Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-09-22
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very large and very clever. Fossils and
m~ossbacks hav no more license for
thinking they cal fight the world than
an o-ctogenarian has for thinking he can
friends, the church is going around part
OF the time with a black Y and a
grudge. And it is always whining when
it gets thrashed. 1t only
fights the devil on Sunday, and then
gives him a week to recuperate. And.
my friends, his Satanic Majesty doesn't
care III snap of his finger for all the
Sundays we can crowd into Eternity.
It's the week days that he's interested
in. +. . Fight the devil with love,
not bitterness of spirit. He can't find a
defense against love. If o try to fight
him with scorn as the weapon. you'll
get nightly beaten. He has too many
friends who resent being sneered at
and they're influential, too. I
have a great deal of respect for the
sincere atheist or agnostic. like a man
who is sincere. The atheist is never
anything less than he pretends to be.
O can't say as much for the great
majority of u protested Christians.
Give me a fair and square, upright
atheist every day in preference to a
weak kneed protesting Christian who
doesn't stand for anything after he's
paid his pew rent and added a half
dollar or so OF a Sunday to a for his
weeks salvation. The atheist
is a man: the wish-washy, half hearted,
sceptical Christian isn't good enough
to black his boots. . You can't
get into heaven by paying SO cents a
week on the installment plan. Why. the
things go in these days, it costs a great
deal more than that to get into h 9TH
er place. A man who spends
$1,000 a week having a devil of a time
my friends. can't balance his account
with God for SO cents or 81. {.
Frock coats and black ties on't make
Christians OF you. Overalls and jumpers
will do quite as well. No matter which
your wear, you will have to lay them
aside when o start forth to ace your
Maker You may come to this
church in your every day business suits
If o choose. AS a matter of fact. I
believe it to be easier to preach saliva
ton to a man In his gray sack suit than
it is to try to get at him when he's got
on his black regimentals. . . l
wear this long black coat because it is.
in a sense. the official robe of my great
office. I respect it. but it doesn't make
a Christian OF me any more than it
makes M Of the undertaken. 1 wit
messed a negro minstrel parade not long
ago. All told. there were o than 40
Prince Albert coats in that procession.
But those fellows didn't look like
preachers. So. you see. 1t isn't a-ques-
ton of clothes. . | believe we'd
all feel better for it if we stuck a small.
fragrant nosegay in the lapels Of our
coats next Sunday. just to prove to
ourselves that church going is a joy
Gus. not a grim undertaking.. . /.
l do not like to see a man singing
Hallelujah with a long and doleful face.
Sing it gladly! That's what it means.
\A1 o1~o1,c;o~ oP <Io Os ,o,io,%o
sermon. and while the congregation was
fairly shouting the rare old hymn.
Eric drew a long breath and looked
about him as if suddenly aroused from
a sort of stupor. He had listened in
frank astonishment during the first
part of the sermon; toward the end he
allowed himself to be carried away by
He was disappointed when the extraor-
binary discourse came to an end. He
wanted more. Here was a nan with a
gospel so broad. and convincing and
brave that his heart warmed toward
him at once. This was not HI stern
gospel that Mr.. Presbrey had fairly
damned down his throat in the old
days. He had the feeling that he was
going to like Mr.. King as a man. as
a friend. as a brother. 1t would be quite
impossible to ever look upon him as a
relentless arbiter who prodded one with
texts and dogmas until the sou sick
ened. No; this mans religion smiled; he
would have q warm hand clasp.
"Il bet he's a fine chap" whispered
Eric in Mary's ear. She nodded her
head, but fsowned slightly in the fear
that his very worldly estimate of the
minister might have reached the ears
of Mr.. Blagden.
Out of the n Of their yes they
glanced at their uncle's face. 1t was
Iho9 ming. IL was rant.
Wonders have been performed
murmured Eric. Then, this quaint
thought found expression in a whis-
pered: You can teach an old dog new
tricks. after all"
An old habit moved him. His gaze
wandered. as it had one on countless
Sundays in other times, to the pew in
which Joan Bright and her father al
ways sat.
At the same instant, one of the oc-
Icupants of that pew turned to o. di-
rectly into his eyes.
Joan Bright was there. For n long
hazy minute they looked at each other
Then a slow, even curious smile crept
into her face. She nodded her head. He
was too amazed. too dazed to respond
|away before he could shake off the spell
of a possible illusion.
Strangely enough, his interest in the
service was gone. During the prayer
and the benediction he did not take his
eyes from the half averted. serene face
Of the girl across he church. 1t was not
until the service came to a close tina,
his mind grasped the fact that she
stood beside q tall. handsome young
man. who held the hymn boo with her
while Judge Bright stood detached am