Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1901-01-02

probably De fast III the same thraId0m,.
By some such alleyiating introduction
prepare the way for a Beware that
viii halt your friend on the wrong road
as suddenly as any platoon Of soldiers
was ever halted. Swing the red lantern
across that track. and stop that train re-
fore it reaches the chasm,
sak with Patience.
There list be no impotence in the
warning e give others. We must real
ize that but for the kindness of God to
Us we would have been in the same rap
ids. That man going wrong may be
struggling with a tide of evil inherited
from father and grandfather and great
grandfather. The present temptation
may be the accumulated fore" Of genera
tons and centuries. No you say, his
father was a good man. / knew him."
But did you know his grandfather Evil
habit is apt to skip one generation. fact
recognized in the Ten Commandments,
which speak of the third aud fourth gem
erations. but say nothing of the second
generation.
Or the man astray may have an un-
happy home. and that is enough to wreck
any one. We often speak of men who
utNtipg AAAtiF ADIttS. ut no BoA SLY any
thing about the fact that there are thou
sands efawives in America who by petu-
lance and frettng and reconsideration
and lack of economy and all manner Of
disagreeaDeness drive their husbands
into dissipation. The reason that thou
sands OF men spend their evenings in
club houses and tayerns is because they
cannot stand it at home. / know men
who are thirty year martyrs III the fact
that they are awfully married. That mar
riage was not made in heaven. Without
asking divine guidance they entered into
an alliance which ought never to have
been made. That is what is the matter
with many men YOU and know. They
may be very brave and heroic and say
nothing about it, but all the neighbors
know. Now, if the man going wrong has
such domestic misfortune, be ve:y lenient
and exeusatory in your word of warning.
The difference between you and him may
be that you would have gone down fast
er than he is going down if you had the
same kind of conjugal wretcheGness.
Besides that, you had betteI be merci-
full in your word of warning. foy the day
may come when you may need come one
to be lenient and excusatory TO you.
There may be somewhere ahead If you a
temptation so mighty that unless you
have sympathetic treatment yon may go
under 'Oh. no." says some one, Il
am too old Cor that" How old are youg
'Oh," you say, Il have been so long
in active business life that | GIN clear
past the latitude of danger" Taere is a
man in Sing Sing penitcntiary %rho was
considered the soul of honor until he
was 30 years of age and then committed
a dishonesty that startled the entire com
mercial world. | was on ship crossing
the Atlantic, and all went well from the
time we left Liverpool until yithin a
few hours of New York. when, because
of some defect of compass or some lack
of fidelity on the part of those response
BILE, the Nantucket lighthouse suddenly
warned us that we were driving straight
for the rocks. and the vessel TUNED in
time to save the ship and the hdndreds
of passengers and crew. And many
man has got nearly through the voyage
of life in safety and then gone hlto the
breakers. So you had better net hold
your chin too high, as though y1i were
forever independent of all mora: disas
ter Better in the way you pronounce
your word of warning to those astsay, in
dictate that you yourself have weaknesses
that may yet fling you down unless God
help you and that you realize thet.s may
be temptations ahead with which you
will find it as hard to grapple Us the
temptations with which that man is
graphing.
The Gospel Bell.
In the Kremlin at Moscow RusSia is
what is called the king of bells" tat it
is a ruined bell. and it has rung no sound
for near geo years. 1t is 67 feet iii cir
conference, and in height it is more than
ten times the height of the average man,
and it took a score of men to swing its
brazen tongue. 1t weighs 200 tons. On
the 10Th of June, 1906, in great fire
it fell and broke. 1t broke at the part
which was weakened by the jewels w4lich
the ladies Of Moscow threw into the
liquid metal at the casting. The vices
of that bell are forever hushed. 1t will
never ring again, either at wedding or
obseduy or coronation. What majestic
and overpowering silence, Enthroped
and everlasting quietudei One walks
around it full of wonder and historical
"reminiscences and solemnity. On it are
figures in relief representing Car and
Empress and Christ and Mary and che
eyangelists. But as | stood before it
last summer | bethought myself of a
greater bell and one still ringing. It is
the gospel bell, ages ago hung on the
/ beam of the cross. 1t has vaster cir
! conference and with mightier tongue
! sounds across seas and continents and
| awaEens echoes amid Alpine and Him
! alayan and Sierra Nevadan rang vs.
! The Jewels of affection thrown into it at
/ its casting by REASONED souls Of earth
| and heaven have not weakened it. Lut
4 made it stronger and more glorioJs.
/ Evangelists aud apostles rang it, and
/ martyrs lifted their hands through the
/ flames to give it another sounding. 1t
/ viii ring on until all nations hear it and
/ accept it's invitation, Come. Come"
/ 1t will not fall, as did that of Moscow,
/ No storm can stop it. No earthquake
! can rock it down When the fires of me
| lost day blaze into the heavens. amid rae
/ ash Of mountains and the groan Of
I diving seas, its clear, resouEding voice
will be heard calling to the last inhab-
liant of the burning planet 'CosLe!
! Gomez"
! But it requires now no great Strength
! 10 ring the bell With this weak hand.
| Yesterday formed and tomorrow turned
! 10 dust. lay hold that gospel bell in in.
/ yitatiou to all to whom these words shall
come. on whatever land or whatever sea,
in high places or low. ring ont the
CO., Come