The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1905-05-23

anu tutlle!y upon l1lc evil Wn1C0 q MAJ
does and not upon the good he is capa
! bic of doing and has done. He is lik,
ranchman or & farmer who peevishl,
! goes forth and with his Ak hcWs dov1
whole orchard merely because thu
Sun Jose scale honeycombs few trees
lie is like a lapidary who throws away
valuable jewel because he has found
| one flaw in 1t. Because of some
fault Of character, because Of some
weakness Of nature, because of some
petty, fault finding disposition or some
dcprecntory jealousy in the makeup OF
your friend you are ready to turn your
back upon him and let the future part
you as the waves Of the sea separate
the new hemisphere from the old.
Only First Ofense.
One offensc is often sufficient to
break up a lifetime Of friendship
What is the matter, Mr.. So-uni-s y"
| ask. Has any one done you an in
jury? You look angry enough to make
somebody suffer-" Wen, | should say
So" you answer. You know my Old
friend, John Newman. We have been
for years the closest Of associates. We
grew up together us boys. We have
had many business dealings in com
mon. Some months ago he came to
me and said: Harry, I have a fine herd
Of cattle out in western Kansas.
want you to help me weather the Win
ter through | lent him $500 He has
not only lost every cent Of it, but as
far as I can make out he lied to me
horn or a hoof. He sQuande:ed my
money In Wan street." as that SO?
What are you going to do?' Moth
ing YOU answer What can do ey-
cent contemptuously leave him alone?'
Yes, you can do that if you will. But
tell me- friend, has John Newman ever
failed you before? grant that he was
not truthful. l grant that he did not
do right. But are you going to let that
one act, that one sin, blot out the five
hundred good deeds he has done you
in the past and the FIVE hundred good
deeds he would do for you In the fu-
ture If you would only forgive him
this once and give him another chance?
Because a gun misses fire once or
twice or thrice shall the hunter throw
it aside as useless? Yet that is the
way some Of US Gcal with those who
have done us wrong. Suppose you
were i'll the position Of a very dear
friend Of mine some years ago. He
took a young man into his employ and
made him his right hand man in the
business. He confded to him his most
treasured secrets and purposes. One
day that young man, under great
betrayed my friend. He
tried to start rival business and to
entice away all his clerks and steal lis
agencies. He failed. What
would you do under such conditions?
For the one error, the one mistake,
would you blind your eyes to many
years Of faithful service? LET not the
sun go down upon your wrath" You
had q right to be angry for little
while. In one sense, you had a right
to strike back But do not bear that
grudge any longer. Forget and for
give'' is the meaning of the Pauline
commandment
Home Rules Waterloo.
But the danger Of harboring resent
;nent Is not limited to the breaking of
friendships; we may suffer it to preju-
dice lis against good causes. Try as
hard as we will, we must and do asso-
ciate the success or the failure of the
onward movements Of great principles
and causes with the personalities Of
our friends and neighbors. When
Charles Stewart Parnell was dethroned
from the respect and affections Of his
colleagues the Irish cause of home rule
met Its Waterloo. Home rule was de-
feated at the time when the palm Of
victory was about to be grasped by the
outreaching hands Of its advocates.
When Mark Antony loved his sinful
Egyptian enchantress more than he
Owed Rome, then the mightiest war
chieftain who ever trod in the foot
steps Of julius Caesar saw his follow
ars fee bis standards, even as the birds
IF the forests seek the shelter Of their
nests before the tempest blasts Of the
tornado When Mirabeau
his last and was thought to
De untrue by his henchmen, then the
royalists' cause was defeated in
France, and the guillotine had to be
lrenched with the blood Of a Marie
Antoinette and Louis XVI. Say
what you may, every man naturally
represents cause or principle apart
rom his personality. When you bear
,rudges against men you bear grudges
against causes. When you divorce your
affections from individuals you lose
FOUR fidelity to the causes and move
nents which those men, In more than
me sense, may typify.
Let me illustrate. Why are you pref |
ldiced against the church of the Lord |
Jesus Christ? You are not bad. You |
believe in Jesus as your Saviour. You
we're reared in a Christian home. Some |
# the best and happiest recollections
# your life are ef the Sunday school |
md Of the church OF which your moth |
II was a member. II know it," you
answer. II never think Of the church |
\, IL,