Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1870-01-28
DOWN ON PRAYING AND SING
ING.

Mr.. Augustus Ward sits in the
House ofRepresen tatives as a'Dem
ocratic Reformer' from the county
of Hamilton. Being a Reformer it
became necessary that he should set
about reforming something without
delay. The tax-ridden people of
Hamilton county had notion that
the affairs of their county badly
needed reformation, and that the
main business of the delegation sent
by them to Columbus was to correct
the evils which had grown too great
to be borne; to tighten the load of
taxation by placing legislative
check on official corruption, and by
trimming down the fat of the Offices
in which the lean and hungry speed
lily become plethoric when transmu
ted from Office seekers to office hol-
ders. But that was farthest
from Reformer Wards thoughts.
If his friends were not now in the
enjoyment of official good things
they soon might be, and it would be
wrong to stint their food when
their predecessors had fed to reple-
ton.
So Mr.. Ward, in his hot zeal for
reform, cast about for something
that could be amended without af
fecting anybody's pocket-and he
found it in the schools. He learned
that in some schools it was the ut
terly abominable practice to open
the proceedings by the teacher
reading a passage from Scripture,
and that the minds of the scholars
were corrupted by such sentiments
as these:
Glove your enemies, do good to
them which hate you, bless them
that curse you, and pray for them
which despitefully use you" "And
as We would that men should do to
you, do we also to them likewise"
"Be we therefore merciful.as your
Father also is merciful Judge not,
and we shall not be. condemned :;
forgive not, and ye shall not be for
given"
How, argued Reformer Ward can
children grow up into sharp money
making citizens with such doctrines
as these instilled into them2 Such
Utopian principles would unsettle
the minds of the people and utterly
ruin the trade of the politician. So
Reformer Ward decided to reform
this abominable practice of reading
the Bible in the public schools.
1t had also come to Reformer
Wards knowledge that in some of
the public schooles of the State it
was, customary for teachers, with evil
designs on the minds and future
prospects of the pupils, to offer up
certain prayers at the commence
ment of the services, or at other
times, and notably one totally op-
tposed to sharp commercial policy
and antagonistic to political success.
; This prayer sets out by cknowledg-
ing the existence of q God and
Father in heaven, whose name is to
be reverenced, and whose reign OF
: righteousness is prayed to be ex-
tended to earth as well as to heaven
1t simply asks for the daily bread to
be supplied, instead Of begging fol
assistance in securing good thing
in stocks, or fat office. It prays
> for forgiveness Of trespasses in the
same proportion that we forgive
wrongs against us-the objections
to which condition need not be
dwelt on to bring conviction. Il
begs not to be led into temptation
though every politician seeking of
fee is doing his very best to have
the. prayer reversed and it asks fol
deliverance from evil-which may
E be very good petition if evil is un
= derstOod to be a condition of unsat
isfied political hung er, but taken il
connection with the remainder O.
the prayer clearly means something
lelse.
y + So Reformer Ward concluded tc
reform all such prayers out of th'
Ipubllc schools.
1t had also come to the ears o
Reformer Ward that in certain O
the primary schools it had been tht
e practice to tighten the burden O
I"C. A. T., Cat" and I'D. O. G..
J Dog" and dissipate the terrors O
addition and the multiplication ia
g BILE by singing pleasing little tunes
with words which inculcated In al
!. artless way the beauties of morality
virtue and religion. This Reforme
Ward considered to be poisining th'
stream at the fountain, and this toe
: he decided to reform out of the pub
lie schools. as1i. l'<lss.-