Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1902-12-27
ROBERT HARDY'S SEvENDAYS
By Rev. CHARLES N. SHELDON.
Author If '.In His Steps," "The C,elcifrion Of
Philip Strony," "Malcon, Kirk" Etc.
A DREAM AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.

Author If ''In His Steps, "The C,7lcifrion Of
Phatp Strong" Malcolm Kirk" Etc.
=T#< CHAPTER x.
Mr.. Hardy began in low, clear tone:
" Men and Women of Barton-To.
might l am not the man you have
known me these 25 years l have been
among you. am, by the grace Of God,
: a. new creature. AS l stand here
have no greater desire in my heart
than to say what may prove to be a
blessing to all my old townspeople and
to my employees and to these strong
young men and boys. Within a few
short days God has shown me the SELF
slshness of human beings heart. and
that heart was my own. and it is with
feelings none of you can ever know
that l look into your faces and say
these Words
Robert paused moment as if gath
ering himself up for the effort that fol-
lowed, and the audience, startled with
an unexpected emotion by the strange
beginning. thrilled with excitement, as,
the once cold and proud man contin-
ued, his face and form glowing with
the TRANSPORTATION of a new manhood:
7 There is but one supreme law in
this world, and it is this: Love God and
TOur neighbOr with heart, mind, soul,
strength. And there are but two things
worth living for: The glory of God and
the salvation of man. Tonight |. who
. look into eternity in a sense which
will not stop to explain, feel the bit,
terness which comes from the knowl-
edge that have broken that law and
have not lived for those things which
alone are worth living for
T. But God has sent me here tonight
with message to the people which my
heart must deliver. 1t is a duty even
more sacred in some ways than what
owe to my own kindred. am aware
that the hearts of the people are shock
ed into numbness by the recent horror.
know that more than one bleeding
heart is in this house, and the shadow
of the last enemy has fallen over many
thresholds in our town. What! Did
( not enter into the valley of the shad-
.ow Of death myself as stumbled over
the CHASTITY ruins Of that wreck, my
soul torn in twain for the love of three
. of my own dear children? Do I not
SympathiZe in full with all those who
bitterly weep and lament and sit in
+ blackness Of horror this night? Yea.
but, men of Barton. why is it that we
are so moved, so stirred. so shocked, by
the event Of death when the far more
awful event Of life does not disturb US
4 In the least?
"We shuddx with terror, we lose
our accustomed pride or Indifference.
Il we speak in whispers. and we tread
softly in the presence Of the visitor
who smites but once and then smites
the body only, but In the awful pres
,fence of the living image of God we go
our ways careless, Indifferent. cold.
I. passionless, selfish.
s q know whereof l speak, for have
Il walked through the world like that my
self. And yet death cannot be COM
a pared for one moment with life for
II majesty, for solemnity, for meaning,
q Tor power, There were IS persons kill
ed in the accident. But in the papers
y this morning l read in the column next
ITO that in which the accident was
4 paraded in small type and in the brief
lest Of paragraphs the statement that
ia certain young man in this very town
Nof ours had been arrested for forging
q his fathers name on check and was
In the grasp of the law. s:-
ssAnd every day in this town and In
every town all over the world events
like that and worse than that are Of
7 frequent occurrence. Nay. in this very
town of ours more than IS souls are at
I this very moment going down into a
4 far blacker hell of destruction than the
& one down there under that fated
bridge, and the community is not hor-
riheds over it.. How many mass meet
aslngs have been held in this town with
I'm the last 25 years over the losses Of
scharacter. the death Of purity. the de-
@sstruction Of honesty? Yet they have
EOntnumbered the victims Of this late
physical disaster a Thousand fold. !;
}s.5 S And what does mere death do? 1T
releases the spirit from its house Of
cart but aside from that death does
nothing to the person, But what does
& dol Life does everyt thing. II pre-
sspares FOR heaven o. for hell. It starts
impulses, molds character. fxes char
Isacter. Death has no kingdom without
md. Death s. only the last enemy Of
TIE many enemies that life knows