The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-12-21

prilously free and reckless habit
has OF charging full upon us when
4 least expect il, with that sharp
Laee Of hers. and remorselessly piercing,
u her iashing onslaught, the tough hides
+ "A tender consciences of foes and friends
ffe. What though the lance is never
limited TO rust, and when in action has
Z, been freshly dipped in gall There is
xaey mingled in the gall if we only choose
ind 1.-THE sweet and soothing honey
b yomanly tenderness, with which her
E:seres. feminine vindictiveness is never
ate untinged.
For Gail Hamilton never ceases TO be a
kanar. Her fiercest assaults have been
kade with the delicate though deadly steel
kfhe skilled and graceful woman champ
-, entering with all her soul into the
refront of the conflict, or standing def
1ntIy alone, if need be, TO tight for what
IA believes to be right-neycr with the
}esrser and heavier weapons of the ANA
M She can bind wounds as we'll as make
ben, and though some of her antagonists
Eslthat she has rclentlessly passed them by
ktxr disabling them, or thinking that she
a. disabled them, they are not going to
marre with her forever, for even her vic
kms are compelled TO feel in the long run
EAst there was, after all, something very
thactiye in her way of Strengthening them.
|Bas what hornets nest Gail Hamilton is
ping to stir up about herself now! She
4x entered into the arena of theological
scussion, and the objects of her assault
r religious creeds and the men who made
hen as well as the men who now defend
hem. The title of her book is "a Wash
hgton Bible Glass;
i And Gail Hamilton last winter was the
sading spirit and chief instructor of that
lble class. Its organizers were the women
no stand highest in what has come to be
aogn as the administration social set of
be national capital. Gail Hamilton, who
y present belongs in that set as a near
tsative and member of the household of
Secretary Blaine, found last winter many
distinguished women. and wives of dis
thguished men, who, although leading
kenbers, many of them, of orthodox de-
fpminations, confessed to persistent feel
hg Of religious unrest. Their minds were
POI in full sympathy with the crecds they
kroiessed. or, in some instances, their chill
Ien absolutely rejected sundry received
Idoctrines, and the mothers knew not how
~ act. ION all Sides" says the writer,
the unquenchable thirst for God, the free
potion Of thought, were battling with eccle-
tasticism, and would not be put off with
authority or put off from religion"
/ And so it was that woman, described
In the introduction as one ''to whom the
lclogy is the breath of life''-and We can
Isasily recognize in her the author of the
Inew book-Said to the questioners: "Let
Ins leave speculation to itself; let us cease
10 question error, and let us search for
Truth. The Bible is the source of our for
|mulated faith. Whether it is authority or
mot, nothing else is authoritative. Let us
pee, not what Is Calyinism, or Luthcranism
|or AgnoStieism, or Catholicism, or Uniyer-
|hlism, but what is Scripture; not what
|men say Scripture says and means, but
What Scripture itself means and says"
And so the Bible class was formed. ''The
|slfe OF the president" we are told, with
|highest interest in highest things, was
foremost in support. The wife of the sec
|fetary of state, ever hospitable to truth,
|pohered her drawing-room for the study
|ci the Holy Scriptures But before the
eass had formed itself for its first gather
ing, tleecy, filmy cloud that had BODIED
no EVIL IN sunny sky, suddenly deepened
ard darkened with the thunderbolts of
bod. From the home which would have
welcomed the Bible class, from a home
which had held four and thirty years of
uhoroken family unity, son of rare
Promise, a daughter of tender love,
Vent pressing, almost hand in hand,
100 early TO the unknown land.
md all the world was changed"
Not alone here, but elsewhere III the
Work Is the great grief that then fell upon
lhe Blaine fanily-a grief in which no one
nay dare attempt TO describe how fully
bal Hamilton shared-most tenderiy and
Fehngiy referred 10. Soon, however,
upon the suggestion of the wife of the vice
President, the idea of the Bible class was
n'lyed. Was there ever such Bible class
70 the world before? Look at il as de-
|srbed by its historian:
the wife OF the president promptly re-
asNeo her feaIty, and remained 4 constant,
suggestive and enthusiastic student, COM
handing her children and her household
sl1er her, not only in stimulating attend
saVe ard attention. but in an always gcner-
.as consideration. Both houses of congress,
Wy circles OF science, of literature, of edu-
spsl9h, OF diplomacy, sent their delegates.
t...seeyterlanism, Congregationalism, Uni
a. -. :.a11iiSili, Eplscopacy, were ably and
saAeiy represented, and never more
leeaoiy than when, in Horatian phrase,
ss1utiiui daughters came with their moro
sSathul mothers. The English church
~ ~ the Greek church bent 10 each other
81 a. stately courtesy. The Quaker
;;h was there, robed accord
~ 10 the last dainty imported
80 80 q the children of this world, but
~ e''l ~ tac gentle aspect and sanity bear
r. ~ oeorye Fox and the Winters,
fTas'seF end sister. Ignatius Loyola and
e-'4tto0 Edwards sat side by side IN
$50 costume - faultless cut and Won
,sas Y i1a Hlorc lightly or deeply into Sat
~, es',s:sy iisilt than the other. Young Rad
ss'Sln found the texts for old Orthodoxy;
ssfi 10th smiled approval whenever the
il Z OF the Spirit Slipped ia between the
AZ hed joints of Error gaping agnoF.
Il zane together, not - advocate any
!. y or repel any doctrine whatever, bat
teaches.
women were at first. With single eX-
sspeon. the only attendants. but soon the
-, nen Of the capital began To drop in
= hose Sunday afternoon gatherings,
~ oail Hamilton had most distinguished
-aiences, for it soon happened that the
.enoers OF the class left "ihe woman in
w saalr again We can guess her maine