St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1901-10-19

you are dead. All my life hRs been
affected by the letter of Introduction
that Rev. d. Van Vranken, of New
Brunswick Theological seminary,
wrote for me, boy under him, when
was seeking settlement in which
to preach the Gospel. That letter
gave me my first pulpit. DR.. Van
Vranken has been dead more than 80
years, yet I feel the touch of that
magnificent old professor. Strange
sensation was it when I received a
kind message from Rev. Thomas
Guard, of Baltimore, the great Meth
odist orator, six weeks after his
DEATH! By way of the eternal world ?
Oh, no; by way of this world. I did
not meet the friend to whom he gave
the message until nearly two months
after Thomas Guard had assembled.
So you can start word about some
one that will be on its travels and
vigorous long after the funeral
psalm has been sung at your obse-
quies. Kindness! Why, if so men all
aglow with it should walk through
the lost world methinks they would
almost abolish perdition.
Suppose all this assembiage and
all to whom these words shall come
by printers type should resolve to
make kindness an overarching, UNDER
girding and all pervading principle OF
their life and then carry out the res
olution. Why, in six months the
whole earth would feel it. People
| 1.,o,,11 COW. ksYVho< Sc tho rno++orO r.
seems to me that the world is get
ting to be better place to live in.
Why, life, after all, is worth living.
Why, there is Shylock, my neighbor,
has withdrawn his lawsuit of fore
closure against that man, and be-
cause he had so much sickness in his
family he is going to have the house
for one year rent free. There is an
old lawyer in that young lawyers Of
fee, and do you know what he has
gone in there for? Why, he is help
ing to fix up case which is too big
for the young man to handle, and the
white-haired attorney is hunting up
previous decisions and making out
brief for the boy. Do you know that
strange thing has taken place in the
pulpit, and all the old ministers are
helping the young ministers, and al.
the old doctors are helping the young
doctors, and the farmers are assist
ing each other in gathering the har-
vest, and for that farmer who is sick
the neighbors have made "bee," as
they call it, and they have all turned
in to help him get his crops into the
garner? And they tell me that the
older and more skillful reporters
who have permanent positions on pa
pers are helping the young fellows
who are just beginning to try and do
not know exactly how to do it. And
after q few erasures and interpola-
lions on the reporters pad they say:
''Now, here is readable account of
that tragedy; hand it in, and am
sure the managing editor will take
it,
"And heard this morning of poor
old man whose three children were in
hot debate as to who should take care
of him in his declining days. The old
est son declared that it was his right,
because he was the oldest, and the
Youngest said it was his right because
he was the youngest, and Mary said it
was her right because she better I'M
derstood her fathers vertigo and
rheumatism and poor spells and knew
better how to nurse him, and the only
way the difficulty could be settled was
by the old mans promise that he
would divide the year into three parts |
and spend third of his time with each |
one of them. And neighboring stores |
in the same line of goods on the same |
block are acting kindly to each other.
1t seems to me that those words of |
Isaiah are being fulfilled when he
says: The carpenter encouraged the
goldsmith and he that smoothed the
hammer, him that smote the anvil,
saying, it is ready for the soldering
What is the matter? It seems to me
our old world is picking up. Why, the
millennium must be coming in. Kind
ness has got the victory"
are far from that state of things. But
why not inaugurate new dispense
ton of geniality. If we cannot have
on large scale, let US
have it on a small scale and under our
own vestments. Kindness! If this
world is ever brought to God, that is
the thing that will do it. You cannot
fret the world up, although you may
fret the world down. You cannot
scold it into excellence or reforma-
ton or goodness.
And while we take the matchless
kindness from God may it be found
that we have uttered our last bitter
word, written our last cutting para
graph, done our last retaliatory action,
felt our last revengeful heart throb.
And it would not be bad epitaph for
any of us if, by the grace of God, from
this time forth we lived such benefi-
cent lives that the tombstone's chisel
could appropriately cut upon the plain
slab that marks our grave sugges-
ton from the text: "He showed us no
little kindness" But not until the last
child of God has got ashore from the