The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-07-26
ReO. F T J Brandon,
 A Veteran of the Cause
ByL F. NUNNELEE.

i the scriptures. for la them you win nnd eternal life"
 Mir. Brandon had a mind more vie- orous than his frail body. and under the great mental and physical strain, he broke down before he had half fn- isned the sermon. Mrs. Brandon knew
 that 1t would not do for him to ex- naust his strength preparing the ser mon. for he would have to take several hours of the short space of time left. to read it over and get the topics and
 wording of the sermon fixed In his mind. She had stayed by his side all the time he had been working. looking up references and helping him in other ways. Finally. when she saw that he was going to break down compietelyf about i o'clock In tue morning. sha persuaded him to take some sleep.
 obeying her advice he was soon asleep. but not so Mrs. Brandon. who had strong pf1ysique and an active mind. As her husband slept she work cd. and being q brilliant woman. whc wielded one of the most fluent pens in the whole land. she took up the tash where he had lain 1t down. and when the gray streaks of dawn shot athwart the eastern heavens and finally came in through the open blinds, she folded the finished manuscript and tipped softly through Mir. Brahdon's room to look after her household duties. and when breakfast was ready awoke her husband. and he did not know that she had not been to bed.
 He was greatly refreshed, and after breakfast they both went into the study to resume the work on the ser- mon. Mrs. Brandon picked up the manuscript and said she would read what they had written the night be- fore. and when they got to where they had left off the night before. she kept on reading and he sat there and listen ed. When she had finished she told him about staying up and working. and so we'll pleased was he with the sermon that he said he was satisfied and went to work memorizing 1t. He worked on 1t. all day Saturday and got up early Sunday morning and start ed in. on 1t again, only taking time to eat and sleep and pray, asking God to be with him and aid him when the final test came.
 ,, There was an immense audience out to hear the commencement sermon, and I do not remember to have heard finer effort come from the lips of any minister. He was perfectly wrapped up in the sermon he and his good wife had prepared and 1t came from his lips like burning words of ire from the very. altar of GJd Himself. He COInpiSLoly lbE8ob HSAA. 4AG W19 taSNOA mofe at ease in the pulpit than on this occasion. The very presence of cod was felt throughout the entire discourse and the vast Audience sat as If transflxed under the influence of his powerful eloquence. One paragraph of the sermon Is stili ringing In my ears. Sald he:
 T have in my day slept in the downy couch in the palace of the rich, have rested my tired body In the hovel of the poor. and pllloweh my weary head on the rocks of the hills of Vir- ginia, with nothing but the blue can opy above for covering, but truly, young gentlemen, I have found the tsachings Of our Bible true, and 1t matters not where you arc if your heart ls full of the love of Christ and hts teachings. which are the sure foundation for building true character. your life will be sweet under any cir cumstances. no matter what your phy4 sical comfort may be. So take this Book and the life of the One of whom 1t teaches and leave the classic halls of this spIeAdid institution of Alabama to make men of whom the State ana Nation will feel proud. and may the truths ir1 this Book bring eternal life ih the world beyond the starh"
 Mrs. Brandon was born and reared