Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1870-01-28

but from permitting the reading In
the schools of any translation of the
Bible. Teachers are also prohibited
from reading any version of the BIZ
BILE, engaging in prayer, or singing
psalm or hymns in any public school,
under the penalty of from one hund-
red to one thousand dollars for eve
ry passage read from the Scriptures,
every invocation of the Divine and
in the work of training up the child
rem in the way she should go, every
singing of verse that can in any
way be construed into the character
of psalm of praise or hymn ofjoy,
There are no restrictions placed up
on the reading of the works of Ar
temus Ward, though Mark Twain's
"Innocents Abroad would be Ia
booed on account of dealing partly
with Scriptual scenes, and the teach
er could at any time engage with
the pupils in chanting "Champagne
Charly," or Captain Jinks of the
Horse Marines" without incurring
the reformatory penalty of hund-
red or thousand dollars. AS for
prayer, we don't very well see how
a teacher can escape forfeiting a
whole years salary every day for
prayer is the souls;sincere1desire.
Uttered or uuexpressed;
The motion of hidden fire,
That trembles in the breast.
Prayer is the burden of sigh,
The falling of a tear:
The upward glancing of an eye.
When none but God is .near.''
Even the utterance, by a teacher
with as little respect for religion as
the most thorough going Democrat
ic Reformer can have a simple
"word which rhymes with slama'' is
in the nature of an invocation Oh
prayer, so that we cannot well see
how any teacher can think of Re
former Ward without being tempted
to incur a penalty of from one hund
red to one thousand dollars.
We do not know which is the
greater, the absurd or the outrege-
Gus feature Of Mr.. Wards proposed
measure. That it is absurd, any on
can see, who gives the subject 8
moments thought. Under the Bill
it might cost a thousand dollars fol
teacher to sing "My country, 'tis
of thee.'' The tyranny of the pro
ceeding is shown in the fact that nc
discretion is left to the local author
tiles. A Board of Education, teach
ers, scholars, and parents may b.
all of one mind on the subject, bu
Mr.. Ward says they shall have ne
discretion in the matter. The re
peating Of the prayer "Our Father
is made as much crime against th'
law as theft or murder, and to sins
hymn Or read the Sermon on the
Mount in school will place the per
petrator at the criminals bar.
The excuse given when this move
ment commenced in HamiltonCoun
ty was that with the extrusion O.
the Bible and religious teaching the
Roman Catholic children would NJ
longer. be excluded from tn
schools. An answer to that,
and emphatic, was given by the Ro
man Catholics themselves. Every
where, the simultaneous utteranc
of the ecclesiastical leaders and tn
newspapers of that faith declared
that the Bible question no way con
cearned them. They were deter
mined, not to send their children t.
the public schools, but to breal
down the public school system, o
at least get their share Of the publ
school funds for schools of thei
own faith. The matter was forci
bly, put by distinguished Roman
Catholic leader Rev. Thomas Pres
ton, in q lecture at Cooper Insti
tute on Sunday evening last. HI
said: ....
| The nature of the Catholic belle
in Divine Revelation. rendered
imperative in pastors and parents t.
have the children under their charg
educated in the great principles o
their faith. He condemned the pre-
sent system of education as sectari
an, and asserted that experience hat
I clearly shown that religious bia
was inseparable from education o
children. He challenged the worl
to produce school without tina
bias, for in the various questions o
; morals and science which are boun,
together, how could he avoid alto
gether a decision in matters that ap
pertain to religion and morality !? L
regard to the use of the Bible in tn
public schools he did not disapprov
of it, provided it was expounded il
a Christian spirit, and in accordanc
with the religious convictions of th
child. Their Church insisted on thi
point and they were determined t.
live up to it's tenets.