Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-04-09


his hat, his boot, and his cost of the right
pattern, and now, if ne cnn only swe.r
without swkwardness, and as well as his
comrades, he believes he is in the fash
ion. There are young men who walk in
an atmosphere Of mprecsticn-oa,hs On
their lips, under their tongues, nesting in
their shock OF hair. They abstain from it
in the elegant drawing -ro0m, but the
street and the clubhouse ring with their
profanities. They have no regard for
God, although they have great respect for
the ladies! My young brother, there is
no manliness in that. The most upgen-
tlemanly thing man can do is to swear.
Fathers foster this great crime. There
are parents who are very cautious not to
swear in the pre- essence of their children lin
moment of sudden anger, they look
around to see II the children are
present when they indulge in this habit.
Do you not know, oh father, that your
child is aware of the fact tha. you swear?
He overheard you in the next room, or
someone has informed him of your habit
He is prscticing now. In ten years he
will swear IS well as you do. Do not, oh
father, be under the delusion that you
may swear and your son not know it,
It is an awful thing to start the habit III
the family-the father to be profane, and
then to have the echo of his example come
back from other generations; so that gen.
erations after generations curse the Lord.
The crime is also tostered by master
mechanics, boss carpenters, those who
are at the head of men in hat factories,
and in dock-yards, and at the head OF
GREAT BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENTS.
When you go down to look at the work OF
the scsfolding, and you find it is not
done right, what do you sSY2 1t Is not
praying, is 1t? The employer swears-
his employe is tempted to swear. The
man says: "I don't know why my en-
ployer, worth $50, 900 or 500, 900, should
have any luxury L should be denied sim
ply because l an poor. Because l am
poor and dependent on g days wages,
haven't as much right TO swear as he
hiss with his large income2" Employers
swear, and that makes so many employees
| swear!
The habit also comes from iuhrmity of
temper. There are good many people
who, when they are at peace, have right
eousness Of speech, but when angered
they blaze with imprec,tion. Perhaps
all the rest Of the year they talk in right
language, but now they pour out the fury
of whole year in one red hot paragraph
OF five minutes. l knew OF man who ex-
cused himself for the habit, saying: 81
only swear once In great while.
must do that ast to clesr myself out"
The habit comes alss from the prefuse
use of Oywords. The transition from q
byword which may be perfectly harmless
to imprecation and profanity, is not g
very large transition. It is "my stars ~
and Imercy on me!' and "good gra.
cious!" and "by George!" and "by
Jovel" and you go On With that a little
while, and then you swear. These words,
perfectly harmless in themselves, are
next door to imprecation and blssphemy.
A profuse use of byWords always ends in
profanity. The habit is creeping 10 into
the highest styles OF society. W0mer
have no patience with fat and unvar-
lIpished profanity. They will order man
out of the parlor INDUCING in blasphemy
and yet you will sometimes find them
with fairy fan to the lip, and under chan
dellers which bring no
BLUSH TO THEIR CHEEK,
taking on their lips the hottest Of name:
in utter trlvislity.
Why, my friends, the English language
is comprehensive and capable of express
ing sill shapes of feeling and every de-
gree Of energy. Are you happy, Nosh
Webster will give you 10000 words with
which to express your exhilaration. Are
you righteouslyi indignant, there are
whole armorles in the vocabulary, righte
GUS vocabulary-whole armies Of denun-
citation, and scorp, and sarcasm, and
irony, and caricsture, and wrath. You
express yourself against some meanness
or hypocrisy, in all the oatbs that ever
smoked up from the pit, and will come
right on after you and give 8 thousand.
fold more emphasis of denunciation tc
the same meanness and the same hypoc
risy in words ACROSS which no slime ha!
ever trailed, and into which the fires Of
hell have never shot their forked tongues
the pure, the innocent, God-honoreC
Anglo Saxon in which Milton sang, and
John Bunyan dreamed, and Shakspers
dramstized.
There is no use for profanity when WI
nave such magnificent langusge-sucl
q flow of good words, potent words
mighty words, words just to suit every
crisis and every case. Whatever be hi
cause OF it, profanity is on the increase
and if you do not know it, 1t is because
yUuE toIo upNC UCCn uoluCuCO ny IlC III
of imprecstions SO thatyou are.not stirreC
and moved as you ought to be by profani
ties in these cities which are enough t.
bring hurricane Of fire like that whicl
consumed Sodom.
Do you know thst this trivial use @
Gods name results in perjury? Do yov
know that people who take the name @
God on their lips in recklessness an
thoughtlessness ere fostering the crime o
perjury? Make the name Of God foot
bali in the community, and it has nj
power when in courtroom and leglsla,
tive assembly it is employed in
SOLEMN ADMIRATION!
See the way sometimes they admin.
lister the oath: "S'help you God-kis
the book!" Smuggling, which is slwayl
violation of the oath, becomes in som;
circles grand joke. You say to man
chow is it possible for you to sell thes'
goods SO very chesp2 l can't understand
It." "Ah!" he replies, with twinkle o.
the eye, "the custom house tariff o
these goods isn't as much as
} might be-" An oath does not meaI