Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1895-02-14

A Soathing Communication From
Rev. Caldwell.

the w. G. T. U. to purge our town
of women of i'll repute, and am
glad to chronicle one small result
in the removal of one such estab.
lishment. This is like the noble
work that our women are doing
everywhere, but it is only drop
in the bucket. 1t is step in the
right direction, but it is only one
step. 1t is pruning the tree Of
vice and crime, but il does not lay
the axe to the root.
As great a crime--perhaps
greater, because men are supposed
to be stronger--is the part our men
play in the ruin, and in the main
tenance of these agents of cor.
ruption and these fires of hell in
our community. There may be
excuse for women; there is no
excuse, no palliation for a man
who goes open-eyed into these
dens Of leprosy. Men who will
stoop to send pure, white soul to
hell only to crafty his own un-
bridled passions and hell-born and
nurtured lusts are the most un-
mitigated brutes.
can excuse an inexperienced
girl who falls a victim to some hu-
man hound, because of her limo
cence and inexperience; but the
man, who, i'll the face of his know
ledge of human nature and of the
world gives himself over to these
corruptions, is tenfold a child of
hell and ought TO be so considered
by our public sentiment.
But however prevalent and dis
astrous the social evil is in our
midst, there are other things that,
judged by the decalogue, are in the
same category of guilt, and equally
ruinous, and just as deserving OF
the condemnation of God and of
Christian people. The fact that
there are in full blast, under the
eye of our churches and our moral
sentiment, and under the protec-
tion Of our law-or the representa-
tives of the law-gilded dens OF
iniquity where the manhood of
our young men is being stung by
the viper's sting, where our boys
are being trained for penitentiaries
and for hell, where the very vi
tails of our country are being sap
ped, that the deadly Upas tree
should gain root in the very heart
of our young men, is reproach to
our manhood, and our fidelity to
the trust that our nation and our
God have given us.
That scores of our men and boys
are, in this very city, night after
night, day after day, learning and
practicing the arts of satan, in sa-
loon and gambling hell-and how
many other such places, who knows
but the arch-fiend himself-with
no effort on our part to arrest the
open advance of Appalyon, the de-
stroyer, ought to bring the crimson
blush of shame to our brow That
satan haunts his banners in our
faces; that men can be found who
will furnish the ground on which
he can plant his ensigns and erect
his Notifications is the depth of
disgrace.
Honest gamblingl Is there hon
est robbery, or honest murder?
Night and day-heaven and hell
are not more removed from each
other. Does the fact that a man
goes to the gambling room with
the hope of robbing some one else
make the crime Of robbing him less?
1t is laid down as a self-evident
maxim, admitted by the lowest
standard Of morals. that there are
only three ways acquiring prop.
erty: lst, by earning it; 2nd, by
gift; 3rd, by theft; gambling be.
longs to neither of the first two
classes. AS satan is honest the
gambler is honest; the same in
kind and degree.
What can we do? Are you
afraid these human demons will
laugh at your efforts, and chafe
you for your failure? Then don't
let your efforts be fruitless. To
falter is to admit our weakness
and Christ's inefficiency.
To fail There is no day of fail
ure in the Christian calendar.
What our town needs is her
manhood organized with a purpose.
What our women need is the
hep of their husbands and brothers.
What our boys and girls need is
for their fathers to show them
where they stand, and to stand on
the rock.
How can you expect your boy to
be a man when you allow his
school teacher TO be devil? What
our country and town aud our God
expects is that every man shall do
his duty.
In the name of manhood, wo-
manhood, social purity and Of
common honesty can we not have
mems league for the promotion
of good order and social purity
and the expulsion of vice and H.
censed crime2
Aint it time that we were wax
ing to our responsibility and grasp.
ing our opportunities?
Men and brethren; why stand ye
all the day idle?
Preachers, lawyers, christian
doctors, and business men, and all
that love cleanliness and purity,
arise in your might and shake off
your guilty fears; stand in the
might Of your Christian manhood
and let us do better for the Lord.
Some one suggests the Y. NJ. G.
A. 1t seems to me we need some