The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1898-01-21
SUBSCRIPTION: Sl.OO Per Year.


a glance see it is not only present dis
ease he must fight, but years of fast liv-
ing. The clergyman, for the sake of the
feelings of the family, on the funeral
day will only talk in religious general
tiles. The men who got his yacht in
the eternal rapids will not be at his
obsequies. They will have pressing en-
gagements that day. They will send
flowers to the coffin lid, and send their
wives to utter words of sympathy, but
they will have engagements elsewhere.
They never come. Bring me mallet and
chisel, and | will cut on the tombstone
that mans epitaph: BLESSED are the
dead who die in the Lord"
mo" you say, ''that would not be
appropriate" Let me die the death
of the righteous, and let my last end
be like his" ''No," you say, that
would not be appropriate" Then give
me the mallet and chisel, and 1 will
cut an honest epitaph: Here lies the
victim of dissipating club housep l
think that damage is often done by
the Scions of some ariStocratic family,
who belong to one of these dissipat-
ing club houses. People coming up
from hum bier classes feel it an honor
to belong to the same club, forgetting
the fact that many of the sons and
grandsons of the large commercial es-
Establishments of the last generation
are now, as to mind, imbecile; as to
body, diseased; as to morals, rotten.
They would have got through their
property long ago if they had had full
possession of it; but the willy ances-
tors, who earned the money by hard
knocks, foresaw how it was to be, and
they tied up every ything in the will
Now, there is nothing of that un-
worthy descendant but his grand
fathers name and roast beef ratundi-
ty. And yet how many steamers there
are which feel honored to lash fast
that worm-eaten tug. though it drags
them straight into the breakers.
Let me say to fathers who are be-
coming dissipated, your sons will fol-
low you. You think your son does not
know. He knows all about it. have
heard men say: II am profane. but
never in the presence of my chill
dren." Your children know you swear.
l have heard men say: II drink, but
never in the presence of my chill
dren." Your children know you
drink. 1 describe now what occurs
in hundreds of households in this
country. The tea hour has arrived.
The family are seated at the tea table.
Before the rest of the family arise from
the table the father shoves back his
chair, says he has an engagement,
lights a cigar, goes out, comes back
after midnight, and that-is the history
of 365 nights of the year. Does any
man want to stultify himself by saying
that that is healthy, that that is right,
that that is honorable? Would your
wife have married you with such pros
poets?
The revolving Drummond light in
front of an hotel, or in front of loco
motive, may flash this way and flash
that, upon the mountains, upon the ra-
vines, upon the city; but take the
lamp Of Gods eternal truth, and /
flash it upon all the club houses of
these cities, so that no young man
shall be deceived. BY these tests try
them, try them! Oh, leave the dissi-
pating influences of the club room, if
the influences of your club room
are dissipating! Paid your money,
have you? Better sacrifice than your
soul. Good fellows, are they? Under
that process they will remain such.
Mollusca may be found 200 fathoms
down beneath the Norwegian seas;
Siberian stag get fat on the stunted
growth of Altian peaks; Hedysarium
grows amid the desolation of Sahara;
tufts of osier and birch grow on the
hot lips of volcanic SneehatUan; but a
pure heart and an honest life thrive in
a dissipating club house-never!
Oh, my heart aches! | see men
against evil habits, and
they want help. l have knelt beside
them, and 1 have heard them cry for
help, and then we have risen, and he
has put one hand on my right Shout
der, and the other hand on my left
and looked into my face
with an affinity of earnestness
which the judgment day will have
no power to make me forget,
as he has cried out with his lips
scorched in ruin: God help mel"
For such there is no help except in the
Lord God Almighty. L am going to
make a very stout rope. You know
that sometimes a ropemaker will take
very small threads and wind them to-
gether until after awhile they be-
come ship cable. And l am go-
ing to take some very small, del
icate threads and wind them to-
gether until they make very stout
rope. L will take all the members of
the marriage day thread of laughter,
a thread of light, thread of music, a
thread of banqueting, thread of con-
and l twist them together,
and 1 have one strand. Then l take
a thread of the hour of the first
advent in your house, thread of the
darkness that preceded and a thread
of the light that followed, and thread
of the beautiful scarf that little child
used to wear when she bounded out at
eventide to greet you, and then a thread
of the beautiful dress in which you
laid her away for the resurrection.
And then l twisted all these
threads together, and l have another
strand. Then l take a thread of
the scarlet robe of a suffering Christ,
and a thread of the white raiment of
your loved ones before the throne, and
a string of the harp cherubic, and a
string of the harp seraphic, and twist
them all together, and have third
strand. "Ohw you say, ''either strand
is strong enough to hold fast a world"
No. 1 will take these strands, and l
will twist them together, and one end
of that rope will fasten, not to the
communion table, for it shall be re-
moved-not to the pillar of the organ,
for that will crumble in the ages, but
wind it round and round the cross