Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1901-08-29


for the third. and if still persisting shall
| be dealt with as the committee thinks
| proper.
Let any Christian wife rejoice when her
husband consecrates evenings to the serv-
| ice OF humanity and of God or anything
| elevating, but let no man sacrifice home
| life to secret society life, as many do. |
can point out to you great many names
| of men who are guilty of this sacrlege.
| They are genial angels at the society
| rooms and as ugly as sin at home. They
| are generous on all subjects of wine sup
pers, yachts and fine horses but they are
stingy about their wives dresses and the
chldrens shoes. That man has made that
which might be healthful influence a
usurper of his affections, and he has mar
ried it, and he is guilty of moral bigamy.
| Under this process the wife, whatever her
| features, becomes uninteresting and
homely. He becomes critical Of her, does
not like the dress does not like the way
| she arranges her hair. is amazed that he
| ever was 50 unromantic as to offer her
| hand and heart.
There are secret societies where member
shin ALWAYS involves domestic shipwreck.
Tell me that man has joined certain
kind and tell me nothing more about him
for ten years. AND [ will write hisshistory
| if he be still alive. The man is wine
guzzler his wife broken hearted or pre-
matureiy old, his fortune gone and his
home mere name in the directory.
|
''What shall | do with them?" says the
father and the husband. Il will give four
| of these nights to the improvement and
entertainment OF my family, either at
home or i'll good neighborhood. l will de-
vote one to charitable Institutions | will
devote one to my lodge" ] congratulate
you. Here is man who says. Out of the
six secular nights of the week ] will de-
vote five to lodges and clubs and associa.
tion1s and one to the home, which night I
will spend in scowling like March souall,
wishing L was ont snending it as l have
spent the other five" That mans obitu-
airy is written Not one out of 10000 that
ever get so far on the wrong roc1 ever
stops. Gradually his health will fail
through late hours. and through too much
stimuants he will be first-rate prey for
ervsipelas and rheumatism of the heart.
The doctor coming in will at glance sec
it is not only present disease he must
fight, but years of fast living. The cler-
gyman for the sake of the feelings of the
family on the funeral day will only talk
got his yacht in the eternal rapids will
not be at the obseques. They have press
ing engagements that dav. They will send
flowers to the coffin, will send their wives
to utter words of sympathy. brt they will
have engagements elsewhere. They never
| come
Another test by which You can find
whether your secret society right or
wrong is the effect it has on your secular
occupation. ] can understand how through
such an institution a man can reach com
mercial success. | know some men have
formed their best business relations
through such a channel. If the secret So
cietv has advantaged you in an honorable
calling it is good one. But has your
credit failed? Are bargain makers now
bale of goods? Have the men whose
names We're down in the commercial
agency Al before they entered the society
been going down since in commercial
standing? Then look out.
You and | every day know of CONNER
clal establishments going to ruin through
the social eXcesses of ore or two mem
bers. their fortune beaten to death with
ball players bat or cut amdships with the
front prov of the regatta or going down
under the swift hoofs of the fast horses
or drowned in the large potations of cog
the, Loch Earn. Their business was the
Vile de Havre. They strucl:, and the
Vile de Havre went underi
The third test by which you may know
whether the society to which vou belong
is good or bad is this: What is its effect
on your sense of moral and religious obli-
CATION? Now, if | should take the names
OF all the people in this audience and put
them on roll. and then | should lay that
roll back of this organ, and hundred
| years from now some one should take that
roll and call it from a to u. there would
not one OF you answer. | say that any So
clety that makes me forget that fact is a
bad society.
Which would you rather have in your
hand when YOU, come to die-a pack of
cards o. Bible?, Which would you
rather have pressed to your lips in the
Closing moment-the cup of Belshazzarean
wassail or the chalce of Christian COM
munion? Whom would you rather have
for your pallbearers--the elders of a
Christian church or the companions whose
conversation was full of slang and inuen-
do: Whom would You rather have for
Your eternal companions-those men who
spend their evenings betting, gambling.
swearing. carousing and telling vile stories
or your little child, that bright girl whom
the Lord took? Oh. YOU would not have
been away so much nights, would you, if
you had known she was going away so
soon! Dear me, your house has never
been the same place since. Your wife
has never frightened up she has never
got over 1t; she never will get over it,
How long the evenings are with no one to
put to bed and no one to whom to tell
the beautiful Bible stories! What pity
1T Is that you cannot spend more even
lngs at home in trying to help her bear
that sorrow! J on can never drown that
grlet, in the wine cup. You can never
break away from the little arms that
used to be flung around your neck when
she used to say. Papa. do stay with me
to-night-do stay with me tonight" You
will never be able to wipe away from
YOUR lips the dying kiss of your little girl.
The fascination of bad secret society is
SO great that sometimes a man has turned
his back on his home when his child was
diving OF scarlet fever. He went away.
Before he got back at midnight the eyes
had been closed, the undertaken had done
his work, and the wife, worn out with
three weeks watching. lay unconscious
in the next room. Then the returned
father comes up stairs, and he sees the
cradle gone, and he says, ''What is the
natter On the Judgment day he will
find out what was the matter.
Oh, man astray, God help you, I am
gong to make very stout rope You
know that sometimes a ropemaker will
take very small threads and wind them to.
gtether until after awhile they become a
ship cable, And | am going to take some
very small, delicate threads and wind
them together until they make very
stout rope. will take all the memories
of the marriage day-a thread of laughter.
thread of LIGHT a thread of music n