The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-11-27
THE FREE LANCE.

Thanksgiving passed as all Thanksgiv-
lngs pass, except-it seems to us-with
just little less of that admixture Of
charity that gives wholesome flavor to
the observance. That, however, may be
due to the unusual draft made upon the
purse strings of the people, just previous to
thanksgiving, for the several charity balls
given in pursuance of the same object.
I I
AS religious observance, we fear,
Thanksgiving is failure. 1t was Abraham
Llncoln who nationalized the day which
heretofore had been local in New
England as an heritage from the old
Puritans. But the time when Lincoln
nrst issued his Thanksgiving proclamation
was one of storm and stress and
appealed to the hearts of the patriotic
people in the north. People pray when
they are oppressed with fear or care, not
with turkey and cranberry. Hence to
perpetuate the custom 1t will be necessary
to lay more weight upon the charitable
than upon the religious part.
I I
| 1t is said that DR.. McNiece took occa-
sion in his sermon yesterday to thank
God, among other things that the shrift
OF the Liberal party is getting short and
his words We're received with marked In
dications of approval Conditions have
indeed changed when DIR. McNiece is ready
TO place himself so conspicuously and
unequivocaly in opposition to the
Liberal administration. But what min
lister, excepting DIR. Lift, could
reconcile his conscience with the recent
practices OF that party, with their train of
crime, VIC, insecurity and corruption. AS
ohof tnall
posed of by Judge Zane when he confused
| the divine last August with series Of
leading questions, and failing to elicit any
| satisfactory reply, summed up the whole
matter in five words: ITO h with your
religionn A little longer than Caesars ia
nous reni, utdt, utct, but just as compre-
hensive.
There was time when ministers of the
gospel seized upon Thanksgiving and Deco
ration days as lit occasions TO ven tilate
their pentup politics. And they were usu-
ally rabid politics too. Public opinion,
however tolerant for time in view of the
crucial experience the country had passed
through, soon condemned the practice and
1T Is now generally tabooed. Thus in New
York when Mayor Grant ran for re-elec
ton, number Of preachers, with Heber
Newton at the head, turned themselves
loose to invoke against the Democratic
candidate in 1.-The manner of cross
road demagogues. When the dominees
woke up on the morning after
the election they found themselves repu H.
ated. 1t was even thus when Burchard
essayed the part of politician.
I t
In Salt Lake city just now it is no longer
question of politics but question of
morality that confronts the people, and the
ministers should not only join, but lead in
the crusade against the evil that threatens
to engulf US. In this sense we accepted
the mass meeting held last year in the
First Methodist church and in this sense
the remarks of DR.. McNiece yesterday
were eminsntly appropriate.
I
Two weeks ago the Rev. Mr.. Lane, of the
Episcopal church, delivered a lecture be-
fore the P. 0. S. of A. on the dangers that
threaten our Institutions. 1t was thought
full, wise and lucid address that every
American might we'll read with profit. And
1t was all the more admirable because the
speaker turned deaf ear to the counsel
lors who wanted him to salt and pepper it
with an anti-Mormon harrangue.
I +
There were two of them-one a sinewy
bruiser and the other a slippery dodger.
l. hO VI uioOi OhhObOu buo iiuS Va OfS1
weening confidence, the dodger full of willy
tactics. Whenever the bruiser struck on he
hit the circumambient air, while the dodger
landed right side up. And SO it went
round after round. In the language of
the prize ring, the bruiser didn't get his
work in, the dodger did. Diplomacy won
over assumption. And when the award
came to be made the dodger was
declared to be winner and hoped
receipts, while the bruiser retired to his
teut whining that he had been imposed
upon. This, good reader, is not the history
Of the Brown Tatlock fight before the Ma
tional Republican committee in Washing
ton, but an account of the LaBlanche- Will
llams contes. in Electric Light hall in Salt
Lake city.