The Grange advance., 1874-09-23
ARE CHIcAeo CLEReYAEn so BAD :?
One Shot Brings Down a Score.

prominent clergymcn and = married
lady. At that time parties claiming to
be sufferers, stated it to be their inten-
tlon at once to bring their grievances
to the notice of the courts. This has
not yet been done, and, pending this.
the duty of this paper as journal Of
news. is accomplished. As it is not y
journal of sensations, it would not be-
proper to add anything to the state
ments already published. The. only
object in again referring to the subject
is to state and comment upon a Curl
Gus phenomenon that the publication
of the item elected. As will be re-
membered, no names were given, and
consequently room. was inadvertently
left for surmise. The result was that
no less than score of church people of
different denominations called on the
Post and Mail to assert that they
''knew'' who the parties were, and to.
either volunteer further information or
to deprecate any fuller mention in re-
gard to the facts.
Strange as it may seem, Of this score
Of visitors not more than three had in
mind the right persons, and in sum-
ming up their statements it was found
that no less than five prominent clergy
men of this city were supposed to have
been meant! It would astonish the
readers of this paper if the names of
the suspected parties were given, or
even the names of the persons giving
advice or rendering information. AS
remarked, the latter were church men,
bers, and came filled with arguments,
for or against the clergymen they sup
posed to have been alluded to in the
article. They were also versed in the
names of the women unfortunate enough
to be mixed up in the different scandals.
Some were positive that the charges
were true; others thought they might
be true, but could not be proved; still
others thought they were both true and
capable of proof, but doubted the pro-
priety Of going into the merits of the
case, for fear Of injury to the ''calse''
and to the innocent. A very few thought
the alleged wrongs were true, could be
Unconstitutional ought to beshown up
The mass, however, inclined to the role
of Moulton, that is, the role he pro-
fesses to have assumed and fulfilled
prior to the time that Beecher called
him a blackmailer. They desired to
hush things up, to whisper their sus-
picions among themselves, and to keep
the suspected preacher as much out Of
harms way as possible. They hated
to ''hurt the influence of the man.
They feared ''the explosion would shake
the Church" They dreaded "a fight
and the possible retroactive effect of
the defense Of a man cornered and fore
ed to fight for dear life. They always,
when giving information, exacted as a
preliminary the most solemn pledges of
secrecy, and frequently returned to Sc
cure a repetition of the promise not to
betray their confidence.
We arc sorry to add that the result
of these visits proved that some people
in this city receive with an outward
smile Of friendliness the ministrations
of men in whose moral character they
profess to have little confidence. They
suffer these men to visit their families,
to minister at the communion table, to
walk unrebuked among their breth-
rem, and to wear unchallenged the
sacred insignia of an anointed priest
hood. On the other hand it is but fair
to add, that, in but one instance out of
a score or more who had their say, was
itpossible to find witness who professed.
to know at first hand the truth of his
damaging allegations. The rest had SIM.
ply opinions based upon hearsay, and
incapable of being traced to reliable
sources of fact, opinions worthless in
court, but very fatal when circulated in
q community. This state of things
ought not to exist. On the other
hand, c]ergymen should live above sus-
picion; on the other, laymen should
never allow the ministry of suspected
men, or permit themselves to suspect
hastily. The proper thing to do in
these cases is to face the music, and
courageously go to the man, tell him
the charges, and give him an opportuni-
ty to clear them up. If innocent, he
will usuall::' have no trouble to do so; if
guilty, the sooner the fact is known,
the better for him and his people. The
facts above stated, teach also the pro-
priety of great circumspection among
the clergy. With them, even indiscre--
ton is sin. If so constituted that they
can not, or do not live above reproach,
the best thing they can 10 is to ''step
down and out" We say nothing ad-
vising an attempt to dodge the forked.
tongues of malignant enemies. This is;
impossible, but any preacher ought to-
be able to live as to escape unpleasant
surmisings concerning his virtue, on
the part of his friends and parishioners.
Northern Ohio Fair.
CLEVELAND, Ohio, Sept. 1.-THE d.
rectors of the Northern Ohio Fair AS
sociation decided to-day to, keep the
fair open until next Tuesday night, in
consanunnca If tho koH ncfh n, ~ ~