The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1901-08-03

ice, to prayer-meetings and to reli-
gious convocation. She systematical-
ly decoyed him away until now he
attends no church, waits upon no
charitable institution and is on q
rapid way to destruction, his morals
gone, his money gone and. l tear, his
soul gone.
Here are six secular nights in the
week what shall / do with them?"
says the father and the husband. IT
will give four of these nights to the
improvement and entertainment of
my family, either at home or in good
neighborhood. / will devote one to
charitable institutions. l will devote
one to my lodge" I congratulate
you. Here is a man who says: "Out
of the six secular nights of the week
l will devote five to lodges and clubs
and associations and one to the home,
which night I will spend in scowling
like a March squall, wishing 1 was
out spending it as l have spent the
other FIVE" That mans obituary is
written. Not one out of ten thou
sand that ever get so far on the
wrong road ever stops. Gradually his
health will fail through late hours,
and through too much stimulants he
will be frst-rate prey for erysipelas
and rheumatism of the heart.
The doctor coming in will at q
glance see it is not only present dis
ease he must fight, but years of fast
living. The clergyman, for the sake
of the feelings of the family, on the
funeral day will only talk in reli-
gious generalities. The men who got
his yacht in the eternal rapids will
not be at the o~bsequies. They have
pre- ssing engagements that day. They
will send flowers to the coffin, will
sympathy, but they will have engage
ments elsewhere. They never come.
Bring me mallet and chisel, and I
will cut that mans epitaph: BLESSED
are the dead who die in the Lord?"
mo-" you say, that would not be
appropriate" LET me die the death
of the righteous and let my last end
be like his?" "No," you say, that
would not be appropriate" Then
give me the mallet and the chisel, and
I will cut an honest epitaph: Here
lies the victim of dissipating associa-
t~ions!"
Another test by which you can find
whether your secret society is right
or wrong is the effect it has on your
secular occupation. l can understand
how through such an Institution a man
can reach commercial success. I
know some men have formed their
best business relations through such
a channel. If the secret society has
advantaged you in an honorable call
ing, it is a good one, but has your
credit failed? Are bargain makers
now more anxious how they trust
you with a bale of goods? Have the
men whose names were down in the
commercial agency Al before they
entered the society been going down
since in commercial standing? Then
look out. You and l every day know
of commercial establis hments going
to ruin through the social excuses
of one or two members, their fortune
beaten to death with ball players bal
or cut dIHluSuIDS Win TX IL II DioN
of the regatta or going down under
the swift hoofs of the fast horses
or drowned in the large potations OF
cognac or Monongahela. That secret
society was the Loeb Earn. Their
business was the Vile de Havre
They struck, and the Vile de Havrs
went under!
The third test by which you may
know whether the society to which yor
belong is good or bad is this: What is
it's effect on your sense of moral ant
religious obligation? Now, if / should
take the m of all the people il
this audience and put them on a rol
and then 1 should lay that roll bach
of this organ and a hundred year:
from now some one should take that
roll and call it from A to z there woult
not one of you nswer. l say tina
any society that makes me forget tina
fact is a bad society.
Oh, mar astray, God help you!
am going to make a very stout rope
You know that sometimes a rope
maker will take very small thread!
ana Wlnu tlelu Together uHtll dltal
awhile they become a ship cable
/, And l am going to take some yer.
, small, delicate threads and wint
them together until they make a yer,
, stout rope. l will take all the mem
/, cries of the marriage day-a threa'
Z of laughter, a thread of light,
y thread of music, a thread of ban
, quoting, a thread of congratulation-
| and l twist them together, and
, have one strand. Then 1 take
I thread of the hour of the first ad
vent in your house, a thread of tn
, darkness that preceded, and a threa'
! of the light that followed, and
thread of the beautiful scarf that lit
: tie child used to veal when sh'
: bounded out at eventide to greet you
and then a thread of the beautiful
/ dress in which you laid her away 10
the resurrection, and then l twist el
4 these threads together, and 1 hav
another strand. Then l take
| thread of the scarlet robe of a SUI
4 fering Christ, and a thread of tn
white raiment of your loved ones be