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THE WEEKLY LEDGER: GAFFNEY, S. C., NOVEMBER 28, 1895. 7 DAVID AND ABSALOM. IR. TALMAGE PREACHES A GREAT SERMON TO YOUNG MEN. The Parent and the Wayward Son—Love of Home, Indutdry and thr Chriidlan Religion aa the Safeguard* of Young Men—Keeping the Lord’* Day. Washington, Nov. 24.—In his ser mon today Rev. Dr. Talmage, preaching to the usual crowded audience, took up a subject of universal interest to young men. His text was selected from II Samuel xviii, 29, "Is the young man Absalom safe?” The heart of David, the father, was wrapped up in his boy Absalom. He was a splendid boy, judged by the rules of worldly criticism. From the crown of his head to the sole of his foot there was not a single blemish. The Bible says that he had such a luxuriant shock of hair that when once a year it was shorn, what was cut off weighed over three pounds. But notwithstanding all his brilliancy of appearance he was a bad boy, and broke his father’s heart. He was plotting to get the throne of Israel. He had marshaled an army to overthrow his father’s government. The day of battle had come. The conflict was be gun. David, the father, sat between the gates of the palace waiting for the tid ings of the conflict. Oh, bow rapidly his heart beat with emotion. The two great questions were to be decided—the safety of his boy and the continuance of the throne of Israel. Aft er awhile a servant, standing on the top jf the house, looks off and sees some one running. He is coming with great speed, and the man on top of the'house announces the coming of the messenger, and the father watches and waits, and as soon as the messenger from the field of battle comes within hailing distance 'the father cries out. Is it a question in regard to the establishment of bis throne? Does he say: ‘‘Have the armies of Israel been victorious? Am I to con tinue in my imi erial authority? Have I overthrown my enemies:” Oh, no! There is one question that springs from his heart to the lip, and springs from the lip into the ear of the besweated and bedusted messenger flying from the battlefield—the question, “Is the young man Absalom safe?” When it was told to David, the king, that, though his ar mies had been victorious, his son had been slain, the father turned his back upon the congratulations of the nation and went up the stairs of his palace, his heart breaking as ho went, wringing his hands sometimes and then again press ing them against his temples as though he would press them in, crying: “O Absalom! my son! my son! Would to God I had died for thee. O Absalom! my son! my son!” The Shipwreck of Men. My friends, the question which Da vid, the king, asked in regard to his son is the question that resounds today in the hearts of hundreds of parents. Yea, there are a great multitude of [young men who know that the question [of the text is appropriate when asked in regard to them. They know the I temptations by which they are surrouud- | ed. They see so many who started life i with as good resolutions as they have [who have .fallen in the path, and they are ready to hear me ask the question of my text, “Is the young man Absalom safe?” Tho fact is that this life is full of peril. Ho who undertakes it without the grace of God and a proper under standing of the conflict into which he is going must certainly be defeated. Just lock off upon society today. Look at the shipwreck of men for whom fair things were promised and who started life with every advantage. Look at those who have dropped from high so cial position and from great fortune, disgraced for time, disgraced for eter nity. All who sacrifice their integrity come to overthrow. Take a dishonest dollar and bury it in the center of the earth, and keep all the rocks of the mountain on top of it; then cover these rocks with all the diamonds of Golcon- da. and all the silver of Nevada, and all the gold of California and Australia, and put on the top of these all banking and moneyed institutions, and they can not keep down that one dishonest dollar. That one dishonest dollar in the center of the earth will begin to heave and rock and upturn itself until it comes to the resurrection of damnation. “As the partridge sitteth on eggs and hatcheth them not, so he that getteth riches and not by right shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.” Home m a Safeguard. Now, what are the safeguards of young men? The first safeguard of which I want to speak is a love of home. There are those who have no idea of the pleasures that concentrate around that word “home.” Perhaps your early abode was shadowed with vice or pov erty. Harsh words and petulance and scowling may have destroyed all the sanctity of that spot. Love, kindness and self sacrifice, which have built their altars in so many abodes, were stran gers in your father’s house. God pity you, young man; you never had a home. But a multitude in this audience can look back to a spot that they can never forget. It may have been a lowly roof, but you cannot think of it now without a dash of emotion. You have seen nothing on earth that so stirred your soul A stranger passing along that place might see nothing remarkable about it; but, oh! how much it means to you. Fresco on palace wall does not mean so much to you as those rough hewn rafters. Parks and bowers and trees on fashionable watering place or country seat do not mean so much to you as that brook that ran in front of the plain farmhouse and singing under the weeping willows. The barred gate way swung open by porter in full dress does not mean as much to you as that swing gate, your sister on one side of it and you on tho other, she gone 15 years ago into glory; that scene com ing back to you today, M you swept I backward and forward on the gate, 1 singing the songs of your childhood. But there are those hero who have tin ir second dwelling place. It is your adopt ed home. That al.-o is sacred forever. There yon established the first family altar. There your children were burn. | lu that room flapped the wing of tho desth angel. Under that roof, when pour work is done, you expect to lie dowu and die. There is only one word in all the language that can convey I your idea of that place, and that word ' is “home.” Now, let me say that I never knew a man who was faithful to his early and adopted home who was given over at the same time to any gross form of wick edness. If you find more enjoyment in the clubroom, in the literary society, in the art salon, than you do in these unpretending home pleasures, you are ou the road to ruin. Though you may be cut off from your early associates, and though you may be separated from all your kiudred, young man, is there not a room somewhere that yon can call yonr own? Though it bo tho fourth story of a third class boarding house, into that room gather books, pictures and a harp. Hang your mother’s por trait over the mantel. Bid unholy mirth stand back from that threshold. Conse crate some spot in that room with tho knee of prayer. By the memory of oth er days, a father’s counsel, a mother’s love and a sister’s confidence, call it home. A Rotten Beam In the Palace. Another safeguard for these young men is industrious habits. There are a great many people trying to make their way through tho world with their wits instead of by honest toil. There is a young man who comes from tho country to the city. He fails twice before lie is as old as his father was when ho first saw the spires of the great town. He is seated in his room at a rent of $2,000 a year, waiting for the banks to declare their dividends and the stocks to run up. After awhile he impatient. He tries to improve his penmanship by making copy plates of other merchants’ signatures. Never mind—all is right in business. After awhile he has his es tate. Now is the time for him to retire to the country, amid the docks and the herds, to culture the domestic virtues. Now the young men who were his schoolmates in boyhood will come, and with their ox teams draw him logs, and With their hard hands will help to heave up the castle. That is no fancy sketch; it is everyday life. I should not wonder if there were a rotten beam in that palace. I should not wonder if God should smito him with dire sick nesses and pour into his cup a bitter draft that will thrill him with un bearable agony. I should not wonder if that man's children grew up to be to him a disgrace and to make his life a shame. I should not wonder if that man died a dishonorable death and were tumbled into a dishonorable grave and then went into the gnashing of teeth. The way of the ungodly shall perish. O young man, you must have in dustry of head or hand or foot, or perish. Do not have the idea that yon can get along in the world by genius. The curse of this country today is geniuses—men with large self couceit and nothing else. The man who proposes to make his living by his wits probably has not any. I should rather bo an ox, plain and plodding and useful, than to be an eagle, high flying and good for nothing but to pick cut the eyes of carcasses. Even in tho garden of Eden it was not safe for Adam to be idle, so God made him a horticulturist, and if the mar ried pair had kept busy dressing the vines they would not have been saun tering under the trees, hankering after fruit that ruined them and their pos terity! Proof positive of the fact that when people do not attend to their busi ness they get into mischief. “Go to tho unt, thou sluggard; consider In r ways and bo wise, which, having no overseer or guide, provideth her food in tho summer and gathercth her meat in the harvest.” Satan is a roaring lion, ami you can never destroy him by gun or pistol or sword. The weapons with which you are to beat him back are pen and type and hammer and adz and saw and pickax and yardstick and the weapon of honest toil. Work, work, or die. Alin High. Another safeguard that I want to pre sent to young men is a high ideal of life. Sometimes soldiers goiug into bat tle shoot into tho ground instead of into the hearts of their enemies. They are apt to take aim too low, and it is very often that the captain, going into con flict with his men, will cry out, “Now, men, aim high!” Tho fact is that in life a great many men take no aim at all. The artist plans out his entire thought before he puts it upon canvas, before he takes up tho crayon or the chisel. An architect thinks out the en tire building before the workmen begin. Although everything may seem to bo unorganized, that architect has in his mind every Corinthian column, every Gothic arch, every Byzantine capital. A poet thinks out tho entire plot of his poem before he begins to chime tho cantos of tinkling rhythms. And yet there are a great many men who start the important structure of life without knowing whether it is going to be a rude Tartar’s hut or a 8t. Murk’s ca thedral, and begin to write out the in tricate poem of their life without know ing whether it is to be a Homer’s “Odyssey” or a rhymester’s botch. Out of 1,000, 999 have no life plot. Booted and spurred and caparisoned, they has ten along, and I run oat and say: “Hel lo, man! Whither away“Nowhere!” they say. Oh, young man, muko every day’s duty a filling up of the great life plot. Alas, that there should bo on this sea of life so many ships that seem bound for no port! They are swept ev ery whither by wind and wave, up by the mountains and down by tho valleys. They sail with no chart. They gazo on no star. They long for no harbor. Oh, young man, have a high ideal and press to it, and it M ill be a mighty safeguard. There never were grander opportunities opening before young men than are opening now. Yeung men of tho strong arm and of the stout heart and of the bounding step, I marshal you today for a great achieremeut. Another safeguard is a respect for tho Sabbath. Tell me how a young man spends his Sabbath, and I will tell you mbut are bin prospects in business, and I will tell you what are his prospects for the eternal world. God has thrust into our busy life a sacred day when we are to look after our souls. Is it exorbi tant, after giving six days to tho feed ing and clothing of these perishable bodies, that God should demand one day for tho feeding and clothing of tho im mortal soul: Keep the Lord’* Day. Our bodies are seven day clocks, and they need tt> be wound up, and if they are not wound up they run down into the grave. No man can continuously break the Sabbath and keep his physical and mental health. Askthosoaged men, and they will tell yon they never knew men who cent inuou ly broke the Sab bath who did not fail in mind, body or moral priiigiple. A manufacturer gave this as bis experience. Ho said: “I owned a factory on the Lehigh. Every thing prospered. I kept (he Sabbath, and everything went on well. But cue Sab bat li morning I bethought myself of a new shuttle, and I thought I would in vent that shuttle before sunset, and I refused all food and drink until I had completed that shuttle. By sundown I had completed it. The next day, Mon day, 1 showed to my workmen and friends this new shuttle. They all con gratulated mo on my groat success. I put that shuttle into play. I enlarged my business; but, /ir, that Sunday's work cost me $tl0,0<)0. From that day everything went wrong. 1 failed in business, and I lost tny mill.” Oh, my friends, keep the Lord’s day. i’uu r.iay think it old fogy advice, but I give it to you now: “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days shult thou labor and do all thy work, but tho seventh is tho Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shall not do any work.” A man said that lie would prove that all this was a fallacy, and so he said, “I shall ra'so a Sunday crop. ” And he plowed tin* field ou tho Sab bath, and then ho put in tho seed ou tho Sabbath, and he cnl'nred the ground on the Sabbath. When 'he harvest was ripe, ho reaped it on the Sabbath, and ho car ried it into the i imv on the Sabbath, and ihcn ho stood out defiant to his Christian neighbors and said, “There, that is my Sunday crop, and it is all garnered. ” Alter awhile a s torm came up and a great dtak te : , and the light nings of heaven stank the burn, and away went his Sunday crop. Tin* «.f Itellrrioa. There is anothci safeguard that I want to pies( nt. I have saved it until the last because I went it to ho the more onij hat ic. The great safeguard for every young man is the Christian religion. Nothing can take th > place of it. Yon may have gracefulness ennnv.h to put to tho blush Lord Chest (die id, you may have foreign languages dropping from your tongue, you may di cues laws and literature, you may have a pen of un equaled polish and i ower, yon may have so much hustne a tact that yon can get the hugest alary in a banking house, yon may he as s harp as Herod ami as strung as Samson, and with as long locks as thiiso which hr:::; Absa lom, at el yet you have no safety against temptation. h( mo of yon look forward to lii'o with great despondency. I know it. I see it in your feces from time to time. You say. “All tho occupations and prole:eirns t:’c lull, and there’s no chance for me. ” (>:, young man, cheer up! I will tell you how you can make your foil une. heck first the kingdom of God and his righteous-ness, and all oth er things will be add', d. I hnowyou do not w nt to be mean in ill's matter. You will not drink the brimming cup of life and then pour the dregs on God’s altar. To a generous Saviour you will nut act like that; you have not the heart to act like that. That is not manly. That is not honorable. That is not brave. Yonr great want is a new heart, and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I tell you so today, and tho bless ed hpirit pres:;cs through tho solemnities of this hour to put the cup of life to your thirsty lips. Oh, thrust it not back. Mercy presents it—bleeding mer cy, long suffering mercy. Despise all other friendships, prove recreant to all other bargains, but dt spiso God’s love for your dying soul—do not do that. There comes a crisis in a man’s life, and tho trouble is bo does net know it is the crisis. I got u letter in which a man says to me: “I start out now to preach tho gos pel of righteousness and temperance to ; the people. Do yoc remember me? I um | tho man who appeared at thoelcso of tho , service when you were worshiping in j tho chapel after you came from Phila- : delphia. Do you remember at tho close of the service a man coming up to you all a-tremble with conviction, and cry ing out for mercy, and telling yon ho had a very bad business, and ho thought he would change it? That was tho turn ing point in my history. 1 gave up my bad business. I gave my heart to God, and the desire to serve him has grown upon mo all these years, until now woe is unto mo if I preach not the gospel.” Tliu Other Man. That Sunday night was tho turning point of that young man’s history. This very fc-abbath hour will bo tho turning point in tho history of 100 young men iu this house. God help us! I once stood on an anniversary platform with a cler gyman who told this marvelous story. He said: “Thirty years ago two young men started out to attend Park theater, New York, to see a play which made religion ridiculous and hypocritical. They had been brought up in Christian families. They started for the theater to see that vile play, and their early convictions came back upon them. They felt it was not right to go, but still they went. They came to the door of the theater. One of tho young men stopped and start ed for home, but returned and came np to the door, but had not the courage to go in. He again started for home and went home. The other young man went in. lie went from one degree of tempta tion to another. Caught in the whirl of frivolity and sin, ho sank lower and Inver. He fi st his business posit ion. Ho lost his morals. Ho lost his soul. He died a dreadful death, not one star of mercy shining ou it. I stand before you today,” said that minister, “to thank God that for 20 years I have been per mitted to preach the gospel. I am tho other young man. ” # Oh, you see that was the turning point—tho one went back, the other went ou. The great roaring world of business life will soon break iu upon yon, young men. Will the wild wave dash out the impressions of this day as an ocean billow dashes letters out of tho sand on tho beach? You need some thing better than this world can give you. I beat ou your heart, and it sounds hollow. You want something great and grand and glorious to fill it, aud here is the religion that can do it. God savo yon! The Barber Wan Fitly. They said I would find a barber shop when I got to the hamlet of Booneville, aud as I rodo into the place I kept my eye open for tho legendary sign. Noth ing of tho sort was to bo seen, however, aud I finally stopped at a shoeshop and asked tho cobbler sitting on tho steps in the sunshine if there really was a barber shop in town. “Why, certainly,” he replied, “this is the barber shop. ” “And can I get a shave?” “Of course. Come right in. ” “Bntwhat sort of a shop do you run?” I asked as I looked about and failed to see any tokens. “Shop is all right, sir. I have no bar ber’s chair, but that doesn’t matter. Sit dowu ou my shoe bench, please.” “Have yon any soap?” “No regular shaving soap, sir, but plenty of soft soap, which is just as good. ” “Where's your razor?” “I haven’t a regular razor, but one of my shoo knives will do just as well. In fact, all my customers prefer a shoo knife to n razor. Just take off your coat and I'll pin this coffee sack around your neck. ” I told him that I guessed I’d wait till I got down to Kuoy to bo shaved, j and he looked a bit reuc.ed as ho re- ! plied: “Just as you like, sir. I had a fit como on mo tho other day while I was shaving a man, aud tho first thing I knew I had cut his ear off. I feel fitty this morning, and being as you appear to bo a nervous, overparticular man, perhaps you’d better puss on, as yon sug gest. Yes, sir. Good day, sir, and I might cut your nose off, sir!”—Detroit Free Press. Wonderful Eyes of Inserts. ' The “facets” of the eyo masses of ! somo species of insects are exceedingly ! numerous—in some cases, in fact, the I number is entirely beyond belief. Each of these separate “facets” is a perfect eye, aud they are so arranged as to give their insect owner a commanding view ; of all the cardinal points and every con ceivable intermediate direction at one 1 aud tho same time. In tho ant, tho lit- i tie creature which wo have hud so many “curious: notes” concerning, there are not to exceed 50 facets in the great com pound eye. It has been argued that this is nature’s provision, because the ant | spends so much of its time underground. This may be true, but what is tho nat uralist going to do about Blaps mucrou- ata, tho must sluggish of the European beetles? This last named creature spends j niuety-nine-hundredtbs of its time in the dark, yet has 250 eyo facets! Meloe, another insect of similar habits, has ; over 500 facets in each eye mass. , In certain varieties of tho dragon flies tho aggre gate oi facets in tho compound eyo often exceeds 12,000. It appears to be a gcnciul rule, notwithstanding tho exception cited above, that tho swiftest insects have tho greatest number of eye facets. The swift winged butterflies have from 10,0C0 to 17,000 in each eye mass, and the mordclla, the swiftest and most active known beetle (a resi-' dent of Britain), has no fewer than 25,- 000 facets in each of his enormous com pound eyes.—8t. Louis Republic. What You want of a medicine is that It ahall do you good—-purify and enrich your blood, throw off that tired feeling, and give you health, strength, courage aud ambition. Hood’s Sarsaparilla is the only true blood purifier prominently in the public eye today, and It meets these requirements perfectly. This is proved by the testimony of thou* sands of people. Hood’s Sarsaparilla Builds up tho nerves by feeding them on pure blood, creates an appetite by toning the digestiveorgans, overcomes That Tired Feeling by giving vitality to the blood, and gives sweet refreshing sleep. You may realize that Hood’s Sarsaparilla R. S. LIPSCOMB, Insurance and Real Estate A#., Merchandise Broker And Dealar la The Celebrated No. 9 Weheler & Wilson Sewing Hachines. Needles and attachments for all different makes of machines. £^’()ffice in Lipscomb Hotel build* ing. Does this by giving it a fair trial. Insist upon Hood’s and only Hood’s. f 1; six for |5. Hood’s Pills IT* hannnnloti.lf Hood's Sarsaparilla. with Kc. It’s the Talk Based on facts that your dollar will buy more Groceries at Webster’s than at any other store in town. My stock of Fine Candies is up-to-date. Yours for business. W. M. Webster, Jr. July 19, 1895. A Wise Investment. A policy of insurance in such com panies as the iEtna, Home, Hartford, American Fire and Pennsylvania te protect your home and business from loss and damage by fire is a wise in* vestment. I shall be glad to furnish such pro tection at any time. Call before in suring. O. STTJVCY. DR. J. F. GARRETT, Dentist, Gaffney, - - - S. C. Office over J. R. Tolleson’s new store. In office from let to 24th of each month; J. G. GALLOWAY & SON, <C* ivfTiiojy, C., A Shaker’* Opinion of Society. Some years ago I know an elder of the Shakers who differed from many of his brethren iu having thought much about tho social structure of his sect, though their communal life was rather favora ble to thinking in all of them. We were talking ouo day of the life of tho world, which I defended, and ho said iu con cession of my ground at one point: “If good society were what R appears to bo on the surface, I could tu t find fault with it. If people in soci .y shaved to ward one auother from motives of real kindness, as they behave now from mo tives of politeness, society would be au image of beaveu; for in society you see people defer to one another, the strong give way to the weak; the brilliant and the gifted will not put the rest at a dis advantage, and they all seem to meet ou an equality. The trouble is that their behavior is merely a convention and not a principle. They behave beautifully from politeuessand not from kindness.” —From “Equality as the Basis of Good Society,” by W. D. Howells, in Century. Responding to the Bogie. Apropos of the intense love that cav alry horses have for music, a correspoud- eutof The Admiralty and Horse Guards Gazette writes that when tho Sixth dragoons recently changed their quar ters, u mare belonging to oue of tho troopers was taken so ill as to be nuablo to proceed on the jonruey the following morning. Two days later auother de tachment of the same regiment, accom panied by tho baud, arrived. The sick mare was in a loose box, but hearing the martial strains kicked a hole through tho side of her box and making her way through the shop of a tradesman took ber place in the troop before she was se- I oared and luongbt buck to the stable. Special ' On Stoves, Heaters, Ranges, Grates, Etc., and bait now on exbibition the largest and most varied liu ever carried by any bouse in the State, ranging over some twenty-five different prices, and we will be glad to have you see them before yon buy. WE ARE just ;n receipt of letters from several foundries ad vancing prices considerably, so we think yon voild di well to buy before our present stock is exhausted. Cut Prices At J. I. Sarratts. 1 \M now offering my entire ntock at prices that will sell to anyono wanting goods. Gents’ low cut shoes 80c, Ladies’ 60c, Childs iOe and up. Men’s suits, new good* $2.50 and up, Pauls 40c and up, Cof fee titt.s for ♦!. Sugar Rice, Tea. Lard, Meat, Flour, and Tobacco ot BOTTOM PRICES. California Hums 8c. Dove bra d 9c. Monuito tools, such as Shovels, Spades, Mattocks, Picks. <fec., ^heaperthan any one in town. A few Straw Huts left at New York cost. Gent’s shirts and up. Suspenders 5c and up. Give me a call when in town. Respectfully, J. I.