Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1896-09-24

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a block of old buildings which he wishes
renovated and cleared of rats, mice,
| spiders and other insects, with their
cobwebs and mud huts. Suppose that
| toward evening while walking down
the street he finds that his men, instead
of doing their work, have been engaged
all day in a free fight, and he sees a
dozen laid out bruised and bleeding in
the street and the rest hammering each
other with their brooms, mops and scrub
brushes, and one fellow actually empty
ing his bottle of carbolic acid, intended
for insects and bacteria, over the head
and face of an opponent. The employer
asks the cause Of the difficulty, and the
leader of ono group says to him.
''Mr. Business Man, we have been
defending your honor. The leader of the
other fellows, bleeding there on the
curbstone, said that you had wart on
your chin, that your nose was red, and
that You did not love your wife, and for
this I and my friends have been trying
to punish them.
Another man runs up and says: "Mr
Business Man, my friends have been
martyrs to the cause of trying to ex-
plain the true nature Of your disposition
to these ignorant disturbers of the
peace. They claim that you have a mole
on your left ear, that your complexion
Is ruddy and that you spend too much
money on your family. You should dis
charge them at once. They are your
mortal enemies "
What do you suppose Mr.. Business
Man would do? He would say the same
thing to them that God Almighty says
i'll laundering tones to the wrangling
mob who claim to be his workers in the
world today:
Il sent you to clean up and renovate
a portion of my belongings, Instead Of
doing the work sent you to do you
have wasted your efforts, quarreling
over your differences of opinion concern
ing my appearance and my disposition.
| never asked you to defend my appear
ance, nor to force others to see me ex-
actly as am or as you think me to be.
| asked you to do definite and specific
work and you have failed miserably.
Begone! You shall never behold my face
again."
Friends, Christ is the head of the
church. He is our great employer and
has said: ''If you love me, keep my COM
mandments. - Feed my lambs. "
Even as ye do it unto one Of the least
of these your brethren ye have done it
unto me. "
About us there is a poverty stricken
humanity, bruised and torn by supersti-
tion, prejudice and unrestrained greed.
We are here to heal these wounds, calm
these passions, dissipate this ignorance
and displace prejudice and bigotry by
enlightenment and kindness. If we do
the work properly that he has COM
manded ~, we will have neither time
nor inclination to quarrel and argue
about hairsplitting differences of doc
trine.
Let all who believe in the reign of
good adopt the one watchword, "This
world for God. " And let US who hap
pen at the present time to be located i'll
this particular community begin opera
tlons at once to inthrone God in st.
Louis. Let US declare that boodling
bribery and bulldozing must go; that
the affairs Of the city hall must be con-
sidercd as sacred as the affairs of the
sanctuary, because they have to do with
all our intimate relations of life, the cd
ucation Of our children, the protection
OF life and property and the supervision
of all Of the primary and important ac-
tivities Of our people. AS we would
clean rats and spiders and parasites
from the holy places of our cathedral or
synagogue or meeting house, if by some
negligence of ours they gained access
there and took temporary possession, so
let us clear our central public building
Of St Louis Of the parasites, the hangers
on, the public plunderers, jury pluggers
and ward heelers who have made JUS
tice commodity to be bought and sold
and polluted tho whole stream of our
public life by the contagious poison of
their avarice. The church has a great
opportunity. 1t is toregenerate our civil
institutions and to cooperate with God
in the creation Of IA higher civilization.
Will the church embrace this oppor-
tunity? WALTER VRooMAN,
Secretary ST. Louis Civic Federation.