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MEMORIES AND LESSONS OF LIFE
b. 6—A Big Wedding Fee.
HERE is no profession in life that
does not, sometimes, show a fun
ny side. It is well that this is so.
Tears are sometimes a blessing;
but if life were all tears and no
laughter, it would be, like the
earth with all clouds and no sun
shine, a gloomy world to live in.
The ministerial nrofession is no
T
exception to this rule; as witness the fact
that in one of my father’s services, during
ov.e of the most touching passages in the ser
mon, a man went to wipe his tears, when it
was discovered that he had made a mistake
in getting his handkerchief, and was wip
ing away his fast-falling tears with his little
baby’s shirt. On another occasion, when a
great big Newfoundland dog jumped over the
gallery rail, to go to his master whom he
saw seated below. Os course, there was a
slight “disturbance in the congregation,” in
both instances.
But it is about neither Newfoundland dogs
nor baby shirts that I am going to write this
time; but to tell The Golden Age readers how
Jerry Walker paid for getting married. It
occurred when I was about twelve years old,
and I remember it very distinctly.
Jerry was a Canadian backwoods country
boy who had developed into a sober, hard
working and thoroughly moral, honest and
upright man. At thirty-five years of age,
he found himself the happy owner of a new
one hundred-acre farm with thirty-five or
forty acres cleared, a good log house and
barn, a nice flock of sheep, some cows, a good
yoke of oxen, and farming tools, in fact, ev
erything necessary to make a good living, but
no wife to share it with him. Jerry conclud
ed that a wife was his next greatest neces
sity, and he set about supplying the want.
GOOD FOR BROTHER PATTON
For sometime I have known Brother W.
H. Patton to be an ardent advocate of the
temperance movement, but his letter in The
Golden Age of last week convinced me, that
he has given the subject a thorough study
and speaks from that standpoint. Yet there
are some things he does not mention of
which I am sure he was aware but left off for
want of space.
I agree most heartily with all he says on
the subject. The people are behind the whis
ky movement in Alabama, and they are to a
great extent responsible for the state of af
fairs there. But did they do it knowingly?
I think not. Many, of course, did, but the
great majority of them were led blindly into
placing the men in the legislature that they
sent there. There is more than one man in
the Alabama Legislature who during his
campaign led the poor, unsuspecting people
into the belief that they were prohibitionists
and as soon as they met in Montgomery
threw off the sheep’s clothing that they had
worn and proved to be veritable wolves to
bite and devour the people who had elected
them. Governor O’Neal himself is not en
tirely free from this sin, for he promised not
to tantalize the liquor laws further than he
was forced to do so, and in his first message
practically recommended the repeal of the
prohibition laws.
Take F. S. Moody, of the Sixth district. He
introduced the dispensary law in Alabama
some years ago which proved to be obnoxious
to the majority of the people and as soon as
they had a chance voted the thing out of ex
istence, and being unwilling to see his pro
ject fall through, agitates the same measure
As he stated the case to father: “I have got
the cage, elder; now the next thing is to
get the bird.”
Over in the next township, beyond where
we lived, Jerry made the acquaintance of a
well-to-do farmer’s daughter, which, on Jer
ry’s part, finally ripened into love; and, as
young men sometimes do, in like circumstan
ces, he proposed and was accepted; or, as
Jerry told father, “They talked it all over and
she agreed.”
In those days, in Canada, there was no
such thing as getting a “license to marry”—
it had to be done by the slow, tedious process
of “publishing the laws”—as giving notice
of their intention to marry, to the public con
gregation three separate Sundays.
This was all arranged for with father, and
also, that they were to come to our house and
be married, and, after dinner, I was to take
them to Jerry’s home with our horses and
new democrat wagon, which, you see, made
me one of the interested parties.
The wedding day arrived and Jerry came
and got the horses and wagon to go after his
intended bride. He went, but came back with
out her. When asked how it was, “She won’t
have me,” Elder; “she won’t have me at all;
she says she’s not going into that new settle
ment, to live in a log house, and milk cows,
etc., etc. I may add that she married a “town
chap” after that, and lived in town, and took
in sewing to support him; while Jerry’s wife
rode in a beautiful carriage, drawn by a fine
pair of horses.
However, in due time the wound in Jerry’s
heart healed, and he resolved on a second
matrimonial venture. This time he was more
successful. The young woman, as Jerry aft
erward expressed it. “Not only promised,
but stuck to it.” A second time the “laws
of marriage” was published, and again moth-
again in the face of the fact that he knew,
and still knows that such a move is objec
tionable to people who elected him to office.
Os course, the howl is raised that they are
doing all this for the “dear people,” when
they have no such desire in their hearts. Let
me tell you what has been the great enemy
of prohibition. It is the influence of the sa
loon, the . more than $300,000 they spent in
the campaign against the amendment and
the enormous amount they continue to spend.
Coupled with this is the fallacious, and mag
nified misrepresentations through the press
of the State that have a whiskey backing.
The present disgrace that hovers over Ala
bama should be a lesson to other states that
are subject to the same misfortune that Ala
bama is now suffering from. Hereafter let
no Christian man think of casting his vote
for any man unless he is known to be a pro
hibitionist before he announces for office.
Bather would I not vote at all than take any
chances on such questions. The time has come
when the power of money has such force with
men especially when seen through the glass
that we dare not take any chances.
W. E. FENDLEY.
Meridian, Miss.
ROSES! ROSES!!
Do you love roses? Read our mag
nificent offer on page 11. Just the
season to transplant. Order today.
THE GOLDEN AGE-
814 Austell Building. Atlanta, Ga.
The Golden Age for May 11,1911.
By H. P. FITCH.
er prepared a wedding dinner.
They came and were married, to the de
light of all parties, especially to the boy who
was to drive them home.
Meantime father had begun to build a 30x
40 foot barn, and before leaving for home
Jerry came and asked father if he could not
take shingles for the marriage fee, saying
that he had no money, but had been making
shingles nights and rainy days all winter,
and had a lot on hand.
The reader must understand that there
were no “shingle mills” in those days, and
they were made by first cutting the “shingle
bolt,” then “riving” them out with a “fro,”
and shaving them smoothe with a drawing
knife. “Certainly, Jerry,” said father; “shin
gles will be just as good to me as money, as
I will need them for my barn.”
Two or three weeks passed, when one day
Jerry was seen driving in with two yoke of
oxen hitched to a big wagon, with a large
hay-rack on it, and that piled just as full of
shingles as it could be; enough to cover the
whole barn.
Dinner over and the shingles unloaded, fa
ther said :“Now, Jerry, how much do I owe
you on these shingles, over and above the
wedding fee?”
“Not a penny,” Elder, “not a penny. Jerry
replied: “I want you to have them all.”
“Why, Jerry, you do not mean to say you
are going to give me all these shingles for
simply marrying you.”
“Yes, I do, Elder; I mean to give you every
blamed bunch of ’em, and if there ain’t
enough I will bring you more. It is the best
bargain I ever made in my life.”
Any moral to this story? You say, Cer
tainly! certainly!. It is, young man, “Go
thou and do likewise.” If you haven’t got
the money we will take the shingles.”
BABY’S HEAVEN.
Alice Walker Jenison.
I hold in my arms a treasure rare,
Sent by the Father above;
My sweet little daughter, wee Dorothy Claire,
A little bundle of love.
And as she cuddles confidingly here,
And in my warm lap lies,
She looks above her, with never a fear,
To her Heaven, in Mother’s eyes.
“They shall be led by a little child,
With a faith as simple and sweet”;
Were the words of our Master, in accents
mild,
When the little ones met at His feet.
And so I am taught, by my baby dear,
To lift my prayers above,
With a faith unclouded, a trust sincere,
To my Father, whose name is love.
As a babe, I am all of God she can know,
And her only Heaven, my eyes.
How dreadful my guilt, if my life fails to
show
The Christ-love that flows from the skies.
Oh, God! Give me strength and wisdom di
vine,
That no clouds may ever arise
To hide from my darling the tender love
shine
From her Heaven, in Mother’s eyes.
e
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