The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1905-11-15
Has Slander-serpent Eacoiled Man
of God!

of God'
, After the regular Presbyterian SER
vice last Sunday morning. the pastor
, requested the young people to remain
as he wished to have a talk with them.
This "talk with them" came as a sur
prise, and the talk with them struck
them with CONSERVATION Us the pastor
proceeded TO make a most beautiful cx-
hortation on the duties of church mem
bers and complying with and living up
tc the rules of the church. He urged
them to give up dancing, attending
theatres and card-playing. He also
made reference to some Information
which, under promise that he would not
disclose the source Or nature OF his IN
formation, related there was q scandal
Gus handling of names of some young
ladies who attended the dances. he
assured his hearers that he did not be-
lieve the report, but nevertheless 1t
grieved him. The meeting resulted in
nearly all the young folks present sign
ing pledge not to attend any more
dances. theatres or card-playing. There
were q few who declined to sign the
pledge, and these take the position that
it is matter deserving more consider
alton. and should not he hastily agreed
to.
Since Sunday there has been consid
cradle talk about Mr.. Holidays re-
marks, and a number do not hesitate
to express the opinion that he is the
victim of some slanderer. That the
young ladies of this community who
attend dances are not capable of con
Quoting themselves improperly, and if
as was intimated, there were some OF
the Young men who drink liquor, the
same might be said of some young men
!who attend church. But, aside from
this, they think it unfortunate that a
ssuspicion should be created against all
who attend the dances instead Of point
ling out the guilty or at least lifting the
veil of mystery from the report and let
ting it be known the nature of this
Salleged grievous conduct.
If it is against the rules of the Church
to dance, then Church members should
do one of two things: quit dancing or
quit the Church: and it is a pastors
duty to look after his flock. But when
Gossip whispers into his ear something
which reflects upon the character of
one of his flock, in our opinion he should
not permit himself TO be handicapped
with q promise to not give out the
source of his information, but it should
be his duty to 60 straight to the parties
accused, or their parents or CUR
dians, and tell them whathe has heard
and FROM whom he heard it. There
are, unfortunately, too many possessed
of the Devil, and with their forked
tongues would besmirch pure charac-
ter. 1t is a safe rule to decline to re-
ceive information from one Of these
don oa't-mention-my-name-kind. Asa rule
what they give for inform etion is fab
rication Of the Devil.
| Mr.. EDITOR: The above article,
which appeared in your issue OF last
week and reproduced now at my request:
calls for a statement from me, lest there
be misapprehension of the whole mat
ter. There is much in your article to
which I Gao say '' amen " most heartily.
| BY way Of information, let me say
that appealed to my young people to
sign the following paper (which is no
I thing more than renewal with spe-
cifc application Of a part OF the pledge
made by them when they joined the
church,:
with a sincere desire to honor God,
to promote the peace and prosperity OF
our Church, and out of proper consld-
Grafton for the views of the members of
the Session, to whom is committed the
discipline Of this Church, and without
surrendering any private opinion OF my
own as to the propriety or impropriety
and the harmlessness or harmfulness of
dancing and cardp]aying, hereby
pledge myself to abstain from dancing
sand card-playing so long as shall re-
main a member Of the Manning Presby-
terian Church.
| This paper has now attached to it
thirty names, with more to be added.
| l consider it a roll OF honor, and I think
those who signed it deserve praise and
commentator. 1t condemns no one, it
makes war upon no one, and 1t simply
binds the party signing it to abstinence
from certain things.
There were four grounds upon which
appealed for the signatures
l. For the sake of their own good
names and character.
\ =
the Church.
! 3. From duty of loyalty to their
Church, which condemns these prac-
tices, irrespective of their own individ-
ual opinions.
4. For the sake of those who are
drawn into these practices through the
influence and example of those who par
ticlpate in them and yet who are not
satisfied that they are doing right.
| It was under the first head, and upon
what I had least to say, that I made ref
erence to some reports and rumors
which reflected upon their good names.
I was careful to state my own opinion
of these reports as to whether they were
to be believed. The impression 1 sought
to convey was the fact that these ru-
mors and reports were being and had
been made to their detriment have
been careful not to go about repeating
these matters, In vague way have
Eheard them for year past, but not
Il y r