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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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