The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1916-05-23
Old FOLKS DAY WAS
OBSERVED AT PROSPERITY
Largest Crowd in History of Occasion
Coy. Manning Makes address
Dinner Served on Ground.

Old Folks day at Prosperity is get
ing to be an annual feature occasion
long with the Little Mountain Col
ege reunion and Memorial Day (May
0th) in Newberry.
Several years ago the Sunday
.ancoi of Grace Lutheran church con-
ceived the idea of setting aside one
.ay for the old people to get together
a festive spirit and give the young
folks an opportunity to serve them
! 4 help to fill their cup Of gladness.
These annual gatherings have
grown with the passing years until
lie church with an unusually large
seating capacity is 70 longer large
enough to hold all of the visitors.
There must have been at least thou
;and people in the church and On the
grounds last Sunday. There were
)rese t a large number of old peo-
ole whose years are pressing heavily
upon their STOPPING shoulders. The
oldest man present was Mr.. Jacob
Shealy, who is 81 years Of age.
The exercises consisted of old ia
miliar hymns, two addresses, one by
the pastor, Rev. E. W. Leslie, and one
by Gov. Manning and dinner in the
grove in front of tht church. Gov.
Manning was to have made his ad-
dress Sunday morning but failed to
catch his train. The, program was,
therefore, transposed. Rev. Leslie
making the morning address and Gov.
Manning the afternooa address. At
the close of Gov. Manning's address
the meeting was dismissed after the
singing of the old hymn "Blest be the
tie that binds"
Rev. E. ". Leslie said IN part:
Many old people think they have no
mission in life when they get old, that
their work is completed; but they
have the greatest work of all by
testifying to the services they have
rendered. AS experience is the best
teacher their experience in life is the
best testimony that they can give. So
many people, when they get old think
they are in the way. There should
ever be such a feeling as they can
~ender such valuable services in ad-
vice taken from experience. You can
serve the Lord by testifying to his
goodness and mercy of which we are
all witnesses. This testimony will
accomplish more than anything else.
Some of our younger people will say
that you do not know what you are
talking about, but if the grace of God
and nothing but the grace of God has
sustained us, we can testify to that.
There are many other things that
YOU can testify to-" said the speaker,
4 d went on to ampEfy. He made a
touching and appealing address and
closed by saying: 'iThus We see that
there is just as high 2 mission in old
age as in youth May God bless you
and sa1ctify your old age in the ser
ice that is so valuable
Gov. Manning said that in coming
to this church on this occasion it was
a privilege and an honor. He said
ile had not prepared a set speech for
lack of time on account Of having 1t
tended the North Carolina festivities
incident to the Mecklenburg celebra-
ton. He spoke of the tender memoir
les OF father and mother AID of the
changes that have taken place during
the l:fe time Of the old people pres
ent. One of the changes was the man
ner of home life. n the old days the
femily would gather at night in the
home circle and read and devote
themselves to prayer and religious
instructions but in these days the
Christian home presented different
scene-the members of the family
spent the evenings attending mission
ary meetings, welfare and charitable
societies, etc. The speaker closed by
stresstrg the Importance of the Chris
tian home as being the great defense
and protection and bulwark Of the
great American nation.