The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1878-05-18
ACTING usDRR EXCITEMENT.

4oALl< Eloull NC h4o HaA $3.50
steps for which they will be sorry. They
aryue, from this, that it is not best to have
any excitement at all, and especially that
nothing should be lone under excitement.
1t SO happens, however, that the path OF
progress has always been marked by sudden
stems upward and onward. There are steady
growth and steady going, it is true, but the
tendency to ru~t-making and routine are
so great in human nature that 1t Is often
only by wide excitement that a whole com
munity is lifted and forwarded to a new
level. Men often get into the condition Of
pig-iron. They pile up nicely in bars
They are in an excellent state Of preserva-
ton. They certainly lie still, and though
there Is vast capacity in them for machine
~, and cutlery, and agricultural imple-
ments,-though they contain measureless
possibilities Of s~pindles aud spades there
is nothing under heaven but Are that can
develop their capacity and realize their
possibilities.
There are communities that would never
do anything but rot, except under excite
ment. A community often gets into n
stolid, immobile condition, which nothing
but q public excitement can break up.
This condition may relate TO n single sub
ject, or to many subjects. 1t may relate
to Temperance, or to n church debt. Now
it is quite possible that n man under excite
ment will do the thing that he has always
known to be right, and be sorry for 1t or
recede from it aftcrward, but the exeite-
ment was the only power that would ever
have started him ON the right path. or led
him to stop in the wrong one. 1t is all very
well to say that IL would be q great deal
better for a drunkard, coolly. after quiet
deliberation md n rational decision, 10 re-
solve to forsake his cups han to take the
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element and the persunsions Of companion
ship and feryid oratory ; but does he ever
do i'll Sometimes, possibly, but not often.
Without excitement and a great social
movements, very little of Temperance re-
form has ever been effected Men are like
iron ; to be moulded they must be heated /;
and to say that there should be no excite
mcnt connected with a great reform, or
that u reform il never to be effected through
excitement, isto ignore the basilar facts of
human nature and human history.
At the present time there is a great tom
perance reform in progress- Men are tax
ing the temperance pledge by tens OF thou
sands. They go around with glad faces and
with ribbons in their button-holes. They
sing their songs OF freedom from.the power
that has so long and SO cruelty enslaved
them. 1t is said, Of course "Oh, this
viii not last. II Is only u mine days wonder.
Many of thee people are now drinking in
secret, and soon the most of them will be
back in their old courses" The most OF
them,-possibly. IL is not probable, how
ever, that the most of them will recede.
Suppose half OF them remain true to their
pledge does not That payr We should
have had none Of them without the excite
ment. and to have had a great mass OF
brutal men, who ave long disgraced and
abused their wives and children, sober for
q month, or for six months, was surely n
good thing. 1t was at least a ray Of sun.
shine in o great multitude OF dark lives.
The point we make is, that the alternative
Of n reform through popular excitement is
no reform at all. And we make the further
point hat n man who will not sympathize
with a reform because of the excitement
TINT accompanies II, Is, ninety-nine times in
with the reform on my ground md the
hundredth man is usually an impracticable
ass.
Let us take this matter of paying church
debts by what has become known rs the
Kimball method. A church builds q house
of worship. 1t costs more than the original
estimate, or some important members have
failed in the expected or pledged subscrip-
tion, OF, worse than all, debt has been In
Cured with the eyes open and by intent.
It has been carried along for years, the
whole organization grooming with the bur
den. To n few 1t has become intolcrable.
They see the church dwindling. They see
strangers frightened away by this skeleton
in the closet; they see their pastor grow
ing gray and carc-worn or utterly breaking
down md knowing hat nothing stands in
the why Of the usefulness and happiness of
their church but the debt, they cast about
for help. We will say that in most ihstan.
ces the church is able to pay the debt, pro-
vided every man will do his duty but it
so happens that every man will not do his
duty, except under some sort of social ex-
element, which Mr.. Kimbnll or his helper
supplies. Now, it is simply n question be.
tween paying n debt and not paying it at
all. 1t is not practically a question between
paying in one way or another.
This method has been tried many times
with tho most gratifying success. : In one
brief half day, by means of everybody
doing his part under the influence of clio.
quence and social excitement, debts nave
been lifted and churches made free.
Churches and congregations have sung and
wept over their success, and with the JOY
that came Of duty done aud sacrifice made
for the Master. Just here steps in the
critic. He has known nothing of the bur.
den that the church has carried. He knows
nothing of the happiness that has como from
the sacrifices made, or of the hopes that
have been born OF them. He only knows
that it il probable that men and women.
under the oxcitemont OF the occasion, have
subscribed in some instances more than they
could afford to subscribe. Therefore, in
the opinion of tho critic, n public excite.
ment for the PURPOSE. Of securing the pay
tnent OF u church debt il wrong. The critic
does not take into account the fact that the
willing part of the church has been most
unjustly burdcned with this debt for years.
and that nothing under heaven but an OK.
element will STIR the unwilling rnut OF the
church to do its duty. OF course he does
take into account tho further fact that
no sacrifice is too great to the man who
appreciates the sacrifice that has been made
for linn, and for which he can only make u
poor return. ut best
To the critics of this method of paving
church debts, who object TO il on account of
its proclamation Of the Sabbath, no better
reply can he made than that of one who
found occasion TO defend himself in their
presence. I've are told,' said he, that
1t was permissible IN the olden time for a
man to relieve his ass on the Sabbath day
when the animal had fallen into n ditch,
and | am only trying to relieve a multitude
of men aud women who huve been asses
enough to stumble into o church debt
The answer is n good one, and j~ustitics
itself.-Dr. Holahd.