The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1899-01-06


of high hope and thrilling encourage
ment and magnificent rescued
Three sketches of the same man: A
happy home. of which he and lassie
taken from a neighbor's house are the
united head. Years of happiness roll
on after years OF happiness. Stars
pointing down 10 nativities. And
whether announced in greeting or not,
every morning was Good morning
and every night a Good night"
Christmas trees and May queens and
birthday festivities and Thanksgiving
gatherings around loaded tables. But
that husband and father forms an un-
fortunate acquaintance who leads him
in circles too convivial. too late-houred
too scandalous. After awhile. his
money gone and not able 10 bear his
part Of the expense. he is gradually
showed out and ignored and pushed
away. Now. what a delapidated home
is his. A dissipated life always shows
itself i'm faded window curtains and
impoverished wardrobe. and detected
surroundings, and in broken pal
ings of the garden fence, and
the unhinged gate, and the dis
located door bell, and the disappear
ance Of wife and children from scenes
among which they shone the bright
est and laughed the gladdest. If any
man was ever down that husband and
father is down. The fact is, he got
into a wrestle with evil that pushed
and pulled and contorted and exhaust
ed him worse than any Olympian game
ever treated a Grecian. and he was
thrown Thrown out of prosperity
into gloom. Thrown out Of good asso-
citation into bad. Thrown out of
health into invalidism. Thrown out
of happiness into misery. But one
day, while Sinking through one of the
back streets. not wishing to be recog-
nized a good thought crosses his mind,
for he has heard of men flung fiat ris-
ing again. Arriving at his house, he
calls his wife in, and shuts the door
and says. MARY, / am going 10 do diff
ferently. This is not what | promised
you when we were married. You have
been very patient with me, and have
borne everything. although | would
have had no right 10 complain if you
had left me and gone home 10 your
fathers house. IL seems 10 me that
once or twice. when was not myself.
! struck YOU. and several times. know
! called YOU hard names. Now | want
yOu 10 forgive me. / am going TO do
better. and / want you 10 help me.
Help you?r she says; bless your soul,
of course will help you. ! knew you
didn't mean it when you treated me
roughly. All that is in the past. Never
refer TO it again. To-day let MS begin
anew Sympathizing friends come
around and kind business people help
the man TO something TO do, so that he
can earn living. The children soon
have clothing 50 that they can go to
school. The old songs which the wife
sang years ago come back TO her mem
DRY, and she sings them over again at
the cradle or while preparing the noon
day meal. Domestic resurrection. lie
comes home earlier than he used TO,
and he is glad to spend the evening
playing games with the children or
helping them with arithmetic or gram
mar lessons which are a little too hard.
Time passes on, and some outsider sug-
gests TO him that he is not getting as
much out of life as he ought to. and
proposes an occasional visit % scenes
of worldliness and dissipation. lie
consents TO 90 once, and. after much
solicitation. twice Then his old habit
comes back. lie says he has been be-
lated. and could not get back until
midnight He had to see some western
merchant that had arrived and talk
business with him before he got out Of
town. Kindness and geniality again
quit the disposition Of that husband
and father. The wife's heart breaks
in new place. That man goes
into second wrestle with evil
habit and is flung, and all hell
cackles at the moral defeat II told
you so~ say many good people who
have no faith in the reformation Of a
fallen man. II told you so. You made
a great fuss about his restored home.
but | knew il would not last. You
can't trust these fellows who have
once gone wrong" So with this un-
fortunate things get worse and worse,
and his family have TO give up the
house, and the last valuable goes TO
the pawnbrokers shop. But that un-
fortunate man is sauntering along the
street one Sunday night, and he goes
up TO church door. and the congrega-
tion are singing the second hymn, the
one just before sermon, and it is VIII
liam Cowper's glorious hymn.
There is fountain filed with blood
Drawn from Emanuel's veins
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains"
He goes into the vestibule Of the
church and stops there. not feeling
well enough dressed to 90 among the
worshipers. and he hears the minis
ter say: You will find the words of
my text in Luke. the nineteenth chap
ter and tenth verse: The Son of Man
is come to seek and save that which
was lost" The listener in the vesti-
bulc says: If any man was ever lost
! am lost and the Son of Man came 10
ave that which is lost, and lie has
found me. and lie will take me out Of
his lost condition. o Christ. have
m rcy on me- The poor man has
courage now to enter the main audi
encc room, and he sits down on the
FIRST seat by the door, and when at the
close of the service the minister comes
down the aisle, the poor man tells his
story. and he is encouraged and invited