The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-12-26

merchant or Doctor. he who enloyed
the honor of escorting this maiden
home from church at night was hon
ored WI h an entry in her diary TO the
effect that he had kissed her. hugged
her or squeezed her hand W hen parting
at the flo t gate. Men whose names
have o yet been made public in this
connection, but who during the ltfe-
time of the deceased rendered her
some service of this kind, are trem-
bling lest that which was done in Sc
cret shall be oclaimed from the
house top, and lest that which was not
done ar all may be published as if il
actually had occurred.
Another ca e Of untimely confession
da IS from recent prayer meeting in
a New \ ork village A wave of religi-
Gus revi.a spread over the place, AID
nice y ung man who was touched by
its influences felt troubled on account
OF his sins and was moved to confess
'h~m in meeting. Som- peope have
an Unsatisfactory way of cnnfeSslng
III such meetings that they are mis.ra-
Die sinners and worms of he dust
that they have erred and strayed most
grlevOuSly that from the crowns Of
their heads to The SOles OF their feet
they a'e wounds and bruises and putre-
tying sores, and thar the is no al h
in them. Notwithstanding AL these
unpleasant atementS. they fail to
particular Ze, aid nobody in meeting
can arrive at knowledge of exactly
wha sins hey have been ,mmitting
CURIOSITY is awakened, and he a artempt
u crafty it by a nlrec question to
the cOnfessing party would be apt to
result in personal damage to the queS-
TONER. l was not thus with the New
Ork man. Without circumiocu
ton or generalizat on he inun-
dHed the NEE ing with d-luge
of in OrmatiOn. His ,nfes>ion was
to tie effect that he had loved. not
wi ely. but consider bly, to- ardently,
a certain married lady VIII sat in ,he
same meeting "nly few benches
from him; til i, he ia | taken advan>
sage of her husban Is frequent alb
sence to pay her certain at entions
which no man ever should have paid
to any Othe mans w fe but thai he
was devortly sorry, and, the Lord
helping HIM he never would do so
any more. 1t WIS ,Ot strange that
this confession brought TO her teet the
lady alluded to, who. though not in
the habit of speaking out the meet
ing, was at once head from in mar-
ner boih distinct and decided She
denounced the confession as a lie. and
the nice young man Who had m de it
as liar, AID declared that III it was
not case Of derraved depal ture flom
the tru h he was und the lnhu nee
OF an lgnlS ia aus or something of that
kind. she hardly knew what.
And now comes another confession
which has bark from -the-tombs'
sound From the depths Of the cell
q the Massachusetts prison where he
is immurrd. defauiter Ha'haway. hath
way OF speaking his lit lie piece, and
1t Is not the fl time he hath done it.
Grieved at having t. bear by himself
heavy amount of punishment In
which he thinks others on ,ht 70
share he confeSses the sins o. some
OF his Fall River associates. par cular
ly those of one Durfe-, whom he
M kes out to have been as consum-
mate hypocrite and as systematic
thief as Angler Chace and himself
All this is inconvenient and unpleas-
ant. and a stopper should somehow or
O5her be pI upDl t, PilSied be my
tongue" says hathaway. IF such and
such things are not thus and no
doubt Dur ee and the others wish he
were palsed all over rather than have
hihi make the conf ssions be does
l. Is difficult to suggest remedy
for the .mbarr .ssmen'S which are
caused by such awkward confessions
a these 70 say that they are un-
genpr, us does not greatly help any
body out of the diff u'ty. No state
ment which would now be Md bv
any Of he surviving male friends Of
the deceased girl who kept her little
da rv would have any other effect
than storm of derisive r'dicnle. No
G ,ntradiction by eth pa ty Of the
81 IS confessed lii the vliiag prayer
IN citing would lu'l to est the u"sa
y..rv scandal to which the confession
has given rise No denial which the
ACCUSED urfee could now make
~ uld est blish his inn' nee. ep-
cl.llv ~ the minds of neopie who nav
been ruin. d by the failure of the in-
ter sis which re had in charge. If
hirves cal. the theft is sure To come
+, hghr. If erratic e.ple stir up
q ais neighb RS w Il huzz them
= O But if a man VINO takes girl
huuu rom cfurc'l is moved to kiss
h,.r at her ia he s gate, le' him fir
ask If she in'ends to record the trans
action in her Ii tie hook. and if he finds
that is her i..f xib'e purpose. let him
go ami kiss some other girl who does
not keep a diary