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PINEY WOODS SKETCHES
How “Johnny” Got Some Blankets
The following incident was recently
related by a Federal:
“Once we were camped in the moun
tains of East Tennessee. I didn’t
know it could be so cold down South
till I tried it for myself. One bitter
night I was on picket duty away off
from camp, down in the edge of some
woods and close beside a little creek.
1 was tramping along through the
snow, kicking my feet and beating my
hands together trying to keep warm,
when I heard a voice somewhere off
on the other side of the creek calling
softly: ‘Yank! Yank!’
“I knew the enemy was in camp not
far away, so I raised my gun in an
instant; but the voice called again,
‘Don’t shoot, Yank! I‘m all alone, and
don’t mean any harm.’
“Who are you, then, and what do
you want?’ I asked as quietly as I
could.
“ ‘l’m a Johnny,’ said the voice
again, ‘and I want to see if you can’t
spare me a blanket.’
‘‘ ‘You are crazy,’ said I. ‘l’d be
shot if they caught me giving you a
blanket.’
“ ‘There’s no need for you to get
shot,’ said Johnny, ‘and I’m about to
freeze, picketing out here in the snow.
My uniform’s nothing but rags, and 1
haven’t got any overcoat or blanket or
anything. Blankets are scarce over
in our camp, and it’s awful cold,
Yank.’
“He said it solemnly in that soft
voice of his (the Southerners have a
soft, easy way of talking), and —well,
the upshot of it was ttat I promised
him I would bring a blanket with me
when I came back tne next night and
leave it to him to get it. Next night
when I went to saddle up (our picket
line was so far from camp that we had
to ride) I got half a dozen blankets
out of the commissary and put them
under my saddle, and was just about
to get away with them when the ser
geant spied me. ‘Hello, there!’ said
he. ‘What you going to do with all
those blankets?’
“My heart was in my mouth, but I
knew he couldn’t see how many I
really did have, and so I answered
back cool enough, ‘You don’t suppose
it’s warm out there picketing a night
THE FINDING OF THE BOOK OF
THE LAW.
July 30, 1911.
Time, 621 B. C.
Place, Jerusalem.
2 Chron. 34-14 to 33.
GOLDEN TEXT —“Thy word have I
hid in my heart that I might not sin
against thee.”— Psalm 119-11.
SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS.
What should I do?
I. —Memorize Scripture. The Gold
en Text. The best of all treasures is
the word of God and the best place
to store it away is in the heart. The
man that does this will be saved from
sin against God. He will be made
wiser than all that seek to harm him.
(Psalm 119-11 and 98.) He will have
a light that will lighten his whole
pathway through life and a lamp to
jnake clear each. step in the pathway
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
By B. LACY HOGE. Charleston, S. C.
By MARGARET BEVERLY UPSHAW
like this, do you?’ And with that he
turned away. I tell you I was glad to
see his back!
“Well, I got safe out to the woods
with my blankets, and pretty soon I
heard the same voice calling again:
‘Yank, Yank, have you got that blan
ket?’
“‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I have six of them,
and I came near getting caught, too.’
“‘Glory!’ said Johnny. ‘Glory! Now
you just slip down to the creek and
unfold them a little and drop them in
one at a time, and I’ll do the rest.’
‘‘l did just as he told me (I didn’t
have to get off my beat to do it), and
he went a little way down the creek
and fished the blankets out as the
current brought them along. When
he’d got the last one out, he fell down
on his knees (I could see him in the
: m moonlight), and I never heard
anybody pray such a prayer as that
"'tithern soldier prayed for me, kneel
’-Tlg there in the snow in his ragged
old uniform. I took off my hat and
stood still till he was through, and
then he faded away in the darkness.”
(Let us quit talking about “time
healing the wounds” or the bitter spir
it of true soldiers. The foregoing illus
trates the kindly regard that existed
while the soldiers on both sides were
suffering each for his principles.
¥
A CAREFUL MAN.
The passengers in an accommoda
tion train which was winding its way
through New Hampshire were inter
ested and amused by an elderly couple
who sat in the middle of the car, says
The Youth’s Companion.
They talked as if there was no one
else in the car. Therefore, having
heard most of their private plans, no
one was surprised to have the old
man take the assembled company into
his confidence. At one station he rose
and addressed the passengers in gen
eral.
“Can anybody change a $5 bill for
two twos and a one or five ones?” he
inquired.
“I can,” said a brisk woman, and
the transfer was quickly made.
“Now, could anybody change this $1
of life. (Psalm 119-105.) If we wish
to memorize God’s word for His glory,
the Holy Spirit will enable us to eas
ily commit the Scriptures to memory,
(John 14-26.)
II. —Preach and Teach God’s Word.
(Vs. 14 to 21.) The message of God’s
word is often lost. The lost word
was found by Hilkiah in the temple
where it had been for many years,
and its message unknown. During
the “Dark Ages” of the Church the
Bible was hid and its message un
known by the people. Luther found a
Bible in the monastery where its
teachings were ignored by a corrupt
church. The word of the Lord is still
often lost by individuals and church
es. To some it is hidden away under
a mass of traditions and what is done
in the name of the Lord is a clear vio
lation of the teachings of His book,
and yet they claim to believe and
practice its precepts. io others the
word of God is bidden by a theology
The Golden Age for July 20, 1911.
bill for four quarters or tens and
fives?” asked the old man.
“I can give you two fifties,” said a
man from the rear seat, “unless some
body else can do better.”
It appeared that nobody else could,
or, at least, nobody offered, so, as the
train started, the old man lurched
down the car to the passenger of the
two 50-cent pieces.
“Thank you,” he said, as he took
the money. “I’m obliged to you,
though I’d have liked the quarters
best. You see, Martha has set her
mind to step off at Nashuy whilst I go
on up to my brother’s with the eggs
and truck. And, though she don’t
plan nor mean to be a spendthrift
woman, when she’s let loose amongst
a lot of stores she’ll run through 50
cents in an hour easy, and I kind of
have to put a curb on her.”
¥
“HOGS DON’T PAY."
Here is a funny little squib that will
do to pass along:
An lowa editor was asked the ques
tion, ‘‘Do hogs pay?” He replied, “A
good many do not; they take the pa
per several years and then have the
postmaster send it back marked ‘re
fused’ or ‘gone west.' ”
Alas! Alas! that so many folks who
call themselves honest about every
thing else —even paying their grocery
bill, will feed their minds and the
minds of their families on the intel
lectual output of a hard-working edi
• tor and then suddenly decide to let
the postmaster write “refused” across
a little blue card and send it to the
editor for his pay! To say the least,
that man is not “doing as he would be
done by”
THE POWER OF INGENUITY.
“The late Colonel Albert A. Pope,”
said an automobile dealer of Chicago,
according to The Chicago Tribune,
“once told me that ingenuity was
worth more in business than hard
work. This great man, to whom our
bicycle and automobile and good road
movements all owe so much, attrib
uted to ingenuity his rise from a $4-a
week clerkship to opulence and dis
tinction.
“ ‘Use ingenuity,’ he once said to
ical system claimed to be based upon
the teaching of the Bible, while they
teach things in conflict with the word
of God, or question the accuracy of
the Bible. The Bible is lost to a great
many because of disobedience to its
teaching, and to many more because
they fail to obey the command to
“Search the Scriptures.” In view of
these conditions, let us follow the ex
ample of Shaphan (V. 18) and Josiah
and make known God’s word to the
people. The great need of the hour ’s
to make Known to men the teaching of
God’s word freed from tradition, false
theology and higher criticism. The
study of God’s word will always have
great effect upon religion and morals.
All religious reformations are brought
about by the preaching and study of
God’s word. In the study of God’s
word let us not forget to consult the
Great Teacher sent trom God. The
Holy Spirit will guide us into all
truth. He will taKe the word of Jesus
me in a crisis. ‘Conquer this difficul
ty. We can conquer anything if we
are ingenious enough.’
“Then he told me a war story—he
served gallantly, you know, in the
Civil War.
“There was a group of officers
quartered in a Tennessee village.
They got on well, but ultimately they
were joined by a cantankerous cap
tain, who complained about the South
ern cooking.
“ ‘Everything is sugared,’ the cap
tain growled. ‘l’ll have to take to
boiled eggs.’
“And he did so. He ate boiled eggs
only.
“ ‘They can’t sugar these,’ he said,
in grim triumph.
“But his triumph wasn’t lasting. An
ingenious lieutenant one morning
came down before the captain, emp
tied the salt from all the cruets, and
filled them up with sugar.
“A little later the captain appeared.
He opened two eggs into a cup,
sprinkled plenty of salt over them,
and, with a look of gloomy "compla
cency, lifted a white and yellow
spoonful to his mouth.
“Immediately he made a terrible
spluttering.
“‘Sugared!’ he shouted, and rushed
from the room in an uncontrollable
rage.”
IN SMALL DOSES.
A patient in a local hospital, who,
after a long siege of typhoid fever,
was permitted to eat a mere spoonful
of tapioca. When the nurse had re
fused the hungry patient more food
he turned to her and said with a
peevish gesture:
“Now, I want to read a little. Bring
me a postage stamp.”
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and shew us its true meaning. (John
16-13 'and 14.) He is the best inter
preter of Scripture and the one infal
lible guide in its application.
ill. —Do God’s Will. (Vs. 29 to 33.)
So soon as Josiah learned God’s will
as revealed in His word, he at once
undertook with all his heart to do
God’s will. He began with the lead
ers and continued until “all the people,
great and small,” had heard “the
words of the book of the covenant
that was found in the house of the
Lord.” (V. 30.) The king then made
a covenant, Ist, “To walk after the
Lord” (V. 31, Gal. 5-16); 2d, “To keep
his commandments and his testimo
nies and his statutes, with all his
heart.” (V. 31.)
3d. “To perform the words of the
covenant which are written in this
book.” (v. 31.) They had the right
kind of a revival, one that caused
them to put away sin and to serve
God.
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