Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1896-04-17
ST. PETER At THE GATE.

bbOOu
Before st. Peter, so 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 scragsy beardlet upon her chin.
The man was short and thick and stout,
His stomach was built so it rounded out.
His face was pleasant, and all the while
lie wore a kindly and genial smile,
The choirs in the distance the echoes
woke,
And the man kept still while the woman
spoke.
20 thou who guardoet the Gate, y said
she.
We two come hither bcseeching thee
To let US enter the heavenly land,
And plsy our harps with the agel band.
OF me, st. Peter, there is no doubt,
There's nothing from Heaven to bar inc
out.
I've been to meeting three timesa week
And almost always I'd rina to speak.
I've told the sinners about the day,
When they d repent of their evil way,
I've told my neighbors--'ve told then,
all
Bout Adam and Eve and the primal fall
I've shown them what they'd have to dc
If they'd pass in with the chosen few,
I've marked then, path of duty cleai--
Laid out the plan for their whole career.
I've talked and talked to 'em loud and
long,
For my lungs are good and my voice ia
strong.
SO, good st. Peter, you will clearly see
The Gate of Heaven is open for me,
But my old man, regret to say,
Hasn t walked in exactly the marrow
way:
lie smoses and he swears, and grave
faults he's got,
And don't know whether he'll pass or
not.
He never would pray with all ear uest
vim;
Or so to revival, or join in hymn,
So, had to leave hin, in sorrow there.
While with the chosen, united in
prayer.
He ate what the pantry Glanced to afford
While L, in my purity sang to the Lord
And If cucumbers were all he got,
II $ chance if he mcrited 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 becn-
Won't that atone Can't you let him
IMP
BY my grim Gospel, 1 know 'tis SC,
That the unrepentant must fry below;
But isn't there some way you can SEQ
That he may enter who 8 dear to nae?
Its narrow Gospel by which pray /,
But the chosen expect to find come way,
OF coaxing, or fooling. or bribing you,
So that their relatione can ainble
through.
And. say, st. Peter, it seems to me,
This Gate isn't kept as it ought to be;
You ought to stand right by the open-
ing there,
And never sit down in that easy chair.
"And, say, st. Peter, my sight liz 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 weIl pass inl"
ST. Peter sat quiet, and stroked his staff,
But, spite of his office, he bad to laugh,
Then said, with fiery glcam in his eye,
Who's s tending this gateway you or I?n
And then he rose 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 rs 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 if 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 in 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,
Heraised his hand and scratched his
crown.
Then, seeming different thought to