The ledger. [volume] (Gaffney City, S.C.) 1896-1907, November 28, 1895, Image 7
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.