The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1874-06-04
BTGOTRY.


Shall | ask the brave soldier who fights b
my side.
In the cause of mank ind, if onr creeds agreC
4 Shall 1 give up the friend have valued AM
tried.
Ifhe kneel not before the same altar with me
From the hereto soul OF my girl shall fiy,
To seek somewhere else a more orthodox kiss
No! perish the hearts. and the laws that try,
Truth. valor or love. by standard like this.'
i The millennium has been predicted
! during the long space of five or siN
/ hundred years, and by as many differ
ent prophets as the years we have
named but judging from the amount
and character of the bulldog bigotry
| that still lives 10 torment US, we can
/ scarcely discover the roseate dawn oil
/ that day. And still we love to cher
ish the refreshing thought that the
propitions time may suddenly burst
upon US, and with the prismatic colors
of the rainbow throw halo of glory
around our lingering feet.
The typical, representative bigot
still prowls about, shifting heretical
malaria in the air, drawing up his i'm
peceabie garments of self-righteous-
ness, and daintily and sanctimonious-
iy picking his way among the outcast
Samaritans, whom he would consign
to the penalties of the pillory but tor
the checks of The civil law which keep
him in abeyance. The mask of hy-
pocrisy tests upon his shrunken brow.
If you look for broad forehead and
large benevolent eyes, in him you will
not find them. His teeth are set close
and stand straight in a small month
behind thin lips. His cars are small
and hug very close to his Uranium.
His eyes are small and are so close to-
gether that one is led to suppose that
thev eVince much reciprocal affection.
He never laughs a hearty, strong
laugh up from The region oi the dia-
phragm. He only smiles, and, oh We
heavens, what sickly, stingy smiles
He actually grows poor under the
painful process of smiling. When
you shake hands with him-fngers,
for he never gives his whole hand
the touch is as cold as the slow pass
age of snake through your hand.
When he talks to you his eyes are
contemplating the floor, and when
you suppose he is looking at you, he
is looking obliqucly in another direc-
tion. He never talks much, but his
eyes are busy when you least expect
it, spieing out his neighbor's liberties.
There is always scarcity of skin on
his bones, rendered bilious and blood
less through a gaugrene jealousy of
the prosperity of his superiors. These
are traditional characteristics, and in
part or in whole may be seen every
day upon the streets.
Of him it may be said, that
.To follow foolish precedents, and wink
With both our eyes, is easier than to think
The bisot never argues question
without flying into fit of passion.
A religion that does not make him
look and feel miserable he discounts
largely. Lie regards the man who APP
propriates rational enjoyment in this
world as entirely worthy of the trowns
and inaledictions of heayen, The man
who does not follow his soulless creed
he regards as highly favored because
an ayenging God does not at once re-
move his candIestick. He regards il
as q great confederation to speak to a
hereto, and on his sanctimonious
knees he asks God to forgive him for
having recognized Phillistian. As
an "elect child of God" how imper-
Viously and reservedly he looks down
upon the rude and crude non-elect.
The richness and fullness of Gospel
makes the bigot dyspeptic. He en-
dures night sWeats and his eyes re-
fuse to close, because the world is not
led by his creed, and because men
will think and reason. Because indie
pendent thinkers Pefuse to slide on
the slippery slab, and viii not trudge
ON after him in the mazes of theology,
he socially ostraeises them and turns
them from his puritanical door. He
allows of no familiarity with the sons
of Belial.
They dare not draw water from his
well, nor drink liquid out of his silver
cup. He locks the pump and carries
the key in his pocket. He trusts no.
body aud is suspicious of all men. He
is oftener seen stealthily slipping
alleys and by-ways, than
open faced and in a manly way he is
seen walking where other men walk. |
He is always watching for the discoV-
cry of moral defects in his fellow
men, and when he sends out and dis |
covers a spot of moral putridity in
one whom be has learned to hate, it |
delights his soul above measure, and |
when he reports the fact to his am
bushed colleague he chuckles from
head to foot. Nothing pleases him
better than mystic, obscure religion,
in whose theological sinuosities he can
hide away frem the light and contact |
of truth, even as bird of prey sWoops |
into the dark reeesses of a jungle.
But enough-here endeth the first
argus.