Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-08-27
A KISSING PARsON.

i
A Raey Article ON the Temptations Of
Ministers-asw the Women limo
GENTLY Proved source Of Great
Discomfort 20 q Pars0n, and Of
Scandal 60 the Chureh-Kisssng Evil
IDENTIFY Going by Favor. ss
The recent trial Of Parson Linn, in Pitts
burg, for conduct incompatible with his
ministerial character, has provoked the
following article, in which truth is very
strongly mingled with good deal Of POI
etry:
Brother Linn, says the Cincinnati Com
mercial, is youthful parson, who was
theologically educated in Allegheny City,
occupied pulpit in Cleveland, and after
ward received "calf" TO q church In
Pittsburg, which, after much prayerfnl and
careful confederation, he accepted. Dnripg
his noyitiate his only remembered ofense
was the receipt through the postoffice of a
"lewd book" which the postmaster asserts
be knew to be leWd by feeling it-for he
did not look into it-and was not certain
that il had been ordered or personally re.
ceived by the embryonic theologian. If
the postoffice department is in want of
detective, the Allegheny postmaster should
be remembered.
Yet it must be confessed that our young
parson was rather unsuccessful in resisting
temptation. He had a weakness for pretty
women, and strong desire to kiss one
when he saw her. Grave elders, whose
physical decadence and advanced years
had rendered them insensible or superior
10 such charms, demonstrated with the
youthful parsoD, who promised to reform,
and kept his promise till some sweet saint
passed, when his eyes took the expression
of the holy monk described in the Castle
of Incidence.
There was no proof positive on the trial
that the parson had been seen to salute a
sister with holy kisa. But, somehow or
other, Brother Linn's appearance at Cleye-
land. and likewise at Pittsburg, was fo.-
lowed by lively run of gossip and scandal
in the church circle.
But in how far is the luxurious Linn
responsible for this? When in Cleveland,
witness who knew him there tells US,
us, SHE was courted and fattered; parties
we're made for him. To such an extent
was this carried that it became the ques-
ton, who should have him to dinner, tea
or supper, and 30 on. He complained he
couldn't get time to write his sermons"
Doting old mothers in Israel and pretty
young damsels determined to carry off
their spiritual curled darling. They
planned sieges, assaults, surprises, sallies,
ambuscades, with an ingenuity of in
yention surpassed by no commander Of
armies. Ii he thought of heaven, it
must have been of a paradise peopled with
the bright intelligences in female forms
that continually lowered about him,
waited upon his footsteps, and insinusted
themselves through the crevices of his
spiritual armor; or, if Of hell, it must have
been with a chivalric determination to
assault its very gates, to rescue from hot
perdition the lovely hours who served his
tea with daintier hand than Hsbe's'"
That the sequel to all this fulsome fat
terry and folly should have been a multi
tude of "stories of want Of clerical dignity,
hippancy of conversation, stealing of SER
mons, and everything you could think"
does not surprise US. That there should
have heen heart burning and jealousy,
prying into conduct, insinuations at last
rising to open scandal, pickering, and back
biting, was as certain as that there were
women in the church who had marriage
able daughters, and daughters who ment-
ally dedicated themselves to parsonage
life, with Brother Linn seated beside
them under its honeysuckles.
When the same experience was gone
through with in Pit!sburg, and the same
kind of gossip and scandal was current in
church circles, there were remorseless
busybodies in Cleveland, who mingled the
old to the new, with much added piquancy
and relish as lively imaginations could
adorn the story. Looking over the testi-
mony, it does not appear thatthere was any
occasion for the person to 60 out into the
streets to salute women with holy kiss, or
offend them with insulting propositions.
The ecclesiastical court was more merciful
than the prosecution, in which were en-
gagged some clerical gentlemen whom the
parson had offended by an attack upon
theological institution in which they weIe
interested; and so regarding his youth and
iuexperieuce, the court found him not
guilty in manner and form indicted, and
added that at has become manifest to the
Presbytery that Mr.. Linn has committed
such imprudencies that the Presbytery is
moved TO caution him 10 be guarded in
the future" This admoniiion, as prII-
dent man, it becomes the parson 10 heed.
If the desire TO kiss pretty girl becomes
imperative, let him do it not in the pub
lie streets, or on the suspension bridge, or
even in the presence of third person, sin
gular number, and feminine gender.