The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1871-11-10
A Sad Truth.
Under this head the Chicago Demo
erGt, of late date, puts the question:

'
70 say, we trust Is not said in a spirit of
bitterness, though our great and beautiful
city is a mass ofsmouldeing ruins, not be
cause we have lost our little all in an hour,
nor because we see before those we love
the certainty Of years of toll TO replace
the loss Of that which, though large to US,
is but an item In the Wholesale and appall-
ing catastrophe.
But what we here say Is from a sense of
duty, believing firmly in the justice of
the Great Ruler, we have asked ourssf
why has the Great JehOVa poured out at
this time his fiery anger upon our beau
tiful city
Why has our city been visited with a
fiery desolation exceeding anything of the
in his written world why he destroyed
Sodem and Gomarrah, the great harIot
of Baby lOn, and many other cities of ANTS
quity-for their shameful sins.
Again why this aw full judgment on this
City of Churches and schools? Why
should Just heaven visit such awful pun
ishment, and make our city a mark for
all future generations2 What are the
lessons OF this cur calamity? In prayer
ful hope we trust that no people in the
the fire anger Of the Great Spirit IN so
marked and dreadful manner as we
have been Let all good Christians pray
that another such sacrifice may never be
needed while time lasts. We do not at
tempt full description of this awful and
heart rending scene. f the human mind
eau contemplate / l 900 acres Of ground,
coyerd with stone, brick and mortar, in~
termingled with gold and silver aud pres
cious gems and all the varied articles of
wealth and luxury, all presenting pic
ture architectural beauty and grandeur,
unsurpassed perhaps in the wide world.
And then within these magnificent
structures, eighteen thousand in number,
from basement to garnet teeming with
human beings in ever grade of life aud
character, from the soied wretches IN
the filthy den, to the sumptous millionaire
in his prIn eelv mansion. Then far a
moment contemplate a sea of flame,
descending as it were from the vault of
heaven, in the dead hour of night, on this
living, sleeping mass of humanity, and
some faint idea may be had, bu4 no pen
or tongue can describe the awful scene.
The pencil Of an APpelles would fail to
Canvas The lounge of an angel or devil
would pause in silence. The only de-
scriptiOn ever written, that can convey
any Just idea of the awful honor of that
night-that Sunday night-the Sth of
October, 1871, is given by the AppocalYp'
tic exile on Parmos, in his book, which
closed the revealed will of she Creator TO
man.
Again we ask ourself,w this visitation?
Is 1t for the sins of all, or have q few sin.
ned, like David, and all are punished !?
Were there not ten righteous men in all
the city, for whose sake God could have
spared the helpless little ones that never
sinned OF individual sins we do nos
speak, but of the sins of the city as a
whole. And now to our rulers in partic
ular, and the reading public in general, We
have duty to perform.
Did our city sin when it rejoiced at
the destruction and sorrow caused by
the march of Sherman's army to the sea :?
Is it a SIN that our city grew suddenly
rich from the spoils and speculatiOns in
carrying on he fratricidal war-a war
against our own brothers? Is it a sin
that Chicago has led the van In the cru~
SADIE against the just rights of thirteen
states Of this Union? even now as we
write, the white tents of the soldiers are
visible from our window, sent here to
protect us against ourselves, and in our
more solemn convictions the visitation of
providence seems Intimately connected
with the sin of corruption and per-
Jury in our rulers. They have again
and again periured themselves, made I'M
holy alliances with harlots, gamblers and
thieves, for the sole purpose of retaining
political control of the city
Again, is it a sin in the sight of heaven
that oar ministers have been serving the
Politician instead of Him that was cruci~
fed on Calvary? Is it o sin that the
Most High has been made the abode of
those wearing gold, diamonds and fine
raimRnt, in place of that humble unadOrn
ment becoming to the followers of the
humble Nazarene Was it sin that on
the Slh of October, 1871, 1000 saloons IN
defiance OF the laws Of God and the state,
were open aud dealing out the poison
that kills both body and soul? What, .
what WIS our SIN, that justly deserved
such terrible punishment? In what have
we, rs a people, sinned, that our punish
ment in kind, should be above all others
which have gone before US.
We are aware how painful it viii be
for any man, or set Of men to be charged
with these crimes, and pointed out as the
possible cause of our great affection
Still the cause lies at somebody's door.
Whose is it? Who is the Acham in the
camp? The future historian will be
obliged to write up the history from the
facts placed on record to-day. Shall the
guilty be spared, and the innocent suffer
Cngindicated? God have mercy and
show US our sins and save US from them.