Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1873-06-26
The OLD Parson.
BY ]. r. TRowBRiDaE.

In antfque,fashioned coat and wig,
Along the road the aged preacher
Goes slowly jogging in his gig,
4 home=span saint In garb and feature.
He has smile or kindly speech
Alike for rich and poor and each
EWi1d youth no sermon yet could reach;
\" For all esbetter than their deeds,
I And Heaven is kiader than our creeds, y
Thinks the old Parson.
Not now the school boys, hat In hand,
And pinafored and pretty lasses,
In rows upon the roadside stand
And make their manners when he
passes,
AS the good custom used to be
In.days.when he was young; but he
Likes better, simple soul, to see
The smilethat lights each roguish eye
And rosy face as he rides by,
The dear old Parson.
Though many stop he makes, you'll
find
His welcome presence longest fingers
Ia yonder cottage-room behind
The honeysuekles and dsyringas,
Where all the lovely summer lies
'The crippled girl, with yearning eyes
Turned outward to the flowers anu skies.
|. Few come to seothe her loneliness,
And so good cause has She to bless
The Kind old Parsen.
When friends fall out, before the gate
The gig turns up, he bitches sorrel-
SLoye enters in,the house Of Hate.
Hetakest the handsof them that quarrel,
9And says: Forgive! forgive and then,
IF need there be, forgive again,
And still forgive and lovel For men
Are always better than their deeds.''
Such seeds he .sows. Heaven bless the
seeds
Sown by the ?arson!
His mission is to help and bless;
And the hard doctrines that he breaches
In words of JOY and gentfeness
Are hidden, like the stones in peaches.
His hearers hearts are warmed and
stirred
And yet, he does not preach the Wordl
His works are vain !" as late heard,
With fnger-skake and sapient air,
Two pert young ministers declare,
And blame the, Parson.
One said, "He likes hand at whist;"'
And one, He takes a:glass at dinner,
And loves TO counsel and assist
Better than to convert the sinner
Grave faults! !' said both. But this
know;
The Parsons life, as parsons 20,
Is such that those who judge him SO
Are hardly worthy to unloose
The buckles OF. his dusty shoes
"A rare old ParseH!
Hc likes joke too well by half -
MI i,ay .f,S hnn TO. 11al-t trc
As,if, because bis deacons laugh,
The pillars0f tiie. oh urch were shaking!
never yet could learn" he says,
" Why rooted faith should flourish less
In broad, sunshipy cheerftllness
Than in the shadow of the tomb; d
"ris fear, not faith, that hugs the gloom"
Argues the Parson.
He squares his thought by right good
sense,
And does not dread the light of science.
His finest, flowers Of eleeaence
Are just the Onnmon,dandelions
And buttercups of daily speech;
And yet they say who hear him preach
That none SD well as he can teach
The hope that lives, the love that burns,
Till even the careless skeptic turns
10 heed the Iarson.
But tllonglrhe be not deeply yersed
rhe.studied pause, the fervent burst,
Taieffower embfoi dered dcomm0nplaccs
He tr..:,,ls no changoless, narrow rounds
Of old heiicf, but far from bOunds
His new .JerusaIisia he fonnds;
" Fer newe: life brings larger needs
And truth oupg1e~s our thrcadbare
creeds,"
Says the wise Parson. 4
loves labors are his rest, and still
His friends will1eok. in Pleasant wealth
-. er,-,
To see him. jogging by, until
His gig and he break down together
Our friend is-growing very old, ~ y
And rich IN all the hoarded gold
Which hearts alone-can have and hold 4
x The riches that men leave behind
Are not the riches to my mind,
Quoth the old Parson.
He stili will have the good lie gave.
When, all his earthly errands ended, /.
He who has stood by many grave
Shall be by us in turn attended
To the last resting-plsce Of clay;
Then, as we lay his form away,
Wp'fl strew the sod with flowers, and say:
"The man was better than his deeds,
His heart was larger than our creeds,
Peace to tie Parson p