The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1904-11-04

OF the best OF sharpshooters. But
never knew absolutely whether killed
q man, because l never wanted to
know. would not want TO see the
face Of a man whom l turned into a
corpse and 10 realize that l had wreck
ed that mans home would not want
TO know that had made his wife a
widow and his children orphans. After
the battles were over l never crossed
the nelds ln the direction where l had
been shooting. | was afraid 10 see the
proofs OF my marksDanship." Remorse,
even when we are in ths line OF duty,
has awful results. How much more
terrible is It for one TO look upon the
face OF one whom the sinner has
wronged.
Oh. sinner, let me prove TO you that
you are now. like Adam and Eve, hid
ing In one Of the Satanic retreats. Why
do you dislike Mrs. SO-and.sO? She
was the wife OF one OF the best friends
you ever had Has she wrOnged youi
No. The reason you dislike her and
never want to be aeen in her oompan-
ionship 10 because that dead friend left
you the executor OF his estate. You
mismanagsd II. You crimlnally mis-
managed IL. You used her money for
your own benefit. II that widow had
wanted, shR might have put you In jail.
Now you hate her. You never want to
/ ....ot ho- not kaconoa aba hos xvrouUa1
you, but because you have wronged her.
Why is that lifetime friendship be-
tween you and your school chum
broken upl You were both born In
the same country village. You grew up
together. You played ball together,
few kites together, went fishing In the
old brook together, sat side by side be-
hind the same school desk and ate your
lunches out of each others basket
You came 10 the city on the same train,
lived In the same boarding house and
went to work at the same city store on
the same day. Why are you estrangedf 2
| will tell you. You both fell In love
with the same girl. In order to win
that girls affections you lied about
your old friend. You circulated evil re-
ports about his past life, when you
knew that no sQuareF. truer man ever
lived. You said his family was not re-
spectable, when his mother used 10 be
second mother TO you and helped
nurse you when you were sick. You
hate your old school friend not because
be has done an injustice to you. but be-
cause you have done an injustice to
him. What is the matter with Mr.
Bo-and-soY ! once asked my father.
'He never comes around the house as
he used to do" NO" said father, she
is my enemy. loaned him some mon
ey. He would not pay me back. How
ever, for old times sake forgave him
the debt and said II was all right. But
he has never forgiven me the injustice
he has done me-"
But again learn that our first an
cestors sought other refugees besides
leaf and flower and clinging vine and
tree trunk and bush. II IL true that
the tropical forests are so dense that
they make excellent hiding places. Sir
Gordon Cumming, the great hunter Of
wild beasts, tells US that the CeylOn
jungles in places are 30 impenetrable
to the eye that the keenest and most
experienced hunters may sometimes be
unable to distinguish the wounded
elephantine monster only few yards
away, though the valleys and the
mountain sides may be thunderous
with the bellowlngs OF the dying wild
beast But sin never tries TO cover up
sin by the curtain OF leaf alone. Sin
always tries TO conceal sin behind the
bulwarks of other sins Thus, when
Adam and Eve hid themselves from
the presence OF God in the garden, they
tried 20 conceal their sin with the sin
OF falsity. They pretended they did
not hear God when he called. They
tried to conceal SIN by saying, THE
reason we have not answered thee, o
God. 10 because we were unclothed and
dare not appear before thee naked, as
thou didst create us" They tried to
conceal sin In exactly the same way
as thousands and tens Of thousands OF
living men try TO conceal sin with sin.
Ah. the poisonous ivy" behind which
Adam and Eve concealed themselves
was not an arbor Of oak. but az erbor
OF lies and decelts. II thev had spoken
the truth, they would ha ge said, THE
shame wO feel. the shsple that forced
us to hide ourselves from thy presence,
IL due to our consciousness Of wrong
doing"
How does man try to conceal his first
sin behind a mighty buiwark of many
sinsi Here is a young man who has
been brought up in a country home.
He was raised up right He had his
first gospel lessons instilled into him
at the family altar, in the Sunday
school, and In the church pew, where,
as a little child, he used to be taken
10 hear the service, and would sleep
through the long sermon. clssped in his
mothers arms. Away from home be
falls into bad eOmpanionshlp. lie
gradually gets into the habit Of spend
ing his evenings In billiard halls, and
his Sundays on excursion trains and
picnic parties. He drinks little. He
plays cards a little. He dresses little
better than be can AFFORD He runs a
little In debt. One night while seeing
some OF his companions gambling he
says to himself. ~Why cannot l make
4 little money that wayr' He is coi-
lector for the store He plays and
loses. He plays again and loses. He
feels again for money in bis pocket.
Now his checks pale and his hands
trembls, for his fingers have touched
the envelope which belongs to his EN-
ployer. He says TO himself: Il must
win. / will borrow s. and pay It back
very soon" He plays again and loses;
again, and loses. What is the resultf
The next day he dare not confess, 30
A