The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1910-10-08

| ded to this was his curiosity and long
ing for knowledge as to what comes
after the breath leaves the body. Ere
quently | have heard him say I can't
wait, must know what is beyond
In some such mental condition as
this, after years of struggle for the
uplift of others, he wandered off that
cotton field and swallowed the poison.
| do not Judge, l sympathize, and
believe that the Maker of us all is
caring for Lundy Harris far more ten
derby than we who knew him ever
cared"
The man who made the above an
alysis of the causes that led Rev. Dr..
Harris to commit suicide is prelate
of the South Methodist Church, and
was a classmate of the dead man
when the latter was winning honors
at Emery College.
This analysis is accepted by all who
knew Dr. Harris.
When he entered Emery College
back in 1872, there was something in
his manner that made his classmates
think that he saw things which were
beyond their ken. Bishop Warren
Gambler, who was not only a class
mate, but also Kappa Alpha club
mate of Harris, was impressed by this
feature of his character. Harris had
devoted himself to the ministry. and
he frequently said that he felt, in
contemplating the world, as the Lord
Christ felt when he wept over Jerusa-
lem.
There was periods when he was Oh
the mountain top, believing that he
would draw the world nearer to God,
but these periods were followed by
day of black despair when he cried
out that all his efforts were vain. So
long as his vision held. he was one of
the happiest of men, but when there
was break in the vision. he was of
'all men most miserable"
He graduated with the honors of
his class, and became secretary to
Atticus G. Haygood, then President of
Emery College, afterwards agent of
the Slater Fund for the negroes of
the South, and Bishop of the Southern
Methodist Church. During this De-
riod, Harris was also tutor at Emery
College, and even the undergraduate
remarked the uneyenness of his spir-
itual state.
Sometimes for weeks his face would
shine as the SUM- and then for 9TH
er weeks he would be in deepest
gloom. To his intimate he would ex-
plain that he had a vision of a world
where justice and love reigned, and
as long as he believed his vision
would be realized, he was happy, but
as soon as he began to doubt he fen
into the slough Of desponi."
He was advanced from a tutorship
to a professorship and during his Pc
riod. met his wife, Miss Cora White
of Elberton, Ga. She understood him
and soon after marriage urged him to
leave the college and take work in
the ield-that is, become a Circuit
rider He yielded.
For several years Dr. Harris and
his wife were here and there, living
on a small salary, with the affairs of
the house often in a narrow way. but
in the main happy, because the hus,
band felt that he was bringing those
to whom he preached into nearer
relation to God,
This period of DR.. Harris life is de.
scribed by Mrs. Harris in her story
of the Circuit Riders Wife" and
those who have read the story will
remember how frequently his vision
failed. and what periods of spiritual
murk followed.
During his period of circuit riding
DR.. Harris began to learn some things
about the Church that he never sus-
pected existed. He learned that many
preachers played politics." and that
choice appointments came to them as
result.
At the annual conference he saw
men Of no particular ability assigned
to places that paid well, whileNnen Of
more piety and greater ability were