McNairy County independent. (Selmer, McNairy County, Tenn.) 1902-1969, 1919-12-12
A Good Letter.
WASHINGTON, D. C. |
Nov. 80, 1919 I

iiOtC IilC SiidllBC III IIiC Cdl-
torial staff Of The Independent.
join the rest of your readers
al this glad Thanksgiving season
in wishing you great success in
your editorship of the home pa
per, and also to extend my kind
est regards to Col. J. w. Pur-
Vance, whom you succeed, for
his long and faithful service as
chief (chief is the way we speak
of our leaders in government SER
vice. of the paper that is welcom-
ed to so many homes, and upon
its arrival thr daily papers are
laid aside and perusal of its col
umns begun.
Most of us like to learn about
current happenings in a social
or political way, but an inventory
of the situation reveals to my
mind things much more impor-
tant and about which too little is
often said and done, and this
important thing" relates to the
immortal souls of men. i have
made mention in your columns
before of the large mems Bible
class of our Sunday school. There
is a working organization in con-
nection with this class to keep in
touch with men who are strang-
ers, the lonesome and those who
are sick. One of our men sud-
denly disappeared from the reg
ular attendance list. This man
was not a christian. An investi-
cation revealed the fact that he
was about 80 miles out of the
city and very sick. Two other
men and / went to see MIN and
did what we could for him, but
~there seemed to be little hopes of
his getting well or becoming a
christian either. He had indulg-
ed in vice and wickedness as a
sweet morsel." +" Being chairman
Of a committee on the welfare Of
men, wrote him several letters
jand tried in my feeble way to
speak to him OF the need of a
changed life. | wish to quote
from two letters | received from
him;
Dear Mr.. Gooch: Your most
welcome letter came yesterday.
/ was surely glad to hear from
you. | am feeling fairly good
today, but / can't get rid of that
awful cough and my voice is very
bad, indeed. The other trouble
seems the same. Yes, Mr.. G., /
have accepted Jesus as my Lord
and SavioE snd have put all my
faith in Him. He is one friend
VINO won't forsake you. 1 SO of
ten think OF the Vaughn Class
tine name of our Bible class) and
wish could be with the boys
once again. Ihave spent 50 many
happy hours there, and what a
fool was to leave the class, but
the devil had a work for me to
dowhich is the regret of my life. ;"
In another letter he says to me:
Your letter received last week
and needless TO say | enjoyed it
very much. Yes, since accept
ed Christ / feel different aiuo-
getner; it changed my heart en-
tirely so that feel iik different
person. | only wish that | had
changed long ago, and / will say
that 1t was through your letters
that had q lot to 90 with it. The
Vaughn Class is very dear TO me
and always shall be. 1t surely
would be pleasure to have you
and some or the fellows drop In
and see me. I"
This is only one of the many
instances of which | could tell
you, but ! quote these letters that
those who read this article may
see how little there is to having
q good time" living in the sim
full way. I visited this man last
week and heard from him today.
II he isn't buried within a month
I'll be be surprised at his living
longer. This mans experience
in sin is the same as that of ev-
cry one reaching back through
the ages to Solomon's sinful ca
reer, regarding which. he with a
retrospective review of his life
and a sorrowful wailing voice ex-
claimed: "All is vanity and vex-
alton spirit. "
To the sinner who reads this,
may you, through this mans own
experience, as told by himself,
get a vision of a wasted life and