The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1897-08-27

/ have been told by those who have
observed, that it is possible to cal
culate just how many letters will be
sent to the dead letter Office every
year through misdirection; that it is
possible to calculate just how many
letters will be detained for lack of
postage stamps through the forgetful-
ness of the senders, and that it is posi-
Bile to tell just how many people will
fall in the streets by slipping on an
orange peel. In other words. there are
no accidents. The most insignificant
event you every heard of is the link
between two eternities-the eternity
of the past and the eternity of the fu-
ture. Head the right way, young man,
and you will come out at the right
goal.
When young man willfully and of
choice, having the comforts of life,
goes into the contraction of unpayable
debts, he knows not into what he goes.
The creditors get after the debtor, the
pack OF hounds in full cry, and alas!
for the reindeer. They jingle his door
bell before he gets up in the morning,
they jingle his door bell after he has
gone to bed at night. They meet him
as he comes off his front steps. They
send him postal card, or letter, in
curtest style, telling him to pay up
They attach his goods. They want
cash, or a note at 80 days, or note on
demand. They call him a knaye. They
say he lies. They want him disciplined
in the church. They want him turned
out of the bank. They come at him
from this side and from that side, and
from before, and from behind. and
! from above, and from beneath, and he
is insulted, and gibbeted, and sued,
and &unned, and sworn at, until he
gets nervous dyspepsia, gets neuralgia,
| gets liver complaint, gets heart dis
ease, gets convulsive disorder, gets
! consumption. Now he is dead, and
you say: ''Of course you will let him
alone" Oh, no! Now they are watch
full to see whether there are any un
necessary expenses at the obsequies,
to see whether there is any useless
handle on the casl1et, to see
whether there is any surplus plait
on the shroud, to see whether the
hearse is costly CIR cheap, to see
whether the flowers sent to the casket
have been bought by the family or do
mated. See in whose name the deed to
grave is made out. Then they ransacl1
the bereft household, the books, the
pictures. the carpets, the chairs, the
sofa, the piano, the mattresses, the pill
low on which he died. Cursed be
debt! For the sake of your own hap
pincss, for the sake of your good
morals, for the sake of your immortal
soul, for Gods sake, young man, as far
as possible, keep out of debt
But L think more young men are
slaughtered through irreligion. Take
away a young mans religion and you
make him the prey of evil. We all
know that the Bible is the only perfect
system of morals. Now, if you want
to destroy the young mans morals,
take his Bible away. How will you
do that? Well, you will caricature his
reverence for the Scriptures, you will
take all those incidents of the BIZ
BILE which can be made mirth of
-Jonah's whale. Samson's foxes,
Adams rib-then you will carl
cature eccentric Christians, or incon-
sistent Christians; then you will pass
off as your own all those hackneyed
arguments against Christianity, which
are as old as Tom Paine as old as Vol
taire, as old as sin. Now, you have
captured his Bible, and you have taken
his stron est fortress; the way is com
paratively clear, and all the gates of
his soul are set open in invitation to
the sins of earth and the sorrows of
death, that they may come in and
drive the stake for their encaml ment.
n steamer !, 800 miles from shore with
broken ruddcr and lost compass, and
hulk leaking 50 gallons the hour, is
better off than a young man when you
have robbed him of his Bible. Have
you ever noticed how despicably mean
it is to take away the worlds Bible
without proposing a substitute. 1t is
meaner than to come to a sick man and
steal his medicine, meaner than to
come to a cripple and steal his crutch,
meaner than to come to pauper and
steal his crust, meaner than to come to
a poor man and burn his house down.
1t is the worst of all larcenies to
steal the Bible, which has been
crutch and medicine and food
and eternal home to SO many.
What a generous and magnanimous
business infdelity has gone into! This
splitting up of lifeboats and taking
away of fire escapes, and eXtinguishing
of lighthouses. l come out and say to
such people: What are you doing all |
this fOr?' oh" they say, Just for |
fun" 1t is such fun to see Christians |
try to hold on to their Bibles Many of |
them have lost loved ones, and have |
been told that there is a resurrection!
Many of them have believed that Christ |
came to carry the burdens and to heal |
the wounds of the. world, and it is
such fun to tell them they |
saviorl Think of the meanest thing |
you ever heard of; then go down 1000 |
feet underneath it, and you will find |
yourself at the top of stairs 100 |
miles long; go to the bottom of the |
stairs, and you will find ladder 1000 |
miles long; then go the foot of the lad |
der, and look off a precipice half as |
far as from here to China, and you will |
find the headquarters Of the meanness |
that would rob this world of its only |
comfort in life, its only peace in death, !
and it's only hope for Immortality. |
Slaughter a young mans faith in God, |
and there is not much more left to |
slaughter.
Now, what has become of the slaugh-
tered? Well, some of them are in their |
fathers or mothers house, broken /
down in health. waiting to die; others |
are in the hospital, others are in the
cemetery, or, rather, their bodies are,
for their souls have gone on to retribu-
ton. Not much prospect for a young
man who started life with good health,
and good education, and a Christian
example set him, and opportunity of
who gathered all his treas