The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1890-10-02
Sunday Services.

Chaplain ]. h. Albert conducted chapel services
last Sunday. He took for his text the 18th chap
ter Of Judges, 9th verse:"Then said they unto him.
Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: tor
he could not frame to pronounce it right Then
they took him, and slew him at the passages Of
Jordon: and there fell at that time of the
Ephraimites forty and two thousand" The
speaker described the condition of the Jewish
race at the time of which the text speaks. That
was the darkest period in Jewish history. The
Jewish people at that time were just emerging
out of state of weakness and partial servitude
into condition of strength and independence.
They were fighting the decisive battles that made
them the dominant race. They were passing
through the crucial period that every people have
had to 60 through that came out of a lower to a
higher state of power and civilization. We see
this fact illustrated in the Negro to-day; and
it is so Of the life of NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. comes
critical period in the life of every man when
his destiny hangs in the balance. Just prior to
the events described in the text the Gileadites
under Jephthah had won a decisive battle from
the Ephraimites, and as the defeated Ephraimites
were attempting to escape they were stopped by
Jephthahs men stationed at the passages over the
river Jordon and in order to discover the men Of
Ephraim from their own people they put them to
the test by requiring them to pronounce the word
'Shibboleth,p and they said "Sibboleth" for they
could not frame to pronounce it right" AL.
though they spoke the same language, they had
acquired different accent just as the people OF
different sections of this country have different
pronunciations of the same words. A child easily
learns to pronounce words as he hears them, but
when he is grown up it is nearly impossible for
him to acquire a new pronunciation. The grown
person can never acquire a correct pronunciation
OF foreign language. By long practice the
mouth--all the organs Of speech-becomes formed
to express certain sounds. There is such sound
| as in the Chinese language. therefore a China
man has to substitute another sound when using
And it is the same with the human mind. 1t gets
accustomed to certain ideas and those ideas show
| themselves in the expressed thoughts Ct the
person, just as the tongue betrays the nationality
| of speaker. The same fact holds good in moral
sensibilites. A man may profess to be exceedingly
| religious and may conduct himself properly. and
| yet people will distrust him, because his base
nature unconsciously betrays itself in his CONVEX
sation, it may be by a look that he is betrayed
This illustrates how strong is the force of habit.
The only way to learn to do right. is to do right
A man cultivates good habits by practicing good
works. 1t is hard for a depraved man to become
pure. but he can, if he will, refrain from impure
| things and cultivate pure thoughts. He can drive
| the evil and worthless ideas out of his mind by
crowding in good ideas 1t may be hard at first to
read good books. but in time good ideas will drive
the evil out. Then it will be pleasure.