The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1900-01-10
pss there are good listeners. Well,

less there are good listeners. Well,
that which in my text is called the
tale that is told" has plenty CT lis
teners. There is no such thing as soli-
tude, no such think as being alone;
God listens and the air is full of
spiritual intelligenc:s all listening, and
the world listens TO the story OF our
life. some hoping it will be successful,
Others hoping it will be failure.
We talk about public life and private
life, but there IS no private life. The
story of our life, however Insignificant
!, may seem to be, will win the ap-
plause or hiss of great multitude that
no man eau number As tale that
is told" among admirers Or antagonists,
celestials or papdemoniacs, the uni
verse is full of listening ears as we'll as
of cleaning eyes. If we say or DO the
right thing, that is known. suppose
the population Of the inteliigences in
the air is more numerous than the
population of intelligences on the
earth. Oh. that the story Of our life
might be ft for such an audience 10
such an auditorium! God grant that
wisdom aud fidelity and earnestness
and truth may characterize the the
tale that is told.
Aye, all the world will yet listen to
and be redeemed by a tale that is
told. We are telling it, each in his
own way-some by voice, some by pen,
some by artists pencil, some by harp
and some by song; mother telling in to
child, teacher telling it to Sabbath
class, reformer telling it to outcast,
preacher telling it to assemblage. The
story of the Loyeliest Of heaven COM
ing down to this SCARED and blasted
island of world. He was ordered
back from its shores and struck through
with lauces of human hate as soon as
he landed. Shepherds dog baying on
the hills that Christmas night was
better treated than this rcscuer of
race, yet keeping right on, brambles on
brow, feet on spikes, fagellated with
whips that had Jumps of lead fastened
to them, through midnight without
lanterns, through storms without a
shelter, through years that got blacker
until they ended in MONDAY with the
sun blotted out. Mightiest tale ever
told, and keep on telling it until the
last sorrow is assuaged and the last
animosity us quenched and the last
desert is white with lilly and golden
with the cowslip and blue with the gen.
tisn and crimson with the rose.
While reading my text the fourth
time bethink myself that the story of
life vii! end when the group breaks up.
The tale that is told stops when the
listeners depart. Spmetimes we have
been in groups iuterestedly listening to
some story told when other engage
ments or the hour of the night de-
manded the going of the guest. That
stopped the story. By this exit of
another year l am reminded that these
earthly groups will break up. No
family group or social group or reli-
gious group or political group stays
long together. Suppose some one
should take from the national archives
the roll of youder United States senate
chamber or the roll of yonder house of
representatives as it was made up 20
years ago and then call the roll. The
silence would be mightier than the
voices that would hear and respond:
The family group breaks up. Did
you ever know household that for 25
years remained intact? Not one.
Was there ever a church record the
same after the passage of 25 years or
Is years or 10 years? The fact is that
the story of our life will soon end
because the group of listeners will be
gone. So you see if We are going to
give the right trend and emphasis we
we must give it right away. If there
are old people in the group of our in
Huence, all We can do for them will be
in FIVE or ten years. If there are
children around US, in 10 or Is years
they will no longer be children, and
they will be fashioning the story ef
their own life. What thy hand
6udeth to do, doit with all thy might"
Passing all, passing everything, as a
tale that is told"
My text, in referring to the years,
reminds me thatin l2 hours this year
will forever have goae away. Ninety
niue out Of the hundred years Of this
century will have disappeared. We
have disappeared. We have only one
only one year Of the century left.
There ought to be something especially
suggestive in the last year of a century.
It ought to be a year Of unparalleled
industries, of unheard of conservation.
Not person in any of our audiences
this day can remember the first year Of
this century. Not person in any Of
our audiences today will ever again see
the last year Of a century.
a Strange Case.