Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1880-05-24
WRITING FOR A PASS.
Published by request. !

ly permit me to thank you for. Half-fare
permits are usually sent to preachers, and
perhaps you have mistaken my calling.
At all events as you have classified me
with the preachers Though 1 am not one)
[ will take the liberty of quoting Scrip
ture to you and of drawing such conclu-
sions from said Scriptures as seem appli-
cable to our relation to each other.
If my authorities are inapplicable and
my conclusions unsound, please remem-
Der that the principal of an asylum for
feeble-minded children is trying to preach,
because an individual labelled Strong
very early in life, by his paternal or ma
ternal ancestor, has insinuated that he is
a preacher.
| respectfully call your attention to the
following passages of Scripture
Exodus vi. 1O-'sWith a strong hand
shall let them co.
Judges xiv. 14-"Out of the strong
came forth sweetness"
2 Chronicles xvi. % ''Strong in behalf
of them.''
(Half in this case means, not the half I
now have, but the other half of a permit,
SO that shall have a full, free pass for
the year.)
Psalm xxi. 21-s'He hath sheweth me
his kindness in a strong
l Kings ii. 2-''Be strong and show
thyself a man.
l Sam. iv. 1O-CWm.) ''B(e) Strong
and quit yourself like man.
Cor. iv. 1O-''We are weak, but We
are strong"
jeremiah XIV. 14-'sI will make the to
pass
Ezekiel vx. 37-'T will cause thee to
pass
Ezekiel xxxvii. 2-''And caused me to
pass"
Joshua Xxx. 19-"Then pass over
Special comment is unnecessary
If the above passages do not find or
reach some responsive chord in your bos-
ON, other language will of course utterly
fail to impress you.
A few practical applications, and l am
done.
First-What 1 want, and I think you
might send me, is an annual pass over the
Michigan Central Railroad and Great
Western (if in your power, because Sam
uel, jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joshua and
Judges plainly instruct you to do so Gas 1
construe them).
Secondly-The aforesaid roads will not
lose anything by it, but probably gain,
for if | have this pass, it is more likely
that l shall go East once or twice this
year and take parties with me who will
otherwise go by the Toledo, Wabash and
Western, and the Lake Shore, if they are
deviated from that cause to accompany
me.
Thirdly and lastly Cin order that may,
as Mr.. Moody recommended to the
| preachers of Philadelphia, not exceed
| thirty minutes in my discourse and lose
something of its power by excessive
| length), l would suggest that desire to
operate upon Michigan, to see if 1 cannot
stimulate them to build an asylum fol
idiots. | have succeeded in getting the
legislature of Illinois to give $185, 900 fol
a new building for its asylum; and as
this is in process of construction, l would
Michigan, Canada and the East, to see
| what should be done to make ours what
it ought to be. 1 cannot go unless I get
passes.
You probably can, if you will, get me
the aforesaid; but if you do not, in the
hereafter, when you are seeking a free
pass to the better world, look out that
somebody don't send you halfway per
nit, and land you considerably short o1
your desire pardon me.)
THE REPLY.
Dear Sir My absence from the city
last week prevented prompt answer tc
yours of the 4th inst. 1t is an old eXpe
rience that the Scripture can be made tC
sustain any doctrine or dogma if it be in
geniously applied, but 1 confess that
was astonished at such an array of text:
upon which to base a claim for trave
over our road, and the more so because il
sending you the half-fare permit though
was complying strictly with the mos
liberal offers of transportation found il
the Bible.
Early in the history Of the Jews we fine
the account of their emigration from
Egypt, and certainly going in such mum
bers they would be entitled to as low
rate of fare as could be consistently asket
by or granted by any one; yet in the 13tl
verse of the Both chapter of Exodus flint
the following: ''This they shall give
every one that passeth-a half" If thi
does not cover the case, 1 know no
where to look for authorities.
In one of your citations you refer t.
what you are pleased to call the "othe
half of the permit which 1 sent you.
fear that it would be of little service
since our conductors, being better verse;
iu mathematics than theology, would b
sure to collect full fare from any on
: travelling on two half-fare permits.
But to convince you that I looked t
Holy Writ as an authority for declining
free passes, permit me to quote fey
drecepts on the snbject of passenge
transportation, which find in its pages
beginning with such as seem especially &C
dressed to the passenger:
1Kings Xxx. 39-"Though shalt pay"
Kings iv. Z, s.; Samuel V. sc
and pay"
Ecclesiastes V. 4-"Defer not to pay. y
, Exodus xxi. 18-ssHe shall pay"
, Exodus xxi. 36-''He shall surely pay
Numbers Xxx. 18-"Thou shalt nc
pass"
With the following from the third vers