Blue-grass blade., 1886-02-13
SUBSCRIPTION ST PER YEAR

HuNc D"eu all uiOnS NVWn w wa
valley; have eaten its bitter herb,
and have walked barefoot oyer il
stones and thorns, and there no3e
was but one nand that reached ou
to me far enough for me to catcl
hold of, an B that was woman's
The first me ] ever saw Mr.. De-
Roode VI when he was seventeen
years old.Snd he alone was defend
ing his CNholic faith against three
prominent Protestant ministers, anc
stunned them and those that heart
him, and made me, a boy, think o.
how the twelve year old Nazarent
di .puted with the doctors in the
temple
I was never in Mr.. DeRoode's
house but once. 1t was after the
cloud had come over my life's sky.
and I could not see through it, and
and up into heaven, as plainly as
other folks said they could. There
was an elegant party at the house OF
the Professor, and there was music
and dancing, and talk and laughter;
but when we came into the elegant
supper table, he called them to sit
lence and asked that / should, for
them thank the Giver of daily bread
for those good things, and ! did SO.
1 am going to tell you little in
cident that will be recognized as
true by a good many people who
will read this. 1t will involve a
practical question. Everybody
admits the right of the church to
send man to the devil because he
dom t believe something, and | am
not going to raise any row about
that, becauee 1 want to 90 into q
pool with the ministers, if they will
give me a square deal, in their
work against the liquor traffic, and
about half dozen more things, as
soon as we get that fixed up all
right. But if it is going 10 be the
case that a man under trial in a
Fayette County Court is goiSg to
have his case damaged because he is
not religiously orthodox, we all
ought to know whether we are going
to be examined out of the catechism
or the Bible. Business is business.
We will want an examining board
and certificates that we have passed
muster. When it all gets fixed l
will rub up in some of the hardest
questions, end see if ] cannot pass,
incase Il should ever get into the
hands of the court. If 1 pass, l
will run the Blade right here; if 1
don't, I will move with my family
to China, learn to write grim jokes
in tea chest short hand, and publish
the Blade alice samee as Mclean
man, in Hong Kong.
fused to be preacher. One day
a smart young fellow came along,
and told me that theology vas SO
thin that it wouldn't hold shukcs.
No man could throw down that
gauntlet to me. l told him to bring
out his authorities, and I brought
out mine. We read both sides,
first one and then the other, for six
weeks, day and night. When we 60
through we snapped sides. 1 bap-
tised him in the baptistry of mic.
church in Versailles, closed the Bi
ble and stepped down and out
the pulpit, and said 1 would not 60
up into it again until l got some
kinks out of some of my ideas. l
saw what was ahead of me, and it
like to have killed me. I was
younger and better looking than l
am now, and there were lott of nice
people in that congregation, and
when stood in that pulpit vn Sun
day, looked out over the pretty
girls aud they looked like a flower
garden, and some good sisters used
to kinder hint to me that | might
possibly get one of them, if l want
ed one, to help me run that meeting
house. 1t was a soft place, and the
thought of giving it up was pretty
bitter. About that time, a very
popular minister that now gets
handsome salary in Lexington, and
has done so tor years, was proposed
as candidate for the position l oc-
cupied. OF course l was not very
solicitous about the result, as l in
tended to 60 out any how, but when
they came to vote on it, l got every
vote in the congregation but one.
Judge Richard Reid was sample
copy of the kind of men 1 was
preaching to. l went home and
worked on the farm as best | could,
but it was pretty hard work for me.
Years rolled on and l was tearfully
under the ban. / wrote some pieces
tor the papers, and one of them
"struck it rich" as dear, good Bro.