Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1908-03-06

Wen VINO nuke excuses Tor the modern
Don Juans because OF their charm or
their beauty.
Friends Who Are Wrong.
know IT is hard to turn our backs
upon some friends when we know they
are doing wrong l know that some OF
those friends WELD a powerful infiu-
ence over our lives. There Is a breezi.
ness. freshness, an originality about
some OF them that holds us to them like
magnet. We know, furthermore. that
some of those wicked friends love us
with n devoted love, but IL we do not
! break away from them I'm time their
sins Will corrupt us. There is an old
proverb which says, eff man breaches
what he does not believe. after dwhil>
he believes what he breaches" That is
true, but another fact is also true. IL
you make a bosom friend out of one
who is living contrary to all that you
believe to be right, after awhile you
VIII begin to ain as he sins and do as
he does. You cannot systematically as
sociate with an evil minded person and
not In time become evil minded your.
self. And the more fascinating the
friend the quicker your own spiritual
ruin.
What right have you to 90 with a
man or a woman who will tell an I'm
moral story? And j would warn nv
hearers OF both sexes on this subject.
for there are certain women who are
just as shameless In listening to such
stories as are some men. What right
have 70
In their morals or with those who mike
light or the purity of the home? What
right have ysu to make bosom COM
panions out Of those who do not honor
the house of God and all that the house
OF God stands for? What right have
you TO yoke yourself In business part
nership with man whom YOU have to
watch every moment for fear he will
bring scandal and a disgrace on the
name of the firm? Did your Christian
father and mother ever go with such
associates as you select for your daily
companions? Would you be willing to
have your companions make the coarse
remarks before your wife or children
which they often laugbipglys make be-
fore you? Either you must lift your
daily companions up to yonr moral and
spiritual Level or else they will drag
you down to theirs. and there Is no ex-
eeption to the rule. Have you right
TO associate with sinners and expect
to escape becoming In time a companion
with them in their sins?
The Bands Of Authority.
But there was another reason why
n1tr %
Saul was king. BE had been anoint-
ed by the order OF the Lord God Al
mighty. He had been selected from
all the tribes to rule over Israel. There
was n certain sanctity about him. or
course he had proved false TO his
trust, but still Saul was king. As king
the people had been taught TO do him
reverence. The hardest bands TO
break are the bands OF regal authority.
We are ready to send the common thief
10 the penitentiary, but we hate TO i'm.
peach the honesty OF those who have
been placed over us in properly con.
stituted authority. And yet when the
king does wrong should he not suffer?
When the president OF the United
states or q legislator or n governor or
mayor does wrong, should he not also
suffer? And when wickedness and cor
ruption fasten themselves upon our
political life should we not by the
grace OF God cast Off those sins and
also cast Off those politicians who are
responsible for the moral obliquity?
1 had this truth most wonderfully
portrayed before me some time ago
when | heard Samuel =. Pearson al.
dressing great popular meeting 10
Chicago Mr.. Pearson had been elect.
ed few months before sheriff of Port
land, Me. Although Maine was a dry"
state. there were many speak easies"
being run on the sly. The people Of
Names capital said those places could
not be shut up. but Mr.. Pearson said.
Elect me your sheriff and in six
weeks there will not be a speak easy
in all the county" The people took
him at his word. He shut up those
speak castles SO quickly that the sa-
loon keepers did not have time 10 ship
their beer and whisky cut or town. but
had to empty the barrels in the gutter
ana let their poisonous LIQUORS run
AWAY Into the sewers, where they be-
lonEed. Well OK course Pearson's name
was heraided from the Atlantic to the
Pacific and praised by all good people.
BE was invited to address n ministers
mass meeting In Chicago, and there he
told us bow he became a Prohibition
ist and why he was so bitter against
the other two political parties.
Sheriff Pearsor's Story.
This was hts story. as remember 1t.
When Pearson was young man, there
was an election going on i'm Portland.
BE stood in line waiting to cast his
vote for certain candidate. Ahead
OF him he saw q disreputa BILE saloon
keeper. He accosted him and said:
"IIello. So-and-so! For whom are you
Z to voter Strange to say, Mr.
-.rSon found out that this disreputa-
,.e saloon keeper was going to vote for
the same candidate that he (Pearson)
was supporting. Behind him he saw a
notorious libertine, gambler and drunk
ard. Mr.. Pearson asked him whom he
was going TO vote for, and, strange to
say, he found out that this libertine
and drunkard wanted the same man
elected as he (Pearsonl was going to
vote for. Then Mr. Pearson stopped
and soiiloouized: do & desire the same
men to govern this city thxs-tisoss COW
rupt mea wantf Am I going to travel
with the same crowd they run withf
No; am responsible to God and my
country for the actions OF the men
whom I help 10 elect 10 once. You
had better either purify your party
and kick these dissolute members of