The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-11-29
CITY OF TERRE U
DIR. Finds 1t Is in
Grace and Good Works.

To the Editor Of the Indianapolis Journal:
1t is well once in a while to get out of
sight of the smoke Of ones own chimney
and beyond the narrow horizon of ones
own viewpoint; it shows that, after all,
there are others who nave horizons which
to them seem just as broad as your own.
OF course, the resident of Indianapolis
thinks his city is the exact center of the
world, judging not only by the truthful
statement of our own dailies, but by the
ocular demonstration as seen from the top
OF the monument, which shows that the
sky comes down at equal distances all
around; and this opinion is reinforced by
the clatter of numerous factories and other
indications of life. To see how other peo-
pie live and what they think of themselves,
L am spending a few days in the ambitious
little city of Terre Haute. One does not
have to long converse with a loyal resident
before he discovers that, in his estimation,
if Terre Haute is not in the geographical
center of the State, it is already a center
of prosperity and culture. 1t has not only
the best normal schoo in America, crowded
with young men and women, some even
from Indianapolis, learning how to teach
school after the latest fashion, and learning
- ~ diOAo AAAACo AI0NA IN 6AONCA-
ing they claim to be pushing to the very
trent They already have three of the
largest distilleries in America, but a brew
cry so large and influential that it COM
petes with our own great Indianapolis
brewery at its very doors with odds, at
present on its side, thus furnishing employ
ment for four sub revenue collectors, who
tnrn into the hands of their local chief
nhnTTf tho HDnE mount Of nnNan ~ Of onD
locality in America. But, not content with
such supremacy, they are reaching OUT
through their Commercial Club for such
factories as glass works and the like, Sue
cessfully disputing with the gas belt, whose
fuel seems likely to be exhausted in the
near future. They claim that their coal
will never give out. Never is a long while
but they take the risks, so hat one who
left Indianapolis only yesterday fully i'm
pressed with the eternal supremacy of his
own city, grows very modest in the pres
ence of an up-to-date citizen of this little
ambitious city. They claim, right in the
presence of an Indianapoiitan, that the SUI
perior social life OF the city, its churches
and its schools, outside its Normal, and its
broad, well-improved streets, are no second
factor in inducements for men to seek il as
a home. To-day was Thanksgiving day,
and from what / have seen any heard,
there is much more truth in this claim
than l thought probable on my first visit
TO the town sixty-two years ago, in the
capacity or a preacher. 1t was then the
landing for a region fifty miles
east and west, goods from the east land
ing here for Greencastle, Ind, and Paris
and Vandalia, Ill. There was then but
one small Methodist and one small Presby-
terrain church; now there are seven Meth
odist churches, and how many others 1 can
not tell. These, in local groups, held
union religious services. | worshiped with
the central group in the First Presbyterian
Church, where a large company listened
to an eloquent sermon from DR.. Case, a
Baptist; an equally eloquent and appropri-
ate prayer from Rev. G. w. Tinsley, of the
Methodist Church, other pastors taking
some part in the services. But, interesting
and appropriate as these all were, what
was esteemed a mere incidental perform
ance had to me a more absorbing interest
for the moment than any other thing said
or done-a personal interest no other one
could have. 1t was Judge Davis's presenta-
tion of the work of the consolidated charity
organizations of the city for the year. Its
showing was not merely creditable, but
highly praiseworthy. What gave it. TO me,
a peculiar interest was a class of reflections
it started. L have spoken OF visiting the
town sixty-twO years ago on a temporary
the triumphs of the gospel in which was
this thought: Wherever 1t goes the brother
hood of man goes. and one Of its triumphs
insane and other sufferers. The thought
was not original with me, but somehow I
so emphasized it that an old preacher pres
emit, whose chief aim had been all his life
to preach about heaven, said he had never
thought of that part of the mission of the
gospel. Here, after more than sixty years,
was an eXempllncat1on or the truth, not
necessarily connected with that sermon.
but by no means so strange a doctrine as
that sermon seemed to be when it empha-
sized the truth that the Christian religion
had as much to do with and for the life
that now is, as for the life that is to come,
for when Judge Davis called for contribu-
lions he talked as If every man under
stood his duty and meant to do il. This.
together with the Wagon loads of dinners
for the poor from this charitable organiza-
ton and the several churches largely justi-
fy Terre Haute's claim TO being a good
place to live. That may have much to do
With its material prosperity. At all events,
the Terre Haute of to-day is not the Terre
Haute of sixty-two years ago.
u. L. SEE.
Terre Haute, Ind, Nov. IS.