Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1899-07-07

north, south, cast and west forbid the
banns of that marriage, forbid them at
the ballot box, forbid them on the plat
form, forbid them by great organiza'
tions, forbid them by the Overwhelming
sentiment of an outraged nation, forbid
them by the protest of the church OF
God, forbid them by prayer to high
Heaven. That nerod shall not have
this Abigail. 1t shall not be to all-de-
vouring monopoly that this land is to
be married.
Another suitor claiming the hand OF
this republic is nihilism.
He owns nothing but knife for uni
versal cutthroatery and nitroglycerin
bomb for universal explosion, He be-
lieves in no God, no government, no
Heaven and no hell except what he can
make on earth. lie slew tie c2ar OF
Russia, keeps many n king practically
imprisoned, killed Abraham Lincoln,
would put to death every king and pres
ident on earth, and, If he had the power,
would climb up until lie could drive
the God of Heaven from His throne and
take il himself, the universal butcher.
In France it is called communism; i'll
the United States it is called anarchism;
in Russia it is called nihilism, hut that
last is the most graphic and descriptive
term. 1t means complete and eternal
smash-up. 1t would make the holding
of property a crime, and it would drive
dagger through your heart and put
torch to yosir dwelling and turn over
this whole land into the possession OF
theft and lust and rapine and murder
Where does this monster live? In all
the towns and cities of this land. 1t Of
fers its hand to this fair republic. 1t
. proposes to tear to pieces the ballot
box, the legislative hall, the congress
sional assembly. 1t would take this
land and divide it up, or, rather, di-
vide it down. 1t would give as much to
the idler as to the worker, to the bad
as to the good. Nihilism! This pam
ther, having prowled across other
lands, has set its paw on our soil, and it
is only waiting for the time in which
TO spring upon its prey. 1t was nihilism
that burned the railroad property at
Pittsburgh during the great riots; it
was nihilsm that slew black people
in our northern cities during the war;
il was nihilism that mauled to death the
Chinese immigrants years ago; it is nj
hilism that glares out of the windows
of the drunkeries upon sober people
as they go by. All, its power has never
yet been tested. pray God its power
may never be fully tested. 1t would, if
it had the power, leave every church.
chapel, cathedral, schoolhouse and col
lege in ashes.
Let me say it is the worst enemy of
the laboring classes in any country
The honest cry for reform lifted by op-
pressed laborng men is drowned out
by the vocferaton for anarchy. The
criminals and the vagabonds who range
through our cities talking about their
rights, when their first right is the pen
itentiary-if they could be hushed up
aud the downtrodden laboring men 81
this country could be heard, there
would be more bread for hungry chill
dren. In this land riot and bloodshec
never gained any wages for the people
Ut gathered up any prosperity. In this
land the best weapon is not the club
not the shillalah, not firearms, but tht
ballot. Let not our oppressed laborine
men be beguiled to coming under the
bloody banner of nihilism. 1t will max,
your taxes heavier, your wages
smaller, your table scantier, your chill
dren hungrier, your suffering greater
Yet this nihilism, with feet red o.
slaughter, comes forth and offers it!
hand for this republic. Shall the ban1f!
be proclaimed? If so, where shall th'
marriage altar be, and who will be th,
officiating priest, and what will be th'
music? That altar will have TO b'
white with bleached skulls, the otliciat
ing priest must be tripping assassin
the music must be the smothered groaI
of multitudinous victims, the garland
must be twisted of night shade, th'
fruits must be the apples of Sodom, th'
wine must be the blood of st. Bartholo
news massacre. No! 1t Is not to nj
hilsm, the sanguinary monster, tha
this land is to be married.
Another suitor for the hand of thi
nation is infidclity. When the midnigh
rufiians dcspoiled the grave of A. ]
| nrt L., Mnt.Is'u ,,hp nhtynr r1 NJ
erybody was shocked but infdelit,
proposes something worse than that
the robbing of all the graves of Chris
tendon in the hope of a resurrection
1t proposes to chisel out from the tomb
stones of your Christian dead the word
asleep in Jesus" AID substitute tn
words "Obliteration annihlation.
lnfdelity proposes to take the lette
from the worlds Father, inviting tn
nations to virtue and happiness, ant
tear it up into fragments so small tha
you cannot read word of it. 1t pro
poses to take the consolation from III
broken-hearted and the soothing PILLOW
from the dying. Ipfdelity proposes t
swear in the president Of the Unite,
States, and the supreme court, and tn
governors of states, and the witnesse
in the courtroom with their right han,
on Paine's "Age of Reason" or Vol
taire's PHILOSOPHY of History" 1t Pre-
poses to take away from this countr
the book that makes the difference be
tween the United States and the king
dom of Dahomey, between America
: civilization and Bornesian cannibalisn
If infdelity could destroy the Scrip
lures it would in 200 years turn tn
, civilized nations back to semibarbal
ism, and then from semibarbarism int
midnight savagery, until the morals @
| a menagerie Of tigers, rattlesnakes an
chilnpanzees would be better than th
morals of the shipwrecked human race