Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1868-01-17

t To tell you in song, Isf. -rff sf
A quarter of what they contain. my boy.
Mrs. Grnady in the church.
The Easy thdr has long looked
through the religious magazines, re-
views and Journals, to hnd an article
upon Mrs. Grundy In the church" I"
Mrs. Grundy In society we all know.
Mrs. Grundy i'm politics Is also famil-
lar acquaintance. But IL Is In the
church that Mrs. Grundy mods supreme
and holds highest her virtuous hand of
horror. She denies moral freedom Of
action to the clergyman. Erecting a
certain standard of action, he must con-
form. She spreads for him what seems
To many q very soft and pleasant couch.
Ii is the bed of Procrustes, and she
tries To force him to lie upon it. Mrs.
Grundy does not permit the clergymen
to do what he thinks right and best,
but insists upon what she thinks he
ought to think right and best. The
very person whom she has invited to
take spiritual charge of her, and In
whose moral recutude and best judg-
ment SHE must therefore be supposed to
confide, Is the very Une whom she will
not suffer TO dance, III he wishes to, or
to hear any but slow music. Is slow
ness religion? Is a tune impious be-
cause 1t is merry? The. opera Is de-
dys and what do You o. thin think Of d; a bob. %
olink? The accessories are bad? But
what OF malice, and backbiting, and
spiritual pride, and jealousy, and intol-
cradle personal gossip In church.
It Is extraordinary how that old wo-
man controls us. Here is a young fell
low, preacher in the bud, and full of
the happiest promise and he goes
well, pretty often, to see as lovely and
admirable u young person of the other
seH as can be found anywhere; and
because this wretched old woman puts
up her eyeglass and says: HIN, ha,
twice last week. What does that
mean? No oyoung clergyman ought to
be suspected of f1irting,n the young fel-
low drops off and the young person OF
the other sex begins To grow pale. Or
there was the good old pastor of the
church, SO well known to those Of us
who are familiar with 1t, who after his
long and faithful service proposed that
the AFTERNOON service shUuid be omit
ted And why not? Every Sunday
afternoon lie preached to a very few
brethren more or less asleep. II was
/, not very unreasonable that he should
suppose that they would prefer to sleep
at home. In any case Ii was cruel
tax upon him. But Mrs. Grundy was
aghast. She could see In such sug.
gestion nothing but softening of tbs
brain or the overthrow Of the christian
religion, and she stated her case &c
strDngly that the rest ofthe parish yiel
ded and still continued TO take their
sunday afternoon nap In church insteed
OF at home. ..l....s.t
Why don't the minister break Mrs
Grundy's head? Why do they not say
to their societies that they will not, be.
cause they ought not, continhe to work
30 severely for pay 80 miserable? Atit
why do not we who sit In the bews In
terfere? Above all, IL we cannot pay
! q large salary and choose occasionally !
to send purse to bur clergymep, why
4 do we not make IL q point of bonoI
that nobody shall mention the fact u
the newspapers? What honest mar
does not vince with shame when hs
reads that the parisllioners of the Rev
MIR. Bland presented him on Tuesday
evening, at his residence, with a nea
purse containing fifty cents in new fiv,
cent pieces That the Honorabl,
Somebody or Nobody made few felic
itous remarks to which the pastor feel
4 ingiy responded? What is the objec
of this kind of thing? 1t Is the gIori
| fication of the generous society tina
presents the purse. 1t Is not, as some
BODY claims, a beautiful public tribut.
OF respect and regard for the minister
for he knows and they know and every
bUHy knows that the sole public i'm
pression Is that poor blank must be sor'
1 pressed indeed when he is eIoquentl,
i grateful for fifty cents, or new hat o
1 a coat or whatever 1t may be. Ths
whole ceremony is Mrs. GruDdy's ut
tempt TO eat her cake and have 1t a
! the same time.
| hardest working man amongst us (; ant
yet there are very many who look upor
\ him as kind OF drone in tile grea
hiSe, and who have vague idea tha
lie is pretty well paid for doing yer,
little! 1t is this half contemplation
/ feeling which DIR. Wayland. the chic
of the Baptist clergy, had In mind
when be said, In his caustic way
"Brethrenj Ii one Of you have lazy
good-for-nbtfiihg sOti, about whom .yol
! are in despair, you are sure to make |,
| Baptist minister of him" If that Il
the feeling. how can we expect ou
children TO care or to, wish to 60 Il
church? And yet what right have WI
to expect that another kind OF mar
will be satisfied with the pittance w,
/ ray? The most shihibg proof OF tn,
generally noble character OF the clergy
| Is that despite the pittance. they ar'
not the Kind OF men DIR. Waylafd des
cribed. But they do Want more indie
lpendence. They want 70 tread dowr
Mrs. Grundy under their f6sti < Hdrpe,
for Jan. svsyoe esg5 ~
NOTHING Coon DIEs.-There is no
J thing. fty. nothing that Is innocent u]