Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1895-03-16
St. Peter at
The Gate.
The Fate of the Self-RighteOuS
Woman.
q T. PETER stood guard at the
~ Golden Gate


Applied for admission They came and
stood
Before It. Peter, % great and good,
In hopes the City Of Peace to win
And asked st Peter to let them in.
The woman was tall and lank and thin,
With a scraggy beardlet upon her chin,
The man was short and thick and stout,
His stomach was built so it rounded out;
Ills face was pleasant and all the while
He wore a kindly and genial smile
The choirs in the distance the echoes
woke,
And the man kept still while the woman
spoke:
ooh thou who guartlest the gate. said
she,
we two come hither. beseechng thee
To let Us enter the Heavenly land,
And play our harps with the angel
band.
OF me. It. Peter, there Is no doubt
There's nothing from Heaven to bar
me out;
I've been to meeting three times a week
And almost always I'd rise aud speak.
I've told the sinners about the day
When they'd repent their evil way
I've told my neighbors, have told
them all
Bout Adam and Eve and the primal
fall
I've shown them what they'd have to do
If they'd pass in with the chosen few
I've marked their path of duty clear
Laid out the plan Of their whole career.
I've talked and talked to 'em, loud and
long.
For my lungs are good and my voice
strong.
80 good St. Peter you will clearly see
The gate of Heaven is open to me;
But my old man | regret to say,
Hasn't walked in exactly the narrow
way
He smokes and he swears, and grave
faults, he's got,
And don't know whether he'll pass
or not,
He never would pray with an earnest
vim,
Or 90 to revival. or join in hymn;
so had to leave him in sorrow there
While |, with the chosen, united in
prayer
He ate what the pantry chose to afford,
While, !, in my purity, sang to the
Lord,
And If cucumbers were all he got,
It's a chance if he merited them or not
But, oh. St. Peter, ! love him so,
10 the pleasures Of Heaven please let
him 90.
I've done enough--a saint I've been;
Won't that atone? Can't you let him
iny
But my grim gospel | know lis 81
That the unrepentant must fry below.
But isn't there some way YOU can see
That he may enter in who is dear to
me-
Its a narrow Gospel by which | pray,
But the chosen expect to find some way
OF coaxing, or fooling, or bribing you.
20 that their relations can amble
through
And say, st. Peter, it seems TO me
This gate isn't kept as it ought to be;
You ought to stand by that opening
there;
And never sit down in an easy chair.
And say, st. Peter, my sight is dimmed,
But don't like the way your whiskers
are trimmed
They re cut too wide and outward toss.
They'd looked better narrower. cut
straight across.
Well we must be going our crowns TO
win,
So open. st. Peter, and we'll pass in.
And then he arose in his stature tall
And pressed button upon the wall.
And said TO the imp who answered
the bell.
Escort this lady around to hell"
The man stood still as piece of Stone
Stood sadly, glooming there alone,
A life long, settled idea he had
That his wife was good and he was bad
He thought if the woman went down
below
That he would certainly have to GO
That il she went TO the regions dim
There wasn't ghost OF a show for
him.
Slowly he turned, by habit bent.
10 follow wherever the woman went.
st Peter, standing Oh duty there,
Observed that the top of his head was
bare
He called the gentleman back and
said:
"Friend, how long have YOU been
wed -
Thirty years with weary sigh.
And then he thoughtfully added
why ,"
ST. Peter was silent. With head bent
down
lie raised his head and scratched his
crown;
Then, seeming different thought to
take,
slowly. half TO himself. he spake:
Thirty years with that woman there
No wonder the man hasn't any hair.
Swearing i wicked Smokes not
good
He smoked and sworc-I should think
he would
Thirty years with that tongue 80 sharp?
lio, Angel Gabriel Give him harm,
y ieweled harp with n golden string
Good sir. pass in where the angel.
sing
Gabriel gave him seat alone
One with cushions-up near the throne
Call rs some angels TO sing their hest
Let him enjoy the music and rest
See that on the finest ambrosia he feeds
Hes had about all the hell he neeJs
l. isn't Just hardly the thing 10 do
10 roast him on earth and the G,,,,..
too "'"'e
They gave him harp with yold.,
strings, e''"e"
\ gl'itering robe with a pair Of v;n,.
And he said, as he entered the pa"f '
Of Day, WV ''ea'm
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