The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1901-09-06

agency Al before they entered the society
been going down since IN commercial
standingi Then look out.
You and / every day know of CONNER.
clal establishments going 20 ruin through
The social excuses OF one or two mem.
berg, their fortune beaten 10 death with
ban players bat or cut amidships with the
front prov of the regatta or going down
under the swift hools OF Che fast horses
OF drowned in the large rotations of cog.
nae M0n0neahcla. The secret society was
The. Loeb Earn. Their business was the
Vile de Have. They struck, and the
Vile de Havre went underl
The third test by which you may know
whether the society 10 which Won belong
Is good or bad is this: What Is is effect
on your sense Of moral and religious obl-
gationY Now, If / should take the names
Of all the people in this audience and nut
them on roll and then / should lay that
roll back Of this organ, and n hundred
years from now some one should take that
roll and call It from A to u, there would
not one Of you answer. / say that any 40.
eiety that makes me forget that fact is
bad society.
Which would you rather have IN your
hand when you come 70 die-a pack Of
cards OF a Bible? Which would You
rather have pressed TO your lips in the
closing moment-the cup of Belshazzafean
wassail OF the ehalice of Christian com.
munion! Whom would you rather have
Tor your pallhAaTars-the elders of
Christian church OF the companions whose
conversation was full Of slang and inuen.
do! Whom would you rather have for
your eternal companions-thosem 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 much nights, would you. IL
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 IL.
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 pitv
1t IS that you cannot spend more even
/ lngs at home in trying to help her hear
that sorrow! 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
to-pight-do stay with me to.nigbtl'' Yon
will never be able to wipe away from
your ips The dying KISS Of your little girl.
The fascination of a bad secret society is
so great that sometimes a man has turned
ms back on his home when his child was
dying OF scarlet fever He went away.
Before he got back at midnight the ewes
| had been closed, the undertaken 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 he sees the
cradle gone. and he says, "What Is the
! matter? On the judgment day he will
ind out what was the matter
Oh, man astray, God help you'll 7 am
going to make a very stout rope. You
know that sometimes a ropemaker will
take very small threads and wind them to-
gether until after awhile they become a
snip cable, And l am going to take some
very small, delicate threads and wind
them together until they make a verv
stout rope I will take all the memories
OF the marriage day-a thread of laughter.
a thread OF light, a thread of music, a
thread OF banqueting, thread of conpTat-
| ulatlon-apd l twist them together. and I
have one strand. Then take thread of
the hour of the first advent in your house
a thread of the darkness that preceded
and thread of the light that followed,
and thread of the beautiful scarf that
little child used to wear when she bound.
ed out at eventide to greet you, and then
a thread of the beautiful dress in which
you laid her away for the resurrection.
and then / twist all these threads to,
gether and / have another strand Then
/ take thread of the scarlet robe of a
suffering Christ, and thread of the white
raiment of your loved ones before the
throne, and string of the harp seraphic
and twist them all together, and / have
third strand. "Oh," you say, "either
strand is enough to hold fast a world q
No; / win take these strands, and will
twist them together, and one end of thai
rope will fasten not to the communion
pillar of the organ, for that will crumblC
in the ages, but I wind it round anC
round the cross of sympathizing Christ
and having fastened one end of the rop,
to the cross throw the other end to you
Lay, hold Of it! Pull for your life! Pull
for heaven