The Progress. (Shreveport, La.) 1892-1900, 1898-10-01

| there must be black snake. Come, and
let US for an hour or two regale ourselves
with the nuisances."
Oh, my friends, better cover up the
faults and extol the virtues; and this habit
once established OF universal frlendliness
| will become rs easy as 1t is for a syringa
| to flood the air with sweetness, as easy as
it will be further on in the season for
| quail to whistle up from the grass. When
we hear something bad about somebody
whom we always supposed to be good, take
out your lead pencil and say: Let me
| see! Before | accept that baleful story
! against that mans character, will take
oil from it twenty-five per cent. for the
| habit Of exagseration which belongs to the
man who first told the story; then | will
take off twenty.tlv per cent. for the addi-
tons which the spirit Of gossip in every
community has put upon the original
story: then I will take off twenty-five per
cent. from the fact that the man may have
been put into circumstances Of overpower.
ny temptation. so 1 have taken off Sow
enty-fve per cent. But | have not heard
his side of the story all, and for that rea-
son take off the remaining twenty-five
per cent. Excuse me, sir, | don't believe a
word Of it,
Do not prophesy misfortune If you must
be prophet at all, be an Ezekiel, and not
jeremiah In ancient times prophets
who foretod evil were doing right, for they
were divinely directed; but the prophets OF
evil In our time are generally false proph-
cts. Real troubles have no heralds running
ahead OF their sombre chariots, and no one
has any authority in our time to announce
their coming. Load yourself up with hope
full words and deeds. The hymn once sung
! in our churches is unfit to be sung, for 1t
says:
We should suspect some danger near,
Where we possess delight.
| In other words, manage to keep miser-
able all the time The old song sung at the
pianos a quarter Of century ago was right:
| ''Kind words can never die" Such kind
words have their nests in kind hearts, and
wnen they are hatcned out and take wing,
they circle round in flights that never cease,
| and spOrtsman'S gun cannot shoot them,
and storms cannot rul1lo their wings, and
when they cease flight in these lower skies
of earth, they sweep around amid the high
er attitudes OF Heaven. At Baltimore
talked into monograph. The cylinder
containing the words was sent on to Wash
ington, and the next day that cylinder from
another photographic instrument, when
turned, gave back to me the very words
had uttered the day before, and with the
same intonatons. Scold into a phono-
graph, and it will scold back. Pour mild
words into photograph and 1t will return
the gentleness. Society and the world and
| the church are monographs. Give them
acerbity and rough treatment, and acerbity
and tough treatment you will get back.
Give them practical friendlness, and they
will give back practical friendliness.
father asked his little daughter: "Mary,
why is it that everybody loves your" She
answered: 81 don't know, unless it IS be-
cause love everybody" "a man that hath
friends must show himself friendly"
We want something like that spirit OF
sacrifice for Others which was seen in the
English Channel, where In the storm boat
containing three men was upset, and oil
three were In the water struggling for
their lives. A boat came to their relief, and
Il rope was thrown to one OF them, and ne
refused to take it, saying: "First fling 1t
to Tom; he is Just ready to 90 down. can
last some time longer" A man like that,
be he sailor or la1dsman, be he in upper
ranks Of society or lower ranks, will al
ways have plenty Of friends. What is true
MAYNARD Is true Godward. We must be
the friends of God il We want Him to be
our friend. We cannot treat Christ badly
all our lives and expect Him to treat US
lovingly. was reading of a sea fight, In
which Lord Nelson captured French off,
Ger. and when the French officer offered
Lord Nelson his hand, Nelson replied,
First give me- your sword, and then give
me your hand" Surrender OF our resls-
lance to God must precede Gods prefer OF
pardon to US. Repentance before forgive
ness. You must give up your rebelltous
sword before you can geta grasp OF the
divine hand. 49,. -
oh, what glorious state OF things to
have the friendship Of Godl Why, we could
4 afford to have all the world against US and
all other worldsagalnst US II we had God
for US. He could In a minute blot out this
universe, and In another minute make a
better universe, I have no idea that God
tried bard when He made all things. The
most brilliant thing known to US Is light:
and for the creation OF that He only used
word OF command. Asput OF flint
word God struck the MONDAY sun. For
the making of the present universe do
not read that God lifted so much as fin
ger. The Bible frequently speaks OF Gods
!: hands and Gods arm and Gods shoulder
and Gods fo0e; then suppose He should
put hand and arm and shoulder and foot to
! utmost tension, what could He not maker
That God of such demonstrated and unde-
monstrated strength, you may have Tor
your present and everlasting friend, not
stately and reticent friend, hard toget at,
but as approachable as q country mansion
, on summer day, when all tho doors and
windows are wide open. Christ said, 81
am the door," And He is. wide door. a
high door, palace door, an always open
door. ,'...
II Colds your friend, you cannot 60 out
, Of the world too quickly or suddenly, 50 fal
! as your own happiness is concerned: There
, were two Christians who entered Heaven
the one was standing at window In per
feet health, watching shower, and the
! lightning instantly slew him; but the
lightning did not fash down the sky as
: swiftly as his spirit flashed upward. The
! Christian man who died on the same day
l next door had been for year or two fail
I ing in health, and for the last three months
had suffered from disease that made the
, niphts siaenleSs and the days An anguish