St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1897-12-18

mcnt lie walks. he rides. he play,
ten-pins in private alleys, he has book.
on his table, pictures on his wall, aut
occasional outings, concerts, lectures
baseball tickets and the innumerEbls
delights Of friendship. But he wants
q key to the place Of dissolute convoca
tion. He wants association with some
members OF high family as reckless
~ he is aff1ucnt. He wants. instead Ol
Z quiet Sabbath. one Of carousal. Hs
wants the stimulus Of strong drinks
He wants the permissi0ns Of . pro1i
gate life. The one membership, the
one bad habit, the one carousal robs
him of all the possibilities and innocent
enjoy ments and noble inspirations Of ,
lifetime. Dy one mouthful Of for
hidden fruit he loses . whole orchard
of fruit unforbidden.
You see what an expensive thing Il
sin. 1t costs q thousand times more
than it is worth. As some of nllIlxinda
OF quadrupeds and all kinds of winged
creatures passed before our progenitor
that He might announce . name. from
eagle to bat, and from lion to mole, "a
1 suppose there were in paradise speci-
mems Of every kind Of fruit tree. And
in that enormous orchard there was
not only enough for the original fam
lily Of two, but enough fruit fell ripe
TO the ground. aud was never picked
mp, to supply whole towns aud vii
lagos, il they had existed. But the
couple turned away from
all these other trees and faced this
tree; and fruit OF that they will have
though it cost them all paradise.
The story OF Eden is rejected by
some as an improbability, if not an im-
possibility, but nothing on earth is
easier for me to believe than the truth
of this Edenic story, for l have seen
the same thing in this year of our
Lord, 1897. Icould call them by name.
II it were polite and righteous TO do
10. the men who have sacrificed para
disc on earth and paradise in Heaven
for one sin. Their house went. Their
library went. Their good name
went Their field Of usefulness went
Their health went Their iinmor-
tal soul went. NY friends! there is
just one sin that will turn you out OF
paradise il you do not quit 1t. You
know what it is, and God knows. and
you had better drop the hand and arm
lifted toward that bending bough be-
fore you pluck your own ruin. When
Adam stood on tiptoe and took in his
right hand that ono round peach. or
apricot, or apple, Satan reached up
and pulled down the round. beau tiful
world of our present residence. Over
artist. overwrought merchant.
politician. avaricious specu-
latOr, better take that warning from
Adams orchard and stop before you
put out for that one thing more.
But turn from Adams orchard to
Solomon's orchard. With his own
hand he writes: II made me gardens
and orchards" Not depending apon
the natural fall Of rain, he irrigated
those orchards. Pieces of the aque-
duct that watered those gardens havc
seen, aud the reservoirs are as perfect
as when thousands Of years ago the
trowei smoothcd the mortar
over their gray surfaces. No orchard
Of olden or modern time, probably,
ever had its thirst 80 we'll slaked. The
largest Of these reservoirs is 5Sa feet
long. 2o7 feet wide and SO feet deep.
These reservoirs Solomon refers to
when he says: II made me pools Of
water TO water Herewith the
wood that bringeth forth trees. !"
Solomon used to ride out
70 that orchard before breakfast. It
gave him an appetite and something to
think about all the day. Josephns. the
represented him as going
out ''early in the morning from Jeru-
salem to the famed rocks of Etam, q
fertile region. delightful with para
discs and running springs: Thither
The king, in robes of white, rode in his
escorted BY troop of mounted
archers. chosen for their youth aud
statue. and cled in Tyrian purple.
whose long hair, powdered with gold
dust, sparkled in the SUM-" After
Solomon had taken his morning ride
IN these Injurious orchards he would
sit down aud write those wonderful
things in the Bible, drawing his illus
trations from the fruits he had that
very morning plucked or ridden
under. And, wishing to praise the
coming Christ. he says: .'As the apple
Tree among the trees of the wood, SO is
my beloved" And wishing to describe
tie love Of the church for her Lord, he
writes: Comfort me with apples, for
| am sick of love-" and desiring to
make reference to the white hair Of
The octogenarian. and just before hav-
ing noticed that the blossoms OF the
almond trees were white, he says of
The aged man: 1.-THE almond tree shall
flourish" The walnuts and the pome-
yrsuates, and the mandrakes. and the
Rss make Solomon's writings . divine
IS arranged fruit basket.
But having introduced you to Adams
orchard and carried you awhile
Solomon's orchard, want to
lake walk with you through Pilates
orchard of three trees on = hill 20 feet
high, ten minutes walk from the gate
II Jerusalem. After l had read that
3ur great-grandfather and great-grand-
mother had been driven out Of the
arst orchard. made up my mind that
the Lord would not be defeated in that
way. l said to myself that when they
bad been poisoned by the fruit Of that
3ne tree, somewhere, somehow, there
would be provided m antidots for the
poison. said: ''Where is the other
Eree that will undo the work of that
tree? Where 10 the other orchard that
will repair the damage received in the
8rsf oenhand2o And Rad ON nnfil /