The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1898-08-17
THEY FELL FROM GRACE.

1 TOunueu Dy bun-klb1o0 DIS las gifted
authoress says) whose name Il is not
necessary TO give.
Mr. John Van Camp does not appear
TO have any particular occupation except
to be painfully good. He loves TO separ-
ate himself far from the maddening
crowd, and on some distant hill, under
the spreading limbs OF an oak tree he is
prone to 20 to read his bible.
The singing OF the little birds do not
disturb him, as he is truly viituous, and
to tell the truth, he really enjoys it.
Sometimes Mr.. Van Camp takes bis
little son, Reginald, and his daughter,
Dorothy, out for a walk. On these trips
he never let's slip an opportunity TO give
a religious turn TO the conversation.
II he sees lamb, he directs the child
ren's attention to it and tells them 1t is
type Of innocence and purity.
Mr. Van Camp rarely jokes. In fact
levity affords him exquisite suffering.
He would certainly cap any attempt at
facetiousness with q suitable text, aud
the results are that none OF his neigh
bors have the temerity TO introduce an
element OF worldly fund into his life.
Mr.. Van Camp does not seem to
possess any earthly weakness and his
journey through this vale OF tears is like
sanity trumphal march.
Mrs. Van Camp is as solemn and in
structive as her husband, though, in a
modified seIse, she is "a lady with
past" There had been a time, 80 she
informed her children, when, If she
could but escape punishment, she did
not care what naughty things she did. In
those unregenerate days, she pinched
"Sport," the watch dog, and pulled his
tail One day she smashed blue china
plate and she caught the unfortunate
house cat and locked it up in the room
with the fragment 80 that suspicion
should fall upon the innocent and. in
telling the children about it, she confess
ed that she was callous enough to be
glad when puss was whipped instead OF
her. She was also addicted to stealing
sugar, which was even more reprehensi-
Bile, and one day she slipped the remains
Of mint julep that had been left in the
glass by her papa. Her object in making
these confessions was to prove that all
children's hearts are naturally corrupt
but, judging by subsequent events, her
early indiscretions would appear to have
been regarded by her offspring as pre-
cedents rather than as warnings,
With such examples before them it
was natural that Reginald and Dorothy,
the children, developed a precocious
piety. Both could, and did, repeat long
passages Of the scriptures from memory
upon the slightest provocation. When
studying geography, one day, Reginald
was anxious that his papa point to him
out the exact site Of the garden Of Eden.
Reginald was very good. He had a
peculiar habit Of walking up and down
in a secluded place and singing and
praying with all his might and worldly
people predicted that he and his good
little sister would die young.
Now, one would suppose that children
endowed with ouch preternaturally good
dispositions would have risen superior to
the ordinary failings Of infancy and that
their faults would be as rare as insipid.
But, one fateful day, they got out OF
range Of the parental optics and fell from
grace with delightful thud.
There is a natural fascination, not con-
fined to the ungodly alone, in hearing of
the wickedness Of others, and when this
is enhanced by the abnormal goodness OF
the sinners on ordinary occasions, the
tale gains additional piouancy.
Mr.. and Mrs. Van Camp were compell-
ed to .eave home and the children were
left for day to do as their own sweet
wills dictated.
Their first grievious sin was to stay in
bed late and Reginald rugged himself out
with pillows and sheets until he re-
sembled the ungodly clown OF a circus.
They came down TO breakfast without
saying their prayers, a fact the provokes
the suspicion that their delight in
such exercises is not altogether
spontaneous. They also came down
without washing their faces or combing
their hair, which was human Of them.
At breakfast they gorged themselves.
After breakfast they uuarreled and
would have come to blows had not
Reginald spied little pig in the garden.
They turned out to expel the pig and
chased 1t down the road until they were
covered with mud and dirt. The pig got
away and they went to the house of a
neighbor whose children were not
brought up in the fear of the Lord, and
where they had often been forbidden to
go. The neighbor was named Jones and
Mrs. Jones invited Reginald and Dorothy
to come in and dry themselves Then
she gave them some cake and something
sweet TO drink. The something SWEET
proved to be cider and as the children
vert unaccustomed to drinking it they
were made little drunk. They came
home with blushing 'ac,s and head
aches. After this they resolved TO be
good the remainder Of the day but they
disobeYed their papa by swinging on the
barn door against his express order.
Dorothy fell from the door and skinned