Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1901-09-27

uree uayS Ol every week Tie peopic Nelc
admitted to these gardens, and young
man. probably not realizing what a wrong
thing he was doing, plucked this flower
and put it in his buttonhole, and the gar
dener arrested him as he was crossing at
the ferry and asked the king to throw
open no more his gardens to the public.
The king replied: "Shall I deny to the
thousands of good people Of my country
the privilege of seeing this garden because
one visitor has done wrong? No; let them
come and see the beautiful grounds" And
when the gardener wished to give the
king the name of the offender who bad
taken the royal flower he said: No; my
memory is very tenacious, and dc. not
want to have in my mind the name OF the
offender. lest it should hinder me granting
him a favor some other time" Now, I
want you to know that kindness is royal
flower, and, blessed be God, the King of
Mercy and Grace, that by divine gift
and not by purloining we may pluck this
royal flower and not wear it on the outside
of our nature, but wear it in our soul and
wear it forever, it's radiance and aroma
not more wonderful for time than wonder
full for eternity.
On your way to noon luncheon you meet
an optimistic merchant. and you say.
"What do you think of the commercial
prospects," and he says: GLORIOUS!
Crops not so good as usual but foreign
demand will make big prices. We are
going to have such an autumn and winter
prosperity as we have never SEEN"
On your way back to your store you
meet a pessimistic merchant. "What do
you think of the commercial prospects,"
YOU ask. And he answers: "Well, l don't
know. Wheat and corn crop blasted in
Kansas and Missouri. and the grain gam
l.. hi, Cat nd ho
crop is short i'll some places and Ill the
southern part of Wisconsin they had
hailstorm, and our business is as dull as
it ever was"
You will find the same difference in
judgment of character. A man OF good
reputation is assailed and charged with
some evil deed. At the first story the
pessimist will believe in guilt. The papers
said so, and that's enough. Down with
HIM" The optimist will say: IL don't
believe a word of it. I don't think that a
man that has been as useful and seemingly
honest for twenty years could have got OIL
track like that. There are two sides to
this story. and I will wait to hear the
other side before [ condemn him.
Ny nearer, if you are by nature pes
simist. make special effort by the grace
of God to extirpate the dolorous and the
hypercritical from your disposition, Be-
lieve nothing against anybody until the
wrong is established.
When you can speak good word for
some one. speak it. If you can conscien-
tiously give letter of recommendation,
give it. Watch for opportunities for
doing good fifty years after you are dead
All my life has been affected by the letter
Vranken, of New Brunswick Theological
Seminary, wrote for me, a boy under him,
when I was seeking settlement in which
to preach the gospel That letter gave me
nv first pulpit. DR.. Van Vranken has
been dead more than thirty years. yet !
feel the touch Of that magnificent old pro.
lessor. Strange sensation was it when L
received kind message from Rev. Thomas
Guard, of Baltimore, the great, Methodist
orator, six weeks after his death. BY way
of the eternal world? Oh, no; by way OF
this world. did not meet the friend to
whom he gave the message. until nearly
two months after Thomas Guard had as
cended
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 obsequies. Kindness! Why, IT
fifty men all aglow with it should walk
through the lost world methinks they
would almost abolish perdition!
Furthermore, there is kim ness of ac-
ton. That is what Joseph showed to his
outrageous brothers. That is what David
showed to Mephibosheth for his father
Jonathan's sake. That is what Oneslphe'
rus showed to Paul in the Roman peniten-
tiorv. That is what William Cowper rec
ognized when he said he would not trust
a man who would with his foot needlessly
crush worm. That is what our assassi,,
mated President Lincoln demonstrated
when his private secretary found HIM IN
the capitol grounds trying to get a bird
back to the nest from which it had fallen
! and which quality the illustrious man ex-
hibited some years before when, having,
with some lawyers, in the carriage on the
way to court passed on the road SWINE
| fast in the mire, and after while cried
to his horses, "Ho!" and said to the gen.
tlemen, Il must go back and help that
hog out of the mire" And he did go back
| and put on solid ground that most unin-
! teresting quadruped.
Suppose all this assemblage and all to
whom these words shall come by printers
| ink should resolve to make kindness an
overarching, undergirding and all pervad-
ing principle of their life and then carry
out the resolution, why, in six months the
whole earth would feel it. People would
say: what is the matter! 1t seems to
me that the world is getting to be bet
ter place to live in. Why, life, after all,
is worth living. Why, there IS Shylock,
my neighbor, has withdrawn his lawsuit
of foreclosure against that man, and be-
cause he has so much sickness in his fam
ilv he is going to have the house for one
year rent free, There is an old lawyer IN
that young lawyers office, and do you
know what he has gone in there for!
Why, he is helping to fix up case which
is too big for the young man to handle,
and the white haired attorney. is hunting
I'D previous decisions and making out
brief for the boy. Do you know that a
strange thing has taken place In the pull
pit, and all the old ministers are helping
the Young ministers, and all the old doc.
tors are helping the young doctors, and
the farmers are assisting each other in
gathering the harvest, and for that farmer
who is sick the neighbors have made a
bee, as they call it, and they have. all
turned in to help him get his crops into
the garner! >,
And | heard this morning of a poor old
man whose three children were in hot de-
bate a. to who should take care of him in
his declining days. The Oldest son de-
clared it was his right because ne was the
oldest, and the youngest son said 1T was
his ri2ht because he was the youngest,
and Mary salu IL was hei iiiene oe|uueo
she better understood 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 di.
vide the wear into three parts and spend
a 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 with
the hammer, him that smote the anvil,
saying, it is ready for the soldering"
What Ia the matter? 1t seems to me our