Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1912-05-04

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taken walk on Saturday evening;
there was no libarry there then, or
else he would probably have visited
il III can bear witness that the sug-
gestion that the stranger take a walk
is not so contemplate suggestion,
after all He remembers, also, 10
have spent part OF the time reading,
In his room, at the hotel.
But he had an entire Sunday be-
fore him, to provide for the spending
Of 1t as best he might be able. What
did he do them He did what every
one does under similar circumstances;
he did what he had been trained to
do; he went to church. Turn any one
loose, cast him adrift, and the prob
ability is that, when certain time
arrives he will do the thing which
he has been trained TO do at that par
ticular time. We do what we have
have been trained to be. In the morn
ing this particular traveller attend
ed divine service at the church of the
denomination to which he belonged.
He found that 1t was an old and in
teresting church; the church building,
he learned, had been erected before
the Revolutionary War. He went
early, and from his place in the gal
lery near the organ. watched the PEG
pie as they came in and took their
places. Had he been able to forsee
that, within six years, he would be
the pastor of that congregation, and
that the greater part of his life would
be spent in serving 1t as pastor, he
would have been more observant than
he was. Even in his ignorance of the
future, the occasion was TO him very
interesting and impressive; he has a
distant recollection of the impression
produced upon him by the service of
that Sunday morning; by the reverent
behavior of the congregation; by the
singing; by the sermon that was
preached. No one spoke TO him as he
came and went; but he came and went
all the same. In the afternoon he re-
turned to the same church for the
Being there again at an early hour,
he wandered for a while in the old
and interesting graveyard attached to
the church. He remembers that he
was surprised to find in Protestant
graveyard, a tombstone with the in
scription 1t is a holy and wholesome
thought to pray for the dead, that
they be loosed from their sins. This
is mentioned in order to show that
objects Of interest are to be found al
most anywhere, If one is disposed to
look for them. He taught a class in
the Sunday school. Again, no one
spoke to him, except the superintend-
ent, who asked him to take the class,
and the boys whom he taught. He
mentioned this simply as a fact in the
situation he is describing, and not as
implying TINT he was conscious on
this account of having been maltreat-
ed or neglected. In the evening, there
being no service in his own church, he
went to the Methodist church, where,
before service, he had a conversation
with a man whom, when he came to
reside in the town. he recognized as
prominent member of that congrega-
ton.
such was the writer's experience
on this occasion; he has related it
because, by reason of it, he may be re-
garded as qualified in measure to
bear testimony as to the probable con-
dition of the hypothetical traveller, of
whose forlorn and distressing estate
so much was made by the speaker to
whom we have referred. The eX-
perience in question was an mdesiI-
able one; il was far, however, from
being one of uncomfortable hardship.
Many undesirable experiences are apt
to be encountered in the course of
ones progress through lille; it is not
too much to expect the average man
to meet and endure them with some
degree of fortitude and patience. On
the strength of his experience the
writer would respectfully decline TO
make a martyr of any traveller who,
being detained in a town over night,
fails to find a place where he may re-
as he would like to have. Especially
would he protest, not against just
and proper, but against an eXaggerat-
ed. estimate of the necessity OF doing
many things for the entertainments of
men and boys in order to secure their
attention to the claims of religion. He
is unwilling to acquiesco in the i'm
plication, that unless extensive and
expensive arrangements are made for
the furnishing of said entertainment,
not much may be expected to be ac-
complished in a way of winning men
to the Church of Christ. y, NJ. c. A.
buildings, baths, swimming pools
baseball grounds, etc.-these are all
very desirable, and may be very serv-
iceable and useful in helping to bring
men TO Christ But it seems an eN-
agsCration of their Importance to say
that they are absolutely necessary, or