The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-09-30
Arp Fires a General Broa6side at Peo.
pie aud Affairs.

Arp Fires General Broa6slde at Peo.
pie aud Affairs.
atlanta Constitution.
Once there was q generous, big
hearted man by the name of Colonel
Griffin, living at Gainesville, Ga, and
his hearts desire was to see peace on
earth and good will among men. His
hand was open as the day to charity,
but his chief delight was to reconcile
those who were at enmity and make
peace between neighbors. He work.
ed diligently along this line for sever
al years and was called the peace
maker, but in course of time he SEEM
ed to lose his influence, and if he sue
ceeded in smothering a quarrel it
broke out again. Politics got RAM
pant and church members got st outs,
and it took good deal of his time
visiting around and pleading for
peace. At last he pondered over the
matter, and, like old Rip Van Win
kle, he "swore of" Il can't do it,
judge" he sadly confessed to his old
friend, Judge Lumpkin, ri can't do
it. I thought I could reform mankind
but I can't. They get worse instead
of better. Society is like a mill dam.
It is always springing leak, and as
fast as you you stop one hole it breaks
out at another. Nothing but the
grace of God can keep peace among
the people, and even that does not seem
to circulate in thisregion, and so have
quit"
The Judge comforted him and told
him not to despair, but Griffin retired
from the race sadder and wiser man.
The strife and SANDER and backbit-
ing went on, and it took--Pseaies war
rants to keep the peace. No one man
can reform society, and with many re-
formers it is soon discovered that they
need a little reforming themselves.
Henry Ward Beecher was great
preacher and o reformer of social con-
duct, but fell from grace just as Solo
mon did. Most of these reformers
are in earnest. but they are cranks
and are righteous overmucb. Park
hurst brought schism and discord in
his church by excessive zeal. Tom
Dixon is doing the same thing by
dabbling into politics. A respectable
minority Of his members are silver
democrats, and his pulpit talk hasin-
suited them. When a preacher as
sumes to know it all he loses his in
huence. Humility is the best creden-
tial man of God can have. Vanity
and conceit may not be sins but they
are traits that nobody forgiyes. Po-
litical preachers may get office, but
they make enemies and that is bad
sign. Drawing crowds and creating
a sensation is one thing, batSsaving
souls through the power of the gospel
is another. I wish that every preach
er would let politics alone, for when
he abuses the democrats he makes
them mad, and It does not reconcile
them if he abuses the republicans and
populists too. 1t is asif he had said:
Everybody is a rascal but me-" OF
course We lget more or less excited
about politics and let our prejudiceS
get the better of ourjudgment, and at
such times it becomes the preachers
to be calm and serene and tolerant
and to keep the peace. I see it
charged in the northern press that we
have no fair elections in Georgia. I
deny the allegation and defy the alle-
gator. have been on the watch for
years and have had no reason to sus-
pest that any man, black or white,
has been defrauded of his vote in my
County. Il believe that men voted
who were not allowed to vote, but it
was no part of q scheme by the Off
cials or managers, and was wholly un-
known to them. I believe that the
elections in Georgia are as fair as any
State in the UEion. The defeated
party always cries fraud, but never
proves it. Slander is a cheap solace,
bat it is hard to undo, and the further
fro. home it travels the deeper it set
ties in the public mind.
Intolerance is the bane of society,
both in church and State. l was
reading to-day some bitter things
against women riding bicycles, and in
the same paper temperate, sensible
article in defenBe Of the sex. 1t was
written by a woman-a lady-and I
concurred in all she said. I can
riding if she is modestly dressed in
see nothing immodest in g girl
skirts and deports herself modestly.
A fast girl will be fast, whether she
rides in skirts and bloomers, or don't
ride at all. There is more immodesty
iu promiscuous surf bathing and in
the round dances of the ballroom than
in riding the bike, even in bloomers
A few years ago | was shocked at the
idea Of any decent girl riding the
wheel, but all my prejudices have
passed away. It now seems grace
full thing to do, and I admire the, !,
poetry Of their motion. My wife is in
love with the wheel, and says that if
she could call back forty or fifty years
she would have one. Two of her
grandsons came over from Rome on
their wheels, and one moonlight night
she remarked that if there was no one