The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1875-03-25

to discuss the question were promptly or
hand and eager for the fray and the dis.
cussion proceeded. How it proceeded and
the result is best told by the poem itself
which Mr.. Wood consents to have pub
lished:
To the Clip Basket COMMITTEE:
Ye who in Elocution's school are taught
Pray give attention to my scattered thoughts
And I'll rehearse some efforts not below
The mighty prowers or Cicero
What relate know to be fact
was eye witness to each separate fact:
And saw the mighty orators laid low;
Demosthenes, compelled to undergo
A strange reverse from fortunes tickle hand
For Grecan fame was welded in Yankee land
Great Theologians differ in their views
And warm discussions frequently confuse
The minds Of men and on contested points
Sometimes the truth is sadly out Of joint
With views the different champions entertain
For me to set them would be work in vain.
But to proceed: A question most profound
Arose in school. proposed by rcd-head Brown
All evidence that's given to us here,
We must believe the greater part Of man
Through all eternity are damned :"
Our friend in red this doctrine did confatc
And there arose very warm dispute,
Therefore, to settle mans eternal fate.
They to the chair elected Appellate,
A man Of thought. Of comprehension deep,
s,,.ytyc ~ ia J1x, 81,
And thus Injured himself to mental toll
By the assistance OF the midnight Oil
Until his mental powers became SO vast
That he could seize with gigantic grasp
Questions like this, that future fate involves
That great philosophers have never solved.
He with grave aud dignitary air
Seats himself on the judicial chair.
The sides are taken: Brcathess silence reigns!
And 50 intense it almost gives you pain
All earthly cares have wandered far from view
And the dread future Is all that's left to you
On Times vast avalanche you stand in awe
Waiting for God the misty vail to draw
That would reveal eternity to sight,
Show endless woe or Heavens radiant light;
Undo nine -tenths Of Adams fallen race
Whove lived and sinned away the day of grace.
\ speaker rises! let us him survey
His face is pale the cold ashy clay;
His auburn locks like wig on marble placed
In ringlets hang with peculiar grace.
lie parts his lips, has Cicero arose
And been in school during his long rcpose:
With words persuasive as the lips Of love
He states the law prescribed by God above
And handed down through Inspirations hand
Unto the creatures Of this fallen land
In magic tones elysian fields he paints,
or endless JOY the blessed abodcs of saints
Where God in grandeur all his power displays.
And high-born seraphs swell the song Of praise.
Says he expects to tread those shining plains
Where endless joy and peace celestial resigns.
That blessed abode made for the happy few
Perchance is not my friends home for you,
You have home where Hel's dread monster waits
Where grief and vengeance below at the gates,
Where fear and rage and famine on you stare
Where dread remorse and bowling fends appear.
Where pale disease seize your quivering limbs
And gnawing conscience rends your souls within
| Vile discord there her snaky tresses tear,
| And Hell's grim furies in your faces stare.
In tones of thunder shook the whitened walls
And for the proof he on the scriptures calls
| And reads this passage House Of Israeli fly
Prom your evil ways, why will ye die:''
This being said friend Lewis takes his seat
With looks expressing that he's hard to beat
| Another speaker steps upon the stand
| With brow emblazOned like flaming wand.
With sparkling eyes and fely aspect stood
And Numbered forth the mercics Of his God.
Declared that God through Christ had all me
/ saved,
And He'll existed this side of the grave.
Then rose a man advanced to middle life
To take a part in this exciting strife,
Read forty texts in proof of endless pain
And modestly required they be explained,
In fifteen minutes, that being the full time
To which his opponent had been confined.
This being done our Thomas sits him down
With looks that say.sIve anquiehed Brown"
| Then rose youth magnifcently tall
Whose stately grandeur interested all;
Who in Lycurgus school was deeply read
And naught but Metaphysics filed his head.
| He raised his voice, scared on poetic wings
And gave his views OF spiritual things.
Another rose with comprehension vast
With eyes encased meath battlements OF glass
With jaws all mounted with coat Of hair
He on his victims cast naughty stare,
And ope'd his mouth-Heil gave dreadful yawr
And in the tumult' 'Fostered" hopes had gone.
The chair was asked the question to decide
| Men should be damned he instantly replied.