Brookings weekly register. (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1898-1903, 1899-12-21

y~e'
There 10 much talk of a wedding,
either Of the near past or near future,
probably the latter, as the bridegroom
ought to know. Mr.. Cook, Sr., great
ly needs home and a housekeeper
and lacks of both only a good wife.
The school laws need another joint
to make them bend so as to better fit
local conditions. 1t would, for in
stance, be both merciful to the school
and economical to the town to have
the Bruce school house banked. But
the authority to bank the school
house Is three-fourths nonresident
and therefore three-fourths indiffer-
ent, or mountaineering, and one-fourth
incapable, and practically four-fourths
non-responsible, with the result of
roasted anatomy near the stove and
frozen feet near the walls, and one
school room in place Of two. For an
other instance, and for similar reas-
ons probably, the Breed" school in
Eureka is crowded into half the space
it absolutely needs. The removing Of
authority, as far as possible, from
those most interested, and giving 1t
as much as possible TO those least In
terested is, | fear, improving our
schools the wrong way.
At a meeting of recent date, and
not far distant locality, one speaker
said that the United States is not a
Christian nation, and another speaker
said that our nation is Christian
nation. What shall we do when doc
tors disagree? If the question was to
be settled by the olfactory nerve l, for
one, would throw out as not Christian,
saloons and rotten eggs, because they
don't smell Christian to me, and | am
not partial to either striped animals
or Limburger cheese. Ii the question
was to be decided by the ear would
take exception to every tongue which
is not connected with hands and feet.
If the question was to be decided by
the eyes | would object to everyone
who does not look outward and up
ward; and If by justice l would object
to all parasites. Our nation is not
sufficiently homogeneous to be de-
scribed by one word. 1t Is reckless
leap of the imagination hat salutes a
a prayer meeting and gambling den
in the same terms. Even Sodom,
could not be described by one word,
for there was one, at least, who was
rot wholly in fashion, "up-tO-date,"
there.
A paper comes often and uninyited
with the ambitious name Of Com
fort;" and some people may find com
fort in it. 1t is hard to say what some
people would not find comfort in. 1t
would not be whiskey, certainly, nor
tobacco, nor cards, nor dances, nor
gambling, nor prize fights, and the
penitentiaries forcibly testify that it
would not be any known crime: and
therefore the name Of this paper may
not be wholly inappropriate either to
the production socalled, or any Of its
kind, though for the cheap fiction OF
the present time Legion" would be,
doubtless, more significant, II not
more appropriate. But Comfort" in
this instance, is also very suggestive,
for it suggests the many substitutes
found in nature, and mans inven-
tions for the real and the true, as for
instance, tares for wheat, wild oats
for oats, wild buckwheat for buck
wheat, foxtail for barley, chistles for
cotton and Russian thistles for toma-
toes. And as such limitations are
found in the natural world about us
under the curse Of God, so nature in
man under the same curse produces
substitutes as, for instance, reports OF
cruelty and crime for reports Of deeds
of love and mercy; cheap and often
vile fiction, and Sunday papers fcs the
Bible and religious instruction; secret
societies for churches; dances fol
Thanksgiving and Christmas services
and worship; whiskey for water; to
bacco for education; cards for Sabbath
schools; jails for school houses; pro
family for prayer; and Idols for the In
finite Being.
Ihave often searched the evening
sky for an outline Of lion. or bear, o.
any animal, but all in vain, aud ye
such outlines were traced centuries
ago, aud are easily discernsd, nj
doubt, by many who are naturall.
adapted to draw such outlines. An'
vet | wonder at the power OF yisioI
which can see line where | cannot
and | wonder how many people hav
| ever traced any Of the signs OF the 70
| diac, and wish some one would tell u
,,l,ara to look for them