The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1896-10-24
ARP'S B%LUNDERBUSS.
40 Fires q General Broadside at
People and Affairs.
Tackles Various ropics-Talka Of Reforms
Religion. Politics. Cycling Dis
Bertates on Paint and
Brokcn Glass.

ala hO0AA ~ NAAAACAG 1891 A[0 -@
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 worked dill
gently along this line for several years
and was called the peacemaker, but
In course of time he seemed to lose his
influence, and if he succeeded in smooth
ering q quarrel it broke out again. Pol
itics got rampant and church members
got at outs. ard it took a good deal of
his time visiting around and pleading
for peace. At last he pondered over the
matter, and, like old Rip Van Winlle,
he "swore off," Il can't do it, judge"
he sadly confessed to his old friend,
Judge Lumpkin, 81 can't do it I
thought / could reform mankind, but
1 can't. They get worse instead of bet
ter. Society is like a mill dam. 1t is
always springing q leak, and as fast as
you stop one hole it breaks out at n
other. Nothing but the grace of God
can keep peace among the people, and
even that does not seem to circulate in
this region, so I have quit"
The judge comforted him and told
him not to despair, but Griffin retired
from the contest a sadder and wiser
man. The strife and SANDER and back
biting went on, and it took peace war
rants to keep the peace. No one man
can reform society, and with many re-
formers it is SCOT discovered that they
need a little reformation themselves.
Henry Ward Beecher was a great
-.o,OI,oC a-I - -,For,ao- 80 =NOf1l O0r-
duct, but fell from grace just as
Solomon did. Nest of these reformcrs
are in earnest, but there are cranks and
are righteous overmuch. Parkhurst
brought schism and discord in his
church by excessive zeal. Tom Dixon
is doing the same thing by dabbliug
into politics. A respectable minority
of his members are silver democrats,
and his pulpit talk has insulted them.
When a preacher assumes to know it all
he loses his influence. Humility is the
best credential a man of God can have.
Vanity and conceit may not be sins, but
they are traits that nobody furgives.
Political preachers may get office, but
they make enemies, and that is a bad
sign. Drawing crowds and creating a
sensation is one thing, but saving souls
through the power Of the Gospel is
another. I wish every preacher 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 the popu-
hsts, 500. 1t is as if he said: 'Every-
body is q rascal but me-" OF course we
all get more or less excited about pol
flies, and let our p~Tejudices get the
better of our Judgment, and al such
times IL becames the preacher TO be
calm and serene and tolerant and to
Keep the peace. Isee it charged In the
northern press that we have no fair
elections in Georgia. I deny the allie
cation and defy the alligator. Il have
been on the watch for years, and have
no reason to suspect that any man,
Black or white, has, been defrauded of
his vote in my county. 1 believe that
men have voted who were not entitled
to vote, but it was no part of a scheme
by the officials or managers, and was
wholly unknown to them. / believe that
the elections in Georgia are as fair
as In any state in the union. The de-
feated party always cries fraud, but
never proves it. SANDER is a cheai sol
ace, but is hard to undo, and the fur-
ther from home it travels the deeper
it settles in the public mind.
Intolerance is the bane of society
both in church and state. ] was read.
ing to-day some bitter things against
women riding bicycles, and in the same
paper a temperate sensible article in de
tense of the sex. Itwas written by
woman lady-Gnd I concurred in al
she said. lean see nothing immodest in
a girl riding if she is modestly dresse
in skirts and deports herself modestly
A fast girl will be fast, whether she ride;
in skirts or boomers, or don't ride a
all. There is more ~immodesty in pro
miscuous surf bathing and in the rount
dances of the ballroom than in ridins
the bike, even in bloomers. Afew year;
ago l was shocked at the idea of any de
cent girl riding the wheel, but my preju
!. dices have passed away. 1t now seem
a graceful thing to do, and 1 admire TIL
!, poetry of their motion. My wife is il
! love with the wheel, and says that if sh
could call back forty or fifty years sh
| would have one. Two of her grandson
/ came over from Rome on their wheels
. and one moonlight night she remarke,
' that if there was nobody to see her sh
would go down to the tennis court an
take o round on the sly. sMerciful ia
: theirs! HORRIBLE dictul Sic sempe
tyrannis." I exclaimed. "You couldn'
ride if you would, and you shouldn't
q you could, and you shant even thin
about it. Now there and / departe
those coasts and walked out in the ha.
to let my choler down. Pretty soon til
boys came out On the veranda, and
heard her laughing and telling the1
b how she arouses my indignation. So
! came back and made out like l was fur
ming. but I wasent. She wants me t
take = round just to see me fall off,
d reckon, but I'm not going to try it. M
9 time is past for athletics. l can cho
wood and roll the unicycle and ride i
n the quadricycle, but this double spin
i ming wheel business don't suit an 81
man with q very high center Of gravit,
2 L doesn't Rus4 q woman Of that kin,
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