The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-01-17

for him to consider the shrinkage O.
time since he was boy, and to ponde
upon the reason why the years grow
shorter and shorter as he grows olde
and wiser, and how the peroid is sure
ly coming when there will be no more
years or months and time will be n(
more. According to scripture this
thing called time is perishable, elias
tic, compressible creation adapted to
man in his state of probation aud not
at all necessary to the creator who
said 'before the world was made
am" God always speaks of himself
in the present tense 81 an" He is
one eternal now without beginning Of
years or end Of days. We cannot
comprehend this, but as we near the
goal We can almost catch glimpse Of
i,s possibility That time is compress
iblc and elastic all Of US have exper-
fenced, for sometimes the hours seem
very long and sometimes very short.
In our dreams we sometimes condense
hours and days of events in few de-
lirious moments. / never shall for
get the anxiety and agony Of 4 long
effort to keep my brother from fight
ing duel, and how helped to write
all the correspondence between him
and his adversary, and how at the last
the duel could not be avoided and how
[ carefully selected and loaded his
pistol aud measured off the distance
and then made another effort to paci-
fy and adjust and prevent the duel,
but all in vain, and he stood to the
mark and fired and fell. The report
Of gun that was fred back Of our
house at a squirrel awaked me and it
vas this report that condensed all the
long train of thought and events into
a moments space. My wife was sit
ting by my bedside with her hand up
on my feverish brow and declared /
had not been asleep more than min
ute-and yet I remembered every line
and word Of that correspondence, and
when recovered from my fever could
repeat it. The time Of hours was con-
densed into moments. Just 80 those
who were thought to be drowned and
were resuscitated tell US that panora-
ma of their whole life came before
them as they lost consciousness.
Every word and thought and deed and
every scene they had witnessed from
their childhood was as vivid and rea!
as if it we're just transpiring. There
can be no doubt about this experience
of many persons. It is we'll confirm
ed.
We are just on the verge Of know
ing wonderful things, and my faith is
that we will know when We put off
this mortal coil and our souls are re-
leased and free. We have implanted
within us spark of divinity, but on
ly spark.
But alas how little we do know and
how utterly helpless we are. We
know not whence we come, nor with
er we are going. We cannot make
one hair white or black. We cannot
tell by what mysterious power we
raise our hands or move our feet or
wink our eyelashes. We cannot add
day or an hour to cur lives, nor fore.
see the accidents that may befall US as
we move to aud fro on the land or sea.
We cannot escape the pestilence that
walketh at MONDAY nor make our
selves secure against fire anu food aud
famine. What pitiful creatures we
are, and yet VIC see everywhere around
us young men who are conceited and
proud of their manhood or their money
and we sec young girls who arc vain Of
their beauty or their dress when they
played no part In the formation cf the
one or the earning Of the other. A
beautiful woman is close kin to the
angels, aud she should be thankful
that God made her SO, but she has no
excuse in the world for being vain.
Humility is her loveliest ornament.
AS for these coneeited aud naughty
young men who strut arouno in fine
clothes that they never earned or
that they got by short cuts and dis
honorable means, they excite only pity
or contempt. When we look upon
them We can but exclaim with David,
-'Lord what is man that thou ar.
lpindfui OF him?'' Young men, why
don't.y humble yourselves under
the mighty hand Of God who made
sou, You have not the remotest idea
who you are to- day and you don't care
if you haven't. You have travelled
$1,000, 900 Of miles since the last
vear and cot hack 10 the snme nlaca