Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-05-19

1lY Iedcu HIS Scud.Olo
III wisdom; and II any
men on earth ought to be endowed with
wisdom, it is senators, whether they
stand in congresses, parliaments, or
reichstags, or assemblies, or legisla-
lures. BY their decisions nations go
up or down. Lawmakers are some
times so tempted by prejudices, by sec
tional preferences, by opportunity Of
personal advancement, and sometimes
what is best to do is so doubtful that
they ought to be prayed for and en-
couraged in every possible way, instead
Of severely criticised and blamed and
excoriated, as is much of the time the
case. Our public men are so often the
target to be shot at, merely because
they obtain eminence which other men
wanted but could not reach that more
injustices are hurled at our national
legislature than the people Of the
United States can possibly imagine.
The wholesale belying of our public
men is simply damnable. BY resi-
dence in Washington / have come TO
find out that many Of our public nen
are persistently misrepresented, and
some of the best of them, the purest
in their lives and most faithful in the
discharge of their duties, are the worst
DETAINED. Some day / want to preach
a sermon from the text in II. Peter;
They are not afraid to speak evil of
dignities. Whereas angels, which are
greater in power and might, bring not
railing accusation against them before
the Lord. But these, as natural brute
beasts, made to be taken and destroyed,
speak evil of the things that they un-
derstand not" So constant and malig-
nant is this depreciation and scandaliza-
ton in regard to our public men that all
over the land there are those who sup
pose that the city of Washington is the
center of all corruption, while, what
with it's parks and it's equestrian statu-
airy, and it's wide streets, and it's archi-
tectural symmetries, and its lovely
homes, it is not only the most beautiful
city under the sun, but has the highest
style of citizenship. 1 have seen but
one intoxicated man in the more than
six months of my residence, and l do
not think any man can give similar
testimony of any other city on the
American continent.
!. The gaveis Of our two houses of ma
tional legislature will soon fall, and ad-
iournment of two bodies of men as tai
ented, as upright and as patriotic as
ever graced the capitol, will take place.
The two or three unfortunate out
breaks which you have noticed only
make more conspicuous the dignity, the
fraternity, the eloquence. the fidelity
which have characterized those two
bodies during all the long months OF
important and anxious elaboration
We put halo around great men Of the
past because they were so rare in theil
time. Our senate and house Of repre-
sentatives have five such men where
once they had one. But it will not BIZ
until after they are dead that they viii
get appreciated The world finds /
safer to praise the dead than the living
because the departed, having a heavy
pile of marble above them, may not ris'
to become rivals. But before thu
gavels of adjournment drop and thu
doors Of Capitol Hill shut, there ar,
one or two things that ought to b.
done, and let us pray God that they ma.
be accomplished. More forcibly thai
ever before, congress has been i'm
plored to acknowledge God in our con
stitution. The Methodist church,
church that is always doing gloriou
IL re I'M tn
conference requested our congress t
amend the immortal document, whic
has been the foundation and wall an
dome of our United States government
by inserting the words, Trusting i
Almighty God" If that amendment
made, it will not only please all tn
good people Of the country, but WI
please the heavens. 1t was only a
oversight or a mental accident that tn
fathers who made the constitution di
not insert divinely worshipful ser
tence. They all, so far as the
amounted to anything, believed /
God, the Father Almighty, the Make
Christ, his only begotten Son. THE col
stitution would have been failure ma
II not been for the Divine interference
The members of the convention coul
agree on nothing until, in response
BENJAMIN Franklin's request that II
meetings be opened by prayer, the Lol
God was called on to Interfere ar
help, and then the way was cleare
and the states signed a document;
historical fact that all the rat-terrie
of modern infldelity cannot bark out
existence! I know that there was {
exception to the fact that the prom
nent men of those good times were go'
men. Tom Paine, libertine and sc
did not believe in any thing good lint
he was dying, and then he shrieked o
for Gods mercy. And Ethan Allie
from one of whose descendants l ha
received within few days confirm
ton of the incident / mentioned in
recent sermon, as saying to his dyil
daughter that she had better take h
mothers christian religion than
own infidelity. The article sent I
says. 1.-The story has been denied
some of the Allen family, but the Bro
son family. some of whom were wi
the dying girl, affirm that 1t Is substa