, 1875-07-17
RESPECT FoKSACRED THINGS.

youthful spirits, yer betray you
INTO proiane sallies. Besides the
guilt which is thereby incurred,
gives a more odious ap-
pearance to youth, than the aiTec-
-ation Of treating religion with
.eyity. Instead Of being an evil
lence of superior understanding,
it discloses a pert and shallow
mind"
1t has become a fact that in our
country irrevercncc for sacred
things has developed into a
characteristic Of society, and no
element that enters into American
humor has higher place, except
ing, perhaps, extravaganza of
speech. No one can calculate
the injury inflicted by even the
slightest jest or pun, which has
for its basis a justly revered char
acter, or a verse of the sacred
Scriptures. But it seems to be
held that the more sacred the sub
ject the keener the joke. 1t can
not be denied that the fippant
references often made by newspa-
Pers to George Washington are
apt to weaken the respect and af-
fection of the rising generation
for his name and fame; and so
with every other character sacred
or prefane.
This irrevsrence of the men
finds its counterpart in the boys,
and the mass OF our youth are
growing up to respect and rever-
ence neither age nor sanctity, and
there is little hope of reformation
so long as men set them the exam
pie, and violations of propriety
and good taste are witty or funny.
1t is said that in the Reign of Ter
ror in France, while the men were
cutting off human heads and car
rying them around Paris on pixies,
the boys were initiating them by
guillotining cats and carrying
around their heads on sticks. So
all of the evil practices of men
seem readily adopted or initiated
by the boys. No better example
of this all-perTading irreyerence
can be furnished, than that of the
little boy who being told by bis
mother the story Of the two-and-
forty children who were torn by
bears for mocking the prophet, in
stead of needing the moral, went
put into the street and saluted the
FIRST bald-headed individual he
met, with, "'Go up thou bald
hsadl' Now bring on your bears -
And it is not inaptly illustrated
by the Sunday school, which was
addressed by the minister, upon
the solemn subject of life, death
and a ajudgment to come, in tones
50 pathetic and tears so sincere
that he seemed to touch chords Of
tenderest feeling; but when he
concluded his remarks by request
ing them to sing Jordan, instead
of "Jordan's stormy banks" he
was shocked to hear in one un-
broken chorus that "Jordan am a
hard road to trabel."
1t might be reasonably supposed
that in an enlightened Christian
land a stream whose banks had
been hallowed by the footprints Of
prophets and of saints, whose wa
tiers mirrored the peaceful dove
that descended upon the Redeem
er, and whose flow makes music
with the dying song of praise, and
fills the departing soul with visions
Of " sweet pastures by the still wa
ters,n would not be polluted by the
ribAldry of our youth.
The subject is solemnly sugges-
tive to thoughtful minds. Year
by year the rising youth of our
land are stepping forward to as
sumo the duties Of life and citizen
ship, and is there not room for
apprehension, lest bereft of regard
for the sanctity Of law-human
and divine-sOciety shall drift to
anarchy and ruin? There is no
safety under a government where
each man is a sovereign, except
in the inculcation Of a never-fail-
ing respect and reverence for the
good, the truly great and the sa-
cred. They lie at the foundation
of all public usefulness and pri-
vate worth. Without them genius
is BLASTED, and talent is misdirectsd
and made an engine of evil.