The Chickasaw messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1880-1900, 1881-01-13

Doth Tor learning, Tor wisdom, and
for integrity, have fallen notably
during the last thirty years Dis
honesty in business and betrayal OF
trust have become so common, that
the public record OF the last fifteen
years or. n.this subject is such that Il
cannot DO remembered without
shame. Politics, instead OF being
purified and elevated, has become q
trade 10 which success falls year by
year more to infericr men who have
a little low cunning Divorces have
multiplied until they have become so
common as to be a stock joke in the
facetious column Of our newspapers.
Crime and vice have increased year
after year almost pari passa with
the development Of the public school
system. which. Instead OF lifting the
masses, has given US in their place
a nopdescript aud hybrid class, un-
III for professional or mercantile
life, IN willing and also unable 10 be
farmers or artisans, 30 that gradual
" our skilled labor is done moro by
foreigners. while our native citizens,
who would otherwise naturally ill
this respectable and comfortable pO-
sition in society. seek to make their
living By their wits, honestly II they
can IL not, more or less dishonest
ly; or, failing this, by petty Office
seeking Filial respec: and parental
love have both diminished; and as
for the modesty Of our young men,
and even Of our young women, they
do not even blush that they have lost
il. This Is the condition in which
we are after more than half a century
Of experience Of our public school
system, the only justiAcstion for
whose existence is that ii was assert
ed and believed to be a panacea for
the cure Of social and political dis
ease. Nor IL the case Of that system
at all bettered by the quite untenable
assumption that all this would have
been without its influence; for its
only justification, the very reason
Of its being, is the other assumption,
that by it all this would have been
prevented"
This he gives as the practical re
suit Of the common school system
after a trial of half century, aud al.
though men may differ in their opin-
ions as to the producing cause OF
this state Of things, there is no deny.
ing the TACT they do exist and while
the subjest is before US we beg to
call attention to another evidence Of
the degeneracy OF the people who,
for the longest period Of any in this
country, have enjoyed the blessings
of the common school system.
On the 25th Of last month the
Methodis,s Of Fall River had a I'M
ion service. 1t was, the reader will
remember, Thanksgiving Day, Rev.
II Nutting preached the sermon, and
here follows a part Of what the pa
pers report him as saying.
After pleasantly referring to
Thanksgiving, its origin and Observ-
ance, he said, regard all these bless
ings to which have referred as en-
anating from and attributed to the
home Whatever strikes at the
home, strikes at the church, and
through that at the government. De-
stroy these and there is no govern
ment Few Of US realize to whatex
tent the divorce business has grown
ia this country, particularly when we
remember the fact that the Roman
Catholics and foreigners generally
but rarely secure divorces. After
making allowance for Roman Catho
lie marriages, the ratio OF divorces
to marriages in Massachusetts in
1868 was ono TO fifteen; Vermont,
one to thirteen; Rhode Island, one
to nine, and Connecticut, one to
eight. The Western Reserve cOun-I
ties Of Ohio, which are more purely
New England as 20 their population
than any other section OF the coun-
try, New England not excepted,
make even worse exhibition, the
ratio being here double that OF the
rest of the State Lake county be-
ing worst OF all, furnishing one d.
vorce to every six marriages, the
same county being more thoroughly
Yankee than any other in Ohio.
Coshoeton has only one to forty
seven, and Gallia one to ffty, the
population being foreign and South
ern, with hardly Yankee He then
proceeds to charge the Yankee peO.
pie, wherever located, with the Of
fence OF seeking to destroy th Amer
lean family by divorce and worse
crimes, and vindicated the foreign
element among Us, saying, divorces
arc OF rare occurrences among our
foreign population. During the past
twenty five years the birth rate has
decreased as fast as the divorce rate
has increased and where the birth
rate is lowest-whieh Is where the
Yankees most abOund-the divorce
rate is the highest There Is q close
connection between a low birth rate
and 3 high divorce rate, expressing
his behalf that ''the re.atiOn between |
the two is that Of cause. and effect,
the former being the cause and the
latter the effect. IN the history Of
nations there has never but thee
times occurred such breaking up OF
the family as Is now taking place
among the people OF New England |
hlood-when the Greek and Roman
Empires we're about to fall, and dur
ing the French revolution Of the last
ce1turv, when 10000 divorces we're
obtained in France IN one and a halt
years Bad as this is, when the pop
ulatiou is compared tits not equal
to what js true Of Rhode Island and
Connecticut Of late years"
This is the testimony Of one OF
their own witnesses, and these are
the people who would feigu send the
Gospel 70 The benigh,ed people Of
The South and West; would furnish
teachers for all the country, provide
all the school books and tsIl rs ex
aetly what should and what should
not be taught--the people Of "great
moral ideas, "Eeady ever 10 cry HThe
temple Of the Lard; the temple Of