The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1883-06-19
Sowing and Reapiny.

burihg the past week no occurrence has
so shocked the public sense and SO thor
oughly aroused indignation and pity, as
the Depison tragedy. It's not the province
Oh a religious paper to repeat in its columns
the heart-rending details of the affair so AZ.
curately and infinitely given in the great
dailies Of the country. But in the citizens
department of this paper we may ven.
ture to both philosopher and moral
l2e on the case. The Dallas HFRAIn
printed an editorial under the caption
Inc old' Old Story" which for ability
soundness OF principle and beauty of ex.
preston, might well be preserved as a Gem
III tue classics OF ages to come. True it is a
story OLD as humanity, which keeps on re.
peatlng Itself, and for which no type of civ.
hization or culture OF society has founu a
preventive. 1t is something more. than
mere incident, for which there is no dis.
cernable cause, something more than an
eiervescence OF spontaneity ,whose'indefina.
Die lines lie beyond the Contine of human
philosophy. 1t is an inyariable result,
the effect and product of a law
lmmutable, inevitable and enter.
nal as the constitution of ma.
ture. The most ignorant classes have some
proper knowledge of this law, while MANY
OF the most intelligent refuse to be instruc
ted III its nature or submit to its appli.
cation In the higher departments of life
where its penalties graduate into scenes
such as the Denison tragedy. Whatsoeyer
man soweth that shall he also reap, A
harvest OF sorrow and death, or harvest
OF happiness and life is the inyarlable and
necessary product of the sowing. Neither
prestige of family name, nor wealth, nor
approved responsibility, single or combined
can choke out the harvest, any more than
they can suspend the lightning in the cloud.
NO reflections are intended to deepen the
wounds In the hearts, that already incon-
soiaDly bleed, much less to trace the faint
est touch of gloom across the sad memory
OF the yictimized beauties of sixteen, Like
coruscating meteoTs they have flashed
along the empyrean Of the social heavens
ana disappeared, the one behind the dismal
pyramids of the clouds OF death, the other
we know not where. But our purpose is to
hold and flash the headlight of warning
upon those station houses on the road
which never fails to wreck its train, and
over which unhappily the Denison party
mad tor some time been travelling. Con,
tlnued travel on this line is inevitable
death, as certainly as the sowing and reap.
ing are related to each other. 1t is men.
toned lightly that the deceased young
lady and her destroyer first met In &C.
quaintance at dancing school. 1t is fur.
ther stated that an episode provoking com.
ment took place at hop on the Friday
preceding the tragedy. And 1t is further
incidentally interviewer into the account
al N yuh nl artx ~ tA.,
dered to the abandon of pleasure in city
not their home, under the star-gemmed
curtains of the evening of the day, freely
partaking of the exhilarating glass. These
are the station-houses along that road on
which continued travel dooms the
passenger. The old story will con.
tinue to be repeated, and history
will continue to re-enact its scenes again
and again, for so long as the sowing shall
continue the harvest VIII be certain. That
young people s. Id be beguiled aud swept
into ihe Cdcilnt current OF the mmlstrom
Is Ia mater Cf suprJse 10 O consideratt
miud. Rnt that uarcUts VIII are as gods u
heir children, shOu't noder pretence o.
ln'rUG Irils thri" daughters into fashion
1hlr society, ua"i' 'ingly prepare them tC
b. slaughtered nj tue alter Of Moloch is the
l4solytnle problem of the age. No sopis
Nv no labored augmentation can subyert
theincontrovertable fact that at least seventy
live per cent. OF the divorces, seduction,
and declarations OF domestic virtue, trace
their origin to the night revelries in mixed
round and waltz dances. Three-fourths Of
the demi-monde are coined here. And ye
in the face of this harvest of death which
society continues to reap, the sowing goe;
on, approved by respectable people outside
of the church, and many inside as well
The cheek of lily like purity and sweetnes;
must mantle with that blush, which is ma
lures safeguard TO virtue, when the maze
OF the contiguous dance subordinates reason
and will to the rule of another department
of our nature. A word of warning is all we
can give. Beware, beware !-[Weatherford
Texas Methodist.