Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1902-10-13

ly. But Wnen the porter III spite Oh
that plea swore at the coffin and used
q contemptuous epithet about the be-
loved form within it and roughly let
the box turnble upon the platform, as
an average expressman lets trunk fall
to the ground, my friend doubled up
his fist and knocked that porter clear
into the tracks. He hit him so hard
that the policeman who ran up at first
thought him dead. But, though the
policeman was about to arrest the suf-
fering father, he did not, for when he
heard how the porter had sworn at the
body of the dead child he turned and
said, Brother, If that brutal porter
comes to, hit him again little harder
than you hit him before, and | will
stand by and, if necessary, help you.'
That spirit which my friend showed
toward the porter who swore at his
little girls body you, o blasphemer,
would show toward any one who
would insult the fair name of a pure,
noble daughter, whom you devotedly
loved!
Now, my sinful brother, you who are
addicted to the habit of swearing in
public, did you ever stop to think that
nearly always there are Christian men
and women around you who love the
name of Jesus Christ more than they
love their father or mother or wife or
daughter, or you love your child? Did
you ever stop to think that by your
profanity you are dishonoring the
name of that Christ for whom those
men and women, if necessary, would
be willing to die? Have you right to
insult their Christs name any more
than they have a right to insult your
child? Oh. my disappearing brother,
called you a cruel coward. l take it
all back. take that statement back,
because you may have sinned thought
lessly. l cannot believe that you have
deliberately intended to do this cruel
thing. In the past you have not real
lied the enormity of the injustice
which by the public habit of profanity
you are doing against some of your fell
low men. You are so kind hearted you
would not hurt dog or cat. Surely
after this you will cease to use bias
phemous words in public and not fur
Their cut and lash into the bleeding
hearts Of your Christian brothers and
sisters with the sharp, merciless i'm
piety which has heretofore proceeded
from your profane lips.
A Cruel and Foolish Habit.
Profanity is not only cruel, but
also very foolish, habit. My profane
brother, can you cite me one instance
| in all your life when the indulgence in
| the habit of swearing helped you in
| the least? Did the stone over which
| you stumbled get out Of your way and
apologize to you because you cursed
| it? Did the winds ever abate when
| you were crossing the seas because you
blasphemed them? Did your employ
ees ever love you better or work for
you harder because you lost your tenn
per and hurled at them whole lorna
do Of oaths? Did your horse ever drive
better because you swore at him until
you were red in the face? Did the
blood stop flowing when you cut your
finger merely because you made the
air sulphurous with your denunciatory
imprecations? MOI you answer. Il
cannot think of one good result that
| ever came from the evil habit of pro-
| family. 1t is such a foolish habit that
sometimes wonder why God does not
let the sticks and the stones and the
| dumb brutes have power of speech to
rebuke me. as he once bade the long
cared beast of burden open his mouth
and speak to the quick tempered and
unreasonable prophet Of old. / ought
to have better sense"
And yet this evil habit of profanity
would be absolutely ridiculous and
ludicrous If it were not so heinous in
it's results. We have read how one OF
the kings of old in order to prove that
he was master of the seas as well as OF
the lands ordered his soldiers to come
down to the seashOre and with whips
lash the waves as they tumbled upor
the beach, and when we read of that
royal order we have laughed at ths
kings actions as those of madmar
and of an egotistic, cracked Drained
person Wherever we have noted The
imbecile act of an unbalanced min(
we have compared it to the insane am
billions of the hero of the celebrated
Spanish romance which Cervantes
wrote But were the picture of kins
fighting the waves with whips ant
lashes or the escapades of Don Quix
ote ever more ridiculous and imbecil,
than the act of a great. big. strons
man cursing stone merely because
his toe stubbed against it or swear
ing at the axle merely because til,
grease ran dry or disappearing thu
iron head of hammer merely becaus
he, as a carpenter. was clumsy fingered
and hit the end of his thumb insteat
of the nail in the plank? Was ever
sight more ridiculous, if there was no
eternal misery in it's outcome. than
man standing at the gate of an ele
waited depot cursing the train and wish
ing that its platform wheels and glas
windows and wooden seats might b
consumed I'm the fires of an intern