Griggs courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., Dak. [N.D.]) 1885-1902, 1892-05-27

the choice of either sending their child
rem to that school at the time or to miss
it. The school was brought to the val.
ley by Il mistake in me, being that l had
forgotten all about the public school
when l engaged the teacher and we
could not put the school off to ONE
time later, because the teacher had been
engaged for that time at another place.
1t was not until later that the second
engagement was put off and it was pos
sible for us to have school two months
more. Now such things as that are not
apt to occur very often. 1t has not
happened to me before, and people
naturally wish to avoid it, for it is no
pleasant thing to have two schools and
be obliged to miss either the one or
the other.
I did not know how much the
children of Forde and Gronlid had at.
tended public school in former years,
but Judging from their own statements
and from the number of days that they
had attended in the spring of 1891, l
was convinced that they would have
attended more than sixtydaysi in that year
if it had not been for our parochial
school. Those people ought to have
heen fined at time when they had no
snch good reason for neglecting the
public school, And venture to say
that if Mrs. Rukkc had the love and
respect for religious instruction that she
ought to have, she would never have
prosecuted those people under such
circumstances, no matter whether she
belonged to our denomination or to
another. She would rather have run
the risk of being fined herself. and
there was hardly any danger of that
If the school board agreed with Mrs.
Rukke, it has of course, deserved the
same ccnsnre, but the board did not
agree, aud Mrs Rukke had the majcri-
ty on her side.
Now Mr.. Editor, you have done your
best TO tear down on my person, it is
therefore no more than just that you
give place in your paper to this arti-
Gle also. Let me defend myself this
time, and will drop the matter.
Til. H. LARSON.
The aboye is simply lot of vaporous
mutterings, from brain surchargetl
with fanatical religious ideas. The
COURIER feels sorry for the reverend
gentleman. We have no desire to jump
onto Mr.. Larson or take any advantage
of him, but he seems anxious to pro.
woke argument. So far as the points
Mr.. Larson has made, he has been
amply answered by Messrs. Rukke and
Syver,son. The reverend gentleman
however, still persists in calling the
editor of this paper an infidel. He says:
'You praise Mrs. Rukke for what she
has done, therefore I must Judge that
you are an infidel." That is brilliant
argument indeed. If, because we
make stand for the enforcement OF
the school laws, it makes us an infidel,
we are perfectly willing to be called
one. Our aim is to see the laws of this
country, especially the school laws, en-
forced, and we should be just as quick
t., praise anyone else for trying to up
hold the laws as we did Mrs. Rukke. He
says we are an infidel because we ad-
vised farmers to thresh last fall on
Sunday, when their grain was in jeo.
pardy, and it was absolutely necessary
If we are an in6del for that we are
willing to be called one, and shall Offer
the same advice again if the occasion
warrants. 1t is far more wicked to run
the risk of starving your family than il
is to thresh on Sunday. According tc
Larson's argument, if his house got or
fire Sunday, he would wait until Mon
day before he would put it out, at the
same time he would be pleased to SCI
his neighbor come over on Sunday anc
put it out. But what sense is there ir
arguing with religious fanatic. Mr.
Larson should have been born about
1860 and have lived in Connecticut
where it was crime in those days tt
walk out on Sunday, unless it were tc
church and back; it was a crime to kis'
your child on Sunday or cook, cut your
hair or get shaved. Probably a state Of
affairs like that would just about suit
man with such q narrow mind as MIR
Larson. The fact of the matter is, re-
ligion of every denomination has pro-
fessed since then. and all christians
have higher and broader views Of
christianity. The only difference il
that Mr.. Larson is just 400 years behind
the times. In regard to the infide'ity
of the COURIER, we will leave our past
record to the readers of the paper. II
speaks for itself
WASHINGTON LET
TER.