The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1886-09-29

nlgnt IN place OF abandonment The fafhel
says: My son, come with me. Your mothei
has sent me to bring you home. hear yol
are out Of money and good clothes, and yog
know as long as we live you can have home
Come right away" he says, putting his hanf
on the young mans shoulder.
In angry tone Edward replies: Take youi
hands Of me- You mind your own business
win do as please Take your hands Off d
me or wiz strike you down You 60 you
way and viii go ninet7
That Saturday night, or rather SUNDAY
morning. for It is by this time O'Clock il
the morning, the father goes TO the city hons
OF bis son Nicholas ana rings the bell, anc
rings again and again and il seems as if NJ
answer would be given, but after while
window is boosted and a voice cries. Who,
theres7
at is ne, says the old man
@Why, father Is that your
In a minute the door IS opened and the sof
says: %What in the world has brought yon Il
the city at this hour Of the nightT
sOhl Edward has brought me hero.
feared your mother would 20 stark crazy moi
hearing from him, and / find out that it i.
worse with him than / suspected.
YES said Nicholas, u had not the heart
10 write you anything about it. have tried
nay best with him and all in vain. But it is
after O'Clock. says Nicholas 70 his father
~and win take you to a bed
On a comfortable couch in that house the
old father lies down coaxing sleep for few
hours, but no sleep comes. Whose house is
it, That Of his son, Nicholas. The fact IS
that Nicholas soon after coming to the city
became indispensable in the commercial es-
tablishment where he was placed He knew.
partment4of business, and mechanism, and
art. there is a surplus Of people Of ordinary
application and ordinary diligence, there
Is a great scarcity, and always has
beena great scarcity, Of people who
excel Plenty Of people TO do things poorly
or tolerabiy well, but very few clerks or bust
ness men or mechanics who can do splendidly
well. Approaching this, Nicholas had re-
solved TO do 50 grandlv that the business firm
could not % without him. Always at his
place q little after everybody had gone: as ex-
tremely polite to those who declined purchas-
ing as 90 those who made large purchases. He
drank no wine for he saw il was the ernpois-
onmen. Of multitudes, and when any one
asked him to take something he said NO. y
with the peculiar information that meant no.
His conversation was always as pure as if
his sisters had been listening. He went
TO no place of amusement where he
would be ashamed to die He never bet
or gambled, even at church fair, When he
was at the boarding house, after he had got
all the artistic development be could possibly
receive from tho chrome ON the wall, he be-
gan 10 study that which would help him to
promotion-study penmanshlD, study bior-
raphics Of successful men; or went forth to
places Of innocent amusement and TO Young
ffa-izf inn lot
ashamed to be found at church prayer
meeting. He rose from position to position,
and from one salary to another salary.
Only five years in town and yet be has
rented his own house, or a suite of rooms,
not very large, but a home large enough in
its happiness to be a type Of heaven In the
morning as the old father, with handkerchief
in hand, comes crying down stairs to the
table there are four persons, one for each
side-the young man and opposite to him
the best blessing that a God of infinite good
ness can bestow, namely, good wife; and
on another side the high chair filed with
dimpled and roiliclinS glee, that makes the
grandfather opposite smile outside while he
has broken heart within.
Wei, as ! said, it was Sabbath, and Nicho-
las and his father, knowing that there is no
place so appropriate for troubled soul as the
house Of God find their way to church 1t is
day, and what is the old mans
surprise 20 see his son pass down the aisle with
one Of the silver chalices, showing him to be
a church official The fact was that Nicholas.
from the start in city life, honored God, and
God had honored him. When the first wave
of city temptation struck him he had felt the
need Of divine guidance and divine protec-
ton, and in prayer had sought re-
tod MI hoe ~. 81
of all arInor, that highest of
all protection, that mightiest of all re-en-
the multipotent and omnipotent
grace of God, and you might as well throw
thistle down against Gibraltar, expecting to
destroy it, as with all the combined tempta-
tons of earth and hell try to overthrow a
young man who can truthfully say: God is
my refuge and strength"
Come, let us measure Nicholas around the
head As many inches of brain as any other
intelligent man. Let us measure him around
the heart. 1t is so large it takes in all the
earth and all the heavens. Measure him
around the purse. He has moro resources
than nine-tenths of those who, ON that Mon
day, Sept. 20, came in on any of the railroads
from north or south, or east or west
But that Sabbath afternoon, while in the
back room, Nicholas and his father are talk
ing over amy attempt at the reclamation of
Edward, there is ringing of the door bell
and man with the uniform of policeman
stands there, and man with some embar-
raSsment and some halting. and in a round
about way says that in a fight in some low
haunt of the city Edward has been hurt He
says to Nicholas II heard that he was some
relation Of yours, and thought you ought to
know it"
Hurt Is he badly hurtF
"Yes, very badly hurt"
rs the wound mortalF
ayes; it is mortal. To tell you the whole |
TRUTH sir, says the policeman, although l |
can hardly bear to tell you, he is dead"
Dead" cries Nicholas. And by this time |
The whole family are in the hallway. The
father says Just as 1 feared 1t will kill |
his mother when she hears of it. oh, my son.
my SON. Would to God had died for thee. |
Oh, my son, my sonln
wash off the wounds" says Nicholas, |
and bring bin right here to my house. and |
et there be all respect and gentleness shown |
aim. 1t is the last we can do for him.
Oh, what obsequiesl The next door neigh |
,ors hardly knew what was going on; but |
Nicholas and the father and mother knew. |
Jut OF the Christian and beautiful home of |
ne one brother is carried the dissolute |
brother. No word of blame uttered. No /
harsh things said On a bank of camellias is
pelled out the word Brother Had the
'rodigal been true and pure and noble in life
md honorable in death he could not have
,een carried forth with more tenderness. or
lept IN more beautiful casket, or been de
'osited IN more beautiful garden of the
lead Amid the loosened turf the brothers
Who left the country for city life five years
'efore now part forever. The last scene of
he fifth act Of an awful tragedy of human
ife is ended
What made the difference between thess
wo young men! Religion. The one de
'ended on himself, the other depended ON
Iod. They started from the same home. had
he same opportunities of education. arrived
n the city on the same day, and if there was
ny difference Edward had the ADVANTAGE
or he was brighter and quicker and all the
eighbors prophesied greater success for him
han for Nicholas. But behold and wonder
{ the tremendous secret Voices come mn
ut OF this audience and say: @Did you know
nese orothersf Yes; knew them WELL
Did You know their parentssr ayes: init.
lately What was the city. what the
treet, what the last names of these Young
1ent You have excited our curiosity. now
I'll us ALL
l viii. Nothing in these characters i,
cuuous except the names They are in
very city, and in every street of every city.
nd IN every country. Not two of them bnt |
1000 Aye, ave, Right before me TODAY.
nd ON either side Of me, and above me. thew
and stand-the invulnerahle through ra-
glous defence and the blasted of CITY
Iiurements; those who shall have longevity |
beautiful homes and others who shall hava ,
ariy graves OF infamy. And am here To- .
ay in the name of Almighty God 10 give
on the choice of the two characters. the two !
stories, the two experiences, the two des- 1
MES, the two worlds, the two eternities. {
Standing with you at the forks of the road
'mething makes me think that il TODAY I | ,
Z before the people the terrnini of the two | Z