Newspaper Page Text
Y ou don't pay for
the name when
you buy an
ISTEYb
Y et the name of Estey is the
best guarantee you can have
that every dollar you spend
will be returned to you in full
musical value. Write us freely.
I ESTEY ORGAN COMPANY
Brattleboro Vermont
me. I took the little boy by the
hand and went down to Shelbyville,
and, walking the streets of the strange
little city and inquiring after my hus
band, I was told I would find him in
Judge Sparks' court-room. There, in
side the bar, sat my husband, beside
an officer. 1 saw and heard the prose
cuting attorney stand and read to him
an indictment charging him with the
crime of highway robbery, and I heard
the court say to the prisoner: Stand
up and answer. You have heard this
indictment read; are you guilty or not
guilty? How do you plead?' And
then I saw my husband stand and
heard him confess, with trembling
lips and ohoking voice, his guilt of
the great crime. Then I intervened;
I told the Judge the story of our lives,
and 1 asked him, for the love of the
little boy, to give my husband back to
me. And through his tears the judge
said: 'Madam, I would to God I
could, and if I could I would, but un
der the law of Indiana I have no
choice. I am without discretion. He
is charged with a crime; he confesses
his guilt; I have no choice but to
pronounce the judgment of the law= ?
five to twenty-one years in the State
Reformatory.' And then they took
him away, and I took the little boy
by the hand and we came back to
this city, back to our desolate home;
and standing there that night in the
darkness, amid the ruins of my home,
my heart grew big with hate to God.
I hated the State; I hated the law;
I hated the court that had pronounced
its judgment; I all but hated my hus
band till I remembered that it was
the drink, and not him, and then I
said: 'God help me' ? I was about to
do the wrong; I was about to betray
the vow I had made him, 'for better or
for worse, till death do us part' ? 'God
helping me, 1 will keep the vow; I will
keep my home and I will keep the lit
tle boy until Will comes back, and
when he comes he will find us yet.'
And, Governor, for five long, dreary
winter months I have kept that
pledge; I have washed and ironed
and scrubbed and did everything that
an honest woman could do. Look at
the evidences of toil upon my hand.
And I ask no man for help, and I
would not ask you now, but there is
to be a new baby in a few days, and I
have got to go to the hospital, and
my little boy to the orphans' home,
unless you give me back my husband."
And then she threw herself upon
her knees and laid her head upon the
Governor's desk, and cried as If her
heart would break. And then the
little boy, scarcely three years old,
slipped from the high chair from
?which his feet had dangled, came over
to me, and with the artlessness of a
baby put his little hand tremblingly
on my hand, and looked up into my
face through streaming eyes, and
cried, In childish treble:
"Mister, I want my papa! Why
don't you give me back my papa?
I want my papa!"
Men, I looked down into his tear
dimmed face and caught a vision of
my own little fellow, his age, that I
had loved and lost a while, and the
tugging at the heartstrings of the
tether became too much tor the Gov
ernor of Indiana; and, stooping down
and taking him in my arms, I pressed
him to my breast, and Baid to him:
"God bless you, little man! You have
won; you have won. I will give you
back your father!"
The mother sprang to her feet and
said:
"Governor, did I hear you right?
Are you going to give him back to
us?"
And I said, "Yes." And, ringing
for my secretary, I said: "Wire Su
perintendent Whittaker, of the State
Reformatory, to start Will Wolsifer
at noon tomorrow. Tell him that I
am paroling him upon his good ba
havior." And then, turning to the
woman, I said:
"1 want you to go meet him. He
will arrive at the Union Station at 7
o'clock tomorrow evening. Go, get
him and bring him here. I want a
word with him in your presence."
Then, with consideration for me,
she said:
"Governor, why 7 o'clock? That
will be after office hours, and the train
may be late."
I said: "No matter. The Governor
will have no other as big business to
morrow evening as yours, and he will
be here."
Next evening, when all had gone
from the great office, I sat in the still
ness as the shadows lengthened and
the twilight deepened to night. Fin
ally through the gloaming there came
tnis woman, the man ,and the little
boy, and as they approached my desk
I stood up, took the man by the hand
and looked him in the eyes, and said
to him.
"Will Wolsifer, you have sinned
against the State that was good to
you; you have pulled down the pil
lars of your own house on your own
flesh and blood; you have betrayed
the promise you made at the marriage
altar to this good woman in the sight
of man and God, and you have for
gotten the obligation you owe to the
child you begot. Wolsifer, you are a
bad man. And yet I am going to give
you a chance to earn your freedom.
I am going to parole you on your
good behavior; not for you, no, but
for the sake of this little boy that
won my heart yesterday; for the sake
of this good woman; and in memory
of my own dear dead, I am going to
give you a chance. Here is a letter.
Take it to the man to whom it is
addressed. We have seen him. He
will give you employment, at good
wage. Come back here once a montl^
and bring your wife and child with
you; for, Wolsifer, I must know that
you keep the faith; and if you betray
me I will send you back to prison for
the limit of your term, twenty-one
years. You may go."
And I watched them as they went
out in the darkness.
But the next month they came
back again, only there were four this
time ? the father, the mother, the lit-"
tie boy, and the new baby. And they
came once a month for eighteen
months. And then, one Christmas
Eve, I sat again in the big office as
the shadows lengthened and the twi
light deepened, but I did not sit alone
this time. This man, woman and lit
tle boy, and new baby were with me.
And again I stood up and took the
man by the hand and looked him in
the eyes, and said to him:
"Will, God bless you. You are a
man again; you have kept the faith;
you have filled the bond, and on this
glad day, so fragrant with the mem
ory of him who died to atone for hu
man sin, I am going to give you a
Christmas gift worth while ? your
unconditional pardon! Here it 1b.
Take it and sin no more!"
Men and women, do yon know what
1 was trying to do on that Christmas
Eve? I was trying as best I knew
to undo the work of the American
saloon! I was trying to rebuild a
wrecked home! I was trying to re
store the broken factors of that unit
of American society, the home ? father
and wife and child. I was trying to
give back to childhood its heritage.
And after they had gone out into the
crisp Christmas air, I sat alone in the
great office and held communion with
myself, and said: "Hanly, here is a
man's job. Have you the grace and
courage to puTt upon its altar your
ambition, your desire for public ap
proval? Are you willing to go out
across the continent and strike the
thing that did this cruel wrong?"
For years I have answered that call
as best. 1 could. And hear me, friends,
the fighting has been almighty good.
It never was better than it is now;
and if we win ? and we will win in
the. providence of God ? there must
come into the hearts of Christian men
and women more of forbearance, more
of unity of purpose, more of desire
to touch elbows and fight under a
common banner. We must cease to
sin with the ballot our fathers gave
us. Vote for no man unless he stands
publicly pledged in enmity to this
traffic, and vote for the man that does
stand so pledged. A little of that kind
of fighting, instead of wrangling
among ourselves, will command re
spect, and in the fulness of God's own
time this accursed traffic will be able
to find no safe habitation anywhere
beneath Old Glory's stainless flag. ?
The Expositor.
I Miscellaneous |
IMMEDIATE PROBLEMS OP THE
AMERICAN CHURCH.
A Sermon Preached by Rev. James
Gordon Gilkey in the Bryn Mawr
Presbyterian Church, Penn.
Most sermons today deal with some
one problem of Christian life. They
take up conscience, or prayer, or dis
cuss some one branch of Christian
service. While these sermons have
many advantages, they have at least
one great defect. In presenting these
single truths and single problems
they lose sight of the great issues of
Christianity as a whole. This morn
ing I should like to turn to these
wider aspects of our faith and con
sider the exact status of the Church
in America. Viewed in the large, is
Christianity gaining ground in the
United States or not? What are the
great issues the Church of our day
is facing?
Victory of Christian Principles.
When we compare the America of
today with the America of a century
ago, there is unmistakable evidence
of a slow but sure victory of Chris
tian principles. Take such a matter
as drunkenness. The conditions
prevalent at the time of the Revolu
tion seem to us almost unbelievable.
Colonel Thomas Hartley, one of Wash
ington's commanders, who was sta
tioned in the Alleghanles to protect
the frontier against the Indians, re
ported at one time "that his command
was in bad shape because its whiskey
and flour were nearly exhausted." At
that time whiskey was ranked with
flour in the list of military supplies.
These conditions were not confined to
the army. In 1790, William Ellis, a
pioneer settler in Pennsylvania, wrote
to a friend of his: "We have just
done cutting the grain, and have haul
ed all our wheat in. This year we cut
the harvest without spirits, and with
out raising wages." Whiskey was
Euch an important part of the harvest
ing apparatus that this settler reports
with surprise a year when men work
ed without it- Turning from these
conditions to those of our own time,
we find that 24 of our 48 States
have adopted State prohibition, and
that in 85 per cent of the territory
of the United States it is impossible
to obtain liquor legally.
This gradual victory of Christian
principles has extended to other fields
as well. One who reads the private
correspondence of a century ago finds
that standards of private morality
were prevalent then that would not
be tolerated among respectable people
today. And there has been another
Doe* your church use this cleanly method? Our
noiseless, dust-proof, self-collecting: tray* uve K
cost other services. Shallow glass? no tipping of
head. Get our catalog and Spoeial Introductory
Offer. State number of communicants.
Thomas Communion Sfvtcs Co, Box 305 Uma. Ohto
GJjurrijfunuture
WOBK OFTHE HIGHEST QUALITY
? - AT BEASONABLE PRICES* ?
Southern Seating
^>CabinetCompany
JACKSON. TENNESSEE.
Ten Million Frost-proof Cabbage Plants
at $1.00 per Thousand
That we may make room for other crops we are offering thee* plants at ths low prise*
named. They are grown from the best seeds and are strong and healthy. 10,001 ?
or more at 90c per thousand. BEET, LETTUCCE, BERMUDA ONION PLANT*
at $1.50 per thousand. Strawberry Plants at $3.(X) per thousand. Sweet Potato
Plants ready April 1st. Ask for prices.
The Marble City Plant Company
BOX P, SYLACAUGA, ALABAMA
RICHMOND PRESS
INCORPORATED
PRINTING & PUBLISHING
BOOK, JOB AND COMMERCIAL PRINTING
Minutes , Catalogues , Stationery , titc.
OOTZRNOR AND BOSS STRUTS, BICMMOMD, ?A