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Till-: SEMWEEKLY SUMTER REPUBLICAN.
ESTABLISHED I!t 1854,
ByCHAS. W. HANCOCK. *
VOL. 18.
The Sumter RepuMteHi.
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Charles F. Crisp,
•lltorviey at l*aw%
AMEBICUS, OA.
decl6tf
“b; pTholTis;
•Attorney at Law%
AMEBICUS, GA.
Office, Forsyth Street, in National Bank
building. dec2otf
G SIMMONS,
•rtHomey at L,aw ,
AMERIOUS GA.,
Office in Hawkins’ building, south side of
Lamm Street, in the old office of Fort*
Simnmns. ' janotf
•Tt A. KV,
ATTORNEY AT LAW
A\l) SOLICITOR IN EQUITY,
Office on Public Square, Over Gyles’
Clothing Store, Ameiucus, Ga.
After a brief respite I return again to the
practice of law. As in the past it will be
my earnest purpose to represent my clients
faithfully and look to tiieir interest! The
commercial practice will receive close atten
tion and remittances promptly made. The
Equity practice, and cases involving titlesof
land and real,estate are my favorites. Will
pwetfce in the Courts of South west Georgia,
theSUifreme Court and the United States
Courts. Thankful to my friends for their
patronage. Fees moderate. novlltf
CARD.
I offer my professional services again to the
good people of Americus. After thirtv years’
of medical service, I have found It difficult
to withdraw entirely. Office next door to
D ja£rtf ge ’ s drug | to c.’B°i,AOK?r e D .
Dr. J. A. FORT,
Physician and Surgeon,
Offers his professional services to the
people of Americus and vicinity. Office at
Dr. Eldridge’s Drug Store. At night can
be found at residence on Furlow’s lawn.
wfllreoSivepfoinpt attrition.
Dr. D. P. HOLLOWAY,
DwtwT,
Americas. - - - Georgia
Treatssuceessfully all diseases of the Den
tal organs. Fills teeth by the Improved
method, and inserts artificial teeth on the
boat material known to toe profession.
ISTOFFICE over Davenport and SOn’s
Drug Store. marllt
J. B. C. Smith & Sons,
miRMiS MB lIIDEBS,
Amfericus, Qa.
We art prepared to do any kind of work
in the carpenter line at short notice and on
reasonable terms. Having had years of ex
perience in the bigness, we feel competent
to give satisfaction. All orders for con
tracts for building will receive prompt at
tention. Jobbing promptly attended to.
mav26-3m
Commercial Bar.
This well-established house will be kept
terw i6t^^
Choicest i2#nfer and Cigars,
Milwaukee, Budweiser and Aurora Beer,
constantly on hand, and all the best brands
of fine Brandies, Wines, Ac. Good Billiard
Tables for the accommodation of customers.
may9tf JOHN W. COTNEST, Clerk.
This popular House is quite new and
handsomely furnished with new furniture,
bedding and all other articles. It is in the
Centre of the business portion of the city,
convenient to depot, the banks, warehouses,
Ac., and enjoys a fine reputation, second to
none, among its permanent and transient
Table Boarders Accommodated on
Reasonable Terms.
K GEORGE ANDREWS,
JM Mil SHOE MER,
their work. He can make and repair all
work at short notice. Is sober and always
-on hand to UWalTofl customers. Work
guaranteed to he honest and good.
*P***-tf
Chlorinated Seine, solution Chlori
■nated Soda, Darby’s Fluid and other
aR^Ba'SEISF
DARBYS
PROPHYLACTIC
FLUID.
A Household Article for Universal
Family Use.
For Scarlet and
■ B Typhoid Fevers,
■ Eradicates gj Diphtheria, Sail
■ MAT.AT?.TA s vation, Ulcerated
■MIMMHBH Fox, Measles, and
all Contagions Diseases. Persons waiting on
the Sick should use it freely. Scarlet Fever has
never been known to spread where the Fluid was
used. Yellow Fever has been cured with it after
black vomit had taken place. The worst
cases of Diphtheria yield to it.
SMALL-FOX
and
PITTING of Small
Pox PREVENTED
A member of ray fam
ily was taken with
Small-pox. 1 used the
Fluid; the patient was
not delirious, was not
pitted, and was about
the house again in three
weeks, and no others
had it. -I. W. Park
inson, Philadelphia.
I Diphtheria j
Prevented. 1
The physicians here
use Darbys Fluid very
successfully in the treat
ment of Diphtheria.
A. Stollbnwbrck,
Greensboro, Ala.
Tetter dried up.
Cholera prevented.
Ulcers purified and
healed.
In cases of Death it
should be used about
the corpse —it will
prevent any unpleas
ant smell.
The eminent Phy.
slci&n, J. MARION
SIMS, M. D., New
York, says: “I am
convinced Prof. Darbys
Prophylactic Fluid is a
valuable disinfectant."
iPavoredaaddUkPer
sons refreshed and
Bed Sores prevent
ed by bathing with
Darbys Fluid.
Impure Air made
harmless and purified.
For Sore Throat it is a
sure cure.
Contagion destroyed.
For Frosted Feet,
Chilblains, Piles,
ChAfings, etc.
Rheumatism cured.
Soft White Complex
ions secured by its use.
Ship Fever prevented.
To purify the Breath,
Cleanse the Teeth,
it can’t be surpassed.
Catarrh relieved and
cured.
Erysipelas cured.
Burn s relieved instantly.
Scars prevented.
Dysentery cured.
Wounds healed rapidly.
Scurvy cured.
An Antidote for Animal
or Vegetable Poisons,
Stings, etc.
1 used the Fluid during
Opr present affliction with
Scarlet Fever with de
cided advantage. It is
indispensable to the sick
room. Wm. F. Sand
ford, Eyrie 41a.
i Scarlet Fever I
8 Cured. |
5 anderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.
I testify to the most excellent qualities of Prof
Darbys Prophylactic Fluid. Asa disinfectant and
detergent it is both theoretically and practically
superior to any preparation with which I am ac
quainted.—N. T. I.UPTON, Prof. Chemistry.
Darbys Fluid is Recommended by
Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia *
Rev. Chas. F. Deems, D.D., Church of the
Strangers, N. Y.;
Jos. LeConth,Columbia, Prof.,University,S.C.
Rev. A. J. Battle, Prof., Mercer University :
Rev. Guo. F. Pierce, Bishop M. E. Church,
TO EVERY HOSE.
Perfectly harmless. ..Used internally or
externally for Man or Beast;
The Phi id has been thoroughly tested and we
have abundant evidence that it has done cverVthinC
here cmimed. For FuHr information get of yout
Druggist a, pamphlet or scud to the proprietors,
J. I*. 7<Eli4N S r CO.,
Mamifrflunng Chemists, Pil ILADELPHJA.
&nmrgs
Hostetter*B Stomach Bitters meets the re
quirements of the rational medical philoso
phy which at present prevails. It is a per
fectly pure vegetable remedy, embracing the
three important properties of a preventive,
a tpnie and an alterative. It fortifies tho
body.against disease, invigorates and revi
talizes the torpid stomach and liver, and
effects a salutary ehange in the entire sys
tem.
For sale by ail Druggists and Dealers
generally.
AYER’S
Ague Cure
IS WARRANTED to cure all cases of ma
larial disease, such.as Fever and Ague, inter
mittent or Chill Fever, Remittent Fever,
Dumb Ague, Bilious Fever, and Liver Com
plaint. In case of failure, after due trial,
dealers are authorized, by our circular of
Jiity Ist, 1882, to refund the money.
Dr. J. C. Ayer&Co., Lowell, Mass.
Sold by all Druggists.
THE SUN ON A E ' E L E L i ON
Decided opinions expressed in language
(hat can be understood; tlie promptest, full
est and most accurate intelligence of what
ever In tlie wide world is worth attention.
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I. W. ENGLAND. Publisher,
junelG-lm New York City.
Mo*T ORDER *M> or Orchestral In
irt : i struments, or Uusical
Goods of any kind, be-
S-Wnlwt-x\ fme sending for net
d)-..- Z —prices to ALLEN K.
■ snsrxn —atm dodworth, 47 La
jtvTV 1 lu. 'TB fayette place, New
• j. JU/ York. An Excellent B
TUc'tSZ/ flat Piston Cornet,
sl3 50. Best B flat
Cornet, S3O. Solo E
flat Alto Trombone, S2O.
Sent C. O. D., with privilege of trial;
junel6-lm
MORBEANO CATTLE 2 P^WOOMI
ilrtt iyiirwi i)tii|ini r fah fk
lrVonte’B Fpwdera aro used In time.
■ I’twderfe wil l cpl e and preventlloo OrroLiWU.
• ■’ •
and cream twenty per cent., and notice the twtterflrm
eveet !
DAVID B. TQUX’fJ. MojiM.titt,
INDEPENDENT IN POLITICS, AND DEVOTED TO NEWS, LITERATURE, SCIENCE AND GENERAL PROGRESS,
AMERICUS, GEORGIA, SATURDAY, JUNE 30, 1883.
•gOY.'TB.’Y.
FOB YOUNe HEARTS ONLY.
Oft in the winter of our lives
We mourn the spring’s departured hours,
And think what joy ’twoula be if Age,
As well as Youth could find her flowers;
But much I doubt were Spring to give
Some of her blossoms to December,
That they would seem as fair and sweet
As those we lovingly remember.
For violets blue and daisies white
In frost and cold would surely shiver,
And purple iris Sags soon droop
I waving o’er a frozen river;
And so ’tis better as it is—
For young hearts only are Spring’s pleas
ures;
We old ones, faith, must he content
To know that once we shared her treas
ures.
—[Margaret Eytinge in Harper’s Weekly.
TABERNACLE SERMONS.
B 1 BEY. T. DeWITT T A LINAGE
The Sermons of Dr. Talmage are publish
ed in pamphlet form by Geo. A. Sparks,
48 Bible House, New York. A number
containing 26 Sermons is issued every
three months. Price 30 cents, 81 per an
num].
“Alarming’ Things of To-day.”
“The Lord’s voice crieth unto the city.”
Whether God or Satan shall have
complete possession ot these cities is
the question of the hour. Never so
many churches. Never so many re
formatory institutions. Never so many
good men and women. Never so hope
ful a prospect. But do not think that
righteousness will triumph without ma
ny rebuffs and terrific and long-contin
ued struggle. Take the one fact that
many of the streets of our cities have
become depraved picture galleries by
reason of the unclean figures represent
ed in show windows and on board fen
ces. Many of the theatres and opera
houses are, by their mode of street ad
vertisement, practising an indecency
that ought long ago to have met the
interdict of city authorities. Twenty
five years ago such pictures would not
have been allowed. The manager who
ordered them and the bill-poster who
carried them and the merchant who al
lowed them in his show-window would
have been hauled up in police court to
answer. Would you allow in your
parlors and in the presence of your fam
ly on the part of any one such a lack
of apparel? No. Then why allow it
in the presence of the whole city?
I denounce this wholesale immorali
ty nf sh.-iw-urindovvs of our Ammi’.n
cities as an appaling education in the
wrong direction. Let the merchants of
Brooklyn and New York forbid such
insult to public virtue hanging in their
windows. Let the Mayors of these cit
ies walk through the streets and see
the damnable spectacle on Pulton
street, Atlantic street, and in all the
prominent streets of our cities, East,
West, North and South. Here is a
practical reform that I demand in the
name of God and of all decent citizens.
If these pictures that present the ac
tors and actresses unapparelled are in
tended as specimens of the reformed
American theatres, then they are being
reformed into a Sodom.
In southern Europe the immortal
pictures of Herculaneum and Pompeii
are kept under lock and key as speci
mens of a polluted age, to be looked at
by severe antiquarians. But New
Y’ork and Brooklyn, Philadelphia and
Chicago, Cincinnati and New Orleans,
and all the cities put the pictorial inde
cencies in show windows, on board fen
ces and bulletin boards for men and
women and children to look at as they
go to church or school or social call or
business. The stupendous nuisance is
getting to be unbearable. While there
never has been an age since the world
stood in which the agencies for good
are so potential as now, there never
has been an age in which the forces ior
evil were so unblushing and blatant.
While we are toiling on toward uni
versal Victory, we must have an intelli
gent view as to what the dangers real
ly are. I propose to point ont to yon
those whom I conside- to be the up
rooting and devouring classes of socie
ty. First, the public criminals. You
ought not to be surprised that these
people make up a large portion in many
communities. There were never so
many foreigners, honorable and useful,
coming to this country as now; but the
vast.majprity of the criminals who
take ship from Europe come into our
own ports. In 1869, of the 49,000 peo
ple who were incarcerated in the pris
ons of the country, 32,000 of them
wore of foreign birth. Many of them
were the very desperadoes of society,
oozing into the slums of our cities,
waiting for au opportunity to riot and
steal an 1 debauch, joining the large
gang of American thugs and cut throats.
There are in this neighborhood of cit
ies—New York, Jersey City and Brook
lyn.—4,ooo people whose entire busi
ness in life is to commit crime. This
is as much their business as jurispru
dence or medicine or merchandise is
yonr business. To it they bring all
their energies ot body, mind and soul,
and they look upon the interregnums
which they spend in prison as so mnch
unfortunate loss of time, just as yon
lodk upon an attack of influenza or
rheumatism which fastens you in the!
house for a few days. It is their life
time business to pick pockets and blow
np safes, and shoplift and ply the pan-:
el game, and they have as much pride
of skill in their, business as you have
in yours when yon upset the argument
of an opposing counsel, or cure a gun
shot fractnre which other surgeons have
given np, or foresee a turn in the mar
ket so you bny goods just before they
go up 20 per cent.
It is their business to commit crime,
and Ido not suppose that once in a
year the thought of the immorality
strikes them Added to these profes
sional criminals, .American and foreign,
there is a large class of men who are
more or less industrious in crime. In
one year the police in this neighbor
hood of cities arrested 10,000 people for
theft, 10.000 for assault and battery,
and 50,000 for intoxication. Drunk
enness is responsible for much of the
theft, since it confuses a man’s ideas
of property, and he gets his hands on
things that do not belong to him. Rum
is responsible for much of the assault
and battery, inspiring men to sudden
bravery, which they must demonstrate,
though it be on the face of the next
gentleman.
Seven million dollars’ worth of
property stolen in this neighborhood
of cities in one year! Yon cannot, as
good citizens, be independent of that
fact. It will touch your pocket, since
I have to give you the fact that these
three cities pay $7,000,000 worth of
taxes a year to arraign, try and sup
port the criminal population. You
help to pay the board of every crimi
nal—from the sneak-thief that snatch
es a spool of cotton up to some man
who enacts a “black Friday.” More
than that, it touches yonr heart in the
moral depression of the community.
You might as well think to stand in a
closely confined room where there are
fifty people and yet not breathe the vi
tiated air, as to stand in a community
where there is such a great multitude
of the depraved without somewhat be
ing contaminated. What is the fire
that burned your store down compared
with the conflagration which consumes
your morals? What is the thett of the
gold and silver from your money-safe
compared with the theft of your chil
dren’s virtues? We are all ready to
arraign criminals. We shout at the
top of our voice, “Stop thief!” When
the police get on the track we come out
hatless and in our slippers to assist in
the arrest. We come around the bawl
ing ruffian and hustle him off to jus
tice, and when he gets in prison what
do we do for him? With great gusto
we put on the handcuffs and the hop
ples; but what preparation are we mak
ing for the day when the handcuffs and
hopples come off? Society seems tj
say to these criminals, “Villiane, go in
there and rot,” when it ought to say,
“You are an offender against the law,
but we mean to give you an opportn
nilv. to rfuent: wo mean to help you.
Christ died for you, Loon auu utc.
Vast improvements have been made
by introducing industries into the pris
on; but we want something moie than
hammers and shoe lasts to reclaim
these people. Aye, we want more than
sermons on the Sabbath day. Society
must impress these men with the fact
that it does not enjoy their suffering,
and that it is attempting to reform
and elevate them. The majority of
criminals suppose that society has a
grudge against them and they in turn
have a grudge against society. They
are harder in heart and more infuriate
when they come out ol jail than when
they went in. Many of the people who
go to prison go agai. and again and
again. Some years ago, 1,500 prison
ers who during the year had been in
Sing Sing, 400 had been there before.
In a house of correction in the country,
where during a certain reach of time
there had been 5,000 people, more than
3,000 had been there before. So in
one case the prison and in the other
case the house of correction left them
just as bad as they were before.
The secretary ot one of the benevo
lent edifices of New York saw a lad,
fifteen years of age, who had spent
three years of his life, in prison, and
he said to the lad: “What have they
done for you to make you better?”
"Well,” replied the lad, “the first
time I was brought np before the judge,
he said, “You ought to be ashamed of
yourself.” And then I committed a
crime again and 1 was brought up be
fore the same judge, and he said, “You
rascal!” And after awhile I commit
ted some other crime, and I was
brought up before the same judge, and
he said, “You ought to be hanged.” ”
that is they had done for him in the
way of reformation. “Oh,” you say,
“these people are incorrigible ” I sup
pose there are hundreds of persons this
day lying in the prison bunks who
would leap at the hope of reformation,
if society would only allow them a way
into decency and respectability. “Oh,”
you say, “I have no patience with these
rogues.” I ask you in reply how
much better would you have been un
der the same circumstances?
Suppose youi mother had been a
blasphemer and yonr father a sot, and
you had started life with a body stuffed
with evil proclivities, and you had
spent much of your time in a cellar,
and amid obscenities and cursing, and
if, at 10 years of age, you had been
compelled to go out and steal, battered
and banged at night if you came in
without any spoils; and suppose your
early manhood and womanhood bad
been covered with rags and filth, and
decent society had turned its back up
on von and left you to consort with
vagabonds and wharf rats—how much
better would you have been? I have
no sympathy with that exeentive clem
enoy which would let crime run loose,
or which would sit in the gallery of a
court room weeping because some hard
hearted wretch is brought to justice.
RntJ :do e*y “that the- saftty and life ol
a community demand more potential
influences in behalf of public offenders.
We want men like John Howard and
Sir William Blackstone, and women
like Elizabeth Fry, to do for the pris
ons of tho United States what those
people did in other days for the prisons
of England. I thank God for what
Isaac F. Hopper, and Dr. Wines, and
Mr. Harris, and scores of others have
done in the way of prison reform. But
we want something more radical before
there will come the blessing of Him
who said; “I was in prison, and ye
came unto me.”
Again, in this class of uprooting
and devouring population are untrust
worthy officials. “Woe unto thee, O
land, when thy kings and chiefs and
thy princes drink in the morning.” It
is a great calamity to a city when bad
men get into public authority. Why
was it that in New York there was
such unparalleled crime between 1866
and 1871? It was because the judges
of the police in that city for the most
part were as corrupt as the vagabonds
that came before them for trial. Those
werethe days of high carnival for elec
tion frauds, assassination and forgery.
We had the whiskey ring and the
Tammany ring and the Erie ring.
There was one mail that during those
years got $128,000 in one year for ser
ving the public. In a few years it was
estimated that there was $50,000,000
of public treasure squandered. In
those times the criminal had only to
wink to tKe judge, or his lawyer would
wink for him, and the question was de
cided for the defendant. Of the 8.000
people arrested in that city only 3,000
were punished. These little matters
were “fixed up” while the interests of
society were “fixed down.”
You know as well as I that a crimi
nal who escapes opens the door for oth
er criminalities. When the two pick
pockets snatched the diamond pin
pears ago from the Brooklyn gentle
man in a Broadway stage and the vil
lians were arrested and the trial was
set down for the General Sessions, and
then the trial never came and never
anything more was heard of the ease,
the public officials were only bidding
higher for more crime. It is no com
pliment to public authority when we
have in all the cities of the country
walking abroad, men and women noto
rious for criminality, unwhipped of
justice. They are pointed out to you
in the street day by day. There you
find what are called the “fences,” the
men who stand between the thief and
the honest man, sheltering the thief,
and at a great price, handing over the
goo is to the owner to whom they be
long. There you will find those who
are called the “skinners,” the men who
Hover arounu .
sleight-of-hand in bonds and stocks.
There you will find the funeral thieves,
the people who go and bit down and
mourn with families and pick their
pockets. And there you will find the
confidence men who borrow money of
you because they have a dead child in
the house and want to bury it, and
they never had a house nor a family;
or they want to goto England and get
a large property there, and they want
yon to pay their way and they will
send the money back the very next
mail. There are the “harbor thieves,”
the shoplifters, the pickpockets, fa
mous all over the cities.
Hundreds of them, with their faces
in the rogues’ gallery, yet doing
nothing for f he last five or ten
years but defrauds society and escape
justice. When these people go ur.ar
rested and unpunished, it is putting a
high premium upon vice, and saying
to the young criminals of this country,
“What a safe thing it is to be a great
criminal!” Let the law swoop upon
them. Let it be known in this country
that crime will have no quarter; that
the detectives are after it; that the
police club is being brandished; that
the iron door of prison is being opened;
that the judge is ready to call up the
case. Too great leniency to criminals
is too great severity to society. When
a former President pardoned the whole
sale dealer in obscene books he hinder
ed the crusade against licentiousness;
but when, some ten or twelve years
ago, Gov. Dix refused to let go Foster,
the assassin, who was condemned
to the gallows, he grandly vindicated
the laws of God and the dignity of the
State of New York.
Again, among the uprooting and de
vouring classes in our midst are the
idle. Of course Ido not refer to people
who are getting old, or to the sick, or
to those who cannot get work, bnt I
tell you to look out for those athletic
men and women who will not work.
When the F.e ich nobleman was asked
why lie kept busy when be had so large
a property, he said: “I keep on engrav
ing so 1 may not hang myself,” Ido
not care who the man is, you cannot
afford to be idle. It is from the idle
classes that tho criminal classes are
made up. Character, like water, gets
putrid if it stands still too long. Who
can wonder that, in this world, where
there is so much to do, and all the
hosts of earth, heaven and hell are
plunging into the conflict, and angels
are flying, and God is at work, and
the universe is a quake with the march
ing and counter-marching, that God
lets his indignation fall upon a man
who ch< os '8 idleness!
I have watched these do-nothings
who spend their time stroking their
beards and retouching their toilet and
criticising industrious people, and pass
their days and nights in bar-roomß and
club-houses, lounging and smoking
and chewing and card-playing. They
are not only useless, hut they are dan
gerous. How hard it is for them td
while away the hours! Alas for them!
If they do not know how to while away
an hour what will they do when they
have all eternity on their hands? These
men for a while smoke the best cigars
and wear the best broadcloth and move
in the highest spheres; but I have
noticed that very soon they comedown
to the prison, the almshouse, or stop at
the gallows.
The police station of this neighbor
hood of cities furnished in one year
200,000 lodgings. For the most part
these 200,000 lodgings were furnished
to able-bodied men and women—peo
ple as able to work as you and I are.
When they are received no longer at
one police station, because they are re
peaters, they go to some other station,
and so they keep moving around. They
get their food at house doors, stealing
what they can lay their hands on in
the front basement while the servant
is spreading the bread in the back
basement. They will not work. Time
and again in the country districts they
have wanted hundreds and thousands
of laborers. These men will not go;
they do not want to work. I have
tried them. I have set them to sawing
wood in my cellar, to see whether they
wanted to work. I offered to pay them
well for it. I have heard the saw go
ing for about three minutes, and then
I went down, and lo! the wood, but
no saw.
They are the pest of society and they
stand in the way of the Lord’s poor,
who ought to be helped, and will be
helped. While there are thousands of
industrious men who cannot get any
work, these men who do not want any
work come in and make that plea. I
am in favor of- the restoration of the
old-fashioned whipping post for just
this one class of men who will not
work; sleeping at night at public ex
pense in the station houses; during the
day getting their food at your door
step. Imprisonment does not scare
them. They would like it. Black
well’s Island or Sing Sing would be a
comfortable home for them. They
would have no objection to the alms
house, for thev like thin soup, if they
cannot get mock turtle.
Propose this for them: On one side
of them put some healthy work, on the
other side put a rawhide, and let them
take their choice. I like for that class
of people the scant bill of fare that
Paul wrote out for the Thessalonian
loafers: “If any work not, neither
should he eat.” By what law of God
or man is it right that yon and I should
toil day in and day ont, until our
hands are blistered and our arms ache
and our brain gets numb, and then be
called on to support what in the United
States are about two million loafers?
-HL I T
the public authorities keep their eyes
on them.
Again: Among the uprooting classes
I place the oppressed poor. Poverty
to a certain extent is chastening; but
after that, when it drives a man to the
wall, and he hears his children cry in
vain for bread, it sometimes makes
him desperate. I think that there are
thousands of honest men lacerated into
vagabandism. There are men crushed
under burdens for which they are not
half paid. While there is no excuse
for criminality, even in oppression, I
state it as a simple fact, that much of
the scoundrelism of the community is
consequent upon ill-treatment. There
are many men and women battered and
bruisqd and stung until the hour of des
pair has come, and they stand with the
ferocity of a wild beast, which, pursued
until it can run no longer, turns round,
foaming and bleeding, to fight the
hounds.
There is a vast underground in New
York and Brooklyn life that is appall
ing and shameful. It wallows and
steams with putrefaction. You go
down the stairs which are wet and de
cayed with filth and at the bottom yon
find the poor victims on the floor, cold,
sick, three-fourths dead, slinking into
a still darker corner under the gleam
of the lantern of the police. There has
not been a breath of fresh air in that
room for five years, literally. The
broken sewer empties its contents upon
them and they lay at night in the
swiramiug filth. There they are, men,
women, children; blacks, whites; Mary
Magdalen without her repentance and
Lazarus without his God.
These are the dives into which the
pickpockets and the thieves go, as well
as a great many who would like a dif
ferent life, but cannot get it. These
places are the sores of the city, which
breed perpetual corruption. They are
the underlying volcano that threatens us
with a Caraceas earthquake. It rolls
and roars, and surges and heaves, and
rocks and blasphemes, and dies. And
there are only two outlets for it—the
police court and the Potter’s field. In
other words, they must either go to
prison or to hell. Oh, you never saw
it, you say. You never will see it un
til those staggering wretches shall
come up in the light of the judgment
throne, and while all hearts are being
revealed, God will ask you what you
did to help them.
There is another layer of poverty
and destitution, not so squalid, but al
most as helpless. You hear the inces
sant wailing for bread, and clothes, and
fire. Their eyes are sunken. Their
hands are damp with slow ronsump
lion. Their flesh is puffed up with
dropsies. Their breath is like that of
the charnel-house. They hear tho
roar of the wheels of fashion overhead
and the gay laughter of men and mai
dens, and wonder why God gave to
others so much and to them ro little.
Some of them thrust into an infidelity
like that of the poor German girl, who,
I FOUR DOLLARS PER ANNUM.
NO. 80.
when told in the midst of her wretch
edness that God was good, said: "No;
no good God. Just look at me. Np
good God.”
In this neighborhood of cities, whose
cry of want I this day interpret, there
are said to be, as far as I can figure it
up from the reportß, about 290,000
l honest poor, who are dependent upon
individual, city and State charities. If
all their voices could come up at once,
it would be a groan that would shake
the foundation of the city, and bring
all earth and heaven to the rescue. But
for the most part it suffers unexpress
ed. It sits in silence, gnashing its
teeth and sucking the blood of its own
arteries, waiting for the Judgment
Day. Oh! I should not wonder if in
that day it would be found out that
some of us had some things that be
longed to them; some extra garments
which might have made them comfort
able; some bread thrust into the ash
barrel that might have appeased their
hunger for a little while; some wasted
candle or gas jet that might have kin
dled up their darkness; some fresco on
the ceiling that would have given them
a roof: some jewel, which, brought to
that orphan girl in time, might have
kept her from being crowded off the
precipices of an unclean life; some New
Testament that would have told them
of Him who “came to seek and save
that which was lost.”
Oh, this wave of vagrancy and hun
ger and nakedness that dashes against
our front door-steps. I wonder if you
hear and 6ee it as much as I hear and
see it. If the roofs of all the houses of
destitution could be lifted so we could
look down into them just as God
looks, whose nerves would be strong
enough to bear it? And yet there they
are. The great host of sewing women
in these three cities, working night
after night until sometimes the blood
spurts from nostril and lip.
How well their grief was voiced by
that despairing woman who stood by
her invalid husband and invalid child,
and said to the city missionary: “I
am down hearted. Everything is
against us; and then there are other
things.” “ What other things?” said
the city missionary. “Oh,” she repli
ed, “my sin.” “What do yon mean
by that?” “Well,” she said, “I never
hear or see anything good. It’s work
from Monday morning to Saturday
night, and then when Sunday comes I
can’t go out and I walk the floor, and
it makes me tremble to think I have
got to meet God. Oh, sir, it’s too
hard for ns. We have to work so and
then we have so much trouble, and
then we are getting along so poorly;
and this wee little thing growing
weaker and weaker, and then to think
y . n. la.
floating away from Him. Oh, sir, Ido
wish I was ready to die.
I should no i wonder if they had a
good deal better time than we iu the
future, to make up for the fact that
they had such a bad time here. It
would be just like Jesus to say:
“Come up and take the highest seats;
you suffered with me on earth, now be
glorified with mein heaven.” Thou
weeping One of Bethany! Oh, thou
dying One of the cross! Have mercy
on the starving, homeless poor of these
great cities!
I have preached this sermon for four
or five practical reasons; because I want
you to know who are the uprooting
classes of society; because I want you
to be more discriminating in yourchar
ities; because I want your hearts open
with generosity, and your hand open
with charity; because I want yon to be
made the sworn friends of all city
evangelization, and all newsboys’ lodg
ing houses, and all Howard missions
and children’s aid societies. Aye, be
cause I want you to examine yonr
wardrobes and see if you have not a
surplus for the needy. I should not
wonder if that hat that you give should
come back a jewelled coronet, or if that
garment that you this week had ont
from your wardrobe should mysteri
ously be whitened, and somehow
wrought into the Saviour’s own robe,
so, in the last day, he would run his
hand over it and say. “I was naked
and ye clothed me.” That would be
putting your gaiments to glorious uses.
But, more than that, I have preach
ed the sermon because I thought in the
contrast you would see how very kind
ly, God had dealt with yon, and I
thought that thonsands of yon would
go to-day to yonr comfortable homes
and sit at your well-filled tables and
look at the round faces of you' chil
dren, and that then you would burst
into tears at the review of God’s good
ness to you; and that yon -would go to
your room this afternoon and look the
door and kneel down and say: “O
Lord, I have been an ingrate; make me
Thy child. O Lord, there are so many
hungry and nnclad and unsheltered to
day. I thank Thee that all my life
Thou hast taken riilCh go dcare of me.
O Lord, there are so many sick and
crippled children-to-day, I thank Thee
mine are well; some of them on earth,
some of them in heaven. Thy good
ness, O Lord, breaks me down. Take
me once and forever. Sprinkled, as !
was many years ago at the altar while
my mother held me, now £ Consecrate
my Bonl to Thee in a holier baptism of
repenting tears. s .
“For sinners, Lord, Thou cam’stto bleed.
And I’nv a sinner rile indeed;
Lord, I believe Thy grace Is free;
Ob, magnify that grace In me."
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