The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1902-05-25


of your Bible He ridicules you as stingy
because YOU send most of your money
home to support widowed mother ana
five fatherless children, and then, II you
have money to spend, he and his evl
companions will gather around you 10
helm spend II IL YOU will let them, as a
field of clover tops will empty all the pee
hives from far and near. But AFTER your
money is gone and position gone anu
health gone and honor gone they VIII
care no more for you than for dead cur
in the street. The night you die the sa-
looms will be as crowded. the glasses VIII
click iusf as merrily as ever AT that par
which you now frequent there Will not DC
tear shed over you. The day your oooy
is buried the very friends who are now
enticing you away will gamble just as
recklessly and laugh just as loud with
others as they now do with you, ana II
necessary and they could find no other
place they would be willing to gamble
at your grave.
Some years ago in Glasgow team OF
! horses took fright and ran away me
| coachman was hurled from his box The
| carriage was tossed about from slde TO
side With snort and lathered hanks the
| mad creatures ran on. inside OF the We
/ hicle was seen the pale face OF woman
whose arms clasped to her bosom nttie
| child You might as well have tried to
| stop a thunderbolt as to stop that runa-
way Down the street they came raster
and faster. The carriage grazed this post
| and that wheel The people cleared the
! track. Suddenly from out OF the crowd
"a man sprang. He was dressed In the
| common clothes of a laborer. WIN al
most superhuman strength he caught the
| hits of the wild animals Though they
! trampled him underfoot and were beat
/ ing out his life. he hung on until they
| were halted The bystanders helped the
i falnting woman out of the carriage. Low
| ing hands carried the poor bleeding body
] of the laborer to the hospital. That night
/ one of the finest mansions OF all scotland
was lighted. A party was going on Ihe
guests and friends were congratulating
the hostess upon her escape from almost
! certain death In the early hours OF
morning the neighbors heard the noise
of song and mirth and merriment. Not
far from that mansion, In one OF the pup
| lie wards of the hospital, a hero's lie
was ebbing away 1t was the life of the
poor man who that afternoon flung him.
self under the sharp iron hoofs. AS the
nurse was moistening the dry lips and
| lifting him just a little, and as the CUR
gle was sounding in the throat, he asked.
HAS she not been to see me?" mo"
was the answer; "she is at party and
can't come" "Oh" said the dying man,
81 did think she would think enough of
me to come for one moment" Such will
! be the indifference of evil companions
after they have wrecked your life. Are
you ready to sacrifice all that you hold
dear for such friends?
One day some gentlemen were talking
to my uncle, and one said. rs 1t not
strange how willing the world Is to kick
a man when he is DOWN. NO an
swered my uncle, Il do not think the
world kicks a man so much when he Is
down SIS when he is trying to stand up"
my son, if sinners entice thee, consent
not "
King Solomon's Warning.
King Solomon warns the young people
not to consent to sin because after
we have once yielded we will never be
the same again. II would be pleasant If
we could go on SHINING and then after
awhile say Il guess 1 will stop and start
over again." But we cannot say or do
that Whatsoever a man soweth, that
shall he also reap. If a man make bed
of roses he sleeps in cloud of incense.
If he gather only the thorns. he must be
lacerated by the thorns. After you have
once robbed the firm, it will never fully
trust you. After you have once wrecked
your nealtn you can never De any lHili6
but a suffering invalid. After you have
once led an immortal soul astray and that
soul has departed from earth to meet its
Judgment at the bar of God you can
never change its eternal destiny. Many
| man today would willingly cut off his
right arm if he could only change the
past. He cannot The past is forever
| dead unless that past can be changed In
heavenly sense through the mercy and
Ill afafa lY1
which so many older men have made
of having a bad record during the period
of youth and then having that record
curse all the midnoon and the twilight of
your existence and curse you down to the
grave.
During the persecution of the Hugenots
In France father and mother had to
flee from the city for their lives. They
had to leave behind an only girl. Fear
ing lest he should not recognize his child
again, the father took a sharp knife and
cut the arm of the child almost to the
bone. Time passed on The war was
ended, and the father and mother return
! ed to the French capital. They went
everywhere looking for their long lost
daughter. When the father thought he
saw his child, he would examine the arm
just above the wrist. At last he found
his child He found her by the proof of
I
of sin upon every one of his disciples.
| Though we may repent of our past,
though we may agonize before the mercy
seat and ask God to forgive us our sins,
| though we may receive a heavenly par
/ don. we cannot in earthly sense oblit-
crate the telltale signs of the past. We
cannot destroy the earthly effects of
| Youths follies any more than a Lady
Macbeth could cleanse the blood off her
fingers by plunging them into an ocean of
tears or a Jean Vatican escape Javert,
| the merciless sleuthhound or a fleeing
Cain wipe away the black mark written
| upon his accused brow.
The Young Mans Best Friend.
! The greatest lesson of this text Is yet
to be spoken Solomon tells us not to let
evil companions entice us away. But man
! is a social being. He longs for friends
who will associate with him when he
weeps as well as laughs when he is dying
as well as when he is strong and we'll
AS Solomon bids you to beware of evil
! companions, | will introduce to you one
who will be the best Friend young
| man ever had. Young man, you cannot
/ afford to face the temptations of a great
city alone. Perhaps you konw about this
loving Friend to whom / want to intro
duce YOU He was with your sister when
she died We'll, you remember how she
smiled up into his face. He was with
your mother during all her troubles in
life The last words your father spoke
on this earth was his name. That name