The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1901-08-02

secret society was the Loeb Earn.
Their business was the Vile de Havre.
They struck, and the Vile de Havre
went under!
In tho Last Hours.
Which would you rather have In
your hand when you come to die.
pack of cards or Bible? Which would
you rather have pressed to your lips
in the closing moment, the cup of Bel
shazzarean wassail or the chalice OF
Christian communion? Whom would
you rather have for your pallbearers,
the elders of Christian church or the
companions whose conversation was
full of slang and innuendo? Whom
would you rather have for your eter-
nal 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 many
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
it. 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 a
pity it is that you cannot spend more
evenings at home in trying to help her
bear that sorrowl You can never
drown that grief 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 tonight, 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 man has turned
his back on his home when his child
was dying Of scarlet fever. He went
away. Before he got back at midnight
the eyes had been closed, the under
taker 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 sees the cradle gone, and he
says, What is the matter?" On the
judgment day he will find out what
was the matter.
Oh, man astray, God help you!
am going to make a very stout rope.
You know that sometimes ropemaker
will take very small threads and wind
them together until after awhile they
become a ship cable. And I am going
to take some very small delicate
threads and wind them together un-
til they make very stout rope. |
will take all the memories of the mar
riage day-a thread of laughter, a
thread of light, thread of music, a
thread of banqueting, a thread of con-
gratulation-and twist them together,
and l have one strand. Then I take
thread OF the hour Of the first advent
in your house, a thread of the dark
ness that preceded, and a thread of the
beautiful scarf that little child used to
wear when she bounded out at even
tide to greet you, and thread of the
beautiful dress in which you laid her
away for the resurrection, and then 7
twist all these threads together, and
have another strand. Then 1 take
thread of the scarlet robe of a suffer
ing Christ, and a thread of the white
raiment of your loved ones before the
throne, and string of the harp cheru-
bic, and string of the harp seraphic,
and l twist them all together, and I
have third strand. oh" you say,
''either strand is enough to hold fast
a world" No, I will take these
strands and l will twist them together,
and one end of that rope l will fasten,
not to the communion table, for it
shall be removed not to pillar of the
organ, for that will crumble in the
ages; but l wind it round and round
the cross of a sympathizing Christ,
and, having fastened one end of the
rope to the cross, throw the other
end to you. Lay hold of it! Pull for
your life! Pull for heaven!