Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1896-05-23

You said there was no God. - Pray
for me-" exclaims the expiring infdel
"Too late to pray says Death. But
three more seconds to live, and will
count them off-one, two, threer' He
has gonel Where? Where? Garry him
out and bury him beside his father and
mother, who died while holding fast
the Christian religion. They died sing
ing, but the young infdel only said:
Don't breathe that cold air into my
face. You crowd me too hard. 1t is get
ting dark in the room. %
Again, I urge you to shun the COM
panionship of idlers. There are men
hanging around every store and office
and shop who have nothing to do, or
act as if they had not. They are apt to
come in when the firm are away and
wish to engage you in conversation
while you are engaged in your regular
employment. Politely suggest to such
persons that you have no time to give
them during business hours. Nothing
would please them SO well as to have
you renounce your occupation and as
sociate with them Much of the time
they lounge around the doors of engine
houses, or after the dining hour stand
upon the steps of fashionable hotel or
an elegant restaurant wishing to give
you the idea that that is the place where
they dine. But they do not dine there.
They are sinking down lower and lower
day by day. Neither by day nor by
night have anything to do with idlers.
Before you admit man into your ac-
quaintance ask him politely, what do
you do for a living?" If he says, "Noth-
ing; am a gentleman, look out for
him. He may have very soft hand
and very faultless apparel, and have
high sounding family name, but his
touch is death Before you know it you
will in his presence be ashamed of your
work dress Business will become to you
drudgery, and after awhile you will lose
your place, and afterward your respect
ability, and last CT all your soul. Idle
ness is next door to villainy. Thieves,
gamblers, burglars, shoplifters and as
sassins are made from the class who
have nothing to do. When the police 60
to hunt up and arrest culrrit, they
seldom go to look in at the busy carriage
factory or behind the counter where dill
gent clerks are employed, but they go
among the groups of idlers. The play is
going on at the theater, when suddenly
there is a scufi1e in the top gallery.
What is it? A policeman has come in,
and leaning over has tapped on the
shoulder Of young man, saying, Il
want you, SIR He has not worked
during the day, but somehow has raked
together shilling or two to get into the
top gallery. He is an idler. The man on
his right hand is an idler, and the man
on his left hand is an idler
Sin Breeding Idleness.
During the past few years there has
been a great deal of dizziness in business.
Young men have complained that they
have little to do If they have nothing
else to do, they can read and improve
their minds and hearts. These times are
not always to continue. Business is
waking up, and the superior knowledge
that in this intelregnum of work you
may obtain will be worth $50, 900 Of
capital The large fortunes of the next
90 years are having their foundations
laid now by the young men who are
giving themselves to self improvement.
1 went into store in New York and
saw five men, all Christians, sitting
round saying that they had nothing to
do. 1t is an outrage for a Christian man
to have nothing to do. Let him go out
and visit the poor, or distribute tracts,
or go and read the Bible to the sick, or
take out his New Testament and be
making his eternal fortune. Let him 60
into the back Office and pray.
Shrink back from idleness i'll yourself
and in others if you would maintain
right position Good old Ashbel Green
at more than so years of age was found
busy writing, and some young man said
to him: "Why do you keep busy? 1t is
time for you to rest" He answered, 81
keep busy to keep out of mischief. " No
man is strong enough to be idle.
Are you fond of pictures? If so, Will
show you one of the works Of an old
master. Hele it is: 81 went by the field
of the slothful and by the vineyard OF
the man void of understanding, and lol
it was all grown over with thorns, and
nettles had covered the face thereof, and
the stone wall was broken down. Then
I saw and considered we'll. I looked
upon it and received instruction. Yet
little sleep, little slumber, a little
folding of the hands to sleep. So shall
thy poverty come as one that traveleth
and thy want as an armed man" l
don't know of another sentence in the
Bible more explosive than that. 1t first
Kisses softly. like the fuse Of cannon,
and at last bursts like 81 FOUNDER.
The old proverb was right, 1.-The devil
tempts most men, but idlers tempt the
DEVIL
A young man came to man of 80
years of age and said to him, "How
have you made out to live so long and
be so well?'' The old man took the
youngster to an orchard, and, pointing
to some large trees full Of apples, said,
"I planted these trees when Twas boy,
and do you wonder that now I am per-
mitted to gather the fruit of them?" We
gather in old age what we plant in our
youth. Sow to the wind, and we reap
the whirlwind. Plant in early life the
right kind of Christian character, and
you will eat luscious fruit in old age
and gather these harvest apples i'll eter-
nifty.
Pleasure Seeking.
I urge you to avoid the perpetual
pleasure seeker. I believe i'll recreation
and amusement. God would not have
made US with the capacity to laugh if
he had not intended us sometimes to in
dulge it. God hath hung in sky and
set in wave and printed ON grass many