The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-09-22
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
Arp Says that Happiness Is More VaIua.
BILE than the KIondike.
tlunta Constitution.

atlanta Constitution.
The poet says that domestic hap.
pincss is the only bliss of paradise
that has survived the fall" If that
is so, and | reckon it is, what an aw-
full sin it is for a man or his wife or a
son or daughter to break it up. 1t is
worse than murder, for there is only
one victim, and he is dead but the
destroyer of domestic happiness brings
misery to the family, and they must
live OF in their sorrow. If domestic
peace and love could be purchased
with money, what a price it would
bring, and yet it can be had without
money if every member Of the family
would do right. I was Illuminating
about this and wondering if even the
devil was mean enough to take pleas
ure in destroying the peace of a house
hold. The book of Job does not make
him that mean, for Job suffered no
! sorrow from any bad conduct of wife
or children. Satan wants worshipers,
and even dared to try to seduce the
Saviour to his allegiance but he did
it in an open, manly way, and lost.
He is an adversary-a bad one-a
powerful n eve since he was thrust
out of heaven ; but according to scrip
ture he has not yet lost his power or
his consequence, for the Lord talked
to him in Job and the Saviour had a
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 allegiance but surely he
wouldn't take away and destroy the
only bliss of paradise that is left US.
He hasent done it from Ingersoll, for
that notable man has a most loving
household, and so have many in6dels
and atheists and skeptics. My opin-
ion 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 I believe
that it is in the power of every man
and woman and son and 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, some
times the wife, sometimes the daugh-
ter, but o~ftener than all together it is
the son that brings the blight and dar-
kens 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 anew case
somewhere-murder, suicide, embez-
element and all is mixed up with the
jails and courts and pictures in the
papers and the misery Of kindred and
the worlds cold criticism. How many
families that once moved proudly with
the social swelling throng have retired
from it to grieve wei the crushing
fate Of a hayward son or a. daughter
shame? How many families have
been broken down by reckless sons.in-
law? I 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 mil
lions of dollars. 1t beats the Klon-
dixie, 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 if
father and mother and children will
make.i it so. "He that %troubleth his
own house shall inherit the wind
A cross husband, a contentious, com
planning wife, a selfish son or an indo-
lent, discontinued daughter can de-
stroy the peace of the household.
There are some things that are worth
so much they cannot be valued.
Health of body is one of them, but
peace of mind is worth more than that.
Some years ago there was a verdict
rendered in our Court at Rome giving
$50, 900 to a young man because of a
fall from the train at night and a per-
manent injury to his spine. He was
a man of brilliant mind and high am
bition and splendid prospects, but the
doctors testified hal he would be a
mental wreck, and his eloquent lawyer
drew such a sad picture Of the wreck
that the jury gave this large amount
as compensation. No bones were bro
ken nor did he suffer any pain. He
walked about and visited his friends,
and showed no sign of imbecility, but
his mental force was impaired, his
high ambition gone, and this verdict
was only an approximation of the
damage.
What, then, is the peace of a family
worth g? Not merely peace of mind,
but of heart, for the heart outranks
the mind as the mind Goes the body.
1 was Illuminating about these ill-as-
sorted, unhappy marriages that seem
in these later years to be more fire.
quent than in the olden time, and are
the prolific source of so much domestic
trouble. The poet says
How sad and dreary is the home
Where love, domestic love no longer mes
ties.
But strick en- by some cruel doom
Is corpse lies on the trestl,ss."
I wonder how many modern maria
ges may be called happy--in how many
families do peace and love rule the
household? Not many among the
children of the rich. l know, for they
have known no want nor self-denial,
and cannot bear patiently any misfor-
tune. And even among the poor there
is misery that the hard times have in
creased. Only yesterday a sad-faced
woman came to us begging food and
clothes for her children, and her story
was that her husband had to run away
for trying to make a living by running
a blind tiger. What a curse is this
marriage tie when hastily and unhap-
PLY made. If | was a girl, it seems
to me, I would rather remain single all
my life than bind myself body and