Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1888-04-14

1t is not done right, What do you sayf III l
not praying, is itl The employer swears-
hisemploye is tempted to swear. The maj
says: II don't know why my employer
worth s50,O00:or 300 900, should have any
luxury should DO denied simply because
am poor. Because am poor and dependen
on days wages, haven't as much right K
swear as ho has with his large incomef
Employers swear, md that makes so many
employees swear?
Tho habit also comes from inflrmity Of
temper. There are good many people who
when they arc at peace, have righteousness
Of speech, but when angcrcd they blaze will
imprecntion Perhaps all the rest of the
year thoy 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 excused himself for the habit
saying: 81 only swear once in great while.
I must do that just to clear myself out.n
The habit comes also from the profuso use
of bywords. The transition from a byword
which may be perfectly harmless to impre.
Z cation and profanity, is not 10 very large
transition - 1t Is s.my stars ~ and amercy on
3-ne l,,and g good gracious and Shy George21
send nby Joye n and you go on with that a
3 little will and then you swear. Ihese
words peffectly InsolG are
next door to IMP CATH d anG Bin
profuse use of bywords alway ends I'M pro.
family. The habit is creeping up into the
highest styles of society. Women have no
patience with fiat and unvarnished profanity.
They will order man out of the parlor in
J,,1. ii ,ri11
sometimes find them with fairy fan to the
lip, and under chandeliers which bring no
blush to their check, taking Oh their lips the
holiest of names in utter triyiality.
Why, my friends, tho English language is
comprehensive and capable of expressing all
shades of feeling and every degree of ell
ergy. Arc you happyl Noah Webster will
give you ten thousand words with which to
express your eXhilaration. Arc you right
eously indignant There are whole armies
in the vocabulary, righteous vocabulary
whole armies of denunciation, and
scorn, md sarcasm, and irony, and Carl
caturc, and wrath. You express your
self against some meanness or hypocrisy
in all the oaths that ever smoked up from
tue pit, and will come right on after you
and give q thousandfold moro emphasis Of
denuncintion to tho Same mcnnneSs and the
samc hypocrisy in words across which no
slime has ever trailed, and into which the
fires of hell have never shot their forked
tongues-tho pure, tho innocent. God hon
ored Anglo-Saxon in which Milton sang and
John Bunyan dreamed and Shakespeare
dramatized.
There is 10 excuse for profanity when we
have such magnificent lanSuage-such
flow Of good words, potent words, mighty
words, words just to suit evory crisis and
every case. Whatever be tho cause of it,
profanity is on the increase, and if you do
not know it, it is because your ears have
been hardened by the din of inprecations SO
TINT you aro rot stirred and moved Us you
ought to be by profenities in these cities
which arc enough to bring a hurricane Of
fire like that which consumed Sodonl.
Do you know that this trivial ,ise Of Gods
name results in pcrjuryi Do you know that
people who take tho name of God on their
lips in recklessness and thoughtlcssness arc
fostering tho crime of perjury2 Mako the
end it hos no power when in court room and
in legislative assembly it is employed in
solemn adjuration See the way sometimes
they administer the oath: "S'hclp you Cod
kiss tho bookln Smuggling, which is always
q violation Of the oath, becomes in some
circles grand joke. You say to man:
GLOW is it possible for you to sell these goods
50 very chcapl can't understand lt.n "Ah!"
no renlies. with O twinkle of tho eye, "the
much as it might be- An oaIn uoeS no1
moan as much Us it would wero the namo OF
God used in reverence and in solemnity.
Why is it that SO often Jurors render unao-
countable vcrdicts and judges give unao-
countablo charges, and useless railroad
schcmes pass in our state capitals, and there
ore most unjust changes made in tariffs
tariff lifted from one thing and put upon
another.
What is On oathi Anything solcmn3 ANY.
thing that calls upon tho Almighty Any
thing that marks IN event in a mans hlstoryf
Oh, no! 1t is kissing tho book! There is no
habit, tell you plainly-and talk to hum
drels and thousands Of men today who will
thank me for my utterance-I tell you, my
brother-I talk to you not professionally but
inst as one brother talks to another Oh some
very important thcme-I tell you there is no
habit that so depletes mans nature as the
habit of profanity. You might as well try
to raise vineyards aud orchards on the sides
OF belching Stromboli as to raise anything
GOOD OH heart from which there pours out
tho scoria of profanity. You may swear
yourself down; you cannot swear yourself
up. When tho Mohanincdan finds piece of
paper he cannot read, lie puts it aside very
cautiously for fear the name of God may be
on it. That is one extreme. We go the
other. Now what is tho cure OF this
habit 1t is mighty habit. Men have
struggled for years to get over it. There are
men in this house of God who would give
half their fortune to get rid OF it. An aged
man was in the delirium Of u fever. He had
for many years lived most upright life and
WIS honored in all the community, but when
no came into the delirium of this fever he
was full of iinprccation and profanity, and
tboy could not understand it, After he came
to bis right reason he explained it, Etc said:
"When was young man l was very pro
fame. conquered the habit, but had to
struggle all through life You haven't for
forty years heard mo say an improper word,
but it has been an awful struggle. The tiger
. is chained, but he is alive yet"
If you would get rid OF this habit, want
you, my friends, to dwell upon the useless
ness of it, Did volley of oaths ever start
heavy loaG7 Did they ever eNtirpate mean
ness from customer' Bid they ever collect
q bad debtl Did they ever cure toothachc2
Did they ever stop the twinge of the rbeu-
matism2 Did they ever help you forward
ono step in the right directioni Come now,
tell me, ye who have had the most expert
eaco in this habit, how much have you made
out of it, Five thousand dollars in all your
lifes No. One thousandi No. Ono hun
drcd7 No. One dollar' No. One cent?
No. If tile habit be SO utterly useless, away
with it.
But you say: 81 have struggled to over
come the habit q long while, and ! have not
been successful You struggled in your
own strength, nv brother. II ever man