Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1874-02-23

should be 80 much more ready to hear
and answer the petitions when they are
addressed to him in public street be-
fore the doors of a grogshop. If it be
He that turns the hearts Of the liquor
dealers in answer to prayer. it might
naturally be conjectured that as near an
access to His presence could be found
in some more reputable place. There
are two kinds of places where it used to
be supposed that prayer was particu-
larly acceptable. One was places sol
emnly set apart and dedicated" it is
written that my house shall be a house
of prayer" and the other the solitude of
private retreat" when thou prayest
enter into they closet, and when thou
hast shut the door, pray to thy Father
prising additions to our knowledge we
learn that the efficacy of prayer depends
on sex and on publicity-the publicity
being not that OF consecrated places of
worship, but of the street where wisdom
in the olden time was wont to cry in
vain. To distant and cool observers
these woodworking grog-shop prayers
seem but form of female eloquence,
which recalls the naive statement of a
Boston news reporter on the occurrence
of public meeting in that city, that
Mr.. Everett offered the most eloquent
prayer that was ever addressed to Bos-
ton audience"
Absurd and grotesque as this new
movement is in some of its aspects, it is
nevertheless a striking and instructive
illustration of American character and
civilization in the rural districts of the
country. In the first place, it demon
strates the absence of certain kind of
social restraint which regulates the con-
duct of women in older communities. In
places where there is what is called
society,"" the chief ambition of women
is recognition within its magic circle;
which operates as guarantee that the
sex will do nothing in public upon which
there is danger that society would frown.
This singular movement proves that
rural communities OF the West have as
yet very little social organization; and
it also proves that, though religious, they
are free from the spirit of ecclesiasticism.
Their bare and barnlike churches, their
frequent religious meetings in school
houses and private dwellings, dissocia-
ting religion from ideas of place, and re.
ligious feeling is as little shocked as
social feeling is by woman's prayer
meeting in front of grog-sbop-a place
from which woman would naturally fly
and religion be supposed to shrink.
The success which is attending this
strange movement has still deeper sig
nifcance. 1t shows how firmly fixed in
the rural mind of the country are the
roots of two of the most important ele-
ments of civilization--respect for woman
and respect for religion. If these meet
ings were held by men, or held by women
unprotected by the show of piety, they
would probably be hooted away by jeer-
ing mobs. This coDjoint respect for the
female sex and for religious oSservanees,
which is one of the best features Of the
rural american character, ought to be
carefully preserved and cultivated.
When religious women presume upon it
as protecting shield in such move
ment as the present, they subject it to
a strain that it will not long bear; and
the infinite evil of having this respect
able and respectful feeling undermined
would not be atoned for by any service
these impulsive lasies are likely to
render to the cause Of temperance.