The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1895-07-12
ey. swung my Ratchet aloft, and ne

| less old man, and was surprised with
! the suddenness of his capture. He will
probably spend term of years in the
| penitentiary. But that will produce no
reformation. He will come forth as he
entered the Jail, a natural-born Ish-
maelite, to resume a life of lawlessness.
Before he undertakes to assault anoth-
er old man, however, he will warily
watch him and ascertain whether or
not he has tomahawk concealed about
his person.
Nobody would expect to find Pata-
gonia or Abyssinia in the vicinity of the
center of learning, craftsmanship. sci
ence and progress of the westerns hem
isphere. The most vivid imagination
would not be likely to eonjure up vi
sions of Fiji islanders in all their crud-
ity and nudity within sight of her
majesty, the Goddess of Liberty, on the
dome; but here, beneath the blue can
opy of heaven, with the light of the
stars for tapers, and the moon for
lantern, in by-path leading from the
park to Maine avenue, which is near by
toward the south, haw-haws- and guf-
flaws of loud and discordant laughter
attracted attention, and there, like I'M
kempt denizens of the Pacific wilds. a
group of men and women were found
dancing and bowling IN aboriginal
glee.
The women were frpm con- iguous
quarter known as Louise alley, and the
men were from everywhere. They
were blackerthanth the night, shamefully
Indifferent to their conditions. They
were black women of sin and black
men of wicl1edness. Iniquity is their
portion and crime their pastime. They
were apparently not disturbing the
peace of the neighborhood, and police
interference was not thought of by any
of them: nor by me. For our Washing
ton police force Is composed OF human;
tartan philanthropists who never inter
rupt orgies of any sort, unless some
tragedy results, and then they make
arrests as a matter of necessity. These |
people were hilariously full of five-eent
whisky, or three-cent gin; but there |
seemed to be no law violated, and no
reason on the statute books for the pre-
vention of their degradation, nor of the |
contamination of their influence. You
will not wonder that L said above that |
women and children cannot enjoy these
parks of the Mall after the shadows of |
nature fall, because then the shadows
of crime stalk forth and permeate even
the atmosphere.
The only man in the crowd of half
civilized savages who was decently clad
wore the blue uniform of a sailor in the
navy of the United States. He was
dancing with the others, out in the
night within mile of the navy yard,
as wildly and frantically as, any of the
foul and wretched beings about him.
No man can doubt the stories of DEM
oniacal possession which the Scrip
lures narrate after having witnessed
such scene. All of these creatures
were bereft of true reason. and were
entirely under the influence of the
demon of the still Through the trees
could see the cleaning spire of the
Metropolitan Methodist church, where
Bishop Newman preached so long. and
beneath whose eloquent ministrations
tens of thousands of dollars had been
to send abroad for the sup
port of the missionaries in foreign
lands.
Within five minutes walk. in the
direction of any point of the compass, a
man might come to the door of some
Christian sanctuary where other tens
of thousands of dollars have been raised
for a similar purpose, and yet, we have
heather so near home. Why is it that
the eyes of sanctity so often look over
the heads of these creatures of God and
stretch aud strain their visual power to
see necessity for PROSECUTING in coun-
tries far away, while in our midst is
lower order of civilization, thriving
commune of crime which never heard
the story of Calvary, nor ever dreamed
that they have a Father who. is the
same Father to whom the white men
and women clad in purple and fine linen
pray, and for whose worship they build
houses of worship too fine for our home
heather to enter?
Still the stars were shining, and The
moon was beaming, and the southern
breezes were rustling the leaves over
head as continued a ramble which de
veloped other scenes which deepened
and emphasized the reflections which
have been written above. All along
the Mall there were groups of men with
bottles of liquid damnation which they
passed from lip to lip until stupidity or
quarrelsome dispositions resulted. Pro ]
family polluted the pure air of the syl- |
van place and ribald songs which can !
not be quoted were sung by the de-
PRAYED human beings who know not 1
truth and right, but dwell in sin with
out the light of life. And all these
things were seen and heard between '
the capitol and the monument, on the {
Mall which has been provided for the
enjoyment of the pure and innocent. {
And yet, protesting love for God and I
man, and with intent to preach the
Gospel Ito every creature" we will con- {
tinue to absolutely ignore these whom I
He called my brethren" forgetting
that inasmuch as we have thus shame
fully neglected the fallen at home we I
have done it unto Him.
SMITH D. Fry.
l..
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