The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-08-18
Tho Old Organist.

The Old Organist.
Christian character is one of the
best safeguards against poverty, re-
spectacle and comfortable. DR..
Guthrie gives striking Illustration
OF this, in a sketch of his pastoral
visits. He says:
1 had met little else than sights
OF dirt, poverty and mystery, in all
shapes and forms. In one large
building, swarming with inhabitants.
! hardly found family who enjoyed
the ordinary comforts of life, or
made any profession of religion.
It was depressing, I may say, heart
breaking work. Saddened and wea-
ried, and wearied because saddened.
l at length, opened door, to be as
much astonished as the traveller when
he lights on an oasis amid the desert
sands.
The door opened on an apartment
lighted by windows whole and clean.
neither patched with paper, nor
stuffed with rags, nor crusted with
dirt, like bottles of old wine; floor
white with washing and sprinkled
with yellow sand, stretched to the
fireplace, where the flames, reflect
ing from shining brasses, danced
merrlly In the CRATE over we'll swept
hearth-stone. Toasting on a screen,
hung pair of English blankets, in
ample folds; the furniture, polished
like mirror, cleaned in the light
OF q cheerful fire; and around the
white-washed walls hung q variety
OF neatly-framed prints and pictures.
The room had an aspect OF tidiness
and comfort, anywhere pleasant to
see, but there surprising. And I
remember, as if 1T were yesterday,
saying to myself before had crossed
the threshold or asked one question,
this is the house of church-going
family! So it proved to be. It was
q Bethel; God was in that place; and
though, like the patriarch, was in
q sort of wilderness, this pleasant
sight was q reality-no visions, like
the ladder and the angels of his
dream.
Those who knew Edinburg some
five and twenty years ago, may re-
collect an old man with face fright
fully Scared by smallpox, and his
gray head swathed in yards of
flannel, who sat the live-iong day
at the top of the mound, grinding
music of q kind, from q barrel organ.
He and his wife, decent couple,
belonged to my church; and how
pleased was to find that this bright
comfortable room was the orpanist's
home. Blind, among neighbors who
labored under SO much disadvantage
and deprivation, his was the only
house where dirt might be excused,
and and signs of poverty expected. It
was remarkable by their absence;
and the key to this material differ
ence lay in the moral difference be-
tween him and his neighbors. "
They never went to church; he
did. They had no respect for the
Sabbath; he kept it holy unto the
Lord. They had no religion; he was
q man of devout habits. They in
dulged their vices, he practiced the
virtues of Christianity. So, even in
this world, his religion was of more
advantage to him than their ewes
were to them. It made him careful,
and frugal, and temperate. Thus,
though his only means of maintain
ance was the charity of such Samari-
tans as did not pass by on the
other side, he lived amid comfort to
a.good old age, and left behind him
at his death, not only the memory
OF ali honest and upright life, but
moneys in the bank not very much
short OF 92OO sterling. "Godliness
is profitable unto all things, having
the promise Of the life that now is.
and of that which is to come"
When Paris omnibus is full, the
word ''complet" is placed on the
rear of the stage. An American in