The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1894-10-11

awhile they will be thrown on society ne,
yous, exhausted imbeciles. Inese peoPle
who indulge In the suppers and the ni ,s i
reyeIs and then go home in the coid IN
wrapped of limbs will after awhile be iound
to have been written down In Coo eterha "
records as suicides-as much sulcldes as IL
they had taken their life with piston or d
knife or strychnine.
how many people have stepped from the
ballroom into tho graveyardS Consumptfons
and swift neuralgias are close on their track.
Amid many of the glittering scenes OF social
life diseases stand right and left and balance
and chain. Tho breath of the sepulcher
toaisup through the perfume. and the froth
of Deaths lips bubbles up in the champagne.
am told that in some of the cities there are
parents who have actually given up house
keeping and gone to boarding that they may
give their time illimitably to social disstpa-
tons. 1 have known such cases. l have
known family after family blast ed in that
way in one of the other cities where
preached. Father and mother turning their
backs upon all quiet culture and all the
amenities of home. leading forth
their entire family in the wrong dlrec-
ton. Annihilated-worset than annihiiated,
for there are some things worse than ami
hilation. 1 give you the history OF more
than one family when say they went on IN
the designations o. social life until the father
dropped into lower style OF diss patton,
and after awhile the son was tossed out INTO
society nonentity, and after awhile the
daughter eloped with a French dancing mas
ter, and after awhile the mother. getting on
further and further in years, tries TO nae
the wrinkles. but fails in the attempt, trying
all the arts of the belle-an old fltrt. poor,
miserable butterfly without any wings.
II there is anything on earth beautiful to
me. it is an aged woman, her white locks
flowing back over the wrlnklei bro"-iocKs
not white with frost, as the poets say, but
white with the blossoms OF the tree OF ne,
in her voice the tenderness OF gracious
memories, her face benediction. AS grand
mother passes through the room the grand
children pull at her dress, and she almost
falls in her weakness, but she has nothing
but candy or cake or "a kind wori for the
little darlings. When she gets out OF the
wagon In front of the house, the whole
family rush out and cry, "Grandmas
mer' And when she goes away from US,
never TO return, there is a shadow on the
table, and a shadow on the hearth, and
shadow on the heart
There is no more touching scene on earth
than when grandmother sleeps the last SUM
Der and tho little child is lifted up to the
casket to give the last kiss, and she says,
"Goodby, grandma Oh, there is beauty
in old age God says so. "The hoary head
is a crown of glory" Why should people
decline to get old? The bes: things. the
greatest things, know of are aged-old
mountains, old seas. old stars and old eterni-
ty. But if there is anything distressfnl 1t fs
to see an old woman ashamed OF the TACT
that she Is old. What with all the artificial
appliances she Is too muoh for my gravity.
1 laugh even in church when l see her COM
ing The worst looking bird on earth is a
peacock when it has lost its feathers. l
would not give one lock OF my old mother
gray hair for so 900 such caricatures of hui
manity. And if the life OF q wording, if
the life OF a disciple given 10 tho world, is
sad the close of such life is simply tragedy.
Let metoll you that the designations ofsocial
life are despoiling the usefulness of vast
multitude OF people. What do those people
care about the fact that there arc whole M
tions in sorrow and suffering and agony
when they have for consideration the more
important question about the size of Il glove
or the tie OF a cravate? Which one of them
ever bound up the wounds of the hospital?
Which one OF them ever went out to care for
the poor? Which of them do you find in the
haunts OF sin distributing tracts? They live
on themselves, and it is very poor pasture.
Sybaris was great city, and it once sent
out 300 horsemen in battle. They had a
minstrel who had taught the horses OF the
army great trick, aud when tho old min
strel played certain tune the horses would
rear and with their front feet seemed to beat
time to the music. Well. the old minstrel
was offended with his country, and he went
over to the enemy, and he said to the enemy.
You give me the mastership of the army,
and will destroy their troops when those
horsemen come from Sybaris."
So they gave the old minstrel the manage
ment, and he taught all the other Ininstrels
a certain tune Then when the cavalry
troop came up the old minstrel and all the
other MINISTRIES played a certain tune, and
at the most critical moment in the battle,
when the horsemen wanted to rush to the
conflict. the horses reared and beat time to
the music with their fore feet. and in dis
grace and rout the enemy fed. Alb, my
friends, have seen it again and again-the
minstrels of pleasure, the ministries of dissi
patton, the Ministries CT goddess association
have defeated people in the hard
est fight of life. Frivolity has
lost the battle for 10000 folk
Oh, what belittling process 10 the human
mind this everlasting question about dress,
this discussion of fashionable ininitesimas,
this group, looking askance at the glass,
wondering with an indnity of earnestness
how that last geranium leaf does look, this
shrivclinc of mans moral dignity until 1t Is
not observable to the naked eye, this Span
ish inquisition of tight shoe. this binding
up OF an immortal soul in a rutlle, this pitch
ing of OF an immortal nature over the rocks
when God created it for great and everlast-
ing uplifting
With many life is a masquerade ball, and
as Mt such entertainments gentlemen and
ladies put on the garb of kings and queens
or mountebanks or clowns, and at the close
put off the disguise, so a great many pass
their whole lie in a mask, taking off the
mask at death. While the masquerade ball
OF life goes on they trip merrily over the
floor, gemmed hand is stretched to the
gemmed hand, and cleaning brow bends to
cleaning brow. On with the dance! Flush
and rustic and laughter OF immeasurable
merrymaking
But after awhile the languor of death
comes on the limbs and blurs the eyesight
Lights lower. Floor hollow with sepulchral
echo. Music So .dened into a wall. Lights
lower. Now the maskers are only seen in
the dim light. Now the fragrance of the
flowers is like the sicKening o1or that comes
from garlands that have lain long in the
vaults OF cemeteries. Lights lower Mists
gather in the room. Glasses shake as thou I'll
quaked by sullen thunder. Sign caught in
the curtain. Scarf drops from the shoulder
of beauty-a sbxoud Lights lower. Over
the slippery boards in dance of death clides
jealousics, envies. revanges, lus., despair
and death. Stencil the lamp wicks almost
extinguished. Torn garments will not half
cover the, II lt.prltpi feat {shol-in,r 1,,S.,.