The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-01-25
civilization. There can be only execration and
condign punishment for such crimes as yes
terday startled the capital OF Great Britain.
wANTED-RELIe1oUs COMMON SENSE.

The amount of confidence put in ''faith
siasts, is astonishing in view of the practical
turn of the age While many good people ac-
cept the truthfulness of the accounts of the
miracles recorded in the Bible, few accept
modern miracles" without questioning. The
man who lays down his clutches after years OF
| hobbling about, or the woman who arises
| from bed to which she has been confined for
years, is suspected Of being moved either by
the energy of religious frenzy, or by the exer-
else of the same 'sfaith" that would have pro-
duced exactly the same result without the
formality of appealing to Deity. Plaster from
the chapel at Knock or water from Lourdes
may ''heal' those old enough to exercise the
necessary faith, but neither of them possesses
virtues that are adequate to the alienation of
infantile humanity. Nor does it appear that
fervent prayer will avail to bring back babes
from the brink Of eternity. The failure Of
the faith-cure at Denver, where the prayer
b
as children are concerned, has been empha-
sized, If emphasis were needed, by the
collapse of like establishment at
ST. Louis. In either of these institutions
ne physician was employed, nor were even the
simplest remedies employed, such as would be
almost intuitively suggested by any mother of
intelligence. For fever there was prayer; for
congestion, prayer; for cholera infantum,
prayer; for meningitis, prayer. AS a conse-
quence, the little victims of 'faith, that did
not move so much as mole hill, died like
sheep attacked with plague. In time, the
attention of the authorities was directed to
these dens of modern mummery, and they
were closed Of the hospital founded at st.
Louis two months ago by ''faith" minister, it
is said that no medical attendance was allowed
At certain periods of the day the matron
called all the attendants and the minister
to the sick wards, where all prayed
fervently for the recovery of the
patients. Expressions nearly allied to
blasphemy were uttered by the faithful, and
God was invoked to cure. AS might have
been expected, the appeals had only the effect
of making the patients worse The plea of
the matron and the minister was, that Christ
would save them if He wanted to- and if He
did not it was no use to call in doctor
How much better is this than witchcraft-aa
case OF %Eesilcn is reported at Reading, PAT In
| that City, recently, child was taken ill,
when the simple minded parents called in an
old quack, who proceeded to exercise inn
aginary evil spirits He caused to be sus-
pended about it's neck little bag containing
a scrap of paper closely folded. On one side,
in German, was a prayer to the Almighty to
deliver the child from all his enemies ''who
see, but cannot be seen," and continuing:
'That they cannot come near me or hurt me,
body or soul. Little pigs of the bed and all
bad spirits, | forbid We my bed, my house,
my property. forbid We the nail holes of my
house until all the hills jump, all the
water bubbles, until all the leaves be counted
on the hills. We have taken hold of my
bones. so fall back again! I pray to the
Almighty / may be we'll again. throw my
self at thy feet, Bless me! Bless me! Amen. "
No medicine was prescribed, but in addition to
the prayer bag was long briar switch, which
he told the mother to use whenever the child
became restless. not on the child, fortunately,
but to take it and vigorously beat the air
about the crib to drive off the witches" that
he said were holding a spell over the little
one. The fellow was very properly placed
under arrest, and an end put to his dangerous
nonsense. The same should be done with
the managers of the ''faith-cure' hospitals in
which the slaughter of innocents is perpe-
trated. There is a demand for revival of
common sense, and it is specially incumbent
upon the professors of the religion in whose
name this blasphemy is carried ON to lead in
the revival.