The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1902-03-12

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j I am writing ON Sunday morning,
8 February q, and 4 am Fifty years old
3 today. That Ilhave been knocking
4 about on this eubltnary sphere fou
! half q century, Hhsn 4 eonne TO lcok
q the fact squarely IN Che face, amazes
j me. find it hard TO- believe my own
words. Surely somei one has made q
q wrong entry in the old Family Bible,
4 or I have been cheated ont os some Of
8 the years that are charged against me.
III am willing to believe almost any
thing, except that fifty, hallowed years
q have rssaed over my poor head. When
8 i vas child, there was little piece
I've used to recite ct school, beginning,
"Time bears us on like the current of
Ia mighty river" Possibly I recited
ait, along with the other children, bnt
III did not believe it Guy more then
i than children now would believe it..
No one comes TO realize the truth Of
/ the words until the mysterious stream
has carried him far down through the
I years. I begin TO see il now, and it
Ills the truth-'"Time bears as on like
the current Of mighty river" In
! youth, the stream has an eddy here
and there, and the flowing was not as
swift; but now the current has o
straight onward aow. and the days and
months and years Ait by like dreams
in the night.
Old man jacob, when he stood as o
pilgrim traveller before king Pharaoh,
said his days had been few and evil.
They may have been evil as for as he
was concerned; but they themselves
were not evil. He may have thought
and felt and pursued evil; but the
years themselves were nothing but Q
succession Of days and nights Of rising
and settings Of the sun, and each re-
curing day had been marked snd
crowned with the love and goodness OF
the Lord. So it has been for us all.
We ourselves have been evil, but the
days which God gave us have been
good.
But Jacob told the truth and gave
us an apt figure when he spoke Of his
life as pilgrimage-a daily going on,
a moving about, a journeying we know
not whittier. Our estate, our condi-
ton, our environment changes; but
none of these things impede ue, nor
cause us to pause in Our journey.
When once o child lie born, he sets
out upon the mysterious way, and
there is never o moments pause be-
tween the cradle and the grave. We
may sloep or dream or idle away the
time; We may spend our days in the
pursuit Of pleasure or roll and ,onize
in pain; but wo are borne onward ell
the same, and are daily and hourly
brought nearer to the appointed end.
What pity We cannot live in con-
stant realization Of this facti How
much Of our time we have wasted in
waiting for Tomorrow: II once We
see something ahead OF .us shat we
covet, If once We have plan laid FOR
next month OF next year, We seem to
forget or despise ell the time thaslie
between now and then, and forget to
utilize tho passing hopss. sossime
passes from us.
My littleiife has not been eventRul
perhaps; but it has been busy. T
have done many things that amounted
to nothing, butI have not been idle.
l lave sought neither place nor power;
but I have honestly desired to make
myself felt for God and FOR good.
Whether I have made mistake in
this, it remains for my brethren to
say. 1 have made many loving and
true friends who are on the journey
with me. Some friends I have lost.
The grave stole them away, on the. one
hand, and / have doubtless driven q
few away from me by my folly, by
words or deeds that were unholy. The
sorrowful reflection which arises is
that il you lose . afriend, the chances
are that You will never regain him.
We discourse largely upon the subject
OF forgiveness; but Of the real thing.
we see but little. When Christians
fall out, they do not, as Q rule, go into
the courts, no, do they go after each
other with guns; but whatis just as
bad, they retire to one side aud sulk,
or refuse to speak to one another, OF
try to play the meek, as IL to say, ST
have been injured; bnt / will say
nothing; I will just keep my mouth;
l will be very pions; 4 will not have
IL. -