Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1898-12-15
CHAMP CLARK 'SETIER
Offers a Suggestion to the
Republicans.
ADVICE ASTO BTBLBREADING
Points the Way to Political Sal
vation.
ADVICE AST0 BIBLBREADING
Dw1EDL1Ha OF A GREAT MAJORITY

superstftioua Republicans Filled
with Forebodings of Evil-Majori-
ty Reduced From Fifty-one to the
FatefuI Thirteen = Congregational
Chaplains--Jews In the senate.
Especial washington Lettes.l
"Hoodooed. by goshp' exclaimed one
Republican statesman to another as he
gazed upon the headline in anewspaper
announcing that the Republican ma
jority in the next house is 1S. Eyes,
hoodooedr' replied the other lugubri'
ously. "We can't escape it by bouncing
Democrats who were elected, for every
body from Maine to Texas and from
Martha's Vineyard to the jumping off
place will know that we really have
only IS, and every superstitious citizen
Of the republic will be looking out for
and predicting all sorts Of calamities
for the Republican party, and these
two sorrowing Republicans adjourned
to a convenient "hole In tho wall' to
fortify themselves against bad luck by
imbibing go6dly quantity Of what
Dick Swiveller affectionately denomi-
mated "the rosy" Notwithstanding the
fact that we are the most enlightened
people Of all the ages, there still lingera
among us more of superstition than
most Of Us would admit. Nine men out
Of every ten, II closely and mercilessly
cross examined, would be compelled to
confess that they do have an inherited
tendency toward believing in luck, and
it is safe to say that most Republicans,
contemplating the number lS, with its
unpleasant associations in the popular
mind, would prefer that their majority
were 10 instead Of 13, and they will be
slow to admit that Shakespeare was
right when, in 1.-THE Merry Wives Of
Windsor, y he makes one of his char
acters say, "Good luck lies in odd num-
bers."
Boosting Of our freedom from super
stition does no good. Letting says,
tThe superstition in which we were
brought up never loses its power over
us even after we understand it.
A FatefuI Number.
Freely granting as do that the ma
iority Of the American people are eman-
cipated from superstititions, neverthe-
less the fact remains that large minor
ity would not sleep we'll in room No.
is at hotel and would not enjoy a
feast which would have tickled the
palate Of Epiourus or Luoullus where
precisely IS persons are at table, and
this large minority are the ones who
will be ON the qui vive to see disasters
crowd upon the Republicans. What is
more, believing it is doomed, they will
leave it as rats hasten to desert a sink
ing ship. That that No. IS will help to
wreck them may as we'll be counted on
among the probabilities of the future,
bet really that is not the main thing
that will weigh them down. Il is some
thing good deal more tangible-a
thing of flesh and blood.
I am not either the legal or the spir- |
itual adviser Of the Republicans, but,
being on terms Of personal friendship
with many Of them, I am emboldened |
to make them a suggestion, and that is |
this, "Read the book Of Jonah, ponder |
Its lesson and profit thereby" | am
fully aware that they are not much In |
the habit Of reading the Bible; other
wise they would not worship the golden |
calf, but would fee from the wrath to |
come. To them the book of books is q |
veritable terra inoognita, a rich wilder |
ness through which they will need
guide, but assure them from personal
that it is a perpetual de-
light. Now, ] am not recommending |
them TO read all the Bible at one sit
ting. am reasonable about 1T and want |
them to drink in its bewildering beau
ties and to imbibe its inexhaustible wis
dom gradually. Consequently / pre-
scribe q homeopathic dose as a starter,
for the book Of Jonah contains only four
short chapters, but it points the way to
political salvation for the Republicans
They have ON board ship a Jonah Of
their own. Their remedy is plain
heave him overheard.
The Republican Jonah.
The Jonah Of the Bible, who had the
remarkable experience with the whale
and the gourd, was a manlier fellow
than the Republican Jonah, for by
reading the first chapter my Republic
an friends will discover that when the
ship bound for Tarshish was founder
ing in great storm and it was discov-
ered that Jonah senior was the cause Of
the trouble and the danger be said unto
them, "Take me up and cast me forth
into the sea, so that the sea shall be
calm unto you, for know that for my
sake this great tempest is upon you"
Now, Jonah junior, whose other name
Is Lyman J. Gage, will not make any
such proposition to the Republican sail
ors, who are in danger of following Mr..
to the bottom of the sea, but
that ought not to deter them from heav-
Ing this modern Jonah into the omniv-
Drous ocean, for in the fifteenth verse
1f the first chapter it is written, $50
they took up Jonah and cast him forth
into the sea, and the sea ceased from
her raging"
The sixteenth verse says, "Then the
men feared the Lord exceedingly"
What an unstinted blessing it would be
10 the world in general and to America
IN particular If that same sort of fear