The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-03-31
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
Bill Says hs Would Liked to have Seen
the Recent Fight on the Sly.
atlanta Consultation.

atlanta Constitution.
Is it original sin or total depravity
or natural born instinct that makes
man and beast take such an interest
in fight J.? Bulls and dogs and chick
en- cocks diden't fall when Adam fell,
but they fight. St. John says there
was war in heaven; SO it seems that
this fighting business has been going
on long time. Cain killed Abel
about 5000 years ago and man and
beast have been fighting ever since.
The men who don't fight love to look
on or to read about it, and even wo-
man, loving and kind-hearted as she
is, always takes sides and urges on
her heroes to victory or death. If
woman had not been behind us the
late war would have ended in year.
The preachers preach peace and Love
and hold up the Savior's teachings be-
fore US, Glove your enemies, and if a
man smites thee on one cheek, turn
the other to him also" But who
would do that? I have known a
preacher to fight and boast Of his vic
tory. I recall another who took off
his coat in church and dared brother
layman to go outside with him and re-
peat the offensive language. They
were good men, but just human. So
I reckon this fighting instinct is part
of our human nature, and if there was
war in heaven, then the instinct did
not come from Adams fall, but we
would have had it anyhow. "Peace
on earth and good will to man is yet
afar off in the corridors of time. A
few martyrs like Stephen have lived
and died saying, 'Lord, lay not this
sin to their charge" but the great
majority of Christians and all the
sinners either hate their enemies or
fail to love them. The instinct of our
human nature is resentment and it is
so near akin to self-preservation that
it seems justifable. A man has as
much right to resent personal injury
as nation has to fight another nation.
There is no difference in the Christian
morality, for nation is made up of
individuals. If 10000 may fight in
defense of their country, then one
may fight in defense of his home or
his property, or even his good name.
But both are wrong, according to the
Savior's teachings, and if only those
be saved who live up to those teach
ings, then we are all lost. But when
one of the disciples got alarmed and
said: "Who then can be saved p
His reply was: "With men it is not
possible, but with God all things are
possible" And on the other occa-
sion, when disciple trembled under
his teachings and inquired: Lord,
are there few that be saved p he
avoided a direct answer and said:
"Strive to enter in at the straight
gate, for many shall seek to enter, but
shall not be able.
So our comfort is that if We strive
to do right we will get to heaven.
Strive is the word, and it means to
struggle, to exert oneself diligently.
Let US all do that if we can, and I
reckon we can, or we would not have
been told to.
I was Illuminating about the fight,
and my mind ran along into this chan
mel of thought. Why did I feel an
interest in it Why did I have
desire that Fitz should lick
Corbett ;? Well, I took a disgust at
Corbett when l read that he had for
saken his wife and taken another
without just cause or provocation. |
remembered how the papers said she
stood by him and encouraged him at
Jacksonville and other places and be-
haved herself in womanly way, and
so 1 wanted him punished. But 1 was
told to-day that Fitzsimmors had done
the same thing, and so now I don't
care which whipped. Now let some
other fellow turn up and whip Fitz
and I will be satisfied. Corbett' first
wife has been avenged and his second
came to grief. I don't take much
stock in denouncing prize fighting as
the worst thing in the world. The
worst thing about it is the company it
keeps-the betting and gambling and
drinking that environs it. If two men
want to make a trial of strength by
pummeling each other, there is no
more harm in it than in a football
game, and the surroundings are not
much worse. These pugilists never
kill one another, and the fight itself is
not half as bad as these street duels
and hip pocket pistols that are report
ed every day in the newspapers. 1have
seen a policeman draw more blood
when trying to arrest disturber of
the peace. It is not so bad as a bull
fight in Mexico, and yet every Ameri-
can who goes there attends one, if not
two or more.
I think I should have liked to have
seen the fight if I could have done SO
On the sly, and know many good
men and some women who would have
gone one eye on it if they had had
chance and the crowd had been a
decent one. Everybody has an in
stinctive desire to see a fght-even
dog fight. I remember what satisfac-
ton we school boys used to have in
catching the big black ants in an old
dead tree and making them fight in
mortal combat. And what fun it was
to catch big he coon by night and
see him fight the dogs, and how we
used to get two old rams together, and
once we saw two bulls lock horns, and
it was fearful and thrilling.
Fighting roosters were common in
our day. Some of the big boys at the
institute where | went to school used
to buy roosters in the neighborhood
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