St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-02-24
But the age is too restless for return to
the straight jackets.

LII d lOCillby III Mdiy ldEU tlCl0 10
some excitement over the performance
of the marriage ceremony by a clergy
man where both of the contracting par
ties were women. They disappeared
when the fact was discovered. and the
authorities are said to be looking for
them. AS both are of age, it does not
appear how they can be held legally
culpable. 1t is found that in the statsl
uteS of some, perhaps most of the states.
there is no prohibition of the marriage
of persons of the same sex. There:
might not be much admiration of the.
taste and Judgment, but if persons of
the same sex want to be put in the cons
nubial harness whose business is it?
TTT e
1t is stated that the statistics show
that the great majority Of suicides take
place on the first days of the week.
They do not occur, however, often
among those who have been to church
and looked after their religious duties.
AS a rule, they are persons who have
spent Sunday in dissipation. In the re-
action after the unnatural stimulus the
brain is out of gear, and the pictures of
life fashioned in it are dismal and lead
to self-destruetion.
TTT
The query why people do not go to
church more has of late been made
matter of local investigation, not fully
completed, with view to energetic and
concerted effort to reduce the censuS
of abstention. 1t is to be hoped that
practical results will ensue. There are
sno unusual local features. The people
of st. Paul probably attend church
quite as generally as the residents of
any of the large cities. Figures pub
lished recently show that the churches
OF this country have more than kept
pace with the growth of population,
and there is no reason to doubt that the
churches are as well filled as in any
former time. Still there is ample room
for increased effort. People can find
excuses for staying away from church
much easier than for not going almost
anywhere else. A point or two gathered
from some of the census takers en-
ployed by the churches will illustrate.
One man said he attended prominent
church every Sunday for year. and
never was spoken to or knew the name
of a single other attendant except the
preacher. He then Joined the stay
aways. Another said he had to wait at
the door until all the pew-renters had
come in, or the time for them had
passed. BE soon Wearied of this, and
easily fell out Of the habit Of going.
Others said they did not feel able to
rent pews for their families, and had
too much pride to occupy those reserved
for the poor. These are samples of the
excuses more frequent among those
who had been accustomed to church
going, and rather are inclined to think
they ought to go. Others, of course,
didn't feel interested in the subject, and
had other use for their time.
ffT
A street car conductor in Chicago was
fined for swearing at a policeman for
not stopping the small boys who made
him the target for spowballs. The court
RENTED the fine, and delivered an i'm
pressiye discourse upon the lniQuity of
profanity, especially when addressed to
a policeman. Chicago has not been
noted for the pious demeanOr OF its aver
age citizen, but it is significant and en-
couraging when the ears of Il policeman
can be wounded in that way, and the
religious plane for the street car con-
ductor is above this irrelgious indul-
gence. A good man-that is, the aver
age st. Paul man not a street car con-
ductor-would feel tempted to say harsh
words if the small boys hit him hard
with their ice chunks. The idea that
profanity, as used with those who have
moral checks, is due to the paucity of
the vocabulary at command is less prob
able than the theory that a sort of
psychological spasm is induced by the
operative agency, reviving an imbedded
theological nomenclature in an inverted
form. This, perhaps, may not be quite
understood without object lessons, but
it will do for Chicago.
TIT
The preacher in the East is man Of
eminentIy practical sense, who insists
that whether it is the thing most to be
desired or not, the Sunday paper has
become one of the permanent institu-
tons, and effort should be directed to
make it, even more than it now is, a CO.
worker with the pulpit and general
moral illuminant. The preacher can
reach only the few who are in harmony
with him, or who subject themselves to
the exposure fortified in their armor
of incredulity. The Sunday press comes
with no austere professions, freighted,
like the ancient Scriptures, with the
passing life, pictured from nature and
the actual, and has ready access where
moral truths and precepts are not by
themselves given generous hospitality.
In the Kaleidoscope of current history
there are object lessons full of moral
significance, and there is a growing
tendency to treat the phases of life in
the Sunday issue for the mental and re-
liglous Improvement of the readers. Its
character will be the reflex in the main
of the general sentiment, very much as
the pulpit is of the pews.
----zkEH--
MASCULINE CURLS.
At the Peoples theater the last night