Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1888-01-24

daily-shall we not look into these MOI
clearly? Shall We call God cruel an
harsh, and suffer mans cruelty? Shal
we com PLAIN OF Gods ways, and ye
ourselves practice ways, that are still
more cruel, because done without pur
pose? Shall we not rather each one o
us see to it that upon our hands rest
the blood OF no MIA who either by on
example, by q neglect, by our care.
l%essness, and by our folly has beef
crushed in heart and broken in health
And then when we have done this
when We can say with truth tina
We have done our best to make oul
homes and our hearts ciean-wheu we
have done our best to secure peace and
good order-when We have diligently
and faithfully sought to exterminate
every enemy OF our neighbor, then We
are prepared to pass to the second part
of my theme. namely: ..
why did God send us the storm"
First, we may say that God sent the
blizzard to tea.h us some lesson.
Every great calamity sent from God hat
made men wiser. Earthquakes have
taught men to build their homes
with more care. Storms at sea have
caused men to stady the laws OF paviga-
ton with more wisdsm, and construct
ships for great security, and apply
steam to increase their speed. Great
fires have led to greater caution in the
use of combustibles, and instead oil
houses of wood we build our cities oil
iron and stone. Each one of these i'm
provements adds to mans mental power
and bodily comfort. Great epidemios.
have led to the more careful study OF
sanitary and medical principles, and to
the greater skillin the treatment OF dia-
ease God has his lessons to teach, and we
men are SO dull and slothful that he has
to teach as by severity often times
The world has been growing better I'M
der these severe lessons, not worse, and
from that fact we see that the lessons
have been useful, not harmful. Stand
ing so near a great catastrophe We are
not SO we'll qualified to judge OF its
meaning. But q few suggestions of
help come to us.
/. And the first lesson it seems to me
is this, that these furious storms that
destroy men and kill stock will teach the
inhabitants OF these plains kindness to
their stock. We think of the mon who
persisted, and forget that for years there
has been practiced a system of
cruelty to animals unparalleled for
its barbarity. 1t is the practice
of using stock in large herds upon these
cattle ranges. Through severe winters
thousands of these helpless creatures are
made to feed themselves and find shelter
as best they may under the furious and
pEitslshess sttnrms nf .nr- snG ice. NAN
OF these creatures die, but thousands
more suffer untold misery drifting hun
dreds OF miles, seeking in vain for food
and shelter became OF mans greed for
money. Those who have been upon
these ranges and have seen the brutality
of cattle drivers in the handling of the
calves in the long forced marches in the
round up as we'll as in the storms know
what l refer to. Cruelty, whether &c
man or beast, is an ofense that cries &c
heaven, and perhaps these destructive
storms will eventually teach mon that
il they would be guardians OF Gods
dumb creatures they must be kind to
them and provide them food and shelter
and have mercy upon them in their
weariness and allow no unnecessary
suf sring.
2. And in the second plsce il may BIZ
that this storm will teach our farmers
that they must provide better quarter,
for their children in she school houses
There are school houses in our neighbor
hood sosmall and uncomfortable, sc
poorly ventilated and lighted, 81
iuadequately warmed that they are not q
places in which to keep human children
crowded together for eight hours OF the
day for three months. In one of thes.
school houses In we'll. to-do
neighborhood l sat shiyering b,
q broken window one day last fall with
my overcoat on, and not q fire place o,
a stove in the house. These school
houses too are placed often far away from
any farmhouse or humsn h%abitation. Nc
wonder that we heard of children and
teachers freezing to death. I am told
that in some schools in the territory th,
scholars could not stay all night for there
was not sufficient fuel on hand. 1t ma,
be We shall be more merciful to thu
children because OF the blizzard.
3. In the third place these furloul
storms will tend to build o race OF mel
here who have pluck and courage and in
domitable will. Lazy men. and men o
email! energy will be drifted far to the
south because Of these storms. New
England's rocky and inhospitable sboreI
were far less inviting to the discoverer
OF the 18th century than the Palmett,
groves of the sunny south. And yet New
England han reared q race OF i~ntellsctua
and physical and moral giants, VII,
have made America what it is by thei
uncomfortable will while the Carolinian
have handed over their work to the negro
Chicago and Minneapolis and Oman,
and 9 thousand other vigorous cities wer,