The Times-Record. (Blackwell, Okla.), Vol. 5, No. 23, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 24, 1898 Page: 3 of 8
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.TALMAGE’S SERMON.
HE PREACHES TO THE NEWS-
PAPER PROFESSION.
And Incidentally Tall* About tha Oood
Paper* In Ilia Country To*n* and
Cltlea, and the Wlrlied Paper* of the
tireitfr CUIm.
*
Express, rail train and telegraphic
communication are suggested If not
foretold In this text, and from It 1
start to preach a sermon In gratitude
to God and the newspaper press for
the fact that I have had the opportuni-
ty of delivering through the newspaper
press two thousand sermons or religi-
ous addresses, so that I have for many
years been allowed the privilege of
preaching the gospel every week to ev-
ery neighborhood in Christendom, and
in many lands outside of Christendom.
Many have wondered at the process by
which It has come to pass, and for
the first time in public place I state
the three causes. Many years ago, a
young man who has since become emi-
nent In his profession, was then study-
ing law In a distant city. He came to
me, and said that for lack of funds he
must stop his studying, unless through
stenography I would give him sketches
' of sermons, that he might by the sale
of them secure means for the comple-
tion of his education. 1 positively de-
clined, because it seemed to me an
Impossibility, but after some months
had passed, and I had reflected upon
the great sadness for such a brilliant
young man to be defeated in his am-
bition for the legal profession, 1 under-
took to serve him; of course, free of
charge. Within three weeks there
came a request for those stenographic
reports from many parts of the con-
tinent. Time passed on, and some
gentlemen of my own profession, evi-
dently thinking that there was hardly
room for them and for myself in this
continent began to assail me, and be-
came so violent in their assault that
the chief newspapers of America put
special correspondents in my church
Sabbath by Sabbath to take down such
reply as I might make. I never made
reply, except once for about three min-
utes, but those correspondents could
not waste their time and so they tele-
graphed the sermons to their particu-
lar papers. After awhile. Dr. LxjuIs
Klopsoh of New York systcmlzcd the
work into a syndicate until through
that and other syndicates he has put
the discourses week by week before
more than twenty million people on
both sides of the sea. There have been
so many guesses on this subject, many
of them inaccurate, that I now tell the
true story. I have not improved the
opportunity as I ought, but I feel the
time has come when as a matter of
common justice to the newspaper press
that I should make this statement in
a sermon commemorative of the two
thousandth full publication of sermons,
and religious addresses, saying no-
thing of fragmentary reports, which
would run up into many thousands
more.
There was one incident that I might
mention in this connection, showing
how one insignificant event might in-
fluence us for a lifetime. Many years
ago on a Sabbath morning on my way
to church In Brooklyn, a represents
five of a prominent newspaper met me
and said: “Are you going to give us
any points today?” I said, “What do
you mean by ‘points?’” He replied,
"Anything we can remember." I said
to myself, “We ought to be making
‘points' all the time in our pulpits and
not deal In platitudes and inanities.
That one Interrogation put to me that
P morning started in me the desire of
making points all the time and nothing
but points. i
And now. how can I more appropri-
ately commemorate the two thousandth
publication than by speaking of the
t newspaper press as an ally of the pul
, pit, and mentioning some of the trials
of newspaper men.
’ The newspaper is the great educator
of the nineteenth century. There ts no
force compared with it. It is book.
• pulpit, platform, forum, all in one. And
there la not an Interest religious, lit-
erary. commercial, scientific, agricul-
tural or mechanical—that is not within
Its grasp. All our churches and schools
and colleges and asylums and art gal-
leries feel the quaking of the printing
press.
The institution of newspapers arose
In Italy. In Venice the first newspaper
was published, and monthly, during
the_time Venice was warring against
Solyman the Second in Dalmatia, It
was printed for the purpose of giving
military and commercial information
to the VenUians. The first newspa
per published in England was in 1588,
and carted the English Mercury. Who
can estimate the political, scientific,
commercial and religious revolutions
roused up in England for many years
'past by the press?
The first attempt at this institution
In France was in 1631, by a physician,
who published the News, for the amuse-
ment and health of his patients. The
French nation understood fully how-
to appreciate this power. So early as
in 18JII there was In Paris 16S journal*.
But in the United States the newspa-
per has come to unlimited sway.
Though in 1775 there were but thirty-
seven in the whole country, the num-
ber of published Journals is now count-
ed by thousands; and today—we may as
well acknowledge it as not—the re-
ligious and secular newspapers are the
great educators of the country.
But alas’ through what struggle the
newspaper has come to its present de-
velopment. Just as soon as it began
to demonstrate its power, superstition
and tyranny shackled it. There is no-
thing that despotism so much fears and
hates as the printing press. A great
writer in the south of Europe declared
that the King of Naples had made it
unsafe for him to write on any subject
save natural history. Austria could
not bear Kossuth's Journalistic pen
leading for the redemption of Hungary.
Napoleon I., wanting to keep his iron
heel on the neck of nations, said that
the newspaper wan the regent of kings,
and the only safe place to keep an
editor was in prison. But the great
battle for the freedom of the press was
fought in the court rooms of England
and the United States before this cen-
tury began, when Hamilton made his
great speech In behalf of the freedom
of J. Peter Zenger's Gazette in Ameri-
ca, and when Erskine made his great
speech in behalf of the freedom to pub-
lish Paine's “Rights of Man” In Eng-
land. Those were the Marathon and
the Thermopylae where the battle was
fought which decided the freedom of
the pres* in England and America, and
all the powers of earth and hell will
never again be able to put upon the
printing press the handcuffs and the
hopples of literary and political des-
potism. It is remarkable that Thomas
Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration
of Independence, also wrote these
words: “If I had to choose between
a government without newspapers, and
newspapers without a government, 1
would prefer the latter." Stung by
some new fabrication in print, we come
to write or speak about an “unbridled
printing press." Our new book ground
up in unjust criticism, we come to write
or speak about the "unfair printing
press." Perhaps through our own in-
distinctness of utterance we are report-
ed as saying just the opposite of what
we did say, and there is a small riot
of semicolons and hyphens and com-
mas, and we come to write or talk
about the “blundering printing press,'
or we take up a newspaper full of so-
cial scandal and of cases of divorce,
and we write or talk about a "filthy,
scurrilous printing press.” But this
morning I ask you to consider the im-
measurable and everlasting blessing of
a good newspaper.
1 find no difficulty in accounting for
the world's advance. What has made
the change? "Books," you say. No,
sir! The vast majority of citizens do
not read books. Take this audience,
or any other promiscuous assemblage,
and how many histories have they
read? How many treatises on con
stitutional law,or political economy,or
works of science? How many elab-
orate poems or books of travel? Not
many, in the United States the people
would not average one sueh book a
year for each Individual! Whence,
then, this intelligence, this capacity to
talk about all themes, secular and re-
ligious: this acquaintance with science
and art: this power to appreciate the
beautiful and grand? Next to the Bi-
ble, the newspaper, swift-winged and
everywhere present, flying over the
fence, shoved under the door, tossed
into the counting house, laid on the
work bench, hawked through the cars!
All read It: white and black, German,
Irishman. Swiss, Spaniards, American,
old and young, good and bad. sick and
well, before breakfast and after tea,
Monday morning, Saturday night,
Sunday and week day. I now declare
that I consider the newspaper to be the
grand agency by which the gospel is
to be preached. Ignorance cast out, op
presslon dethroned, crime extirpated,
the world raised, heaven rejoiced, and
God glorified. In the clanking of the
printing press, as the sheets fly out, I
hear the voice of the Lord Almighty
proclaiming to all the dead nations of
the earth, "l-azarus, come forth!" and
to the retreating surges of darkness.
"Let there be light!” In many of”our
city newspapers, professing no more
than secular information, there have
appeared during the past thirty years
some of the grandest appeals in behalf
of religion, and some of the most ef-
fective Interpretations of God's govern-
ment among the nations. • • •
One of the great trials of the news-
paper profession is the fact that they
are compelled to see more of the shams
of tho world than any other profession.
Through every newspaper office, day by
day, go the weakness of the world, the
vanities that want to be puffed, the
revenges that want to be wreaked,
all the mistakes that want to be cor-
rected, all the dull speakers who want
to be thought eloquent, all the mean-
ness that wants to get Its wares noticed
gratis In the editorial columns In order
to save the tax of the advertising col-
umn, all the men who want to be set
right who never were right, all the
crack-brained philosophers with story
as long as their hair and a* gloomy as
their finger-nails, all the itinerant
bores who come to stay five minutes
and stop an honr. From the editorial
and reportorial rooms all the follies
and shams of the world are seen day
by day. and the temptation Is to be-
lieve neither in God. man. nor woman.
It is no surprise to me that in your pro-
fession there are some skeptical men.
I only wonder that you believe any-
thing. Unless an editor or a reporter
has in his present or in his early home
a model of earnest character, or he
throw himself upon the upholding
grace of God, he may make temporal
and eternal shipwreck.
Another great trial of the newspaper
profession is the diseased appetite for
unhealthy intelligence. You blame the
newspaper press for giving such prom-
inence to murder* and scandals. Do
you suppose that so many papers would
give prominence to these things If the
people did not demand them? If I go
Into the meat market of a foreign city
and 1 find that the butchers hang up on
the most conspicuous hooks meat that
is tainted, while the meat that Is fresh
and savory is put away without any
special care, I come to the conclusion
that the people of that city love tainted
meat. You know very well that if the
great mass of people in this country get
hold of a newspaper, and there are In
It no runaway matches, no broken-up
families, no defamation of men In high
position, they pronounce the paper
insipid. They say, "It is shockingly
dull tonight." I believe It is one of the
trials of the newspaper press, that the
people of this country demand moral
slush Instead of healthy and Intellectu-
al food. Now, you are a respectable
man, an intelligent man. and a paper
comes into your hand. You open it,
and there are three columns of splen-
didly written editorial, recommending
some moral sentiment, or evolving
some scientific theory. In the next col-
umn there Is a miserable, contemptible
divorce case. Which do you read first?
You dip Into the editorial long enough
to say. "Well, that's very ably writ-
ten." and you read the divorce case
from the "long primer" type at the top
to the "nonpareil" type at the bottom,
and then you ask your wife if she
has read It! Oh, it is only a case of
supply and demand! Newspaper men
are not fools. They know what you
want, and they give it to you. I be-
lieve that if the church and the world
bought nothing bit pure, honest,
healthful newspapers, nothing but
pure, honest and healthful newspapers
would be published. if you should
gather all the editors and the reporters
of this country in one great conven-
tion. and ask of them what kind of a
paper they would prefer to publish, I
believe they would unanimously say,
“We would prefer to publish an elevat-
ing paper.” So long as there is an in-
iquitous demand, there will be an in-
iquitous supply. I make no apology
for a debauched newspaper, but I am
saying these ‘hings in order to divide
the responsibility between those who
print and those who gcad
Another trial of this profession Is the
fact, no one seems to care for their
souls. They feel bitterly about it
though they laugh. People sometimes
laugh the loudest when they feel the
worst. They are expected to gather up
religious proceedings, and to discuss
religious doctrines in the editorial col
umns, but who expects them to be
saved by the sermonB they stenograph,
or by the doctrines they discuss In the
editorial columns? The world looks up-
on them as professional. Who preach
es to reporters and editors? Some of
them came from religious homes, and
when they left the parental roof, who
ever regarded or disregarded, they
came off with a father's benediction
and a mother's prayer. They never
think of those good old times but tears
come into their eyes, and they move
through these great cities homesick.
Oh. if they only knew what a helpful
thing it is for a man to put his weary
head down on the bosom of a sympa-
thetic Christ! He knows how nervous
and tired you are. He has a heart
large enough to take In all your in-
terests for this world and the next.
Oh, men of the newspaper press, you
sometimes get sick of this world, it
seems so hollow and unsatisfying. If
there are any people in all the earth
that need God, you are the men, and
you shall have him, if only this day you
Implore his mercy.
A man waB found at the foot of Ca-
nal street, New York. As they picked
him up from the water and brought
him to the morgue, they saw by the
contour of his forehead that he had
great mental capacity. He had entered
the newspaper profession. He had gone
down in health. He took to artificial
stimulus. He went down further and
further, until one summer day, hot and
hungry, and sick, and in despair, lie
flung himself off the dock. They found
In his pocket a reporter’s pad, a lead
pencil, a photograph of some one who
had loved him long ago. Death, as
sometimes It will, smoothed out all the
wrinkles that had gathered premature-
ly on his brow, and as he lay there his
face was as fair as when, seven years
before, he left his country home, and
they bade him good-hve forever. The
world looked through the window of
the morgue, and said, "It a nothing but
an outcast;” but God said it was a gi-
gantic soul that perished, because the
world gave him no chance.
Let me ask all men connected with
the printing press that they help u*
more and more In the effort to make
the world better. 1 charge you In the
name of God, before whom you must
account for the tremendous influence
you hold In this country, to consecrate
yourselves to higher endeavors. You
are the men to fight back this Invasion
of corrupt literature Lift up yonr
right hand and sa'ear new allegiance to
the cause of philanthropy and religion.
And when, at last, standing on the
plains of judgment, you look out upon
the unnumbered throngs over whom
you have had Influence, may it be found
that you were amongst the mightiest
energies that lifted men upon the ex-
alted pathway that leads to the renown
of heaven. Better than to have sat In
the editorial chair, from which, with
the finger of type, you decided the des-
tinies of empires, but decided them
wrong, that yon had been aome dun-
geoned exile, who. by the light of win-
dow iron-grated, on scraps of a New
Testament leaf, picked uj> from the
earth spelled out the story of Him who
taketh away the sins of the world. In
eternity. Dives Is the Beggar! Well,
my friends, wewlll all soon get through
writing and printing and proof-reading
and publishing. What then? Our life
is a book. Our years are the chapters.
Our months are the paragraphs. Our
days are the sentences. Our doubts
are the interrogation points. Our imi-
tation of others the quotation marks.
Our attempts at display a dash.
Death the period. Eternity the perora
tlon. O God, where will we spend it?
OUR BUDGET OF FUN.
SOME GOOD JOKES. ORIGINAL
AND SELECTED.
la a Pry-.iaaiU store Lira on tha
Klo*Slh. Usrn Mgu of a Highly He-
■ pr.tahln K*w*|aaprr — Flotsam *ul
JafaaaSi
ColTre a* a .Mrtllrlne.
It is said that the first use of coffee
by man was made by the prior of a
convent. He was told by a goatherd
of the exciting effect of the berries
when eaten by his goats, so he thought
he would try them and see if he could
not keep his monks awnke during what
should have been their vigils. He suc-
ceeded admirably, and brought coffee
Into the way of earning Its world-wide
reputation. The most active principle
of cofTee is caffeln; it contains also cer-
tain oils, which, no doubt, have a share
in its action. Many years ago a claim
was made that green, or unroasted, ber-
ries had a great value In liver and kid
ney troubles. One enthusiast prefers
a mlxture of two parts Mocha and one
part Martinique and iBle de Bourbon
coffee. He puts about three drachms
pt this into a tumbler of cold water.
Ip m liry-Uooil* store.
HERE are the lin-
ens kept?" she
asked,
”D own stairs,"
was the reply.
She sweetly smiled
and grabbed
her train
A u d quickly
hastened by.
Once down she ven-
tured to in-
quire,
The linens, are they here?"
“Jnet three rooms over to the right.
And straight back to the rear."
At last she reached the polut pro-
posed.
The linens?”—like a crash
The answer came across the store.
They’re six rooms over cash!”
Again she Jostled through the crowd.
And faintly asked the clerk;
The linens, please?” "Upstairs,’’ he
said.
With a tantalizing smirk.
She reached the top, quite out <^f
breath;
’"rtle linens, sir?” she said.
"In the annex building, five floors up.
And then walk straight ahead.”
Accomplishing the long ascent,
Her temper sorely tried,
She sharply asked the man In charge.
With wrath she could not hide:
Will you tell me where the linens are.
Or if they’re In thb store?”
We used to keep them, ma’am.” he
smiled,
“But do not any more.”
A Nutoral Itreak.
It was the first time he was being
married, and he was naturally a little
nervous and upset; but he managed to
•ay “Yes" all right, and to keep time to
Mendelssohn, sailing down the aisle,
and to sign his name in the rcglstef
without making more than a dozen
blots.
He thought then that it was finished,
but whetl they got to the church dooi
they found it was raining.
‘Confound It.” he cried, putting up
his umbrella, “another nuisance now.”
, , . And then, though he cannot gues*
and lets them strain and Infuse over wh the people all around laughed, and
ntkht. The next morning .after strain- h,g molher.|n-iaw bridled, and his wife
Ing, the Infusion Is taken on an empty refu8e(1 to 8peak.-Punch,
stomach, the first thing after getting
up. This medical authority cites many
cases of kidney and liver colics, dia-
betes, nervous headaches, etc., which,
though rebellious In all other treatment
for years, soon yielded to the green cof-
fee infusion. The remedy is a very
simple one, and well worthy of a trial.
Another use of coffee medicinally is in
nausea and retching. For that purpose
,a strong Infusion Is made of the ber-
ries which have been ground and roast-
ed, and it is sipped while very hot.
The Agent and the Colonel.
"May I ask your attention one mo-
ment, sir? You may not need it for
yourself, sir, but If you have some
friend who is addicted to the whisky
habit you will be Interested in know-
ing that I have here a pr partition
guaranteed to remove the craving most
effectively. It might be called, lu f?et
a substitute for whisky-"
"Sah!"
“I beg your pardon. I see I have
made a mistake. Good afternoon."—
Chicago Tribune.
H<*bop«*iihi%u«»r on Women.
Schopenhauer’s mother, Joana. was a
singular woman, with whom he was
perpetually at war. She was lively, he Cnn.picuou. taampl.-
was grim. She was a sentimentalist "Shiftless as ever. Thomas, said the
he detested sentiment. She was de- wealthy uncle. "Still making a failure
voted to society, to gossip, to the eon-1 of life, as you always have done?
venances of life. He lived for Ideas "1 don’t know that I in such a ter-
and, with an almost savage morosenese | rlble failure," sulkily answered the
poured scorn on the round of "at poor relation,
homes" and aesthetic tea parties. Both i "Why. you have nobody but yourself
were selfish and quarrelsome. We may J to support, and you can’t make both
judge, therefore, that Schopenhauer ends meet."
took his notions of women partly from “Well, the rainbow has only Itself to
his mother. It goes without saying j support, and it doesn't make both ends
that these notions were violent In the meet, either."—Chicago Tribune,
extreme, yet not withous some aspect*
of truth. The "new woman" would
rave at his satire on her pretensions;
and yet it would do her good to read
what Schopephauer has to say with as
much calmness as she can command.
Woman is here depicted aR emphatical-
ly ”a lesser man"—indeed, as far be-
low man as to he fit only for the role
of the old fashioned German hausfrau.
-Self-Culture.
Sierra LmMi Africa.
The settlement of Sierra Leone at
one time consisted only of the penin-
sula terminating In Cape Sierra Leone,
with an area of about 300 square
miles. The colony, with Its protector-
ate, now Includes a large extent of
country estimated at 4,000 square
miles. The capital, Freetown, pos-
sesses the best harbor in West Africa.
The scenery of Sierra Leone is said to
be very similar to that of the West
Indies. The soil is fertile and there is
an abundance of pure fresh water.
Tropical fruits grow luxuriantly.
Pineapples especially are produced
very abundantly, while bananas, plan-
tains, avocado pears, mangoes, limes
and oranges are not only consumed lo-
cally, but are also exported to Gambrla
Goree and Senegal.
Truth and facts always agree Er-
ror and lies are associates.
A ralilgoou*.
Tallent (who haB h id his eye operated
on)—"Doctor, it seems to me ten
guineas is a high price to charge for
that Job. It didn't take you tec sec-
onds.”
Eminent Occulist—"My dear friend,
in learning to perform that operation in
ten seconds I have spoiled more than
two bushels of such eyes as yours."—
Pick-Me-Up.
Dawson Dave—Thuuderatlon! You’ve
got genuine butter on your table.
How'd you get it?
Placer Pete—I bought it of Juneau
Jake yesterday. The blamed pump-
ktnhead thought It was nothlug but r
nugget.—Up-to-Date.
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Randall, J. W. The Times-Record. (Blackwell, Okla.), Vol. 5, No. 23, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 24, 1898, newspaper, February 24, 1898; Blackwell, Oklahoma Territory. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1139525/m1/3/: accessed April 24, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.