Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1894-09-10

stance, man gave q slave q knife.
Forthwith that knife became Tapu, yet
some one dared with that knife to cut
the bread for the chiefs mother, and
the man who used the knife for that
purpose was butchered That whimsical
ity Of Tapu has left it's victims all up
and down New Zealand. The fact is
that barbarisms are so repulsive in ev-
cry form that there is nothing admira
BILE about them, and the only thing to
do is by the influence of Christian civil
lization to extirpate them, and they are
going, and for the most part have al
ready gone. Cannibalism in New Zea-
land is dead. The funeral pyres in In
dia have been extinguished. The Jug
gernaut has been put aside as q curios-
ity for travellers to look at Instead of
the cruelties that once cursed these
lands l find our glorious Christianity
dominant-all over New Zealand the
highest culture, the grandest churches,
the best schools and citizenship than
which the world holds nothing nobler.
hereby report to the American lee
turers that New Zealand is q grand
place for their useful work. Only two
or three English and one American lee
turer have ever trod these platforms
But the opportunity here is illimitahle.
Not in all the round earth are there
more alert, responsive or electric au-
diences. They are quicker than Ameri-
can or European assemblages to take
everything said on platform Or i'll pull
pit. They call out all there is in q
speaker Of instruction Or entertainment.
And the church and the world have yet
to find out that audiences for the most
part decide whether sermons or lectures
shall be good or poor. Stolid and unre
sponsive audiences make stolid and
stupid speakers. Wendell Phillips, one
of the monarchs of the platform. told
me something very remarkable Concern
ing himself while we were standing ia
a Boston book store and he was Gliding
me for not appearing at Ann Arbor,
Mich, from which place he had just re-
turned, and where [ had tried to get
few days before, but was hindered by
snowbanks, and my offer of $3.50 for tho
use of locomotive had been declined.
Mr.. Phillips said that the audience i'll
one Of the eastern states nearly killed
him. He said: ST stood for nearly an
hour without seeing or hearing anything
by which l could judge Of the effect Of
what had said II they had only Missed
or applauded, [ do not care which, |
could have gone on with some comfort. -
Mr.. Phillips surprised me by this state
meEt as to tho effect wrought upon him
by a pllleSln2tic assemblage.
The audiences decide the fate of ser
mons or lectures. A half dozen men
might, if they wished to engage in SO
mean business, take a contract to
break down any speaker, if they wonld
sit right before him, cape, take out their
watches and cough with mouth wide
open and then suddenly go sound asleep
An eloquent American preacher, stand
ing before me in a former pulpit, de
livercd the first half of his sermon with
great power, and his words had wings,
and his cOuDtenance was alamo with
holy enthusiasm, when suddenly his
wings Of thought and utteranco drop
ped, and he stammered on his way and
got eEtcD-lod in metaphor and lost his
thread Of discourse and failed to prove
that which he said at the start he would
prove and then sat down. While the
congregation were singing the last hymn
he said: "Who is that distinguished
looking gentleman right in front Of the
pulpit? The sight of his somnolercy ard
lack Of interest completely upset me. -
"Oh, I said, that is the Hon. NJ
So-and-so, one Of the ablest men Of the
nation, and he was deeply interested il
all you said. He is not asleep, bat Is
suffering from weak eyes and is corl-
PEELED to keep them shut while listen
ing" The uniD teresting appearance O.
the auditor had oyerthrown ''m&stor
OF assem- blies. -
I say to the men who preach and lee
ture, como to New Zealand Bat should |
ministers ever lecture? Ought they not |
always preach? My answer is that the
lecture hall is half way to
the church, and I notice that men who
have been hating the church and all So
cred things, if they come and hear one
lecture, are sure to come and hear him
preach. Besides that there are Important
things to be said and things that must
be said, which are more appropriate to
lecture hall than to pulpit. The three
agencies for making the world
better are the pulpit, printing press and
platform. Side by side may they always
stand III the battle for righteousness.
But for them the Indians warwhoop
would yet be sounding in America and
on the Atlantic coast, the morning meal
IF human flesh would still be going on
n New Zealand, and the Ganges would
still be horrible with infanticide. Let
Ill the nations reconstruct their notions
# New Zealand [ write this at Dune
lin, imposing in its architecture, pictur-
ssque III its surroundings, unbounded in
IS hospitality and another Edinburgh,
lfter which, I understand, it is named,
Dun Edin being the Gaelic for the
northern capital of intelligence.
The Scotch founded it, and what the
IL Ill