The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1894-12-07
gaN J0NEsl RREA0HT

"
wherever the great evangelist ad
dressesa crowd the rnunibcrof c0nveH
sicns are large, and many people an
tnrneel away from the place in mhieh D.
proaahes, for lack of room.
There can be no eainsayiug the fac
that Mr.. Jones does much good, and
number Of hardened sinners have beoI
made to see tho error Of their ways b
the forribie arguments Of this smphati,
SIN eradicator.
Yet It is 10 be aeplored that there
exista certain class ofpeople who can
mot be brought around to follow the
right path by gentle words and kindly
counsel, but have 30 be Welded and hal
looed at as iethey had become deaf to
all sense Of rish and decenoy. BY soor-
ing sinners roundlY, and talking 30 his
audiencesas if theyweroa lot efsavages,
does the Reverend Sam accomplish good
His remarks are terse and mot infre-
qnently, brutal.
Yet the charmed auditors listen with
gaping mouths, drinking every word
from the lips Of Sam Jones. He abuses
them, shakes his fist at them, snaps his
finger in their faces; hut it's sam Jones
who does it, so it mnst be all right.
This sort Of thing may be acceptable
10 a certain class Of people, but some Of
the language Mir. Jones uses is not I'll for
the ear of a young person, and his coarse
ness as shocking at times.
Frequently, in fact, at nearly every
meeting held by the evangelist, enc sees
young girls just budding into woman
hood, who have been reared with car,
and from whose surroundings all iDdeli-
cate thoughts have been eliminated 1t
is pernicious TO allow these Young minds
to be poisoned by utteranoes and ex-
amples of which they are totally ignor- |
ant, and would probably have remained |
so all their life
The circumstances addressed to the /
roRe are certainly not calculated to do
good 10 the unlearned. yet when one
goes to hear Jones. one must be prepared
to hear decidedly shocking and, not in
frequently, revolving facts told. They
serve as object lessons, bat they are IN
elegant, nevertheless.
Not a word of condemnation is implied
Of the evangelist for it must be ao-
that he has converted pee
pie of whom everyone else had despaired,
nevertheless, in one sense Of the word,
his Yulgarity in the pulpit is baleful,
and the young can hardly be benefited
BY hearkeniRg to such uttersnces as are
leEe appended: !
Some Of Won say that Sam Jones is
rulgar and you can't stand him, you
ousv old seoundrel etc" T.,
''Some Of YOU viii go and say, Sam
ZONES is a d. biatherskife you black
nOuthed fool
After waiting almost an hour the
madame made her appearance and ez-
ended a diamond bedeoked hand for me
o shake. l shook il, hut would rather
AVE shaken a dead fish's tail"
The above are some of the lnildest Of
he Reverend Jones nice terse little say
ngS, but many Of them are positively
INF for publication. n
1t would seem that sinners were more s
eadily converted by being ''eUssedH at l
han thronGh the medium Of kind words j
nd sound clean advice.
However. as long as Sam Jones chooses (
O address people, they viii flock TO
lear him, and it is To be hoped that his {
sermons will occasionally bear q
asting fruit To offset the harm he pn- q
does, In