Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1863-09-25
~ .a4g For the Cedar Falls Gazette
Is III TRACTS WE WANT9

IS Ey DAN DE rQcILLE.
STARvED.--On Saturday, soldiers wife
Mary Ann kinnay--w was found in her room,
No. S62, Central avenue, dead. Two chill.
dren, one nine and the other thirteen years
OF age, were clingsEg in agony to the lifeless
body, all that remained Of that which to
them was dearest on earth. The neighbors
sent for the Coroner, jury was impanneled,
evidence heard as 10 the cause of death, and
a verdict rendered Of I" Died from want Of
care"
The truth was, that this woman had not
the means to suprorG life. Her husband
her protector--is IN the army; her supporter
is in the army, and the Governipent has no
money for her brave defender In an effort
to sustain herself and her two children, she
was prostratcd, and died from want Of
care" No one came round to look after the
soldiers wife, to pour consolation in her
witherng heart, and to render the succor for
which she was dying. Alone, penniless heart
broken, suffering from the pangs of disease
and the pangs Of distress, she drew her two
friendless childreh around her, and "dicd
from wan. Of care G incinnati Times.
A Coon Work DosE IN THE ARMY.-The
American Tract Society has circulated half a
million volumes, and two and a half million
Tracts, through the Army and Navy. In
the last five months it has circulated, with
the aid OF the Christian Commission, $50 900
copies Of its periodical, The American Mes
senger," among the men. About 10000
copies monthly are now being circulated
among the armies of the West.
The Rev. Glen Wood, long known as the
District Secretary of that Society in the
West, is now located at Chicago, superin.
tending the work of colportagc and the sup
ply of Western armies with the valuable
publications issued from the Tract House in
New York. All donations designed for the
use Of the Tract Society in these important
branches Of Christian enterprise may be sent
to his address, P. o. Box 81, Chicago.
The question at the head of this paper is
one we found ourseif asking after reading on
the same page Of daily paper the two par
agraphs above. Is Is it Tracts we want I?
Is now the best time--is it a time at all for
distributing tracts among the peoples? Is it
the best way of spending whatever money
our religious societies may haveY Are there
not thousand things more needed by our
brave men IN the army that this money wod
buy?. Our men in the army are not Hot
tentots; they are all Christians, al least be-
long to Christian nation, and have, we be-
licve, sufficient Knowledge Of the Father and
the Son to know whom to call upon in their
time of need. What more is necessary ?
This thing of trying to cram thing mot
tracts particularly, but anything) into man
agains, his stomach's sense begcts disgust
1t may be doing 1" a good work in the army"
to circulate two or three millions of religious
books and as many more tracts, but we think
that good article Of beef and superfine -four
freely circulated among the families of SOL
diers at home, and dried fruits, jelies and
other little luxuries given like circulation
in the army would do much more good But
we may not understand the plan The object
may not be to relieve suffering and save
bodies, but to save souls. Taking this view
of the matter we are Immediately interested
in knowing, when we read in the paragraph
above of the poor woman starving in Cincin.
natl, whether she was found to have good
supply Of tracts on hand for if she had we
need not let any thought of her fate disturb
us, but with hearts swelling with full sense
of our great charity, we may at once lift up
our voices and cry out that all the earth and
Heaven may hear US" Behold what good
people we are! not a single poor woman in
an obscure hovcl can starve to death but she
has her supply of tracts
We have circumlocution Offices in Ameri-
ca; pig headed officers at the head Of them
too, who know no more than to let the cir.
cumrotary wheels under their charge grind
around in the old way, whatever emergency
may arise. Ask these men for bread and
they give you stone. Don't we all know
don't everybody know, that knows ANYTHING
Of human nature, or has more than one set
Of ideas, that tracts are less needed in the
army than almost anything else. Don't they
know that to the majority of the mef, they
seem an impertinence, and for this reason
are hooted at by many. When we'll, not one
in hundred gives them any serious atten
ton; and when at the point Of death is not
one fervent, God receive my soul!" worth
more for souls salvation than all the tracts
ever printed. He that dies cursing would
still die SO were a ton of tracts heaped upon
him. To open basket Of tracts to the
soldier whose dull eyes have lighted up in
the hope Of seeing some luxury drawn forth
is little short of mockery. But deposit your
tracts by his cot; when he dies you can say,
Z Ah, well, he's gone, poor Nnow what a
satisfaction to knov ~ had his tracts -
PRIV omen stiG~'ng fingers and thrust tracts
into th---sahmy hand Of the dying soldier; as
e opens his vacant and heavy eyes you can
then smile on him and say, " See, poor man,
we were not unmindful Of your necessities
you have your tractsl" There is y lime for
III things; after the war may be the time for
tracts; but paper will not cool parched
Ihroats nor make a dinner for widows and
orphans.
SArAs is a subtle individual, but the army
raider Is sutler,
81 = 4A9 4 al ~