Mexico Missouri message., 1900-11-29
AN EVENING WITH "
" AUNT MELlNDY.

You'd hardly think her that old to
watch her get around, but when
YOU hear her limitless experiences
you wouldn't doubt her age if she
told YOU she had reached the cent
ury mark.
Aunt Melindv is Baptist and Il
Democrat. She rather likes the
honor of being primitive in her
religious sentiments. and is very
proud of the fact that she is a
Democrat of the Kentucky stripe.
Aunt Melindy don't like the way
the church proceeds. She says,
there is many things that's crept
in that's consumin' of its spiritu-
ality and hinderin' of its prog
rcss, and to her opinion there ain t
the same deep and reverential feel
ing ana sacred regard for piouS
people an religious affairs i'll gen
cral that there used to be in her
day befo' the war.
Aunt Melindy says these modern
appliances and methods of ralsin
money are altogether wrong, and
to her opinion are the cause of the
great dcarth of religious sentiment
that is abroad in the land.
Aunt Melindy is Il very fluent
talkcr. so she proceeded while we
listened in patient interest.
She said she was brought up to
believe that our first duty is to our
home church and that that should
be well attended to, and then You
might consider other affairs. She
said she believed the preachers
were prcachin' money TOO much,
and that she didn't believe in mis-
siuns much nohow. She believes
every nation, Chinese and all, re-
rcived the Gospel on the day of
Pentecost and that they had for
got God, ard that it wasn't re-
ouircd of us to send the Gospel to
them.
We asked Aunt Melindy if she
had read the commission. She
positively affirmed she had, and
said the preachers invariably left
off the "Lo, | am with you alway,
even unto the end She said this
proved to her, conclusively, that it
was Gods work and that he would
carry it on as he saw fit and we
needn't be worrying ourselves so
much about it and ding-donging
the life out of folks for money.
Aunt Melindy said she didn t
like the modern woman. That the
modern woman is crowding her
self in where the men ought to be
and as a result the men were losin'
| their respect for them, which, ac-
cording to her opinion, was but a
natural consequence. She said she
believed the Lord made woman foI
II hclpmate for man and she didu
believe it was her place to vote OF
speak in mcetin'S.
We ventured during the course
of our conversation to compliment
the dignity and chivalry of the
Southern people. This aroused
Aunt Melindy and she became en.
thuSiastic and said the freein' OF
the niggerS was curse to them
and the white folks too.
SO we passed Sunday evening
and to all outward appearances
our conversation might have con
tinued indefinitely, ad intinitum.
After all Aunt Melindy is an in.
tcreSting character, with an eXpe,
ricnce stretching over more than
her allotted time. She is now
living in the memory. of by-gon,
years and we do not wonder tina
she finds it hard to adapt herself
to the restless and ever changing
customs of today.
The mad rush for wealth unC
distinction now forms a sharp con
trast with the easy going, content
ed spirit Of the old plantation dowl
in old Kentucky away back yondcl
befo the war.
Courtesy for old age kept II
from calling in question many o
the statements made; then, too
there may come day when we toe
shall see some things thru Aun
Melindy'S specs.