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4 (488) THE
I | Family t
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uua VJJiJJ MISSIONARIES.
Far in that land with blue waves circling round thee,
So far removed from thy dear native land,
Can we forget with love's sweet thoughts to woo thee,
"Set apart" and guarded by Gods almighty hands.
So far away, yet fondly ChriBt remembers
Why the loved home was left for foreign shores.
Blessed, indeed the heart is, whose bright embers
Burn, with pure joy, to enter "open doors."
Dear ones in Christ, we never can forget thee.
While life's swift tide is bearing us away.
Precious to God, angelic hosts shall keep thee
Till earth's dark night breaks forth in heaven's
day.
St. Charles, Mo. Katharine L?. Paxson.
JUST PLAIN STRADDLE.
"What's your hurry, Harry," called out
Tom Turner as Ilarry Rushton was sauntering
leisurely through the lobby of the St.
viuigcuua nutci,
"Oh, I always run a mile after lunch for
my health," repried Harry, dropping lazily
into a big leather-covered arm-chair beside
Tom at the foot of the grand onyx staircase.
"You're a cheerful josher," said Tom, with
the easy familiarity of an old friend. "Have
a torch," proffering a big, fat, black cigar encircled
amidships with a gay red and gold
circingle.
"No, thank you."
"Stick it in your face, man, and enjoy thirty
minutes in Havana."
"My wife won't let me use tobacco ex
cept to kill vermin on her plants. Besides, if
I preferred Havana to the good old U. S. 1
would move there."
"If you knew a good thing when you see it
you wouldn't pass up fragrant incense like
that."
"Smoking is good for hams but I don't belong
in that class."
"No, you're more of a sausage," said Tom,
laughing. "By the way, have you seen Snyder
Hollahart lately? I've been on his trail
oil f lin TV* Awn f*r-i 4- Y\ rvn 4- ~ ? x
u<* tuv mviiiiug ?> ltiiuut all living cl JIUL SCt'Il L
and now I am lying in ambush for him."
"Haven't seen him since he was arrested
for speeding in the park last Saturday. He
looked as proud then as. though he had just
won the sweepstakes," said Harry, laughing.
"Oh, Snyder thinks that he has got to be
fined at least twice a season in order to keep
his club title of 'The Speedy Boy.' He'd be
a good fellow if it wasn't for one fault."
"I wish I didn't have but one fault. Most
any one could be called a good fellow who
didn't have more. What is the solitary blemish
on Snyder's character?
"Oh, I'm not saying that he's a white-robed
saint otherwise," said Tom with a laugh, "but
the particular fault which crabs my lamb-like
disposition is that he won't show his hand.
Iou can't get him to take sides. No one can
find out just where he stands. I've got no
use for a man who won't show his colors. I
like a good fighter, and have plenty of respect
for an enemy, who fights in the open. But
my gorge rises against those smooth policy
gents who have no principles, who are too
timid to take a chance, and who slip in and
grab off the spoils after real men have won
the fight.* Snyder wants to be appointed to
the fat office of oil inspector. As you know,
the 'insurgents' have control of the party orI
A
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PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SO
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headings
ffQmr/o + in*-* ? 3 ^ 1 J ' 1
guiuoatiuu ijj. tins scutiuu, auu we reei mm any
man who asks for favors should stand with us.
But the 'regulars' still dominate the party at
Washington and Snyder would like to be appointed
to the English embassy later on. He
evidently fears that if he is known here as an
'insurgent' he will get in bad with the big
wigs in the senate. But he can't carry water
on both shoulders while I'm on the job. The
chairman of the campaign committee sent me
over to smoke him out, and I'll do it good and
plenty.''
Tom had risen to such a pitch of righteous
indignation over the high duty of smoking
out Snyder Hollahart that he had quite forgotten
to smoke anything else. His glowing
perfeeto had gone out.
After a moment's silence Harry Rushton
said gravely:
"Tom, you're right. I have always liked
your out-and-out manner. The unscrupulous,
who try to play both black and white, and the
cowards, who wobble back and forth across
the line, alike are contemptible. But, say,
Tom, are you sure that you always come out
flat-footed when you face a clearly drawn issue?"
"Any time I don't you may list me with
. scabs and boobs and squaw-men. If there is
anything I hate it is to see a man straddle
a real issue," said the impulsive Tom.
"Then, Tom, why don't you become a Christian
and join the church?" said Harry, looking
him in the eye with kindly directness.
"Oh, I attend church and pay rav little as
sessment without a kick. What more can you
ask?"
"Just as much more as you know the Lord
himself would ask, Tom. I don't need to tell
you that He expects His followers to stand
right up and be counted."
"Well, I guess everybody knows where I
stand all right." There was a shade of resentment
in Tom's voice.
"No, they don't, Tom. When I talked with
the boys in my Sunday-school class about personal
religion, Willie Grimshaw said that Mr.
Turner isn't a member of the church and if he
could grow up to bo as good a man as you he
would be satisfied. The example of a drunken
bum wouldn't hurt Willie, for he would
recoil from it. But your attitude and example
are doing that boy incalculable harm."
"Do you mean to tell me that I am doing
more harm thnn o flKunb-n" Kn*v? >> ?m
Uiuunw UUIU I 8U1U -I UII1
with rising anger.
"I didn't say that at all, my dear fellow.
You do much good in many ways. But the
very fact that you are clean and moral puts
you in a position to do a certain kind of harm
that bad men couldn't do. Don't you see,
Tom, how unreasonable a half-way position
like yours it?"
"I'm listening," said Tom, chewing the
stump of his dead cigar and staring straight
ahead.
"When a man doesn't believe in God, heaven
or hell, and says that a man dies like a dog
it is not strange that he flips religion overboard.
There is at least a kind of consistency
in Vlis nttitndo U?i4- *?.V. L -1!
? ? ?...,uuv. i^ui, micu u man ueueves in
a God who sent ns into thk world and to
whom we must all report, his belief puts him
under bonds to make God's Word the law of
his life. The old motto, 'Get Right With God,' i
sums up the most important business that any
UTH [ May 1, 1912
man has in this world. To admit man's divine
pedigree and immortal future and to fail to
make an honest effort to live up to the highest
dictates of conscience is the greatest inconsistency
in all the list of human follies. Between
the man who repudiates the Gospel entirely
and the man who accepts it with the whole
heart there is no logical standing ground.
Why, Tom, can't you see that a half-way position
is just a plain case of straddle?"
"Maybe you don't know it, but I pray every
night of my life," said Tom with the air of
one on the defensive.
"Well, Tom, the good Lord was very gentle
with Nicodemus, who timidly came to Him
by night, and with Peter, who followed Him
afar off, but you are the last man to show such
weakness or follow such examples. The Lord
wants you to confess Him before men right
now. He wants not only your prayers but
your public devotion, not whispered requests
only, but whole-hearted service. Doesn't God
aeserve tne same out-and-out allegiance that
you give to your political party? Come, Tom,
give me your hand on the proposition that nobody
will ever again have reason to doubt
your loyalty to the Almighty."
The cigar dropped from forgetful fingers
to the mosaic floor. A new light shone in Tom
Turner's eyes and he grasped the hand of his
friend in a resolute grip and said:
"llarry, I've been a contemptible coward.
I've been side-stepping a plain duty all these
years and have tried to make myself believe
that a lot of fool excuses were real reasons.
Here's where I quit trying to straddle life's
greatest question. Your Sunday-school class
will never again have any doubt about where
Tom Turner stands."
Their conversation which had heenin in un
dertones had risen in pitch until men from
all over the lobby were glancing in their direction.
But Tom didn't care. He even fotgot
his high resolve to smoke out Snyder Hollahart
and started for home to tell his wife
something that he knew would make her very
happy.?"The Advance."
THE COW-BOY'S IDEA.
Men have different ideas of religion. With
some it is mainly feeling, with others it is
largely form; with some it is mostly faith, with
others it is generally talk!
A converted cow-boy gives this as his idea
of what religion is: "Lots of folks that would
really like to do ricrht think that. Rarvin' tha
Lord means shouten' themselves hoarse, praisin'
his name. Now I'll tell you how I look
at that. I'm working for Jim here. Now, if
I'd sit around the house here tellin' what a
good fellow Jim is, and singin' songs to him
an' gettin' up in the night to serenade him, I'd
be doin' just like what lots of Christians do,
but I wouldn't suit Jim, and I'd get fired
mighty quick. But when I buckle on my straps
and hustle among the hills and see that Jim's
herd is all right, an' not sufferin' for water
and feed, or bein' off the range and branded
by cow thieves, then I'm serving Jim as he
wants to be served."
This was the converted cow-boy's idea. Does
it not sound a little like the voice of him, who,
when his disciple said, "Lord, thou knowest
all things, thou knowest that I love thee" only
answered, ^'Tend my sheep; tend my lambs?"
?Ex.
"All the powers of evil seek to hinder us in
prayer. Prayer is a conflict with opposing
forces. It-needs the whole heart and all our
strength. May God give us grace to strive in
prayer till we prevail."
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