St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1891-06-06
The Rctler Way.

Through the weary stretch OF SIX thousand
years the principal occupation of men has
been to kill each other The males OF the brute
creation will sometimes engage III fierce COM
bats, but men are the only animals that will
band together in great multitudes and hunt
each other for the purpose of killing aud mu
tilaling for Gtoly
1t was the English" kasper cried,
"Who put the French to ront,
But what they killed each other for
could not well make out.
They say it was a shocking sight
After the !icld was won;
For many Thousand bodies here,
Law rOtting in the sun ~
o. But what good came OF 1t at last T.
Qu0th little Peterkin.
'Why that cannot tell said he,
But it was 4 glorious victory"
The nation has two grand institutions i'll
which youths are trained in the art OF killing.
Every state has an institution in which youths
are trained III the noble art OF killing We
spend many millions annually for the army
aud navy. The chieftain who has led men to
slaughter by the thousands is received with
every demonstration of joy; grand pageants
are prepared in his Il >nor and more than hui
man homage is paid to him. The man who dis
covers something useful to his fellow creatures
often starves, but the inventor Of an engine of
destruction is sure of an ample reward.
A fearful disregard of human life is every
where prevalent, and the only remedy SO far
proposed is to secure more bloody minded jul
| rOrs SO as to make sure that when one man is
killed another shall be stranSlcd: The multi
much that the justices OF the Supreme Court
rarely ever agree as to what the law is on any
disputed point. No man seems to take any ac-
count OF himself but is inSanely bent upon
regulating the conduct of the rest Of mankind.
Come solve me this riddle, my brother! Can
barbaIians legislate themselves into civilized
beings 1t is easy to pass law commanding
water to run up hill, or to abolish the law of
gravtation or chemical affinity or the per-
ssrence OF force and energy. law to force
men to act otherwise than in accordance with
flGIl 1 nj nj f,t f1n
moral universe can not prove otherwise than
harmful. Every man is a law unto himself and
can live no other than his own life.
The one thing needful to be done is for each
one, by supreme effort, to tear from his heart
the last vestige of barbarisln and cast it from
HIM. You have no use for revolver. If you
have one take it to a blacksmith shop and pull
verize it Oh the anvil. Call your neighbors and
let them witness your heroic act. Give them
no advice. Advice is cheap. Let your bearing
be free from any hint of aggressiveness Ii you
hate war and murder, let your acts and words
speak. The weakest influence is lever to
whose touch the centuries tremble. 1t is fash
ionable to be barbarious. Let 1t become fash
ionable to be civil. know you carry a revol-
yer because the 0ther tellotrs are SO bad. But
do you know what their opinion of you is 7 If
you carry revolver you will be insulted often,
because you are prepared to repet and arcnge
insults. You arc looking for insults, and will
be sure to find them and to retort. 1t may
seem to you manly and heroic to be ready to
return insult for insult and keep the other bar
leave you to your own reflectiOrs.
But the revival must start somewhere pretty
soon, because civilization is dissOlving like q
mist, We have tried clubs and revolvers and
canons and gibbets for centuries with the re-
suit that we have advanced backward to the
level of African bushmen. My own influence
is limited. l am one of the mud stills, so to
speak, Still all kinds Of folks are very civil.
The registering young blades and the niggers
salute me ciyilly. The gentlemen in carriages
frequently stop me at my plow or as L pass
along the highway on my wagon to speak
pleasant word. They are not afraid of my re-
vover. My coat is too ragged to hide a re-
volver. l have huge contract OH hand to
keep myself in order. There is such q multi
titude of unseltish individuals who are letting
their moral nature go to ruin In the futile at
tempt to regulate the affairs of the human race,
that really life is a burden to me. Then they
must be paid for services which have never
asked for and which in my opinion don't need
at all. Of course they tell LIS things will go to
the everlasting bow-wows if they don't keep
them regulated, but I really don't think I
would get out of place SO often if I weren't
knocked about like shntte-cock.
Self control is the first step toward ciyiliza-
ton. One cInnot learn to control himself
whilst controlled by others. A desire to con
troll the actions of others, is a sure indication
of barbarism. DC.D.