The Press., 1891-03-05
W. c. T. U. DEPARTMENT.
Union Signal.l
AUNT ooLUMB1A's OPINION OF HOMES.

(Un1on S1gnall
 AUNT ooLUdBIA's OPINION OF HOMES.
 My Dear Relations :-It sort of comforts body up to tell their troubles to some sympathlzin' souls, even if one don't get no immediate word of encouragement, and I feel in need of conserlation, for there ain't no manner of doubt about your Un- cle Samuel's inkonsistensy bein' a great trial to me. Your Uncle Samuel and me, we are very good friends mostly. but we have our private opinion of each other and without inferrin' anything against his general karacter, which | wouldn't do for .the world, I must say he isruther inklined to be narrow vishioned, and considerably apt to make mistakes. =
 You see, Samuel has ben havin' sum little unpleasant disagreement with them Iniuns he adopted and promised to take good care of. He sais to ,em in the first place, when the papers wus made out
 s'You jest stay right here on these lands I've 'lotted to you, and behave yourselves decently, and I'll give you plenty of food to eat, and clothes to wear ;; and then sure enough he didn't do nethin' of the sort. And so, after while, them poor red men got so cold and hungry they lost all faith in the small father at Washington and looked for help from the great Father above. They had heard enongh about the Messiah to thInk of him aa h deliverer, and when they had endured till they jest couldn't endure no more, 1t seemed as tho l the Messiah must come to their aid. Poor 1 souls, poor souls indeed If only your Uncle Samuel had taken sum of the sur plus he talks so much abont, and sent sum good. true men to tell them about the true Messiah. how different things might have ben.
 We'll, when the Iniuns began to talk about bein' delivered, their white-skinned naibors jest got skared the worst kind of a way and kummenced to- accuse the red men of all kinds of things they hadn't never done, and most likely wusn't never goin' to do, and so your Uncle Samuel he sent a lot of soljers out to look after the In- juns, and he issued manifester, sayln' , sour settlers homes must be perfected at any cost" And right there is where his inkonsistensy comes in.
 Samuel" I sais to him, s'you ain't kon- sistent, maxim such distinction between homes. You say few settlers homes out on the plains must and shall be perfected, and you let all the homes all over our land be in danger of destruction by 2 worse en. emy than the Iniun,-an enemy that you pertect b, licensin' and legalizin' him, in. stead of pertectin' the homes Y
 Sais I, ."Them Injuns don't do no great amount of harm, espeshully when they are treated well, which ain't often but if hu. man nature and the white mans fire water do sometimes make them act little bad you jest send your soliers right after 'em; Why don't you send your soljers after the 1other enemies of our peoples homes-in | sknal of 10xr,v,T sy,S r,, v sInilin' while homes go to ruin, and men die, and women and children suffer, and you giyin, your sanktion to thesbisness that causes all this woe, 2ad permittin' thu men that carry on the bisness tospay yor 4foS the trouble they have made 2'' I Oh, wsIl, ' he sais, fsI need tho resenn. gain. My country is 8 great and grow in nation and need all the money ge to make great public improvements, anG to build costly buildln's for the benefit O Imy sons and daughters, post-ofices ant Iprisons, Legislative halls and loonati' asylums, and the like"
 Samuel" replied, tours ia a grea and growing nation indeed, and it's min' as well as yours, even if I don't have n, voice in it's management. The homes ar, my espeshul care, for I know a nation lgreatness IS founded on the karacter of it homes, and when their purity and pros perity begin to fail, the nations strengtl is bein' undermined
 Sais I, ''As for the revenue you gain, n, amount of public improvements can eve make up for the ruin of so many homes the breakin' of 80 many hearts, and tn loss of so many lives, as there needs mus be to make that revenue possible. Qoy think it's goin' to comfort mourni1' wo men to turn from the graves where thei lost ones lie sleepin' and look up at marbl halls built with money that ought to hay gone to buy food and clothin' for them an, their children? Do you think it's goin' L benefit men to be shut up for life in pris ons built with revenue money after the have lost everythin' by fallin' victims t your licensed, death.dealin' saloons? And most of all. what help will it be to hos of wives and mothers and sisters who hay gone clean crazy over their sorrows an suferin's, to be told what they haven't res son enough left to understand, that tn asylums where they are at last pertecte were built with money drawn from tn life-b blood of those who were dearer t them than life, but whom no love coul hold back when once they were started o that swift downward stream that flow X from the rum~seller's bar ?"
 "Oh, sais I, ''I should think you woul rather have our land full of peaceful, hal py homes, than to have all the revenue i T the world. should think you woul rather gather rich harvest of souls ini }, the kingdom of heaven, than to gain
 great harvest of dollars and cents for you : own treasury; any way, would.' 9 But your Uncle Samuel he evaded mai in any reply, and in fact I think it don come nateraf for him to be interested such subjecks. For while I was quit diskouraged and down-hearted, and then remembered what knew all the tim only it had slipped my mind for httl and that is that even if your Uncle Samu won't send his soljers to perfect our chi dren's homes, why, the Lord is a sendi His; so shall ssneither be troubled nt afraid" any more.
 (Alf the same must confess your Uncle y inconsistency is a very great trial.1
 AUNT COLUMBIA.
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