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*e8S.*@*@ee + THE UNDOING " * By Mrs. Et It was Christmas night-the night for regular prayer meeting services in the little Baptist church in a cer tain cotton mill --illage in South Ca olina. Just a iew yards away was a handsome school building with a large hall upstairs, which was used for various purposes. On this par tieular night the Devil had it rented and had made greait preparations for a fashionable dance. For a long time he had been plot ting and planning how he might best manage the little band of worshipe-s who so faithfully attended the littFe church every Wednesday night. He had been trying with all his might to disband them, but while there were some whom he could approach with impunity, there were a few-two or three good sisters, two or three brethren 'and especially one old gray haired deacon, whom the Devil was actually afraid to tackle. - This old dsa,on was one of .th"r Devil's most powerful enemies. For years and years he had been night watehman for the mill and seldom missed a church service. Many of the church memibers could be tempt ed to stay at home, and were often absent from serviceas, offering the flimsiest kind of excuses. But this old man who had more reasonabl. excuses, offered none, and nearly al ways and qt his own expense hired some one to take his plae3 an hour or two, whenever the Baptist church bell rang for services. To-night the Devil had prepared for a great display of his power. He had 'ex-ted all his energies to make the dance a great suecess, his one chief ambition being to so disturb the church services that any thing like worship would simply be impos sible, He had been all over the village wirth invitations to the dance; some were a little (ba&ward at first aibout accepting, but having left his hoofs, horns and tail a~t home and being in the guise of a handsome young man, ithe D)evil soon persuaded them th'at a little recreation was aIbsoluteLly nec essary to their well b.eing; that if they persisted in dragging out such a dull slow, dead existenee-all work and no play-that they would soon be physical wrecks and fill premature graves. "To live long, one must en joy living,'' he argued. ,In this w&y ibers of t)he dlif 'farent churches were canight lika flies .in a spider's web, and persuaded to sanction the dance by their presience, while tihe Devil laughed triumph,ant ly. Ah ! woudn't he show thase canting Christians 'who had most pow er on' earth, light or darkness? Wouldn'-t he eloth'e the ehurches in sack cloth and ashes and make that saintly parson across the street hang his head in shame? Ha! ha.! Would n 't it be nice if a prayer should hap pen to bhe offered by that stubbor old dieacon, to drown his voiee in the noise of fiddling and dancing and thre calls for eotillion! But-. In his great amibition to make the dane a crowm1ng success and to make himself recognized as the greatest .power on earth, the Devil made the very common mista.ka of over reaching himself. He had dis-. tributed lots of medicine that was labeled "O-:be-joyful,'' a well-known, trie'd and true remedy, recommended for fain!t heants and pricking consei 'enees; in his haste he failed to give proper directions for use, with the result that the 'fddlers took an over dose and instead of playing the part assigned them, were quietly sleeping at home; while the Devil in his rage and disa.ppointm'ent used some vaery indiscreet language. Many left the hall thoroughly disgusted and went back home. or to church, thankful for a narrow esc.apa; while some stav'ed con, not caring to do ?ither. Recognizing his defeat, the Devil decided to at-tend prayer meeting himself. It might ha that he could find somnething to do threre, and he was anxious to know what would be said about him. any way'. So he started to the church soliloquizing: "If it had all turned out as I had planned; if those fool fiddlers had not gone beyond the bounds of reas on and decency; if I only could have sueceeded in interesting more of the leading church members-the kind that go deep down in their pockets for the, ehurches' 'benefit--the publie would not have denounced mre so em rnhatically.' You see that the Devil Si,eceZ hke some soft fairy veil Covers thre deeds of mnen. It mae te ugliest wrong look well 6 LW THE DFYIL. I iel Thomas. 4 The dark seem fair again." Entering the church and slipping into a seat near the door so that hE .could get out easily if the atmos phere happened to be toc spirituall warm for comfort, the Devil was dis agreeably surprised to -find a l.argei congregation than usual. But out side a crowd of youngsters wer< keeping up a most terrible racke with baby-wa'kers, cannon-eracker. pop-sticks and so on, and he smiled triumphantly as he listened. Surel3 such a disturbance would distraci and confuse this preacher and peo. ple, and put them to flight. He wa: decidedly uncomfortable as the peo pie sang: "There were ninety and nine tha' safely lay In the shelter of the fold, But one was out on the hills away Far off from the gates of gold-'" A tramp was passing and pause to listen. "God!" he exclaimed "that's me ! That was mother's fa vorite song, too," and strangely af feeted he peeped in at a window seeing some vacant seats near the door he pulled off his dirty cap ani softly walked in, taking a seat 'di rectly in front of the Devil. Another song was sung: "Glor3 to God in the Highest, On Eartl Peace and Good will to Men," whicl made tire Devil restless. The trami listened with throbbing heart, won dering what was the matter witl him, and why he had come into thi: house of worship. No one earei whether he went 'to heaven or hell no one ever had eared except a lit. tle woman in a far off State who be lieved him dead-his' mother. Wh3 had he left her he wondu,;ed. To look at him now, his face veritable signboard proclaiming hi dissipation, his eyes bleared and rest less, his clothes ragged and filthy, i: was hard to realize that hie was onca an innocent baibe, held in the arms o: a loving 'Christian mother and per haps cradled -in the lap of luxury Just another prodig'al! What hat caused him to roamrii Had he travelei so' far and at such 'break-neck speei down the hill toward destruction that now it was impossilble t< 'throw on the brakes '' Who b-e sides himself was to iblame?7 Who wa1 his mother? Where was his hoie' Could it be that he had once beer a shining light in some chureh an( in the -exu.b'erance of youthful spirits coniitted some act of indiscretion and had lying and tattling tongue! magnified the fault to an unpardon able sin? Had he been thrust ou from a fold that should have hedge( him in with brot.herly love and wrapped hin) in a manitle of charit: -had his name been voted from th4 church roll. .had he 'been stoned b: others more guilty? If so. God pit: him! But of one thing only c'ould wi be as.sured'-,hre had once been somi mother's darling-now he was on th' road to destruction. Guilty of man: dark and loathsome deeds perhaps beek with sin, an outcast or an out law: yet. Christ died for such as h and we so often forget it and ''pas by on the other side.'' instead o 'trying to help them to a better an hiher life. The Devil was a little uneasy ove 'the tramp's attitude and leaning ove he whispered in his ear: ''"Ain't this a sanetified lookini show? 'They come here every Wed nesdy night and rais-e cain. Tha pious looking wvoman over there o1 'the front sea>t, is t;he biggest tattle in town. She's done some wond'erfu things in the way of raising disturb 'anes, and teading down character You just ought to hear her religiou experience and her high-flown senti ments concerning 'sanctification,' which she claims. Her life is suel 'that to have her get up and 'testify is enough to give one chills.' "They are all hypocrites.'' sneer ed the Devil. ''I hope not.'' pleaded the tramr ''Oh. I hope not.'' ''Well, my friend. suppose we pui them to the test, and give you th proof of my' assertions. That bi; book that the parson pretends t love so much, is said to be th Christian's lamp to guide him in th niht way. It says 'Be not forgetfrv to enterztain strangers.' And agait Rememb~er ihem that are in hon:i ~- ~n'' h h\21~ em: and thiem whie' put your SM' inl }i plac'e?' TTav vo vr read this scriptuire ? ' M L")rd .('lSUS ('hi.S]t, tl(" Lrit, 4 1 . W!1 ire'et of persolls. For if tilllrc' come unto vour ass'em)ly a m:an wil it a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also - a poor man in vile raimen.t; And ye have respect to him tha.t weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, stand thou there, or sit under my foot stool: Are ye then not partial in yourself in his place?' Have you evil thoughts? And - again: 'If ye fulfill the royal law, according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do wall; But if ye have re-pect to persons ya commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.' Now you know very well that if the mayor of the city had come in here and t n a back seat. t.hat. parson would uav. come straight after him and taken him to the front. Now you are a: tough looking customer, and you can sit here if you will behave yourself but they would aid rather you had stayed out:No one will speak to you. wish you a merry Christmas or care what becomes of you after you get out of here. You are no 'Spring chicken '-that's plainly evident and you know all that I say is true. From your looks I think you had the proof 'ere this." "What's my looks to you?" growled the impatient tramp. "I did n't come in here to be noticed, and don't wish or expect it. Let me alone now; it's the first time -I've been in church for years and I don't know what made me come in here. 'But I am and I propose to see and hear the whole performance," and the Devil sarw it would be no use to say more. The song was finished and the young preacher rose with a welcom ing smile shining from his eyes, and for ar moment looked over the large congregation, his face glowing with -a spiritnal light that awed one and I all into breathless silence and rever ance. He had only been pastor of this litta'e church a short time, but the people were not slow to understand tha.t he was unusually full of the Christ-like spirit and possessed great magnetic influence. Meek, gentle, ipatient, tender and ontewhola armour of faith, with more of the f.orgi,ving spirit and brotherly ilove; ever ready to look with charity on .the fallen, and still more ready to lift them up; preach ing the gospel in all its purity, living it in all its beautiful simplicity; pie .turing .the ideal life in such attraet ive coloring, explaining its beauties in such a persuasive and winning way that none could hear without [oIg~'ing to get upon a higher planr Iof 'Christ-ian living-and with every sriehis .congrega.tion was grow ig. Trudy this was a man of God alled to preach H1is Gospel- and was directed by His Holy Spirit. If he saw t'he Devil back there near IIthe door. he gave no signs of re.cog nition. He made no reference to the dance aceross the street, or to any other work~ that the Prince of Dark ness was directing, he spo-ke entirely on 'The love of God and his idea as to how best to defeat the Devil seem ed to be to shine him out. He n*ever Sone time mentioned the Devil. but soed ,forth ithe beausiies and the g~reat peace which were the fruit f pure and undefiled religion, anc in such a way that any other thar Sthe right way, was awful by con.trasi. This was new. Th-e Devil was non. plus'sed. iTo be shined out was the worst and most dreaded defeat. Tru. 'dy h-are was a pre-acher depending more on~ the power of Godi than or Sthe gift of gaib. After the preaclrer had talled~ Sawhnile -and knew that the hear.ts of Sthe people were in a receptive atti ~tude. hra turned to the second chap Iter of Luike and read from the Sth -to the 20th verses, and spoke esp& ially from the 10th and T1th verses. " And :the angels said u'nto tirem. -Fear not; for behold, I bring yov good t.iding~s of great joy. whicl 1shall he to all peopile. For unto ye is horn this day. in the city of Da vid, a Savior. whieh is Christ the -Lord." Oh the beautiful Christmas story read and s-tudied in thousands of1 hoaw and churches 'every blessed tChristmnas day. The Devil could noi SIbear to listen and slipped out like whipped cur. The tramp listend and trembled. Memories of homre and mothrer causec ehiis eyes to grow dim. Oh if he conid Ionly call back the years of hiu wated life! Oh. if he could h'ava c-lean heart and a clear conieCne'. befor 0 e (od ! Oh. for that swel trtion of believer.Di he h. elieve Yes he believed it alil; Chri..t hi . omt arth arid had lived am;on; 40 Years Old. "Old Line" Company. ROBERT NORRI This grand old company has just announced cessful year in its history, which extends way 1 Eve-y well informed and honest Insurance r ance Company is the strongest Insurance Co of at least $50,000,000.00 and the assets of $ 500,000.00 of substantial backing-in other w This Company pays the largest cash divid?n holder how he is pleased with his dividends cash and paid-up values. Every policy conta This means that, if you hold a poli: in this 'C disabled, you will receive in cash. $ 100.00 en insurance; and curing this time you will not h; miums. For the time you lose on account of we shall pay you 55.00 a week per $1,000.00 You will find bl...' the ra.es oi some of ou Term Poli ies. Age. Rate. 21 $10.05 22 10.15 23 10.20 24 1.0-30 25 10 40 26 s 10.45 27 10.55 28 10 65 29 10.75 30 10.90 31 11.05 32 11.20 33 "1.35 34 I1.50 35 11.70 36 . 11.90 37 12.15 38 12.40 39 12.65 40 12.95 41 13.30 42 1370 43 14.15 44 14.65 45 1520 461-5 47 . 6.60 48 17-45 - 49 . 18.40 50 19-50 51 20.70 52 220oo 53 2350 54 25-15 55 27.00 THE STANDARD WARElHOUSE CO. Th___ BEGST ANNOUNCE: 1. Its warehouse receipts are regarded 2 If money can be borrowed' on any -________ thing it can be borrowed on the receipt of The Standard Wareflouse Company. 3 Banking institutions are familiar with the methods and strict business I principles and financial standing (of The - bait StnadWarehouse Company, and seek l its receipts as a basis of loans. in. The identical cotton that you place l Iem O0 ithe warehouse is returned upon sur render of receipts. s O 5. In case of fire your cotton is paid .ho frat market value, and you have no find E difficulty as to insurance, the full in- d a surance being maintained by The Stand-d R ard Warehouse Company. 6 All insurance on cotton is main- gle it{ taned at full value in the highest class ao English and American Insurance Com- 10 panes. 7 The Standard Warehouse Company C S is absolutely independent of any other .ie organization and conducts its affairs uponVCa strict business methods. 8. The paid up capital stock of The y u Standard Warehouse Company is $350,- y u ooo.oo, and the company is absolutely safe, and its warehouse receipts come ahead of the stockholders. 9. By having a number of Standard Waiehouses constructed so as to comply . with insurance regulations and econo mies in general management The Stan dard Warehouse Company offer the cheap-lag est rate compatible with sound business methods, ample insurance and the full-a da est protection of its receipts.1 ro. The Standard Warehouse Company Oli is anxious to have all cotton of farmers h v and others storea, and offers the most hv comple te protection and encouragement ~ b forfavmers desiring to hold their cotton. 11. Rates will be furnished upon ap- dollal plication to Mr. J. D. Wheeler, local manager Standard Warehouse. Company, Newberry, S. C. LICENSE TAX DUE. Notice is hereby given that city 5,:ises for. the year 190S are nowI u defl an mut he paid at once.I Bv order of city c.onnell- g.J J. J. Langford, 3 ~Eugene S. Werts, Mayor. Cerk and Treasurer. Mutual Life. Over $100,00,000.00 business in force. S, General Agent.' the fact that the year 1907 was the most suc back to 1868. nan knows that The Pacific Mutual Life Insur mpany in America. The stockholders' liability 14,500,000.00 gives the Co pa- y about $64, ords about $5 00 to every $1.00 of liability. ds of any Life Company. Just ask any policy-v The policies ?re most liberal, providing large ins the To:al and Permanent Disability Clause. -)mpany and become totally and permanen ly ch year, for ten y-ars, to every $1,00 00 of tie to s a y money to th; Company for pre sickrness (_ny jease) or on account of accident, of Insuranc . r policies: Non-participating Policies. Age. Rate. Age. Rate. 20 $15.40 20 $22.80 21 15.70 21 23.15 22 16.05 22 23.55 23 16.45 23 23.95 24 16.85 24 24.33 25 17.25 25 24.80 26 17.65 26 25.25 27 18 10 27 25.70 28 I8.6o 28 26 15 29 19.10 29 26.65 30 19.60 30 27.20 31 20.15 31 27.75 32 20.75 32 28.30 33 21.35 33 28.90 34 22.00 34 29.50 35 22.70 35 30.15 36 23.45 36 30.80 37 24.20 37 31.50 38 25.00 38 32.25 39 25.85 39 33 05 40 26.75 40 33.85 41 27.70 u 41 34.70 42 28.75 42 35.60 43 29.90 43 36.55 44 31-10 44 37-55' 45 32 35 45 38.60 .46 33.65 46 59-70 47 ' 35-05- ' 47 40.85 48 36.55 48 42.10 49 38.20 49 43.45 50 39.90 - 50 44-90 51 41-70 51 ~ 46.45 52 43.65 '52 48.05 53 45.75 53 49-75 54 47.95 54 51.60 55 50-30 55 .53.60 56 52.85 56 .55.75 57 55-55 . 57 58.00 58 58.40 58 60.40 59 61-45 59 63-00 6o 64.70 60 65-80 ;is Worth EADING... is not our policy' to hand you out a for breakfast and follow it with a n for dinner and supper. Shoddy, worn goods-such as you generally it "Special Bargain Sales"- are too t any price.' There is not one sin m in our line on which there is not ter price than any other firm can stently offer. We mean honest ser' ble goods at 'Bargain Prices'. Study own interest-come-if we don't Show You a Clean Cut Saving y every purchase pass us bv. The4 trade~ we command was not built in ~or by "Special Bargain Sales." by persistent hard and honest toil we gained the confidence of the c. Spend your money where the gives the best results. Yours for Bargains, (LETTNER The Fair and Square Dealer.