<p> +Abraham Lincoln was called the "Illinois +baboon" by a leading journal, but Mr. +Lincoln placidly read the charge, and told +a joke as a safety valve for whatever anger +he may have felt. One hundred years +go by and the President leaves Washington +and goes on a long journey to stand +at a cabin door in Kentucky, there to pay +tribute to a man who "never lost his balance +or tore a passion to tatters."</p> +<p> +I stood in front of the great Krupp gun +at the World's Fair, and as the soldier in +charge told me that one discharge cost one +thousand dollars, and it could send a shell +sixteen miles and pierce iron plated ships, +its lips seemed loaded with death and it +spoke of war and bloodshed and hate.</p> +<a name="page336" id="page336"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 336]</span> +<p> +A little later I entered the Hall of Fine +Arts and looked upon that impressive +picture entitled, "Breaking Home Ties." +The lad is about to go out from the roof +that has sheltered him from babyhood, to +be his own guide in the big wide world. +His mother holds his hand as she looks +love into his eyes, and gives him her warnings +and blessing; the father, with his +boy's valise in his hand, has turned away +with a lump in his throat, while even the +dog seems to be joining in the loving farewell.</p> +<p> +Turning away from that picture, the +thought came: Ah! that means more than +Krupp guns. It means the coming of a +day when love shall rule and war shall +cease, when reason and righteousness shall +be the arbitrators for differences between +nations, when owls and bats will nest in +the portholes of battleships, and each nation +will vie with the other in warring +against the kingdoms of want and wickedness.</p> +<p> +When a man requested Bishop McIntyre +to preach his wife's funeral sermon, and +told him of her many beautiful traits, +Bishop McIntyre said: "Brother, did you +ever tell her all these sweet things before +she died?"</p> +<a name="page337" id="page337"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 337]</span> +<p> +Just here Sam Jones would say: "Husbands, +go home and kiss your wives. Tell +them they are the dearest, sweetest things +on the earth; you may have to stretch the +truth a little, but say it anyway."</p> +<p> +A few years ago, just before the Christmas +holidays, I wrote my daughter, saying: +"I wish you would find out from +your mother what she would like for a +Christmas gift. However, don't tell her +I wrote you to do this. Also suggest something +for the grandchildren that I may +bring each some little remembrance that +will please them." I closed by saying:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"The sands of my life are growing less and less,</p> + <p class="i2">Soon I'll reach the end of my years,</p> +<p>Then you'll lay me away with tenderness</p> + <p class="i2">And pay me the tribute of tears.</p></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Don't carve on my tomb any word of fame,</p> + <p class="i2">Nor a wheel with its missing spokes,</p> +<p>Simply let the marble tell my name,</p> + <p class="i2">Then add, 'He was good to his folks.'"</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +Boys and girls, don't speak back to +mother. You love her and don't mean to +offend, but it hurts her. She was patient +with you in your infancy; be patient with<a name="page338" id="page338"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 338]</span> +her in her old age. From her birth she +has been your loyal, loving slave. She +will go away and leave you after a little +while, and oh! how you will miss her when +she's gone. Deal gently with her now; +speak kindly to her and when she's gone +memories of your love and kindness to +mother will come to you like sweet perfume +from wooded blossoms.</p> +<p> +Young lady graduate of high school or +college, do you realize what your father +has done for you, and the sacrifices he has +made that you might have what he has +never had--a diploma? Go, put your fair +tender cheek against the weather-beaten +face of your father, print with rosy lips a +kiss of gratitude upon his furrowed brow, +and tell him you appreciate all he has done +for you.</p> +<p> +I have been talking to you an hour about +what I would do if I could live life over. +If I had life to live over would I do any +better than I have done? If I am no +better now, than I was five years ago, if I +am to be no better five years hence than I +am now, then I would do no better if I had +another trial.</p> +<p> +However, I cannot live life over. The +sand in the hour-glass is running low and<a name="page339" id="page339"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 339]</span> +when gone can never be replaced, and I +am not much struck on old age. It is said +to have its compensations, in that the +"aches and asthmas of old age are no +worse than the measles, mumps, whooping-coughs +and appendicitis pains of +youth." Righteous old age should be better +than youth. The ocean of time with +its breakers and perils face the young, +while for the righteous old the storms are +past, and they are</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Waiting to enter the haven wide,</p> +<p>See His face, and be satisfied."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +I cannot help these grey hairs or the +wrinkles on my brow, but I can keep my +heart young, and I <i>do</i>. I enjoy the company +of old people, but delight more in +associating with the young.</p> +<p> +Dr. A.A. Willetts lectured on "Sunshine" +sixty years ago. In his ninetieth +year he was still lecturing; had he lectured +on shadows he would doubtless have died +many years before, and never been known +as the "Apostle of Sunshine."</p> +<p> +Solomon said: "A merry heart doeth +good like a medicine." Never lock the +door of your heart against the sunshine of +cheerfulness, and remember it is not the<a name="page340" id="page340"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 340]</span> +exclusive blessing of youth but blooms in +the heart of any age. With some it seems +to be an inheritance. It kisses some babies +in the cradle, and the radiance of that +kiss lingers through three-score years and +ten; while others are born cross, live cross +and die cross. A babe of this latter kind +came into a home and kept up its wailing +for several days. The little six-year old +boy of the home said: "Mother, did you +say little brother came from heaven?"</p> +<p> +"Yes, dear; why do you ask?"</p> +<p> +"Well, no wonder the angels bounced +him," the boy replied.</p> +<p> +I know a woman who is forever telling +her trials. If you do not listen to her story +you must read it on her countenance. +Nearby is another who has lost her parents; +indeed all her near relatives are +gone; not a flower left to bloom on the desert +of old age. Yet, she hides her sorrows +beneath the soul's altar of hope and meets +the world with a smile. Doubtless the +first woman wonders why she is so slighted +and the company of the other courted. +She should know it is for the same reason +that honey-bees and humming birds light +on sweet flowers instead of dry mullien +stalks, and mocking-birds and canaries are<a name="page341" id="page341"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 341]</span> +caged instead of owls and rain-crows.</p> +<p> +Some persons seem to relish the "cold +soup of retrospect" and persist in picking +the "bones of regret," without any appetite +for the present or promises of the future. +Beside one of these I would place a +happy-hearted soul, who laughs through +the window of the eye and on whose face +you can read,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Let those who will, repine at fate,</p> + <p class="i2">And droop their heads in sorrow,</p> +<p>I'll laugh when cares upon me wait,</p> + <p class="i2">I know they'll leave to-morrow.</p></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"My purse is light, but what of that?</p> + <p class="i2">My heart is light to match it;</p> +<p>And if I tear my only coat,</p> + <p class="i2">I'll laugh the while I patch it."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +I know a millionaire, who controls numerous +industries, whose wife must apply +cold cloths to his head at night to induce +sleep. I know another man not so well off +in this world's goods, whose wife must apply +the cold water to get him awake. Care +is often pillowed in a palace, while contentment +is asleep in a cottage.</p> +<p> +At the close of my lecture at a chautauqua +several years ago, a gentleman said<a name="page342" id="page342"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 342]</span> +to me: "Sir, we live in a very humble cottage +in this town, but there is a big welcome +over the door for you and we want +you to take tea with us." I accepted the +invitation and soon was seated on the +porch of the small cottage home. While +my host was inside getting a pitcher of +ice water, I looked across the way and +there was the home of a railroad king, his +wealth numbered by millions, and the +grounds surrounding his home were rich +in flower beds, fountains and forest trees. +My host, pouring the water, said: "You +see we are very fortunately situated here. +Our little home is inexpensive and our +taxes very light. Our rich neighbor across +the way employs three gardeners to care +for those grounds; he pays all the taxes, +has all the care; they do not cost us a cent, +yet we sit here on our little porch and +drink in their beauty." There was a philosopher.</p> +<p> +John Wanamaker can pay $100,000 for +a picture, which he did some years ago, +and hang it on the walls of his mansion +home, but you go out in the country +in the springtime, get up in the +early morning while the cattle are still +sleeping in the barnyard and the birds silent<a name="page343" id="page343"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 343]</span> +in the trees, watch the rich glow of +the day god as it comes peeping through +the windows of the morning, then see the +birds leave their bowers, the larks to fly +away to the fields, the mocking-bird to sing +in the cedar at the garden gate, the robin +to chirp to its mate, and you will see a +picture which will pale that of the merchant +prince.</p> +<p> +Or go out on a summer evening just after +a rain storm, when nature hangs itself +out to dry; when the golden slipper +of the god of day hangs upon the topmost +bough of the tallest tree. You will see a +picture no artist's brush can paint. And +God does not hang these pictures on a wall +twenty feet by ten, but on the blue tapestry +of the sky for the world's poor to admire +"without money and without price." +Abraham Lincoln well said: "God must +have loved the common people, else he +wouldn't have made so many of them."</p> +<p> +Let me illustrate the two classes of people +to which I have referred. An old man +who dwelt in the shadows of life said: "My +life has been one continual drudgery and +disappointment; for fifty years I have had +to get up at 5 o'clock every morning while +others enjoyed their sleep, then all day in<a name="page344" id="page344"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 344]</span> +the harness of oppression I have had to +work with bad luck dogging my footsteps."</p> +<p> +His daughter, thinking to cheer him, +said, "Father, don't get discouraged. You +have one comfort anyway; it won't be long +till the end of toil will come, when you will +have a good long rest in the grave where +no misfortune can reach you."</p> +<p> +"I don't know about that," replied the +father; "it will be about my luck for the +next morning to be resurrection day and +I'll have to be up at daylight as usual."</p> +<p> +Another man, who always looked on the +bright side of life, and when anything +went wrong always looked up something +good to match it, happened to lose a fine +horse. When friends expressed sympathy +he said: "I can't complain; I never +lost a horse before." Then his crop failed +and he said: "After ten years of good +crops I have no kick coming because of +one failure." Finally, poor fellow, a railroad +train ran over him and both feet had +to be amputated at the ankles. A friend +called to see him and said: "Jim, what +have you to say after this misfortune?"</p> +<a name="page345" id="page345"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 345]</span> +<p> +His reply was: "Well, I always did suffer +with cold feet."</p> +<p> +Look on the bright side of life, remembering +that very often,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"The trouble that makes us fume and fret,</p> +<p>And the burdens that make us groan and sweat</p> +<p>Are the things that haven't happened yet."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +When our two boys were babies our +home was a country cottage and our land +possession one acre. Nearby lived a young +man whose father left him a blue-grass +farm. His home was a handsome brick +house; he had servants and drove fine +horses. Often when seated on the little +porch of our humble home, he would pass +by, when the feet of his horses and wheels +of his fine carriage would dash the dust +into our faces. One evening when he +passed I said: "Never mind, Anna, some +day we'll live in a fine house, we'll have +servants and horses and we'll be 'somebodies'." +I thought money would bring happiness, +and the more money the more happiness.</p> +<p> +We now live in a good home, have servants +and horse and carriage; we've traveled +several times together from ocean to +ocean, yet I have never seen a train of<a name="page346" id="page346"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 346]</span> +Pullman palace cars that can compare in +memory with the two trains that used to +leave that little cottage home every evening +for dreamland.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"The first train started at seven p.m.,</p> + <p class="i2">Over the dreamland road,</p> +<p>The mother dear was the engineer,</p> + <p class="i2">The passenger laughed and crowed.</p></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>The palace car was the mother's arms,</p> + <p class="i2">The whistle a low sweet strain;</p> +<p>The passenger winked, nodded and blinked</p> + <p class="i2">And fell asleep on the train.</p></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>The next train started at eight p.m.,</p> + <p class="i2">For the slumberland afar,</p> +<p>The summons clear, fell on the ear,</p> + <p class="i2">'All aboard for the sleeping car.'</p></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>And what was the fare to slumberland?</p> + <p class="i2">I assure you not very dear;</p> +<p>Only this, a hug and a kiss,</p> + <p class="i2">They were paid to the engineer."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +And I said:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Take charge of the passengers, Lord, I pray,</p> + <p class="i2">To me they are very dear;</p> +<p>And special ward, O gracious Lord,</p> + <p class="i2">Give the faithful engineer."</p> +</div> +</div> +<a name="page347" id="page347"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 347]</span> +<p> +Have some of you had sorrows you +could not harmonize with the logic of life? +Leave them with Him who "notes the sparrow's +fall." Some one has said: "There +are angels in the quarries of life only the +blasts of misfortune and chisels of adversity +can carve into beauty."</p> +<p> +Doctor Theodore Cuyler said: "God +washes the eyes of His children with tears +that they may better see His providences."</p> +<p> +Doctor Gutherie said: "Because I am +seventy, my hair white and crows' feet +around my eyes, they tell me I'm growing +old. That's not I, that's the house in +which I live; I'm on the inside; the house +may go to pieces but I shall live on eternally +young."</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"This body is my house, it is not I;</p> + <p class="i2">Herein I sojourn, till in some far off sky,</p> +<p>I lease a fairer dwelling, built to last,</p> + <p class="i2">Till all the carpentry of time is past.</p></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"When from heaven high, I view this lone star,</p> + <p class="i2">What need I care where these poor timbers are;</p> +<p>What if these crumbling walls do go back to dust and loam,</p><a name="page348" id="page348"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 348]</span> + <p class="i2">I will have exchanged them for a broader better home.</p> +<p>This body is my house, it is not I;</p> +<p>Triumphant in this faith, I shall live and die."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +Since I cannot live life over, since the +gate at the end of life's journey swings +but one way, and of all the millions who +have passed through, not one but the Crucified +Son of God has returned, why should +I select such a subject for a lecture? When +one is on a journey he has never made before +it is well to consult one who has traveled +the road and from him learn the +things best to be done, and the places to +shun.</p> +<p> +For more than three-score years and +ten I have been making life's journey, and +for more than forty years have been mingling +with the masses and meeting with +varied experiences. To those who are +climbing the hill toward the noon of the +journey my advice should be of value.</p> +<p> +With those who with me are facing the +sinking sun, and the lengthening shadows +falling behind, I thank God for that faith +which comes from a diviner source than<a name="page349" id="page349"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 349]</span> +human science, that tells us,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"There's a place, called the Land of Beginning Again,</p> + <p class="i2">Where all our mistakes and all our heartaches,</p> +<p>And all our griefs and pain,</p> + <p class="i2">Will be left in the boat, like a shabby old coat,</p> +<p>And never put on again.</p></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"I'm glad there's a place for the redeemed of the race,</p> + <p class="i2">In the Land of Beginning Again,</p> +<p>Where there'll be no sighing, there'll be no dying,</p> + <p class="i2">And where sorrows that seemed so sore,</p> +<p>Will vanish away like the night into day,</p> + <p class="i2">And never come back any more."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +It is said "if wishes were horses, beggars +would ride." It is useless for me to +wish to live life over or expect an extension +of many more years of borrowed +time, but I hope yet that along the shortening +path I may open up here and there +a spring that will refresh some thirsty soul +and plant a flower that will brighten the +path of some weary one.</p> +<a name="page350" id="page350"></a><span class="pagenum">[page 350]</span> +<p> +It is my desire that I may close the life +I cannot live over in the city where it began, +surrounded by loved ones in whose +lives I have lived. I can think of no more +fitting close to this lecture than to use a +thought borrowed from another, in paying +a tribute to my old Kentucky home:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>On her blue-grass bed in youth</p> + <p class="i2">I rolled and romped and rested;</p> +<p>At the altars of her church</p> + <p class="i2">I learned in whom I trusted.</p></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>'Tis here my honored parents sleep,</p> + <p class="i2">A dear sweet babe reposes,</p> +<p>And o'er my darling daughter's grave</p> + <p class="i2">Blossom the summer roses.</p></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>'Tis here my marriage vows were given,</p> + <p class="i2">'Tis here my children found me;</p> +<p>My heart is here, and here may heaven</p> + <p class="i2">Fold angel wings around me.</p></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>May sacred memories hold me here,</p> + <p class="i2">And when life's dream closes,</p> +<p>May I the plaudit "well done" wear,</p> + <p class="i2">Then sleep beneath her roses.</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Wit, Humor, Reason, Rhetoric, Prose, +Poetry and Story Woven into Eight Popular Lectures, by George W. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** + + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/16858-h/images/001-bain.png b/16858-h/images/001-bain.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..577ece1 --- /dev/null +++ b/16858-h/images/001-bain.png diff --git a/16858.txt b/16858.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6aeb8da --- /dev/null +++ b/16858.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7411 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Wit, Humor, Reason, Rhetoric, Prose, Poetry +and Story Woven into Eight Popular Lectures, by George W. Bain + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Wit, Humor, Reason, Rhetoric, Prose, Poetry and Story Woven into Eight Popular Lectures + +Author: George W. Bain + +Release Date: October 12, 2005 [EBook #16858] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WIT, HUMOR, REASON *** + + + + +Produced by Bill Tozier, Barbara Tozier, Carol David, +Lesley Halamek and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + [Illustration: _George W. Bain._] + + _Wit, Humor, Reason, Rhetoric, + Prose, Poetry and Story + woven into_ + + _Eight Popular Lectures._ + + _by_ + + _George W. Bain._ + + + + PUBLISHED BY +THE PENTECOSTAL PUBLISHING COMPANY + LOUISVILLE, KY. + + + COPYRIGHTED 1915 + + BY + + GEO. W. BAIN, + + LEXINGTON, KY. + + + + +To + +Anna M. Bain. + + +So far as this life is concerned, I can express no better wish for any +young man who reads this book, than that he may be wedded to a wife as +loyal, loving and helpful to him as mine has been to me. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +In offering this book to the public no claim is made to literary merit +or originality of thought. It is published with the same purpose its +contents were spoken from the platform, namely, to do good. + +With the testimony of many, that hearing these lectures helped to +shape their lives, came the thought that reading them might help +others when the tongue that spoke them is silent. + +As a public speaker the author admits, that how to get a grip on his +hearers outweighed the grammar of language; that the ring of sincerity +and truth in presenting a proposition appealed to him more than +relation of pronoun or preposition; besides in the "high school of +hard knocks" from which he graduated artistic taste in literature was +not taught. + +If it is true that "tongue is more potent than pen," then the +mysterious power of personality and delivery will be missed in the +reading, yet it is hoped the simplicity of the setting of anecdote and +argument, incident and experience, facts and figures, story, poetry +and appeal will suffice to make this volume attractive and helpful to +those who read it, and thus the lives of many may be made brighter and +better by the life work of the author. + + George W. Bain. + + + + +POPULAR LECTURES. + +Index. + + +Lecture Page + +I. Among The Masses, or Traits of Character 9 + +II. A Searchlight of the Twentieth Century 59 + +III. Our Country, Our Homes and Our Duty 101 + +IV. The New Woman and The Old Man 137 + +V. The Safe Side of Life for Young Men 187 + +VI. Platform Experiences 233 + +VII. The Defeat of The Nation's Dragon 273 + +VIII. If I Could Live Life Over 307 + + + + + +I + +AMONG THE MASSES, OR TRAITS OF CHARACTER. + + +Whatever criticism I choose to make on human character, I hope to +soften the criticism with the "milk of human kindness." As rude rough +rocks on mountain peaks wear button-hole bouquets so there are +intervening traits in the rudest human character, which, if the clouds +could only part, would show out in redeeming beauty. + +To begin with, I believe prejudice to be one of the most unreasonable +traits in character. It is said: "One of the most difficult things in +science is to invent a lense that will not distort the object it +reflects; the least deviation in the lines of the mirror will destroy +the beauty of a star." How unreliable then must be the distorting +lense of human prejudice. + +I had a bit of experience during the Civil War which gave me something +of that whole-heartedness necessary to the service of my kind. In the +twilight of a summer evening, making a sharp curve in a road, about a +dozen men confronted me. They were dressed in blue, a color I was not +very partial to at that time. I had read that "he that fights and runs +away may live to fight another day." It occurred to me that he who +would run without fighting might have a still better chance, but the +click of gun locks and an order to surrender changed my mind to +"safety first" and I was a prisoner of the blue-coated cavalry. + +The commanding officer who had me in charge (during my visit) was a +Kentucky Colonel. He afterward became a major-general. I looked at him +during the remainder of the war from the narrow standpoint of +prejudice and cherished revenge in my heart for his having exposed me +to the flying bullets of the Confederate pickets, a peril he was not +responsible for and of which he knew nothing until I informed him in +after years. + +A few years after the war our barks met upon the same wave of life's +ocean. We became engaged in the same work of reform, I as an advocate +of temperance, he as candidate for the presidency of the United States +on the prohibition ticket. From the warmth of friendship, my prejudice +melted like mist before the morning sun and I found in General Green +Clay Smith a combination of the noblest traits in human character. + +Whoever would graduate in the highest franchise of being, and realize +the royalty that comes of partnership with sovereignty, must have +respectfulness of bearing and feeling toward those from whom they +differ. We are greatly creatures of education and environment anyway, +and until we can unlock the alphabet of a life and sum up the +mingling, blending, reciprocal forces that have been playing upon that +life, we have no more right to abuse persons for honest convictions +than we have to blame them for their parentage. + +You do not know the forces that have given direction to the lives of +others; if so, you might know why one is a member of this or that +church, this or that political party, why one lives north, another +south, one on the land, another on the sea. + +Some of you may differ with me, but I believe if General Grant had +been born in the South, reared and educated in the South, his father +had owned a cotton plantation and many slaves, General Grant would +have been a Confederate General in the Civil War; while Robert E. Lee +if born, reared and educated in New England would have been a Union +General. If my opinion is correct, if all you northern people had +lived down south, and we southern people had lived north, we would +have gotten the better of the conflict instead of you. + +If yonder oak, that came from the finest acorn and promised to be the +monarch of the forest, was dwarfed by simply a drop of dew; if yonder +rolling river, bearing its commerce to sea, was turned seaward, +instead of lakeward, by simply a pebble thrown in the fountain-head; +why not have consideration for those whose circumstances and early +training set in motion convictions differing from ours. God did not +intend all the trees to be oaks, or that all the rivers should run in +one direction, but He did intend all to make up at last His one great +purpose. + +Thomas F. Marshall in an address many years ago, to illustrate the +differences between people of different sections, said: "If you call a +Mississippian a liar, he will challenge you to a duel; call a +Kentuckian a liar, he will stab you with a bowie-knife or shoot you +down; call an Indianian a liar, he will say, 'You're another;' call a +New Englander a liar, he will say, 'I bet you a dollar you can't prove +it.'" + +Mr. Marshall intended his compliment for the Mississippian and +Kentuckian, but really his compliment was to the New Englander. If a +man calls you a liar, and you are not a liar, the manliest thing to do +is to say, "I challenge you, sir, not on to a field of dishonor, where +the better aimed bullet will tell who's a murderer, but I challenge +you out into the sunlight of God's truth where I'll prove myself a man +and you a slanderer." + +I use this to show it is not just to look at character or questions +from the narrow standpoint of prejudice. + +Then again, we should not judge a person by one trait. There are +persons for whom you may do fifty favors, yet make one mistake and +they will never forgive you. George Dewey went to the Philippine +Islands, remained in the harbor for months, never made a mistake and +returned to this country the naval hero of the world; and never were +so many babies, horses and dogs named for one man in the same length +of time. But one morning the papers came out with the statement that +he had deeded to his wife a piece of property some friends had +presented to him, and within three days after, when his picture was +thrown on a canvas in an opera house in Washington City it was hissed +from the audience, and when later on he dared to allow his name used +as a candidate for the presidency of the United States, we were ready +to smash the hero at once. But we must remember there are very few men +able to withstand the world's praises. Indeed there never was but one +man who could be successfully lionized and that man was Daniel. + +Captain Smith of the Titanic was held responsible by public opinion +for the sinking of the great ship and was harshly criticised by the +press. His forty years of faithful, careful service on the sea was +erased by the one mistake. It was a tremendous one, but let it be said +to his credit that experts had declared that a ship with fifteen +air-tight compartments could not sink, that if cut into halves both +ends would ride the sea. The bulk-head was made to withstand any +contact, and Captain Smith never dreamt of danger from icebergs. But +when he saw his idol shattered, he did all a brave seaman could do to +save human lives. When the last life-boat was launched he came upon a +little child who was lost from its parents. He seized a life-belt, +buckled it about his waist and taking the child in his arms, jumped +into the icy ocean. Holding the child above the water with one hand, +he used the other as an oar, and reaching a boat he placed the little +one in the arms of a woman. Then returning to his sinking ship, he +threw off the life-belt and went down to his death. Who knows but in +the great reckoning day, his reward will be "inasmuch as ye did it +unto that little one on the sea, ye did it unto me." + +The great Joseph Cook had a reputation that caused many to look upon +him as one who was all brains and no heart. Before meeting Mr. Cook I +was very much prejudiced against him because of what I had heard. I +lectured for a teachers' institute at New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, +when the great preacher was to follow me the next evening. As I was +leaving the county superintendent said to me: "When you reach the main +line Joseph Cook will get off the train which you are to take. I wish +you would speak to him and give him the name of the hotel where I have +reserved a room for him." When I reached the junction, and the great +savage looking lecturer stepped from the train, I said to myself: "You +can go to any hotel you please, I'll tell you nothing." + +Some months later I lectured in Cooper Union Hall in New York City. +Just about time to begin the lecture Joseph Cook entered the door and +took a seat just inside. When I had talked about ten minutes, he arose +and passed out. I thought he was not pleased and the incident did not +lessen my unfavorable estimate of the great thinker. + +Some three years later Mr. Cook was on our chautauqua program at +Lexington, Kentucky. Doctor W.L. Davidson, superintendent of the +assembly, requested me to call at the hotel and inform our +distinguished visitor of his hour and see to his reaching the +chautauqua grounds. With reluctance I went to the hotel and sent my +card to his room. He ordered me to be shown up to the room at once. +Approaching the door I found it open and Mr. Cook stood facing me. My +impression is that politeness was sacrificed in my haste to explain +that I was sent to inform him as to the hour of his lecture and to +offer to call for him in time to escort him to the grounds. + +Extending his hand he said: "Come in and let me make my best bow to +you for the service you have rendered the temperance cause. I heard +you once for about ten minutes in Cooper Union, when I had an +engagement and had to leave. I see you are on the program tomorrow and +I shall be there." + +After his first lecture, returning to the hotel I said: "Mr. Cook, if +I can be of any service to you while you are in our city, please feel +at liberty to command me at any time." + +He replied: "I order you at once. I am anxious to see the home of +Henry Clay and the monument erected to his memory." + +Next morning we went to Ashland and then to the cemetery. After +visiting the Clay monument, we were passing near where my daughter had +been buried only a few months before. When I had called his attention +to the sacred spot, Mr. Cook said: "I read Miss Willard's account of +her death, and the beautiful tribute paid her in the Union Signal. +Please stop a moment." + +He left the carriage and going to the grave, took off his hat and +stood with uncovered head for a few moments. Then taking his seat +beside me in the carriage, he laid his hand on mine and said: "Blessed +are the dead that die in the Lord." + +With tears rolling down my cheeks I said to myself: "Under the great +brain of Joseph Cook beats a tender heart." Not to know him was to +misjudge him, while the close touch of friendship revealed one of +God's noblemen. + +Unity in variety is the order of nature. Out of what seems to us a +medley of contradictions come amendments and reconstructions that +illustrate the benevolent guardianship of God in working out the +problem of creation. Out of the most discordant elements God can bring +the most harmonious results. Out of the bitterness and bloodshed of +our Civil War has come a more harmonious, united, happy and prosperous +people. + +It was said of General Grant: "He's an artist in human slaughter. He +cares nothing for the loss of men, so he wins the battle." But, +General Grant believed the harder the battle the sooner it would be +over. When the end came he gave back the sword of Lee, and said to the +worn-out Confederate soldiers: "Take your horses with you, you'll need +them on your farms. Go back to your homes and peace go with you." That +manly strength of character that enables a man to face shot and shell +on the battlefield, is not any more sublime than the manly weakness of +heart which "weeps with those who weep." + +While we should not judge one by a single trait in character we must +not overlook the importance of little traits. In this age of great +movements, great schemes and great combinations, our young people are +disposed to ignore little things. A little thing in this great big age +is too insignificant. Yet, we are told it was the cackling of a goose +that saved Rome; the cry of a babe in the bull-rushes gave a law-giver +to the Jews; the kick of a cow caused the great Chicago fire; the +omission of a comma in preparing a bill that passed Congress cost this +republic a half million dollars; while the ignoring of a comma in +reading a church notice cost a minister quite a bit of embarrassment. +Among his announcements was one which ran thus: "A husband going to +_sea_, his wife desires the prayers of this church." The preacher +read: "A husband going to see his wife, desires the prayers of this +church." + +Little things are suggestive of great things. We read that a +ship-worm, working its way through a dry stick of wood, suggested to +Brunell a plan by which the Thames river could be tunneled. The +twitching of a frog's flesh as it touched a certain kind of metal led +Galvani to invent the electric battery. The swinging of a spider's web +across a garden walk led to the invention of the suspension bridge. +The oscillation of a lamp in the temple of Pisa led Galileo to invent +the measurement of time by a pendulum. A butterfly's wing suggested +the combination of colors. So little things are suggestive of great +things in character. + +"Boy wanted" was the sign at the entrance to a store. A boy took the +sign down and with it in his hand entered the store. + +"What are you doing with that sign?" asked the proprietor. + +The boy replied: "Well, I'm here, so I brought in the sign." + +That boy was given the place. Attention to small things has made many +a successful man, while a little temper, a little indifference, a +little cigarette, a little drink or some other little thing has been +the undoing of many a young man. + +What are these little traits in human character? They are matches +struck in the dark. Do you know what that means, a match struck in the +dark? If not, get up some night when it's pitch dark in the room, run +your face up against a half open door, knock the pitcher off the table +and spill the cold water on your bare feet, sit down on a chair that's +not there, and you'll realize what it means to strike a match. If I +were to go into a parlor of one of your finest homes at midnight with +all the lights out, I would see nothing, but let me strike a match and +beautifully decorated walls, fine paintings, and furniture will meet +and greet my vision. + +You cannot be very long in the company of anyone until a match will be +struck. Of one you will say, "that's good; I'm glad to find such a +trait in that person," but directly another match will flare up and +you will find another trait as disappointing as the other was +commendable, and you are at a loss to know what "manner of man" you +are with. + +It's a wonder to me when so many characters are so difficult to solve +that many young people rush headlong into matrimony without striking a +match, except the match they strike at the marriage altar. A girl sees +a young man today; he's handsome, talks well, and she falls in love +with him, dreams about him tonight, sighs about him tomorrow and +thinks she'll surely die if he doesn't ask her to marry him. Yet she +knows nothing about his parentage or his character. No wonder we have +so many unhappy marriages, so many homes like the one where a stranger +knocked at the front door and receiving no response went around to the +rear where he found a very small husband and a very large wife in a +fight, with the wife getting the better of the battle. + +The stranger said: "Hello! who runs this house?" + +"That's what we are trying to settle now," shouted the little husband. + +My young friends, I will admit love is a kind of spontaneous, +impulsive, natural affinity, something after the order of molecular +attraction or chemical affinity, but while by the natural law of love, +a young woman may see in the object of her affection her ideal of +perfection in humanity, she owes volitional conformity to a higher law +than natural affinity. She owes to herself, to posterity and to her +country a careful study of the character of the young man to whom she +should link her life and love. + +I believe two dark clouds hanging upon the horizon of this republic to +be the recklessness with which life is linked with life at the +marriage altar, and the recklessness with which we elect men to +offices of public trust. While we have many public men, schooled in +the science of government, whom the spoils of office cannot corrupt, +we have an army of demagogues who rely upon saloon politics for +promotion, and on all moral questions reason with their stomachs +instead of their brains. This is especially true in the government of +our large cities. + +Sam Jones, lecturing in a city noted for its corrupt government said: +"Take the political gang you have running this city, put them in a +cage, then let the devil pass along and look in and he would say, +'That beats anything I have in my show.'" + +We don't seem to realize that every public man is a teacher, every +home is a school, and the education received outside the schoolroom is +often more effective than the education inside. All the forces and +elements of the organism of society are teachers and all life is +learning. The birth of an infant into this world is its matriculation +into a university, where it graduates in successive degrees. And do +you know in this great school of human life, where I come with you to +study the traits of our kind, that we never reach a grade that we are +not influenced by what touches us? Here I am past fifty years of age +(and then "some"), yet I am constantly being influenced by what +touches me. + +Start a new song with a popular air and it will spread throughout the +whole country. Boys will whistle it and girls will sing it. A number +of years ago, when at the station ready to leave home for New England, +a lad near me began to whistle and then to sing a new song. It was a +catchy tune and took hold of me. On the train I found myself trying to +hum that tune, then I tried to whistle it, and failing in both +attempts I finally gave it up. Two days after I left the train up in a +New Hampshire town and took a street car for the hotel. A blizzard was +on, but there stood the motorman, muffled to his ears, whistling the +same tune I had heard down in Kentucky, "There'll be a hot time in the +old town tonight." + +When the telephone made its appearance a good Christian man had one +installed in his store and during the morning hours of the first day +he called up all his friends who had phones, and "Hello! Hello!" took +hold of him. He went home to lunch and being a little late he hurried +into his chair at the table. With the telephone still on his mind, he +bowed his head to return thanks and said: "Hello." He was a good +Christian man, but the telephone had taken hold of him. + +The very tone of the voice has a tendency to influence and control +character. I wonder so many parents train their voices as they do. +They have a kind of snap to the tone which they evidently think makes +the children and the servants "get a move" on them. Perhaps it does, +but at the same time it falls upon a family like frost upon a field of +flowers. You pay three dollars to have your piano tuned, yet you train +your voice to sound harsh and hard. + +How the tone of the voice controls was illustrated in my own home +several years ago. I went home in the early spring and found some one +had been among my bees and had left the lids of the hives lifted at +the time the bees were making brood. Going to the house I said to my +wife: + +"Where is Charlie?" He was the colored man in charge of the barn and +garden. + +Mrs. Bain replied: "I suppose he is about the barn; he doesn't stay in +the house." I knew that, but somehow we Adams will go to our Eves with +anything that goes wrong. + +"What's the trouble?" my wife asked. + +I told her about the exposure of the bees, (about the effect of which +I knew very little) and said: + +"I want Charlie to keep out of that apiary. He'll kill every bee I +have." + +Mrs. Bain in a very gentle manner said: "I did that myself. That's the +way father used to do. I was afraid your bees might starve during the +long cold spell, so I made some syrup and placed it in the upper +compartments. I lifted the lids so that the light would attract the +bees up to the syrup. I'm very sorry I did it, but I thought it would +please you." + +I said: "Well, I believe you did the right thing, my dear, and I am +very much obliged to you." + +If my wife had said in a harsh tone: "I did that, sir. What are you +going to do about it?" then I would have said something. + +A little bit of anger let loose in a field of human nature is as +destructible to noble impulses and generous feelings as a cyclone is +to a town. I was in an Iowa cyclone some years ago and I noticed when +it was approaching the people didn't run out of their homes and throw +stones at it. They ran for the storm cellars. When you see a bit of +anger coming toward you from brother, sister, husband, wife or friend, +don't throw a dictionary of aggravating words at it; get out of the +way and it will quiet down like the troubled waters of Galilee when +"Peace be still" fell upon them. + +When we realize how sensitive character is to the touch of influences, +and how uncertain the character of the influence that may touch us, +how very careful we should be as parents as to what shall touch us, +how we shall touch others, who may be fed by our fulness, starved by +our emptiness, uplifted by our righteousness or tainted by our sins. + +Sometimes a boy is sent to school with the idea that the influence of +the teacher will mold the character of the boy, when the magnetic +touch by which the faculties of the boy are sprung doesn't come from +the teacher, but from some boy on the playground and perhaps not the +best boy. Some boys are as potent on the playground as a major-general +on a battle-field. Some persons are like loadstones, they draw, others +are like loads of stone, they have to be drawn. + +I have known down South in the days of slavery, coal black queens of +the domestic circle. The cows would come to the cupping as if it were +a spiritual devotion. Maiden mistresses would tell them their love +stories, when they wouldn't tell their own mothers. I am a southern +man, born and reared mid slavery, and I pay this tribute to the black +"mammies" of the South before the war. Down there in that hale, hearty +colored motherhood was laid the foundation of future health and +strength for many a white baby, when otherwise its mother would have +had to see it die. Frail, delicate mothers, who because of slavery had +not done sufficient work to develop physical womanhood, were not able +to nurse their own infants and gave them to the care of vigorous, +healthy colored mothers, who took them to their bosoms and nursed them +into strength. But for that supplemental supply of vigor, but for that +sympathetic partnership in motherhood, much of the most potent manhood +of the South would never have been known. + +You who lived in the North before the war, and you who are younger and +have read about the auction block, the slave driver and the +cottonfield cannot understand the attachment between one of these +colored mothers and the white boy or girl she nursed. I know whereof I +speak, for I revere the memory of my old black mammy. + +There are verses, written by whom I do not know, the words of which I +cannot recall except a line here and there, hence I take the liberty +to supply the missing lines and revise the verses to express my +feelings for the slave mammy of my childhood. + + + "She was only a dear old darkey, + In a cabin far away, + Down in the sunny Southland, + Where sunbeams dance and play. + Yet oft in dreams I hear her crooning, + Crooning soft and low: + 'Sleep on, baby boy, + The sleep will make you grow.' + + "Oft when tired of fighting + In a world so full of wrong; + When wearied and worried + With the tumult and the throng, + I seek again the cabin, + Where dwelt a heart of gold + And in dreams she loves and pets me, + As she did in days of old. + + "Oh, my dear old colored mammy, + In the cabin far away, + Since you rocked me in the cradle + Seems forever and a day. + Yet in dreams I hear you crooning + Above my cradle nest; + 'Sleep on, baby boy, + Mammy watches while you rest.'" + +A white baby, whose mother was ill for months, was given to one of +these colored mothers to nurse. After the war the white family moved +west. As their child grew up the father and mother often told her +about Aunt Hannah, how she loved her, petted her, cooked for her, and +drove away her own pickaninnies to let "mammy's baby" sleep. + +The girl, when she had grown to womanhood, heard that Aunt Hannah was +still living and she longed to see her devoted old colored mammy. Her +parents had the same desire, and with other attachments for the old +southern home, they went back to Georgia on a visit and to the village +where the old woman lived. She was sent for and the old black mammy +and the beautiful young girl faced each other. The young lady was +disappointed. She expected to see a nice, comely old woman, but there +she stod, crippled with rheumatism, gray headed, wrinkled, and poorly +clad. The old woman was surprised, for there before her stood a +beautiful young woman, with rosy cheeks, blue eyes, auburn locks and +queenly form. The father and mother stood near, with tears rolling +down their cheeks as memory came surging up like successive waves from +out a past hallowed to them, for they could see in that old woman the +health and strength of their child. + +The old woman broke the silence, saying: "Is dat my chile? Is dat de +chile I loved and laid wake wif so many nights and cooked so many +sweet things for? Why, bless yo' heart, honey; dese old hands ust to +take yo' and hug yo' to dis bosom, but yo's too nice now for dese old +hands to eber touch agin." + +The young girl said: "No, I'm not, Aunt Hannah. You shall take me in +your arms as when I was a little child," and she gave a bound into the +old woman's arms. + +That does not mean social equality, but it does mean gratitude neither +condition nor color can ever bound. If the reciprocities of that old +woman and that beautiful girl were such as to weave enrichments into +both hearts, why should not all peoples, and all individuals, see in +all others but a multiplication of the one each of us is, and that +each is enhanced or diminished in value according to the concentrated +worth of the whole? If man would stand in his lot of conformity to +man, as that old colored woman stood in her lot, it would lift this +world to that height from which we could see the one interest, one +reciprocal, interdependent, together-woven, God-allied and God-saved +humanity. + +But in this we fail. Several men, one of them an Irishman, were +standing on a street corner when a negro passed. The Irishman said: +"Faith, and if I had been makin' humanity for a world, I would niver +have made a nager." I suppose in return the negro would not have made +the Irishman, nor would the white man have made the Indian or +Chinaman, but God made them all and in proportion as we have the +philanthropic comprehensiveness to accept them all, and benevolently +try to serve them in their places, do we honor the place assigned us +in the world's creation. It is not for us to know why God made this or +that; He made everything for a purpose. + +A father took his boy to an animal show. The lad had never seen a +monkey and as they played their pranks about the cage he said: +"Father, did God make monkeys?" + +When the father replied: "Yes," the boy said: "Well, don't you guess +God laughed when he made the first monkey?" + +I don't know about that, but if God made the monkey for a joke it was +certainly a success. If God had made the monkey for no other purpose +than to create laughter it wouldn't have been a mistake. The lachrymal +glands were placed in us for sorrow to play upon; we are commanded to +"weep with those who weep." In antithesis to this the risable nerves +were placed in us for mirthful music, and I pity the one who has +broken the keys and cannot laugh. + +I believe we owe the Irishman a vote of thanks for the ringing laughs +he has sent around the world. An Irishman said to a rich English +land-owner: + +"Me Lord, I think the world is very unaqually divided; it should be +portioned out and each one given an aqual share with ivery other one?" + +The Englishman replied: "Well, Pat, if we were to divide today, in ten +years I would have ten thousand pounds and you wouldn't have a +shilling." + +"Then we would divide again," said the Irishman. + +On an electric car going out of New York City, a man, who occupied a +seat next to the aisle, had a pet monkey in a cage on the seat with +him, next to the window. An Irishman boarded the car and seeing all +the seats taken he remained standing, holding on to a strap, when +suddenly he spied the monkey in the cage. He immediately addressed the +man who had the monkey: + +"Sir, is that gintleman in the cage paying his fare? If not, I'd like +to have the sate." + +The owner of the monkey lifted the cage to his lap and moved over, +giving the Irishman a seat. + +"What's the nationality of that gintleman, anyway?" asked Pat. + +By this time the other man was very much out of humor and said: "He's +half ape and half Irish." + +"Faith, then he's related to both of us," replied the witty son of +Erin, and there were two monkeys on that car. + +I'll admit this trait of humor comes in sometimes when it is quite +embarrassing, as it was to Sam Jones upon one occasion, when in the +midst of a sermon before a large audience, he said: + +"All you who want to go to heaven, stand up; I'd like to take a look +at you." + +The audience arose in great numbers. When seated again Mr. Jones said: +"Now all you who want to go to the devil, stand and let's have a look +at you." + +All was silent for a moment and then a tall, lank, lean fellow from +the backwoods arose and said: "Well, parson, I don't care anything +special about seeing the old chap, but I never desert a friend in +trouble, specially a minister, so I guess I'll have to stand with +you." + +Dr. Frank Gunsaulus told me of a time when he had to laugh under +embarrassing circumstances. He was called upon to preach the funeral +of a man who had died from the effects of drink. His friends had made +a box for the corpse and had placed in the top a ten by twelve window +glass to go over the face, but when the time came to put the top on +the box, being double-sighted from drink, they reversed the top and +had the glass at the foot of the coffin instead of the head. + +The preacher took his place, as he supposed, at the head of the +deceased, when looking down his eyes fell upon a pair of feet. With +great effort he kept his face straight and conducted the service. At +the close he invited the friends to view the remains. One stimulated +friend walked up to the coffin, shook his head and turning to another +said: "Don't look at him, Jim. He's changing very fast and you won't +know him." + +The great preacher is to be excused if he did laught at that funeral. + +It's good to laugh, and yet, while I pay tribute to the trait of +humor, I would have the undergirding trait of all traits of character, +the trait of principle. Though you may use policy now and then, never +use a policy you must get off the heaven-bound express train of +principle to use. + +I don't like that word policy. There is another and better name for +the trait I would present just here, and that is _tact_. It means the +doing of a right thing at the right time and in the right place. Some +young men win first honors in college and fail in the business of life +for want of tact. Here is where the Yankee excels. The Southerner is +genial, generous and has many traits of character to be admired, but +he must doff his hat to Yankee character for the development of tact. + +Sam Jones, who rarely ever failed to get the best of whoever tried +repartee with him, met more than his match when he ran up against +Yankee tact. He was raising money to pay off the debt on a church. + +A liberal member said: "Mr. Jones, I have given about all I can afford +to give, but if you will get one dollar from that old man on the end +of the back bench of the 'amen corner,' I'll give you ten dollars +more." + +"Has he any money, and is he a member of the church?" + +"Yes," was the answer to both questions. + +The great evangelist said: "Well, that's easy," and started for the +dollar. + +Approaching the old man he said: "Brother, I'm collecting money for +the Lord. You owe him a dollar. I'm told you are an honest man and +always pay your debts, so hand over that dollar." + +"How old are you, sir?" asked the old man. + +When Sam gave his age at about forty, the old brother said: "I'm +nearly double your age, sir, and will very likely see the Lord before +you do, so I'll just give him the dollar myself." + +I lectured in New England a few years ago when before me sat a Yankee +with his two sons. He sat between them and when I made a point which +he approved, he would nudge the boys. He seemed to be driving my +advice in with his elbows. At the close of the lecture I took his hand +and said: "I see you have your boys with you." + +He replied: "Yes, I always take the two boys with me when I attend a +lecture. I presume when a speaker has prepared himself he is going to +get about the best things out of his subject, and will put them in a +way to take hold and benefit young men. If I were going to get the +same information out of books I might have to spend a dollar or two, +when I only paid fifteen cents each for them to hear your lecture." + +This trait of tact, however, is moving south, and even the colored +race is getting hold of it. An old negro who was born on the +plantation where he lived when set free, remained after the war in his +cabin and worked for the son of his old master. In his old age his +memory began to fail and he would neglect to do things he was told to +do. The young man was patient with the old negro for quite a while but +finally said to him: + +"Uncle Dan, you must do better or you and I will have to separate." + +The old servant said: "Mars Jim, I does the best I can. I is mighty +sorry I forgits things and I'se gwine to try to do better." + +But he grew worse and one evening when he failed to do a very +important chore, the young man said: "I told you what would happen if +you did not do better and the time has come when you and I separate." + +Uncle Dan replied: "I'se mighty sorry, Marse Jim. I was here when you +was born, and when you growed big enuf I ust to take you on de mule +out to de field wif me, and I members how you ust to take de lines and +dribe de ole mule. Den when de war broke out and ole Master jined de +army, I stayed here and took care ob ole Missus and you chilluns. I +shore is mighty sorry we's got to part, but if you says so den its got +to be, but look here, Mars Jim, if we's got to part, whar's you +counting on moving to?" + +By this time tact had done its work, aggravation had melted into +forgiveness and the young man said: "I'm not going to move anywhere, +Uncle Dan, nor shall you. We'll both stay here on the old plantation +together." That was certainly tact on the old man's part. + +A young negro, who craved a ride on a railroad train but had no money, +crept under the baggage car and fixed himself on the truck. The train +started and when at full speed the engine struck a mule and tore the +animal to pieces. Part of the mangled remains was carried into the +running gear of the baggage car. The engineer stopped the train and +commenced pulling out pieces of mule here and there until he reached +the baggage car, when, looking under for more of the mule, he saw the +white eyes of the negro. + +"Come out, you imp, what are you doing under there?" said the +engineer. + +Back came the tactful reply: "Boss, I wus de fellow what wus ridin' +dat mule." + +The engineer said: "Well, I guess you've paid your fare; climb into +the cab and help me run this train." + +I commend to you the cultivation of tact, but don't let it lead you +into the meanest trait of character--selfishness. To say, + + "Of all my father's family I love myself the best, + If Providence takes care of me, who cares what takes the rest?" + +In the days when there was a community hearse in a country +neighborhood, and carpenters made the coffins, a young man, who was +ashamed of the old worn-out hearse, went about soliciting money to +purchase a new one. Presenting the purpose to an old man of means, he +received from this selfish citizen the reply: + +"I won't give you a dollar. I helped to buy the old hearse twenty +years ago, and neither me nor my family have ever had any benefit from +it." + +Against this trait of selfishness I place the most beautiful of all +traits--sympathy. I would rather have the record of Clara Barton in +the great reckoning day than that of any statesman whose portrait +hangs in a hall of fame. + +During our Civil War she went from battlefield to battlefield, and was +just as kind to the boy in gray as she was to the boy in blue. + +After the Civil War Queen Victoria desired to communicate with Clara +Barton regarding the same mission of mercy for the German army, where +the Queen's daughter was then engaged. But Clara Barton was already on +the ocean, and soon after was in the war zone with the German army. +She was with the first who climbed the defenses of Strassburg, where +she ministered to the wounded and dying. At the close of her work +there she took ten thousand garments with her to France. There she +waited till the Commune fell and again she was with the first to reach +the suffering. In our own war with Spain she went to Cuba, and though +then past sixty years of age, she stood among the cots of our wounded +and sick soldiers, soothing their sufferings and cheering their +hearts. + +Still later on in storm-swept Galveston, Texas, she fell at her post +of duty and was borne back by loving hands to her home, where she +recovered and again resumed her work of love and mercy, to carry it on +to the end of her long and useful life. + +No wonder the King and court of Germany bestowed upon her medals of +remembrance; no wonder the Grand Duchess of Baden placed upon her the +"Red Cross of Geneva;" and in the great day of reward, He who bore the +cross for us all will place upon Clara Barton the crown of eternal +life. + +When my wife was president of the House of Mercy, in Lexington, +Kentucky, a home for the rescue of fallen girls, she went in her +carriage to a dentist with one of the unfortunate inmates. + +Soon after a business man of the city said to me: "I hardly see how +you can give your consent to have your wife do such work. I saw her +recently in her carriage with a girl I would not have my wife seen +with for any amount of money." + +My reply was: "I would rather my wife should go through the golden +gates, bearing in her arms the spirit of a poor girl, snatched from +the hell of a harlot's home, than to be the leader of the fashionable +four hundred of New York City." + +There is a beautiful story told of one of the most influential and +wealthy men of England. He inherited fame as well as fortune, had an +Oxford education and early in life he was elected a member of +Parliament. One evening he sat in his fine library, watching the wood +fire build its temples of flame around the great andirons, and as he +heard the beating of the wild winter storm against the window pane, +his heart went out to the homeless hungry poor of the city. Ordering +his carriage he went to the city mission and asked for a helper, and +then drove to London Bridge, under the shelter of which the penniless +poor gather in time of storms. He took them two by two to shelter, +gave them food, and cots on which to sleep, and then returned to his +princely home. We are told that for years after, when Parliament would +adjourn at midnight, this young man would go through the slums on his +way home, that he might relieve some poor child of misfortune. + +On Sunday afternoons, while aristocracy lined the boulevards, this son +of fortune would take his physician in his carriage and go through the +slums, seeking the sick and suffering. One afternoon, while he stood +outside a tenement door, awaiting the return of the doctor from a +visit to a poor sick soul inside the tenement, he became deeply moved +by the ragged children playing in the gutters and reaching into +garbage barrels for crusts of bread. He said: "Ah! here's the riddle +of civilization. I wish I could help to solve it; perhaps I can." + +He began the establishment of "ragged schools" and into these ware +gathered thousands of poor children. Then followed night schools for +boys who had to work by day. To these schools he added homes for +working women, and for these women he persuaded Parliament to give +shorter hours of service. He tore down old rookeries, built neat +dwellings instead, beneath the windows planted little flower gardens, +and rented them to the poor at the same price they had paid for the +rookeries. + +When he began to fade, as the leaf fades in its autumn beauty, and the +day of his departure was at hand, he said: "I am sorry to leave the +world with so much misery in it, but I have lived to prove that every +kind word spoken, and every good deed done, sooner or later returns to +bless the giver." + +As the end drew near he said to his daughter: "Read me the +twenty-third Psalm, for 'though I walk through the valley of the +shadow of death, I fear no evil.'" + +A few days later Westminster Abbey was crowded with England's nobility +to do him honor. When the funeral procession reached Trafalgar Square, +thousands of working women stood, with uncovered heads and tearful +eyes, to pay their tribute. Children came from the "ragged schools" +bearing banners with the motto: "I was naked and ye clothed me." From +the hospitals came the motto: "I was sick and ye visited me," while +the working girls came with a silk flag on which they had embroidered +with their own fingers: "Inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of +these, ye did it unto me." + +Thus loaded down with the fruits of the Spirit, Lord Shaftsbury died, +and yet lives in memory as the noblest embodiment of Christian +charity. + +That's sweet music when nature hangs her wind-harps in the trees for +autumn breezes to play thereon; that must have been sweet music when +Jenny Lind so charmed the world with her voice, and when Ole Bull +rosined the bow and touched the strings of his violin; that was sweet +music when I sat in the twilight on the stoop of my childhood's home +and heard the welkin ring with the songs of the old plantation; but +the sweetest music in this old world is that which thrills the soul +when spoken in "words of love and deeds of kindness." Cultivate the +trait of sympathy. The good things you are going to say of your friend +when he's dead, say them to him while he's alive. Take care of the +living; God will care for the dead. + +To the trait of sympathy I would add two grand traits--decision and +courage. + + "Tender handed touch a nettle. + And it stings you for your pains; + Grasp it like a man of mettle, + Silk it in your hand remains." + +The decision to throw over the tea in Boston harbor, to write "Charles +Carroll of Carrolton," and the courage to say, "Give me liberty or +give me death," gave us this government by and for the people. + + "If you come to a river deep and wide, + And you've no canoe to skim it; + If your duty's on the other side, + Jump in, my boy, and swim it." + +Have the courage to stand for what you believe to be right. You may +have to go ahead of public sentiment at times, but you will be +rewarded in having your conviction and conscience with you. + +A number of years ago in Boston, I gave a temperance address on Sunday +afternoon in Music Hall. At the close of the lecture a friend said to +me: "You said some good things but though from the old bourbon State +of Kentucky, you are ahead of public sentiment in Boston." + +I replied: "Public sentiment does not always indicate what is right +even in Boston. On your beautiful Commonwealth Avenue yesterday +afternoon I met an elegantly dressed lady, I suppose a wealthy one +from her jewels and dress. She had a poodle dog in her arms, with a +blue ribbon on its neck. Yet, the same woman wouldn't be caught +carrying her six-weeks' old baby down the street for any +consideration." + +Such is public sentiment in fashionable society in our cities, and yet +the highest type of the world's creation is a pure, sweet mother with +a babe in her arms, and another holding her apron strings. I think it +would be a blessing to home life if an avenging angel should go +through this country, smiting every English pug and poodle dog bought +to take the place of babies. In their places I would put bright-eyed, +rosy cheeked children to greet fathers when they return home from +their day's labor. + +Battle for the right, remembering that far better is a fiery furnace +with an angel for company, than worshiping a brazen image on the +plains of Dura. + +Some young man may now be saying in his mind, "For me to always stand +for the right would be to meet difficulties at every step of the way." +Don't get alarmed over difficulties. Half of them are imaginary. + +I made my first trip to California thirty-five years ago. One morning +I stood on the eastern edge of the plains with a sleeping car berth at +my service and a through ticket to San Francisco in my pocket, while +the iron horse stood there all harnessed and ready for the journey. +Wasn't I in good condition for the trip? Yes, but I saw trouble before +me. One can always see trouble who looks for it. I had never been +across the plains and before the time for the train to start I walked +to the front of the engine and looking along the track as it reached +out across the prairie I saw trouble. What was it? Why, six miles +ahead the track wasn't wide enough. Yes, I saw it. Then on six miles +more the rails came together, with my destination nineteen hundred +miles away. Soon the train moved and as we neared the difficulty, the +track opened to welcome us. Not a pin was torn up nor a rail +displaced. Again I looked ahead and a mountain was on the track, but +before I had time to get off the mountain got off. Next came a +precipice and the engine making directly for it, but we dodged that +and I concluded our train had right of way, so I stuck to the Pullman +car and went through all right. + +Ever since God made the world principle has had right of way. Get you +a through ticket, get on the train, battle for the right and you'll +come out victorious in the end. + +Napoleon said: "God is on the side of the strongest battalions." He +entered Moscow with one hundred and twenty thousand men. Snow began to +fall several weeks earlier than usual, the highways were blocked, +frost fiends ruled the air, the great French army was broken into +pieces and Napoleon had to fly for his life. God taught Napoleon as +well as the commander of the great Spanish Armada, that victory is in +the hands of Him who rules weather and waves. + +The next trait I would mention is contentment. Many persons make +themselves miserable by contrasting the little they have with the much +that others have, when if they would compare their blessings with the +miseries of others it would add to their contentment. Let me give you +an old but a good motto: "Never anything so bad, but it might have +been worse!" + +It is told of a happy hearted old man that no matter what would happen +he would say: "It might have been worse." A friend, who wanted to see +if the old man would say the same under all circumstances, went into a +grocery store where he was seated by a big fire and said: + +"Uncle Jim, last night I dreamt I died and was sent to perdition." + +Prompt the reply came: "Well, it might have been worse." + +When some one asked, "How could it have been worse," he answered: "It +might have been true." + +Doctor A.A. Willetts, "the Apostle of Sunshine," used to say: "There +are two things I never worry over; one is the thing I can help, the +other is the thing I can't help." "Count your blessings," was a +favorite expression of the same beloved old man. + +There are more bright days than cloudy ones, a thousand song birds for +every rain-crow, a whole acre of green grass for every grave, more +persons outside the penitentiary than inside, more good men than bad, +more good women than good men; slavery, dueling, lottery and polygamy +are outlawed, the saloon is on the run, the wide world will soon be so +sick of war that universal peace, with "good will among men," will +prevail, labor and capital will be peaceful partners and human +brotherhood will rule in righteousness throughout the world. + + "O, this is not so bad a world, + As some would like to make it, + And whether it is good or bad, + Depends on how we take it." + +Fanny Crosby, whose gospel hymns are continually singing souls into +the kingdom, when but six weeks old lost her sight and for ninety-two +years made her way in literal darkness, without seeing the beauties of +nature about her, the blue sky with its sun, moon and stars above her, +the faces of her loved ones, and yet at ninety-two she said: "I never +worry, never think disagreeable things, never find fault with anything +or anybody. If in all the world there is a happier being than myself, +I would like to shake that one's hand." No wonder out of such +contentment came such songs as, "Jesus is calling," "I am Thine, O +Lord," "Safe in the arms of Jesus." + +How different the cultured young woman, with all her senses preserved, +who after passing through a flower garden where perfect sight had +feasted on the beauty of the scene said: + + "To think of summers yet to come, + That I am not to see; + To think a weed is yet to bloom, + From dust that I shall be." + +Poor soul! Instead of enjoying the summer she had, she was coveting +all the summers between her and eternity. Instead of thanking God for +the immortality of the soul when done with the body, she was +disappointed because she couldn't carry the old body along with her. +Don't let these things trouble you. Live one summer so you will be +worthy to breathe the air of the next if you live to see it; take care +of your body so it will make a decent weed if God chooses to make one +out of your remains. + +Enjoy what you have, don't covet what you have not, thank God for your +home on earth, follow Fanny Crosby's receipt for contentment and you +will be happy enough to shake hands with her in the "Land of the +Leal." + +Before I close would you like to have me point you to greatness? In +attempting to do so, I would not point you to Congress hall or Senate +chamber. You can find greatness anywhere. + +That was greatness when John Bartholamew held the throttle of an +engine going over the Sierra mountains, with a train load of +passengers depending upon his skill and caution, and swinging round a +curve he saw the wood-work of a tunnel before him on fire. To attempt +to stop the train then, would be to halt in the flames. He threw on +more steam and sent the train whizzing through the furnace of fire. +Passing out on the other end he was badly burned, but still held the +rein of his iron horse. A poem dedicated to this brave engineer closes +with the verse: + + "I 'spose I might have jumped the train, + In thought of saving sinew and bone, + And left them women and children + To take the ride alone. + + "But I thought on a day of recknin', + And whatever old John done here, + The Lord ain't going to say to him there, + 'You went back as an engineer.'" + +History of life on the ocean tells us of a ship doomed to go down with +four hundred human beings on board. The pumps were not equal to the +task of holding the water down to the safety line. The captain said: +"We will draw lots for the life-boats, one hundred and twenty will go +in them and the remainder must go down with the ship." + +One after another drew his lot. A sailor, who had drawn the lot of +death, walked to the railing and said to a comrade in a life-boat: +"When you reach the shore, see my wife, tell her good-bye for me and +help her in getting my back pay, for she will need it," and he stepped +back and took his place with the doomed. + +Finally the old mate thrust in his brawny hand and drew a lot for the +life-boats. He stepped aside to watch those to follow in the drawing, +when a very popular officer of the ship drew his lot. He was doomed to +go down with the ship. Though a brave man, the thought of his loved +ones at home overcame him, and dropping upon his knees he said: "O +God, have mercy upon my wife and little children." + +The old mate went up to him and taking his hand said: "We have been in +many storms together and have been good friends for years. You have a +wife and three sweet little children, while I have no one that will +rejoice at my coming, nor will any one weep if I never return. It +might have been my fate to go down instead of you, and it shall be. +You take my lot, and I'll take yours." + +The offer was refused, but the mate forced his friend into a boat +saying, "Good-bye, I'll die for you like a man." + +The greatness of this world doesn't all belong to your Solons, +Solomons, Washingtons, Napoleons, Grants, Lees or Gladstones, but +yonder in the humbler walks of life are heroes and heroines, who in +the final reckoning day, will pale the lustre of some whose names are +engraved on marble monuments and whose praises are perpetuated in +poetry and song. + +If you ask me to point you to greatness I do not direct your minds to +historic heights, but that you may win your share of greatness I close +this address by saying, wherever your lot in life be cast, + + "In the name of God advancing, + Plow, sow and labor now; + Let there be when evening cometh, + Honest sweat upon thy brow. + + Then will come the Master, + When work stops at set of sun, + Saying, as He pays the wages, + 'Good and faithful one, well done.'" + + + + +II + +A SEARCHLIGHT OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. + + +But a little more than a century ago, the old world laughed at the +new. Writers of the old world called our American eagle, "a paper +bird, brooding over a barren waste;" yet in what they then called a +barren waste, railroads now carry more of the products of the earth, +than all the railroads of all the lands, of all the peoples on the +face of the earth. + +When New England people believed there would never be anything worth +having west of the Connecticut River, what if some seer had prophesied +that in nineteen hundred there would be a city on Manhattan Island +named New York that would rival London, two southwest, Baltimore and +Washington to equal Venice, Philadelphia to match Liverpool, Pittsburg +and Buffalo to surpass Birmingham, and beyond these a city called +Chicago, which in grit and growth would beat anything the old world +ever dreamt of; while on still farther west, would be a State named +Iowa, in which in nineteen hundred and fourteen, would be produced +enough cattle to beef England, enough potatoes to feed Ireland and +hogs to "beat the Jews." + +What if he had continued; that in the libraries of the barren waste, +there would be ten million more books, than in the combined libraries +of Europe; that its college students would outnumber the college +students of England, France and Germany combined; that its wealth +would be great enough to purchase the empires of Russia and Turkey, +the kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland, with South +Africa and all her diamond mines thrown in, and then have enough left +to buy a dozen archipelagoes at twenty millions each, and still have +the wealth of the republic growing at the rate of five millions of +dollars every twenty-four hours. What a land in which to live! Think +of it; less than a century and a half ago, Liberty and England's +runaway daughter, Columbia, took each other "for better or for worse, +forever and for aye" and started down time's rugged stream of years. +George Washington, then Chief Magistrate, performed the ceremony, and +what he joined together time has not put asunder. It was not a wedding +in high life, such as shakes the foundation of fashionable society +today, but rather more like the swearing away of a verdant country +couple, in some Gretna Green, with no other capital than youth, health +and trusting confidence. We have had some domestic discords; once a +very serious family row, but I of the South, join you of the North, in +thanks to God, the application for divorce was not granted, and we are +still a united republic. + +The memories which followed that civil strife were so bitter, +doubtless many of you northern brethren believed the men who +surrendered at Appomattox were not any too sincere, and if we should +ever have war with any foreign country, the north, east and west would +have to furnish the patriotism, for the South would never again march +under the stars and stripes. But when the Spanish-American war broke +out, the first boy to pour out his heart's blood for his country's +flag, was Ensign Bagley, of North Carolina. The young man who +penetrated the Island of Cuba, 'mid Spanish bayonets and bullets, and +searched out Cevera and his fleet in the harbor was Victor Blue, the +son of a Confederate soldier. The young man who sank the Merrimac, +Captain Richmond Pearson Hobson, was the son of another Confederate. +Our Consul in Cuba, whose patriotism no one ever doubted, was General +Fitzhugh Lee, and the old man who planted the flag in the tree-tops +around Santiago, and led two negro regiments into the battle, was +fighting Joe Wheeler of the Confederate army. + +If I were to close here, what an optimistic picture would be left in +the glow of the century's searchlight. But alas! we have unsolved +problems of imperial moment, and my purpose is to throw the +searchlight upon a few of these unsolved problems. + +First, being a southern man, I shall turn it upon the Race Problem. + +A century ago the Indian question was a perplexing problem, but it +cuts but little figure now, for the Indian is nightly pitching his +moving tepee a day's march nearer the sunset shore, where one more +shove, and, + + "Mad to life's history + Glad to death's mystery," + +the red race will go, to where the pale face will cease from +troubling, and the weary spirit will find its rest at last. + +The Chinese question is of equal insignificance, since our doors are +closed and barred against the almond eyes of the Orient. + +The Negro question seems to be the race riddle of our civilization and +it will take much tact, patience and wisdom to solve the problem. It +may be a revelation to some of you to know, that at the rate the negro +race has grown since the Civil War, when the twentieth century goes +out, there will be sixty millions of negroes in one black belt across +the Southland. I say across the Southland because, the main body of +the negro race will never leave the track of the southern sun. The +South held the negro in slavery, the North set him free. We supposed +at the close of the war, he would leave the South and go to live among +his liberators. But after half a century, he is still clinging to the +cotton and the cane, or sitting in his log house home, the "shadowed +livery of the burning sun" upon his brow, the plantation song still +lingering on his lips, the banjo tuned to memory's melodies on his +knee, a clump of kinky-headed pickaninnies playing in the sand about +his cabin door, and there he sits multiplying the Southland and +problemizing the century. + +I have not time to discuss at length the solution of the problems +before us, but I hope to present them in such a manner as will help +you to appreciate their importance and how they are linked with the +destiny of the republic. + +It seems to me exaltation of character, dignification of labor, +material prosperity, leaving social equality to take care of itself, +makes up the best solution of the negro problem. Social equality does +take care of itself even among the white races. Some of you may have a +white servant who is a good woman, a Christian woman, you expect to +meet her in heaven (if you get there), but she is not admitted to your +social set. + +There is a vast difference between social rights and civil rights. +Near Lexington, Ky., where I claim my home, is the country residence +of J.B. Haggin, the multi-millionaire horseman. Soon after the +completion of his mansion home, he gave a reception which cost +thousands of dollars. The "first cut" of society came from far and +near, but I was not invited, nor did I feel slighted, for I had no +claim upon the millionaire magnate socially. But when I meet the great +turf-king on the turnpike, he in his limozine and I in my little +runabout, I say, "Mr. Haggin, give me half the road, sir." Inside his +gates I have no claim, but outside, the turnpike's free, and J.B. +Haggin can't run over me. So the negro has no claim on the white man +for social equality, but he has a right to the key of knowledge and a +chance in the world. + +Slavery was not an unmixed evil. Like the famed shield it had two +sides. While it had its blighting effects it had its blessings. In +bondage the negro was taught to speak the English language, and in +childhood had the association of white children with their southern +home training. They were taught two valuable lessons, industry and +obedience, without which liberty means license. The negro was +compelled to work and obey, two lessons the Indian never had and never +respected. Beside these valuable lessons the negro was taught the +fundamental principles of Christianity and at the opening of the war +nearly every negro belonged to some church. Their preachers used to +get their dictionary and Bible very amusingly mixed at times. Elder +Barton exhorting his hearers said: "Paul may plant and Apolinarus +water, but if you keeps on tradin' off your birthright for a pot of +Messapotamia you'se gwine to git lost. You may go down into de water +and come up out ob de water like dat Ethiopian Unitarium, but if you +keeps on ossifyin' from one saloon to another; if you keeps on +breakin' the ten commandments to satisfy your appetite for chicken; if +you keeps on spendin' your time playing craps, the fourteenth +amendment ain't gwine to save you. Seben come elebin never took a man +to Heben. I want you to understand dat." Yet from such crudeness of +expression has come preaching, remarkable for thought as well as +scholarship and eloquence, while out of the suffering of slavery, +through the law of compensation, we have matchless melodies in negro +choirs and negro concert companies. + +Leaders of thought may differ as to the methods of solution, but upon +one thing all must agree. The net-work of our republic is such that if +one suffers all suffer, and the negro is so interwoven with the +various interests of our National life, we must level the race up or +it will level the white race down. The lower classes must be lifted to +the tableland of a better life, where they can breathe the pure air of +intelligence and morality, or they will pollute the whole body +politic. They must also acquire property. Economy is a lesson the +negro race needs to learn. This lesson was well presented to a drunken +white man by a sober old negro. The white man spent his money for +liquor, and then started for home. Reaching a river he must cross by +ferry, he found he had spent his last penny for drink. Seeing an old +colored man seated at a cabin door near by, he turned toward the +cabin. Nearing the old man he said: + +"Uncle, would you loan me three cents to cross the ferry?" + +"Boss, ain't you got three cents?" + +"I ain't got one cent," replied the white man. + +"Well, you can't git the three cents. Ef you ain't got three cents, +you'se just as well off on one side de river as you is on de other." + +I said we may differ as to methods for solving this race problem. +Remembering as I do the days of slavery, how in Christian homes the +most merciful masters and the most faithful slaves were found, I +believe the best solution lies in the golden rule of the gospel of +Jesus Christ. + +I now give the searchlight a swing and it falls upon the City Problem. + +At the opening of the nineteenth century three per cent. of the people +of this country lived in cities, ninety-seven per cent. in the +country. At the rate migration is now going from country to city in +twenty years there will be ten millions more people in the cities than +in the country. This means a change of civilization, and new problems +to solve. It means a day when cities will control in state and +national elections, and if ignorance and vice control our cities, then +virtue and intelligence as saving influences will not suffice to save +us. The ignorance prominent in the machinery of large cities is +illustrated by the police force of New York City. When applicants for +positions on the police force were being tested a few years ago, the +question was asked: "Name four of the six New England States." Several +replied: "England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales." Another question was: +"Who was Abraham Lincoln?" As many as ten answered: "He was a great +general." One said: "He discovered America;" another said: "He was +killed by a man name Garfield;" and another's answer was, "He was shot +by Ballington Booth." + +The growth of large cities means the growth of slum-life. Hear me, you +who live out in the uncrowded part of the country. Maud Ballington +Booth tells of finding five families, living in one attic room in New +York City, with no partitions between. Here they "cook, eat, sleep, +wash, live and die," in the one room. In our large cities are armies +of children, whose shoulders "droop with parental vice," whose feet +are fast in the mire of miserable conditions, whose hovel homes line +the sewers of social life, and who are cursed and doomed by +inheritance. + +Some twenty or more years ago, a Chicago paper that had money behind +it, and could have been sued for damages said: "The man who controls +the purse strings of this city, the school board and board of public +works, is the vilest product of the slums, a saloon keeper, a gambler, +a man a leading citizen of this city would not invite into his home." +That man then controlled the purse strings of the great city of +Chicago. I am glad to say a better man holds the place today. Hannibal +could not save Carthage; Demosthenes could not save Greece; Jesus +himself could not save Jerusalem. Can we save the cities of this +republic? + +Yet our lads and lassies are eager to leave the country and go to +large cities, where gas-lit streets are thronged with humanity and +entertainments provided every hour. + +A country boy said to me: "Mr. Bain, you go everywhere; you see +everything; I live out here in the country and see nothing." I have +tried it all. For about twenty-eight years I lived in the country. +Since then my life has been in cities and on railroad trains between +the oceans. My experience is, there is no life that keeps the heart so +pure and the mind so contented as life in the country. + +Some years ago I gave two addresses at Ocean Grove, New Jersey, on +Saturday evening a popular lecture, and on Sunday an address to young +men. I had the popular lecture made but not the Sunday talk. For three +months I promised myself to get that lecture but kept on delaying. As +I neared the time I hoped something would prevent my going. The time +came, I was at Ocean Grove, knew I would have a great audience, for +the day was ideal, and still I did not have the lecture except in +skeleton form. After breakfast Sunday I began to walk the floor, +working out clothing for that skeleton and racking my brain for +climaxes. My wife was with me and she never would worry over my having +nothing to say. Into every sentence I would weave she would inject a +piece of her mind about home or children or some woman's dress or +bonnet. I said: "This is a trying time with me, won't you take a +stroll along the beach and let me be alone today?" Like a good wife +she gratified my request, and left me to work and worry over that +lecture. At four o'clock p.m., I could not see daylight, and in the +darkness cried out: "O Lord, if you will help me this time I won't ask +you again for awhile." The Lord did help me. My friends said I never +did so well as that evening. At the close of the lecture the audience +arose and handkerchiefs, like so many white doves, fluttered in the +air. In the midst of that scene, an old superannuated minister of the +New York Methodist Conference planted a kiss on my cheek, and I have +wondered often, why a man should have thought of that instead of a +woman. + +At the close of the service a friend said: "That must have been the +proudest moment of your life, for surely I never witnessed such a +scene." + +I said: "No, I can recall one that was greater than the white lilies." + +Away back in Bourbon county, Kentucky, when I was not quite twenty I +was married to a girl of nineteen. Soon after, we went to housekeeping +in a country home. It was supper time. I had fed the chickens and +horses, and washed my face in a tin pan on the kitchen steps, when a +sweet voice said: "Come, supper's ready." As I entered the dining room +my young wife came through the kitchen door, the coffee pot in her +hand, her cheeks the ruddier from the glow of the cook stove, her face +all lit up with expectancy as to what her young husband would think of +his first meal prepared by his wife. All the operas I have heard +since, and all the cities I have seen, dwindle into insignificance +compared with that pure, peaceful home in the country. + +Another sweep of the searchlight brings us to the Immigration Problem. +We are today the most cosmopolitan country of the world. At the rate +of a million a year immigrants are pouring in upon us, and no wonder +they come, when they read of the marvelous fortunes made in the new +world; of Mackay a penniless boy in the old world, worth fifty +millions at middle life in America; A.T. Stewart peddling lace at +twenty, a merchant prince at fifty; Carnegie a poor Scotch lad at +eighteen, a half billionaire at seventy. These with many more such +results on a smaller scale, rainbow the sky that spans the sea, and +from the other end, this end is seen pouring its gold and greatness +into the lap of the land of the free. So they come, and though they do +not find all they expected, they do find far more here than they left +behind, and writing letters back over the ocean, they set others wild +with a desire to live in America. Many of them are excellent people; +their children go into our public schools and come out with ours, one +in thought, one in purpose, one in feeling. A little boy in Chicago +said: + +"Papa, you were born in England?" + +"Yes." + +"And mama was born in Scotland?" + +"Yes." + +"And you had a king at the head of your armies?" + +"Yes." + +"Well! _we_ licked you all the same." + +The children of our foreign born citizens in our public schools are +intensely American. A boy who was born in this country but whose +parents were foreign born, was for some misdemeanor chastised by his +father. When his playmates teased him he said: "Oh, the whipping +didn't count for much, but I don't like being licked by a foreigner." + +There is another class coming to our country not only injurious but +dangerous. They bring with them the heresies of the lands they hail +from. They do not come to be American citizens. There is not an +American hair in their heads, or an American thought in their minds. +Every drop of blood in their veins, beats to the music of continental +customs, and they come prepared to sow and grow the seeds of anarchy. +Many come with tags on their backs giving their destination; not to +build American homes; not to learn our language; not to obey our laws, +or honor our institutions, but to undermine the honest laboring +classes who toil to build homes and educate and clothe their children. +I say, take off their tags and let them tag back home. Out of this +class came the men who cheered to the echo a speaker in Chicago when +he said: "I am in favor of dynamiting every bank vault in this city +and taking the money we are entitled to." Out of such schools of +anarchy, came the man who crossed the sea from Patterson, New Jersey, +to send a bullet through the heart of King Humbert, and out of this +class came the teachers, who shrouded our land with shame and sorrow +in Buffalo, New York. + +Just here, I congratulate the spirit of William McKinley upon its +auspicious flight to the spirit world. There is no better time and +place for one to die, than at the summit of true greatness, "enshrined +in the hearts of his countrymen, at peace with his God," the sun of +his life going down, "before eye has grown dim or natural force has +abated." Take him from the time he entered the army, where his +commanding general said: "A night was never so dark, storm never so +wild, weather never so cold as to interfere with his discharge of +every duty." From this time on, as lawyer, commonwealth's attorney, +congressman, governor, and president, he was a Jonathan to his +friends, a Ruth to his kindred, a Jacob to his family, a Gideon to his +country. Take him in private life where an intimate friend said: "I +never heard him utter a word his wife or mother might not have heard; +I never heard him speak evil of any man." Take him when stricken down +by an assassin, hear him say: "Let no man harm him; let the law take +its course; good-bye to all; God's will be done," and in his last +conscious moments chanting "Nearer my God to Thee," and you have one +of the most touching stories of this old world. All honor to our +martyred president, William McKinley. + +What a shame that in a land whose constitution guarantees life, +liberty and the pursuit of happiness to the humblest citizen, the life +of its chief executive is not safe, though guarded by detectives and +surrounded by devoted friends. Until the country is rid of organized +anarchy it would be well to abandon free-for-all hand-shaking. + +When Senator Hoar made his speech in the United States Senate against +anarchy he said: "It would be well if the nations of the earth would +combine together, purchase an island in the sea, place all anarchists +on that island, and let them run a government of their own." An +Irishman said: "I'm not in favor of any sich thing; I am in favor of +gathering thim up all right, takin' thim out in the middle of the +ocean, dumpin' them out, and letin' thim find their own island." + +Out of the personal liberty league, which is but another form of +anarchy, came the man who in an address a few years ago said: "This +republic is our hunting ground and the American Sabbath shall be our +hunting day. Down with the American Sabbath!" + +It has been well said: "The Sabbath is the window of our week, the +sky-light of our souls, opened by divine law and love, up through the +murk and cloud and turmoil of earthly life to the divine life above." +Whoever would destroy the Sabbath day is undermining the republic, and +any man who does not like the restrictions of our Sabbath, can find a +vessel leaving our ports about every day in the year. He can take +passage any day he chooses, and as the vessel steams out we can afford +to sing, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow." + +Another move of the searchlight and we have The Expansion Problem. + +Yonder in the Philippine Islands are seventy different tribes, +speaking many languages. How to mold them into one common whole, loyal +to one flag is a mighty problem; and yet I am one of those who believe +God intends this American republic shall be a standard-bearer of +civilization to the darkest corners of the earth. I do not mean by +this that I advocate imperialism from the standpoint of wider domain. +Indeed I am disposed to dodge the question of imperialism, as I dodged +the money question in Colorado when the question was the issue in +politics. I gave three addresses for the Boulder, Colorado, Chautauqua +when the money question was the all-absorbing one in the west. At the +close of my second address I was introduced to the superintendent of +the railroad that runs over the Switzerland trail. He said: "I +understand your wife is here, and I will be pleased to have you and +Mrs. Bain as my guests tomorrow." I knew that meant a free ride and I +accepted. The next morning we were at the station at the appointed +hour and after a wonderful ride mid scenic grandeur up to where eagles +nest, and blizzards hatch out their young, our host said: "I want you +to have the most thrilling ride you ever had, and at the next station +be ready to leave the train." As the brakes gripped the wheels, and +the train rested on the eye-brow of the mountain height, we stepped +off. A hand car was taken from the baggage car and the train moved on +up the trail. While Mrs. Bain was captivated by the mountains, I was +looking at that hand car, without any handles on it, a flat truck with +four wheels. The superintendent said: "Will you help me lift this on +to the track?" I said: "Yes, but what are you going to do with it?" +When he said: "Going down the mountain to where we came from," I said, +"What will we hold to?" "To each other," he replied, and I could see +he was enjoying Mrs. Bain's placidness and my apprehension of trouble +ahead. + +Determined to sustain Kentucky's reputation for courage I said no +more, but hoped Mrs. Bain would come to my relief since she knew her +husband was given to dizziness when riding backwards or swinging round +sudden curves. She said: "Isn't this a grand sight?" I said: "Yes, +it's grand, but we are going down the mountain on this hand car." +"That will be fine," was all the comfort she gave me. + +Though I have traveled close to a million miles behind the iron horse +I cannot ride backwards on a railroad train. In that respect I am like +the husband who when about to die said to his wife: "I want to make a +special request of you, and that is, see that I am buried face down; +it always did make me sick to travel backwards." When a boy I could +not swing as could other boys. My head is not level on my shoulders. I +have never crossed the ocean and never will. I cannot ride the rolling +waves. Some years ago when out on a little coast ride for pleasure, +(if that's what you call it) I said to the captain: "How long till we +reach the shore?" When he answered forty minutes, I felt I couldn't +live that long. But I did, and when the boat touched the wharf I felt +as the old lady did who landed from her first ocean trip saying: +"Thank the Lord, I'm on vice-versa again." + +When Mrs. Bain had seated herself on one side of that hand car I fixed +myself on the other, gripping the edge of the car. Off went the brake +and we started. In a few minutes I said to myself: "Farewell vain +world, I'm going home." As we ran along the wrinkle of the mountain, +and swung out toward the point of a crag with seemingly no way to +dodge the mighty abyss below, I was reminded of the preacher's +mistake, when in closing a meeting with the benediction he said: "To +Thy name be ascribed all the praises in the world with the end out." +Around frost-filed mountain crags, over spider bridges, through +sunless gorges, we went down that mountain like an eagle swooping from +a storm. When we reached Boulder, Mrs. Bain jumped from the car like a +school-girl and while she was thanking our host, I was thanking kind +Providence that we were back in Boulder. On our way to the hotel I +said: "Were you not frightened when we started down that mountain?" +"Why not at all," Mrs. Bain replied; "I knew the superintendent would +not invite us to take the ride unless it was safe." + +I said: "Well, you had more confidence in him than you have in me. +When I call at the door with a new horse in the carriage or phaeton, +you won't get in until you know all about the horse." + +"Yes," she said, "but I know _you_." + +I do not regret having had that thrilling experience, but I _do_ feel +by that hand car ride, as the Dutchman felt about his twin babies. He +said: "I wouldn't take ten thousand dollars for dot pair of twins, and +I wouldn't give ten cents for another pair." + +That evening I gave my last lecture at Boulder and in closing said: "I +suppose you who live mid these mines would like to know how I stand on +the money question." They cheered, showing their desire to know my +views on the then popular question, and I proceeded to dodge by +saying: "Last evening I stood on yonder veranda watching the sun as it +went down over the mountain's brow, leaving its golden slipper on Flag +Staff Peak. Colorado clouds, shell-tinted by the golden glory of the +setting sun, were hanging as rich embroideries upon the blue tapestry +of the sky, and soon the full moon began to pour its _silver_ on the +scene. As I stood gazing at the picture painted by the _gold_ of the +sun, and _silver_ of the moon, I felt whatever may have been my views +on the money question, the sun's gold-standard glory, and the moon's +free-silver coinage, as seen from these Colorado Chautauqua grounds +make me henceforth a Boulder bi-metalist." + +On leaving the platform an old miner said: "How do you stand on the +money question? You got your views so mixed up with the sun and moon I +couldn't understand you." + +So if some one should say to me: "Do you believe in imperialism of +humanity:" If asked: "Do you believe in expansion," my answer is; "I +believe in the expansion of human brotherhood." "I believe there's a +destiny that shapes our ends," and since the Philippine Islands were +pitched into our lap in a night, it may be it was done that the home, +the church and the school might have a chance under civil liberty in +the Philippine Islands. With boundless resources and immense means, +are linked great responsibilities, and we who live in freedom's land, +and humanity's century, are under obligations to help carry the light +of Christian civilization to the darkest corners of the earth. + +Along with the Christian missionary goes that other "pathfinder of +civilization," the commercial traveler, who is known as the "evangel +of peaceful exchange" that makes the whole world kin. When the +Filipinos are fit for self-government, let us do as we did Cuba, make +them as free as the air they breathe, but keep the key to Manila Bay +as our doorway to the Orient; for whatever may be said of the old +"Joss House" kingdom with all her superstitions, she possesses today +the "greatest combination of natural conditions for industrial +activity of any undeveloped part of the globe." By building the Suez +Canal England secured an advantage of three thousand miles, in her +oriental trade over the United States. The Panama Canal wipes out this +advantage and places the trade of New York a thousand miles nearer +than that of Liverpool. + +Now let the United States build her own merchant marine, then with her +own ships, loaded with her own goods, in her own harbor at Manila, she +has easy access to the Orient, with its seven hundred and fifty +millions of people, who purchased last year more than a billion and a +half dollars worth of the kind of goods we have to sell, and much of +it cotton goods, which means future employment for the growing +millions of negroes in the South. While it may be best to confine our +territorial domain within our ocean ditches, we must encourage +commercial expansion, for we have already one hundred millions of +people; soon we will have one hundred and fifty millions, and experts +tell us when the present century closes there will be three hundred +millions in this country. If this republic would build for the future +she must strive to create a world-wide business fraternity, through +which will go and grow the spirit of the noblest civilization of the +world. + +Another swing of the searchlight and it falls upon The Labor and +Capital Question. + +After all the years of education, agitation and legislation, we find +capital combining in great corporations on one hand, and labor +organizing in great trade unions on the other. Like two great armies +they face each other, both determined to win. While capital is +expanding on one side, the wants of the laboring classes are expanding +on the other. They see excursion trains bound for world's fairs; they +want to go. They see stores crowded with the necessaries and luxuries +of life; they want a share. They live in days of startling +pronouncements, they can read, they want the morning papers. They live +in a larger world, and knowing their brains and brawn helped to create +the larger world they feel they deserve a larger share in its +fortunes. When they see avenues lined with the mansion homes of +capital, and the toiling world crowded into tenement quarters, and +these tenements owned by capital, not five in fifty of the country's +wage-earners owning their homes, they naturally conclude there is +something wrong somewhere. + +Over an inn in Ireland hangs a picture representing the "FOUR ALLS;" a +king with a scepter in his hand saying, "I rule all;" a soldier with a +sword in his hand saying, "I fight for all;" a bishop with a Bible in +his hand saying, "I pray for all," and a working man with a shovel in +his hand saying, "I pay for all." + + "God bless them, for their brawny hands + Have built the glory of all lands; + And richer are their drops of sweat, + Than diamonds in a coronet." + +I must say, however, all the fault for present conditions must not be +charged to capital. There are faults within I wish the laboring world +would see and correct. I travel the country over and note the men who +file in and out the saloons. Are they bankers or leading business men? +No, they are laborers from factories, furnaces, fields and work-shops, +spending their money for what is worse than nothing and giving it to a +business that pays labor less and robs more than any other +capitalization in the world. + +The New York Sun says: "Every successful man in Wall Street is a total +abstainer. He knows he must keep his brain free from alcohol when he +enters the Stock Exchange, where his mind goes like a driving wheel +from which the belt has slipped." The laboring man needs brain as +clear and nerves as steady as the capitalist if he expects to win in +this age of sharp competition. + +What the laboring classes in this country spend for liquor in twelve +months would purchase five hundred of the average manufactories of the +land; what they spend in ten years would purchase five thousand, and +what they spend in twenty years would control the entire manufacturing +interests of the country. + +A few years ago a strike occurred with the Pullman Palace Car Company. +What the laboring classes spend for intoxicating liquors in three +months would purchase the Pullman Palace Car Company and all its +rolling stock. Instead of a strike, in which laboring men are out of +work and families suffering for the necessaries of life, why not stop +drinking beer and whiskey for ninety days, buy the whole business and +let the Pullman Company do something else. How to husband the +resources of the poor is far more important than the right use of the +fortunes of the rich. There is less danger in the massing of money by +the rich than there is in wasting the wages of the working world in +saloons. + +Now I have already thrown the searchlight upon enough problems for you +to realize I have given you an incongruous picture. You must be +impressed with the conflicting forces at work upon our republic. Never +have we had so many advocates of peaceful arbitration for differences +between nations and never such armament for war; never such an +accumulation of comforts, never such a multiplication of wants; never +so much done to make men honest, never so many thieves. In 1850 seven +thousand in our penitentiaries; in 1860 twenty thousand; in 1870 +thirty-two thousand; in 1880 fifty-eight thousand; in 1890 eighty-two +thousand, and in 1900 one hundred thousand. In London, England, last +year with over seven millions of people, twenty-four murders; in +Chicago, one hundred and eighteen. There are more murders in this +republic than in any civilized land beneath the sky. Yet in face of +all these unsettled questions, with advancement along all social, +moral, intellectual and religious lines I have faith to believe this +twentieth century American citizenship will prove itself sufficiently +thoughtful, testful and tactful to deal with all national issues as +one by one they come within reach of practical politics, and that this +country is big enough, brave enough, wise enough and just enough to +solve every problem vexing us today. + +Some have not this faith. They see an army of three hundred thousand +tramps eating bread by the sweat of other men's brows; the slums of +great cities, cradles of infamy where children are trained to sin; the +"fire-damp of combination trusts" stifling the working world; gambling +brokers cornering the markets in the necessaries of life; the wages of +working girls being such as to lead many from life's Eden of purity; a +great battle on between labor and capital and in this combination of +threatening dangers they see the overthrow of free government. + +If these pessimists would take a view from the nether standpoint and +see what we have come through as a country their fears would be +dispelled. + +Look backward fifty years from today and see the republic wrapped in +the throes of civil strife; the soil of our Southland soaked with +blood and tears; the nation overwhelmed with debt; four million +negroes turned loose penniless in the South to beg bread at the white +man's door, and he already on "Poverty row;" Abraham Lincoln dead in +the White House, shot down by an assassin; the Secretary of War +bleeding from three stab wounds the same night; and Columbia reeling +on her throne. + +Now see the harmonious association of all sections; a firmer +establishment of this "government of the people, by the people and for +the people" than was ever known. Look over the ocean and see Turkey's +massacre of the Armenians, Russia with her Siberian horrors, Spain +with her cruelty to the Moors and Jews; or look closer home over the +Mexican border and see the government torn to tatters and public men +shot down like dogs. Then turn and note our country's magnanimous +dealings with Cuba; her teachers schooling Filipinos into nobler life; +our President leading the armies of Russia and Japan out of the rivers +of blood; slavery gone, lottery gone, polygamy outlawed, the saloon +iniquity tottering to its fall; hospitals nestled in shadows of +bereavement, hungry children fed on their way to school, and men who +know how to make money, giving it away for the relief of suffering and +uplift of mankind as never before. Don't tell me the world is getting +worse. + +I was in New York City for two weeks at the time of the Titanic +disaster. On Saturday evening before the ocean tragedy I stood on the +elevated at the corner of Thirty-third and Broadway. The "Great White +Way" was thronged with pleasure-seekers, crowding their way to +theatres and picture shows. It seemed to me I never saw the great city +so gay. But, on Monday morning after, there came on ether waves the +appalling news that the finest ship in the world had gone down, and +sixteen hundred human beings had gone with it. I never witnessed such +a transformation. It seemed to me every woman had tears in her eyes, +and every man a lump in his throat. Actors played to empty houses that +evening; a pall hung over the great Metropolis. But when details came, +with them came the triumph of humanity. The rich had died for the +poor, the strong had died for the weak. + +John Jacob Astor had turned away from his fine mansion on Fifth +Avenue, his summer home at Newport, his hundred millions of dollars in +wealth, and was found spending his last moments saving women and +children. All honor to the brave young bridegroom who carried his +bride to a life boat, said, "good-bye sweetheart," kissed her and +stepping back went down with the ship. All hail to that loyal loving +Hebrew wife and mother, Mrs. Straus, who holding to her husband's arm +said: "I would rather die with you than live without you." Like Ruth +of old, she said: "Where thou goest, I will go; where thou diest I +will die, and there will I be buried." There side by side at the ocean +gateway to eternity these old lovers went down together. + +Ah! this republic will never perish while we have such manhood and +womanhood to live and die for its honor. + +It has been said: "We live in a materialistic age; that all human +activities are born of selfishness; that manhood is dying out of the +world." All over the land at midnight, men lean from the saddles of +iron horses, peering down the railroad track, ready to die if need be +for the safety of those entrusted to their care. Firemen will climb +ladders tonight and their souls will go up in flames, like Jim +Bludsoe's, to save the lives of imperiled women and children. + +Look at the orchestra on board the Titanic. When the supreme moment of +danger came, they rushed to the deck, not to put on life belts, not to +get into lifeboats but to form in order, and send out over the icy +ocean, the music of the sweet song, "Nearer, my God, to Thee." When +the ship lifted at one end and started on its headlong dive of +twenty-seven hundred fathoms to the depths of the salty sea, those +brave men, without a discordant note, sent out the sweet refrain; + + "Now let the way appear + Steps unto Heaven; + All that Thou sendest me, + In mercy given; + Angels to beckon me, + Nearer, my God to thee; + Near to Thee." + +May we not hope those brave musicians and those who died that others +might live, "On joyful wings cleaving the sky," ocean and icebergs +forgot _did_ upward fly, and on their flight to the spirit world +continued the song, "Nearer, my God, to Thee." + +Manhood is not dying out of the world. + +Students of history are asking, "Will the fate of Rome be repeated in +the history of this republic?" The answer is, we have saving +influences in this republic Rome never knew. Rome never had an asylum +for her blind or insane; she never had a home for widows and orphans; +her "golden house" of Nero never had an equal, but nowhere in her +dusty highways could be found footprints of mercy. In Rome the soldier +was the cohesive power, while socially everything was isolated. In +this republic there is an interlacing and binding together in bonds of +human brotherhood. A Methodist here bound to Methodists everywhere, +Presbyterian to Presbyterian, Baptist to Baptist, Disciple to +Disciple, Lutheran to Lutheran, Catholic to Catholic, Masons, Odd +Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Red Men, Maccabees, Woodmen, Christian +Endeavor Societies, Epworth Leagues, Y.M.C.A.'s, W.C.T.U.'s, and many +other fraternities, making up an interdependent, together-woven, +God-allied and God-saving influence ancient empires never dreamt of. +These are the moral lightning rods that avert from this republic the +wrath of God. + +Am I putting too much stress upon the humanity side of national life? +Do you tell me money is the great question of this country, tariff the +great question? Bring me the Bible and what do I find? Only a very few +pages given to the creation of the material universe, with all its +gold and silver, suns and systems, but I find page after page, chapter +after chapter, and book after book, given to the healing of the lame, +the halt and the blind, teaching a kindred spirit of sympathy to meet +the common woes of humanity. + +What I am about to say may seem more like sermon than lecture, but I +believe it will be the best thing I have said when the lecture closes. +In the formula of human touch, laid down in the life of Jesus of +Nazareth, there is more saving influence for national endurance than +in all the wealth of our country's treasury. + +From the time His beautiful mother wrapped Him in coarse linen, and +cradled Him on cattle straw in that Bethlehem barn, on up to His death +on the cross, He was ever touching the masses, healing their diseases, +soothing their sorrows and teaching the lesson, "the more humanity you +place at the bottom the better citizenship you will have at the top." +In the golden rule of this human touch lies the hope of this home of +the free. + +A little boy boarded a car in New York City. A few feet from him sat a +finely-dressed lady and as the boy stared at her, he moved nearer and +nearer until he was close beside her. + +"What do you mean by getting so close to me? Don't you see you have +put mud on my dress from your shoes? Move away," said the lady. + +The little urchin replied: "I'm so sorry I got mud on your dress; I +didn't mean to do it." + +"Where are you going, all by your little self, anyway?" + +"I'm going to my aunt's where I live." + +"Have you no mother?" + +"No mam; she died four weeks ago. I ain't got any mother now, and +that's why I was settin' up close to you to make believe you wuz my +mother. I'm sorry 'bout the mud, you'll 'scuse me, won't you, good +lady?" + +The woman extending her hand said: "Yes I will; come here," and soon +her arm was about him, and tears in her eyes, and the boy could have +wiped his feet on any dress in that car without rebuke. We want more +of human touch in national and individual life. + +A tramp called at a fine home for his supper. The owner said: "You can +have something to eat provided you do some work beforehand." + +"What can I do," asked the "hobo." + +A set of harness was given him to clean. The gentleman went to his +supper, and soon after a blue-eyed, golden-haired girl of four years +came out, and approaching the tramp, said: "Good evening, sir. Is you +got a little girl like me?" + +"No, I am all alone in the world." + +"Ain't you got no mama and papa?" + +"No, they died a long time ago," and the tramp wiped away a tear as +memory came rolling up from out the hallowed past. + +"Oh! I'm so sorry for you, 'cause I have a home and papa and mama." + +The man of the house came out, and looking at the harness said: +"That's a good job; you must have done that work before. Come in and +you shall have a good supper." + +The little tot ran around to the front gate, where a pair of horses, +hitched to a carriage, waited to take the family on a drive. The tramp +finished his supper and passing out, the little one in the carriage +said: "Good-bye, mister. When you want supper again you come and see +us, won't you;" and turning to the driver she said: "He ain't got no +papa, nor mama, no little girl and no home." + +The tramp, who heard these words taking off his old hat bowed low to +the little one who had spoken the kind words. + +A few minutes later while standing on a street corner, wondering where +he could spend the night, some one shouted, "Horses running away!" The +driver had left the team and the horses started with the little girl +alone in the carriage, screaming for help. Men ran out but the mad +horses cleared the track. The tramp fixed himself, and as the team +swept by, he gave a bound and caught the bit of the nearest horse. The +horses reared and plunged but the tramp held on, until he swerved them +to the sidewalk. As the near horse struck the curb he fell and the +tramp was crushed beneath the horse. A physician came and as he bent +over to examine the heart, the tramp said: "Was the little one saved?" + +The child was brought and as her sweet blue eyes tenderly looked at +the face of the dying man he smiled, and then the spirit took its +flight, to where He who died to save the world, looked with compassion +upon the tramp who gave his life for "one of these little ones." + +Oh, the beauty and power of human touch! + +The Panama Canal is considered the glory crowning achievement of this +century; but the building of a highway of sympathy over which to send +help to the hopeless is a far greater achievement. If this republic is +to endure with the stars; if it is to go down the ages like a +broadening colonade of light, and stand in steady splendor at the +height of the world's civilization; it will not be because of its +money standard, its tariff or expansion policy, but because the +heart-beat of human brotherhood sends the blood of a common father +bounding through the veins of the concentrated whole of humanity, +binding high and low, rich and poor, weak and strong together. + + "Work brothers; sisters work; work hand and brain, + We'll win the golden age again; + And love's millennial morn shall rise + In happy hearts and blessed eyes. + We will, we will, brave champions be + In this the lordlier chivalry." + + + + +III + +OUR COUNTRY, OUR HOMES AND OUR DUTY. A PLEA FOR THE HOME AGAINST THE +SALOON. + + +The sweetest word in the language we speak is home. No matter in what +clime or country, whether where sunbeams dance and play or frost fiend +rules the air, there's no place like home. At the World's Fair in +Chicago I visited the Eskimo village. To a woman who could speak +English I said: "How do you like this country?" + +"Beautiful, beautiful country. Oh, the flowers, the green grass, the +lovely homes!" was her reply. + +But when I ventured to ask: "Will you remain here after the fair and +not return to your land of ice and snow," she shook her head and said: +"No, I want to go home. I am so homesick." + +"Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home." In Lexington, +Kentucky, there is a modest looking house, nestled mid linden and +locust trees. Visitors who pass in quest of historic spots about the +far-famed city, seldom give even a glance at that humble abode. Yet +when I am far away, whether in the wonderful west with its scenic +grandeur, or in the east surrounded by mansions of millionaires, my +heart goes back in memory's aeroplane to the old Blue Grass town, +where six generations of my family sleep, the dearest spot on earth to +me--"home, sweet home." When years ago I was nearing the end of a +three months' lecture tour in California, a friend invited me to join +him on a visit to Yosemite Valley, saying: "You will see the grandest +scenery and biggest trees in the world." My reply was: "I thank you +very much, but my engagements in the golden west close on the eighth +and I will start east on the ninth; my old Kentucky home is grander to +me than Yosemite Valley and my baby bigger than any tree in +California." + +Someone has said the nearest spot to heaven in this world is a happy +home, where the parents are young and the children small. I don't know +about that. It seems to me a little nearer heaven is the home where +husband and wife have lived long together, where children honor +parents and parents honor God; where the aged wife can look her +husband in the face and give him the sentiment of the dame of John +Anderson: + + "John Anderson, my jo John, + When we were first acquent; + Your locks were like the raven, + Your bonnie brow was brent; + But now your brow is beld, John, + Your locks are like the snaw; + But blessings on your frosty pow, + John Anderson, my jo. + + "John Anderson, my jo, John, + We clamb the hill thegither; + And mony a cantie day, John, + We've had wi' one anither: + Now we maun totter down, John, + And hand in hand we'll go, + And sleep thegither at the foot, + John Anderson, my jo." + +James A. Garfield said: "It's by the fireside, where calm thoughts +inspired by love of home and love of country, the history of the past, +the hope of the future, God works out the destiny of this republic." + +A Spartan general pointing to his army said: "There stand the walls of +Sparta and every man's a brick." Can I not point to the homes of our +country and say: "There stand the walls of this republic and every +home's a brick." Suppose a battery, planted on some eminence outside +this city, were to send a shell through some building every hour; how +long until your beautiful city would be one of crumbling walls and +flying population? On yonder heights of law are planted two hundred +thousand rum batteries, sending shells of destruction through the +homes of the people and every day hundreds of homes are knocked out of +the walls of the republic. + +Do you realize what it means when an American home is destroyed by +drink? Some years ago on Sunday afternoon I visited an eastern +penitentiary by invitation of the chaplain. Passing a row of cells my +attention was called to a man whose face bore the marks of +intelligence and refinement. The chaplain said: "That man is an ideal +prisoner and a born gentleman, though here for life. He is the +graduate of an eastern college. He married an accomplished young +woman. In social life he was led into the drink habit, and it grew +upon him until at times he became intoxicated. When under the +influence of liquor his reason was dethroned, and one night in a brawl +he killed a man. He was given a life sentence. Asking permission to +speak he said: 'I have no complaint to make of the verdict, but beg +the privilege of saying, God who knows the secrets of all hearts, +knows I am not a murderer at heart, for I don't know how nor when I +killed my friend.' A few days after he entered this prison his wife +came to visit him. She had with her a sweet little golden-haired +child. As he entered the office in his striped prison garb his wife +fell into his arms; the agony on that man's face I can never forget. +The child shrank from him at first, then recognizing her father, she +ran to him. As he hugged her to his bosom the little one twined her +arms about his neck and said: 'Papa, please come home with us. Mama +cries so much cause you don't come home.' The man sinking into a chair +said: 'O God, am I never to see my home again?'" + +This is but one of the thousands of homes destroyed every year by the +drink curse. If I could draw aside the veil and let you look into the +desolate homes of your own city tonight, you would feel Ex-Governor +Hanley of Indiana did not give an overwrought picture when he said: +"Personally, I have seen so much physical ruin, mental blight and +moral corruption from strong drink that I hate the traffic. I hate it +for its arrogance; I hate it for its hypocrisy; I hate it for its +greed and avarice; I hate it for its domination in politics; I hate it +for its disregard of law; I hate it for the load it straps on labor's +back; I hate it for the wounds it has given to genius, for the human +wrecks it has wrought, for the alms-houses it has peopled, for the +prisons it has filled, for the crimes it has committed, the homes it +has destroyed, the hearts it has broken, the malice it has planted in +the hearts of men, and the dead sea fruit with which it starves +immortal souls." With proof of the truth of this phillipic on every +hand, it is a strange anomaly in our government that the degrading +influence of the saloon is linked by law to the elevating influence of +school, church and home. + +When Jesus was on earth He came to a fig tree, dressed in rich leaves +but barren of fruit; it was in fig season but the tree had only +leaves. We read that Jesus cursed the tree and it withered. We have in +this country a upas tree named the liquor traffic. It is not a barren +tree, but far worse than barren. Its branches bend with the weight of +its fruit, but not a pint, nor a quart, nor gallon, nor barrel from +its boughs ever benefited a single mortal by its use as a beverage. +Its leaves drip with poison and the bones of its dead victims would +build a pyramid as high as Appenines piled on the Alps. Jesus withered +the tree that produced nothing. We license and cultivate the tree +whose fruitage the Bible compares to the bite of a serpent, the sting +of an adder and the poison of asps. + +In the earlier days of the temperance movement, when we discussed the +question along moral lines, the license advocates made it an economic +question, but since the commercial world is fast becoming a great +temperance league, and great industries are blacklisting the saloon as +an enemy of legitimate business, the liquor advocates are taking +refuge behind the Bible, and claiming that He who cursed the tree that +was barren, planted the one whose root and heart, bark and branches +are poisoning the blood of the nation. They pervert scripture, take +isolated passages and present an ominum gatherum of quotations to +prove the Bible indorses the use of strong drink. By the same process +I can prove one of these Bible license scholars should hang himself +and be in haste about it. I read on one page of the Bible, "Judas went +out and hanged himself." On another page I read, "Go thou and do +likewise." And on another, "Whatsoever thou doest, do it quickly." + +Against these sacrilegious uses of scripture, I place the estimate of +the fruit of this upas tree from one whose words are unmistakable, and +whose wisdom none can question. Solomon said: "Wine is a _mocker_." +Was there ever a word of more weight in its application? When a boy in +school nothing so vexed me and made me want to fight, as for a boy to +_mock_ me. I remember when one of the prettiest girls in school made +faces at me and _mocked_ me; from that hour I could never see any +beauty in that girl's face, nor have I quite forgiven her to this day. +When the Jews wanted to heap the greatest indignity possible upon +Jesus, when they had driven the nails in His hands, pierced His side, +placed the crown of thorns upon His head and pressed the bitter cup to +His lips, they stood off and _mocked_ Him. + +Is wine a mocker? Did Solomon know what he was talking about when he +gave it that detestable name? He added still another word and called +it a deceiver. Does it deceive and mock? It meets a young man at a +social feast, garlands itself with the graces of hospitality, sparkles +in the brilliant jewels of fashion, smiles through the faces of female +beauty, furnishes inspiration for the dance and mingles with music, +mirth and hilarity. Gently it takes the young man by the hand, leads +him down the green, flowery sward of license, filled with the rich +aroma of the wild flowers of life. When it has firmly fixed itself in +his appetite, it begins to strip him of his manhood as hail strips the +trees, and when, with will-power gone, nerves shattered, eyes bleared +and face bloated, he stands with the last vestige of manly beauty +swept from the shattered temple of the soul, it stands off and _mocks_ +him. It goes to a home, tramples upon the pure unselfish love of a +wife, enthrones the shadow of a drunkard's poverty upon the +hearth-stone, makes the empty cupboard echo the wail of hungry +children for bread, with its bloody talons marks the door lintels with +the death sentence of an immortal soul, and then stands off and +_mocks_ the home. It goes to the Congress of the United States and +says: "Put upon me the harness of taxation and I'll pull you out of +the mire of national debt, and make the administration of the party in +power a financial success." Then with a government permit, it proceeds +to take out of the pockets of the people five times as much as it pays +the government; creates three-fourths of the country's crimes, +four-fifths of its pauperism, sixty per cent. of its divorces, dooms +to poverty and shame a great army of children, blights rosebuds of +beauty on cheeks of innocence, shatters oaks of manhood, leaves its +polluting taint upon all that it touches, and then stands off and +mocks the republic. Was there ever more meaning condensed into one +brief utterance than in Solomon's warning, "Wine is a mocker, strong +drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise?" Is it +wisdom in this republic to deliberately, for revenue, set in motion +causes that neutralize its progress, waste its forces and destroy the +fireside nurseries of the nation's destiny? + +If I were an artist I would now place before you a picture of an ideal +American home. I would not make it the fine mansion on the avenue, nor +would I make it "the old log cabin in the lane." I would make it a +neat country home with garden of flowers, orchard of fruits, a barn +lot with bubbling spring and laughing brook. In the door of this home +I would place an American mother with the youngest of four children in +her arms; the oldest son driving his tired team to the barn, the +second one the cows to the cupping, the daughter spreading the cloth +for tea, and the head of the house sinking the iron-bound bucket in +the well for a draught of cold water when day's work for loved ones is +o'er. Approaching the door a commission appointed by Congress on +political economy lift their hats as the spokesman says: "Madam, are +you mistress of this mansion?" + +"I am the wife and mother of this humble home, gentlemen; the man at +the well is my husband." + +"Madam, we are commissioned by Congress to investigate the home life +of the country and would like to learn what this home is doing for the +republic." + +"Come in, gentlemen, and be seated, while I call my husband. We feel +honored by your visit and would be pleased to have you take tea with +us." + +The invitation is readily accepted and after a good country supper the +investigation proceeds. In answer to the question as to the relation +of the home to the welfare of the republic, the head of the house +says: "Gentlemen, we are trying to keep our home pure; it is our +purpose to make our boys patriotic American citizens and our daughters +true American women. We love God and endeavor to keep His +commandments, and this is about all I can say about our home." + +"That is well so far, but may we ask what sacrifice would this home be +willing to make for the republic if its flag were in peril?" + +The wife exclaims: "You alarm us by your question. Is our country in +danger?" + +"Yes, madam. The combined forces of the Old World are nearing our +shores and the republic is in peril." + +"Wait, gentlemen, until we talk it over." + +The family retires for consultation and soon the mother appears, and +with tears in her eyes says: "Gentlemen, we've decided. Take our +oldest boy, who is eager to go. Take him to the battlefield; if he +falls in defense of his country's flag, come back, we'll kiss the +second one and tell him, 'go fill your brother's place.' Gentlemen, we +love our country next to our God and this home is pledged to this +country's honor." + +I say, any country that has such mothers for its patriotism, such +guardians for its homes, should protect these homes and mothers with +all the power of police, all the majesty of law, and any evil that +attempts to destroy these homes ought not to be licensed, but should +be buried as the old Scotch woman would bury the devil--with "face +down, so the more he scratched the deeper he would go." + +I am sick of the hollow sentiment, "the hand that rocks the cradle +rules the world," insofar as it relates to the drink problem. If the +hand that rocks the cradle did rule the world, there would not be two +hundred thousand rum-fiend vultures soaring over the cradle homes of +our country today. If a mother could keep her boy in the cradle she +might rule the world, but the trouble is, the boy gets too big for the +cradle and jumps out. In the cradle he's mama's child, coos if mama +coos, and laughs when mama laughs; but out of the cradle he's papa's +boy, swears if papa swears, smokes if papa smokes, drinks if papa +drinks. If papa does none of these things, then the world, ruled by +hands that don't rock cradles, steps in with licensed schools of vice +to teach him to drink. + +When General Grant was President of the United States he appointed an +old colored man mail-carrier over a route in the mountains of +Virginia. One day, when in a lonely spot, two robbers faced the negro +and demanded the mail. The old man, lifting himself in his saddle +said: + +"Gentlemen, I is de mail-carrier of de United States; you touch dis +darkey and you'll have de whole army of dis government on you in +twenty fo' hours." + +Blessed will be the day when every mother in our land can say to the +saloon: "You touch my home and you'll have the police power of this +republic on your heels in twenty-four hours." + +But, who is the government? We are told that in the early history of +this country, a country magistrate rode horseback from Maryland to +Washington to consult the government. Going to the White House he was +informed the government was not there. At the Capitol he was informed +the people are the government. He returned home, called the voters of +his county to a meeting in the courthouse and said: "Gentlemen, I have +a very important question I want to present to the government." So I +desire to talk to the government, you voters who are to decide the +policy of this republic regarding the liquor traffic. + +An Irishman brought before the court for an assault upon a saloon +keeper was questioned by the judge, who said: "Mr. Dolan, what have +you to say; are you guilty or innocent of the charge made against +you?" + +The Irishman replied: "By me soul, judge, I couldn't tell ye. I was +blind, stavin' drunk on the manest whiskey ye iver tasted, yer honor." + +"I do not use whiskey of any kind," said the judge. + +"Ye don't. Thin I don't think ye are doin' yer duty by such +constituents as meself. Ye license men to sell the stuff; ye ought to +taste the stuff ye license men to sell, thin ye would know how it +makes a gintlemen behave himself." + +The judge rapped for order in the court and repeated the question, +"Are you guilty or innocent of the charge?" + +"Judge, I'll state the case and let yer honor decide for me, which ye +are hired to do anyway. I was standin' by the corner of the strate on +me way home from work, when I spied the bottles in the window of the +saloon. The sight of thim bottles made me thirsty, so I wint in and +took a drink. Jist thin three other thirsty ones came in and I took a +drink with thim; thin they took a drink with me and we kept on +drinkin' till we thought we were back in auld Ireland at Donnybrook +Fair. Whenever we saw a head we struck it and I suppose this +gintlemin's head came my way. Now here's the case, judge. If I hadn't +taken the whiskey, I wouldn't a been in the row, for I'm always +paceable whin sober; if the saloon hadn't been there I wouldn't have +taken the whiskey; and if the Court hadn't licensed the saloon it +wouldn't have been there. Ye can take the case, sir." + +What makes the drunkard? The drink. What supplies the drink? The +saloon. What makes the saloon? The law. Who makes the law? The +legislator. Who makes the legislator? The voter. It's the "House that +Jack built," only I will change the verbage a little. Intemperance is +the fire the devil built. Strong drink is the fuel that feeds the fire +the devil built. Distilleries, breweries and saloons are the axes that +cut the fuel that feeds the fire the devil built. License laws are +molds that cast the axes, that cut the fuel that feeds the fire the +devil built. License voters and legislators are the patentees who +invented the molds that cast the axes that cut the fuel that feeds the +fire the devil built. Prohibition ballots are the sledge hammers +destined to destroy the molds that cast the axes that cut the fuel +that feeds the fire the devil built. + +There is a chain of responsibility running through the drink question +which many good men fail to recognize. You know a chain is made up of +links welded together. The drunkard is only one link; he is not a +chain. When you link him to the drink then you begin the chain; the +drunkard comes from the drink. That is not all of the chain however; +the drink is linked to the saloon. If you have the saloon, you have +the drink, you have the drunkard. This is not all of the chain; you +have the license law. If you have the license law, you have the +saloon, you have the drink, you have the drunkard. There is yet +another link; the license law is linked to the license voter. The +drunkard comes from the drink, the drink comes from the saloon, the +saloon from the law, and law from the license voter. Who are the +license voters? Many of them are Christian men on their way to heaven; +but the trouble with them is the other end of the chain is going +another road. "No drunkard can enter the kingdom of heaven." + +I know it is a common remark that this is a free country, and if a man +chooses to drink, let him do so and take the consequences. If one +could take alone the consequences of his sin there might be some claim +to personal liberty. But when a man's liberty involves another life +the scene changes. A young man may commit a sin in social life and by +reform be forgiven, but when that other life involved in his sin, is +seen in after years, walking the streets in painted shame, reproducing +the consequences of that man's sin, memory and conscience will combine +to give him waking hours while the world sleeps. A man may never enter +a saloon, never take a drink of intoxicating liquor, but if he votes +for the saloon his life becomes involved in the consequences of the +saloon. What are the consequences? Here is a sample. After a three +days' blizzard in one of our large cities a reformer visited a morgue +and seeing a large clothes-hamper full of dead babies he said: "What +does this mean?" + +The reply came: "They were gathered from the drunkards' hovels of the +city this morning." + +The visitor tells us: "Their bodies were frozen, and several arms were +sticking up out of the basket as if reaching out after life and love." + +The streets of our city slums are rivers along whose shores at +midnight can be heard the death gurgle of helpless little ones, while +poverty's row is full of children cursed by inheritance, who are not +living but merely existing by scraping the moss of bare subsistence +from empty buckets in wells of poverty; and the air is freighted with +oaths and obscenities from demonized men and demi-monde women who pour +the poison of their blood into the social life of city slums. + +I was both grieved and amazed when I read from the pen of a brilliant +Kentucky editor an editorial denouncing as tyrannical a sumptuary law +that "denies to a citizen the right to order his home, his meat, his +drink, his clothing, according to his conscience." I wonder if the +great editor ever considered the sumptuary law of the saloon. Every +woman who fills the holy office of wife and mother has a right to a +home. The sumptuary law of the saloon says to hundreds of thousands of +such women: "You shall not have a home; you shall live in a hovel. You +shall not order your home, your food, your drink, your clothing, +according to your conscience, but according to the best interest of +the saloon these comforts shall be ordered. You shall work all day in +the harness of oppression and when night comes instead of restful +sleep, you shall watch the stars out and wait the return of husband +and sons." What about this inhuman denial of the right to order meat, +drink, clothing and home life? Such is the sumptuary law of the +saloon. + +Every child in this country has a right to an education and a chance +in the world. The saloons say to hosts of children: "You shall have +neither education nor opportunity. You shall go to the streets and +sweat-shops to earn bread. You shall live in ignorance and mid evil +environment that we may gather in the wages of your fathers." How does +this sumptuary law of the saloon compare with a sumptuary law that +forbids the sale of what is of no earthly or eternal benefit to any +one who uses it. + +The same distinguished editor said: "When women gather around voting +booths on election days with sandwiches and coffee, they present an +indecent spectacle to the public." The man who goes with gun in hand +and shoots down another in defense of his country is a hero. The +mother lion or bear that defies the hunter's bullets and dies in +defense of her young we can but respect; but when woman, who has +suffered so long in silence, goes near where the welfare of her home +is at stake and out of the sore, sad sorrow of her heart appeals to +men for protection to her home from the ravages of the saloon, she is +not paid the respect given to a mother hen or bird or bear by the +advocate of the liquor traffic. When the niece of Cardinal Richelieu +was demanded by a licentious king, the Cardinal said: "Around her form +I draw the awful circle of our kingly church; set a foot within and on +thy head, aye, though it wear a crown, shall fall the curse of Rome." +Shall the crown of gold on the distiller's and brewer's brow hush into +silence the lion-hearted manhood of our republic when its sons and +daughters are demanded to feed the maw of the liquor traffic? + +One of the famous pictures of the masters is of a woman bound fast to +a pillar within the tide-mark of the ocean. The waves are curling +about her feet. A ship is passing under full sail but no one seems to +see or heed the woman in peril. Birds of prey hover above her, but she +sees neither bird, nor ship, nor sea; knowing her doom is sealed, she +lifts her eyes to heaven and prays. This picture represents thousands +of women tied fast to their doom within the tide-waves of the ocean of +intemperance. The ship of state passes by, bearing its share of the +ill-gotten gains of the liquor traffic, but heeds not the moans and +cries of struggling, strangling, dying woman. Oliver Cromwell said: +"It is relative misgovernment that lashes nations into fury." The long +suffering in silence by the womanhood of this country from the +misgovernment that has heaped upon woman the woes of strong drink by +the licensed saloon, whether a tribute to the patience of woman or +not, is to the eternal shame of man, whose inhumanity to woman through +the liquor traffic is making "countless millions mourn." + +To this misgovernment is due the unrest among women and the impetus +behind the equal suffrage movement today. There needs to be a saving +influence brought into our political life, and I have faith to believe +that woman's ballot will provide that influence. Having proved her +dignity in every new field of activity she has entered, I believe the +same flowers of refinement will adorn the ballot box when she holds in +her hand the sacred trust of franchise. Her life-long habit of +house-cleaning will be carried to the dirty pool of politics, where +the saloon is entrenched, and the demagogue and demijohn will be +carted away to the garbage pile of discarded rubbish. + +Now and then I am asked: "What will become of the men who are engaged +in the liquor business if the country goes dry? What will become of +their families?" I answer by asking: What becomes of the men the +saloons put out of business? What becomes of their families? When +prohibition puts a man out of business, it leaves him his brain, +blood, bone, muscle, nerves and whatever manhood he has left in store, +while his long rest from active toil has given him a reserve force for +active, useful business. When the saloon puts a man out of business, +he goes out with shattered nerves, weak will, poisoned blood and so +unfitted for service no place is open for him to earn a living. +Recently a man put out of business by prohibition said to me: "This +town went dry seven years ago, and going out of the saloon business +has been such a benefit to me and to my family, I shall work and vote +to put all other saloon-keepers in this state out of business for +their own good." + +On the other hand, I have in mind a man who once chained the Congress +of the United States by his eloquence. Clients clamored for his +service, and prosperity crowned his practice in the courts. In +drinking saloons he lost his clientage and in penniless poverty he +died--unwept, unhonored, unsung. The ex-saloon-keeper to whom I +referred is city marshall and very popular, while the man put out of +business by the saloon has no chance: + + "Where he goes and how he fares, + Nobody knows and nobody cares." + +Along with the question of what will become of the men put out of +business by prohibition, comes the question, what will the farmers do +with their corn if distilleries are closed? Less consumption of +whiskey means more consumption of cornbread and that means more corn. +Less consumption of whiskey means greater consumption of bacon, and +more bacon means more corn to feed hogs. When a liquor advocate said +to an audience of farmers: "If this state goes dry what will you +farmers do with your corn," an old, level-headed farmer shouted: +"We'll raise more hogs and less hell." + +Prohibition means more of everything good, and less of everything bad; +more manhood, less meanness; more gain, less groans; more bread, less +brawls; more clothing, less cussedness; less heartaches and more +happiness. Turn saloons into bake shops and butcher stalls, +distilleries into food factories, breweries into stock pens, and the +country will be a thousandfold better off than feeding its finances by +starving its morality. + +This question lifts itself head and shoulders above every other +question touching practical politics today. You nowhere read of a +nation going to destruction because of too much gold or too little +silver, too much tariff or too little tariff, but always because of +the vices of its people. The nation that bases perpetuity upon moral +character will endure with the stars, while walls thick and high as +Babylon's will not save a drunken republic. + + "Vain mightiest fleets of iron found, + Vain all her conquering guns, + Unless Columbia keeps unstained + The true hearts of her sons." + +Beautiful Constance of France was dressing for a court ball. While +standing before a mirror, clasping a necklace of pearls, a spark from +the fireplace caught in the folds of her gown. Absorbed in her attire, +she did not detect the danger until a blaze started. Soon, rolling on +the floor in flames, she burned to death. When the news reached the +ballroom the music hushed, the dance halted, and "Poor Constance! Poor +Constance!" went from lip to lip, but soon the music started and the +dance went on. While I am talking now the youth, beauty and sweetness +of American life is in peril from the flames that are kindled by the +licensed saloon. From an inward fire men are being consumed and homes +destroyed. Will we say, "Poor Columbia!" and keep step to the +_mocker's_ march to the nation's death; or will we put out every +distillery and brewery fire and make this in reality "the land of the +free and the home of the brave?" + +In the name of all that is pure and true and vital in national life, I +plead with every lover of home and country to come to the help of the +cause that must succeed if this republic is to live. I plead with +Christians in the name of the church, bleeding at every pore because +of the curse of drink. If everyone whose name is on a church roll +would step out in line of duty on this question, very soon God would +stretch out His arm and save this republic from the liquor traffic. +God has been ready a long time; His people have not been ready to do +their part. Too many Christians are like the horse Sam Jones used to +tell of. + +He said: "We have a horse in my neighborhood in Georgia, which if +hitched to a load of stone or cotton balks and won't go a step; but in +light harness in the shafts of a race cart he will pace a mile in +two-thirty. We have too many Christians who are like this horse; they +trot out to church Sunday morning, but hitch them to a prayer meeting +and they won't pull a pound." + +Dr. McLeod, the stalwart Scotch preacher, on his way to a session of +his church had with him a small hunch-back member of his church, a +dwarf in size but an earnest worker. Crossing a certain stream a storm +struck the boat and the waves were sending it toward the rocks. A +boatman at one end said: + +"Let the big preacher pray for us." + +The helmsman at the other end said: "No, let that little fellow pray +and the big one take an oar." + +Oliver Cromwell, going through a cathedral, came upon twelve silver +statues. Turning to the guide he said: "Who are these?" + +The guide replied: "Those are the twelve apostles, life-size and solid +silver." + +Cromwell said: "What good are they doing as silver apostles? Melt them +down into money and let them be of some service to the country." + +We have too many silver statue church members who need melting down +and sending out to help save our republic from the fate of other +nations that have perished through their vices. We need more men with +moral courage to voice and vote their convictions. When the slavery +question was agitating the country Henry Clay stood for a compromise +he believed would help to solve the question. Many of his friends in +the South censured him, and sent him letters calling him a traitor. He +arose in the Senate to speak, it is said, looking pale from the effect +of the censure he was then receiving day by day. Addressing the Senate +he said: "I suppose what I shall say in this address will cost me many +dear friends." A reporter said: "He hesitated as if choked with +emotion at the thought of losing his friends." Then with the majesty +of greatness and magnetism of manner he proceeded, saying: "I am +charged with being ambitious. If I had listened to the soft +whisperings of ambition I would have stood still, gazed upon the +raging storm and let the ship of state drift on with the winds. I seek +no office at the cost of courage or conviction. Pass this bill. +Restore affection to the states of this Union and I will go back to my +Ashland home; there in its groves, on its lawns, 'mid my flocks and +herds, and in the bosom of my family, I will find a sincerity I have +not found in the public walks of life. Yes, I am ambitious, but my +ambition is that I may become the humble instrument in the hands of +God, in restoring harmony to a distracted nation, and behold the +glorious spectacle of a true, united happy and prosperous people." + +There is a grandeur in the mountain that lifts itself above the +hamlets at its base, and bearing its brow to the threatening storm +clouds says to the forked lightning, "Strike me!" but grander is the +man who can stand 'mid the allurements of the world's honors and say: +"I would rather be right than President." Dare to do right and what +you do will have its reward. + +"Shamgar, what's that in thy hand?" + +"Only an ox-goad." + +"Come dedicate it to God, and go slay those Philistines." + +"David, what's that in thy hand?" + +"Only a sling and a little stone from the brook." + +"Come dedicate them to God, and go kill the giant." + +"My little lad, what's that you have?" + +"Only five loaves and two little fishes." + +"Come, dedicate them to God; they'll feed thousands and you will have +baskets full left." + +My brother, what's that in thy hand? Only a little American ballot. +Come dedicate it to God and home and native land, go cast it against +the licensed liquor traffic and your life will bear fruit which the +angels will gather when you have "finished your course" and "kept the +faith." + +You are soon to have the local option test in your county. If I could +do one thing I could make the victory for the home overwhelming. You +know if the saloons continue they will have their victims in the +future as they have had in the past. You know too their victims will +come from the youth of your county. Those who are victims now will +soon be dead bodies, or "dead broke." The men in the saloon business +do not look to men who are drunkards now, for future use nor do they +intend to use horses or cattle or dogs, but _boys_. If I could +announce that on the evening before the vote is to be taken I would +present to the public the future victims of the saloons in this +county. If I had a prophet's eye and could select these victims, how +many homes I would enter where I would not only be an unwelcome but an +unexpected visitor. When the hour would arrive for the exhibition, +what an audience I would have! Nothing like it ever gathered in this +county; from every corner of it parents would come. When placed in +line on an elevated platform so all could see, I would speak through a +megaphone saying: "I present to you the future victims of the liquor +traffic in your county; here are the boys who will be your future +drunkards and here are the girls who will be the wives of drunkards." +I imagine some father, who thinks regulation the best policy, would +exclaim: + +"There's my boy. I never thought the saloon would take my son. Don't +talk to me about regulation. Come, you fathers whose sons are not +here, and help me save my boy." + +Another would press through the crowd to be sure that he was not +mistaken and say: "There's my daughter. I never dreamt she would be a +drunkard's wife. I have said prohibition won't prohibit, but I will +say it no more. Come, good fathers who love your children, and help me +save my child." + +This is but the forecast for some parents in this audience. Would it +be wrong if I should say: "O God, if the saloons are to continue in +this county, if they are to have their victims in the future as in the +past, let the fathers who vote the curse on the county furnish the +victims." I do not offer up any such prayer, but I do say: "O God, +give to the home the protection of a prohibition law, and may the +victims not be anybody's boy or anybody's girl. Go out of this hall +tonight resolved you will link your faith in principle with your work. +Faith and work!" + +I like that story of the mother in New England, who on a visit from +home, received a message calling her to the bedside of a daughter who +was hopelessly ill. Hurrying to the nearest railroad station she said +to the conductor: "Sir, do you connect at the junction with the train +that will take me to my sick child," at the same time handing him the +message. + +"No, madam, we do not run our trains to connect with trains on that +road. The train will be gone some little time before we reach the +junction." + +"Sir, are you a Christian?" + +"No, madam, I'm a railroad conductor." + +"Have you a Christian man with the train?" + +"Yes, that man you see oiling the engine claims to be a Christian, and +I think he is; you might consult him if you like." + +Going to the engineer she said: "Please read this message and tell me +if you can catch that train at the junction." + +The engineer read the message and said: "I'm sorry, madam, but that +train goes fifteen minutes before we get there." + +"Please sir, catch that train and let me see my daughter before she +dies." + +"I would give a whole month's wages if I could," said the tender +hearted engineer. + +"Then don't you think God can hold the train fifteen minutes till we +get there," said the distressed mother. + +"Oh yes, God can do anything," was the reply. + +"Won't you ask God to hold that train? And I will ask Him." + +The engineer said: "Yes, I will." + +The mother boarded the train, and on schedule time the engine moved. +The engineer took hold of the lever and up with the smoke from the +engine went the prayer: "Lord, hold that train fifteen minutes for +that good mother." With this prayer more steam was turned on than +usual and at the next station the train was two minutes ahead of time. +At the next station two more minutes had been gained. It was in the +early days of railroading when rules were not so strict as now; the +conductor knew there was nothing in the way, so he concluded to let +the Christian engineer have his way. As the train was starting for its +third and last run for the junction, the engineer said: "Lord, if you +will hold that other train seven and a half minutes, I'll make up the +other seven and a half." + +When the engineer had made up his seven and a half, sure enough there +stood the other train. When the engineer said to the conductor: "What +are you waiting for," the reply was: "Something the matter with the +engine, but the boys have it fixed now and we'll go on in a minute." + +"Yes," said the engineer, "you'll go on when this godly mother gets on +and not before." + +Each one of you do your part, God will do His part, and the end will +be victory for "God and home and native land." + + + + +IV + +THE NEW WOMAN AND THE OLD MAN. + + +In the exhibition of fine paintings it is important to have the +benefit of proper light and shadow. So it should be in the study of +questions. Those who look at the new woman through the distorted lense +of false education or prejudice, see the monstrosity such as we have +pictured in the public press. They see Dr. Mary Walker, whose dress +offends our sense of propriety; they see the ranting woman on the +platform, or suffragettes throwing stones through plate-glass windows, +and defacing costly specimens of art. These no more represent the +genuine new woman I indorse, than does the goggled-eyed, kimbo-armed +dandy represent true manhood. Fanaticism marks every new movement, +every life has its defect, the sun its spots and the fairest face its +freckles. + +The new woman is not to be judged by exceptions, nor is she to be +measured by the standard of public sentiment. Public sentiment has +often condemned the right. It ridiculed Columbus; put Roger Bacon in +jail because he discovered the principle of concave and convex glass; +condemned Socrates, and jeered Fulton and Morse. It pronounced the +making of table forks a mockery of the Creator who gave us fingers to +eat with, and broke up a church in Illinois because a woman prayed in +prayer meeting. + +Hume said: "There is nothing in itself, beautiful or deformed. These +attributes arise from the peculiar construction of human sentiment and +affection; the attractiveness or repulsiveness of a thing depends very +much upon our schooling." + +Prof. John Stuart Blackie wore his hair so long that it almost reached +his waist. Seated one day in front of a hotel in London, a bootblack +halted before him and said: "Mister, will you have a shine?" + +Professor Blackie replied: "No, but if you will go wash that dirty +face of yours I will give you the price of a shine." + +The boy went but soon returned with his rosy cheeks cleansed, saying: +"Sir, how do you like the job?" + +"That's all right; you have earned your sixpence," said Prof. Blackie +as he held out the coin. + +The bootblack turning away said: "I dinna want your sixpence; keep it, +old chap, and have yer hair cut." + +The long hair of Professor Blackie was as offensive to the boy as the +dirty face of the boy to Professor Blackie. One had been schooled to +short-haired men, the other to cleanly children. + +I have in my presence now scores of persons, who believe the sale of a +negro on the auction block in the South to the domination of a white +man was wrong. I did not think so in my youth. My schooling was that +Japheth was a white man, Shem a red man and Ham was black; that it was +a divine decree that the descendants of Japheth should dwell in the +tents of Shem and send for the children of Ham to be their servants, +thereby supporting the white man in his dealings with the black and +red races. As the Bible was used to justify slavery, so it is quoted +today in favor of the liquor traffic, and against the new woman +movement. Yet it's the Bible that has given woman her broader liberty. +It was the Bible that broke the chains that harnessed woman to a plow +by the side of an ox. In the vision of John, a woman is crowned with +stars, the burnt-out moon is her footstool and the wings of a great +eagle given to bear her above the floods that would engulf her. + +The viewpoint of schooling has much to do with our convictions and +prejudices. When the bicycle craze first came upon us, women bicycle +clubs were formed throughout the country. Wheels were made specially +for woman, and to facilitate the pleasure and comfort, bloomers were +worn by women in all our cities. The fat and lean, tall and short, old +and young wore bloomers. At that time if a man from the country +neighborhood where I was reared, one given to dancing, had gone to +Chicago and seen these bloomer-clad women, he would have thought the +whole sex disgraced. And I must admit I didn't like the bloomer girl +myself. I can appreciate the Yankee farmer who lived between Boston +and Wareham, Mass. A young woman who lived in Boston had a friend in +Wareham, and donning her bloomers she mounted her wheel and started +for the village. Passing several diverging points, and thinking +possibly she had missed the right road, she decided to inquire at the +next house. Seeing the Yankee farmer at the front gate she rode up, +dismounted and said: "Sir, will you please tell me, is this the way to +Wareham?" + +The farmer, with eyes fixed upon the new garb, said: "Miss, you'll +have to excuse me. I can't tell you, for I never saw anything like +them before." + +I said our opinions are based upon schooling. Let the man from the +dancing community leave Chicago, go back to Kentucky, attend a country +ball, see a young woman with low neck dress and short sleeves, in the +arms of a man she never met before, and he thinks her the picture of +propriety, as well as grace and beauty. Yet the bloomer girl was +completely clad from her chin to the soles of her feet while the other +is so un-clad that when a woman, now noted for her great work among +the unfortunate of New York City, was a society leader, and was +passing through her library to her carriage one evening, her little +son said: "Mama, you are not going out on the street looking that way, +are you? Why, you are scarcely dressed at all." The mother realizing +as never before, the immodesty of her attire, returned to her room, +changed her apparel to what met the approval of her boy, and has never +since worn a decollete gown. + +Let a respectable woman in this town stand on a street corner +to-morrow, and utter an oath; she would shock every one within sound +of her voice. A man can "cuss" to his satisfaction and, if not a +church member, the community is not shocked. Let a young woman seeking +a position in a public school in one of our cities, call a member of +the school board into a saloon and order beer set up for two; would +she get the position? Not much. Not if the community found it out, or +the remainder of the board who were slighted. A man can invite a dozen +men into a saloon, order drinks for the company, and thereby help to +win the position he seeks. In the city where I reside a young man can +get drunk and howl like a wolf through the streets, yet if he has +wealth and family influence, in ten days he can attend a social +gathering of the best society. Let a young woman step aside from the +path of right and she is hurled to the depths of the low-land of +vices. + +Some years ago a young man died in our city whose family name was +honored and whose father was wealthy. The young man went the pace that +kills and in the very morning of life died a victim to his vices. A +long line of carriages followed him to our beautiful cemetery, his +pall bearers were from the leading families of the city; flowers +covered his grave and the daily papers paid a tribute to the young man +cut down before the river of life was half run. + +Soon after, a poor girl died in one of the wicked dens of the city. +She had been left an orphan in early life without a mother's love to +guard and guide her, she went astray. Two carriages followed her to +the stranger's burying ground. In one were two of her kind; in the +other the pastor of the church of which I am a member. He afterward +said to me: "We had to get two negro men at work near by to help lower +her body into the grave." + +No wonder woman cries out against these standards, these peculiar +constructions of human sentiment. Public sentiment demands of a man +that he shall be physically brave. If a woman appeals to him for +protection, his bosom must heave with courage like the billows of the +ocean, though he quake in his boots. Yet the woman he defends will +endure pain without a murmur, which would make the man groan for an +hour. When my wife is ill it takes about two days to find it out; she +does not seem so cheerful the first day, and the second, she will +admit she is not so well. Let me get sick, and the whole family will +know it in half an hour. + +I know a woman will scream if a mouse runs across the floor, but give +her a loved one to defend, let supreme danger come and she's no +coward. John Temple Graves tells of a Georgia girl so timid she was +afraid to cross the hall at night to mother's room. She married a +worthy young man and by industry and economy they paid for a cottage +home. He began to cough, and the hectic flush told his lungs were +involved. The doctor advised a change of climate. + +"We'll sell the home," said the little wife, "and go where the doctor +advises, for the home will be nothing to me if you are gone." + +They went to Florida and knowing they must husband their small means, +she took in sewing. A few months later the doctor advised a higher +altitude. They went to a little city in the Ozark mountains. Here +again she plied her needle, wearing upon her face by day a smile to +cheer her husband, while at night her pillow was wet with tears as she +heard him coughing his life away. After several months she was +informed by physicians that but one chance in a hundred remained, and +that was still further west. + +"I'll take the hundredth chance," she said, and on west they went. +Soon after, in the far-away city he died; she pawned her wedding ring +to make up the price of tickets back to Georgia. There the little +widow buried her dead by the side of his mother, and after planting +her favorite flowers about the grave, she turned away to face the +duties of life, and though a dead wall seemed lifted before her, she +met each day with a smile and hid her sorrow beneath the soul's altar +of hope. + +Man has won his title to courage upon battlefield, and yet the +battlefield is not the place to test true courage. + + "The wife who girds her husband's sword, + 'Mid little ones who weep or wonder, + And bravely speaks the cheering word, + E'en though her heart be rent asunder: + + Doomed nightly in her dreams to hear + The bolts of death around him rattle, + Hath shed as sacred blood as ere + Was poured upon the field of battle." + +When elbows touch, ten thousand feet keep step together, martial music +fills the air, the shout of battle is on, bayonets glitter in the +sunlight, the flag flutters in the breeze, and the general commands, +men will shout and rush into battle who without these stimulating +influences would be going the other way. I remember when a boy how +whistling kept up my courage in the dark. It is told of General Zeb +Vance of the Confederate army, that while leading his forces across a +field into an engagement he met a rabbit going the other way. As the +hare dodged around the command, General Vance lifting his hat said: +"Go it, Mollie; go it, Mollie Cotton-tail; if I didn't have a +reputation to sustain I would be right there with you." + +For Christine Bradley, the eighteen-year-old daughter of the Governor +of Kentucky, to stand on the dock at Newport News, against the customs +of centuries and facing the jeers of prejudice, baptize the battleship +Kentucky with water, required as blood-born bravery as coursed the +veins of the ensign who cut the wires in Cardenas Bay, or the +lieutenant who sunk the Merrimac in the entrance to Santiago Harbor. +Because she dared to violate a long-established custom by refusing to +use what had blighted the hopes of many daughters, sent to drunkards' +graves so many sons, and buried crafts and crews in watery graves, the +Woman's Christian Temperance Union presented her with a handsome +silver service. I was chosen to make the presentation speech, which I +closed by saying: "Heaven bless Christine Bradley, who by her example +said: + + I christen thee Kentucky, + With water from the spring, + Which enriched the blood of Lincoln, + Whose praise the sailors sing. + + I christen thee Kentucky, + With prayers of woman true, + That wine, the curse of sailors, + May never curse your crew. + + I christen thee Kentucky, + And may this christening be, + A lesson of safety ever + To sailors on the sea." + +Now if public sentiment has made such a mistake in the allotment of +virtues, why may it not have made a greater mistake in the allotment +of spheres? It has been well said: "God made woman a free moral agent, +capable of the highest development of brain, heart and conscience; +with these are interwoven interests that involve issues for time and +eternity, and God expects of woman the best she can do in whatever +field she is best fitted for the accomplishment of results for the +world's good." If a young woman is fitted to preside over a home, and +some young man desires to crown her queen of that realm, she can find +no higher calling in this world. There is nothing on this earth more +like heaven than a happy home. I can give to a young woman no better +wish than that the future may find her presiding over a home made +beautiful by her character and culture, and safe through her +influence. + +But if a young woman is qualified like Frances E. Willard to better +the world by public life-work, or like Florence Nightingale or Jane +Addams to relieve the suffering of thousands, then she should not +confine herself to the limited sphere of one household. I believe in +the call of capacity for usefulness in both sexes. There are men who +are called to be cooks; they know the art of the caterer. There are +men fitted to be dressmakers; they know the colors that blend and the +styles which give beauty to dress. There are women who are fitted for +science, literature and medicine. Some of the best cooks we have are +men; some of the best writers and speakers are women. Abraham Lincoln +never did more by his proclamation to free the slave, than did Harriet +Beecher Stowe with "Uncle Tom's Cabin." William E. Gladstone never did +more to endear himself to the people of Ireland by his advocacy of the +home-rule, than has Lady Henry Somerset endeared herself to the common +people of the "United Kingdom," by turning away from the wealth, +nobility and aristocracy of England to devote her great heart, gifted +brain and abundant means to the elevation of the masses, the +reformation of the wayward, and the relief of the poor. + +There is a fitness that must not be ignored. Frances E. Willard would +never have made a dressmaker. It is said she did not know when her own +dress fit, or whether becoming; she depended upon Anna Gordon to +decide for her. But by the music of her eloquence and the rhythm of +her rhetoric, she could send the truth echoing through the hearts of +her hearers like the strain of a sweet melody. Worth, of Paris, +France, would not have made an orator, but he could design a robe to +please a princess and make a dress to fit "to the queen's taste." Then +let Worths make dresses, and Frances E. Willards charm the world by +their eloquence. + +Yonder is a boy. His soul is full of music; his fingers are as much at +home on the key-board of a piano as a mocking-bird in its own native +orange grove. His sister is a mathematician; she solves a problem in +mathematics as easily as her brother plays a piece of music. Because +one is a boy and the other a girl, don't make the girl teach music and +the boy mathematics. What God has joined together in fitness, let not +false education put asunder. + +Recently I read of a man whose father left him a large business. +Though an exemplary man he could not make ends meet in a business out +of which his father had made a fortune. The man worried himself into +nervous prostration. While he remained at home for rest, his wife took +charge of the business and made of it a great success. I say let that +woman run the business and the man take care of his nerves. + +I know a minister who is a good man, but his strength is in his limbs. +He's an athlete, but turn him loose in a field as full of ideas as a +clover field of blossoms, and he can't preach a good sermon. Let Dr. +Anna Shaw enter the same field and she will gather blossoms of thought +faster than you can store them away in your mind. Some one in my +presence may believe the man should keep on preaching and Anna Shaw go +to the sewing-room and run a sewing machine; but I say if the man's +strength is in his limbs, and Doctor Shaw's in her head, let the +preacher run the sewing machine and Doctor Shaw preach the gospel of +righteousness, temperance and judgment to come. If God fitted Anna +Shaw's brain and tongue for the platform, it would be unwomanly in her +to make herself the pedal power of a sewing machine. We want +successful, useful men and women; and in fields for which God has +fitted woman, don't be afraid to give her the freest, broadest +liberty, or be uneasy about her unsexing herself. She has entered two +hundred fields in the last one hundred years. Yes, I guess one more +field must be added, for I saw a woman a few years ago in an +occupation I had never seen one engaged in before. In a city where I +lectured a beautiful, intelligent young lady was running the elevator +of a hotel, and I was completely "taken up" by her. + +Of all the new fields entered by woman you cannot point to one where +she has degraded her womanhood, or one that has not been blessed by +the touch of her influence. + +It is true there are fanatics among women as there are among men, but +if the extreme woman goes too far, the average woman will call a halt +every time. Fifteen years ago I could stand on Michigan Avenue, +Chicago, in the evening and within a half hour count twenty young +women, dressed in bloomers, riding bicycles. Now one may go to +Chicago, spend a year and not see one. Woman is safe enough. + +Some are uneasy lest woman will go beyond her sphere, but I am not so +much disturbed about the future of woman as I am of man. Upon virtue +and intelligence depends the future of this republic. Have men all the +virtue? Go to the saloons; are they frequented by women? No; _men_. Go +to the gambling halls; are they crowded with women? No; _men_. Go to +the jails and penitentiaries; are they full of women? No; _men_. Go to +the churches; are they crowded with men? No; mostly by women. What +about intelligence? Have men all the intelligence? Two girls graduate +from high schools to one boy. I am glad to be living now; one hundred +years hence, if I were to be born again, I would want to be a girl. +Woman goes to the door of death to give life to man and man should be +willing to let her seek out her own sphere for usefulness. + +Not long since I read a book called "The New Woman." It was a novel by +an Englishman. In it the author takes a beautiful young girl, about +eighteen years of age, through a "Gretna-Green" experience with a +young man of twenty. She is the daughter of a widow; he, the only son +of a wealthy London merchant. They run away and after a month's search +are found by the father of the young man in southern France. The girl +is sent home to her mother; the young man sent to India in order to +get him far away from his wife. The novelist makes the young man a +noble character, who is determined to prove himself worthy of his +wife, and he toils to send her means for support. The young wife +becomes a mother, and the young husband toils the harder to care for +his wife and babe. When time hangs heavy on the hands of the young +mother, she is invited to join a woman's club. Here she imbibes the +spirit of the new woman. She soon neglects her child and appears +before the public for a lecture. She wears a low neck dress, paints +her cheeks, blondines her hair, smokes cigarettes and drinks wine. A +millionaire in India, who loses his own son, adopts the hero of the +novel, dies and leaves him the great estate. Then the young man +hurries back to his wife. He arrives in the evening, but finds she is +not at home; she is delivering a lecture in the opera-house. He awaits +her return; a storm rages outside; at a late hour she enters the door, +throws off her wraps and stands before her husband, with blondined +hair, painted cheeks, and eyes red with wine. He stares, then starts +toward her, when she brings him to a halt by her strange manner. He +asks, "Is not this my wife?" she answers, "No, I am the New Woman." +She refuses to let him see their child, drives him out into the storm, +then goes to her room, disrobes and lies down to dream of great +audiences and applause. + +It is an insult to any intelligent reader. Where is the woman, who was +a sweet, modest young mother, and who today is a public speaker, who +has neglected her child, driven her husband without cause into the +street, blondines her hair, paints her cheeks, drinks wine and smokes +cigarettes? She would be hissed from the platform. The author simply +shows his extreme prejudice in an abstract attempt to prove that to be +a new woman means the surrender of all womanly graces. + +Let me give you, not fiction but real history, that I may present to +you the kind of new woman I indorse. She was born in the State of New +York, was well educated, and at proper age married a young physician. +They moved to a western city, where for a while the young physician +did well; but in an evil hour he commenced to drink. Like many a noble +young man, he was too weak to resist the power of appetite, and soon +his practice left him. His wife, the mother of two boys, secured a +position in the public schools and by her ability, won her way to a +principalship. The husband wandered away, while the brave wife and +mother remained with her children, but followed her husband with +letters of loving appeal. After long separation he was taken seriously +ill in the far Southwest. She left children, home and school work to +go to his bedside. Her watchful care brought him back from the very +door of death, and her prayers were answered in seeing him forsake the +cup and hide for safety in the cleft of the Rock of Ages. He returned +with her to their home, but soon after passed away. She buried him +beneath the green Missouri sod, planted flowers about the grave, paid +him tribute of her tears, and returned to her work. + +In the course of these years she had joined the Woman's Christian +Temperance Union and was recognized as one of its greatest leaders. + +Several years ago I gave an address in Hot Springs, Ark. A card was +presented at my door, which bore the name of the heroine of my story. +Going to the parlor I said: "What are you doing here?" + +"My boy has been very ill with rheumatism and I have been here with +him for several weeks. He is better now and I return to my work +tomorrow." + +Months later she was called again to the bedside of this son, and with +all the tenderness of mother-love, he was cared for until he too +passed over the river. Again she took up her work on the platform, +where she inspired many young women to do their best in life, and +called many to righteousness. She was the salt of the earth, the +embodiment of nobility, the soul of truth; and not only her own state +but the whole country is better because she lived. + +Ask the author of the novel for the _real_ to his story; he cannot +name her; she does not live in England or America. Ask me for mine and +I answer Clara C. Hoffman, for years the associate of Frances E. +Willard as national officer of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, +and state president of the white ribboners of Missouri. + +In a magazine article an author said: "Out of one hundred and +forty-five graduates of a certain female college, only fifteen have +married." A Chicago editor quoted the statement and asked: "Is it +possible education breeds in woman a distaste for matrimony and home +life?" In the first place, I would answer: "You never can know how +many are going to marry until they are all dead." + +Another explanation is that the average school girl goes out of school +at that impulsive age when "love acts independent of all law, and is +subject to nothing but its own sweet will," no matter how many years +father has toiled to give her the comforts of life, nor how many +sleepless nights mother has spent to give her rest. She meets a young +man; he is handsome, dresses well and talks fluently. She falls in +love, and sees in "love at first sight," the "inspiration of all +wisdom." In a week, though she knows nothing of the young man's +character or disposition, she is ready to say to her parents: "I +appreciate all you have done for me: I love you devotedly, but I have +met such a nice fellow; he has asked me to marry him, and I have +accepted; ta-ta!" She's gone. If her parents ask about the prospect +for a living, she answers as did the young girl whose father said: +"Mary, are you determined to marry that young man?" + +"I am, Father." + +"Why, my child, he has no trade, no money, and very little education; +what are you going to do for a living?" + +She replied: "Aunt is going to give me a hen for a wedding present. +You know, Father, it is said one hen will raise twenty chickens in a +season. The second season, twenty each, you see, will be four hundred; +the third season, eight thousand; the fourth season, one hundred and +sixty thousand; and the fifth season, only five years, twenty each +will be three million, two hundred thousand chickens. At twenty-five +cents each they will bring eight hundred thousand dollars. We will +then let you have money enough to pay off the mortgage on the farm and +we will move to the city." + +To a girl in love, every hen egg will hatch; not a chicken will ever +die with the gapes; they will all live on love, like herself, and +everything will be profit. + +The college girl cannot marry at this impulsive, air-castle age. She +must wait until she gets through college. By that time she is old +enough for her heart to consult her head, and her head inquires into +the character and capacity of the young man. Beside this, it has been +the custom for women to look up to man, and when the college woman +looks up, quite often she doesn't see anybody. Young man, if you want +the college girl you must "get up" in good qualities to where she will +see you without looking down. + +I believe this higher education for women will tend to arrest the +recklessness by which life is linked with life at the marriage altar. +There is a legend among the Jews that man and woman were once one +being; an angel was sent down from Heaven to cleave them into two. +Ever since, each half has been running around looking for the other, +and the misfits have been many at the marriage altar. + +These misfits remind me of an experience when I lectured for the +Colfax, Iowa, Chautauqua, some years ago. Frank Beard, the famous +chalk talker, was there and on Grand Army day he was on the program +for a short talk. I was seated by Mr. Beard while the speaker who +preceded him was telling war stories of his regiment and himself. +Frank Beard said to me: "Well! I guess I can exaggerate a little +myself." It was evident he intended to measure up to the occasion. +After getting his audience into proper spirit for the manufactured war +story, he said: + +"I was in the war myself and had a few experiences. At the battle of +Shiloh, I was lying behind a log, when I saw about forty Confederates +come dashing down toward me. My first impulse was to rise, make a +charge and capture the whole forty. But I knew that would not be +strategy; generals did not manage a battle that way with such odds +against them, so I determined to make a detour. Perhaps some of you +young people do not know what a detour means. It means, when in such a +position as I was, to get up and go the other way. So I detoured. The +chaplain of our regiment detoured also; he could detour a little +faster than I, and was directly in front of me when a shell caught up +with me and took my leg off just above the knee. You may notice I walk +very lame." (Which he did just then for effect). "Well, the same shell +took off the chaplain's leg, and we tumbled into a heap. The surgeon +came up, and having a little too much booze, he got things mixed; he +put the chaplain's leg on me and my leg on the chaplain. We were in +good health, and the legs grew on all right. When I recovered, I +concluded to celebrate my restoration to usefulness, so I went into a +saloon and said to the bartender, 'Give me some good old brandy.' He +set out the bottle, and I began to fill the glass, when that +chaplain's leg began to kick. The chaplain was a very ardent +temperance man, and the first thing I knew, that temperance leg was +making for the door, and I followed. But what do you think? As I went +out, I met my leg bringing the chaplain in." + +That's a very absurd story, a rather ridiculous one, but if the +surgeon had made the mistake Mr. Beard charged, he would not have made +any greater than is made every day at the marriage altar. Young women, +I would not silence the love songs in your hopeful hearts, but I would +have every betrothed girl demand of her lover not only a loving heart, +but a well rounded character and a reasonable store of useful +knowledge. + +A writer on this question said: "This progress of woman lessens mother +love in our country." Is that true? Before the opening of a southern +exposition, a mother of four boys applied for and was engaged as chime +bell ringer. Perhaps some saw in the selection a woman as brazen as +the bells she would ring. On opening day she played, "He who watches +over Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps"; on New York day she played, +"Yankee Doodle" and "Hail Columbia;" on Pennsylvania day, "The Star +Spangled Banner;" on Kentucky day, "My Old Kentucky Home;" on Maryland +day, "Maryland, my Maryland;" on Georgia day, "The Girl I Left Behind +Me;" on colored people's day, the airs of the old plantation; on +newsboy's day, "The Bowery" and "Sunshine of Paradise Alley;" then +"Nearer, my God, to Thee," "Rock of Ages, Cleft For Me," soothed the +tired Christian heart. One afternoon she took two of her boys into the +belfry-tower; one seven, the other about three years of age. When they +tired of the confinement, the older boy said: "Mother, can we go out +for a walk?" + +"Yes, son, but don't let go little brother's hand." + +She was so absorbed by the music of her bells she did not notice the +passing of time until the night shadows began to gather. Then her +older boy came running up in the tower crying, "Mother, I've lost +little brother!" + +She quit her bells and running through the grounds set every policeman +looking for her boy; then she hurried back to her bells and began to +play "Home, Sweet Home." It is said the bells never rang so clear and +sweet. Over and over again she played, "Home, Sweet Home;" some +wondered why the tune did not change. At last, while trembling with +dread and eyes filled with tears, she heard a sweet voice say, "Mama, +I hear de bells and I tome to you." The mother, turning from the +bells, clasped the child to her bosom and thanked God for its safety. + +It is said everything is undergoing a constant change, but until the +chime bells ring in the eternal morning mother love will live on, the +same unchanging devotion. Several years ago I stood on Portland +Heights, Oregon, in the evening, and saw Mount Hood in its snow-capped +majesty, when the stars seemed to be set as jewels in its crown. If +you ask me by what force that giant was lifted from the level of the +sea till its dome touched the sky, I cannot answer you, but I know it +stands there, a towering sentinel to traveler on land and sailor on +the sea. So mother love, which no one can solve, exists as unchanging +as the love of God; broad enough and strong enough to meet all the +changing conditions of time. + +While I did not make this lecture to include the suffrage question, I +cannot turn away from the new woman without a word about the ballot +for women. It is no longer a question of right, but whether or not men +will grant the right. This I believe men will do when the sentiment of +women is strong enough to force the issue. "Taxation without +representation" is no less a tyranny to women than to men. I was the +guest of a wealthy widow, who paid more taxes than any man in the +county, yet a foreigner, who had been in this country less than three +years, who had not a dollar of property nor a patriotic impulse, laid +down the hoe in the garden, and going to the polls, voted additional +tax upon the woman he worked for; and the saloon influence upon her +two boys, while she had no voice in what taxes her property, or what +might tax her heart by the ruin of a son. There being no question +about woman's right to the ballot, there should be no hesitation on +man's part in bestowing the right. + +I now turn from the new woman to the old man. I do not mean the man +old in years; for him I have only words of honor and praise. I mean +the man set in old ways and habits that neutralizes the progress and +wastes the forces of the republic. At the door of this old man lie the +causes of commercial disturbances, depression in trade and recurring +panics more than in the causes stressed by partisans for political +effect. + +We should never have hard times in this country. We live in the best +land beneath the sky. It has been well said: "This is God's last best +effort for man." We have soil rich enough to grass and grain the +world. Our vast domain is inlaid with gold, silver, iron and lead of +boundless worth. Deep in the bosom of Columbia are fountains of gas +and oil, sufficient to light and heat our homes for a century to come. +Within these healthful lines of latitude is room enough not only to +house all the peoples of the earth, but to sty all the pigs, stable +all the horses, and corral all the cattle of the world. + +To have all these gifts crowned with sunshine and shower, free from +pestilence and famine, we are the most prosperous and should be the +best contented people on the earth. In such a land there should be +perpetual peace and plentiful prosperity. Yet we have hard times after +hard times, and panic after panic. Why is this? If I could tell you +why, it would repay for the time and money spent to hear this lecture. +During the great panic in the nineties Mr. W.C. Whitney of New York, +wrote a letter to a leading New York daily in which he said: "There +are just two causes for this panic; too much silver and too much +tariff." I do not disparage these two problems, but I do say Mr. +Whitney had a very narrow view of a panic. Like many another man, he +had a thorough knowledge of certain things and was totally ignorant of +others. + +A Chief Justice of the United States was riding in a carriage with his +family when a shaft broke. It was not broken short off, but shivered +by contact with a post. The Chief Justice had no strings and was in a +dilemma. A negro boy passed by, dressed in rags, whistling a merry +tune. The great jurist hailed the boy, saying, "Boy, have you a +string?" + +"No, boss, what's de matter?" + +"I have broken the shaft of my carriage," said the Justice. + +"Yas, sir, I guess you is, boss. Is you got a knife? If you is, I +think I can fix it for you." + +Taking the knife, he jumped the fence and cut withes from a sapling, +with which he lashed a lath to the shaft. + +"I guess da'll git you home, boss." + +"That's a good job," said the Judge; "why didn't I think of that?" + +The boy replied: "I don't know, sir, 'cept some folks know more than +others." + +That boy did know more than the Chief Justice of the United States +about mending a broken shaft. I think I know a thing or two about +panics which Mr. Whitney did not seem to have learned. Let me give you +two causes for panics. They are not all but they rank with Mr. +Whitney's. + +First, the extravagance of the people. When times are good and money +plentiful, people are extravagant. They buy everything and pay +enormous prices. A horse, Axtell, brings his owner one hundred and +five thousand dollars; a two-year-old colt, Arion, one hundred and +twenty-five thousand. A town site is located in a barren waste and +lots sell at ten to one hundred dollars a front foot. All kinds of +wildcat schemes are promoted, and the people bite at the bait. An era +of extravagance is on and "sight unseen" investments are made. Several +years ago my brother said to me: "Are you going West soon, as far as +Kansas City?" When I replied that I was he said: "I have never been in +that city but I have two lots there I wish you would look at and +ascertain their value." He advised me to call on a certain real estate +agent, who would show me the lots. When I called on the agent a little +while later, he informed me the lots could not be seen until a dry +spell took off the water. Two lots my brother never saw and never +sold; decidedly "watered stock." + +A man with a thousand dollars buys a five thousand dollar lot. He +knows he can't pay for it, but there's a boom and he expects to sell +for six thousand before the second payment is due. He doesn't sell. +When he can't sell he goes to the bank to borrow money to make the +payment; he finds there many more in the same condition as himself. +The banks see the trouble coming and will not loan. When the banks +refuse to loan the depositors get scared and take their money out of +the bank. During that great panic in the nineties three hundred +millions of dollars were taken out of circulation within four months +by depositors who were scared. Then the country gets flat on its back +with a panic. A friend said to me, during the great depression: "Don't +you think it will be over soon?" I replied: "Let a man have typhoid +fever until reduced to a skeleton; let the doctor call some morning +toward the close of the long siege and say, 'The fever is broken, get +up and go to work.' Can the man obey the doctor? No; he must have +chicken-broth and gruel, and slowly regain his strength." So when a +panic comes we must creep out, and we were so deep in the nineties it +took a long time to recover. + +When a panic comes however, the extravagance ceases; everybody gets +stingy. A man with five thousand dollars doesn't buy a five thousand +dollar lot. He doesn't buy anything; his wife must wear the old +bonnet, and his church assessment is reduced. Then the tide turns and +the country recovers from its extravagance. But when times get good, +crops are fine and money plentiful, the people begin again; women +spending their money for dry goods, men for wet goods; another era of +extravagance is on and another panic coming. + +Mr. Whitney said: "Too much silver and too much tariff." All the gold +and all the silver money in this country would not pay the old man's +drink and tobacco bill for five years. We drink, smoke and chew up all +the money in this country, gold, silver, and paper, every seven years. +Last year we spent about six millions for missions; one hundred and +fifty millions for churches; two hundred and seventy-five millions for +schools; and eighteen hundred millions for intoxicating liquors and +tobacco. Awake, O Conscience! and pour out thy saving influence for +the healing of the nation. + +We live in a marvelous country. What this republic has accomplished in +one hundred and thirty-eight years, is the wonder of the world. At the +close of the Revolutionary War those who survived were poor, wounded, +bleeding people, occupying only the eastern rim of a wilderness waste, +while wild beast and wilder Indians roamed the mighty expanse to the +western ocean. From the penniless poverty of then, has come the +wonderful wealth of now. Where the tangled wilderness choked the +earth, now fields of golden grain dot the plains, carpets of clover +cover the hillsides, cities hum with the music of commerce, while +rivers and railroads carry rich harvests to the harbors of every land. +Emerson wrote better than he knew when he wrote: + + "So I uncover the land, which of old time I hid in the west, + As the sculptor uncovers his statue, when he has wrought his best." + +Yet grand as this country has grown to be, "the eagle of liberty can +never reach the pinion heights its wings were made to measure," while +the shell of wasted resources to which I have referred bows low its +head. Money won't save us. Babylon had her gold standard; her images +were made of gold. Media, Persia, had her free silver standard; her +images were made of silver. Rome had her gold, her silver, brass and +iron; yet they were all dashed to pieces on the world's highway. "In +the hollow of the hand of God is the destiny of this republic," and we +cannot buy Him with money. The wealth that satisfies the ruler of +nations is character. + +Some one said a few years ago, and it went the rounds of the press: +"The question during the Civil War was, shall we have two governments +or one; now the question is, shall we have any?" I quote to you with +as much confidence as any mortal ever proclaimed a truth: "This +republic will never fail or fall until God deserts it, and God will +not desert it until we desert Him." + + "Come the world in arms, + We'll defeat, and then pursue; + Nothing can our flag destroy, + While to God and self we're true." + +I am not one of those who believe our war with Spain was an accident. +For Dewey to cross that dead line at midnight; when morning dawned to +find mines of death behind him, an enemy's fleet of eleven ships +before him, these supported by shores belted with batteries; and yet +within six hours sink or disable every ship in the fleet, silence the +forts, lift the star spangled banner in triumph to wave, and not have +a warship sunk, nor a sailor killed, means more than the mere skill of +a Commodore. Some one may say we had a better navy. Spain didn't think +so. Before the war the Spanish papers said: "The United States is +bluffing. She can't go to war with us. She has only twenty-five +thousand soldiers, and they are kept out west to control cowboys and +Indians. Then the South is waiting for an opportunity to break out in +rebellion." Columbus discovered America in 1492; Spain didn't discover +the United States until 1898. + +Do you ask what we are to do with the Philippine Islands? I cannot +tell you what is best, but I do know we didn't want them. The day +Dewey sailed from Hong Kong to Manila Bay, if Spain had said to the +United States: "Here are the Philippine Islands, we would like to make +you a present of them," the United States would have replied, "We +thank you, but decline the offer." Not one man in ten in this country +would have voted to take them. But the next day we had them, had +fought to get them; and I believe the same superhuman power that took +from Spain, the Netherlands, Flanders, Malacca, Ceylon, Java, +Portugal, Holland, San Domingo, Louisiana, Florida, Trinidad, Mexico, +Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chili, Argentina, +Uruguay, Paraguay, Patagonia, Guatemala, Honduras, San Salvador, +Nicaragua, Porto Rico, Cuba, and "then some," took away from Spain the +Philippine Islands and gave them to us, that the home, the church and +the school might be established in the Islands. + +Perhaps some of you think I am getting off my subject. I am not; I am +talking now about the _old man_, Uncle Sam, and his mission in the +world. + +It is the opinion of many that we are under no obligation to the +islands of the sea, but these conservative souls should not forget +that we are not only citizens of the United States, but of the globe +on which we dwell and of the universe of God. The world in which we +live, lives because of the light and heat it receives from other +worlds. If the rolling sun in the heavens is under obligation to +furnish light for our pathway, heat for our soil and warmth for our +blood, are we not under obligation to carry the light of civilization +to the people whose shores and ours are washed by the same waters? If +the full orbed moon is under obligation to pour its silver into our +nights, and lift the tides until our rivers are full, are not we under +obligation to lift the tide of hope in the heart of oppressed +humanity, and pour the light of intelligence into the night of +ignorance? Did God give us this grand country, with its boundless +resources, for us to draw our ocean skirts about our greatness and +pass by our bruised and bleeding neighbor, lying half dead on life's +Jericho road? If so, then call back our proud eagle of liberty from +its pinion flight through the skies of national achievement, and make +our national emblem the barnyard fowl that crows in the day dawn as if +creating light instead of noise, and then runs for his roost when the +shadows fall. + +The Bible says we are fellow workers with God. What does this +fellowship imply? It means there are some things we can't do, which +God must do for us, and some things we can do He won't do for us. He +puts the coal in the earth; we must dig and blast it out. He puts oil +beneath the soil; we must bore into its wells and pump it out. He +gives us the earth and "the fullness thereof;" we must do the sowing +and reaping. He puts electricity in the air; we must bridle, saddle +and harness it. He empties the clouds into the basins of the earth and +gives us oceans, gulfs and lakes; but we must build boats to ride +them. He puts humanity on the earth and bids us love our neighbor as +ourselves. + +Who is my neighbor? Some seem to think only those who live in our +immediate community. I read of a minister of a city church who called +upon one of his country members for a contribution for foreign +missionary work. The country brother said: "I don't believe in foreign +missions, and I must say, 'No'." + +"Brother," the pastor said, "the Bible says you should love your +neighbor as yourself." + +"I do love my neighbors." + +"Who are your neighbors?" + +"Those whose farms adjoin mine, and perhaps, those whose farms adjoin +theirs." + +"How far do you own eastward?" + +"To the third fence yonder." + +"How far do you own toward the west?" + +"About a half mile?" + +"How deep do you own into the earth?" + +"Well, I never thought of that, but about half-way, I guess." + +"Well, my brother, I am asking you to help your neighbor China, who +joins your line below." + + * * * * * + +I have a friend with plenty of this world's goods, and not a child. +When approached by the ladies of the Foreign Mission Society he said: +"I do not give to foreign missions; when you want anything for home +missions I'll help you." Perhaps he would; but many of that class are +represented by a colored man of whom I heard a Methodist bishop tell. +He said to a friend: "Dat wife of mine is got money on de brain; it's +money, money all the time. I can't go whar she is, but she's axing me +for money. She's jest sho'ly gwine to run me to the lunatic 'sylum ef +she don't quit her beggin' me for money." + +The friend asked: "What does she do with so much money?" + +The colored brother hesitated a minute, and said: "She don't do nuffin +wid it, caze I ain't never _give_ her none yet." + + * * * * * + +My friend who opposes foreign missions said: "So much you give never +gets there." Yes; and so many seed the farmer puts into the ground +never grow, and so the farmer says, + + "Put five grains in every hill: + One for the cut-worm, one for the crow, + One to blight, and two to grow." + +And you cannot tell which will grow. A weed grew by the wayside in the +old world. All it did was to furnish seed for the wind, and worry for +the farmer. But one blustering day, the wind carried a seed from the +wayside weed into a florist's garden; it sprouted, rooted and bloomed. +The gardener was impressed by the beautiful coloring of the blossom, +so he nurtured, transplanted and cultivated it into a beautiful +flower. It was from this bush, once a weed, Queen Victoria selected +the flower she carried when she entered the Crystal Palace to meet the +world's representatives. + +When Delia Laughlin went astray, her father drove her from his door. +She was of that temperament that must either go to the heights or to +the depths, and to the depths she went. Down the rapids of a sinful +life her steps were swift. Along the Bowery she made her way to Five +Points, where thieves and drunkards dwelt. It was said she could drink +deeper, curse louder, and fight fiercer than any inmate of the most +wicked spot in New York City. Mrs. Whittemore went one day on her +mission of mercy through the slums. She sought some one to accompany +her who knew the deepest haunts of the wicked. Delia Laughlin was +recommended to her. Mrs. Whittemore, with her Bible in one hand and a +fragrant rose in the other, made her rounds. She was deeply impressed +with the intellect and culture, as well as the beauty of the wayward +girl who had been her guide through the slums. "Dear girl," she said; +"you are too bright and beautiful to be down here. I wish you would +come to see me at the Door of Hope Mission," and slipping a coin and +the white rose into the soiled fingers she said, "Good-bye." + +The girl loved flowers, so she took the white rose to her room and put +it in water. Then with the coin she went to drown her misery in drink. +Forty-eight hours later she had slept off the debauch, and taking the +flower from the vase she said: "Ah! that represents my life. Once I +was as pure as the rose when the good woman gave it to me. Those +withered petals represent the withered graces of my life." From out +that little flower an arrow went to the heart of Delia Laughlin. She +took the street car and went to the Door of Hope Mission. Mrs. +Whittemore met her and they talked together. While the girl wept Mrs. +Whittemore prayed; she said: "O God, this poor girl has no other +friend than you. Her father's home is closed against her. You have +promised, when father and mother forsake, you will take the deserted +one. Won't you take her now?" And God did take her; from that hour she +was safe in the cleft of the Rock of Ages. When she addressed twelve +hundred inmates of Auburn prison, a reporter said: "Never did John +Wesley, John Knox, or Martin Luther do greater work for the Master." +When laid in her casket in the Door of Hope Mission a few years later, +a New York paper said: "Never did a fairer face or more eloquent +tongue do work in slum life than Delia Laughlin." + + "The stone o'er which you trample, + May be a diamond in the rough. + It may never never sparkle, + Though made of diamond stuff. + + "Because someone must find it, + If it's ever found; + And then someone must grind it, + If it's ever ground. + + "But when it's found, and when it's ground, + And when it's burnished bright; + Then henceforth a diamond crowned + 'Twill shine with lustrous light." + +You can't tell what seed will grow. + +After the Civil War I lived for two years in Richmond, Kentucky. +During that time the Klu Klux movement broke out in fury. Men were +hanged, others whipped and driven from the county. On my way to market +one morning I saw a man hanging from a limb of a tree in the +court-house yard. On his sleeve was pinned a piece of paper, on which +was written, "Let no one touch this body until the sun goes down." All +day that body hung there and not an officer of the law dared to cut +the rope. Such was the reign of terror no one offered a protest. One +Saturday night a young man named Byron was hanged in the same +court-house yard. He was the only son of a widowed mother, and he +begged the mob to let him live for his mother's sake. Sunday morning +several empty bottles lay about the tree, indicating that the men were +drinking who did the deed. The evening after the hanging I gave an +address in the Methodist Church for the Good Templars. I had no +thought of referring to the hanging of young Byron, but in showing up +the evils of drink, those empty bottles came to my mind, and I could +imagine the old mother then weeping over her dead boy. Without +considering the consequences I denounced the Klu Klux and the +cowardice that permitted such lawlessness. After the lecture a young +man of influence advised me to leave at once and not dare spend the +night in the town. I felt sure the Klan could not be called together +that night, so I ventured to spend the night at home. About eleven +o'clock that night the front gate was opened, and tramp, tramp, tramp, +came the sound of feet toward the cottage, which was about forty feet +from the street. It seemed as if all was over with me, when the +"pluck" of a string introduced a serenade from the string band of the +little city. Since the daughters of Judah hung their harps upon the +willows, no sweeter music has ever fallen upon mortal ears than I +heard that night from the string band of Richmond, Kentucky. + +I do not know how much my speaking out against Klu Klux had to do with +arresting the outlawry that made the roads rattle with the clatter of +the hoofs of horses at midnight raids, but I do know young Byron was +the last man hanged by the Klu Klux in Madison county, and may I not +hope the unpremeditated protest made in that Sunday evening address, +helped in some measure to bring about the transformation, and +contribute a mite to the public sentiment that has made Richmond a +saloonless place in which to live. + +You cannot tell what seed will grow. Already out of the new woman +movement has come a host led by such women as Frances E. Willard, Mary +A. Livermore, Clara Hoffman, Dr. Anna Shaw, Jane Addams, Maude +Ballington Booth, Susan B. Anthony, and in our own state, Frances E. +Beauchamp. These and many more have been springing the bolts that have +barred woman from spheres of great usefulness. + +Allow me to say, I have no patience with the mannish woman (and about +as little use for a feminine man); but if this old world is ever to be +redeemed it is because He who sitteth on the throne has said: "Behold +I make all things new." + +Oh! for a new man, who will stop the waste of wealth and destruction +of morals to which I have referred. Oh! for the day when "each sex +will be the equal of the other in the average, each above the other in +specialties; when each can see in the other a source of inspiration," +and both worthy to have been created in the beginning a "little lower +than the angels" and in the end to be crowned with glory and honor. + + + + +V + +THE SAFE SIDE OF LIFE FOR YOUNG MEN. A PLEA FOR TOTAL ABSTINENCE AND A +BETTER LIFE. + + +I do not assert that everyone who drinks intoxicating liquor as a +beverage will become a drunkard, but I do come before this audience to +hold up total-abstinence as safer and better for practice. Drunkards +are made of moderate drinkers; drunkards are never made of total +abstainers. One _may_ drink and never get drunk; one cannot get drunk +who never drinks. Take away every drunkard from the earth today and +moderate drinking will soon create another supply; but sweep all +drunkenness from the world, let total-abstinence be the absolute rule +and the last drunkard will have debased his body, ruined his +character, and doomed his soul. + +Since running the risk of being a moderate drinker is so great, I +commend to the young people before me the caution of the Scotch +minister, who, when called upon to marry a couple, said: "My young +friends, marriage is a blessing to a great many persons; it's a curse +to some; it's a risk for everybody; will you take the venture?" I +presume they did. I do not believe the use of intoxicating liquor as a +beverage is a benefit to anyone, yet for argument's sake I will permit +one who drinks to say: "Moderate drinking is a benefit to a few +persons; it's a curse to a great many; it's a risk for everybody; +let's take a drink!" Against this I affirm that total abstinence is a +blessing to millions; it's a curse to nobody; it's safe and right for +everybody; then let's take the pledge and God helping us, let's keep +it. + +A very comforting reply to the infidel who claims there will be no +hereafter is the inscription on the tomb of a faithful Christian: + + "If there's another world, he's in bliss; + If not, he's made the best of this." + +If there is no hereafter, to say the least the Christian is even with +the infidel, while if there is a hereafter it's bad for the infidel. +If a moderate drinker has sufficient self-control to escape being a +drunkard, the total abstainer is equally safe; but if the moderate +drinker loses his self-control and becomes a drunkard his doom is +sealed. The safe definition of temperance is: "Moderation in regard to +things useful and right, total-abstinence in regard to things hurtful +and wrong." Is alcoholic liquor as a beverage hurtful and wrong? It's +the source of more misery, cruelty and crime than any other evil of +the world! + +Some years ago after a lecture along this line, a doubting Thomas said +to me: "What answer have you for the scholar who claims your very word +'temperance' is the offspring of a word that signifies moderation?" I +said: "The same I would give to a Darwinian if he were to tell me I am +a descendant of the ape; and that is, I rejoice to know I'm an +improvement on my ancestor. To one who charges me with being a distant +relative of the chimpanzee, I give the reply of Henry Ward Beecher: 'I +don't care how _far distant_.'" I acknowledge my ignorance of the +derivation of the word temperance, but I do know drunkenness comes +from drinking intoxicating liquor, therefore I favor total-abstinence +and recommend it as the safe side of life for young men. + +While, by quoting isolated passages of the Bible, advocates of +moderation have succeeded in filling the air with dust of doubt about +the teaching of the Scriptures on the wine question, there is one +thing about which there is no question, and that is the consent of the +Bible to total-abstinence for anyone who desires and "dares to be a +Daniel." I would rather search my Bible for permission to give up that +over which my brother may stumble into ruin, than to see how far I can +go in the use of it without committing sin. Marriage feasts in Cana of +Galilee two thousand years ago do not concern me so much as the social +feasts of the present age where "wine is a mocker, strong drink is +raging," and many are "deceived thereby." + +A noted Bible scholar says: "The Bible is not simply a schedule of +sins and duties catalogued and labeled, but a revelation of immutable +principles, in the application of which God tests the sincerity of our +profession." To drink intoxicating liquor in this enlightened age, +with all the woes of intemperance about us and responsibilities of +life upon us, is a violation of every immutable principle laid down in +the Bible. First, it's against the law of prudence, which says of two +possible paths one should take the safer. Which is the safer, +moderation or total-abstinence? Next, it's against the law of +humility, which teaches where mightier than we have fallen, we must +distrust ourselves. Have mightier than we fallen through strong drink? +Next, it's against the law of human brotherhood, which makes it +imperative upon the strong to bear the infirmities of the weak. Is the +drinker weak? Next, it's against the law of expediency; "it is good +neither to eat flesh nor drink wine nor anything whereby thy brother +stumbleth." Do our brothers stumble over strong drink? Last, it's +against the law of self-denial; "if meat make my brother to offend, I +will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to +offend." Does strong drink make our brother to offend? On these +immutable principles the cause of sobriety is built, and the gates of +the devil of drink shall not prevail against it. + +Young man, let me give you a bit of advice and assurance. Never take a +drink of intoxicating liquor as a beverage, and when you are as old as +I am you will not regret it. You cannot find me in all the world, one +man between forty and eighty years of age, an abstainer all his life, +who would change that record if he could. Boys, that's a very safe +rule that has not a single exception. But how many are there who +regret they ever put the bottle to their lips? "If I had only let +strong drink alone" is the bitter wail of millions of men and women. +From pauper poverty and prison cells, electric chairs and dying +drunkard's lips comes the cry: "Drink has been my curse!" + +Does some young man in this audience say, "I can quit if I please?" +Then I beg you to _please_, ere you reach the time when you will +strive to quit, but in vain. I know you don't intend to go beyond your +power of control; neither did the drunkards who have gone before you. +Do you suppose Edgar Allen Poe dreamt when he took his first drink in +the social gathering of an old Virginia gentleman's home that it would +bring from his brilliant brain the weird strain: + +"Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!" + +Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore." + +Do you suppose Thomas F. Marshall, our gifted Kentucky orator, dreamt +when he stood at the foot of the ladder of fame and all Kentucky +pointed him to the golden glory of its summit, that his last words +would be: "And this is the end. Tom Marshall dying; dying in a +borrowed bed, under a borrowed sheet, and without a decent suit of +clothes in which to be buried!" + +I well remember the first time I saw Thomas Marshall. He had returned +from Washington, where he had thrilled Congress by his eloquence. He +was announced to speak in Lexington on court day afternoon. I went +with my father from our country home to hear the then golden mouthed +orator. For nearly two hours he swayed that audience as the storm king +sways the mountain pine. On unseen wings of eloquence he soared to +heights I had never imagined within the reach of mortal tongue. + +I also remember the last time I saw this brilliant Kentuckian. He was +standing on a street corner in Lexington, Kentucky. His hair hung a +tangled mass about his forehead, his eagle eyes were dimmed by +debauch, and a thin, worn coat was buttoned over soiled linen. As he +straightened himself and started to the bar-room, I could see traces +of greatness lingering about his brow like sheet lightning about the +bosom of a summer storm cloud. Not long after he was telling political +stories in a drinking tavern. When he tired of the tumult of the +bar-room and a sense of his better self came over him, some one said: +"Give us another, Tom." Rising to his feet he said: "You remind me of +a set of bantam chickens, picking the sore head of an eagle when his +wings are broken." + +At one time in a temperance revival in Washington he took the pledge +and kept it for months. During this time in a temperance meeting he +was called upon to speak. The following brief extract shows the charm +of his eloquence: + +"I would not exchange my conscious being as a strictly sober man, the +glad play with which my pulse now beats healthful music through my +veins, the bounding vivacity with which my life blood courses its +exultant way through every fiber of my frame, the communion high which +my now healthful eye and ear hold with the universe around me, the +splendors of the morning, the softness of the evening sky, the beauty, +the verdure of the earth, the music of winds and waters. No, sir! with +all these grand associations of external nature re-opened to the +avenues of sense, though poverty dogged me, though scorn pointed its +slow finger at me as I passed, though want, destitution and every +element of early misery, save only crime, met my waking eye from day +to day: Not for the brightest wreath that ever encircled a statesman's +brow; not if some angel commissioned by heaven, or rather some demon +sent from hell to test the resisting power of my virtuous resolution, +were to tempt me back to the blighting bowl; not for the honors a +world could bestow, would I cast from me this pledge of a liberated +mind, this talisman against temptation, and plunge again into the +horrors that once beset my path. So help me Heaven, I would spurn +beneath my feet all the gifts a universe could offer, and live and die +as I am--poor but sober." + +Drinking young man, Thomas F. Marshall once stood where you now stand. +He said then what you say now, yet after that beautiful tribute to +sobriety and the pledge of total-abstinence, he stood at a blacksmith +shop door, and as the smith drew the red hot iron from the forge, Mr. +Marshall said to some friends: "Gentlemen, I would seize that rod of +heated iron and hold it in my hand till it cools, if it would cure me +of my terrible appetite for strong drink." This is but one of the many +fallen stars the demon of drink has snatched from the galaxy of +Kentucky's greatness and hurled into the darkness of eternal night. + +A man who could drink and not get drunk said to me: "I have no +patience with, nor sympathy for a drunkard. If I couldn't eat what I +want and quit when I choose, I wouldn't claim to be a man." Whether he +could or not, depends on conditions. Let my arm represent the scale of +life, with will on one side and appetite on the other. When a man is +healthy his will stands at eighty, his appetite at fifty. That man +eats when he likes, or lets it alone as he chooses. But let this +healthy, strong man take typhoid fever, and after six or eight weeks +be reduced to almost a skeleton. At this stage, the fever having +subsided, let the doctor say to the once strong man: "The fever is +broken; be careful about your diet, no solid food, only chicken broth +and gruel." Place by the bed of this once strong man a table and on +this table a roast turkey, stuffed with oysters. On the floor place a +coffin and say to the patient: "You see that turkey and that coffin. +If you eat the turkey today, you'll be in the coffin tomorrow." Go out +and leave the man alone with the turkey. Will he eat it? I don't care +if he's a preacher or a doctor he will, regardless of the advice of +doctor or terror of the waiting coffin. Why will he eat when he knows +it means death? Because his will has gone down to twenty and his +appetite up to one hundred. + +My father had typhoid fever and when the time of convalescing came my +mother left him alone while she was in the yard with her flowers. I +went into the house and found father had left his bed, crawled to the +cupboard and had hold of what was left of a chicken. I called to +mother; she came running, and taking the chicken from him said: "Don't +you know to eat solid food will kill you?" Father replied: "I know if +you hadn't come in I would have had one square meal." + +Did I say too much when I said the preacher would eat the turkey? +Years ago Saint John's pulpit in Louisville, Kentucky, was filled by a +preacher so gifted that strangers in the city were attracted by his +fame as an orator. He had an invalid mother, who in her wheel chair +would attend every service, and was made happy in her affliction by +the sermons of her eloquent son. He married a wealthy widow and had +everything wealth and refinement could suggest. He saw no wrong in the +wine glass and kept a supply in his cellar. Gradually appetite +demanded stronger drinks and one morning his wife said: "Husband, you +were drunk last night." A few months later he resigned his position +and went west, hoping to break the spell of his habit. But no mountain +was high enough, nor cavern dark enough for him to hide from his mad +pursuer. He returned to Louisville and gave himself up to the +maddening bowl. His wife left him and went to a country home which she +had saved out of her wealth. One night when he was sleeping drunk in +one room, his old mother in another said: "Oh God, is my cup of sorrow +not yet full?" The pitying angel pushed ajar the golden gates and the +broken heart entered into rest. + +Time and again this man took the pledge, but only to fail. When the +"blue ribbon" wave swept the country he again took the pledge, and +this time went on the platform as a temperance advocate. He drew great +audiences, and when he had kept his pledge for months we invited him +to Louisville. It was my privilege to introduce him, or rather to +present him to the great audience. Before going on the platform he +said: "I have made a mistake in coming here. It was here I lost +everything a man could ask to make him happy. The memory of my sainted +mother comes over me, and my wife is so near and yet so far from me." + +To bring him back to himself I said: "These things will help you to +give the greatest lecture of your life. Come, a great audience of old +friends are waiting." + +When introduced he said: "My friends, if I ever did a dishonorable act +before I fell from the pulpit through drink, rise and tell me." Soon +he had his audience in tears and lifting his eyes heavenward he said: +"O my sainted Mother, look down from your home in glory and see your +poor drunken boy. He has staggered all the way back, his feet upon the +up-hillward way, and will travel it with a martyr's step." + +He further said: "Will I ever drink again? No; this brow was not made +to wear the brand of a vassal, nor these hands the chains of a +drunkard. Here in Louisville, where I fell in my manhood's might, I +vow I will never drink again." Manhood's might is too weak to win +alone in the battle against sin. Poor J.J. Talbott went down to rise +no more, and on his dying bed, when a minister quoted passage after +passage of promise from God's word, the answer came: "Not for me! Not +for me!" Peace to his ashes. + +Young man, will you tamper and trifle with strong drink? Do you say +you can drink or let it alone? I admit you can drink but are you sure +you can let it alone? If you can _now_, are you sure you can two years +hence? I saw a giant oak tree lying in the track of the wind. It had +been called "the monarch of the Sierras." Under the very nests where +tempests hatch out their young, it grew to its greatness. It had seen +many a storm, clad in thunder, armed with lightning, leap from its +rocky bed and go bellowing down the world. But the storms that shook +it only sent its roots down and out that it might fasten itself the +more firmly to the earth. For long years this old tree stood there, +bowing its head in courtesy to the passing storm, while its branches +were but harp strings for the music of the winds. One evening as the +sun went down over the mountain's brow, not a storm cloud on the sky, +a little wind went hurrying round the mountain's base, struck the +great oak and down it went with a crash that made the forest ring. +Young men, why was it a tree that had withstood the storms of ages, +should, before such a little gust of wind bow its head and die? Years +before, when in the zenith of its strength and glory, a pioneer with +an axe on his shoulder, went blazing his way through the wooded +wilderness that he might not be lost on his return. Seeing the great +tree he said: "That's a good one to mark," and taking his axe in hand, +he sent the blade deep into the oak. Time passed with seemingly no +effect from the stroke given by the axeman. But steadily the sun smote +the wound, rain soaked into the scar, worms burrowed in the bark +around it, birds pecked into the decayed wood and finally foxes made +their home in the hollow trunk, and the day came when resisting force +had weakened, boasted strength had departed and the giant monarch of +the Sierras stood at the mercy of the winds that have no respect for +weakness. + +There are young men before me today, who can drink or let it alone. +Temptation to them is no more than the gentle breeze in the branches +of the oak in the zenith of its strength. True, temptation has been +along their way blazing, here a glass of wine, there a glass of beer +and yonder a glass of whiskey. They can quit when they please, but the +less they please the more they drink, the more they drink the less +they please. They don't quit because they _can_, if they couldn't quit +they would, because they can, they won't. Thus they reason, while +appetite eats its way into their wills, birds of ill omen peck into +their characters and finally they will go down to drunkards' graves, +as thousands before them have gone. Young men, in the morning of life, +while the dew of youth is yet upon your brow, I beg you to bind the +pledge of total-abstinence as a garland about your character and pray +God to keep you away from the tempter's path. + +I wonder that young men will trifle with this great "deceiver." I +wonder too at so much ignorance on the question among intelligent +people. Some years ago after a temperance address a gentleman was +introduced to me as the finest scholar in the city. Next morning we +were on the same train, and referring to the lecture of the evening +before, he said: "I heard your address and was pleased with your +kindly spirit, but I beg to differ with you, believing as I do, that +when properly used, alcoholic liquor as a beverage is good for health +and strength." I felt disappointed to hear a great scholar make such a +statement, but I ventured the reply: + +"If that is true God made a mistake, since He made the whole phenomena +of animal life to run by water power. He made it in such abundance it +takes oceans to hold it, rivers and rivulets to carry it to man, bird +and beast, while in all the wide world He never made a spring of +alcohol. If it's good for strength, why not give it to the ox, the +mule and the horse?" It takes a good deal of faith to trust a sober +mule; I'm sure I wouldn't want to trust a drunken one. There is not a +man in my presence who would buy a moderate drinking horse, and no one +would wilfully go through a lot where a drunken dog had right of way. +Yet we license saloons to turn drunken men loose in the street, some +of them as vicious as mad dogs. + +Good for strength? When Samson had slain the regiment of Philistines +and was exhausted and athirst; when in his extremity he cried to the +Lord: "Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy +servant, and now shall I die from thirst." What was done to revive him +and renew his strength? Was strong drink recommended as a stimulant? +The Bible account informs us God "clave an hollow place in the jaw, +and water came thereout." Don't you think if alcoholic liquor had been +intended as a beverage for mankind, the great Creator would have made +a few springs of it somewhere? Bore into the earth you can strike oil, +but you can't strike whiskey. You can find sparkling springs of water +almost everywhere, but nowhere a beer brewery in nature. It's water, +blessed water all the time. On your right it bubbles in the brook; on +your left it leaps and laughs in the cascade; above you it rides in +rain clouds upon the wings of the wind; beneath you it hangs in +diamond dew upon the bending blade; behind you it comes galloping down +the gorge "from out the mountain's broken heart;" before you it goes +gliding down the glen, kissing wayside flowers into fragrance and +singing, as rippling o'er the rocks it runs: "Men may come and men may +go, but I go on forever." Oh, bright beautiful water! may it soon be +the beverage of all mankind. + +I know some say: "This is a free country; if a man wants to drink and +be a brute, let him do so." The trouble about that is, while strong +drink will degrade some men to the level of the brute, drunkards are +not made of brutes. Some thirty or more years ago a grandson of one of +the greatest statesman this country ever produced, was shot in a +saloon while intoxicated. While that young man was dying, but a few +blocks away a grandson of one of the greatest men that ever honored +Kentucky in the Senate of the United States, was in jail to be tried +for murder committed while drunk; and in the same city at the same +hour in the station-house from drink was a great grandson of the +author of "Give me liberty or give me death." Whom did Daniel Webster +leave his seat in the Senate that he might hear his eloquence? S.S. +Prentice went down under the cloud of drink. A gifted family gave to a +Southern State a gifted son. His state sent him to the halls of +national legislation, but drink wrought his ruin. Horace Greeley was +his friend, and finding him drunk in a Washington hotel said to him: +"Why don't you give up what you know is bringing shame upon you and +sorrow to your family?" + +He replied: "Mr. Greeley, ask me to take my knife and sever my arm +from my shoulder and I can do it, but ask me to give up an appetite +that has come down upon me for generations, I _can't_ do it." He threw +his cane upon the floor to emphasize his utterance. A few days later +in the old Saint Charles Hotel, he pierced his brain with a bullet and +was sent home to his family in his coffin. + +Bring me the men who are drunkards in this city, strip them of their +appetite for strong drink, and they are husbands, brothers, fathers, +sons, and as a rule, generous in disposition. + +Thank God, while drunkenness will drag down the gifted and noble, +temperance will build up the humblest and lowest. Bring me the poorest +boy in this audience, let him pledge me he will never take a drink of +intoxicating liquor as a beverage, let him keep that pledge, be +industrious and honest; my word for it, in twenty years from now he +will walk the streets of the city in which he dwells, honored, +respected, loved, and the world can't keep him down. I rejoice we live +in a land where I can encourage a boy, a land where rank belongs to +the boy who earns it, whether he hails from the mansion of a +millionaire or the "old log cabin in the lane;" a land where a boy can +go from a rail cut, a tan yard, or a toe-path, to the presidency of +the United States; a land where I can look the humblest boy in the +face and say: + + "Never ye mind the crowd, my boy, or think that life won't tell; + The work is the work for aye that, to him that doeth it well. + Fancy the world a hill, my boy; look where the millions stop; + You'll find the crowd at the base, my boy; there's always room at + the top." + +Have you a trade? Go learn one. Do you know how to do things? Go try; +you may make mistakes, but do the best you can like the boy who joined +the church. At his uncle's table soon after he was asked to say grace. +He didn't know what kind of a blessing to ask, but he did know he was +very hungry, so bowing his head he said: "Lord, have mercy on these +victuals." I have faith in the boy who will try to do a thing. I +believe in a boy like that one in a mission Sabbath school in New +York, who though he had but little knowledge of the Bible, had a way +of reasoning about Bible lessons. The teacher of his class said to +him: "James, who was the strongest man of whom we have any account?" + +He quickly replied: "Jonah." + +"How do you make that out?" said the teacher. + +Promptly the answer came: "The whale couldn't hold him after he got +him down." + +Boys, are you poor? Columbus was a weaver; Arkright was a barber; +Esop, a slave; Bloomfield, a shoemaker; Lincoln, a rail-splitter; +Garfield tramped a toe-path with no company but an honest mule; and +Franklin, whose name will never die while lightning blazes through the +clouds, went from the humble position of a printer's devil to that +height where he looked down upon other men. If you would win in the +battle of life, take the right side of life and build a righteous +character. The saddest scene on the streets at night is the young man, +whose clothes are finest in quality and fittest in fashion, but whose +principles sadly need "patching." I dare say there are young men +before me now who would not go into refined company indecently dressed +for any consideration, but who will rush into the presence of their +God before they sleep with a dozen oaths upon their lips. Will +Carleton puts it this way: + + "Boys flying kites, haul in their white plumed birds; + You can't do that when flying words; + Thoughts unexpressed, may sometimes fall back dead, + But God Himself can't kill them when they're said." + +Will Carleton puts it in poetry, let's have it in prose. Boys, pay +more attention to your manners than to your moustache; keep your +conduct as neat as your neck-tie, polish your language as well as your +boots; remember, moustache grows grey, clothes get seedy, and boots +wear out, but honor, virtue and integrity will be as bright and fresh +when you totter with old age as when your mother first looked love +into your eyes. + +Little Lucy Rome was taken up for vagrancy in a great city. When +brought before the court an austere judge said: "Who claims this +child?" + +A boy arose and walking down near the Judge, said: "Please, sir; I do. +She's my sister; we are orphans, but I can take care of her if you'll +let her go." + +"Who are you?" asked the Judge. + +"I'm Jimmy Rome, and I have been taking care of my sister; but two +weeks ago the man for whom I worked died and while I was out looking +for another place, Lucy begged some bread and they took her up. But +now I've a good place to work, Judge, and I'm going to put little +sister in school. Please let me have her, sir." + +The Judge said: "Stand aside. Officer, take the child to the +children's home." + +The boy with tears streaming down his cheeks, as he heard his sister +sobbing, said: "Judge, please don't take her from me." + +The Judge, moved by the pleading of the brother, said: "Well, my boy, +if you can find some reliable person to go your security you may have +her." + +"Judge, I don't know anyone to give you; my good friend is dead, but I +told you the truth. I don't drink, nor smoke nor swear oaths; I try to +be a good boy; I work hard, but I can't give you any security. Judge, +will you please let me kiss my little sister before you take her from +me?" + +With this the boy put his arms about his weeping sister and printed, +as he thought, the last kiss upon her cheek. The Judge, with a lump in +his throat, said: "Take her, my boy; I'll go your security. I'll give +Lucy to the care of such a brother." + +Hand in hand the homeless orphan pair walked out of the court room +together, Jimmy Rome to make his mark in the business world and his +sister to be the wife of a merchant prince. + +Boys, be industrious, be honest, be sober. "I will" fluttered from the +worm-eaten ships of Columbus; "I will" blazed upon the banners of +Washington and Grant; "I will" stamped the walls of Hudson river +tunnel, and dug the canal of Panama. Young man, write "I will" upon +your brow, give your heart to God and hope will herald your way to +victory as the reward of a well spent life. Keep your eye upon the +star of ambition. Don't be like the owl, who when daylight comes hides +himself within the shadows of the ivy-bound oak and moans and moans +the days of his life away; but rather be like the proud eagle that +leaves its craggy summit, starts on its pinion flight through the +clouds, rides upon the face of the storm, then on beyond bathes its +plumage in the "sunlight of the day god, and laughs in the face of the +coming morrow." + +Some one said, and trifled with the secret of success and happiness +when he said it: "There's only a dollar's difference between the man +who works and the man who pays, and the man who pays, gets that." +There is an old superstition that somewhere on the earth, under the +earth or in the sea, there is a stone called the "philosopher's stone" +and whoever finds it will be "chiefest among ten thousand." The same +superstition prevails with many today; only the name of the stone is +turned to "luck," and thousands of young men are waiting for luck to +come along and turn up something for them. There is a rule of life, +young men, more reliable than luck. It is called an ancient law and +runs thus: "By the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." It is the +foundation of more sweet bread and pure enjoyment than all your luck. +On it the feet of Abraham Lincoln rested, while he wedged his way to +the highest office in the gift of the American people. On it +Shakespeare stood, driving a shuttle through the warp and woof of a +weaver's loom and wove out for himself a name and fame immortal. On it +Elihu Burrett wielded a sledge hammer, while developing a mind that +mastered many different languages. On it Henry Clay made his way from +the mill-sloshes of Virginia to the United States Senate, and on it +James A. Garfield tramped his toe-pathway from driving a mule, to +presiding over the destinies of seventy-five millions of people. + +Boys, don't be idle. I know a man to-day who always looks so lazy it +really rests me to look at him. A boy working for a farmer was asked +by his employer if he ever saw a snail. The boy answered that he had. +"You must have met it, for you surely did not overtake it," said the +farmer. I know an old man who seems to take pride in saying he never +worked. The first time I saw this man was in my youth. While his +father was husking corn in a field, he was seated by a fire reading a +novel. Often after that, when I would go to the postoffice in the +winter, he would be there by the fire. He moved to the city thirty +years ago, where he spends his winters sitting around a fire. He +doesn't drink or gamble. I don't think he will have many sins of +commission for which to answer; he never commits anything; he sits by +the fire. When he dies an appropriate epitaph for his tomb will be: + + "He was never much on stirrin' round, + Sich wasn't his desire; + When weather cool, he was always found, + A sittin' round the fire. + + "When the frost was comin' down, + And the wind a creepin' higher, + He spent his time just that way, + A sittin' round the fire. + + "Same old habit every day, + He never seemed to tire; + While others worked and got their pay, + He sat there by the fire. + + "When he died, by slow degrees, + Some said, 'he's gone up higher;' + But if he's doin' what he did, + He's sittin' round the fire." + +The man or woman who lives in this age of the world and lives in +idleness, should have lived in some other age. When ox-teams crept +across the plains, and stage coaches went six miles an hour, idleness +may have been in some kind of harmony with the age, but now, when +horses pace a mile in two minutes, express trains make fifty miles an +hour, and aeroplanes fly a mile in a minute; when telephone and +telegraph send news faster than light flies, the idler is out of +place. Carlisle said: "The race of life has become intense; the +runners are tramping on each other's heels; woe to the man who stops +to tie his shoestrings!" + +Young man, if you would keep step with the energy of the age in which +you are living, and be ever found on the safe side of life, you must +not only be equipped with education, stability and ambition, but to +make sure you should start right. If you are going to California +tomorrow, which way would you start, east or west? You say: "We would +start west." A man riding along a highway said to a farmer by the +wayside: "How far to Baltimore?" + +The farmer answered: "About twenty-five thousand miles the way you're +going; if you'll face about and go the other way, it's fourteen +miles." + +Young man, which way are you going? + +Does someone in my presence say: "I have started wrong; I take a glass +of beer now and then; occasionally utter an oath, and am sowing wild +oats in a few other fields; but I'll come out right in the end." Two +diverging roads keep on widening; they don't come together at the +other ends. If you would make sure of the safe side of life in the end +of the journey, then start right. Luke Howard graduated from a fine +college and went to a large city to practice his profession. He +boarded in a fine hotel and frequented fine saloons. He became +dissipated and one morning after a drunken debauch the landlord said: +"Sir, you disturbed my boarders last night and I must ask you to +leave." Young men, did Luke Howard go to a better hotel? No, but to a +grade lower; he started wrong. In this hotel a few months later, he +was asked to move on. Did he go to a better? No, still lower, until at +last he went to board in the low tavern on the river front. The +landlord said: "I remember when you graduated from college. I was +present, saw the flowers and heard the applause that greeted your +success. I feel honored to have you as a boarder." A few months later, +on Christmas night, Luke Howard lay drunk on the bar-room floor. The +landlord had borne all he could and, with a kick, he said: "Get up and +get out, you brute; I will not keep you another hour." The drunkard +with help arose and said: "Where am I? Why, this is my boarding place, +my home, and you are my landlord. You said you felt honored to have me +board here. What's the matter?" + +"Luke Howard, you're not the man you once were, and I want you to +leave here at once." + +The poor fellow started for the door muttering: "I am not the man I +was. I'm not the man I was." Missing the step as he went out, he fell, +striking his head against the stone curbing. A physician was summoned +and recognizing the injured man as an old friend said: "Luke, speak to +your old college chum; I'm here to help you." + +The poor drunkard, looking through the blood that flowed from the +gaping wound said: "Listen to me, Tom, I'm not the man I was, I'm not +the man I was." And thus died the poor fellow. + +Young man, start wrong and end right? No, start wrong and you may +expect in the autumn of life a penniless, friendless old age; +opportunity gone, health shattered, and the "long fingers of memory" +reaching out and dragging into its chambers thoughts that will "bite +like a serpent and sting like an adder." Bad as this is, it is even +worse when your depravity involves another life. What if that other +life is your mother, who went to the door of death to give you life, +and whose every breath is another thread of sorrow woven into her +wasting heart while her boy is bound like Mazeppa to the wild steed of +passion. + +There are some things I cannot understand about this drink question. I +can understand how a young woman with jeweled fingers can tempt a +young man to drink wine. I had a bit of experience some years ago down +in Texas, that helped me to appreciate how young men are tempted. I +gave an address in a Y.M.C.A. lecture course in a city, and at the +close of my address a prominent citizen said to me: "Kentucky has a +reputation for beautiful women, but we think Texas has the handsomest +women in the world. At the hotel where you are stopping, there is a +leap year ball tonight and the most beautiful women for a hundred +miles around are gathered there. I will call for you at your room in a +little while and you must take a look at our Texas girls." A little +later I stood in a hallway where I could see down the long ball room, +and I declare they were as pretty women as I have ever seen, and I +live in Kentucky. I was invited to step inside the door, where between +dances I was introduced to couple after couple. It being leap year the +ladies were soliciting their partners for the dance, and a very +handsome young lady invited me to be her partner. Having never danced +and being a Methodist steward, I declined. Another and another asked +me to dance, and again and again I declined, giving as an excuse my +utter ignorance of the function. Finally a very beautiful, blue-eyed, +charming young lady said: "Since you do not dance, may I engage you +for a promenade around the ball room?" Boys, if I had been a young man +the chances are I would have started down the "turkey-trot" road that +evening. I can appreciate how young men are tempted. + +There is one thing, however, about the drink habit that is difficult +for me to understand, and that is how a young man, who loves his +mother, whose mother loves him as only a mother can love, loved him +first, loved him best and will love him to the last, can go from home +and mother to the impure, degrading vileness of a liquor saloon. If we +enter that young man's home what do we find? Perhaps on one of the +side-walls, "What is home without a mother," on the altar the family +Bible, every picture on the walls suggestive of home life and purity, +every chair and piece of bric-a-brac linked with the sweet association +of childhood, the conversation as pure as the sunlight on which the +young man lives; yet he will kiss his mother, leave this home, and +down the street make his way to a liquor saloon, where often vile +pictures hang on the walls, cards lie on the table instead of the +family Bible and the air is freighted with oaths and obscenities. + +Boys, have any of you done this within the past month, or six months? +Promise me now you will never do this again. Oh what a grand meeting +this would be if every young man and boy in my presence would make the +promise! I plead with you, young man, by the sleepless nights your +mother spent to give you rest; by the shadow you have hung over her +pathway; by the bleeding heart you've wounded but which loves you +still: + + "Come back, my boy, come back, I say, + And walk now in thy mother's way." + +I would that every boy in our land were as grateful to his mother as +was that Southern girl to her father, who stood years ago in front of +an open fire, her back to the fire, her face toward the door, her bare +arms full of flowers, waiting for her brother to call with a carriage +to take her to a party. While standing there a flame caught her dress; +she gave a scream, dropped the flowers and ran through the door to +where her father was standing in the yard. When the father saw his +child coming with flame following, he ran toward her. As he ran he +took off his coat and wrapping it about her face, arms and shoulders, +threw her to the ground. With his left hand he kept the flame from the +body, while with his right hand he fought the fire. He saved his +daughter but burned his right arm to the elbow. Day after day when the +doctor would unwrap the arm to dress it, the girl, though burned +herself, would go to her father's bed, gently lift the burned arm and +caress it. When the father recovered his hand was so maimed and +scarred, that when introduced to strangers, he would hold his right +hand behind him and shake hands with the left. One day his daughter, +seeing him do this, went to his side and reaching for the scarred +hand, held it to her lips and kissed it. She was not ashamed, for that +hand had been burned for her. When the father died and lay in his +casket ready for burial, the family came to take their last look. +First came the mother of the girl, then a brother and sister, and then +the girl herself. She kissed the cold brow of her father, then +kneeling she took up the disfigured hand and kissed it over and over +again. My boy, your mother has suffered more for you than that father +did for his daughter. I beg you, go home and kiss your mother. If she +is dead or far from you, kiss her memory. Go to your bed room, kneel +there, and pray God to help you to live worthy the love of your +mother. + +I now turn from young men to parents and say, use every means possible +to make safe the way of your boys. Some years ago in one of our +cities, after a lecture in which I appealed to parents, a leading +merchant of the city said: "I wish I had heard that lecture years +ago." + +"You never used liquor?" I said. + +"No, but I am responsible for its use in my family. I am a Methodist, +and a total abstainer. In my employ I had a number of clerks, and let +it be known I would not allow any of them to drink even moderately. +One day a man came to my store with a paper in his hand and said: 'I +want to set up a saloon on the next block and I am getting signers to +my petition. I am one of your customers; you know me and know I will +keep an orderly place.' I said to myself, 'if he doesn't sell others +will and we need the revenue anyway,' so I signed the petition. A few +months later I chanced to see my youngest boy and one of my clerks +coming out of the door of that saloon. Soon after when they entered +the store I called them into my office and said: 'Young men, did I see +you coming out of a saloon, and had you been taking a drink in there?' +When they admitted they had, I said to my son: 'Did I ever set such an +example for you to follow?' He answered: 'No, father, but you signed +that man's petition to set up the saloon; whom did you expect him to +sell to? Did you sign it for him to sell to other fathers' sons and +not yours?' I realized as never before the wrong I had done, not only +to my own son, but to every father's son to whom that saloon-keeper +would sell if they had the money to pay for liquor. I said: "Forgive +me, my boy. Promise me you will never enter a saloon again and I +promise never to sign a petition or vote to have a saloon-keeper sell +to anybody's boy!" + +But it was too late; that boy went to ruin and carried his old father +to financial ruin with him. The store was sold and the father went on +to a little farm in Missouri, where he died a disappointed, +grief-stricken man. He was a good man and a kind father, but he did +not realize the full meaning of the warning, "whatsoever ye sow, that +shall ye also reap." Fathers, be careful of your example. Your sons +think they can safely follow where you lead. Could the turf break +above the drunken dead; could they come back to earth in their bony +whiteness to testify to the cause of their ruin, how many would point +to the old sideboard filled with all kinds of liquors, to father's +moderate use of strong drink, or his vote for the saloon at the ballot +box. + +Too often the careless indulgence of mothers is responsible for the +ruin of their sons. If mothers were as watchful of their sons as of +their daughters, the magic chain of mother love would be far more +binding to their boys. There are homes in this city where at night you +can hear the mothers say to servants: "Are the clothes in off the +line; did you bring the broom and the pitcher from the porch; are the +blinds all down; are the girls in bed; is everything in order for the +night?" No, mothers, everything is not in order. Your girls are safe, +the windows and doors are locked, but your boys are on the outside +with night keys in their pockets, to come in at midnight from God only +knows where. The double standard reaches too often back into the home. + + "Mother, watch the little feet, + Climbing o'er the garden wall, + Bounding through the busy street, + Ranging garret shed and hall: + Never count the time it cost, + Never think the moments lost; + Little feet will go astray, + Watch them, mother, while you may. + + "Mother, watch the little tongue, + Prattling, innocent and wild, + What is said and what is sung + By the joyous, happy child; + Stop the word while yet unspoken; + Seal the vow while yet unbroken, + That same tongue may yet proclaim, + Blessings in a Savior's name. + + "Mother, watch the little heart, + Beating soft and warm for you; + Wholesome lessons now impart, + Keep, O keep, that young heart pure. + Extricating every weed, + Sowing good and precious seed; + Harvests rich you then shall see, + Ripening for eternity." + +Once more I turn to the young men to say, if you would make life safe +take the Bible as the man of your counsel and the guide of your life; +love God and keep His commandments. In this age of glittering +literature, many consider the Bible dull reading. Sir William Jones, +one of England's greatest jurists and scholars, said: "I have +carefully perused the Bible, and independent of its divine origin, I +believe it contains more true sublimity, more exquisite beauty, purer +morality, more important history and finer strains of poetry and +eloquence than could be contained within the same compass, from all +the books ever published in any age or any idiom." + +A passionate lover of poetry has said: "The Bible is a mass of +beautiful figures. It has pressed into its service the animals of the +forest, the flowers of the fields and the stars of heaven; the lion, +spurning the sands of the desert; the wild roe, leaping the mountains; +the lamb led to the slaughter; the goat, fleeing to the wilderness; +the Rose of Sharon; the Lily of the Valley; the great rock in a weary +land; Carmel by the sea; Tabor in the mountains; the rain and mown +grass; the sun and moon and morning stars. Thus hath the Bible swept +creation to lay its trophies upon the altar of Jehovah." Patrick Henry +continually sought the Bible for gems of expression, while today the +politician on the rostrum and the lawyer at the bar, quote the Bible +to give force and effect to their speeches. + +Some say: "There is so much in the Bible we cannot comprehend." Yes, +there's very much in there doubtless God did not intend you should +understand. One wades in the ocean knee deep, waist deep, neck deep, +and gives it up that he can't wade the ocean. If God had intended one +should wade the ocean He would have made it shallow enough to wade. +So, one finds he can climb to the mountain's top, or sail thousands of +feet above the mountain in an air ship, but he can't sail to the +skies. Two good women went to Sam Jones and said: "Mr. Jones, here are +several passages of scripture we don't understand. We have been to +several ministers and they cannot explain them satisfactorily; perhaps +you can." The great evangelist said: "Sisters, you haven't as much +good hard sense as my cow. We keep a cow and through the winter we +give her hay to eat. Now Georgia hay has a considerable mixture of +briars. When we give the cow an arm full of hay she has sense enough +to eat the hay and let the briars alone. But with the blessed Bible +full of good hay, you are 'chawing' away on the briars." Young people, +there is enough in God's word you can understand to serve you if you +live a thousand years, enough in there to save you if you die tonight, +so don't worry over what you can't understand. + +During the Civil War a terrible battle raged all day between the +armies of Grant and Lee. When the night shadows shut out the light, +dead and dying were strewn for miles. Surgeons were busy and the +chaplains going their rounds. A chaplain heard a voice say, in clarion +tone: "Here." Going to the spot from whence came the voice and bending +over the prostrate form of a dying soldier, the chaplain asked: "What +can I do for you?" + +"Nothing, sir; they were just calling the roll in Heaven, and I was +answering to my name." + +Blessed book, in which there is enough a wounded soldier, dying far +away from home and loved ones, can so understand as to fit him to +answer the roll call in Heaven. + +We may not comprehend the full meaning of faith, but we can grasp +sufficient to be to our souls what the force of nature is to the +trees, by which they stand with their branches reaching skyward and +their roots drawing earth-centerward. Take from me this faith and you +take away the best friend I ever had, the friend that stood by me in +the darkest hour of my life, when a daughter in the bloom of womanhood +said, "good-bye," and went away to live with the angels; that stands +by me now pointing to where my child is waiting for me in the bowers +that kiss the very porch of Heaven. Without this faith how awful would +be the dirge, "earth to earth, dust to dust." Blessed book that tells +us we shall meet "beyond the river, where the surges cease to roll;" +that death is but the doorway to a better land, "the grave a subway to +a sweeter clime." + +My dear young friends, accept this faith and you will find in it a +sweet companion up the hillward way of life, and down the sunset slope +to the valley of death, where it will not leave nor forsake you, but +will wait till you throw off your "burden of clay," then "bear you +away on its balmy wings to your eternal home." Young men, may you so +follow the safe side of life, that when its great trials come, you can +with the wings of faith cleave the clouds and soar safely above the +thunders that roll at your feet. + +My closing advice is, "Walk not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor +stand in the way of sinners; but delight in the law of the Lord; and +in his law meditate day and night. In due season your life will fruit +and whatsoever you do will prosper." + + + + +VI + +PLATFORM EXPERIENCES. + + +Though announced to lecture on Platform Experiences, it is my purpose +to give you a kind of platform analysis, to tell you what I know about +lecturing, lectures, oratory and orators, using personal experiences +for illustration. + +We have about eight thousand Chautauqua days, and fifteen thousand +lecture courses in this country every year, and yet comparatively few +persons know the history of the platform. Many have an idea that free +speech, like free air, has ever been a boon to mankind. They have no +conception of what it has cost, in imprisonment, exile, blood and +tears. + +I am indebted to "Pond's History of the Platform" for facts and +illustrations in the early history of the platform in England. Two +hundred years ago in our mother land, the word platform meant no more +than a resting place for boxes and barrels. A religious service was +simply a routine of ritual, while such a thing as a public man +addressing the masses was unknown. Sir William Pitt, one of England's +greatest statesman and orators, in all his public life uttered only +two sentences to the public outside of Parliament. If William Jennings +Bryan had lived in Pitt's day, he would have been ignored by the Prime +Minister of England. + +The first leaders of thought to come in contact with the people and +thrill them by the power of speech were John Wesley and George +Whitefield. "On a mount called Rose Hill, near Bristol, England, +George Whitefield laid the foundation of the modern platform." From +Rose Hill his audiences grew until on Kensington Commons thirty +thousand people tried to get within reach of his captivating voice. It +has been truthfully said: "At the feet of John Wesley and George +Whitefield the people of England learned their first lessons in +popular government." + +This innovation, however, met with sneers, jeers and persecution from +the established conservatism of church and state, and when the +platform attempted to enter the arena of politics, Parliament decided +the "public clamor must end." A bill was framed forbidding any public +gatherings except such as should be called by the magistrates. + +In advocating this bill a member of Parliament said: "The art of +political discussion does not belong outside of Parliament. Men who +are simply merchants, mechanics and farmers must not be allowed to +publicly criticise the constitution." To this the platform made reply: +"From such as we the Master selected those who were to sow the seed of +living bread in the wilds of Galilee." The bill passed by an +overwhelming majority. Punishment ran from fine and imprisonment to +years of exile from the country, and from this time on, the battle +raged between Parliament and platform. Later on we shall note the +results. + +I am often interviewed by men, and sometimes by women, who desire to +reach the platform. They say to me: "What steps did you take?" + +My answer is, I never took any; I stumbled, was picked up by +circumstances and pitched upon the platform. + +At a picnic in a grove near Winchester, Ky., in 1869, a noted +temperance orator was to give an address. He failed to reach the grove +on time, and I was prevailed upon to act as time-killer until his +arrival. I was not entirely without experience, having belonged to a +debating society in a country school. + +When I had spoken about thirty minutes, to my great relief, the orator +of the day made his appearance. The flattering comments upon my talk +induced me to accept other invitations to address temperance meetings, +and before I knew what had happened, the platform was under my feet, +calls were numerous and my life work was established. I suppose those +who consult me are encouraged to know a mere stumble directed my +course, and if so, by purpose and preparation they can surely succeed. + +Some persons seem to think lecturing a very simple occupation, +requiring only a glib tongue, and a good pair of lungs. Several years +ago, I received a letter from a young man in which he wrote: "I heard +you lecture last week. I would like to become a lecturer myself. I +have no experience and very little education, but I have a very strong +voice and am sure I could be heard by a large audience. I have been +working in a horse-barn but am now out of a job. If I had a lecture, I +think I could make a living; besides I would get to see the country. +If you will write me one I will send you two dollars." I do not know +whether the young man gauged the price by the estimate of the lecture +he had heard me give, or his monetary condition, but if audacity is a +requisite for the platform, this young man was not entirely without +qualification. + +This is an extreme case, and yet there are those whose minds are +storehouses of knowledge, who can no more become popular platform +speakers, than could the young man, who was ready to set sail on the +sea of oratory, with a lusty pair of lungs and a two dollar lecture. + +Charles Spurgeon, the great London preacher, said: "I have never yet +learned the art of lecturing. If you have ever seen a goose fly, you +have seen Spurgeon trying to lecture." + +Mr. Spurgeon called lecturing an art, and why not? If the hand that +paints a picture true to life and pleasing to the eye, is the hand of +an artist, why is not the tongue that paints a picture true to life +and pleasing to the mind's eye the tongue of an artist? + +It is an art to know how to get hold of an audience. There was an +occasion in my experience when I had extreme necessity for the use of +this art. When President Cleveland wrote his Venezuela message in +which he threatened war with England, the threat was published in +Toronto, Canada, on Saturday and I was announced to lecture in the +large pavilion on Sunday afternoon. + +The message of President Cleveland had aroused the patriotic spirit of +Canada. The hall was packed. It seemed to me I could see frost upon +the eyebrows of every man and icicles in the ears of the women. + +When introduced there was a painful silence. I began by saying: +"Doubtless many of you have come to hear what an American has to say +about Venezuela. I must admit I am not acquainted with the merits of +the question. I suppose, however, the message of our President is one +of the arts of diplomacy. But I do know I speak the sentiment of the +best people of my country when I say: 'May the day never dawn whose +peace will be broken by signal guns of war between Great Britain and +the United States.'" I said: + + "When John and Jonathan forget, + The scar of anger's wound to fret, + And smile to think of an ancient feud, + Which the God of nations turned to good; + Then John and Jonathan will be, + Abiding friends, o'er land and sea; + In their one great purpose, the world will ken, + Peace on earth, goodwill to men." + +The great audience arose and cheered until all sense of chill had +departed. + +It is not only an art to get hold of an audience, but equally a matter +of good taste to know when to let go. This is a qualification some +have not acquired. I followed a very distinguished man several years +ago and the comment was: "He was fine the first hour and a half, but +the last hour he grew tiresome." + +In this busy age, the world wants thoughts packed into small compass. +The average audience wants a preacher to put his best thoughts into a +thirty-minute package. The day was, when people would sit on backless +board benches and listen to a sermon of two hours; now they won't +swing in a hammock and endure one of more than fifty minutes. + +Rev. Dr. Dewey, of Brooklyn, New York, tells of a minister who was +given to reading his sermons. On one occasion when he had read about +twenty minutes, he halted and said: "I have a young dog at my house +that is given to chewing paper. I find he has mutilated my manuscript, +which is my excuse for this short sermon." A visiting lady after +service said: "Doctor, have you any more of the breed of that dog? I +would like to get one for our pastor." + +In this age of crowded moments concentration means executation; energy +means success. If you can't put fire into your sermon, put your sermon +in the fire. + +A few years ago when in New York City, I went to see Madame Bernhardt +in her famous play, Joan of Arc. She spoke in French, an unknown +tongue to me; but when she came to her defense before the court, I +realized as never before the power of speech and action. She had given +one-fourth of that marvelous appeal, when the great audience arose and +began to cheer. Madame Bernhardt folded her arms, bowed her head and +waited for silence. + +When order was restored she sprang a step forward. It seemed to me +every feature of her face, every finger on her hands, every gleam of +eye and movement of body was an appeal to the stern tribunal. In the +trembling, murmuring voice that ran like a strain of sad, sweet music +through sunless gorges of grief, the great audience read her plea for +mercy and wept. Some who could not restrain their emotion sobbed +aloud. + +When from the depths of solemn sound that same voice arose like the +swell of a silver trumpet, and in clarion tones demanded justice, +cheer after cheer testified to the power of the orator actress. Never +was there a sob of the sea more mournful, than the voice of Sarah +Bernhardt as she played upon the harp strings of pity; and never did +words rush in greater storm fury from human lips, than when she +demanded justice. No stop nor note nor pedal nor key in the organ of +speech was left untouched by this genius in tragic art. + +It would be well if every public speaker could hear Sarah Bernhardt +give that defense of the Maid of Orleans. Indeed I believe if the +forensic eloquence of the stage could be transferred to the pulpit +greater audiences and greater rewards would follow. If you doubt this, +go read the sermons of George Whitefield or the lectures of John B. +Gough and you will wonder at their success unless you take into +consideration their mysterious power of delivery. + +I cannot give you one sentence Madame Bernhardt uttered, but I do know +the influence of that address remains with me to this day and now and +then I find myself reaching out after the secret of oratory. "It is +not so much what you say as how you say it," has become a proverb. + +Some years ago I lectured in an Iowa village on a bitter cold evening. +The rear of the hall was up on posts. When introduced there was only +one inch between my shoe soles and zero, while a cold wind from a +broken window struck the back of my head. It occurred to me that if I +would play Bernhardt I might save a spell of pneumonia. + +In a few moments I was pacing the platform, swinging my arms and +stamping my feet to keep up circulation. I put all the intensity, +activity and personality possible into one hour and left the platform. + +Returning to the hotel a commercial traveler who had heard me a number +of times said: "I congratulate you; you get younger. I never heard you +put so much life into your lecture." + +I replied: "Why man, I was trying to keep my feet from freezing." + +He said: "I advise you to go on the platform every evening with cold +feet." + +John and Charles Wesley were going along a street in London when they +came upon two market women engaged in a wordy war. John Wesley said: +"Hold up, Charles, and let's learn how to preach. See how these women +put earnestness and even eloquence into their street quarrel. Can't we +be just as earnest and eloquent in dealing out the truth?" No wonder +John Wesley gave such impetus to the platform. + +It is said what John Wesley and George Whitefield were to the +religious platform, Fox and Burke became later on to the political +platform. They saw the platform was fast becoming the voice of public +sentiment and dared to indorse it. + +When Mr. Fox made his first platform address he said: "This is the +first time I ever had the privilege of addressing an uncorrupted +assembly." Going back into Parliament he said: "Let's put an end to a +policy that separates us from the people. Let's cut all cables, snap +all chains that bind us to an unfriendly shore and enter the peaceful +harbor of public confidence." + +When Mr. Burke made his platform debut, he was so inspired by the +enthusiasm of the people, it is said, he made the greatest speech ever +made in the English language up to that time. When he appeared in +Parliament next evening a leader of the government took occasion to +denounce the platform as a disturber of public peace, directing his +remarks to Mr. Burke. The great orator was ready with the reply: "Yes, +and the firebell at midnight disturbs public peace, but it keeps you +from burning in your beds." + +It would seem after years of fruitless effort to silence the platform, +Parliament would accept it as a power for good and give it wise +direction. Yet we are informed that in face of its growing popularity +when Henry Hunt attempted to address an audience in a grove in +England, a regiment of cavalry charged the grove. Eleven were killed +and several hundred wounded. Henry Hunt was thrown into prison, but +when released later one hundred thousand people welcomed him to the +streets of London. + +As well now had Parliament attempted to prevent a London fog as to +prohibit platform meetings. John Bright said: "When I consider these +meetings of the people, so sublime in their vastness and resolution, I +see coming over the hilltops of time the dawning of a nobler and +better day for my country." + +It is our privilege to live in the good day of which John Bright +spoke. Yet while a public speaker today is in no dread of arrest or +imprisonment for any decent expression of opinion, the platform is not +without its hindrances; and some of these will never be cured, while +babies cry, architects sacrifice acoustics to style, young people do +their courting in public, janitors smother thoughts in foul air, and +milliners persist in building up artistic barriers between speaker and +audience. + +Here let me give a bit of advice to my own sex. Gentlemen, when you +purchase a new hat, no matter if a ten dollar silk, or a twenty dollar +panama, do not attend a lecture, and taking a seat in front of some +intelligent lady forget to remove your hat. The lady may want to see +the speaker's face, and he may need the inspiration of her +countenance, while you are interfering with both. "A hint to the wise +is sufficient." This hint may not be in accord with the advice of +Paul, but Paul never saw a twentieth century "Merry Widow" hat. Then +too, Paul was already inspired and didn't need the inspiration of +human countenances. I am speaking for the uninspired, to whom an +audience of hatless heads is an inspiration. + +But few persons realize how a public speaker is affected by little +influences. The flitting of a blind bat over a church audience on a +summer evening, will mar the most fascinating flight of eloquence ever +plumed from a pulpit. + +When Nancy Hanks broke the world's trotting record at Independence, +Iowa, some years ago, her former owner, Mr. Hart Boswell, of +Lexington, who raised and trained her, was asked if Nancy would ever +lower that record. He replied: "Well, if the time comes that the track +is just right, the atmosphere just right, the driver just right and +Nancy just right, I believe she will." See the combination. Break it +anywhere and the brave little mare would fail. + +Just so speakers are affected by conditions, by acoustics, atmosphere, +size and temper of the audience, and the speaker's own mental and +physical condition. Many a good sermon has been killed by a poor +sexton. Many a grand thought has perished in foul air. + +Charles Spurgeon was preaching to a large audience in a mission church +in London, when want of ventilation affected speaker and audience. Mr. +Spurgeon said to a member of the church: "Brother, lift that window +near you." + +"It won't lift," replied the brother. + +"Then smash the glass and I'll pay the bill to-morrow," said Spurgeon. + +Suppose the great horse Uhlan should be announced to trot against his +record; suppose at the appointed time, with the grandstand crowded and +every condition favorable, as the great trotting wonder reached the +first quarter pole, some one were to run across the track just ahead +of the horse, then another and another; what kind of a record would be +made? + +What management would allow a horse to be thus handicapped? Where is +the man who would be so inconsiderate as to thus hinder a horse? Yet +when a minister has worked while the world slept, that he not only +might sustain his record but gather souls into the kingdom; when the +opening exercises have given sufficient time for all to be present; +when the text is announced and the preacher is reaching out after the +attention and sympathy of his audience some one enters the door, walks +nearly the full length of the aisle; then another and then two more, +each one crossing the track of the preacher and yet he is expected to +keep up his record and make good. If you are a friend of your pastor +be present when he announces his text; give him your attention and +thus cheer him on as you would your favorite horse. + +An eminent minister said: "There, I had a good thought for you, but +the creaking of the new boots of that brother coming down the aisle +knocked it quite out of my head." + +One who had heard me many times said: "Why do you do better at Ocean +Grove than anywhere else I hear you?" My answer was: "Because of +conditions. The great auditorium seats ten thousand, the atmosphere is +invigorated by salt sea breezes; a choir of five hundred sing the +audience into a receptive mood and the speaker is borne from climax to +climax on wings of applause." + +I would not have you infer from this that a large audience is always +necessary to success. Indeed the most successful and satisfactory +address I ever made was to an audience of one. If I can make as +favorable an impression upon you as I did upon that young lady I shall +be gratified. + +In Pauling, New York, Chauncey M. Depew by his attention and applause +inspired me more than the whole audience beside; while time and again +have I been helped to do my best by the presence of that matchless +queen of the platform, Frances E. Willard. + +The very opposite of greatness has had the same effect upon me. At the +Pontiac, Illinois, Chautauqua after lecturing to a great audience, I +was invited by the superintendent of the State Reformatory to address +the inmates of the prison. At the close of a thirty minutes' talk the +superintendent said: "Your address to my boys exceeded the one you +gave at the Chautauqua." + +Why was it better? At the Chautauqua I was trying to entertain and +instruct an intelligent audience. Within the grey walls of that prison +I was reaching down to the very depths, endeavoring to lift up human +beings, marred and scarred by sin and crime, but dear to the mothers +who bore them and the Savior who died for them. + +If I were a preacher in New York City and were announced to preach a +sermon on home missionary work I would not go to the church by way of +the mansions of the rich where children, shod in satin slippers dance +and play over velvet tapestry, but by way of the slums where I would +meet the children of misery, where, + + "To stand at night 'mid the city's throng, + And scan the faces that pass along, + Is to read a book whose every leaf + Is a history of woe and want and grief. + As in tears of sorrow and sin and shame, + You read a story of blight and blame, + Your heart goes further than hand can reach + And you feel a sermon you cannot preach." + +Whoever would prove worthy of the platform must have a message and +give to it the devotion of mind, heart and conscience, no matter +whether his purpose is to convince by reasoning, convert by appeal, +delight by rhetoric, or cure melancholy by humor. Each has its useful +influence on the platform. + +Some persons have an impression that the student deals in logic, while +the orator simply starts his tongue to running, and goes off and +leaves it to work automatically. + +Bishop Robert McIntyre was one of the greatest pulpit orators of his +age, yet I dare say this gifted man gave as much time and thought to +his famous word painting of the Chicago fire, as Joseph Cook ever gave +to mining any treasure of thought he laid upon the altar of education. + +I know many teachers of oratory say: "Study your subject, analyze it +well, and leave words to the inspiration of the occasion." But suppose +when the occasion comes, instead of inspiration one has indigestion, +then what? + +While a speaker should not be so confined to composition that he +cannot reach out after, and cage any passing bird of thought, yet as +the leaf of the mulberry tree must go through the stomach of a +silk-worm, before it can become silk, so climaxes should be warped and +woofed into language before they can be forceful and beautiful. + +At the Lincoln, Nebraska, Assembly some years ago a noted humorist +gave an address on the "Philosophy of Wit." He called oratory a lost +art, and to prove his contention he quoted from William Jennings +Bryan's famous Chicago convention speech. He said: "What would a young +woman think of her lover who would say 'My darling, the crown of +thorns shall never be pressed down upon your fair brow?'" The humorist +expected applause but it failed to materialize, for Mr. Bryan is +highly respected in his state and his oratory is a charm wherever he +is heard. + +The speaker not only exhibited poor taste, but his wit was pointless, +for when a man can go before a convention of fourteen hundred +delegates and by one burst of eloquence capture the convention, secure +the nomination for the presidency, and then with the press and the +leaders of his party against him go up and down the country, and from +the rear of a railroad train, almost capture the White House, the day +of oratory is not gone by. + +Schriner, the great animal painter, painted the picture of a bony mule +eating a tuft of hay. That picture sold in Petersburg, Russia, for +fifteen thousand dollars, while the original mule sold for one dollar +and thirty cents. If the painting of Schriner made in the price of +that mule, a difference of fourteen thousand, nine hundred, +ninety-eight dollars and seventy cents why is not word painting worth +something? + +Listen, while I give you a short extract from the address of James G. +Blaine at the memorial service of our martyr President Garfield. With +the audience wrought up to the greatest sympathy by his tribute he +said: + +"Surely if happiness can come from robust health, ideal domestic life +and honors of the world James A. Garfield was a happy man that July +morning. One moment strong, erect with promise of peaceful, useful +years of life before him: The next moment wounded, bleeding, helpless. + +"Through the days and weeks of agony that followed, he saw his sun +slowly sinking, the plans and purposes of his life broken and the +sweetest of household ties soon to be severed. + +"Masterful in mortal weakness he became the center of a nation's love, +and enshrined in the prayers of the Christian world. + +"As the end drew near, his youthful yearning for the sea returned. The +White House palace of power became a hospital of pain. He begged to be +taken from its prison walls and stifling air. + +"Silently, tenderly the love of a great people bore the pale sufferer +to the longed-for healing of the sea. There with wan face lifted to +the cooling breeze, he looked wistfully out upon the changing wonders +of the ocean; its far-off sails white in the morning light; its +restless waves rolling shoreward to break in the noon-day sun; the red +clouds of evening arching low, kissing the blue lips of the sea, and +above the serene, silent pathway to the stars. + +"Let us believe his dying eyes read a mystic meaning only the parting +soul can know; that he heard the waves of the ebbing tide of life +breaking on the far-off shore, and felt already upon his wasted brow +the calm, sweet breath of heaven's morning." + +Place behind these utterances the rich voice and magnetic manner of +the "Plumed Knight" of the platform, and you can realize what oratory +means. + +If you will here pardon me for going from the sublime to the +ridiculous, I will show you how a bit of a school boy rhetoric may win +its way over solid argument. In the country school I attended, there +was a debating society. Parents as well as their sons were admitted to +the society and the public was invited to the debates. On one occasion +the question for debate was: "Which is the more attractive, the works +of nature or the works of art?" + +There had been an appeal from a general debate and this time one +speaker was chosen from each side. My father was chosen to represent +the negative and I the affirmative. My father was a good speaker but +so fond of facts he had no use for rhetoric. I had the opening address +of thirty minutes, my father had forty-five minutes and I had fifteen +minutes to close the debate. + +As father talked I wondered how he ever got hold of so many facts. He +piled them up until my first address was swept away by the triumphs of +art. The only hope I had for the affirmative was in the closing +fifteen minutes. Fortunately for me, the judge was a bachelor and very +much in love with a golden-haired, accomplished young woman who lived +in a country home very near the schoolhouse, and was then in the +audience. In closing the debate I referred to father's address in a +complimentary manner, and then asked the judge to be seated in +imagination on a knoll nearby. On one side of that knoll I placed all +my father had claimed for art, withholding nothing. On the other side +was the home of this Blue Grass belle. I began a description of her +home and personality. I pictured "the orchard, the meadow, the deep +tangled wild-wood and every loved spot" the judge well knew. I +pictured the brook that ran through the meadow into the woodland and +on down the valley, singing as it ran, + + "I wind about and in and out, + With here a blossom sailing; + Here and there a lusty trout, + And here and there a grey-ling." + +When my time was half gone I felt I was gone too unless I could get a +little nearer the heart of the judge. Opening the door art had made to +shut in the flowers of a lovely family I brought out the golden-haired +girl. + +Taking off the sun-bonnet of art, that the good-night kisses of the +sinking sun might enrich her rosy cheeks and golden tresses, I sent +her strolling down the winding walk hedged in by hawthorn and hyacinth +to the water's brink. Here I gave her a cushion of blue-grass, and +with the rising moon pouring its shimmering sheen upon the ripples at +her feet, I sent her voice floating away on the evening air singing: +"Roll on silver moon, guide the traveler on his way." Here the +audience cheered, the judge smiled and I felt encouraged. + +With but two minutes left I had the shapely fingers of nature, take +out the hair-pins of art and the golden tresses fall about the snowy +neck of nature. Then came the untying of the shoe-strings of art; off +came the shoes and stockings of art, and the pretty feet of nature +were dipping in the limpid stream. I said, "Judge, the question is, +which is the more attractive, the works of nature or the works of art? +With my father's picture of steam engines, stage coaches, reapers, +binders, mowing machines and every known triumph of art on one side; +on the other the highest type of the world's creation, a beautiful +woman, the stars of nature stooping to kiss her brow, and laughing +waters of nature leaping to kiss her feet; where your eyes would rest +there let your decision be given." + +After the debate a friend said to me: "It was that last home picture +that saved you." My father who heard the remark said, "Yes, a picture +of a red-headed girl washing her feet in a goose branch." I may add, I +was careful after the contest not to get very near the young lady with +whom I had taken such platform liberty. + +Reason, rhetoric, pathos, poetry, diction, gesture, wit and humor, +each has its place on the platform. While logic sounds the depths of +thought, humor ripples its surface with laughing wavelets. While +reason cultivates the cornfields of the mind, rhetoric beautifies the +pleasure gardens. + +John B. Gough was the most popular platform orator of his day. He +began lecturing at from two to five dollars an evening. He grew in +popularity until he was in demand at five hundred dollars a lecture, +and no one before or since more successfully used all the arts of the +platform, from the comic that drew the very rabble of the streets, to +flights of eloquence that captured college culture. It has been well +said: "While Gough was a great preacher of righteousness, he was a +whole theatre in dramatic delivery." Lecturers, like preachers, are +fishers of men, and there are as many kinds of people in an average +audience as there are kinds of fish in the sea. It requires variety of +bait for humanity as well as for fish. + +Sam Jones used slang as one kind of bait and he used to say: "It beats +all how it draws." I saw this verified at Ottawa, Kansas, Chautauqua. +Giving a Saturday evening lecture he baited the platform with slang, +satire and humor. Sunday afternoon an hour before time for his lecture +the people were hurrying to the auditorium. When presented to the +great audience he said: "Record! Record! Record!" I remember the +sermon as one of the sweetest and most powerful I ever heard. Its +influence will not cease this side the eternal morning. + +Rowland Hill, the popular London preacher, used quaint humor to draw +the people, and powerful appeal to sweep them into the kingdom. + +It is said the fountain of laughter and fountain of tears lie very +close together. My experience has been, that often the best way to the +fountain of tears is by the way of the fountain of laughter. Some +years ago at Ocean Grove, New Jersey, I was to lecture on the subject, +"Boys and Girls, Nice and Naughty." A wealthy widow and her only son +were there from New York, where the young boy had been leading a "gay +life." Ocean Grove with its quiet, moral atmosphere was a dull place +for this young man. He happened to read the subject for the lecture on +the bulletin board, and thinking it suggestive of humor he went to +hear the lecture. He had what he went for, as the lecture did deal +with the fountain of laughter, but it also dealt with the fountain of +tears. It swung the red lantern of danger athwart the pathway of the +wayward young man. Following a story of mother love, I said: "Young +man, let the cares and burdens of life press you down to the very +earth, let the great waves of sorrow roll over your soul, but let no +act of yours ever roll a clod upon the coffin of her, whose image, +enshrined upon the inner walls of your memory, white winters and long +bright summers can never wash away." + +A minister told me after, that in a young people's meeting this young +man arose and said: "I attended a lecture at Ocean Grove, thinking I +would have a humorous entertainment. I left the auditorium the saddest +soul in the great audience. Going down to the beach I tried to drive +away the spell, but it grew upon me. I could see how I had grieved my +mother, and the past came rolling up like the waves of the ocean. I +shuddered as they broke on my awakened conscience and quickened +memory. Behind me was an unhallowed past, and before me the brink of +an awful eternity. There and then I resolved to change my course. +Alone under the stars I made my resolve and then started to my mother. +She was waiting for me, and said: 'My son, I wished for you at the +lecture this evening. I think you would have enjoyed it.' I then told +her I was determined to lead a new life and had come to seal my vow +with her kiss." + +That young man went to the lecture to laugh, he left to walk alone +with God under the stars by the ocean deep, there to decide to lead a +righteous life, and seal the vow with a loving mother's kiss. + +So while in my humble way I have endeavored to use the arts that +entertain I have cherished the purpose to better human lives. + +I have referred to the platform as being baited for humanity. Have you +ever considered how it is baited to resist the forces of evil? + +The day was when Satan had an attraction trust that controlled about +the whole output of entertainment. The platform now is a picture +gallery where is to be had all beauty in nature, from our own land to +the land of the midnight sun. + +In moving pictures it presents to those who never saw ship, sail or +sea, the landing of a great steamer, with splashing of spray as real +as if seen from the dock. To those who enjoy music it furnishes band +concerts, orchestra, bell-ringing, quartettes, solos, plantation +melodies, rag-time tunes and women whistlers. + +The platform today beats the devil in output of entertainment. It has +scoured field and forest, trained birds and dogs to round out the +program of a chautauqua. + +Its breadth takes in all creeds and kinds. While it greets with waving +lilies Bishop Vincent, leader of the great chautauqua movement, it +cordially welcomes the priest, the Jew, the Chinaman, the negro, +republican, democrat, progressive, prohibitionist, socialist and +suffragist. + +The platform has grown to be a great university, a musical festival, a +zoological garden, an art institute, an agricultural college and a +domestic science school. + +Do you ask has the platform any blemishes? I answer yes. All +enterprises have their blemishes. The press is a potent power for good +and yet many bad things get into print. Sometimes from the platform +come voices without the ring of sincerity, entertainments without +uplifting influence and anecdotes without respect to public decency. +When attending platform entertainments one should discriminate as when +eating fish, enjoy the meat and discard the bones. With good taste in +selection one rarely ever need go away hungry. + +I am often asked: "Where do you find the most appreciative audiences?" + +First, I would reply, in rural communities where the people are not +surfeited with entertainment. Second, I would say, applause does not +always mean appreciation. It is said "still water runs deep." In +Chickering Hall, New York, one Sunday afternoon a lady sat before me +whose diamonds and dress indicated wealth. A lad sat by her side. My +subject was, "The Safe Side of Life for Young Men." It was a +temperance address and the thought came to me; that lady is a wine +drinker and she is disappointed that I am to talk temperance. She did +not cheer with the audience, nor did she give any expression of face +that would indicate her interest, except that she kept her eyes fixed +upon the speaker. At the close she came to the platform and said: "I +brought my son with me and you said what I wanted him to hear; I thank +you," and with this she took my hand saying, "Again I thank you," and +turning away, left a coin in my hand. + +I put it in my pocket, and on returning to the hotel found she had +given me a twenty dollar gold piece. That was gold standard +appreciation. + +I am frequently asked: "What do you recall as the best introduction +you ever had?" + +I have had all kinds, some amusing, but the one I cherish most was +given by Ferd Schumacher, the deceased oatmeal king of Akron, Ohio. He +came to this country from Germany. By industry and economy he +accumulated enough money to engage in making oatmeal. When he had +rounded up more than a million of dollars in wealth, the insurance ran +out on his great "Jumbo Mills" in Akron. The insurance company raised +the rate and while he was dickering with the company, the great plant +was swept away in a midnight fire. Mr. Schumacher was a very earnest +temperance man and was to introduce me for the W.C.T.U. in the large +armory the Sunday after the fire. It was supposed he would not be +present because of the severe strain and his great loss. But prompt to +the minute he entered the door, and 'mid the applause of sympathetic +friends he took the platform. + +In presenting the speaker he said: "Ladies and schentlemen, I must be +personal for a moment while I thank the people of Akron for their +sympathy. I did not know I had so many good friends. But the mill vot +vos burned vos made of stone and vood and nails and paint. We come to +talk to you about a fire vot is burning up the homes, the hopes, the +peace of vimen and children and the immortal souls of men; vill you +please take your sympathy off of Ferd Schumacher and give it to Mr. +Bain while he talks about the great fire of intemperance." + +I am opposed to indiscriminate immigration to this country, but if the +old world has any more Ferd Schumachers desiring to come to America, +may He who rules winds and waves, fill with harmless pressure the +billows on which they ride and give them safe entrance into our +country's haven. + +Many inquire of me about the lyceum platform as a profession. My +answer is: "like the famed shield it has two sides." One who has a +lovely home and rarely leaves it said to me: "I envy you your +life-work. You get to see the country, visit the great cities, meet +the best people and get fat fees for your lectures." How distance does +lend enchantment to the view sometimes! + +A few years ago we notified the bureaus not to make engagements away +from the railroads in the northwest during the blizzard months. A +letter came saying: "Enter Wessington College, outside of Woonsocket." +We supposed outside meant adjacent. Arriving at Woonsocket in a +blizzard I found Wessington seventeen miles away. Wrapped in robes I +made the drive, arriving about six o'clock in the evening. On arrival +I was informed that smallpox had broken out in the village. The hotel +had been quarantined but a room had been engaged for me in a private +home. While taking my supper my hostess said: "Would you know smallpox +if you were to see the symptoms?" + +"Know what? Why do you ask that?" I asked. + +She called attention to the face of her daughter who was serving the +supper. One glance and my appetite fled, as I said: "Excuse me, +please. I must get ready for my lecture," and I left the room. One +hour later I stood before a vaccinated audience with visions of +smallpox floating before me, and for days after I imagined I could +feel it coming. + +Add to this experience midnight rides on freight trains, long drives +in rain, mud and storm, ten minutes for lunch at sandwich counter, +eight months of the year away from home--the only heaven one who loves +his family has on earth, and you have a taste of the side my neighbor +did not see. + +There is, however, a bright side. Whoever can get the ear of the +public from the platform, has an opportunity to sow seed, the fruit of +which will be gathered by angels when he has gone to his reward. One +so long on the platform as I have been, cannot fail in having +experiences that gladden the heart, if he has done faithful service. + +Out of hundreds I select one experience that should encourage all who +labor in the Master's vineyard. I had traveled two hundred miles in a +day to reach an engagement, and the last seven miles in a buggy over a +miserable road. I did not reach the village until nine o'clock. +Without supper and chilled by the ride, I threw off my wraps and +wearily made my way through the lecture. A little later in my room at +the hotel, while I was taking a lunch of bread and milk, a minister +entered and said: "You seem to be very tired." When I answered, "Never +more so," he replied: "I have a story to tell you which will perhaps +rest you." + +Continuing he said: "Some twenty years ago, you lectured in a village +where there was a state normal school. It was Sunday evening. At the +hotel were three young men, and to see the girls of the college, these +young men went to the lecture. One was the only son of a wealthy +widow. He had not seen his mother for months. She had begged him to +come home, but he was sowing his wild oats and ashamed to face his +mother. That evening you made an earnest appeal to young men in the +name of home and mother. The arrow went to the heart of the wild young +fellow. On returning to the hotel he said to his companions: 'Come up +to my room, let's have a talk.' On entering the room he closed the +door and said: 'Boys, I want to open my heart to you. I am overwhelmed +with a sense of wrong-doing. I am done with the saloon, done with the +gambling table, done with evil associations. I am going home to-morrow +and make mother happy. Boys, let's join hands and swear off from drink +and evil habits; let's honor our manhood and our mothers.' + +"Now for the sequel that I think will rest you. That wild boy is now a +wealthy man. I give you his name, though I would not have you call it +in public. He is a Christian philanthropist, and has never broken his +pledge. The second boy holds the highest office in the gift of this +government in a western territory, and the third stands before you +now, an humble minister of the gospel." + +It did rest me. I would rather have been the humble instrument in +turning those three young men to a righteous life, than to wear the +brightest wreath that ever encircled a stateman's brow. + +For such men as Sylvester Long, Roland A. Nichols, Robert Parker Miles +and Bishop Robert McIntyre to tell me my lectures helped to shape +their lives, fills my soul with joy as I face the setting sun. + +Chance, the noted English engineer, built a thousand sea-lights, +shore-lights and harbor-lights. When in old age he lay dying, a wild +storm on the sea seemed to revive him by its association with his +life-work. He said to the watchers: "Lift me up and let me see once +more the ocean in a storm." + +As he looked out, the red lightning ripped open the black wardrobe of +the firmament, and he saw the salted sea driven by the fury of the +hurricane into great billows of foam. Sinking back upon his pillows +his last words were: "Thank God, I have been a lighthouse builder, and +though the light of my life is fast fading, the beams of my lighthouse +are brightening the darkness of many a sailor's night." + +When my life-work closes, and my platform experiences are ended, I +would ask no better name than that of an humble lighthouse builder, +who here and there from the shore-points of life's ocean, has sent out +a friendly beam, to brighten the darkness of some brother's night. + + + + +VII + +THE DEFEAT OF THE NATION'S DRAGON. + + +Joseph Cook said in one of his Boston lectures: "Whenever the +temperance cause has attempted to fly with one wing, whether moral +suasion or legal suasion, its course has been a spiral one. It will +never accomplish its mission in this world, until it strikes the air +with equal vans, each wing keeping time with the other, both together +winnowing the earth of the tempter and the tempted." + +I congratulate the friends of temperance upon the progress both wings +have made since the beginning of their flight. + +The first temperance pledge we have any record of ran thus: "I +solemnly promise upon my word of honor I will abstain from everything +that will intoxicate, except at public dinners, on public holidays and +other important occasions." The first prohibitory law was a local law +in a village on Long Island and ran thus: "Any man engaged in the sale +of intoxicating liquors, who sells more than one quart of rum, whiskey +or brandy to four boys at one time shall be fined one dollar and two +pence." + +A sideboard without brandy or rum was an exception, while the jug was +imperative at every log-raising and in the harvest field. It was said +of even a Puritan community, + + "Their only wish and only prayer, + In the present world or world to come, + Is a string of Eels and a jug of rum." + +When Doctor Leonard Bacon was installed pastor of the First +Congregational Church in New Haven, Conn., in 1825, free drinks were +ordered at the bar of the hotel, for all visiting members, to be paid +for by the church. Today all protestant churches declare against the +drink habit and the drink sale. Pulpits are thundering away against +the saloon. Children are studying the effects of alcohol upon the +human system in nearly every state in the Union. Train loads of +literature are pouring into the homes of the people. A mighty army of +as godly women as ever espoused a cause is battling for the home, +against the saloon. The business world is demanding total-abstainers, +and fifty millions of people in the United States are living under +prohibitory laws. + +Not only in this but in every civilized land the cause of temperance +is growing. Recently in France it was found there were more deaths +than births, which meant France was dying. A commission was appointed +to look into the causes. When the report was made, alcohol headed the +list. Now by order of the government linen posters are put up in +public buildings, and on these in blood red letters are these +warnings: "Alcohol dangerous; alcohol chronic poison; alcohol leads to +the following diseases; alcohol is the enemy of labor; alcohol +disrupts the home!" + +Who would have thought an Emperor of Germany would ever "go back" on +beer? Emperor William in an address to the sailors recommended +total-abstinence and forbid under penalty the giving of liquor to +soldiers in the world's greatest war. The Czar of Russia has put an +end to the government's connection with the manufacture of +intoxicating liquors, and our Secretary of the Navy has banished it +from the ships and navy yards. The New York Sun says: "The business +world is getting to be one great temperance league." For many years it +was confined to the realm of morals, but today it is recognized as a +great economic question and the business world is joining the church +world in solving the liquor problem. + +While the temperance cause has been going up in character, the drink +has been going down in quality. The old time distiller used to select +his site along some crystal stream, that had its fountain-head in the +mountains and ran over beds of limestone. With sound grain and pure +water, he made several hundred barrels of whiskey a year, and after +five to ten years of ripening, it was sent out with the makers' brand +upon it. Now the North American of Philadelphia, one of our leading +dailies says, rectifiers (and I would prefix one letter and make it +w-r-e-c-k-t-i-f-i-e-r-s) take one barrel from the distillery and by a +pernicious, poisonous process, make one hundred barrels from one +barrel. + +It is true the sting of the adder and the bite of the serpent were in +the old-time whiskey, but it was as pure as it could be made. Doctor +Wiley, Ex-Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry, says: "Eighty-five per +cent. of all the whiskey sold in the saloons, hotels and club-rooms is +not whiskey at all but a cheap base imitation." In the different +concoctions made are found aconite, acquiamonia, angelica root, +arsenic, alum, benzine, belladonna, beet-root juice, bitter almond, +coculus-indicus, sulphuric acid, prussic acid, wood alcohol, boot +soles and tobacco stems. No wonder we have more murders in this +republic than in any civilized land beneath the sky in proportion to +population. + +Along with this adulteration of the drink has gone the degeneracy of +the saloon and the seller. The day was when officers in churches could +sell liquor and retain their membership. Today the saloonkeeper is +barred from the protestant churches, barred from Masons, Odd Fellows, +Knights of Pythias, Red Men, Woodmen, Maccabees and nearly every other +fraternal organization of the world. + +The saloon itself has become such a vicious resort, that when the +police look for a murderer they go to the saloon. When any vile +character is sought for, the saloon is searched. When anarchists meet +to plan for a Hay-market murder in Chicago, they meet in the saloon. +When an assassin plans to shoot down our President at an exposition, +he goes from the saloon. When a fire breaks out in Chicago or Boston +the first order is, close the saloons. Don't close any other business +house, but close the saloon. If a mob threatens Pittsburg, Cincinnati, +or Atlanta, close the saloons. If an earthquake strikes San Francisco, +close the saloons. In our large cities gambling rooms are attached to +the saloons with wine rooms above for women, and while our boys are +being ruined downstairs, girls are destroyed upstairs. + +There are many thousands of women in painted shame, who would now be +safe inside life's Eden of purity but for the saloon. The South Side +Club of Chicago said in 1914: "The back rooms of four hundred and +forty-five saloons on only three streets of this city contribute to +the delinquency of fourteen thousand girls every twenty-four hours." +Is it any wonder the saloons hide behind green blinds or stained glass +windows? + +There is a fish in the sea known as the "Devil Fish." It lies on its +back with open mouth and covers itself with sea moss. Over its open +mouth is a bait. When an unsuspecting fish nibbles at the bait, with a +quick snap it is caught and devoured. Do you see any analogy between +this fish and a certain business that hides itself behind painted +windows or green blinds and hangs out a bait of "free lunch" or +"Turtle Soup"? A fish that sets a trap for its kind is called a "Devil +Fish;" a business that does the like is recognized as a legitimate +trade and permitted for the sake of revenue. + +Every other recognized business has improved in quality with the +years. The saloon has grown worse and worse, until it is bad and only +bad; bad in the beginning, bad in the middle, bad in the end, bad +inside, outside, upside, downside. It is so bad, the liquor dealers +are the only business men who are ashamed to put on exhibition their +finished products. In great expositions other trades present finished +wares. They do not display the tools used in making what they present +for exhibition but the finished goods. Not so with the liquor dealers; +they put on exhibition the tools with which they work, but not a +single specimen of the finished product of their trade do they present +for inspection. + +"That's a fine fit of clothes you have, sir." "Yes," says the tailor, +"I put up that job; glad you like my work." + +"That's a fine building across the way." "Yes," says the architect, +"that's my job and I am quite proud of it." + +"That's a handsome bonnet you wear, madam." "Yes," says the milliner, +"that's my creation of style and I am rather proud of my work." + +Yonder is a man intoxicated. He staggers and falls; his head strikes +the curb-stone; the blood besmears his face; the police lift him up +and start with him to the station house. Did you hear a saloon keeper +say: "That's my creation; I put up that job and I'm proud of my work." + +Some one said recently in defense of the business: "The saloon keeper +deserves more consideration." This writer should know that +consideration has been the source of its undoing. Lord Chesterfield +considered it and said: "Drink sellers are artists in human +slaughter." Senator Morrill, of Maine, considered and pronounced it +"the gigantic crime of all crimes." Senator Long, of Massachusetts +considered it and called it "the dynamite of modern civilization." +Henry W. Grady, our brilliant southerner, considered it and said: "It +is the destroyer of men, the terror of women and the shadow on the +face of childhood. It has dug more graves and sent more souls to +judgment than all the pestilences since Egypt's plague, or all the +wars since Joshua stood before the walls of Jericho." The New York +Tribune considered it and said: "It's the clog upon the wheels of +American progress." The Bible considered it and compares its influence +to the bite of serpents, the sting of adders, the poison of asps, and +heaps the woes of God's will upon it. + +Sam Jones said: "When the Bible says _woe_, you better stop," and as +certain as seed time brings harvest it will stop, not because of the +Woman's Christian Temperance Union, or the Anti-Saloon League, or the +Prohibition Party, but because afar back in the blue haze of the past +the seed of prohibition was planted in the soil of Divine truth. + +Ever since God declared woe against the evils of mankind, the +batteries of the holy Bible have been trained upon the "wine that +gives its color in the cup," and the man who "giveth his neighbor +drink and maketh him drunken also." + +It _will_ stop, because error cannot stand agitation. Whoever espouses +the cause of error must evade facts, falsify figures, libel logic, +tangle his tongue or pen with contradictions and wind up in confusion. + +The able editor of the Courier Journal of Kentucky came to the defense +of this error, and with all his brilliancy and culture, he resorted to +personal abuse of temperance workers, _because he could not occupy a +higher plane in defense of the saloon_. He made up what he called an +"ominum gatherum," of "bigots," "hay-seed politicians," "fake +philosophers," "cranks," "scamps," "professional sharps," "mad caps of +destruction," "preachers who would sell corner lots in heaven," "a +riff-raff of moral idiots and red-nosed angels." + +I could hardly believe my own eyes when I read this frantic phillipic +from one I had esteemed so highly for his intellect; one whose element +is up where eagles soar, and not down where baser birds feast upon +rotten spots in a world of beauty. Only a few days before I had read +his beautiful tribute to Lincoln, delivered at the unveiling in +Hodgenville, in which he said of the great emancipator: "He never lost +his balance or tore a passion to tatters," yet the finished orator who +paid the tribute, when he espouses the cause of error, flies into a +paroxysm of passion and tears the dignity of his own self-control into +shreds. + +Knowing as I do the culture, refinement and polished manners of the +great journalist, I wondered what aggravating force could have so +unbalanced his mental scales and led him to so bitterly denounce +those, whose only offense is, trying to do what Lincoln did, abolish +an evil. If this resourceful writer were only converted to the truth +on this question, what an "ominum gatherum" he could make from the +work of the saloon curse. + +The clergymen, called "canting, diabolical preachers," deserve more +respectful consideration from one who well knows their sincerity. They +are men of brains, heart and conscience; men who believe that +righteousness rather than revenue exalts a nation, and that sin, no +matter how much money invested in it, is a reproach to any people. +These ministers believe it to be morally wrong to convert God's golden +grain into what debases mankind. They preach that what is morally +wrong can never be made politically right. With them it is a matter of +deep, permanent conviction. Such attacks are made to divert attention +from the accused at the bar of public opinion. + +It is the saloon that is on trial, not cranks, or moral idiots, or +ministers. The saloon is charged with being the enemy of every virtue +and ally of every vice, that it injures public health, public peace +and public morals. The Supreme Court says: "No legislature has the +right to barter away public health, public peace or the public morals; +the people themselves cannot do so, much less their servants." + +In face of this declaration of the Supreme Court, legislators do +barter away public health, public peace and public morals to the +organized liquor traffic. All along the cruel career of this enemy of +peace, health and morals, it has been pampered and petted by +politicians who have been as much charmed by its promise of votes, as +was Eve in the Garden of Eden by the serpent's assurance. Deceived by +the serpent of the still, they have not only disregarded the decision +of the Supreme Court but defied God's plan of dealing with sin. They +have persisted in trying to regulate an irregularity in morals by +licensing the greatest sin of the century, and have done so to their +shame and failure in any regulation effort ever made. The only way to +cure chills is to kill the malaria. The only way to cure the cursed +liquor traffic is to cast it out of our civilization by a universal, +everlasting prohibition of the manufacture, importation and sale of +intoxicating liquor. + +Rev. Howard Crosby, of New York, in advocating high license as a means +of reducing the number of saloons, said in an address: "Suppose a +tiger were to get loose in the city, would you not confine him to a +few blocks rather than let him roam the city at large?" Some one in +the audience answered aloud: "No Doctor, we would kill the tiger." + +How does regulation regulate? Take the city of Louisville, Ky., where +I resided a number of years, and where I observed the practical +working of the license system. Go there any Monday morning and you +will see from twenty to forty men and women in the cage next to the +Police Court room. A marshal stands at the door of the cage and takes +them out one at a time. You will hear the judge say: "ten dollars and +cost," which means thirty days in the workhouse. Forty days pass and +here is the same man in the Police Court: thirty days to serve his +time, ten days to get a little money and then another drunk. Some do +not know how many times they have been before the court. I was there +one day when an Irishman was arraigned. The Judge said: "Pat, how many +times have you been before this court?" + +"Faith, and your books will tell ye," replied the Irishman. Judge +Price, the police judge at the time, said to me: "There are a number +of men, and several women I know in this city, who pass through the +courtroom on their way to the workhouse so regularly, I can guess +within a few days of the time they will appear." They pass like +buckets at a fire, going up full and returning empty. + +There is an asylum in this country where, I am told, they test a man's +insanity in this way. They have a trough which holds one hundred +gallons of water. Above is an open tap through which the water pours +constantly, and of course the trough keeps on running over. The +patient is brought to the trough, given a bucket and told to dip out +the water. If he dips all day and has not mind enough to turn off the +tap, he is considered a very serious case. If this test were put to +our license lawmakers, I fear they would have to go to the incurable +ward. They have for many years been picking up drunkards from the +gutters and opening taps for them to keep on pouring into the streets. +Under this system the saloon keepers are playing ten-pins. You know in +playing ten-pins there is a long alley, at one end of which stand the +pins, while at the other stands the player with a ball in his hand. He +rolls the ball down the alley and knocks down the pins. Some one sets +them up, and to that some one, who is often a boy, the player will +toss a dime and say: "set them up quick." Does he let them stand? No! +he rolls the ball down the alley and down go the pins. The saloon +keeper has the ball of law in his hands. No matter whether a high or +low license ball, he paid the price for the use of the ball. When +temperance workers set up drunkards and they get a little money in +their pockets away goes the ball and they are down again. When a +church revival picks up a few drunkards the saloon keeper will say: +"Here's a dollar to help in your meeting." Then in his mind he says: +"Set up the drunkards who are out of employment and money, get them +positions, and when they can earn money again, again I'll bowl them +down." Under the license system the saloon is playing ten-pins with +temperance associations, ten-pins with the church and ten-pins with +society. I have faith to believe the time is drawing near when the +balls will be confiscated and the pins can stand when we do set them +up. + +I know many have not this faith because they believe prohibitory laws +are failures. They base their belief on the violation of the law. By +that rule everything is a failure. Married life is a failure; its laws +are grossly violated. Home life is a failure; there are many miserable +homes. The school is a failure; many a father has put thousands of +dollars into the education of his son and found it wasted in riotous +living. The church is a failure; many of its members are Christians +only in name and not a few are hypocrites. But we know by the loyal, +loving husbands and wives of every community that married life is not +a failure. We know by the happy homes about us, with sweetest of +household ties binding the family circle, that home life is not a +failure. We know by the education that has refined our civilization, +that the school is not a failure. We know by the redeemed of earth and +saved in heaven the church is not a failure, and we are convinced by +the organized opposition to prohibitory laws by distillers, brewers, +saloon keepers, gamblers and harlots that prohibition is not a +failure. + +If prohibition is a failure in Kansas as license advocates charge, +then governors, ex-governors, attorney generals, jailers, mayors and +judges of Kansas are falsifiers. If prohibition is a failure in Kansas +why has the state grown to be the richest per capita in the Union, why +are so many jails empty, so many counties without a pauper and why, +according to the brewers' year book of 1910, was the consumption of +liquor in Kansas one dollar and sixty cent per capita and in a +neighbor license state twenty-two dollars per capita? + +Along with the absurd statement that prohibition is a failure, comes +the warning of the president of the Model License League to the +business men of the country, that unless the tide of prohibition is +arrested it will "kill our cities." "Blessed are the dead that die in +the Lord." + +In a local option contest a prominent business man said to me: "I do +not use liquor but I am in doubt about how I should vote on the +question." When I asked; "What's your trouble?" he answered: "We have +six saloons in this little city and the license fee is one thousand +dollars; how are we to run the city without the six thousand dollars?" +When I informed him that the six saloons took from the people eighty +thousand dollars a year, he agreed it was a reasonable estimate. I +said: "Don't you know those who spend their money for drink, if they +did not spend it over the saloon bars, would spend it over the +counters of merchants who sell clothing, food, fuel and furniture?" If +you merchants could take in eighty thousand dollars, couldn't you pay +out six thousand and not get hurt? If you can't see that you are no +better business man than was Horace Greeley a farmer. He purchased a +pig for one dollar, kept it two years, fed it forty dollars worth of +corn and sold it for nine dollars. He said: "I lost money on the corn +but made money on the hog." So, many business men see the revenue from +the license fee but can't see the cost. + +Suppose on one side of a street the business houses are all bad, in +that they consume money and give worse than nothing in return; and on +the other side they are all good, in that they give an honest +equivalent for the money they receive; can't you see if the bad side +is closed, the money that went to the bad side goes to the good, and +can you not see only good can come of such a change? + +There are three things prohibition of the saloon does that are +illustrated by the story told of an Irishman who said: "I did three +good things today." + +"What did you do, Pat?" + +"I saw a woman crying in front of a cathedral. She had a baby in her +arms, and I said: 'Madam, what are you crying about?' + +"She said: 'I had two dollars in me handkerchief and came to have me +baby christened but I lost the money.' + +"I said: 'Don't cry, Madam, here is a ten dollar bill; go get the baby +christened and bring me the change.' She went, and soon after returned +and handed me eight silver dollars." + +"Well," said the friend, "I don't see any three good things in that." + +"Ye don't! Didn't I dry the woman's tears, didn't I save the baby's +soul, and didn't I get rid of a ten dollar counterfeit bill and get +eight good silver dollars in return?" + +That is what prohibition of the saloon does for a community. It dries +woman's tears, saves human souls, gets rid of a counterfeit business +and puts good business instead. + +Is it a counterfeit business? It has been well said, "Go into the +butcher stall and you get meat for money, into the shoe store and you +get shoes for money, but go into the saloon and the bargain is all on +one side. It's bar-gain on one side and bar-loss on the other; +ill-gotten gains on one side, mis-spent wages on the other, a mess of +pottage on one side and the birthright of some mother's boy on the +other." + +A great wail is going up from the advocates of the liquor traffic that +statewide prohibition means the destruction of immense vested +interests and dire results will follow. + +"This our craft is in danger," has ever been the cry against reforms +or changes in civilization since the "Shrine Makers of Ephesus." + +When slavery was abolished it was said: "This means ruin to the South! +Such a confiscation of property, with every slave set free to beg at +the white man's gate, crushes every vestige of hope, and five hundred +years will not bring relief." Only fifty years have passed and the +South is richer than ever in her history. + +Justice Grier of the Supreme Court said: "If loss of revenue should +accrue to the United States from a diminished consumption of ardent +spirits, she will be the gainer a thousandfold in health, wealth and +happiness of the people." + +If this is true, then this question is not only a great moral question +but also a tremendous economic problem. + +If production should be for use and not for abuse, the existence of +breweries and distilleries are without excuse. + +If one should be rewarded on the basis of service, the saloon keeper +has no claim for even tolerance, much less reward. + +If labor is the basis of value, men who live by selling liquor to +their fellowmen are leaches on the body politic, and Ishmaels in the +commercial world. + +The claim that the liquor business is a benefit to a community or to +the country is in harmony with the assertion that war is a "biological +necessity" and a "stimulating source of development." + +General Sherman said: "War is hell." Certainly the one now raging +between the leading nations of the old world is a hell of carnage. And +yet intemperance has destroyed more lives than all the wars of the +world since time began. It has added to the death of the body the +eternal death of the soul and then the sum of its ravages is not +complete until is added more broken hearts, more blasted hopes, +desolate homes, more misery and shame than from any source of evil in +the world. If what Sherman said of war is true, and the liquor curse +is worse than war, how can this government hope to escape punishment +for raising revenue from a business so abominable and wicked? + +A heathen emperor when appealed to for a tax on opium as a source of +revenue said: "I will not consent to raise the revenue of my country +upon the vices of its people." Yet this Christian republic, claiming +the noblest civilization of the earth, is found turning the dogs of +appetite and avarice loose upon the home life of the republic that +gold may clink in its treasury. The politician's excuse for this +compromise with earth's greatest destroyer is, it can never be +prohibited and therefore regulation and revenue is the best policy. + +I can well remember when the same was said of slavery. With billions +of dollars invested in slaves, with a united South behind it and the +North divided, it could never be abolished. At that time the prospect +for the overthrow of slavery was far less than the prospect of +national prohibition today. I own I was among those who said "slavery +cannot be destroyed." Now I am one of the reconstructed. I'm like the +pig I used to read of, "When I lived I lived in clover, and when I +died I died all over." + +During the Civil War Union soldiers arrested several of my neighbors +and took them to a northern prison. My southern blood was aroused. I +said: "Let a Yankee soldier come to take me and he will never take +another Kentuckian." Then my mother was alarmed. She knew how brave +her boy was. A few days later I met a squad of Yankee cavalry on the +road near our home. They said "Halt!" and I halted. They said +"Surrender!" I did so, and mother did not hear of any blood being +shed. + +Again a half-drunk Union soldier rode up to our gate and said: "Who +lives here?" When I answered, he asked: "Can your mother get supper +for fourteen soldiers in thirty minutes?" "No, sir, she cannot," I +replied. Drawing a pistol, the mouth of which looked like a cannon's +mouth to me, he said: "Maybe you have changed your mind." I had, and +that supper was ready with several minutes to spare. We can, and we +_will_ stop the liquor business. I am amazed, however, to find so many +intelligent men of the North advocating the same policy on this liquor +problem the South adopted on the slavery question, which cost her so +severely. I find the same effect revenue in slaves had upon the +consciences of the tax-payers of the South, high-license revenue from +saloons is having upon the consciences of tax-payers in the North. + +In the early days of slavery, when wealth in the institution was very +limited, the conscience of the South was against slavery. Old +Virginia, when a colony, appealed to King George to remove the +threatening danger from her borders. It was the voice of a General Lee +of Virginia that was lifted against slavery in the House of Burgesses. +But with the passing of time slaves grew in value, until a slave in +the South reached about the price of a saloon license now in the +North. Then the conscience of the South quieted and slavery was +justified by press, politics and pulpit. There is a remarkable analogy +between the effect of a thousand dollar slave upon the conscience of +South Carolina and a thousand dollar saloon upon the conscience of +Massachusetts. The South paid the penalty of her mistaken policy; the +North will reap its reward in retribution, if it persists in making +the price of a saloon in the North the same as the price of a slave in +the South. When the value of a world is profitless compared with the +worth of a soul then even if every saloon were a Klondyke of gold this +republic could not afford to legalize the liquor business for revenue. + +I believe my northern friends will permit me to press home a little +further the lesson of southern slavery. The phase I would impress is +that any question that has a great moral principle involved is never +settled until it is settled right. We tried to regulate slavery but it +wouldn't regulate. First it was decided that the importation of slaves +should cease in twenty years. Did that settle it? Next came the +Missouri compromise, "Thus far shalt thou go and no farther." +Politicians said: "Now it's settled." But a fanatic in Boston name +Garrison said: "It is not settled." Daniel Webster, as intellectual as +some of our high license advocates of today said to Lloyd Garrison: +"Stop the agitation of this question or you will bring trouble on the +country; the compromise is made and the question is settled." Lloyd +Garrison replied: "I don't care what compromise you've made; you may +pull down my office, pitch my type into the sea, and hound me through +the streets of Boston, but you will never settle the slavery question +until you settle it right." + +It kept breaking out despite all legislative restrictions. At last +Columbia with one hand on her head, and the other on her heart, began +to reel on her throne, and Abraham Lincoln seized his pen and signed +the proclamation, "Universal Emancipation." Then the whole world said: +"It's forever settled." So the liquor question will be settled as was +the slavery question, by the universal, everlasting abolition of the +manufacture, sale and importation of intoxicating liquor in this +country. + +High license is another Missouri Compromise. If you have the drink +you'll have the drunkenness. If you have the cause you will have the +effect. If you have the positive you will have the superlative: +Positive drink, comparative drinking, superlative drunkenness. You may +try high-tax and low-tax but all the time you will have sin-tax and +more sin than tax. + +You do not change the nature of the drink by the price of a license, +the kind of a place in which it is sold or the character of the man +who sells it. Put a pig in a parlor; feed him on the best the marflet +affords, give him a feather bed in which to sleep, keep him there till +he's grown and he'll be a hog. You don't change the nature of the pig +by the elegant surroundings; you may change the condition of the +parlor. + +There is but one solution of the liquor problem and that is a +nation-wide prohibitory law and behind the law a political power in +sympathy with the law and pledged to its enforcement. + +Many admit the principle is correct but insist we should wait until +public sentiment is powerful enough to enforce the law. If grand ideas +had waited for public sentiment Moses would never have given the +commandments to the world. If grand ideas had waited for public +sentiment, we would still be back in the realm of the dark ages, +instead of in the light of our present civilization; back in the dim +twilight of the tallow-dip instead of the brightness of the electric +light; back with the ox team instead of the speed of the steam engine, +automobile and aeroplane; and on the temperance question back to where +a liquor dealer could advertise his business on gravestones. On a tomb +in England are these words: + + "Here lies below in hope of Zion, + The landlord of the Golden Lion, + His son keeps up the business still, + Obedient to his country's will." + +Years ago a friend said to me: "I admire your zeal, but I wonder at +your faith when you are in such a miserable minority." My reply was: +"Are minorities always wrong or hopeless? How would you have enjoyed +being with the majority at the time of the flood? It seems to me you +would have been safer with Noah in the ark." + +As to license and prohibition, that has always been the question since +man was created. It was the question in the Garden of Eden when the +devil stood for license, "go eat," and God stood for prohibition, +"thou shalt not." That is the question today and I am quite sure God +and the devil stand now as then, and while the Adams are divided, the +Eves are nearly all on one side. + +Another said: "After all the work done for temperance the people drink +as much or more than ever." My answer is: how much more would they +drink if we had not done what has been done? + +Yonder on the ocean a vessel springs a leak and soon the water stands +thirty inches deep in the hold. The captain says: "To the pumps!" and +the sailors leap to their places. At the end of one hour the captain +measures and says: "Thirty inches; you are holding it down." Hour +after hour the pumping goes on, with changing hands at the pumps, and +hour after hour the captain says: "You are doing well; she can't go +down at thirty inches. Hold it there and we'll make the harbor." +Twenty hours and the captain shouts: "Thirty inches; and land is in +sight. Pump on, my boys, you'll save the ship." Suppose one of our +croakers who says, "Prohibition won't prohibit," had been on board. He +would have said: "Don't you see you are doing no good; there's just as +much water as when you began." What would have become of the ship? + +At the close of the Civil War intemperance was pouring in upon the +Ship of State. Men returned from war enthralled in chains worse than +African slavery, for rum slavery means ruin to body and soul. Men, +women and children ran to the pumps, and thank God, state after state +is going dry. Soon we'll see the land of promise, and the Ship of +State will be saved from a leak as dangerous as ever sprung in a +vessel, and from as cruel a crew of buccaneers as ever scuttled a +ship. + +When I began the work as a "Good Templar" forty years ago, Kentucky +was soaked in rum. Bourbon county, where I was reared, had +twenty-three distilleries, and a dead wall lifted itself against my +hopes of ever seeing the sky clear of distillery smoke above old +Bourbon county, a name on more barrels and bottles, on more bar-room +windows, and on the memories of more drunkards in ruin than any other +county in the world. Yet I have lived to see the last distillery fire +go out, and Bourbon county dry. While I had faith in the ultimate +triumph of the Cause I never dreamt it would come to Bourbon county in +my lifetime. + +When I began saloons were at almost every crossroads village, and the +bottle on sideboards was the rule in thousands of leading homes. Time +and again my life was threatened. On one occasion twelve armed men +guarded me from a mob, and once my wife placed herself between my body +and a desperate mountaineer. Those were perilous times for an advocate +of temperance in my native state. Now out of one hundred and twenty +counties, one hundred and seven are dry. In Georgia the licensed +saloon is gone; in North Carolina the saloon is gone; in West +Virginia, Old Virginia, Mississippi and Tennessee the saloon is gone, +while Oklahoma was born sober. + + "That which made Milwaukee famous + Doesn't foam in Tennessee; + The Sunday lid in old Missouri + Was Governor Folk's decree. + Brewers, distillers and their cronies + Well may sigh; + The saloon is panic-stricken, + And the South's going dry. + + "Soon the hill-side by the rill-side + Of Kentucky will be still; + Men will take their toddies + From the ripples of the rill; + Boys will grow up sober, + Mothers cease to cry; + Glory hallelujah! + The South's going dry." + +Already seventeen states are dry, and there are many arid spots in the +wet states. While I cannot hope to live to see the final triumph, I +have faith to believe my children and my children's children will live +in a saloonless land, a land redeemed from a curse that has soaked its +social life in more blood and tears than all other sources of sorrow; +a land where liberty will no longer be shorn of its locks of strength +by licensed Delilahs; where manhood will no more be stripped of its +possibilities by the claws of the demon drink; where fore-doomed +generations will not reach the dawning of life's morning, to be bound +like Mazeppa to the wild, mad steed of passion and borne down the +blood lines of inheritance to the awful abuse of drunkenness. + +To this end I appeal to every minister of the gospel, stir the +consciences of your hearers on this question. I appeal to the press, +that potent power for the enlightenment of the people. + + "Pulpit and press with tongue and pen, + Set to new music this message to men: + Let the great work of destruction begin, + And rid our loved land of this shelter to sin. + As before the sun's brightness, the darkness must fly, + So by power of the ballot the rum curse must die, + Then cover the earth as the wide waves the sea, + With the sound of the axe at the root of the tree!" + + + + +VIII + +IF I COULD LIVE LIFE OVER. + + +Now and then I hear an old man or an old woman say, "Even if I could I +would not live life over." Well, I own I would, provided I could begin +the journey with the knowledge I now have of what it means to live. + +While mistakes have been many there are some things I would not +change. I would be brought up in the country as I was. I would play +over the same blue-grass carpet, along the same turnpike aisle, swing +on the branches of the same old trees and listen to the concert chorus +of the same song birds. + +Indeed I sympathize with the boy who exchanges the music of birds, +melody of streams, lowing of herds, driving of teams, diamond dew on +bending blade, morning sun and evening shade, with all other sweet +associations of country life for a lodging room in a city, where +church doors and home doors are closed against him in the evening +hours of the week, and all evil places wide open for his ruin. It has +been well said: "The street fair of evil associations in our large +cities begins with the night shadows and grows with the darkness." I +dare say if I could draw aside the veil that will shut in the night +scenes of this city, the revelation would make some godly fathers +tremble for their boys, and pious mothers long to gather their +children about them when the sun goes down, as moor birds gather their +helpless young when hawks are screaming in the sky. + +All hail to the Young Men's Christian Association, with its open doors +for young men in the evening hours! All hail to its gymnasium, its +swimming pool, basketball and other sports that develop strength and +furnish entertainment! Away with the idea that all the pleasures of +the world belong to the devil. + +A distinguished divine was brought up in New England by a staid old +aunt, who never let him go anywhere except to church, Sunday school +and prayer meeting. When quite a lad she let him go to New York City +to visit a cousin. That cousin took him to see Barnum's circus. It was +his first circus, and the wild animals, the bareback riding, trapeze +performance, clowns and chariot races bewildered the country boy. Next +morning he wrote his aunt, saying: "Dear Aunt, if you'll go to one +circus you'll never go to another prayer meeting as long as you live." +But he did go to prayer meeting and became a grand good man. There are +many innocent springs of pleasure, where youth can drink and not be +harmed. + +It may surprise some for me to say, if I could live life over I would +be brought up in the same old state of Kentucky. "With all her faults +I love her still," _but not her stills_. It has been my privilege to +visit every state in the union and I find all the good is not in any +one state, nor all the bad. While Kentucky has had her night riders, +Missouri has had her boodlers, California her grafters, Illinois her +anarchists, Pennsylvania her machine politics, New York her Tammany +tiger, and Washington City her blizzards on inauguration days. God +doesn't grow all the daisies in one field nor confine thorns to one +thicket. + + It's been my lot this land to roam, + O'er every state twixt ocean's foam, + But still my heart clings to its home, + Kentucky. + + I've traveled the prairies of the west, + I've seen each section at its best, + There's nothing like my native nest, + Kentucky. + + No matter through what state I pass, + No matter how the people class, + To me there's only one Blue Grass, + Kentucky. + + When my wanderings here are o'er, + And my spirit seeks the golden shore, + Then keep my dust for evermore, + Kentucky. + +Not only would I be brought up in Kentucky and in the country, but I +would go to the same Yankee schoolmaster, have the same sweethearts +and marry the same girl, provided she would consent to make another +journey with the same companion. By the way, we were married in +Bourbon County, Kentucky, when she was nineteen and I twenty. About +four years ago we celebrated our golden wedding, and the morning after +the celebration, + + She put on "her old grey bonnet, + With the blue ribbon on it." + We didn't "hitch Dobbin to the Shay" + But along the interurban + We rode down to Bourbon, + Where we started for our golden wedding day. + +If I could live life over surely I could ask no better age than the +one in which I have lived. We no longer toil over a mountain, but +glide through it on ribbons of steel; telegraphy dives the deep and +brings us the news of the old world every morning before breakfast; we +talk with tongues of lightning through telephones and send messages on +ether waves over the sea; we ride horse-cycles that run, never walk +and live without eating; we travel in carriages drawn by electric +steeds that never tire; the signal service gives us a geography of the +weather, so the farmer may know whether or not to prepare to plow, and +the Sunday school whether to arrange or to postpone its picnic +tomorrow; airships mount the heavens, steamships plough the ocean's +bosom, submarine torpedo boats undermine the deep with missiles of +death, while photography turns one inside out, and doctors no longer +guess at the location of a bullet. All these things have come to pass +within my life-time. What may the young before me expect in the next +fifty years? + +Recently I read an imaginary letter, supposed to have been written by +a Wellsley College girl. It was dated one hundred years in the future. +She wrote: + +"Father gave me a new airship a few weeks ago. I leave my home in +Baltimore every morning after breakfast and reach Wellsley in time for +classes. We have only thirty minutes in school in the morning and +fifteen in the afternoon. Our teachers are in telepathic touch with +all knowledge and we get it in condensed form. A few days ago, just +after lunch at noon I took a spin up into Canada; the machine got a +little out of fix, so I jumped on a gyroscope and returned in time for +dinner at six. + +"Yesterday I sailed over to New York City and took dinner at the +Waldorf-Astoria; had two capsules for dinner and they were delicious. +I read how the people used to sit around tables and eat all kinds of +things. It must have been funny to see their mouths all going at one +time. Then they had stomach trouble--indigestion they called it. Now +we have everything necessary for the human system put up in capsules; +we get up a thousand feet above the earth where the air is pure, so we +ought to live to be two hundred years old. + +"Last week my classmate and I took a flying trip to see the Panama +Canal, and while there we decided to take in the Exposition at San +Francisco next day. There we saw many antiquated machines called +automobiles; they used to run around the streets in rubber stockings, +honking horns to warn the poor, then turning turtle they killed or +maimed the rich. In one department we saw an animal with long tail, +and a mane on its neck. They called it a horse and told us that years +ago horses were harnessed and driven about the streets, while the fast +ones were raced for money." + +That young woman may be all right about her capsule dinners and +condensed instruction, but one hundred years from now, when on her way +from the west to Wellsley if she will stop in Lexington, Ky., she will +see a horse sale in progress; horses selling from five hundred to ten +thousand dollars that will trot or pace a mile in less than two +minutes, while slow ones will be hitched to dead wagons, used to +gather up those who have fallen from airships and gyroscopes. It may +be that one hundred years in the future airships will be seen soaring +over the cities, delivering packages in parachutes at the back doors +of residences, but the day will never dawn when there will be an +airship, gyroscope, or an automobile that will supplant the +fleet-footed, sleek-coated, handsome Kentucky horse. + +Now I come to the more practical, for I do not bring you this talk, +challenging your criticism or inviting your praise of it as a literary +production, but with the purpose of helping some one live as I would +wish to live if I had my life to live over. + +First, to the boys before me. If I had life to live over one of my +first purposes would be to seek my calling in life. Do you know half +the failures of life come from misfits of occupation? There are +lawyers starving for want of clients, doctors with patients under +monuments, and preachers talking to empty pews, who might have been +successful in factories or furrows. Cowper was a failure as a lawyer, +he was a success as a poet; Goldsmith was a bungling surgeon, he was a +power with his pen; Horace Greely was a success in the Tribune office, +he was a failure as a farmer and a slow candidate for president. + +When U.S. Grant was a very young man his father sent him to sell a +horse to a buyer and instructed him to ask one hundred dollars, but if +he could not get that amount to take eighty-five. The buyer looked the +horse over and said: "Young man, what is your price?" Young Grant +replied: "Father told me to ask you one hundred dollars, but if you +would not give that to take eighty-five." It is needless to say the +calling of U.S. Grant was not horse trading. This same young man +afterwards tried the grocery business and bought potatoes far and wide +to corner the market, but the price went down, the potatoes rotted in +Grant's bins and his grocery effort was on a par with his horse +trading. He then tried the ice market but that became watered stock on +his hands and again he was a failure. Later on in life 'mid roar of +cannon and rattle of musketry the misfit found his element. Here he +was so sure of his calling he made his motto, "I'll fight it out on +this line if it takes all summer," and to the general, who could not +drive a horse trade, or corner the potato market, or deal in ice, one +of the greatest generals the world ever knew surrendered his sword, +and from the highest military position Grant was called to be +President of the United States. + +If it is true that "ever since creation shot its first shuttle through +chaos design has marked the course of every golden thread," then every +human being is designed to fill a certain place in life. There are +young women teaching school, getting to be old maids, who should be +the wives of good husbands, and there are some wives who ought to be +old maid "schoolmarms." + +We have born architects, born orators, born bookkeepers, born +musicians, born poets, born preachers, born teachers, born surgeons, +born bankers, born blacksmiths, born merchants, born farmers. + +Two farmers live side by side; one doesn't seem to work hard, yet +everything is neatness from one end of the farm to the other; his +neighbor works hard, yet the cattle are in his corn, the fences are +broken, gates off the hinges and everything seems out of order. That +man was not made to be a farmer. He should rent out, or sell out, and +go to the legislature, or find some other place he can fill. + +Matthew Arnold said: "Better be a Napoleon of book-blacks, or an +Alexander of chimney-sweeps, than an attorney, who, like necessity, +knows no law." There are born shoemakers cobbling in Congress, while +statesmen are pegging away on a shoe-last because their brains have +not been capitalized by education and opportunity. There are born +preachers at work in machine shops, and born mechanics rattling around +in pulpits like a mustard seed in an empty gourd; born surgeons are +carving beef in butcher stalls, while here and there butchers are +operating for appendicitis. + +God planted the hardy pine on the hills of New England, and the +magnolia down in the sunny South-land. Let some horticulturist compel +the magnolia to climb the cold hills of New England, and the northern +tree to come down and take its place in the "land of cotton, cinnamon +seed and sandy bottom," and everything in both will protest against +the mistake. + +Lowell said: "Every baby boy is born with a calling." With some this +calling is very definite. It was definite with George Stevenson when +in childhood he made engines of mud with sticks for smoke-stacks. It +was definite with Thomas A. Edison, who, instead of selling +newspapers, went to experimenting with acids, and charged a steel +stirrup that lifted him into the electric saddle of the world. With +others it is very indefinite. Patrick Henry failed at everything he +undertook until he began talking, when he soon became the golden +mouthed orator of his age. Peter Cooper failed until he took to making +glue, then his business "stuck" to everybody and he made a fortune out +of which he built Cooper Union for the education of poor boys. + +I have a grandson whose calling was indefinite. He was named for his +grandfather, to whom fishing is a fad. During my rest season I go +fishing almost every day. While I make an exception of Sunday I can +appreciate the minister who was a great fisherman. On his way to an +appointment Sunday morning he came upon a lad fishing in a wayside +stream. Halting he said: "My boy, this is the Sabbath day and the good +Book says you should remember to keep it holy." Just then a fish +seized the boy's bait and drew the float under, when the good minister +excitedly said: "Pull, pull. Ah! that's a good one. I'll try that +place myself _some other day_." + +Fishing is my favorite sport. My grandson was a baseball fiend and a +football player. He was hurt in a football game and I wrote him, +warning him against his recklessness, and to the admonition I added: +"Twenty-five boys have been killed already this season playing +football; it's a brutal game anyway." + +He replied: "Dear Grandfather, I am sorry so many boys have been +killed playing football, but I read recently that last summer two +hundred and fifty men were drowned while out fishing; would it not be +well for you to keep off Lake Ellerslie? You say football is a brutal +game; I submit to you, Grandpa, that the man who takes an innocent +worm or a minnow, strings it on a steel hook, and sinking it into the +water, jerks the gills out of an innocent fish, is more cruel than the +boy who kicks another around for exercise. I need a pair of baseball +shoes, number six and a half; send them by express." He got the shoes, +and I decided _he_ was called to be a lawyer. + +Young man, if you get to be a preacher and cannot put force into your +sermon, the world doesn't want to hear you preach, but if you are a +good cobbler it will wear your shoes, if a good baker it will eat your +bread, or if a good barber it will let you put your razor to its +throat. Remember in making your choice, + + "Honor and fame from no condition rise, + Act well your part; there the honor lies." + +If I could live life over, I would not be content with a common school +education. In my youth circumstances lifted a dead wall against my +hopes, but if given another chance I would somehow press my way to +where higher education scatters its trophies at the feet of youth, for +while it is true some of the most successful men of our country +graduated from the high school of "hard knocks" and universities of +adversity, yet the humblest toil is more easily accomplished and +better done where college education guides. + +To college education, however, I would add the education which comes +from rubbing against the world. Some one has said: "For every ounce of +book knowledge one needs a half dozen ounces of common sense with +which to apply it." Douglas Jerrold said: "I have a friend who can +speak fluently a dozen different languages but has not a practical +idea to express in any one of them." + +An old woman suffering from rheumatism was asked by a friend: "Did you +ever try electricity?" + +She answered: "Yes, I was struck by lightning once but it didn't do me +any good." + +In this many sided age one needs to educate muscle, nerves, heart and +conscience as well as brain. That man who is all brain and no heart, +goes through the world with his intellect shining above his bosom like +an electric light over a graveyard. + +Young people, do you know you live in a testing world, a world in +which all buds and blossoms are tested? The bud that stands the test +of wind and frost goes on to flower and fruitage; the bud that can't +stand the test goes with the dust to be trampled under foot. Every +cannon made by the government is tested; the cannon that can stand the +test goes into battleship or land fort, the cannon that can't stand +the test goes into the junk pile. + +Yonder in Virginia a few years ago, there was a young man who had +everything an indulgent father could give him, but in school his +character could not stand the test, and he exchanged his books for +wine and cards. He married a beautiful young woman, shot her to death +in his automobile and died himself in the electric chair, leaving his +old father in a desolate home with harrowing memories tearing his +heart; while over the life of an innocent babe he hung a cloud as dark +as was ever woven out of the world's misfortune, and sent another life +to wander in painted shame outside life's eden of purity, the barb of +conscious guilt to be driven deeper and deeper into her soul by the +scorn of a pitiless world. All because young Beatty could not stand +the test! + +Harry Thaw had everything wealth and refinement could bring into a +young life, but he sacrificed all upon unhallowed altars, and with the +brand of Cain upon his brow, he was cast into a madman's cell. He +could not stand the test. + +Lord Byron was Britain's brilliant bard. He could have lived in +England's glory and then slept with England's buried greatness in +Westminster Abbey, if he had stood the test; but at the age of +thirty-seven, when he should have been on an upward flight to greater +fame, he drew the "strings of his discordant harp" about him and over +them sent the bitter wail: + + "My days are in the yellow leaf; + The flowers and fruits of love are gone; + The worm, the canker, and the grief + Are mine alone!" + +Younder in a cabin a babe was born. When eleven years of age he helped +his mother clear out a patch and raise a garden. Later on he lay in +front of a wood fire, studying lessons for the morrow. Later in life +he went to college, with only a few cents in his pocket. He went to +church and there gave part of his little all in a collection for +missionary work. The next Saturday he earned a dollar with a +jack-plane; at the end of his college term he had paid his way and had +seven dollars left. At twenty-eight this young man was in the senate +of his state, at thirty-six he was in Congress, and twenty-seven years +from the time James A. Garfield rang the bell of Hiram College for his +board he went into the White House as President of the United States. +He could stand the test. Boys, can you stand the test? + +During the Spanish American war there was a regiment called the "Rough +Riders." It was made up of picked young men from different states of +the Union. It was this regiment that made the famous charge up San +Juan Hill. At the close of the war, the regiment was mustered out of +service. The Colonel, giving his farewell address, said: "You have +made an honorable record in war, now go back to your homes and make +honorable record in peace." + +Sixteen years of that record is made. The Colonel has been President +of the United States for seven years of that time. General Leonard +Wood has gone to the front of the army, and others of the regiment +have become successful professional and business men; but some have +gone to jails and penitentiaries, one died not long since in the +streets of New York City and was buried in a pauper's grave; some are +fugitives from justice. + +What is true of that regiment, is in some measure true of every body +of young men and boys I meet. In my presence are boys who will be +leaders of thought and action twenty years from now in whatever +community they dwell. There is a boy before me who will be a +successful merchant, there's one who will be a banker, another will be +a lawyer, others will lead in other lines. But alas! in my presence +now, looking me in the face this minute, there may be a boy, or boys, +who will stain with blood the stony path to despair. + +Do you say that no such ignominious possibility hangs over any boy in +this audience? I tell you it is not always the first, but sometimes +the fairest born. I know a man who in his youth drove his father's +fine horses, romped and rested on the richest blue-grass lawn, ate +from spotless linen and lived in luxury, who now eats from the bare +tables of low saloons, and is often given shelter by an old colored +"mammy," who was once his father's slave. + +I have in mind a schoolmate, whose father lived in a fine country home +two miles from the schoolhouse. The influence of my schoolmate's +mother was pure as the diamond dew he brushed from the bending grass +in barefoot days. But he left the country home and the last time I saw +him he was a vagabond, begging bread from negro cabin doors. Ah! +mother, you can't tell _which_ boy. + +In a large city a few years ago a man stood at the side door of a +saloon at two o'clock in the morning. His clothes were worn and the +matted hair hung about his face. He waited, hoping some one would come +along and give him the price of a drink. Two young men, one of them a +reporter on a leading daily, came down the street. As they neared the +poor fellow, one said to the other: "Did you ever see such an appeal +for a drink? Here, hobo, take this dime and buy you one." + +Seizing his hand his friend said: "No, let's do the job like good +Samaritans. Come in, tramp, and have a drink with us." + +The three entered the saloon, the glasses were filled and the tramp +took his and draining it, said: "Young men, I'm very thirsty, may I +have another?" + +"Yes, help yourself," was the reply, and the tramp took the second +drink. Then lifting his hat he said: + +"Young men, you call me a hobo, but I see in you a picture of my lost +manhood. Once I had a face as fair as yours, and wore as good clothes +as you have now. I had a home where love lit the flame on the altar, +but I put out the fire and to-night I'm a wanderer without a home. I +had a wife as beautiful as an artist's dream, but I took the pearl of +her love, dropped it in the wine glass, Cleopatra-like I saw it +dissolve and I quaffed it down. I had a sweet child I fondly loved, +and still love, though I have not seen her for twelve years; a young +woman now in her grandfather's home, she is deprived of the heritage +of a father's good name. Young men, I once had aspirations and +ambitions that soared as high as the morning star, but I clipped their +wings, I strangled them and they died. Call me a tramp, do you? I'm a +preacher without a charge, a lawyer without a brief, a husband without +a wife, a father without a child, a man without a friend. I thank you +for the drinks. Go to your homes and on soft beds may you sleep well; +I'll go out and sleep on yonder bench in the night wind. A few more +drinks, a few more drunkard's dreams, and I'll go out into the +moonless, starless night of a hopeless forever." + +Oh! how I would like to help some boy in this audience stand on his +two feet and with clear brain, manly muscle, and moral courage fight +and win the battle of life. How it would rejoice my soul if I could, +with earnest appeal, throw about some mother's boy an armor of +celestial atmosphere against which the arrows of evil would beat in +vain, and fall harmless at his feet. + +Hear me, boys; never was there a day when character counted for so +much as now; never a day when a young man, equipped with education and +stability of character, filled with energy and ambition, was in such +demand as he is today; while on the other hand, never was there a day +when a young man with bad habits was in so little demand as now. The +industrial world is closing its doors against young men who are not +sober, industrious and competent. Even a saloon-keeper advertised +thus: "Wanted--A man to tend bar, who does not drink intoxicating +liquors." How would this read: "Wanted--A young man to sell shoes, who +goes bare-footed." + +Young women, just here I have a question for you. If the railroad +company does not want the drinking man, if the merchant discriminates +against him, and even the saloon-keeper does not want him for +bar-tender, do you want him for a husband? Can you afford to wrap up +your hopes of happiness in him and to him swear away your young life +and love? + +Some young woman may say: "If I taboo the drinking man, I may be an +old maid." Then be an old maid, get some "bloom of youth," paint up +and love yourself. John B. Gough said: "You better be laughed at for +not being married, than never to laugh any more because you are +married." + +If I could live life over there are some things I would not do. I +would not stop smoking as I did thirty-five years ago, because I never +would begin and therefore would not need to stop. I am not a fanatic +on the question, but I believe every father in my presence, who uses +tobacco, will be glad to have me say that which I will now say to the +boys who are dulling their brains, poisoning their blood and weakening +their hearts by the use of cigarettes. + +Boys, I believe a cigar made me tell my first falsehood. When I was +fifteen years of age I felt I must smoke if I ever expected to be a +man. Father smoked, our pastor smoked, and so did almost every man in +our neighborhood. My mother opposed the habit, but I thought mother +did not know what it took to make a man. + +I heard her make an engagement to spend a whole day ten miles from +home the following week, and that day I set apart for learning to +smoke cigars. I laid in some fine ones, six for five cents, and when +mother went out the gate on her visit, I started for the barn. In a +shed back of the barn I took out my cigars, determined to learn that +day if it required the six cigars for my graduation. The first cigar +was lighted and with every puff I felt the manhood coming; but in +about five minutes I felt the manhood _going_. Just then my uncle +called: "George, where are you?" When I answered he said: "Come here +and hold this colt while I knock out a blind tooth." + +Horsemen before me know some colts have blind teeth and to save the +eyes these must be removed. I staggered to the colt, held the halter +rein and when the tooth was removed my uncle, looking at me, said: +"What's the matter with you? You are pale as death." + +"Nothing, only it always did make me sick to see a blind tooth knocked +out of a horse's mouth," I replied. + +My uncle said: "You better lie down on the grass until it passes off," +and I did. + +But I kept on after that until I learned to smoke like a man. When +years had passed and I became editor of a paper it seemed to me I +could write better editorials with the smoke curling about my face. + +One morning I finished my breakfast before Mrs. Bain had half finished +hers. Lighting my cigar I stood by the fire chatting and smoking until +the stub was all that remained. Then, as was my custom, I walked up to +kiss her good-bye when she said: "Good-bye. But, I would like to ask +you a question. How would you like to have me finish my breakfast +before you are half through yours, light a cigar, smoke it to the +stub, and with tobacco on my lips and breath offer to kiss you good +morning?" + +I said: "You don't have to kiss me," and with this I left for my work. +On the way her question seemed to be waiting my answer, and I gave it +in a resolve that she should never again have cause to repeat that +question, and with my resolve went the cigar. + +About this time a co-worker joined me in the same resolution, which +helped me to keep mine. After tea that evening Mrs. Bain said: "I did +not know you were so sensitive, or I should not have said what I did." +I did not tell her then of my promise, lest I should fail to keep it. +Thirty-five years have passed and not a single cigar have I had +between my lips since that morning. + +Boys, take one five-cent cigar after each meal, add up the nickels for +one year, put the money at interest, next year, and every year do the +same, compounding the interest, and in thirty-five years you will have +thirty-five hundred dollars--the price of a home for your old age. + +I do not hope to convert old smokers, but if I can persuade one young +man in this audience to throw away the cigarette, never to smoke one +again, then I will have honored this hour's service. + +If I could live life over I would take the same total-abstinence +pledge I took fifty years ago and have kept inviolate to this day. I +would take it, not only because of its personal benefit to me, but +because of what it has led me to do for others. + +It is said reformers never expect to see the bread they cast upon the +waters; inventors may, but not reformers. Yet I have lived to see my +bread come back "buttered" in my old age. + +I have lived to see thousands of men and women to whom I gave the +pledge in their youth, wearing it still as a garland about their +brows, and their children, by precept and example of parents, keep +step with the onward march of the temperance army. + +I have lived to see more than one hundred counties of Kentucky, in +which I established Good Templar Lodges, when bottles were on +sideboards in the homes, and barrooms in almost every crossroad +village, now in the dry column. + +I have lived to see seventeen states under prohibition, fifty millions +of people of the United States living under prohibitory laws, the +Congress of the United States giving a majority vote for submitting +national prohibition to the people, and the great empire of Russia +going dry in a day. + +Sweet is the "buttered bread" that is coming to me after these many +years since I cast my bread upon the waters, when days were dark, +discouragements many and faith weak. I am waiting now for another +slice of this "buttered bread" about the size of old Kentucky dry. + +If I could live life over I would put a better bit to my tongue, and a +better bridle on my temper. An Englishman said: "My wife has a temper; +if she could get rid of it I would not exchange her for any woman in +the world." + +Two men meet and have a misunderstanding; one flies into a passion, +shoots or stabs, while the other stands placid and self-contained, +preserving his dignity. The world calls the first a brave man and the +latter a coward; but Solomon declared the man who rules himself to be +"greater than he that taketh a city." + +Oh! the tragedies that lie in the wake of the tempest of temper. On +the dueling field such men as Alexander Hamilton went down to death +for want of self-control. Andrew Jackson killed Dickerson; Benton of +Missouri killed Lucas; General Marmaduke killed General Walker. Pettus +and Biddle, one a Congressman, the other a paymaster in the army, had +a war of words, a challenge followed; one being near-sighted selected +five feet as the distance for the duel, and there educated men, with +pistols almost touching, stood, fired and both were killed. + +Senator Carmack of Tennessee, criticised Colonel Cooper as a machine +politician. Cooper said: "Put my name in your paper again, and I'll +kill you." Young Cooper felt in his rage that he must settle the +trouble. Did he settle it? The bullet that went through the heart of +Carmack went through the heart of his wife, threw a shadow over the +life of his child, and draped Tennessee in mourning. Did he settle it? +He started a tempest that will howl through his life while memory +lasts and echo through his soul to all eternity. Oh! that men would +realize that to walk honorably and deal justly insures in time +vindication from all calumny. + +Abraham Lincoln was called the "Illinois baboon" by a leading journal, +but Mr. Lincoln placidly read the charge, and told a joke as a safety +valve for whatever anger he may have felt. One hundred years go by and +the President leaves Washington and goes on a long journey to stand at +a cabin door in Kentucky, there to pay tribute to a man who "never +lost his balance or tore a passion to tatters." + +I stood in front of the great Krupp gun at the World's Fair, and as +the soldier in charge told me that one discharge cost one thousand +dollars, and it could send a shell sixteen miles and pierce iron +plated ships, its lips seemed loaded with death and it spoke of war +and bloodshed and hate. + +A little later I entered the Hall of Fine Arts and looked upon that +impressive picture entitled, "Breaking Home Ties." The lad is about to +go out from the roof that has sheltered him from babyhood, to be his +own guide in the big wide world. His mother holds his hand as she +looks love into his eyes, and gives him her warnings and blessing; the +father, with his boy's valise in his hand, has turned away with a lump +in his throat, while even the dog seems to be joining in the loving +farewell. + +Turning away from that picture, the thought came: Ah! that means more +than Krupp guns. It means the coming of a day when love shall rule and +war shall cease, when reason and righteousness shall be the +arbitrators for differences between nations, when owls and bats will +nest in the portholes of battleships, and each nation will vie with +the other in warring against the kingdoms of want and wickedness. + +When a man requested Bishop McIntyre to preach his wife's funeral +sermon, and told him of her many beautiful traits, Bishop McIntyre +said: "Brother, did you ever tell her all these sweet things before +she died?" + +Just here Sam Jones would say: "Husbands, go home and kiss your wives. +Tell them they are the dearest, sweetest things on the earth; you may +have to stretch the truth a little, but say it anyway." + +A few years ago, just before the Christmas holidays, I wrote my +daughter, saying: "I wish you would find out from your mother what she +would like for a Christmas gift. However, don't tell her I wrote you +to do this. Also suggest something for the grandchildren that I may +bring each some little remembrance that will please them." I closed by +saying: + + "The sands of my life are growing less and less, + Soon I'll reach the end of my years, + Then you'll lay me away with tenderness + And pay me the tribute of tears. + + "Don't carve on my tomb any word of fame, + Nor a wheel with its missing spokes, + Simply let the marble tell my name, + Then add, 'He was good to his folks.'" + +Boys and girls, don't speak back to mother. You love her and don't +mean to offend, but it hurts her. She was patient with you in your +infancy; be patient with her in her old age. From her birth she has +been your loyal, loving slave. She will go away and leave you after a +little while, and oh! how you will miss her when she's gone. Deal +gently with her now; speak kindly to her and when she's gone memories +of your love and kindness to mother will come to you like sweet +perfume from wooded blossoms. + +Young lady graduate of high school or college, do you realize what +your father has done for you, and the sacrifices he has made that you +might have what he has never had--a diploma? Go, put your fair tender +cheek against the weather-beaten face of your father, print with rosy +lips a kiss of gratitude upon his furrowed brow, and tell him you +appreciate all he has done for you. + +I have been talking to you an hour about what I would do if I could +live life over. If I had life to live over would I do any better than +I have done? If I am no better now, than I was five years ago, if I am +to be no better five years hence than I am now, then I would do no +better if I had another trial. + +However, I cannot live life over. The sand in the hour-glass is +running low and when gone can never be replaced, and I am not much +struck on old age. It is said to have its compensations, in that the +"aches and asthmas of old age are no worse than the measles, mumps, +whooping-coughs and appendicitis pains of youth." Righteous old age +should be better than youth. The ocean of time with its breakers and +perils face the young, while for the righteous old the storms are +past, and they are + + "Waiting to enter the haven wide, + See His face, and be satisfied." + +I cannot help these grey hairs or the wrinkles on my brow, but I can +keep my heart young, and I _do_. I enjoy the company of old people, +but delight more in associating with the young. + +Dr. A.A. Willetts lectured on "Sunshine" sixty years ago. In his +ninetieth year he was still lecturing; had he lectured on shadows he +would doubtless have died many years before, and never been known as +the "Apostle of Sunshine." + +Solomon said: "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine." Never lock +the door of your heart against the sunshine of cheerfulness, and +remember it is not the exclusive blessing of youth but blooms in the +heart of any age. With some it seems to be an inheritance. It kisses +some babies in the cradle, and the radiance of that kiss lingers +through three-score years and ten; while others are born cross, live +cross and die cross. A babe of this latter kind came into a home and +kept up its wailing for several days. The little six-year old boy of +the home said: "Mother, did you say little brother came from heaven?" + +"Yes, dear; why do you ask?" + +"Well, no wonder the angels bounced him," the boy replied. + +I know a woman who is forever telling her trials. If you do not listen +to her story you must read it on her countenance. Nearby is another +who has lost her parents; indeed all her near relatives are gone; not +a flower left to bloom on the desert of old age. Yet, she hides her +sorrows beneath the soul's altar of hope and meets the world with a +smile. Doubtless the first woman wonders why she is so slighted and +the company of the other courted. She should know it is for the same +reason that honey-bees and humming birds light on sweet flowers +instead of dry mullien stalks, and mocking-birds and canaries are +caged instead of owls and rain-crows. + +Some persons seem to relish the "cold soup of retrospect" and persist +in picking the "bones of regret," without any appetite for the present +or promises of the future. Beside one of these I would place a +happy-hearted soul, who laughs through the window of the eye and on +whose face you can read, + + "Let those who will, repine at fate, + And droop their heads in sorrow, + I'll laugh when cares upon me wait, + I know they'll leave to-morrow. + + "My purse is light, but what of that? + My heart is light to match it; + And if I tear my only coat, + I'll laugh the while I patch it." + +I know a millionaire, who controls numerous industries, whose wife +must apply cold cloths to his head at night to induce sleep. I know +another man not so well off in this world's goods, whose wife must +apply the cold water to get him awake. Care is often pillowed in a +palace, while contentment is asleep in a cottage. + +At the close of my lecture at a chautauqua several years ago, a +gentleman said to me: "Sir, we live in a very humble cottage in this +town, but there is a big welcome over the door for you and we want you +to take tea with us." I accepted the invitation and soon was seated on +the porch of the small cottage home. While my host was inside getting +a pitcher of ice water, I looked across the way and there was the home +of a railroad king, his wealth numbered by millions, and the grounds +surrounding his home were rich in flower beds, fountains and forest +trees. My host, pouring the water, said: "You see we are very +fortunately situated here. Our little home is inexpensive and our +taxes very light. Our rich neighbor across the way employs three +gardeners to care for those grounds; he pays all the taxes, has all +the care; they do not cost us a cent, yet we sit here on our little +porch and drink in their beauty." There was a philosopher. + +John Wanamaker can pay $100,000 for a picture, which he did some years +ago, and hang it on the walls of his mansion home, but you go out in +the country in the springtime, get up in the early morning while the +cattle are still sleeping in the barnyard and the birds silent in the +trees, watch the rich glow of the day god as it comes peeping through +the windows of the morning, then see the birds leave their bowers, the +larks to fly away to the fields, the mocking-bird to sing in the cedar +at the garden gate, the robin to chirp to its mate, and you will see a +picture which will pale that of the merchant prince. + +Or go out on a summer evening just after a rain storm, when nature +hangs itself out to dry; when the golden slipper of the god of day +hangs upon the topmost bough of the tallest tree. You will see a +picture no artist's brush can paint. And God does not hang these +pictures on a wall twenty feet by ten, but on the blue tapestry of the +sky for the world's poor to admire "without money and without price." +Abraham Lincoln well said: "God must have loved the common people, +else he wouldn't have made so many of them." + +Let me illustrate the two classes of people to which I have referred. +An old man who dwelt in the shadows of life said: "My life has been +one continual drudgery and disappointment; for fifty years I have had +to get up at 5 o'clock every morning while others enjoyed their sleep, +then all day in the harness of oppression I have had to work with bad +luck dogging my footsteps." + +His daughter, thinking to cheer him, said, "Father, don't get +discouraged. You have one comfort anyway; it won't be long till the +end of toil will come, when you will have a good long rest in the +grave where no misfortune can reach you." + +"I don't know about that," replied the father; "it will be about my +luck for the next morning to be resurrection day and I'll have to be +up at daylight as usual." + +Another man, who always looked on the bright side of life, and when +anything went wrong always looked up something good to match it, +happened to lose a fine horse. When friends expressed sympathy he +said: "I can't complain; I never lost a horse before." Then his crop +failed and he said: "After ten years of good crops I have no kick +coming because of one failure." Finally, poor fellow, a railroad train +ran over him and both feet had to be amputated at the ankles. A friend +called to see him and said: "Jim, what have you to say after this +misfortune?" + +His reply was: "Well, I always did suffer with cold feet." + +Look on the bright side of life, remembering that very often, + + "The trouble that makes us fume and fret, + And the burdens that make us groan and sweat + Are the things that haven't happened yet." + +When our two boys were babies our home was a country cottage and our +land possession one acre. Nearby lived a young man whose father left +him a blue-grass farm. His home was a handsome brick house; he had +servants and drove fine horses. Often when seated on the little porch +of our humble home, he would pass by, when the feet of his horses and +wheels of his fine carriage would dash the dust into our faces. One +evening when he passed I said: "Never mind, Anna, some day we'll live +in a fine house, we'll have servants and horses and we'll be +'somebodies'." I thought money would bring happiness, and the more +money the more happiness. + +We now live in a good home, have servants and horse and carriage; +we've traveled several times together from ocean to ocean, yet I have +never seen a train of Pullman palace cars that can compare in memory +with the two trains that used to leave that little cottage home every +evening for dreamland. + + "The first train started at seven p.m., + Over the dreamland road, + The mother dear was the engineer, + The passenger laughed and crowed. + + The palace car was the mother's arms, + The whistle a low sweet strain; + The passenger winked, nodded and blinked + And fell asleep on the train. + + The next train started at eight p.m., + For the slumberland afar, + The summons clear, fell on the ear, + 'All aboard for the sleeping car.' + + And what was the fare to slumberland? + I assure you not very dear; + Only this, a hug and a kiss, + They were paid to the engineer." + +And I said: + + "Take charge of the passengers, Lord, I pray, + To me they are very dear; + And special ward, O gracious Lord, + Give the faithful engineer." + +Have some of you had sorrows you could not harmonize with the logic of +life? Leave them with Him who "notes the sparrow's fall." Some one has +said: "There are angels in the quarries of life only the blasts of +misfortune and chisels of adversity can carve into beauty." + +Doctor Theodore Cuyler said: "God washes the eyes of His children with +tears that they may better see His providences." + +Doctor Gutherie said: "Because I am seventy, my hair white and crows' +feet around my eyes, they tell me I'm growing old. That's not I, +that's the house in which I live; I'm on the inside; the house may go +to pieces but I shall live on eternally young." + + "This body is my house, it is not I; + Herein I sojourn, till in some far off sky, + I lease a fairer dwelling, built to last, + Till all the carpentry of time is past. + + "When from heaven high, I view this lone star, + What need I care where these poor timbers are; + What if these crumbling walls do go back to dust and loam, + I will have exchanged them for a broader better home. + This body is my house, it is not I; + Triumphant in this faith, I shall live and die." + +Since I cannot live life over, since the gate at the end of life's +journey swings but one way, and of all the millions who have passed +through, not one but the Crucified Son of God has returned, why should +I select such a subject for a lecture? When one is on a journey he has +never made before it is well to consult one who has traveled the road +and from him learn the things best to be done, and the places to shun. + +For more than three-score years and ten I have been making life's +journey, and for more than forty years have been mingling with the +masses and meeting with varied experiences. To those who are climbing +the hill toward the noon of the journey my advice should be of value. + +With those who with me are facing the sinking sun, and the lengthening +shadows falling behind, I thank God for that faith which comes from a +diviner source than human science, that tells us, + + "There's a place, called the Land of Beginning Again, + Where all our mistakes and all our heartaches, + And all our griefs and pain, + Will be left in the boat, like a shabby old coat, + And never put on again. + + "I'm glad there's a place for the redeemed of the race, + In the Land of Beginning Again, + Where there'll be no sighing, there'll be no dying, + And where sorrows that seemed so sore, + Will vanish away like the night into day, + And never come back any more." + +It is said "if wishes were horses, beggars would ride." It is useless +for me to wish to live life over or expect an extension of many more +years of borrowed time, but I hope yet that along the shortening path +I may open up here and there a spring that will refresh some thirsty +soul and plant a flower that will brighten the path of some weary one. + +It is my desire that I may close the life I cannot live over in the +city where it began, surrounded by loved ones in whose lives I have +lived. I can think of no more fitting close to this lecture than to +use a thought borrowed from another, in paying a tribute to my old +Kentucky home: + + On her blue-grass bed in youth + I rolled and romped and rested; + At the altars of her church + I learned in whom I trusted. + + 'Tis here my honored parents sleep, + A dear sweet babe reposes, + And o'er my darling daughter's grave + Blossom the summer roses. + + 'Tis here my marriage vows were given, + 'Tis here my children found me; + My heart is here, and here may heaven + Fold angel wings around me. + + May sacred memories hold me here, + And when life's dream closes, + May I the plaudit "well done" wear, + Then sleep beneath her roses. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Wit, Humor, Reason, Rhetoric, Prose, +Poetry and Story Woven into Eight Popular Lectures, by George W. 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