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•••, THE WEEKLY LEDGER: GAFFNEY, S. C., DECEMBER 12, 1*95. THE COMING SEASON. &EV. DR. TALMAGE ON THE LESSONS OF WINTER. A Sermon Appropriate to Cold Weather. Temptations of the Long Evenings—The Duties of Old and Young—Aa Eloquent Peroration. Washington, Dec. 8.—Today Dr. Taliuage chose as the snbject of his ser- mou “The Opening Winter.” Although the cold comes earlier or later, accord ing to the latitude, this sermon is sooner or later as appropriate everywhere as it is in Washington. The text selected will be found in Titus iii, 12, “I have de termined there to winter.” Paul was not independent of the sea sons. Ho sent for his overcoat to Troas on a memorable occasion. And now in the text ho is making arrangements for the approaching cold weather and makes an appointment with Titus to meet him at Necopolis, saying, “I have deter mined there to winter. ” Well, this is the 8th day of December and the second Sabbath of winter. We have had a few shrill, sharp blasts already, forerunners of whole regiments of storms and tem pests. No one here needs to be told that we are in the opening gates of the win ter. This season is not only a test of one’s physical endurance, but in our great cities is a test of moral character. A vast number of people have by oue winter of dissipation been destroyed, and forever. Seated In our homes on ■ome stormy night, the winds howling outside, we Imagine the shipping help lessly driven on the coast, but any win ter night, if onr ears were good enough, we could hear the crash of a thousand moral shipwrecks. There are many peo ple who came to the cities on the 1st of September who will be blasted by the 1st of March. At this season of the year temptations are especially rampant. Now that the long winter evenings have come, there are many who will employ them in high pursuits, in intelligent so cialities, in Christian work, in the strengthening and ennobling of moral character, and this winter to many of you will be the brightest and the best of all your lives, and in anticipation I congratulate you. But to others it may not have such effect, and I charge you, my beloved, look out where you spend your wiuter nights. Evil Allurement*. In the first place, I have to remark that at this season of the year evil al lurements are especially busy. There is not very much temptation for a man to plunge in on a hot night amid blazing gaslights, and to breathe the fetid air of an assemblage, but in the cold nights satau gathers a great harvest. At such times the casinos are in full blast. At such time, the grogshops in oue night make more than in four or five nights in summer. At such times the playbills of low places of entertainment seem espe cially attractive, and the acting is espe cially impressive, and the applause es pecially bewitching. Many a man who has kept right all the rest of Ihe year will be capsized now, and though last autumn he came from the country and . there was luster in the eye and there were roses in the cheek and elasticity in the step, by the time the spring hour has come you will pass him in the street and say to your friend: “What’s the matter with that man? How differently ho looks from what lie looked last Sep tember. ” Slain of one winter’s dissipa tion. At tliis time of the year there are many entertainments. If we rightly em ploy them, and they are of the right Lind, they enlarge our socialities, allow us to make important acquaintance, build ns up in our morals, and help us in u thousand ways. I can scarcely think of anything better than good neighbor hood. But there are those entertainments from which others will come hesoiledin character. There are those who by the springtime will he broken down in health, and though at the opening of the season their prospects were bright, at the close of the season they will be in the hands of the doctors or sleeping in the cemetery. The certificate of death will be made out, and the physician, to save the feelings of the family, will call the disease by a Latin name. But the doctor knows, and everybody else knows, they died of too many levees. Away with all these wine drinking convivial ities. How dare you, the father of a family, tempt the appetites of the young people? Perhaps at the entertainment, to save the feelings of the minister or some other weak temperance man, you leave the decanter in a side room, and only a few people are invited there to partake, but it is easy enough to know when you come out, by the glare of your eye and the stench of your breath, that you have been serving the devil. The Evil of Apj>etlte. Men sometimes excuse themselves and say after late suppers it is necessary to take some sort of stimulant to aid di gestion. My plain opinion is that if you have no more self control than to stuff yourself until your digestive organs re fuse their office you had better not call yourself a man, but class yourself among the beasts that perish. At this season of the year the Young Men’s Christian as sociations of the land send out circulars asking the pastors to speak a word ou this subject, and so I so-aid in your car the words of the Lord God Almighty, “Woe unto him that putteth the bottle to his neighbor’s lips.” Rejoice that you have come to the glad winter mouths that remind you of the times when in your childhood you were shone on by the face of father, mother, brothers, sis ters, some of them, alas) no more to meet you with a “Happy New Year” or a “Merry Christmas.” But again and again have we seen on New Year’s day the sons of some of the best families drunk, and young men have excused themselves by the fact that the wine cup has been offered by the ladies, and •irain and ac/uin it has beau found out that a lady's hand has kindled the yonng man’s thirst for strong drink, and long after all the attractions of the bolidsy have passed that same woman etouebes In her rags, and her desolation, and her woe under tho uplifted hand of the drunken monster to whom she had passed tho fascinating enp on New Year's day. If we want to go to ru’.u, let us go alone and not take others with us. Can wo not sacrifice cur feelings if need ho? When the good chip Loudon went down, tho captain wax told that ho might escape in oue of tho lifeboats. “No,” he replied, “I’ll go down with the pas sengers. ” All the world applauded his heroism. And can wc not sacrifice our tastes and our appetites for tho rescue of others? Surely it is not a very great sacrifice. Oh, mix not with the innocent beverage of the holiday tho poison of adders! Mix not with the white sugar of the cup the snow of this awful leprosy! Mar not the clatter of the cutlery of the festal occasioa with the clank of a mad man’s chain. Pass down the street and look into the pawnbroker’s window. Elegant watch, elegant furs, elegant flute, ele gant shoes, elegant scarf, elegant books, elegant mementos. You sometimes see people with pleased eouuteuauces look ing into such a window. When I look into a pawnbroker’s window, it seems to me as if I had looked into tho window of hell 1 To whom did that watch belong: To a drunkard. To whom did those furs belong? To a drunkard’s wife. To whom did those shoes belong? To a drunkard’s child. I take the three bra zen halls at tho doorway of a pawnbro ker’s shop and I clank them together, sounding the knell of the drunkard’s soul. A pawnbroker’s shop is only one of the eddies in the great torrent of municipal drunkenness. “Oh,” says some oue, “I don’t patronize such things. I have destroyed no young man by such influeuces. Z only take ale, and it will take a great amount of alo to in toxicate. ” Yes, but I tell yoa there is not a drunkard in America that did not begin with ale. Three X’s—I do not know what they mea«. Three X’s on the brewer’s dray, three X’s ou tho door of the ginshop, three X's on tho side of the bottle Three X’s I asked a man. Ho could not tell. I asked another what was the meaning of the threo X’s. Ho could not tell me. Then I made up my mind that tho threo X’s were au alio gory, and that they meant i!0 heart breaks, 30 agonies, SO broken up house holds, 30 prospects of a drunkard’s grave, 80 ways to perdition. Three X’s. If I were going to write a story, tho first chapter I would call “Three X’s” and tho last chapter I would call "Tho Pawnbroker’^ Shop.Lcv.aro cf your influence. Wlatf* *«m|>*attnM. The winter season is especially full of temptation, because cf the long even ings allowing such full ■wing for evil indulgences. You can fcarccly expect a young man to go into his room and sit there from 7 to 1J o’clock in the even ing, reading Motley'* “Dutch Republic” or John Foster’s essayr It would he a very beautiful thing for him to do, but be will not do it. Tho most of our young men are busy in offices, in fac tories, in banking houses, in stores, in shops, and when evening comes they want the fresh air, and they want sight seeing, and they must have it, they will have it, and they ought to have it. Most of the men here assembled will have three or four evenings of leisure on the winter nights. After tea tho man puts ou his hat and coat and he gees out. One form of allurement rays, “Como in here.” Satan says: “It ii best for yon to go in. You ought nut to he so green. By this time you ought to have seen everything.” And tho temptations shall be mighty in dull times such as wo huvo had, hut which, I. believe, are gone, for I hear all over tho laud the prophecy of great prosperity, and the railn ad men and the merchants, they all tell me of the days of prosperity they think are coming, and in many departments they have already come, and they are going to come in all departments, Lut those dull times through which wo have passed have destroyed a great many men. The question of a livelihood is with a vast multitude tho great ques tion. There are young men who expect ed before this to set up their household, hut they have been disappointed in tho gains they have made. They cannot sup port themselves, how can they support others? And, to tho curse of modern so ciety, tho theory is abroad that a man must not marry until he has achieved a fortune, when tho twain ought to atari at the foot of the hill and toother climb to the top. That is the old fashioned way, and that will be tho new fashioned way if society is ever redeemed. But during the hard time«j, the dull times, so many men were discouraged, so many men had nothing io do—they could get noth ing to do—a pirate bore down on the ship when tho sails were down and tho vessel was making no headway. People say they want more time to think. Tho trcnble is, too many people have had too much time to think, uiul if our mer chants had not had their minds divert ed many of them would long before this have been within the four walls of an insane asylum. These long wiuter evenings, bo careful where you spend them. This winter will decide tho tem poral and eternal destiny of hundreds of men in this audience. Attract*' • lIcatM. Then the wiuter has especial temp tations in the fact t*jut many homes are peculiarly unattractive at this season. In the summer months the young man can sit out on the steps, or ho can have a bouquet in the vase on the mantel, or, the evenings being so short, soon after gaslight he wants to retire anyhow. But there ore many parents who do not un derstand how to make the long winter evenings attractive to their children. It is amazing to mu that so many old peo ple do not understand young people. To hear Home of these parents talk yon Would think they had never themselves been young and hud been born with spectacles ou. Ob, it is dolorous for young people to sit in the house from 7 to 11 o’clock at night ami to hear par ents groan about their ailments and the nothingness of this world. The nothing ness of this world! How dare you talk such blasphemy? It took God six days to make this world, and lie has allowed ' it 6,000 years to hang upon his holy heart, and this world has shone on you and blessed you and caressed you for these HO or 70 years, and yet you dare talk about tho nothingness of this world I Why, it ii a magnificent world. I do j not believe in the whole universe there is a world equal to it, except it ho heav- *n. You cannot expect your children to stay in tho house these long winter even ings to hear you denounce this star light ed, sun warmed, shower baptized, flow er strewn, angel watched, God inhabit ed planet. Oh, maka your home bright! Bring in the violin or the picture. It does not require a great salary, or a big house, or chased silver, or gorgeous upholstery to make a happy home. All that is wanted is a father’s heart, a mother’s heart, in sympathy with young folks. I have known a man with $700 salary, and ho had no other income, but he had a homo so happy and bright that, though the sous have gone out and won large fortunes and the daughters have gone out into splendid spheres and become princesses of society, they can never think of that early home without tears of emotion. It was to them tho vesti bule of heaven, and all their mansions now and all their palaces now cannot make them forget that early place. Make your homes happy. You go around your house growling about your rheu matism aud acting tho lugubrious, aud your sons will go into the world aud plunge into dissipation. They will have their own rheumatisms after awhile. Do not forestall their misfortunes. You were young once, aud you had your bright and joyous times. Now let the young folks have a good time. I stood in front of a house, and I said to the owner of the house, “This is a splendid tree.” Ho said in a whining tone, “Yes, but it will fade.” I walked around in his garden and said, “This is u glorious garden you have.” “Yes,” he said, “hut it will perish.” Then ho said to my little child, whom I was leading along, “Come and kiss mo. ” The child protested aud turned away. Ho said, “Oh, tho perversity of human nature!” Who would want to kiss him? I was not surprised to iiud out that his only son had hecomo a vagabond. You may groan people out of decency, hut you can never groan them into it, and I declare in tho presence of these men and women of common sense that it is a most impor tant thing for you to make your homos bright if you want your sons and daugh ters to turn out well. The Youtiz and the Old, Alas, that old people so much misun derstand young folks! There was a great Sunday school anniversary, aud there were thousands of children present—in deed all the Sunday schools of tho town were in tho building, and it was very uproarious and full of disturbance, and the presiding oflicer cu the occasion came forward aud in a very loud tone shouted, “Silence!” and iho more noise tho presiding office mado, tho more noise tho children made. Some one else rose ou tho platform and camo forward and with more stentorian voico shouted, “Silence!” and the uprurfrroso to great er height, and it did seem as if there would ho almost a riot and tho police have to ho called in, when old Dr. Bea man, his hairwhito as the driven snow, said, “Let me try my hand.” So he camo forward with a slow step to the front of tho platform, aud when the children saw the venerable man and the white hair, they thought they would hush up that instant and hear what tho old man had to say. He said: “Boys, I want to make a bargain with you. If you will be still now. while I speak, when you got to be as old as I am I will bo as still as a mouse.’’ There was not another whisper that afternoon. Ho was as much a hoy as any of them. Oh, in these approaching holidays, let us turn hack our natures to what they were years ago aud ho boys again and girls again and mako all our homes happy. God will hold you responsible for tho influence you now exert, aud it will bo very bright aud very pleasant if some wiuter night, when wo are sleeping un der the blankets of snow, our children shall ride along in tho merry party aud hushing a moment into solemnity, look off and say, “There sleep the best father and mother that ever made a happy new year.” Arm yourself against these temptations of December, January and February. Temptation will como to you in the form of an angel of light. I know that the poets represent Mtan as horned and hoofed. If I were a poet and I were going to picture satau, I would represent him as a human being, with manners polished to the last perfec tion, hair falling in graceful ringlets, eye a little bloodshot, hut floating in bewitching languor, hand soft and dia monded, foot exquisitely shaped, voico mellow as a flute, breath perfumed as though nothing had ever touched tho lips hut halm of a thousand flowers, conversation facile, carefully toned and Freuchy. But I would have the huart incased with tho scales of a monster and have it stuffed with all pride aud beast liness of desire and hypocrisy aud death, and then I would have it touched with the rod of disenchantment until the eyes became the cold orbs of the adder, aud to the lip should come tho foam of rag ing intoxication, and to the foot the spring of the panther, and to tho soft hand tho change that would make it the clammy hand of the wasted skeleton, aud then I would suddenly have the heart bleak out in unquenchable flames, and tho affected lisp of tho tongue be come the hiss of the worm that never dies. But until disenchanted, ringleted and diamonded and flute voiced and conversation facile, carefully toned aud Freuchy. Word* of Warning. Oh, what a beautiful thing it is to see a young man standing up amid these temptations of city life incorrupt while hundreds are fulling ! I will tell your history. You will move in resjiectublo circles all your days, and some day a friend of your father will meet you and gay: "Good morning! Glad to see you. You seem to ho prospering. Yon look like your father for all the world. I thought you would turn out well when I used to hold you on my knee. If you ever want any help or any advice, coma to me. As long as I remember your fa ther I’ll remeuiher you. Good morn ing. ” That will ho tho history of bun dreds of these young men. How do 1 know it? I know it by the way you start. But here’s a young man who takes tho opposite route. Voices of sin charm hi.n away. He reads bad hooks, mingles in had triciety. The glow has gone from his cheek, and the sparkle from his eye, and the purity from his soul. Down ho goes, little by little. The people who saw him when he came to town while yet hovered over his head the blessing ox a pure mother’s prayer and there was on his lips the dew of m pure sister’s kiss, now as they see him pass cry, "What an awful wreck 1” Cheek bruised in grogshop fight Eye bleared with dissipation. Lip swollen with indulgences. Be careful what you say to him; for a trifle be would take your life. Lower down, lower down until, out cast of God and man, he lies in the asy lum, a blotch of loathsomeness and pain. One moment he calls for God and then ho calls for rum. He prays, he curses, he laughs as a fiend laughs, then bites his nails into the quick, then puts his hands through the hair hanging around his head like tho mane of a wild beast, then shivers until the cot shakes, with unutterable terror, then with bii fists fights back the devils, or clutches for serpenta that seem to wind around him their awful folds, then asks for wa ter, which is instantly consumed on his cracked lips. Some morning the sur geon going his rounds will find him dead. Do not try to comb out or brush back the matted locks. Straighten out tho limbs, wrap him in a sheet, put him in a box, and let two men carry him down to the wagon at the door. With a piece of chalk write ou top of the box the name of tho destroyer and the destroyed. Who is it? It is you, oh, mau, if, yielding to the temptations of a dissipated life, you go out and perish. There is a way that seemeth bright and fair and beautiful to a man, but the end thereof is death. Employ these long nights of Dcceml>er, January and Feb ruary in high pursuits, in intelligent socialities, in innocent amusements, in Christian work. Do not waste this win ter, for soon you will have seen your last snow shower aud havo gone up into the companionship of him whoso rai ment is white as snow, whiter than any fuller on earth could whiten it. For all Christian hearts tho winter nights of earth vill end in tho Juno morning of heaven. Tho river of life from uudei iho throne never freezes over. Th* foliage of life’s fair tree is never frost bitten. The festivities, tho hilarities, tho family greetings of earthly Christ mas Units will give way to larger re union and brighter lights aud sweeter garlands aud mightier joy in tho great Holiday ci heaven. A llistorlau'a Prlvlleg*. Mine. Novikoll was at a Sunday par ty at Holland House in the days of its late mistress, and was seated between Lord Houghton aud Mr. Kinglake. Thu kuiur obsened, in answer to a remark cf (bo Russian lady, that historians were sometimes very badly treated. “What do you mean?” asked Mme. No- vikoff, rather puzzled. “Well,” con tinued Kinglake quietly, ns if discuss ing some grave topic, “just take my case, for example. As you know, 1 am supposed to bo a historian. The other day 1 got a letter which really touched mo; it was signed by two people, hus band aud wife, aud came from oue of our colonies. They described their grief. Their only child, it seemed, had been killed in the Crimea. For some incom- prehcus’blo reason they were most anx ious to have ”beir beloved darling’ men tioned in my history of the Crimean war. Surprised, but flutter**!, I replied by return of post—a thing I have uoJ~ douo for many, many years—that I would lo happy to do my best for their comfort provided they sent me tbs necessary particulars. Again a letter written and signed by both mother and father arrived, but with the following cruel addition: ‘We have no particulars whatever. He was killed ou the spot, like many others, aud anything yon may kindly invent will be welcome; wo leave it entirely to your judgment. ’ ” —New Review. It is Known By Its Cisrco Ft is not what v« say, but v’nat Hood's Sarsaparilla docs, that tells tha story ef Us merit. Tas thousands of peopls vriera ft bai t*!js1 frem dlsecisound despair to hsppt- a«:i and health, art the strongest aud ttil sdvsrttssmcats Hood’s SumuparilU i hss. No ether preparation In existence JUs juch a record of wonderful cures. Tail I) Why Hood’s Sarsaparilla has tbs S.i-jeil sale, and requires for its produc- liju the largest laboratory in the world. i*e.T It you need a good medicine, why not try tint which has done ethers so math feed. Bcmc.uhcr oTd > CiAi’saparilla Is the Only Vr*}© Blood Purifier Fromlaently la the public eye. f 1; six for $5 mu., act harmociousljr with s iCGu 8 FlU-J lioed’a3ari»ki)arills. 25c. It’s the Talk Based on facts that your dollar will buy more Grocer les 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 i|, il«s- R. S. LIPSC01 Insurance and RealEsti Merchandise Broker And Dealer ta The Celebrated No. f Weheler & Wilson Sewing Hachlnefl.t Needles and attachments for oil different makes of machines. /P^Office in Lipscomb Hotel build* ing. A Wise Investment A policy of insurance In such' panics as the iEtna, Home, Hai American Fire and Pennsylvanl protect your home and buslnesa loss and damage by fire is a wla# vestment. I shall be glad to furnish such pro* lection at any time. Call befora In suring. 1^. O. SSTTJ^OY. DR. J. F. GARRETT. Dentist, Gaffney, S.C. Office over.1. It. Tolleson’s new stort. In office from 1st to 24th of each month; J. G. GALLOWAY & SON, i OiviTne_y, C., m Offering 2! V.i Beats In London and Barts. Some interesting figures concerning bouse rent in London and Paris have recently been published in Lo Journal des Debate. It appears that in Paris its population of 2,250,000 pays nearly as much rent as Loudon, with twice the number of inhabitants. The 2,250,000 Parisians havo only 88,000 dwellings to live in, while the number of bouses that the 5,000,000 Londoners occupy is nearly ten times us many. In Paris, whero tho people live in flats, there are on nu average over 270 persons residing in each house. In London the average is only seven persons to n house. Yet for much less comfort and space the Parisians have to pay little short of double the rent paid by Londoners. The total annual rent of Paris, says Le Journal, is now 775,000,000 francs, or $155,000,000, while Londoners, who are twice the number of Parisians, only pay $185,000,000 for fur more comfortable dwelling accommodation. The average rent paid by Londoners is between $35 aud $40, while in Paris it is nearly $70. An Ksoltln. Life, Hir J. B. Thurston of Fiji fume has led u highly exciting life. He was a storekeeper in the “bush,” when he was prevailed upon to take a trading expedition to tho south Pacific. The ves sel in which ho travtded was wrecked in a terrible hurricane, and after some hairbreadth escapes he succeeded, with u few others, in reaching Fiji. A na tive monarchy existed at the time ou tho island, and young Thurston was in stalled as a clerk in the British consu late. After a time tho king—Tbakomban I by nuine—appointed him prime min ister. - ml Special Inducements On Stoves, Heaters, Ranges, Grates, Et nov on eihibition tbe largest and, ever carried by any house in .Jtl some twenty-live different prices, and ve to have yon see them before you bay. VE ARE just in receipt of letters from several fon&riei il- vancing prices considerably, so ve think yonvtiM do well to buy before our present stock is eihiisttd. Cut Prices At J. I. Sarratts. I am now offering my entire stock at prices that will sell to anyos wanting goods, (tents’ low cut shoes 80c, Ladies’ 60c, Child* and up. -Men’s suits, new goods $2.00 and up, Pants 40c and up, C* feefilhs for $1. Sugar. Rice, Tea, Lard, Meat, Flour, and Tobacc* 1 BOTTOM PRICKS. California Hams He. Dove bra d 9c. Monasii tools, such as Shovels, Spades, Mattocks. Picks, Ac., cheaper than aa one in town. A few Straw Huts left at New York cost. Gent’a shin lOijc and up, Suspenders and up. Give me a cull when in town. Respectfully, . j. i. »A.i*i*A/rT.