Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-01-20

creatures into ships, bring them down
the Tiber to the sea, and there scut-
tie the vessels and let them sink TO
the bottom Of the ocean. The
common people worked as slaves, and
without remuneration, under Roman
law. The laborer could not then mar
ry or possess home or family. The
slave lord of the family as he called
his slaves, had over them power
of life and death. One of the laws was
that if a slave lord was killed in his
house every one of his slaves without
regard to- age or sex was to be put
to death. Tacitus, in his annals, tells
us how when Pedanius Secundus, pre-
feet of the city, was murdered by one
OF his slaves, the guards of the Empe-
ror Nero marched the family, the
slaves of the murdered master to the
place of execution and put them to
death, though they numbered 400 men,
women and children.
81 would blush to tell persons of re-
finement like you, of the gross and
unnatural irdmoralities of the pagan
world, even amid the splendors of
Babylon, Greece and Rome. Histori-
an Tacitus tells us of Roman BAN
quet served on the lake of Agrippa by
Tigellinus, a freedman of Emperor
Nero. Near the banquet board women
of the first rank in the city of Rome
took up their places opposite to band
of naked harlots and there publicly
prostituted themselves indiscriminate-
ly Women then were but the victims
and the instruments of the passions
of the depraved. Any man under the
law could put away or kill the woman
he called wife. Such. my hearers, was
the measure of morality in the pagan
world of yore.
"Ah! was it not then time for the
regeneration or the end of the human
race?
"But the Divine Babe was born in
Bethlehem and lifted up His infant
hands to bless lost world. He came
to redeem and save all. He began His
divine work by exercising the savage
in man and by enabling him to con-
troll his passions. He infused into So
ciety the spirit of charity in both it's
branches. Henceforth man was to
love God above all and his neighbor as
himself for the love of God. The Sa-
vior sent out His teachers to proclaim
the fatherhood of God and the broth
erhood of man. Men and women filled
with the spirit of Christ began to re,
new the face of the earth. On fire
with divine lobe they carried their
heavenly messages all over the earth.
We find them everywhere, teaching,
preaching and lifting up the human
race by the locks out of the drowning
waters of vice, ignorance and sin
| We may look at 'Greenland's icy
mountains and we shall find that they
are busy there. We may scan India S
coral strand and we shall see them
there, too, Sailing the society of the
lowly and heightened. In the lep-
er hut and the fever
shed they are at home
On the battlefield, where the cannon
sings the requiem of the soldier, they
move quietly about, bringing comfort
to the fallen and lsnatching souls as
best they may from despair and loss
of God. Every land is dotted with
asylums and homes for the poor, the
insane, the orphan, and the unfortu.
nate of every kind. For love of the
Savior the best of the sons and
| daughters of man devote their lives tc
the service of these unfortunates be
| cause they see Christ in them. In
deed it seems as if we have already
among men, a, new heaven and new
| EARTH
The wall of the distresses now re
echoes around the world and touches
| the heart sof the nations everywhere
| When in 1847-47 an artificial English
made famine was carrying to the
| grave millions of the starving Irish
people, then America sent fleets o.
ships across the Atlantic ocean, load
ed with provisions to feed my famish
ed countrymen. Lately when gaun
famine faced the serfs of Russia
America sent money by the thousands
| ship loads of provisions, and sent with
them messengers to distribute oul
aims among these poor people
Our wealthy citizens now scatter theil
riches in endowing hospitals
colleges, universities and free libra
ries. AS We gaze on our own palatia
Carnegie free library we cry out il
chorus, Yes, the world is growing
1 better The pen is now indeed might
Ter than the sword Two of the great
est world powers of today lately drew
the sword to annihilate a little repub
4 lie nesting under the southern cross
| HIS eXcellency, President Roosevelt
sent them polite note of invitation
to pause awhile anG talk the matte
over. They sheathed the sword ant
have already gone to The Hague TO
a nice little conference, and our Unclt
Samuel, leaning against a T3-inch gun
and looking over at Dewey's fleet OF
| the Caribbean sea smiles on his Amer
lean boys and says: Well, guess
| the world is growing better Arbitra
ton is now an international fact.
Were George Washington to return
to earth and witness ou
advancement in wealth, in
| telligence, philanthropy, and rea
religion, he would be astonished
Seeing our citizens dwelling togethe
in peace and agreeing to differ in re
ligion and politics without detrimen
to either, he would think that we ar
living in paradise regained.'
Before taking my seat desire tt
congratulate our Commercial associa
ton. God prosper the association ant
its members. The association is to b.
and already is, blessing to our city
Let all of us henceforth work to cul
tivate town spirit. Let all our pee
pie look on our city as the best cit.