St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-12-15
WHAT SHALL WE Doc?
Rev. Vail Asks This Question and
Answers IL.

ReV. all ASKS This Question and
Answers IL.
"Men and brethren, what shall we
do9'' was the question of Rev. ". S.
Vail in his Grand opera house sermon
Sunday morning, and he explained that
the apostolic words had been prompted
by the prevalence of crime;I and es-
pecially Of capital crime. in our state,
and it was certainly significant that at
the very moment one man was on trial
for his life two murders were commit
ted within a mile Of the jail where the
gallOwS stared prisoner in the face
This marShaling of testimony against a
prisoner, this hurrying of crowds to the
court house, this general feeling of ex-
element and interest, will be used in
two WayS-for window to show us the
general view of the criminal condition,
and as symptom to indicate the kind of
sickness from which the social body is
suffering at present.
''Jhere is a perverted social world. In
ii is generated all crime that we see and
are called upon to punish. 1t lures the
boy with criminal tendencies as the
bait lures the fish. 1t skillfully throws
the snare about the feet OF the unwarv,
and before lie is aware of bis proximity
he has been so bli ded by infatuation
that he is caught in the swift stream
and borne downward at a pace he can
not resist This life offers social enjoy
mentS, but they are poisoned. 1t offers
revels of wild laughter, but every ring
ing laugh has all echo of pain. 1t is a
masquerade, and you cannot tell who is
your friend or who is your foe. Danger
is written on everything connected with
1t, and he who ventures within its pre-
cincts or finds within its guided palaces
of sin a resting place is never safe; his
reputation may go in an hour, his posi-
ton of trust may fly in a moment, his
life by the very conditions of his associ-
ates may be sacrificed without warning.
A man who touches this life of perver-
sion is like one walking along volca.
| noes, anu where earthquakes appear
without warning. And this maelstrom
continually swallows up many of the
best and the brightest, casting their
wrecked lives upon a cold and danger.
Gus sea to float away 'unknelled, un-
honored and unSung.'"
1t was claimed that we could only
| deal with the problem by knowing it:
| by seeking the causes of the perver.
| SION; by study of the criminal ciiarac.
| ter; by examination of social ideas and
| social conditions that produced the
| given result. The
Causes Were Considered
as the contributing branches of a black
| rolling river, here broadening into g
| miaSmatic swamp. there rolling over
| rocks cataract of jet, rising mist oil
black, making the atmosphere unnatu
raj and discOuraging. Of the contrib
| utlng streams, natural yiciouSness
waking animal propensities is the first
| Ibis, however, is not the commences
| cause of crime. Ignorance is the com
| moneSt cause. 1t leads men to develor
| appetites that hold them in an iror
grasp before they know its power; i
| prevents US from understanding the in
fiuence of heredity. and allows us by
this lack of knowledge to fall helpless
down the cliffs Of destruction with
out one warning werd. 1t makes u:
| ignorant of our passions, our emotions
| and leads us by this to the very
| verge of flood without preparing us
| for the dire consequences that are mos
| likely to follow the false step we are il
| danger of taking. All the crimnality
that comes from mistake, whether OF
desire to administer justice in the hea
! OF anger-brief madneSS-or from those
steps taken without knowledge tina
throw the mists of infatuation over oul
| eyes and make us pitiful objects in oui
downward course, and all the crime:
| called forth by avarice. supposed in
justice and cruelty. may he TO large
extent set down to the side of ignor
ance. Outside OF this. more serious bu
less common, comes the genuine Grim
Iidl type, hopeless, dangerous, beyonC
| the Influence of help. while living iI
| his present perverted body, with it: