Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1885-08-15


cite the fears Of the little confiding
jewels committed to their care and
keeping. You can bend the twig with
the finger, and its direction will re-
main Tor centuries, but give it its nat
ural and normal growth, and it will
withstand the shock of the storm for
ages. 1t is not only wrong thus to
tamper with the early and susceptible
emotions of your children, least it is
criminal and fraught with grave re-
sponsibility, and the good Lord will
hold you to a strict personal accounta-
bility for a perversion OF the talents
with which he has endowed you.
When Warren left the house, it was
about the hour of 10 p. m. rather early
for ghosts and hobgoblins to congre
gate and hold their nightly orgies, but
from the sequel, poor Warran thought
that their hour was at any time from
dark till daylight.
That the reader may the more read
lily understand the tragic termination
of this silly and boastful enterprise, /
will relate the exact position OF his
body when found about 12 o'clock ut
night, or little within two hours after
his departure. As stated above he had
not been gone over half an hour before
Il great majority of the guests thought
that they had committed a grave error
in putting him to the test. 1t was a
clear beautiful night, and the moon
shed her soft melancholy rays over
quiet and sleeping world.
They concluded that it would take
Warren about one hour, or little less,
to make the trip and return, and when
at ii o'clock he failed to come, uneas
ness was manifested on each counte-
nance. They determined to give him
yet twenty minutes, and if he failed to
put in an appearance, a deputation
would be sent to look after him; at the
expiration of the time there was no
report, and four young men volun-
teered their services to look him up
and report the cause OF delay. They,
proceeded on foot TO the church, and
found the door swung wide open, with
Il portion of the floor fooled with
golden moonlight, while the balance
of the church wis indistinct and OBJ
scure. They hastily approached the
wide, open space in front of the speak
er's stand, and there they saw 81 sight
which froze the blood in their young
veins, and caused their hair to stand
on end like the quilts on the fretful
porcupine. VIM. Warren was lyiny
prone upon the floor, dead, with his
arms extended diagonally, the right
hand clutching the manuscript re-
ferred to by the clerk, wild terrified
expression marking every hneament |
of his face; the table, heavy as it was,
was completely overturned, and was
lying upon its side near the body OF
Warren, but there was no indication
OF its having struck him in its fall.
Upon closer examination, it was
found that goodly portion of the |
frock tail coat which he had worn was
firmly held by the drawer which was
closed, and it was now apparent that |
death resulted from fright, clearly es-
tablished by the following deductions:
Warren, no doubt, entered the church
under certain state of mental terror,
opened the drawer, secured the manu-
script and in closing the drawer his
coat tail caught and held him fast when
he was in the act of turning to leave;
being thus tangibly Intercepted in his
attempted egress, he suddenly lost all
and fell forward on his
face, dragging the table down with
him. Prior to twelve O'Clock this little
group was plotting and scheming, all
of the destruction of hu-
man being. and at and after said hour
they were mourning over their ire
mediable error.
The world is full OF sadness and woe,
which came to us inevitably by one
course OF natural law; but vast pro-
portion could be averted if we would
0nly live and act in accord with the
light and reason bestowed by an ALI
wise Father.