The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1882-05-04

Lyman G. Homo writes from Buffa-
10, n. Y, to the r. p. Journal, giving
the following adventure of our friend
James G. Clark:
l CHANGED to meet the noted singer,
poet and temperance refOrmer, james
q. Clark, some two months ago. and
he gave me the sketch as follows: He
had been singing III Jamestown and
was invited to the Sunday School. lie
sang few pieces in the Sunday school
and proposition was unanimously
accepted for him to hold a concert in
the church and half the proceeds to go
to the Sunday school rs 4 special bene-
lit. The arrangements being all made
and the concert to be announced in
the evening as mutually agreed to, Mr..
Clark left the church. After he was
out of the way Mrs. Bailey, who fig
ures as Il temperance reformsr, intro
duced objections to Mr.. Clark singing
in the church OIL the terms agreed to,
because he sang at the spiritual camp
meeting at Lily Dale! And, to the
disgrace of the church and Sabbath,
school, She so influenced and inspired
the deprayity and dogmatic intolerance
which has come down through the
Church from the Inquisitien and spir-
itual despotism of tie dark Ages. :"
that they revoked the agreement and
sent word to Mr.. Clark that they
would not announce the benefit con-
cert as agreed. Of course it did not
harm the singer. He did not need
them rs much us they did him. But
the moral sense and intelligence of the
Church-a people representing their
religiOn-must suffer in the estimation
Of all fair minded citizens, and they
ought to rise i'll their superior dignity
and rebuke such stupid folly. Mr..
Clark was simply amused. 1t was a
good joke on Ills would-be prosecutors.
lie says he sang for the Christian AS
sembly at ChautauQua before he did at
Lily Dale, and the Spiritualists did
not vote him down on that account.
And they had quite as good reasons to
object to him on that ground as the
Jamestown Christians (?) had to 3D.
ject because of his engagement at Lily
Dale. He says they ''steal his poems
and dilute them" to use in their devo-
tions, forgetting that anything that is
written by true orthodox lis not
worth stealing" They can sing his
music and use his poems, even though,
they were composed at a spiritual
camp meeting.
Mr.. Clark Jared better in Worthjne-
ton for he gave several concerts here
IN the U. G. Church and sang at the
Sabbath schools. And we saw tears
trickling down the cheeks of old men
when he sang his beautiful song, 1.-The
Evergreen Mountains of Life" We
have no doubt, however, that churches
in many places, if they knew Mr.. Clark
was a Spiritualist and sang at Spirit
ual camp meetings, would exclude him
from their churches and Sabbath
schools. It is the way of most Of the
churches to shut out everything like
brains, or originality, or freshness.
and not to admit anything from a
Spiritualist or an Infidel without steal
ing it, diluting it for their ''babes, ~
and finally claiming that it originated
with some good orthodox bigot. Mr..
Clark is about right in Saying that
anything written by true orthodox is
not worth stealing. Orthodoxy repre-
sents stagnation and pa, alysis. Ietero-
doxy represents life, growth and pro-
gress.