Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-10-14
0blo Statesnlar,
Olive Logan's Views on the John
Allen Question. falt

II seems to snare the honorS with the
woman question. 80 o
! By the John Allen question mean
this matter of prayer meetings in Water
street dance-houses and dog-pits; wheth-
er j ohm Allen is a swindler rnot, wheth-
er any good is being done, and all the
rest of it. 'E .Hl
| The simplest way is to lump the mat
ter, call it the John Allen question, and
take it in that shape. o. t- p1r o.
1t may be questionable shape, but
it is the simplest one. .1e r
went to see John Allen a few days
since. u2l -
Really, you know, it was something
too much for poor human nature to be
tortured by such doubts on this subject.
To read one morning that John AL
lenwas reformed. 70 81. - II 10
To read the next morning that John
Allen was drunk. 81 -ofa2 i'uIH
| To read in one reliable country news
paper that John Aliens soul was on its
knees before God in deepest contrition.
l To read in another reliable country
newspaper that John Aliens brother
tainted away at one of the prayer meet.
ings, and that John was as unmoved as
a whisky barrel. - -las,isa.
To be. thus jostled from Tribune to
Herald-from Times to World; to be
run over by the Mail; to be glared at
by the San; to be continually tossed
from pillar to E0emimg Post by this
John Allen question: really was un-
I'm 10 va. 81 sa - 81
3 One knew not what to think. One
dreamed nightmares. Ones mind was
in dreadful state of uncertainty. faa
1imean of course Number One. o.. p
And go / determined to go and see
the John Allen country for myself 10 d
| The papers said had been there
when I hadn't and one might as well
have the fun when one has the name,
you know r. .,se-go5 .51i'sE-E :73f SIT Is sa
Thus reasoned;' and at last the final
argument was brought to bear by a
Massachusetts clergyman who called at
the Office of our Authors Union when
was there, and. said he was on his way
to the prayer meeting at John Aliens.
The Authors Union was in Pearl
street, and the next street to Pearl is
| Water; and while 1 had been under
going all this trepidation ard doubt,
here was the ohm Allen country close
at my elbow. sso "a 10 ol53 s.-5G :; b7
A three minutes walk, and I stood at
the entrance to the Hotel d'Allen. r1
don't intend to- describe the scene.
1t has been described to the death. 5.ugl
Suffice it that 1 went inside; that I
got a good place to see and hear; that l
heard and saw; that ] more than once
felt tears in my eyes; that stayed till
the meeting was over; and that when it
was over | found the impression made
by it to have been very evanescent, so
far as I was concerned. -i, "a 5 Z
John Allen came in and took posi-
tion by my side as stood there, ,aasI /.
1 looked in his face and saw enough
manhood in it to make me offer him my
hand that he might shake (which he
did. and very respectfully -at -
1 am, everybody who knows me will
easily admit, not sentimental miss. j
Whose thinks l am, makes a miss
take, .ses- .l14s - .s.,-J .41i49fs.a q
looked at John Allen with cool and
questioning eyes, and took his measure.
The result lis, that my views on the
John Allen question are now very clear.
Whether John Allen is-or was-the
Wickedest Man in New York, depends
altogether on what you consider wicked.
~ Gentlemen of the Mr.. Dyer school
think that the boy who knows it is sin
to steal a pin and then steals it, is wick
eder, than the cannibal who knocks a
missionary on the head and eats him
afterward. e.or els ed, z;.-ys...f5 40 ,l.i
l do not belong to the Mr.. Dyer
school, an I don't think SO.
Whether man knows it is wrong to
keep dance-house. or whether he don't,
it is just as wicked to do it. "' s3 7f
If, besides that, he steals; he murders;
ifhe whips his unofending wife (three
specially hideous offences;) then he is a
wickeder man than the man who don't
steal, who don't murder, and who treats
his wife as she deserves. - nI-. o. El4
1t has never been claimed, / believe,
that John Allen was guilty of any of
these offences; but there are hosts of
men in New York who are; and they are
Wickeder men than he was, according
to the evidence. er .-.,tl .,,s-T. H.. =.
~ John Aliens great wickedness, it
seems, lay in the fact that he had been
to Sunday School in his childhood, and
had some traces of goodness left in him,
as results of that early training. .o
i can't see the wickedness of that.
The mans face is astrong contrast to
that of the ordinary brutal low-life
rough. -ea-afi- -.a.f1oo,i ..oEq ,rf.,
i7 Perhaps it may be supposed am not
familiar with the face of the low-life
rough. .-. -i5.ass ~ a.a ...-...
have seen Mr.. Ri. Burn. / looked
into his rat-pit. Mr.. Burn was more ex-
cruciatingly polite to me than John
Allen was, but his face was a most re-
pulsive one, and couldn't make up my
mind to stay where he was after | had
looked at it. ..,.., -. r.,
Aliens face is more like Beecher's
than it is like Burns. He could take
his seat in Mr.. Beecher's congregation
without looking at all out of place.
Kit Burn could not. - - 77fI(f... ,.--
Neither could the ordinary inhabitant
of the John Allen country. 90 ,.laaa|
John Allen is more weak than wicked.
He is not converted, evidently
His great trouble now is that he likes
to drink fiery beverages. o25-i,Hi II
So do good many other men who
are not so bad as some men know who
never drink. aa,s -.soi q q
After practicing at the bar with brill
liant success for dozen years or more,
it is naturally difficult for John Allen to
give up the practice. ,eit7a. .sr
But to say that he is unfeeling, is to
say false. ~, -1.s - So.
1. saw the big tears roll down his face