THE DAILY HERALD: PLAlw
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A
HAPPINESS AT II03IE.
Zy. DR. TALMAGE
TKE BROOKLYN
v
DISCOURSES AT
TABERNACLE.
altli the (Grandest Luiuiy Olvm to Mitn.
' - -Ilnpplneiwi Not
'A. jC'trcu instance
lrp-iilnt on Outward
"GodllneM with Con-
fitment I Great Gain."
- "jiOOKLYX, July 15. The Rev. T. De
Witt Talmage, D. D.f took for his sub
ject today: 'In Gool Humor w ith Our
Circumstances." His text was Hebrews
xiii, 3: "lie content with bucIi tilings as
ye have. " Tlic great preacher's discourse
was as follows:
If I bIiouM a.sk pome one, ""Where is
Brooklyn today?" he would say, "At
Brighton IVach, or East Hampton, or
Shelter Island." "Where is New York
today?" "At Loup; Branch." "Where
Philadelphia?" "Capo Mar." "Where
is iJoston?" "At Martha's Vineyard."
"Where is Virginia?" "At the Sulphur
Springs." "Where the great multitude
from all parts of the land?" "At
Saratoga," tho modern ISethcsda, where
the angel of health is ever stirring the
writers. But, my friends, tho larg-st
multitude afro at home, detained by
business circumstances. Among
them all nowsiaer men, tho hardest
worked and tho least compensated; citj'
railroad employes, and ferry masters,
ami the police and. the tens cf thousands
of clerks and merchants waiting for their
turn of alsence, and households with an
invalid who cannot le moved, ami others
hindered by stringent circumstances, and
the great multitude of well-to-do people
who stay at home because they like
home letter than any other place, refus
ing to go away simply because it is the
fashion to go. When tho express
wagon, with its mountain of trunks di
rected to tho Catskills or'Niagara, goef
through the streets, we btan.l at our win
dow envious and impatient, and wonder
why wo cannot go as well as others.
Fools that we are, as though one could
not be as happy at home as anywhere
else. Our grandfathers and grandmothers
had as gotd a time as we have, long be
fore tho first spring was bored at Sara
toga or the first deer shot in the Adiron
dacks. They made their wedding tour
to the next farm house, or, living in New
York, they celebrated tho event by mi
f xtra walk on tho Battery.
Kow the genuine American Is not
happv until he is going somewhere, and
the passion is so great that there are
Christian people with their families do
tainetl in the city, who come not to the
house of God, trying to give jieoplc the
idea that they are out of town; leaving
the doorplate unscoured for the same
reason, and for two months keeping
the front shutters closed while they
tit In the back pait of the
iCu;-e, the thermometer at ninety!
My friends, if it is best for us to go, le$
lis go and le happy. If it is best for lis
to stay at homo, let us stay at home and
be happy. There is a great deal of good
common sense in Paul's advice to the
. Hebrews: "Bo content with such things
r.s ye have." To be content is to be in
good humor with our circumstanced, not
picking a quarrel with our oliscurity, or
...k.t poverty, our social position.
There are four or five grand reasons why
we should be content with such things as
f.vo have,
Jng to this spirit advised in the text, is
the consideration that the poorest of us
n vo all that is indispensable in life. We
nnkc a great ado alout our hardships,
but how little we talk of our blessings.
Health of body, which is given in largest
quantity to those who have never leen
pitted, and fondled, ami spoiled by for
tune, we take as a matter of course.
P:ithor have this luxury, and have it
olonr, than, without h, look out of a
palace window upon parks of deer
stalking between fountains and statu
ary. These ioople sleep sounder
on a straw mattress than fashionable in
valids on a couch of ivory and eagles'
down. The dinner of herbs tastc3 better
to the appetite sharpened on a wood
man's ax or a reaper's scythe thai
wealthy indigestion experiences seated at
a table covered with partridge, and ven
ison, and pineapple. Tho grandest lui-
iry God ever gave a man is health. He
who trades that oir for all the palaces of
the earth is infinitely cheated. We look
back at tho glory of the J;i-t NaioUoi,.
but who would have taken his Versailles
and his Tuileries if with them we had
l-een obliged to take his gout? "Oh,"
savs some one, 'it isn't the grosser pleas
ures I covet, but it is the gratification of
an artistic and intellectual taste." Why,
my brother, you have tho original from
which these pictures are copied.
What is a sunset on a wall compared
with a 6uuset hung in loops of fire on the
heavens? What is a cascade silent on a
canvas compared with a cascade that
makes the mountain tremble, its spray
ascending like the departed spirit of the
water slain on the rocks? Oh, there is a
great deal of hollow affectation about a
fondness for pictures on the part of those
who never appreciate tho original from
which the pictures are taken. As though
a parent snouiu iiao noTegan.
narent should have noTcgaru lor ins
child, but co into ecstasies over its photo-
H 1 . , V ,t t : i., . i,
woman: mat iuouku uu nun w ut
out from the works o: a church, a icr
stadt, a Rubens, and a Raphael, you still j
have free access to a gallery grander thm
the IiOuvre, or the Luxemburg, or tho
Vatican the royal gallery of the noon
day heavens, the King's gallery of the
inidnight sky.
Another consideration leading us to a ;.
Fpirit of contentment is the fact that our
happiness is not dependent upon outward -j.
circumstances. You sec people happy ;
and miserable amid all circumstances-j
In a family where tho last loaf is on the '
table, and the last stick of wood on the j
lire, you sometimes find a cheerful con- j
lidencc in God, while in a very fine place
you will see and hear discord sounding j
btr war whoop, and hospitality freezi:.;; I
to death in a cheerless parlor. I stopped !
one day on Broadway at the head of Wall i
street, at the foot of Trinity church, to :
see who seemed the happiest people iass
ir.g. I judged from their looks (
the happiest people wre not those who :
went down into Wall street, for the-y had
on their brow the anxiety of the dollar
they expected, to make; nor tho people
whocamo out of Wr.l- street, for they
haJ on their brow the anxiety of the doi
- lar Uiey had lct; nor the people who
Bwept by in splendid equipage, for they
met a carriage that was finer than theirs.
The happiest jierson In all that crowd,
judging from tho countenance, was tho
woman who sat at tho apple stand knit
ting. I believe real happiness oftener
looks out of tho window of on humble
home than through the opera glass of tho
gilded box of a theater.
I find Nero growling on a throne. " I
find Paul singing in a dungeon. I find
King Ahab going to bed at noon through
melancholy, w hile near by is Naboth con
tented in the iossession of a vineyard.
Hainan, prime minister of Persia, frets
himself almost to death because a poor
Jew will not tip his hat; and Ahithophel,
one of the greatest lawyers of Bible times,
through fear of dying, hangs himself.
Tho wealthiest man, forty years ago, in
New York, when congratulated over his
large ebtate, replied: "Ah! you don't
know how much trouble I have in taking
care of it." Byron declared in his last
hours that he had never seen
more than twelve happy days in
all his life. I do not lielieve he
had seen twelve minutes of thorough
satisfaction. Napoleon I said: "I turn
with disgust from the cowardico and
selfishness of man. I hold life a horror;
death is rejiose. What I have suffered
the last twenty days is lieyond human
comprehension." While, on the other
hand, to show how one may lie happy
under the most disadvantageous circum
stances, just after tho Ocean Monarch
had leeii wrecked in the English chan
nel, a steamer was cruising along in tho
darkness, when the captain heard a song,
a sweet song, coming over the water,
and he bore down toward that voice, and
found it was a Christian woman on a
plank of the wrecked steamer, singing to
the tune of St. Martin's:
Jesus, lover of my soul.
I't me to thy bosom fly,
WMle Uie billons near me roll.
While the tempest still is high.
The heart right toward God and man,
we are happy. The heart wrong toward
God and man, we are unhappy.
Another reason why we should come
to this spirit inculcated iix tho text is the
fact that all the differences of earthly
condition are transitory. The houses
you build, tho land you culture, the
places in which you barter, are soon to
go into other hands. However hard you
may have it now, if you are a Christian
the scene will soon end. Pain, trial, per
secution never knock at the door of the
grave. A coffin made out of pine loards
is just as good a resting place ns one
made out of silver mounted mfthofffl"'
or rosewood. Go 1qv? among" the
resting places 7f tho dead, and
you will find that though people
the-VG liad a great difference of
worldly circumstances, now the' are all
alike unconscious. The hand that greeted
tno benator, nnd the president, and the
king' is still as the hand that hardened on
the mechanic's hamtnex or the manu
facturer's wl,eel. It does not make any
dilference now, whether there is a plain
stone aljove them from which the trav
eler pulls aside the weeds to lead the
name, or a tall shaft springing into the
heavens as though to tell hir vutue to
tho skies,
tu that silent land there are no titles
for great men, and there aro no i nmb
lings of chariot wheels, and there is never
heard the foot of the dance. Tho
Egyptian guano which is thrown on the
fields in the east for the enrichment of
the soil, is tho dust raked out from tho
sepulchers of kings and lords and mighty
men. O the chagrin of those men if they
had ever known that in the after ages of
the world they would have been called
Egyptian guano.
Of how much worth now is tho crown
of Ccesar? Who bids for it ? Who cares
now anything about the Amphictyonio
council or the laws of Lycurgus? Who
trembles now because Xerxes crossed the
llcllesjont on a bridge of boats? Who
feavs because Nebuchadnezzar thunders
at the gates of Jerusalem? Who cares
now whether or not Cleopatra marries
Antony? Who crouches lief ore Ferdi
nand, or Boniface, or Alaric? Can Crom
well dissolve the English parliament now?
Is William, prince of Orange, king of
the Netherlands? No, no! However
much Elizabeth may love the Russian,
crown, she must pass it to Peter, and
Peter io Catherine, and Catherine to
Paul, and Paul to Alexander, and Alex
ander to Nicholas. Leopold put the Ger
man scepter into the hand of Joseph, and
Philip comes down off tho Spanish
throne to let Ferdinand go on. House
of Aragon, house of Hamburg, house of
Stuart, house of Bourbon, quarreling
about everything else, but agreeing in
this: "Tho fashion of this world
passcth away." But have all these dig
nitaries gone? Can they not lxj called
back? I have been in assemblages where
I have heard the roll called, and many
distinguished men have answered. If I
should call the roll today of some of those
mighty ones who have gone, I wonder if
they would not answer. I will call the
roll. I will call the roll of the kings
first: Alfred the Great! William the
Conqueror! Frederick 11! Louis XVI!
No answer. I will call the roll of the
poets: Poliert Southey ! Thomas Camp
bell! John Keats! George Crable! Robert
Burns! No answer. 1 call the roll of
artists: Michael Angelo! Paul Veronese!
William Turner! Christopher Wren! No
i answer. Eves closed. Ears deaf. Laps
i ., , - , , . , ,, , ?,
silent. Hands palsied,
lien, sword, put down
Scepter, pencil,
forever. Why
should we struggle for such baubles?
Another reason why we should culture
this spirit of cheerfulness is the fact that
God knows what is best for his creatures.
You know what is best for vour child.
He thinks you are not as liberal with
him as you "ought to be. He criticises
your discipline, but you look over the
whole field, and you, loving that child,
do what in your deliberate judgment is
best for him. Now, God is the best of
fathers. Sometinies his children think,
that he is hard on them, and that he is
not as liberal with them as ho might be.
But children do not know as much as a
father. I can tell you why you are not
largely affluent, and why you have not
been grandly successful. It is because
you cannot 6tand the temptation. If
your path hael been smooth, you would
have depended upon your own surefoot
edness; but God roughened that path, 60
you have to take hold of his hand. If
the. weather had been mild, you would
have loitered along the water courses;
but at the first howl of the storm you
quickened your pace heavenward, and
wrapped arouud you the warm robe of a
Saviour's righteousness. "What have I
done?" says the wheatsheaf to the farmer,
"what havo I done, that you beat me so
hard with your flail?" The farmer
makes no answer, but the rake takes off
tho straw, and tho mill blows the chaff
to tho wind, and tho golden grain falls
down at the foot of the windmill. After
a while, tho straw looking down from
tho mow upon the golden grain banked
up on either side tho floor, understands
why the farmer beat tho wheatsheaf
with the flail.
Who are those before the throne? Tho
answer came: "These are they who, out
of great tribulation, had their robes
washed and made white in tho bJood of
tho Lamb." Would God that we could
understand that our trials aro tho very
lx?st thing for us. If wo had an appreci
ation of that truth, then wo should know
why it was that John Noyra, tho mart3-r,
in the very midst of the flame reached
down and picked up one of tho fagots
that was consuming him, and kissed it,
and said: "Blessed bo God for the time
when I was bom to this pieferment."
They who suffer with him on earth shall
le glorified with him in heaven. Be
content, then, with such things as you
have.
Another consideration leading us to
the spirit of the text is the assurance
that tho Lord will provide some-how.
Will ho who holds tho waler in the hol
low of his hand allow his children to
dio of thirst? Will ho who owns the
cattle on a thousand hills, and all the
earth's luxuriance of grain and fruit,
allow his children to starve? Go out to
morrow morning at 5 o'clock into the
wotxls and hear tho birds chant. They
have had no breakfast, they know not
where they will dine, they have no idea
where they will sup; but hear the birds
chant at 5 o'clock in the morning. "Be
hold tho fowls of tho air; for they
sow not, neither tlo they reap nor
gather into barns, yet your heav
enly Father fecdeth them. Aro you not
much better than they?" Seven thou
sand people in Christ's time went into the
desert. They were the most improvi
dent people ever heard of. They de
served to starve. They might have taken
food enough to last them until they got
back. Nothing did they tfiky. A Lid,
who had more wit than all cf them put
togethey, asked his mother that morning
for some loaves of bread and some Wishes.
They were put into his saphel. Ho went
out into the desert. Frm this praviRiilii
.1.- il. . .1 M i -
more thevatetho Lu-- ' , ' "a 1 e
until tl.-V ' ' - ' w,e ,oas grew
i,UL" rxovision that the boy brought
in one sachel was multiplied so he
could not havo carried tho fragments
home in six sachels. "O," you 6ay,
"times have changed, and the day of
miracles has gone." I reply that, what
God did then by miracles, he does now
in some either way, and by natural laws.
"I havo been young," said David, "but
now I am old; yet have I never seen the
righteous forsaken nor his seed lagging
bread." It is high time that you people
whe are fretting about worldly circum
stances, and who aro fearing you are
coming to want, understood that the
oath of tho eternal God is involved in tho
fact that you aro to have enough to eat
and to wear.
Again, I remark that tho religion of
Jesus Christ is the grandest influence to
make a man contented. Indemnity
against all financial and spiritual harm !
It calms tiie spirit, dwindles the earth
into insignificance and swallows up the
soul with the thought of heaven. O ye,
who have leen going about from place
to place expecting to find in change of
circumstances something to give solace
to the troubled spirit, I commend you
this morning to the warm hearted, ear
nest, practical, common sense religion of
tho Lord Jesus Christ. "There is no
peace, saith my God, for the wicked,"
and as long as you continue in your sin
you will be miserable. Come to Christ.
Make him your portion, and start for
heaven, and you will be a happy man
you will be a happy woman.
Yet, my friends, notwithstanding all
these inducements to a spirit of content
ment, I have to tell you this morning the
human race is divided into two classes
those who scold and thoso who get
scolded- Tho carpenter wants to be
anything but a carpenter, and the mason
anything but a mason, and the banker
anything but a banker, and the lawyer
anything but a lawyer, and the minister
anything but a minister, and everybody
would be happy if he were only some
body else. The anemone wants to be a
sunilower, and tho apple orchards throw
down their blossoms because they are not
tall cedars, and the scow wants to be a
schooner, and the sloop would like to be
a seventy -four pounder, and parents have
the worst children that ever were, and
everybody has the greatest misfortune,
and everything i3 upside down, or going
to be. Ah! my friends, you never make
any advance through such a spirit as
that. You cannot fret yourself up; you
may fret yourself down. Amid all this
grating of tones I strike this string of the
Gospel harp: "Godliness with content
ment is great gain. We brought nothing
into the world, and it is very certain we
can carry nothing out; having food and
raiment let us therewith be content."
Let us all remember, if we are Chris
tians, that we are going after awhile,
whatever be our circumsiances now, to
have a glorious vacation. As in sum
mer we put off our garments and go
down into the cool sea to bathe, so we
will put off these garments of flesh and
step into the cool Jordan. We will look
around for some place to. lay down our
weariness; and the trees will say: "Come
and rest under our shadow;" and the
earth will say: "Come and sleep in my
bosom;" and the winds will sayj
"Hush! while I sing thee a eradlo
hymn;" and while six strong men
carry us out to our last resting place,
and ashes come to ashes and. dust
to dust, wo will see two scarred feet
standing amid t,he broken soil, anel a
lacerated brow bending over the open
grave, while a voice, tender with all af
fection and mighty with all omnipotence,
will declare: "I am the resurrection and
the life ; he that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live," Com
fort one another with these words. .
A southern woman who took a con-
tract for splitting rails, and without help
of any land cut and split 400 a week,
did not spend much time arguing upon
the proper position of woman. SXie had
a family to support, and worked up to
the full measure ojftercapacit!T!
DAUGHTERS OF EVE.
Newspaper Kote Concerning tho
Fair
- Sex Personal Comment.
A two-and-a-half-year-old daughter of
Levy, tho conietist, shows extraordinary
talent for music.
Mrs. Charles Mason, of Fitchburg,
Mass., is tho author of "Do They Misi
Me at Home?"
Mrs. Dr. Smith has contributed $12,000
for the purpose of constructing a "play
house" for the uso of the children of
Newark, N. J., who have no place but
the streets to play in.
Mrs. Mary Maies Dodge, now slightly
past middle age, is still youthful in ap-jx-aranco
ami spirits. Her "Hans
Brinker" is almost as popular in England
as in this country, and furnishes a mate
rial part of her income.
Mrs. Stanford, the wife of tho rich
senator from California, has just en
dowed another $1,000 bed, making eight
in all, in different charitable institutions
in Washington. She has endowed about
sixty-six such beds in California, and
probably a hundred more in various parts
of tho country.
Tewfik Pasha's sister, tho wife of Man
sur Pasha, is described as having in
herited the artistic tastes and bound"
less extravagance of her father, Ismail
Pasha. She is said to bo inextricably in
volved in debt, and to have placed Iter
finest jewels as pledges in tho banks of
Alexandria. Tho statement, however,
that she owes 30,000 francs tn her cigar
ette account ought perhaps to be ac
cepted with some ;;!f.ir-(v.
Mile, Gabrielle Dumontet is today per
haps the most distinguished young wo
man in France. At tho recent examina
tions in medicine and surgery, under the
auspices of tho Women's Union of
France, she gained the first prize and was
awarded the medal and diploma of honor.
Besides being unusually proficient in her
profession und scientific studies, slio is
an accomplished linguist, musician and
painter, and a brilliant woman in so
ciety. Alice French is tho veritable name of
the lady who, writes for the magazines
over the signature of "Octave Thanet,"
She has Mayflower blood in her vcin '
and is tho daughter of Judge Freu- e
Davenport. Ia She saYs- - r mhoA
ood " S -&m lt'U the (,uth in a3
ooii inplo English as I can pick
lhis is goou as lar as it goes, juiss
French, it is said, has lately been study
ing character and life on an Arkansas
plantation.
"Princess Lelitia Bonaparte," says a
writer in The American Register, "is a
tall and beautiful woman, and there is a
possibility that sho may become the
queen of Itah'. I havo seen it recenty
asserted I know not with how much
truth that tho present crown prince of
Italy is not very strong and has not, hu
manely spcakintr, a very long leaso of
life. However that may be, tins is sure,
that somo sudden accident (which may
Heaven avert!) might e-asily take off
King Humbert and his son. Then it
would be that Prince Amadeo would be
the rightful heir to the throne of Italy,
ind his spouse would be the queen of
Italy."
Mme. Pauline Lucca will make a pro
fessional visit to the United States in the
fall. It has been a great many years
since Mme. Lucca was heard in this
country, but her voice will have to have
lost a great deal if it fails to attract large
audiences if she is heard In "Faust" or
"La Favorita. " After her last visit to
this country Mme. Lucca went home and
bought a farm, where she rested for a
while and raised pigs and chickens; and
sho hopes soon to return to the same
pastoral occupation. It is the dream of
every prima donna who ever trod the
boards to ono elay retire to a fa.im. Italy
is strewn with farming piime donne,
who find a great charm in contrasting
their past with their present life.
Mrs. Harriet Beccher Stowo now
scarcely weiglis more than 100 pounds,
and is not much larger than a good sized
1 2-year-old girl. Her face is most expres
sive, and always bears a gentlo and
kindly look. Her thin gray hair is neatly
arranged over a broad and thoughtful
brow, beneath which aro eyes that al
ways twinkle merrily when she speaks
of a subject cf interest. Her mouth is
more expressive than any other feature.
It constantly speaks, though no word is
spoken. She enjoys a good joke at all
times, and laughs loud and long when
one ia fastened on herself by her children
or intimate friends. She say3 that since
the war she has spent eighteen winters
in her southern home, and had met all
classes and conditions of southern people,
but they had all treated her with tho ut
most cordiality and courtcousness, with
but very few exceptions.
M'eury of Iligli Alt.
It's getting very hard for a plain man
of ordinary, every day, practical tastes
to get on in the world now. When he
comes to the city and expects to see the
sights he is taken to picture galleries and
theatres with strong French plays in
progress and to bric-a-brac exhibitions.
A simple, honest countryman was taken
to a picture gallery and a violent and
nersistent effort made to ntprtn?'n liim
with a subject he did not care about.
They showed him around tho gallery,
they expatiated on the great pictures,
tiie superb art, and all that sort of thing.
He said notbiDg until he reached a win
dow which looked out on the street.
Then, as a horse car went rattling by, ho
turned wearily to his artistic; friend and
Eaid: "What kind of axla grease do
they uso in tbia town?" Saa Francisco
Chronicle,-
A Caution to Corregpondents.
Under the recent act of congress ap
proveel by the president, any envelope,
wrapper or postal card containing on the
outside anything which reflects injuri
ously upon the person addressed, or any
one else, or upon liis character or con
duct, or is plainly calculated and in
tendeel to injure lus feelings or reputa
tion, or bring him into discredit, or
which threatens him, will be excluded
from the mails. Anything in the nature
of an offensive or threatening dun ap
parent upon an envelope, outside cover
or postal card, or conveying tho sug
gestion that such dun is inclosed, will be
excluded as non-mailable under thi3 act.
New Orleans Times-Democrat.
AVolapuk club has been formed at
"Walla Walla, Wy. T.
The Piattsmouth Herald
Is on joying a
DAXLT AND WEEKLY
EDITIONS.
The
Year
Will Lu ono liuiiio; which the f-ubjcctH of
national interest ami importance will lie
strongly nrit:itoil ami the election el' :i
J're.ielent will take place. The people of
Cass County who woiiM like to learn of
Political, Commercial
and Social
of this year and woi.hl keep apace with
the times should
subsc ribb;
Foli
Daily or Weekly Herald.
Now while we have the subject before the
people we will venture to speak of our
Which is first-class in all respects and
from which our job printers are turning
out much satisfactory work.
PL ATTS MOUTH,
Eo:;m in both, its
1888
Transactions
KITH Kit TJ1K-
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