The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1897-09-24
BILL ARP'S WEEKLY LETTER.
DOMESTIC HAPPINESS A TREAS.
UBE VALUED ABOVE RICHES.
MANY lLLESS0RTED MARRIAGES.
10 Break up che Peace ofa Happy House
hold H. Worse rhaa Murder, says
The sHge OF unrtow.

ness is the only bliss Of paradise that
has survived the fall. II that is SO,
aud reckon It is, what an awful sin II
Is for a man or his wife or a son or
daughter 20 break IL up. II is worse
than murder, for there Is then only
one victim, and he is dead but the do
stroyer of domestic happiness brings
misery TO the family, aud they must
live on in their sorrow. If domestic
peace and love could be purchased
with money, what n price IL would
bring and yet IL can be had without
money II every member Of the family
would do right. / was Eliminating
about this and wondering il even the
devil was mean enough 10 take pleasure
in destroying the peace of a household.
The book of Job does not make him
that mean, for job suffered no sorrow
from any bad conduct Of wife or child
rem. Satan wants worshipers, and
even dared TO try to seduce the Savior
to his allegiance; but he did IL in an
open and manly way, and lost He is
an Adversary bad one-a powerful
one ever since he was thrust out eli
heaven; but according to scripture he
has not yet lost his power or his con-
sequence, for the Lor,, talked TO him
in job and the Savior had conference
with him in Mathew, and Michael, the
archangel, had a dispute with him about
the body of Moses. He is bold, self
poised, defiant spirit and uses many arts
to seduce mankind from their allegi-
ance; but surely he wouldn't take away
and destroy the only bliss of paradise
that is left us. He hasent done it from
lngersoll for that notable man has a
most loving household, and so have
many inhdels and atheists and skep-
ties. My opinion is that our original
sin has more to do with bad conduct
than the devil We are born to sin as
the sparks fly upward, and the devil
urges us on and apologies for every
mean thing we do and tries to comfort
US, but believe that it is in the power
of every man and woman and son aud
daughter to preserve the family peace
and to make home the most attractive
place upon the earth. Then, why
don't they do it? 1t sickens us with
sorrow to read the family troubles in
the daily papers. Sometimes it is the
husband, sometimes the wife, some
times the daughter, but oftener than
all together it is the son that brings
| the blight and darkens the doors and
makes parents and sisters seek to hide
from the gaze of men. What makes
the young men do so? Every day
there is a new case somewhere muir
der, suicide, embezzlement, and all is
mixed up with the iails and courts and
pictures in the papers and the misery
of kindred and the worlds cold criti-
cism. How many families that once
moved proudly with the social swell
ing throng have retired from it to
grieve over the crushing fate of way
ward son or daughters shame. How
many families have been broken down
by reckless sons-in-law. l know some
aged parents whose hair has grown
prematurely gray, whose brows are
furrowed with lines of sorrow and
whose smiles are always sad, if they
smile at all.
Young men, please stop and think.
The happiness of home is worth mill
ions of dollars. 1t beats the Klondike,
and is right close by, and no frozen
hills to cross. The pleasures of a
happy home excel anything upon
earth, and can be had so cheaply il
father and mother and children will
make it so, ''He that troubleth his
own house shall inherit the wind" A
cross husband, a contentious, com.
planning wife, selfish son or an in.
dolent, discontinued daughter can de
stroy the peace of household
{ There are some things that are wortl
so much they cannot be valued. Healtl
of body is one of them, but peace O
mind is worth more than that. Som,
years ago there was a verdict rendered
in our court at Rome giving $35, 900 t.
young man because of fall from thu
1 train at night and permanent iniur,
4 to his spine. He was a man of brillian
mind and high ambition and splendid
prospects, but the doctors testif4t
that he would be a mental wreck, anC
< his eloquent lawyer drew such a sat
e picture of the wreck that the jury CAV
+ this large amount as compensation
i, No bones were broken, nor did h.
suffer any pain. He walked about ant
visited his friends, and showed n
+ sign of imbeciIity, but his menta
/ force was impaired, his high ambition
gone, and this verdict was only an ap
Proclamation Of the damage.
What, then, is the peace of famil.
e worth? Not merely peace of mind
It but of heart, for the heart outrank
e the mind as the mind does the body
o [ was Illuminating about these i'll
assorted, unhappy marriages that seer
. n these later years to be more frequen