Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1901-07-31
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i SGAACA OA%AlkLNlANnSy ana MAllR we nG-
plore many things that have been done
| by them, their existence is necessity
and their legitimate sphere distinctly
| pointed out by the providence of God.
Such organizations are trying TO dismiss
from their association all members who
are IN favor Of anarchy and social chaos.
They will gradually cease anything like
/ tyranny over their members and viii for
| bud violent interference with any mans
work. whether he belongs TO their union
or ! outside of it, and will declare their
disgust with any such rule as that passed
in England by the Manchester Brieklay-
ers' Association, which says any man
found running or working beyond a regu-
lar speed shall be fined 2 shillings aud
sixpence for the first offense, . shillings
for the second, 10 shiliings for the third.
and if still persistins shall be dealt with
as the committee thinks PROF er,
There are secret societies in our coli
leges that have letters of the Greek al
phabet for their nomenclature. and their
membF are al the very front in scholar
ship aid irreproachable in morals, while
the are others the scene of earousal.
az they gamble, and they drink, and
icy graduate knowing hundred times
more about sin than they do of geometry
and Sophocles. In other words. secret
societies, like individuals, are good or
| bad. are the means of moral health or of
temporal and eternll 9amnation. All
good people recognize the vice of SANDER
ing an individual, but many do not see
the sin of slandering an organization.
There are old secret societies in this ana
other countries, some of item centuries
old, which have been widely denounced
as immoral and damaging in their infu-
ence, yet | have hundreds of personal
friends who belong to them-friends who
are c0nsecrate| 70 God, pillars in the
church, faithfn n all relations of life,
examples of virtue and pety. They are
the kind of friends whom | would have
for my executors at the time of decease,
and they are the men whom | would
have carry me out to the last sleep when
l am dead. 1ou cannot make me believe
| that they would belong to bad institu-
tions. They are the men who would
stamp on anything Ubiquitous, and l
would certainly rather take their testi-
mony in regard to such societies than
the testimony of those who, having been
sworn in as members, ty their assault
upon them confess themselves perjurers.
One of these secret societies gave for
the relief of the sick in 1873, in this
country, S1,490274. Some of these So
cieties have poured a very heaven of
sunshine and benediction into the home
of suffering. Several of them are found
ed on fidelity to good citizenship and the
Bible. | have never taken one of their
degrees. They might give me the grip
thnF1goud firpaS i
nize it, | am ignorant of their pass
words, and | must judge entirely from
the outside. But Christ has given us a
rule by which we may judge not only all
individuals. but all societies. secret and
! o. en-. by their fruits We shall know
III m" Bad societies make bad men.
Ioood societies make good men. 4 bad
r'~p will not stay in a good society. A
man will not stay in a bad 81 ETY..
/ In try all secret societies by two or
three rules.
Influence on Home Life.
Test the first: Their influence on home,
if you have a home. That wife soon
loses her influence over fer husband who
nervously and foolishly looks upon all
evening absence as an assault on domes-
.Icity. How are the great enterprises Of
reform and art and literature and benefi-
cenee and public veal to be carried on if
every man is to have his world bounded
ON o. side by his front doorstep and on
the otner side by his back window, know
ing nothing higher than his~own attic or
lower than his own cellar? That wife
who becomes jealous of her husbands at
tenton TO art or literature or religion or
charity is breaking her own scepfer of
, conjugal power. | know an instance
where a wife thought that her husband
was giving too many nights 10 Christian
service. to charitable service, to prayer
meetings and TO religious convocation.
She Systematically decoyed him away
until now he attends no church. Walls
upon no charitable Institution and Is on n
rapid way to destruction, his morals gone.
his money gone and. fear, his soul gone.
Let any Christian wife rejoite when
| her husband consecrates evenings to the
service of humanity and of God or any
thing elevating, but let no man sacrifice
home life to secret society life, as many
do. | can point out to you a great many
names of men who are guilty of this sac
rilege They are as genial as angels at
the society room and as ugly as sin at
home They are generous ON all subjects
of wine suppers, yachts and fast horses
but they are stingy about the wives
dresses and the children's shoes. That
man has made that which might be Il
healthful influence usnrper of his affec-
tipns, and he has married it, and he is
g1.;iit5 Of moral bigamy. Under this pro-
cess the wife. whatever her features. be-
comes uninteresting and homely. He be-
comes critical of her, does not like the
dress. does not like the way she arranges
her hair. is amazed that he ever was 50
unromantic as to offer her hand and
heart. There are secret societies where
membership always involves domestic
shipwreck Tell me that man has join
ed certain kind and tell me nothing
more aboHt him for ten years. and / will
write his history if he be still alive. The
man is a wine guZzler. his wife brok en-
hearted or prematurely old. his fortune
gone and his home a mere name in the
directory.
Here are six secular nights in tn. week.
what shall | do with Them says the
ather and the husband, Il viii give
four of these nights to the improvement
and entertainment Of my family, either
at home or in good neighborheod. Twill
devote enc to charitable institutions
win devot. one to my lodge ! cor graf
( Mate you Here Is man A~ho VS.,
out Of the six secular nights Of, the
week | viii devote Eve to ldges and
elubs and associations and one to. the
home. witch night / will spend in ssOwI-
ta