Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1903-12-05

n ragged stump which the buried rOOtS
are still anchoring in the ground and
live its life over again. Choice may be
4 given to the living man-cholce to live
right or wrong choice to reach after
the higher or the lower llfe-but the
time will come when man. like the
tree, which may live many centuries
4 beyond the age Of man, shall fall.
Then there will be no power Of choice.
What has been done by him is done
and never can be changed. What has
been left undone by him will be left
undone and will never, never be done
i by him as long as eternity lasts A
fallen log symbollzes it.
The fallen tree is a dead tree, which
nearly always falls in the direction 1t
Il has grown. say nearly, because there
/ are exceptions. which. though rare. do
Ioccur. Once in great while a tree
1 does not fall in the direction in which
4 II has grown. A city merchant loving
! natures widest haunts, might go into
\ the woods to build there little cottage.
The site Is selected near the bank Of
running stream. When the foundations
are laid the architect finds that an old
I tree is leaning dangerously toward the
4 rising walls. The merchant would like
to have the virgin beauty Of the trees
untouched. but fearing lest the tree
1 might fall upon his future home and
injure some one, he gives orders to the
/ workmen to cut the tree down. The
ropes are tightly twisted about the
4 branches and tied to other trees grow
4 ing in an opposite direction from the
4 house. The sharp ak begins to bury
! its head into the wood. The workmen
| pull. With mighty groan the old for
est monster falls where it never SEEM
! ed likely to 60 Or n tornado sweeping
| up the valley might push the tree over
| In q direction toward which 1t had
| never leaned. But these exceptions are
very rare. They are as exceptional as
/ the man who has always lived bad
| life and at the last moment is convert
ed by deathbed repentance and who is
thereby able to fall. when the clock is
Striking II. into the outstrctched arms
Of loving Christ. Most trecs-indced.
it might be said practically all trees
| when they die fall in the direction in
which they have grown. About the
trees trunk and above the trees
branches and underneath tie trees
roots are the great ever influencing
laws of specific gravity. If Il tree leans
a little to the right. it almost nvari-
ably falls to the right: If to the left, it
falls to the left.
Swiftness Of Death.
When man comes to de, as a rule,
the only thing he can do is to die.
When the messenger comes, he has not
any inclination to think about any
thing else but dying If the fatal dis
ease gnaws at the vitals for many
months and perhaps years. the doctors
and nurses and loved ones conceal the
truth from the patient for fear of de-
pressing him. Or death comes like a |
stoke Of lightning out of a clear sky.
Ir' comes, as 1t did to my fathek one
moment clear Drained and on preach
ing tour, the next upon deathbed and |
unable to speak word. 1t comes as 1t |
came to Robert G. lngersoll. a dizzi- |
ness, a faintng fit, and he is gone. 1t
comes by an accident. as it came to that
young man on the night he was attend |
ing q religious meeting. The minister
urged and entreated him to make de-
cision for Christ. but he refused. "You
must make up your mind one way or
the other" Then" answered the
young man, 'if must. refuse Christ
for tonight" That night on his way
home, while riding on horseback, his
brains were dashed out by an over
hanging bough.
Death often comes suddenIy-as a
thief, as q watch In the night. A man
dies as a tree falls. He dies as he has
lived. Among all the Bible records
there is but one exception to this rule.
The pages Of the Bible contain only
one account of a deathbed repentance.
"Oh," said a young man in my Pitts
burg church, II am so sorry you said
there are no deathbed repentances."
NO" answered an elder, "he never
said that. He said that though you
might want to repent upon your death
bed in all probability you will have no
time to repent. You Will have only
time to die You might repent If you
would, but you will not" Death
bed repentances are as exceptional
among the human race as 1t is for
tree in the forest untouched by human
hand to fall in a different direction
from the way it has grown. He that
is unjust shall be unjust still He that
is filthy shall be filthy still. He that is
righteous shall be righteous still. He
that is holy shall be holy still" A fall
en- log symbolizes it.
The Undying Fruit.
The fallen tree is dead tree, the in
fluence of whose past life never dies.
Trees have an earthly mission. They
are mighty factors in the planets daily
life. In the celebration of Arbor day
by the schools and educational institu-
tions it would be appropriate, although
it is not especially enjoined by statute,
to couple with study Of trees lessons
on our birds and the great Importance
of their protection. The young people
'annot have too great an appreciation
of nature or too keen sense Of the re-
lation between her many beauties and
utilities Atmospheric changes are
more or less Influenced by trees.
Droughts and freshets are often caused
by the lack of trees. Many countries
Of the far east have been absolutely
ruined by the ruthless destruction Of
the forests. From an inhabitable coun-
try they have been changed into great
wastes of arid deserts. So the influence
of q human life like that Of tree.
never dies. Its good or evil lives on