The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1908-06-19

JOuI UWH uunlueSSs So ludU you Will Uc
true to your better self. for the bitter
est reflection in the evening Of life
will come to him or to her, who has
let the individual house 90 to ruin
while busy trying to take care of other
peoples shanties. Be true man or
woman. From the deliverances Of
certain newspapers and church author
tiles | find that | have been laboring
under serious mistake. l did not
know that the NJ. E. church, South,
was now political as well as relig-
ious organization, and that when a
man entered its ministry he surren-
ders his manhood and rights Of pri-
vate citizen, and that he must consult
the hierarchy in order to know what
he must do as free born citizen, born
under the wide sunny skies of Dixie
For four years | followed the stars and
bars to maintain citizens right, and
after the war heard no other idea ad-
Vanced among my people, and natur-
ally bave grown up under this cult,
involved in the constitution of my
country and in the command of Christ
call no man master" | have held to
the idea that slavery was thing of
the past, and that every citizen had
the right of free thought and free
speech. So long as he was not in vio-
lation of the civil law in his deliver
ance and his life, but find that this
is mistake, in the eyes of some, and
that thought and speech is only free
when they ale along the lines of those
who seem to have the spirit Of the six
teenth century, when the church
burned men and women simply because
they claimed freedom of mind and con-
science, and that now in the light of
the twentieth century the same spirit
comes creeping into damn any freeman
who claims his right, and will not bow
the knee to self-appointed owners.
Scattered ashes of Huss, Ridley, and |
Lattimer, and shades of Martin Luth-
er. You went out in folly, and Justly, |
for daring toquestion the infallibility |
of the Pope and his cardinals and dar-
ing to proclaim the mental and moral |
freedom Of man.
Dear old Puritans, who burned de-
fenseless women and witches, forgive |
rs for ever thinking you were wrong,
for many OF the saints Of the twentieth |
century rise up and justify you as they
make it Lot for the man who dares to
think and speak, unless he becomes a
mere human echo of the saints not yet
in glory. and with little prospects of |
ever getting there. | psefer a free
mans right and life.
QUEER FRIENDS.
To me, friendship is something sa-
cred and treasured, and l cannot I'M
derstand how many people hold to
friend so lightly. The fact is that
many people mean by friendship
feeling Of pleasure in one so long as he
or she agrees with them, and toss off
friendship for enmity when the
friend happens not to think just as
they do all the time. / had a letter
the other day from reader Of Reflec-
tions who had said some kind things,
because my views ran in the same
channel with his, but the better men
toned was one giving me fits for
which did not harmonic
with his view, and my former helpeSk
became my accuser. | was delight
TO get the letter, for to agree
)ne, or to have one agree with yC
Jhe time is no compliment to eli
md | am glad when | bumb
against the views OF Others
lines and find out how much,
'eaT in the profession of fl
which, when true, will di
1ut love one still;
Some folks proffers frien
jhen let some political
break it all up. When real
would not be disturbed IA
lie difference. Some
owe dearly as my frle
ans, and | am such d
Democrat that L do !
make a crosSmark OPP
lame but that Of a Do
What has that to do with tt
)ased upon policy, politica
lope of reward? No other
5 worth the name. and
Don have snake about nd
essed friend who is goinaA
he first time | press lit4
N him: indeed, | had ratk
make, because l could kill
nd be safe, while | cannot
# the other reptile.
have my friends, and 1 loC
most when they need
hey prove their love for me- = S.
ICED them, and yet sometimes
gree in thought and act. zIzIA||l|
/ am Protestant minister,
f the best friends have on ca
roman Catholic, who perhaps tS1
am going to purgatory, but WIZ
DING to try to help pray me out
o; while am sure that with his 81
ig heart and sympathetic soul he -
ot going to suffer in the world to come,
nd if | get in the best place and he /,
oes not, if the good Master will let :
he, / will go and hunt him up and ]
clip him out of any trouble. !
Well, some queer friends are they
rho will give you sugar when you do c
OF need it, and give you vinegar +
then you need something sweet.
friends only when it pays them to be, q
nd not to be found when anything is
D be paid out for friendship. All men
eed real friends, and no man needs to
e afflicted with queer false ones; even z
\ have real friends one must be real
riend to Others, for even all true 9