Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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‘ '••' V I By Rev. Frank.De Witt Talmatfe, D. D. I.os Augeles, Cal., May 14—That th > ■ecrft of .success aud the causes of failure, moral and material, He In the foundations of character Is shown in this sermon. The text is Luke xiv, 30, “This man be^au to build and was not able to finish.” "What is the matter with yonder block of houses':” I asked one of my church officers some time ago when walking along the Chicago streets. “I came to this city at least four years ago. Then the walls were up. The floors in many of the houses were laid. The buildings then seemed almost ready for the plasterers. Why this vast amount of money lying idle? It must be worth at least $10,000 a year as interest. It would have been far better to have laid no foundation and erected no walls and allowed the land to be turned into a vegetable garden than to leave those buildings in that state.” “I know it,” answered my friend, “but the owner of those build ings overreached himself. When the buildings were half completed his mon ey ran out. Then, on account of his debts, all his properties were thrown by litigation into the city courts. Now 1 do not know what is to be the out come. Anyway, he cannot goon unless he gets out of his present difficulties. His property must still lie idle In this lueompleted form.”. ^ y MU® J IlC v Purpose of those two maflilnoth sheds?” I asked a naval friend some years ago while we were walking through the Brooklyn navy yard. “Why,” said be, “those are the sheds erected over two Immense bulls of half completed warships. During the civil war the navy department was building as many aud iis large ships as it could, but as soon as the Appo mattox peace agreement was signed ^ was ®topped upon these two ’Kassels. The government bad at that thile no use for them. Now they are tying there, rotting away. The wood will be used for nothing but kindling, as the plans upon which those keels were laid are already obsolete:” “Incomplete beginnings” were both the Chicago houses and the navy j’ard ships. We do not have to go clear back to pible times to find illustrations tor my text. We can see them every where around us in our present day and generation. We have a right\to draw new Illus trations juid up to date applications lor'tsift Sermonic theme. Indeed, the fresher and mure modernithe applica tions the better. The reason why this sludle of my text made an. overwhelm ing impression noon Chrkst’s hearers was that it was an object lesson near at hand. When Christ was seated Ir the. fishing smack upon the waters Lake Galileo and said, “Behold, r went out a sower to sow. lie fill upon the hillsides ovorhaiy lake and pointed to a facin' ing his seed upon the lie* east. In the same w»' J tliat when Christ spalF my text he points stnicted walls of o the governor, ha looking one r ducts, and P state. Tb' ject lesr comma' to it wo r Oi uere looked ing the or scatter- soil of Uie / legend tells .* these words of . to the half eon- tower which Pilate, d begun to build, over- jf the Jerusalem aque- ad left in an incompleted •re.it stood, n powerful ob- on, showing that what one .ices in life one should carry on full completion. So today I dd draw my illustrations from ,ery whither. I would tirxl Uiem iu Uie home, the store, the factory, iu the church and on the street. I would find them in your life as well as iu mine. Hull llullt Tower* of Life. The half built towers of life have a modern application In the average schoolroom education. /They can be found in the preparations with which many of us were sent forth to the struggle of life. They can especially be found In the smattering of French lessons and painting tuul music and aesthetic culture iu which some sisters and daughters are being dipped for a few inuuths a year on the principle that the mere outward color of the dye decides whether or no the garment is closely woven and of good wearing quality. They are the “incompleted be ginnings” of the schools aud colleges which often send a young man or a young woman forth Into the world knowing a little of everything and not any one study perfectly. They make Uieir students know a little of astrono my, a little of chemistry, a little of Greek, a HtUe of mathematics, a little of mythology, a little of architecture, a little of mechanics, a little of electric ity, a little of this, that and the other thing and yet not well versed In any one subject or along any one line of work. What true education should do Is to teach a man to do at least ono thing as well as any one else could do It and not to know many things poorly, “Jack of all trades Is master of none.” I would Illustrate my thought with a reference to a remarkable apee<*» which Charles Francis Adams delivered some years ago before the Phi Betta Kappa society of the Harvard university. The title of this address was “A College Fetich.” In it Mr. Adams denounced the absurd course of study which many colleges demand of student* In years of work over Greek and Latin and the classics, utterly ignoring practical atud Ins for everyday Ufa. "How did Har vard college prepare me and my nine ty-two classmates of the year 1H56 for oar work of life?” he a*ed. “In a& swerlug the question It la not er easy to preserve one's gmsitak B® college fitted us for this active, bus tling, hard biting, many tougued world, earing nothing for authority and little for the past, but full of its living thoughts aud living Issues, in dealing with which there was no man who did not stand iu pressing and constant need of every possible preparation as re spects knowledge mi l exactitude an;’, thoroughness—the poor old college pro pared us to play our parts in this world by compelling us, directly or indirectly, to devote the best part of our sclioaJ lives to acquiring a confessedly super ficial knowledge of two dead lan guages.” Such is the testimony of Charles Francis Adams in reference to one of the educational fetiches of our college life. Such, on a broader scale, are the fetiches in reference to the ed ucation of the average young man or woman of today. * Let us take the average young man on commencement day. College or school days are over. The foundation? of the educational towers have been laid. “Young man, what can you do?- asks the hard headed world. “Are you an expert in any one line? Are you a capable mining engineer? Are you a first class advertising agent? Can you sol) goods? Are you an authority as a real estate man? What can j'ou do?'- “Nothing,” says the young man. “i am willing to do anything, hut I do not know a trade. I have not become pro ficient in any one line of work. But ( am willing to do what I am told to do.” “Tliat Is not enough. To he willing is not necessarily to be capable. What can you do?” The Wheel of Fortune. The wheel of fortune turns. The daughters, brought up In luxury, have to go out and make a living. Can you cook? Are you an Expert stenogra pher? Have you papers which siguii.v that you ore a weli trained nurse or schoolteacher or dressmaker? fbfl enough of an authonty*~ou French io tie&fiiJT'a translato^’W^tW^OT’t proofreader, jt master Jiand as a mu sician 6r a~caliable artist? The ques tions which face you, O woman, are these: "What can yon do thoroughly aud well? Oh what subject can you speak as an A1 authority?” Half built towers are uninhabitable houses. Half built ships are absolutely useless to brave the tornadoes of the Atlantic ocean. What can you do? What can you do? What one tiling can you do as well as if not better than any one else? But the half built educational tow ers are not to be condemned o'early as much as the deserted, half \f u ut enter prises of life which we see' everywhere: around us. It was onIy/ jure . uul there that a man or woman/ m the liast had an opportunity to g* u coml> i e te edu ration. The higher ~ choo \* of our fa thers and mother 4 weru fevv and far betw.een. Bestf ^ ^ even lf there Avere fine )Js ln the I)a8t all chil- | dren were t0 g 0 t u them. Per- haps you * voro like my grandfather. iri i f oWest of a large family of cnimrw iio ha( , tQ . 8tay at home and T. r ,-ork the farm that the younger ^ .hers of the family might have jugli bread to eat and enough cloth ag to wear. Thus the only education you received outside o€ the three It s was out of the “University of Hard Knocks.” Km in spite of t ills lirtodicap, my friend, you have, a good mind, a good body and you have had a good many of the essential capabilities of success. Now, why have you been such a failure? Why is your life In its uselessness to bo likened unto that half built tower which Pilate, the governor, erected and toward which Christ point ed when ho spoke the words of my text? I Avill tell the reason. You went to work and worked hard. You de veloped yourself along one line. You laid your foundations; you partly com pleted your Avails, but Just when yon were about to complete your work and Avin success you deserted the line of Avork you were following and went to dig in some other field to build another kind of tower. Dta Xot Stick to It. Is not this emphatically true with you in business? What are you doing today? “Oh.” you answer, “I am in the mining business. Some of my friends and myself have a dozen claims up iu the neAV gold fields. I am bound soon to be rich. There is no doubt about it. We are Avithin a quarter of a mile of one mine Avhere they have taken out $1,000,000 In one year. We are on the same vein or line of ore. We are hound to get rich. Will you take some stock iu our mine? You can get rich too.” No, l thank you. In the first place, I have no money to Invest; In the sec ond. if I had I would not invest it in your mine. You are almost certain to make a failure out of It. If there is no gold there, then, of course, you can- [ inhabit, not get “blood out of a turnip.” If | there Is any gold there you will let go of It before you develop that mine properly. Some one else will get the profits. IIoav do I know? Why, that ins been your record for twenty-five years. In the last quarter of u century you hn\’C dabbled In at least ten differ ent businesses, at any one of which you could have made a success if you bad only stuck to it. For five years you worked a ranch or a farm. After those live years you said: “There is no need of me burying my talents here. I must get out into some other business Avbore I can make s »n e money.” You g it out. How is It with the man who bought your place? He has made a success on your farm because he put his brains into It and developed it and ran it along the linos It could pay. After you left the farm you went Into the real estate business. Then what avhs the matter? “Ob,” you say, “there was no money in the real estate business. I got out of that very soon.” Yes, you speak the truth. There was no money In the real estate business for yoa. You are sure of making a failure ut everything. But there tvas money and there is money In the real estate business for the man who t -ok your offices. He bad no more cnpltol to Mart with than you had, but he hunt; on until at last the financial tide turned his Avay. Today he is one of the wealthy men of this city. Then you faiied as a life insurance agent. Next you failed as a book publisher. Then you failed as a commercial traveler. You have failed at everything you touched. Yet men no brainier tiian you who followed you have made suc cesses in every one of these lines. You dug your foundations; you erected one- fourth, one-half, two-thirds, three- fourths of your Avails. Then you said; “Let the unfinished towers stand. I am too discouraged to climb any high er. I Avill go aud dig elscAvhere.” But I Avould not halt here. The com pleted towel’s of life ar^clue to grip and grit. They are dice to more than that. Their foundation stones, their ex cavations, their Avails, are budded by character as Avell. Many a man has had all the proper mental preparation for life and perseverance enough iu his makeup to tear down a stone Avail with his bare fingers if it were possible for him so to do. But, on the other band, many a man has lost ail simply be cause his character could not stand the test of truth and justice. No matter how strong and stanch a ship may be. if it has no rudder that ship becomes a plaything of every current and u menace to all ships sailing the seas. No matter how sAvift a locomotive, if it has no indicator to its boiler that engine Is momentarily iu danger of blowing up. No matter how high the trails of a tower lift themselves, ir those walls are^not erected on a solid base and ill a straight line they are in danger of toppling over. What the rud der is to the ship, the indicator to the engine, the plumb line to the mason building the wall, character is to man. It is his ballast, ids sheet anchor, Ins safety valve, his protector, his all. A Sad Example. Let me illustrate my thought by the sad and yet brilliant life of one of the greatest statesmen England cA’er pro duced. Charles James Fox was one of the greatest geniuses who ever stood in the British house of commons. At twenty-one years of age he was ranked among the ablest delmters and at thir ty had not superior or equal In all Eu rope. But, though at times he Avas Uie most applauded man in Europe, yet he neA’er could avIu the coufidence of Uie l»eople. They admired his Intellect, but they could not trust bi« heart. His dally custom was to rise Just In time to stroll down to the parliament house. “There nightly,” as a contemporary wrote, “he would build up a chain of arguments for a bill he Avas attacking greater and more powerful than any of bis adversaries coukl forge. Then he would tear these arguments to pieces as though they were cotton threads." Read his speeches on the impeachment of Warren Hastings. Rend his mas terpiece on the “Rejection of Napo leon’s Overtures.” After parliament adjourned then Avould come a round of debauch. Gambling wiUi him was a mad passion. He was both spendthrift aud libertine. “How can he guard his king’s finances,” asked the people, “when he cannot protect his own pock- etbook?” Charles James Fox had ev ery qualification to make himself the political dictator of Europe saA-e the single essential of character, the lack of Avhich destroyed his whole career for practical good. But you do not have to go back to history to proA’c the truth of my state ment that character is one of the great est builders of the towers of life and that Avithout true character those tow ers are always loft in a half completed stage. Who was the most brilliant young man of your school days Avitb whom you wore associated ? Tafl, hand some, fine looking he was. IIis brain became a perfect repository of facts. While you had to sAveat ami plod an! groan over your studies he see me ’. t > absorb bis at a glance. On the football tidd or the baseball diamond he was ; the school’s star athlete. The girls all ! flattered him. -The young men ran aft er him. Rut no one could trust him. 1 Ho Avas not a true man. “Oh.” said the j world, “Winfred will go right to the i front in life. Success is sure to be his.” Was it? No sooner had he left school a few years than his name got mixed up with some shady transactions. With | all his brains and ability, Avhat became i of him? 1 know and you know. He is ! dead now, a suicide; or he is living, a 1 social outcast; or he Is begging and cheating his Avay through life. Oh. the magnificent ruins of the half completed tOAvers of life avo see everywhere around us! Those towers should have j been citadels for defense and safety. , They are mere dungeons for the oavIs and the hats and the vermin of sin to A Fatnl Gift. But is there no direct lesson from this characterless tower for the women as AA’ell as the men? How is It, O woman, with the most brilliant friend of your childhood days? You see her noAv, a perfect dream of beauty. As a little girl her t^eth Avere a collection of priceless pearls. When she laughed all the sunshine of the heavens seemed to dance in her blue eyes. Her dimples looked like the eddies In the surface of a mountain brook. Her hair could be likened unto nuggets of gold were It not for the fact that, like that of Mir iam of old, each curl had dancing feet that never kept still. Her hands were perfect bunds, her feet perfect feet. Then her mind—It was so clear and bright and sparkling and witty and resourceful! What became of her? Where is she? You mention her name now with hushed lips aud downcast eyes. Thoasp of sin placed one fatal fang about one side of her heart and another fang about the other side of her beuit and bit until she died. She destroyid her own life. Yes. but, like Cleopatra, she not only destroyed an Antony, but the moral IR’ch of scores of other men who would today have been noble hus bands aud fathers and honored cIUmj s of this commonwealth but for her ovU Influence. Lack of true moral charac ter destroyed her. Ah. yes, brain pow er and perseverance alone do not build the strong, high towers of life. If AA’e do not admire Satan Ave must at least, as a speaker once said, “grant that he is persevering.” Tills parable was spoken by Christ to teach a spiritual lesson as well as a temporal one. If to make a great earthly success we must consecrate our brains, our, bodies and life to that par ticular work, how much more, then, must we consecrate our mimls and hearts to Jesus Christ to help in the spiritual work of upbuilding his king dom? If we must have preparation and perseverance and true moral worth to build the Avails of a temporal tower, bow much more must we have true preparation and perseverance and mor al character to build the walls of our spiritual structure? “If any man,” says Christ in the verse preceding this par able, “bate not his father^nd mother and Avlfe and children and brethren and sisters -yea, and his own life also—he cannot be my disciple.” That means “if a man is Lot willing to give up all for Christ then Christ can be none of his.” Are you and I ready to make this sacrifice, to build our spiritual watch- tOAvers today? Are avc ready to make the necessary preparations? Perseverance In Bnlldfnar. We opened this sermon behind the schoolroom desk of the teacher. Are you and I ready to go aud sit at Christ’s feet and learn of him? Are we ready to accept his teachings and re- coiA-e him as our Saviour? Christ says. “He that belleveth and Is baptized shall be saved, but he that belie\'eth not shall be damned.” He says again. “I am the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me.” Are. not Christ’s words clear enough upon this subject? Are we ready to make the necessary prepara tions for the building of our spiritual watchtowors by becoming one with him through the atonement of the cross? Having accepted Christ after we haA-e laid the foundations of our watch- toAvers. are Ave going to persevere in the building? We have read that Thomas A. Edison becomes so absorb ed Avhen working on a great Invention that he will shut himself up in bis lab oratory and stay there for days and Aveeks. He will not leave his office even for his meals, but has them brought to him. We have been told that when George Westinghouse was perfecting his famous car brake he could talk about nothing else. When be walked along the Pittsburg streets and would meet a friend out of bis poc ket at once would come the patent. On the street he would talk and talk to prove tliat his brake Avas feasible. We have read Iioav the great workers, the great inventors, the great artists, those who have won the great success es of the Avorld. haA-e thought nothing of giving up ten. twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years of perseverance to the ac complishment of their life’s purpose. Shall we no. L Avillin ' ti gh"* tli * su ue perseverance io the of C rist ? Lastly, w<‘ mist o er t» JestM in >re than proper preparation aud persever ance. Can Ave bring to h!s service a true character or a spotless moral life? Ah, I think this last is the rub with many of ns! Y'*e reason our spiritual towers are only half completed is that AA’e are not wil'fng to give up out pet sins. Tli" you n ye r Plinv wrote a strange, weird account of the tribe of Psylll. They 'rei’c immune to the poi son of sicle tiles because all ir lives they were accustomed to handle these poisonous serpents as pets. They fondled tham : od "'.'t them t> ole with their ii.tle children. W1 on one of their ambassador.i, H xagon by name, came to Rome to prove to the consuls tliat no po! c ’fr’>us serpent cov'd kill him, he alioA ed hi useli to be placed in a lied surrounded by swarms of wrig gling, dfrath dealing adders. But, though Hexagon could sleep among poisonous porp'mts, no true Christina can build a spiritual watehtoAver with the poison ous serpent of sin clasped around his breast and heart. Are you ready, O man, to give up that sin, that pet sin. for Christ? Are you ready to offer to Jesus Christ the tribute of a purr* life? This Is a call from God to you. In the far east the Mohammedan mosques are flanked by minarets, or taM watch- tOAvers. There at certain hours of the day the priests come, aud upon these watch towers they cry aloud: "Come to prayers! Come to prayers! All ye chil dren, come to prayers!'* Then the Mo hammedans, no matter where they may be, Avbetber as Arabs In the des- i ert, princes and princesses in their pal- | aces, merchants in their streets or la borers In the streets, kneel, bow their heads to the ground and pray. Oh, my friends, shall the call of the Moham medan priests In the minarets of the far east have a more potent Influence over Mohammed’s disciples than this call of service aud consecration which Christ makes to us? Will you offer to Christ your heart? Will you give to him your unremitting service? Will you come to him Avlth clean hands and a clean, moral life? [Copyright, 1906, by Louis Klopsch.] K The High Mark of Cl< K s. Oriffob jlraixi A If you want good looks and good wear, get an ALL * AY OOL SI IJ. Our GRIFFON BRAND suits are all W v ool and the wear is guaranteed to give satisfaction. £ We have them in Blue Serges, Grey Worsteds, Black w I hibets, L nfinished W orsteds, Single or Double Breasted, ^ at prices that are lowest. :: :: :; ;: ^ SHOES, SHOES. We handle the very best fact- ory lines of shoes and have a full stock to select from. t We can save you money on your Shoes, Hats, Dry Goods. ^ MILLINERY . New’ stock of Millinery just received. Lipscomb, Goudelock & Comp’y. You Want A Buggy? •Tf> If so, call and consult us. We have just received a car load of Anchor Buggies, Phaetons and Surreys—and have them on exhibition on our second floor—and be fore you buy come aud let us show you through our stock. Our Buggies have the vest body for holding a top of any Buggy on the market, and this is the thing you want when you buy a top Buggy. Yours truly, R. M. Wilkins Hdw. Co., Gaffney, S. C. The Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company. THE LEADING ANNUAL DIVIDEND COMPANY OF AMERICA MR. JONES J. DARBY, AGENT. IT SELLS ENDOWMENTS AT LIFE RATES GAFFNEY, S. C. HAS NEVEK WHITTEN A “TONTINE" Policy NO STOCKHOLDERS The Gaffney City Land and Improvement Co. Offers'.for sale- Building Lots in this flourishing town, Gaffney; also Farms ne Wand in reach of the Schools of Limestone Springs and of this place, in lots of SO to 100 acres on liberal time rates; also Agricultural Lands to rent for FarmSpurposes For full part*' ularslapply to J. V. SARRATT, Agent. N. B.—All persons are forbidden to enter on. walk or ride through or over the lands of thla company, cutting andlremovlng'ltlmber or fishing, hunting, under penalty of law. The TelcKraph In Africa. According to German papers, the tel egraph line which Is to run from the Cape of Good Hope to Cairo, the length of the continent of Africa, has reached from the south Udsbklshl, on the shores of the Tanganyika lake, In German Bast Africa. A survey is now to be made to find the hint connecting route with the north. Considerable difficulty will have to bo overcome, as a swamp 100 miles In length exists north of T’d- Hhldshl, wIh ~e It will be very difficult to run a redablo air line. It was In tended to r n around this swamp, but now It lias been determined to utilise wireless telegraphy for communication across. Wireless telegraphy, however, would probably lie only a temporary affair, as tne wireless telegraph ap pears to be unreliable In tte always contains all the latest local and foreign news. Subscribe now $1.00 AH kinds of Job Work d “ ne at ”‘ e ****" office neatly and at pricea commensurate 1 with high grade work Try us.