Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1903-04-01

SMSA& - msn-which are legion-will be
SlNIG&2-L glad to read just tribute of a man
100 assaI, who is worthy Of all said therein,
cSp5G2SRN and who has been accused by some
W-pSA people who know nothing about
him, and wish to do him harm, Of being an infdel:
''My Dear Sir: Your fOvor of the 18th instant in
which you state that 1t is being said in parts Of the
state that Maj. Jas. K. Vardaman is an nfdel 'and
request me to write you to the truth and falsity
Of thecharge, has been duly received.
"And will say in reply that no statement could
be farther from the truth Until Semtember 1, I
was pastor Of the First Presbyterian church, OF
Greenwood, Miss, where resided for four years
during which time was most intimately associated
with Maj. Vsrdamsn-read, perhaps, every public
utterance often talked with him in the privacy OF
his home in his editorial sanctum, on the great
facts and principles Of christian religion, and
did he mpugn its claims, deny its reality, reflect
upon its sanctity, either directly or indirectly.
Bot should stop with this negative statement
would not have done Maj Vardaman even scant
justice for know that he believes the Bible to be
Gods revelation to man, Jesus Christ the measure
of His lOve-the chief among ten thousand, the one
altogether lovely.
"In fact, many Of the most striking and brilliant
editorials that have appeared in the Commonwealth
from time to time, have found their inspiration In
the matchless character teachings and principles Of
the Christ life
"He is a Master Mason, and every good Mason
will tell you that infdel could not be, that he
must put his trust in God or he could never have
crossed that sacred Threshold or remained in good
or regular standing. he is not anything OF pre-
tender, but he is member of the Methodist church
and this he could not have been without cOnfessing
Christ as the son of God, the savior of men.
'fHe believes in God as the supreme existence, as
the supreme architect Of the universe the Sumum
BOnum, and revers him as such. he devoutly be-
ieves in the Nazarine-as he devOuty believes in,
aud loves all the truth and all reality. BE hates
sham, he despises hypOcrite. For the sycOphant,
the time the trimmer hOOtliplx the nat-
tyf0gger the trickster, the political trader be has
not the slightest degree Of tOleration For all such
he cherishes, and does not hesitate to express
most profound contempt But above all, he thinks,
IF there is anything on earth that should be held
sacred, it is the religion Of the Lord Jesus Christ
as he puts it in recent paragraph in speaking Of
that class, who would prostitute its sanctity for
political gain. His scathing denunciatiOn Of such
moral perverts, of course, would be sufficient
ground, in certain quarters, to warrant the charge
of infdel.'
tBut the people are discriminative, and they will
not fail to note that bis assaults have not been upon
our holy religion, but upon those who would prosti
tute it, who profess it for Office or more commonly
for revenue only. Against such and only such, has
his diatribes been directed
t1 have never known a man who cherishes 8
more profound regard and reference, for the TRUTH
the pure, the noble and the good. And in the
presence Of the truly cOnsecrated man of God, he
stands uncovered in Acknowledgement of his exalted
'FUpOn all questions of morals, there has never
been question in any mans mind, who knows
Vardaman-as to where he would stand. In every
conflict he has stood with the church, and with
the best and modest of her sons and daughters;
4 and where his plume has waved they have followed
followed to victory The citizens Of Greenwood
and Lefore county, and the state for that matter
! will remember, when in January, 1900, we we're
thrown into the perpexities and uncertainties Of
prohibition campaign, deserted by some to whom
we might have looked for aid how he, Maj Varda-
man. threw himself into the bree 2h, cOnsecratng all
his splendid powers as chairmaA of the executive
committce and how he planned, and wrought and
wrote and spoke, till every moral fibre throughout
the length and breadth Of the country was made to
tinge and thrOb and thrill and vibrate in unison
with his Own-culminatng in glOriOnS victory
bweeping forever away the possible traffic Of the
1amnable stuff-which must forever remain splen-
lid monument to his leadership, his geuius, his
6delity to the cause Of sound morals and highest
md unselfsh interests in the cause OF the people,
cit would be but fair to say, that when I first
kent to Greenwood four years ago, went very
huch preiudiced against Mr.. Vardaman. A preiu-
iced that rested upon, and was inspired by what
athered from those who knew no more of the man
han did-nothing. That prejudice 'of a charac-
Y the most common Of course was fed and famed
an occasional politician who happen to be on the
her side Of the fence But after these years OF
hequaled opportunity to see and study and analyze
ID know the real Vardaman, these preiudices have
knished, in the knowledge Of his honest rugged
hnhOOd and before the light OF his splendid per-