Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1896-04-17

NRtAASN AOi duhilSSkoh. 4Iey Si4nC ard
stood
Before St. Peter, SO great aud good,
Ia hopes the city of peace 20 win
And asked ST. Peter to let them in.
The woman was tall and lank and thin.
With a scragey beardlet upon her chin.
The man was short and thick and stout,
His stomach was built SO it rounded QUE.
Ills face was pleasant. and all the while
he wore kindly and genial smile,
The choirs in the distance the echoes
woke,
And the man kept stll while the woman
spoke.
20 thoR who guardOst the Gate, said
She.
! We two come hither bcseechine thoe
To let ~ enter the heavenly land,
And PlSy our harps with the agel band
or me, St. Peter, there is no doubt,
There s nothing from Heaven 10 bar INC
cut.
/ We been TO meeting three times = week.
And almost always I'd rise to speak.
I've told the sinners about the day.
When they d repent of their evil wav.
I've told ms neighbors-'ve told them
all
Bout Adam and Eve and the primal fall
I've shown them what they a have to do
II they d pass in with the chosen few,
We marked their path Of duty clear-
Laid cut the plan for their whole career.
I've talked and talked to en- loud and
long,
.s''oT MY l"ngg are good and my voice is
strong.
So good St. Peter, you will clearly see
The Gate Of Heaven Is open for me,
But my old man, l regret to say,
Hasp t walked in exactly the narrow
way:
lie smokes and he swears, and grave
faults he got,
And don't know whether he'll pass or
not.
lie mover would pray with an earnest
vim:
Or SO 20 revival, or join in a hymn.
/ So. had 70 leave him in eorrov there.
While I with the chosen, united in
prayer.
He ate S'hat the pantry Glanced 20 afford
While /, in ms purity sang to the Lord
And II cucumbere were all he got,
IL ) chance if he merited them or not.
But. o. st. Peter, love him SO,
To the pleasures of heaven please let
him go,
I've done enough "a saint I've been
Won't that atone" Can't you let him
inp
BY my grim Gospel, know it's SC,
That the unrepentant must fry below;
But isn't there some way you can SEQ
That he may enter who s dear to nsoY
It's narrow Gospel by which I pray.
But the CHOSEN expect to find some way,
OF coaxing, or fooIing. or bribing you.
SO that their relatione can aInble
through.
And. say, st. Peter, il seems 20 me,
This Gate isn't kept as it ought 70 be;
You ought TO stand right by the omen
ing there.
And never sit down in that easy chair.
And, say, St. Peter, my sight is dim
med,
But / don't like the way your whiskers
are trimmed,
They re cut too wide and outward toss
They'd look better narrow, cut straight
across;
Well, we must be going our crown to
win,
So, open st. Peter, and well pass inl'
st. Peter sat quiet, and stroked his staff,
But, spite Of his office, he bad to laugh.
Then said, with fiery gleam in his eye,
Who 8 tending this gateway ,yor or II"
AND then he rose in his stature tall,
And pressed button upon the wall,
And said to the imp who answered the
bell,
Escort THE lady around to hell
The man stood still as piece of stone
Stood sadly. gloomily there alone,
A lifelong, settled idea he had.
That his wife was good and he was bad.
He thought that if the woman went
down below,
That he certainly would have to GO
That II she went TO the regions dim,
There wasn't a ghost of show for him.
Slowly he turned, by habit bent,
To follow wherever the woman went.
st. Peter, standing ia duty there,
Observed that the top Of his head was
bare.
He called the gentleman back and said:
Friend, how long have you been wedY''
Thirty years." with weary sigh,
And theE he thoughtfully added
''wliyY''
st. Peter was silent. With head bent
down,
He raised his hand and scratched his
crown.
Then, seeming different thought to
take,