Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-05-16
TIE COUNTRY HOME
rrMNIIcTFD By, MRS VI. n. EEETOk
STW'S SLAVERY

SIN - S5lEA AIJL
I never see d young man throw
ing away his Ctod-given opportunity
and spending his time with sinful
companions and debasing his repu-
tation by drink and vile habits, that
l don't say to myself-he is SOW
ing the seeds of shame and will
reap q harvest of remorSe and vain
regrets--for sin is a taskmaster.
And they cause so much suffering
to those who love them in spite of
their shortcomings. If the innocent
could be saved from the sight of
them, the trouble would be infinitely
taGe of woe to those who will come
after them, as we'll as an everlasting
grief to the parents who mourn over
such failures-and defects.
I never see a self-willed griffith
ed with vanity and guilty of un-
dutiful conduct to her parents-dis-
regarding counsel and sneering at
what is surely coming to her as the
blossom predicts the fruit that is
sure to follow-on yonder apple
tree.
What a pity it is that such chill
dren had not experienced an untime-
ly birth, and never burdened the
world by their slavery to sin. When
a mother mourns INCREASINGLY for her
dead infants [ say to myself, What
if they were taken from evil to
Gomez"
The poet has written of this:
Sins Slavery
A bitter cup each life must drain;
The grooming earth is cursed with
pain,
And, like the scroll the angel bore
The shuddering Hebrew seer before,
O'erwrit alike without. within,
With all the woes which follow sin :;
But bitterest of the ills beneath
Whose load man totters down to
death.
Is that which pIucks the regal crown
OF freedom from his forehead down,
And snatches from his powerless
hand
The sceptered sign of self-command,
Effacing with the chain and rod
The image and the seal of God;
Till from his nature, day by day,
The many virtues fall away
And leave him naked, blind and mute,
The godlike merging in the brute!
WHITTIER.
There have been many so-called
! great men, but the only truly great
must have been good men. A bad
man cannot be great.
Mans highest estate comes to him
through his own self-respect If he
cannot respect himself he is in bon
| daGe to his sin. 1t is the body of
| death--linked to a human mind. 1t
| goes to bed with him; it wakes with
him. When the world acclaims-
he knows-that he is himself I'M
worthy. The things that would
make him happy are shut off by the
presence of this foul remembrance
this ill-favored companion-that is
linked to him by steel-like chains
that sits behind him at every feast;
that grins at him in the presence of
his innocent offspring, and reminds
him that he is always to remain an
imposter. If this world was the end
of it all, it would pay to shun the
Mans richest reward comes from the
blessing of clean life. The wild
oats" will always bring a harvest Of
'taXes"-not grain. 1t destroys self
respect.
Self-respect is the most valuable
thing within human reach. Wealth
is not sole owner, and poverty is not
"a good name is better than riches"
After a parent has died, he may
leave many thousands to his heirs,
but if his name is tainted it will
stay with his memory, among his
kind, and the poor man who leaves
his own good name and nothing else,
has bequeathed something of far
greater value as rem embrance-
to those who come after.
God made man in His own image,
and babe him keep it in good order.
When a poor human soul defaces the
image and makes it unclean in the
hidden parts, the result is certain.
Poor old David understood, when he
said, Create within me a clean
heart and a right spirit, o, Lord"
Dear Lord, teach us to remember
our days that we may apply our
hearts unto wisdom!