The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1899-02-03

said 10 him: sit. be OF good cheer.
You can be saved. Sign the pledge"
"Ah." said the despairing victim, Il
have often signed the pledge, but have
always broken my pledge" But
said the president, 81 viii be your
strength to keep the pledge. l will be
your friend and with loving arm
around You viii hold you up. When
your appetite burns. and you feel that
YOU must CRAFTY it. come to my house.
Sit down with me in the study OF with
the family in the parlor. and will be
n shield to you. Al that ! can 10 for
YOU with my books, my sympathy my
experience, my society, my love, my
money. will do. You shall forget your
appetite and mastcrit." \ look of hope
glowed on the poor map's face, and he
replied: sir. will you do all that?'
"suroly I will" Then ! will over
come" Tie signed the pledge and kept
il. That plan of President Davis which
saved one man. tried on large scale
will save a million men.
What a boon to the world if Russia
and Germany and England and the
United States could safely disband all
their standing armies and dismantle
their fortresses and spike their guns!
What uncounted millions Of dollars
would be saved and. more than that.
what a complete cessation Of human
slaughterl What an improvement OF
the morals Of nationsl What an adop-
tion of that higher and better manifesto
which was set 10 music and let down
from the midnight heavens Of Bethle-
hem ages agol The world has got to
come TO this. Why not make il the
pcroration Of the nineteenth century?
Arc we going 20 make q present TO the
twentieth century of reeking hospitals
and diving armies and hemisphere
graveyards? Do you want the hoofs
of other cavalry horses on the breasts
Of fallen men? Do You want other har-
vest fields gullied with wheels Of gun
carriages? Do You want the sky glar-
ing with confagration Of other home
steads? All. this nineteenth century
has seen enough OF war Make the de-
termination that no other century shall
be blasted with IT,
VIII it rot be grand If on the first day
OF the twentieth century the last will
and testament of the nineteenth cen
tury shall be opened and it shall be
found TO read: "In the name Of God.
amen. I, the dying century, do make
this my last will and testament. give
and bcqueath TO my heir. the twentieth
century. peace Of nations; swords,
which ! direct TO be beaten into plow-
shares. and spears. which must be
turned into pruning hooks; armories,
10 be changed into schoolhouses and
fortresses to be rebuilt into churches,
and / order that greater honors be put
on those Who save life than upon those
who destroy it. And il amid the uni
versal peace now attained those two
nations, Spain and Turkey, do not stop
their cruelties, let the other nations,
banded together, extemporize a police
force to wipe those countries of the
map Of nations as a wet sponge wipes
from a boys slate at school a hard sum
in arithmetic. This last will sign and
seal and deliver on the 3lst day of De-
cember. in the year Of our Lord 1900,
all the civilized nations Of earth and all
the glorifed nations of Heaven witness
ing"
But what we do as individuals, as
churches, as nations, as continents, we
must do very soon, IL we want the trans
ition from century TO century TO be a
worthy transition, for hear the trum-
pets of the approaching century and the
Gathering hoofs of the host it leads on.
II has been a custom In all Christian
lands for people to keep watch night
as an old year goes out and new year
comes in. People assemble in churches
about ten o'clock of that last night Of
the old year. and they have prayers and
songs and sermons and congratulations
until the hands OF the church clock al
most reach the figure -. and then all
DOW in silent prayer, and the scene is
nightly impressive. until the clock in
the tower Of the church OF the clock In
the tower Of the city hall strikes l2,
and then all rise and sing with smiling
face and jubilant voice the grand dox-
o'ogy. and there is a shaking Of hands
all around.
But what a tremendous watch night
the world is soon TO celebrated This
century will depart at u o'clock Of the
3lst Of December Of the year 1900.
What a night that will be, whether
siarlit or moonlit or dark with tenn
pest! II will be such a sight asyou and
] never saw. Those who watched the
coming In Of the nineteenth century
long ago went to their pillows Of dust.
Here and there one will see the new
century arrive who saw this century.
yet they were too infantile TO appre-
ciate the arrival. But on the watch
night Of which I speak IN all neighbor-
hoods and towns and cities and conti-
nents audiences will assemble and bow
IN prayer, waiting for the last breath
Of the dying century. and when the
clock shall strike u there will be a So
lemnity and an overwhelmingawe such
as have not been felt for 100 years, and /
then all the people viii arise and chant
the welcome Of new century Of Joy and I
sorrow. of triumph and defeat, of happi- /
ness and woe. and neighborhood will F.
shake hands with neighborhood, and F.
church with church, and city with city, I
and contin<nt with continent, and /
hemisphere with hemisphere, and /