Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1900-05-01

CHATTER X.


CHAPTER Y.
Mr.. Hardy began In low. clear tone:
"Men and Women Of Barton-To-
night am not the man you have
known me these 25 years have been
among you. am. by the grace Of God.
q new creature As | stand here |
have no greater desire In my heart
than to say what may prove to be-
blessing to all my old townspeople and
to my employees and to these strong
young men and boys. Within a few
short days God has shown me the self
lshness Of human beings heart, and
that heart was my own. and II Is with
feelings none Of you can ever know
that I look into your faces and say
these words"
Robert paused moment as II gath.
ering himself up for the effort that fol-
lowed. and the audience, startled with
an unexpected emotion by the strange
beginning. thrilled with excitement. as,
lifting his arm and raising his voice,
the once cold and proud man contin-
ued. his face and form glowing with
the TRANSPORTATION OF a new manhood:
There Is but one supreme law In
this world. and II is this: Love God and
your neighbor with heart. mind. soul,
strength. And there are but two things
worth living for: The glory Of God and
the salvation Of man. Tonight !. who
look into eternity In a sense which l
will not stop to explain. feel the bit
terness which comes from the knowl-
edge that I have broken that law and
have not lived for those things which
alone are worth living for.
"But God has sent me here tonight
with message to the people which my
heart must deliver. II Is n duty even
more sacred In some ways than what
l owe to my own kindred. am aware
that the hearts Of the people are shock.
ed into numbness by the recent horror.
I know that more than one bleeding
heart is in this house. and the shadow
Of the last enemy has fallen over many
thresholds In our town. What! Did
I not enter into the valley Of the shad-
ow Of death myself as I stumbled over
the ghastly ruins Of that wreck. my
soul torn In twain for the love Of three
Of my own dear children? Do ] not
sympathize In full with all those who
bitterly weep and lament and sit 10
blackness Of horror this night? Yea.
but, men Of Barton. why is II that We
are 20 moved. SO stirred. 30 shocked. by
the event Of death when the far more
awful event OF life does not disturb US
In the leastf
1--WE shudder with terror. We lose
our accustomed pride or Indifference.
we speak In whispers, and We tread
softly In the presence OF the visitor
who smites but once and then snites
the body only. but In the awful pres
ence Of the living image Of God We go
our ways careless. Indifferent. cold.
passionless. selfish
II know whereof I speak. for have
walked through the world Ike that my
self. And yet death cannot be CON-
pared for one moment with life for
majesty. for solemnity. for meaning.
for power. There were Is persons kill
ed In the accident. But In the papers
this morning read In the column next
TO that In which the accident was
paraded 10 small type and In the brief
est Of paragraphs the statement that
a certain young man In this very town
Of ours had been arrested for forging
his fathers name on q check and was
In the grasp Of the law.
"And every day In this town and In
every town all over the world events
like that and worse than that are OF
frequent occurrence. Nay. in this very
town Of ours more than IS souls are at
this very moment going down Into
far blacker hell Of destruction than the
one down there under that fated
bridge. and the community In not hor-
rified over II. How many mass meet
ings have been held In this town with.
In the last q years over the losses OF
character. the death Of purity. the de-
structlon Of honesty? Yet they have
~ anihered the victims Of this late
physical disaster thousandfold.
"Ani what does mere death do? II
releases the spirit from Its house OF
earth. but aside from that death does
nothing to the person But what does
life do? Life does everything. II pre-
pares for heaven or for hell. II starts
impulses. molds character. fixes char.
acter. Death has no kingdom without
end. Death is only the last enemy of
the many enemies that life knows.
Death IL q second; life Is an eternity.
o men, brothers, II, as | solemnly and
truly believe, this Is the last opportu-
nifty shall have to speak to you In
such large numbers, desire you to
remember, when have vanished from
your sight, that spent nearly my last
breath In an appeal to you to make
the most Of daily life. to glorify God
and save men.
"The greatest enemy Of man is not
death: 1t is selfishness. He sits on the
throne Of the entire world. This very
disaster which has filed the town with