BEHIND TIME.


A RAILROAD train was rushing along at almost lightning speed. A curve was just ahead; and the train was late, very late: still the conductor hoped to pass the curve safely. Suddenly a locomotive dashed into sight. In an instant there was a collision. 

A shriek a shock and fifty souls had breathed their last; and all because an engineer had been behind time.

The battle of Waterloo was in progress. Column after column had been precipitated upon the enemy. The sun was sinking in the west; reinforcements for the defenders were already in sight; it was necessary to carry the position with one final charge. 

A powerful corps had been summoned from across the country. The great conqueror, confident of its arrival, formed his reserve into an attacking column, and led them down the hill. The whole world knows the result. Napoleon died a prisoner on the Island of St. Helena, because one of his marshals was behind time.

A condemned man was led out for execution. He had taken human life, but under circumstances of the greatest provocation. 

Thousands had signed petitions for a reprieve; still none had arrived. The last moment had come. The prisoner took his place on the drop a lifeless body swung in the wind. Just at this moment a horseman came in sight his steed covered with foam. He bore the reprieve. But he had come too late. A comparatively innocent man had died an ignominious death, because a watch had been five minutes too slow, making its bearer arrive behind time. 

It is continually so in life. The best laid plans are daily sacrificed, because somebody is "behind time." There are men who always fail in what they undertake, simply because they are "behind time." 

There are others, who put off reformation year by year, till death seizes them, and they perish unrepentant, because forever "behind time." 





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