The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1903-05-29
">OCIALISTIC."

our worthy and able brother Of the
Richmond Times Dispatch, replying
to the Herald's comments on the Bible
i'm use in the public schools Of Lynch
burg. upon which the reckless pen
knife had been at work, says:
.Nybat would our contemporary do ?
Would il make rule requiring all
school children To read the Bible in ITS
entirety, or have II read them Would
il compel the children Of Jewish pa
pents 10 read the New Testament ?
There are complications which our con
temporary well understands, and the
question is whether selections shall he
read or Bible reading excluded alto
getheT.
Therefore, il seems TO us that the
Lvnchburg schools have done the best
that can be done under the circum-
stances. aud that II is better for the
children 10 read some of the Bible in
the public schools than TO read none at
all
Suppose that instead Of taking these
selections aud printing them in DIFF
ferent volume, the school trustees
should designate selections 10 he read
from the Bible i'm its complete form.
Would there be any objection Ia that
Does our contemporary think that
teachers and pupils should begin at
the beginning and read the Bible
through from one end % the other?
Our contemporary knows full well
that there are parts Of the Bible that
are not proper 10 be read in the
presence Of children. and 50 at best, if
the Bible were admitted To the public
schools, the children would be permit
ted 10 read only selections therefrOm
We can STE no material difference IN
reading selections from the Bible COM
plete and having those same selections
reproduced IN separate volume.
"Ihe discussion serves tO show, how
ever, how difficult It Is To carry on "A
public school system in republic like
ours. The system Is forever butting
up against some Fundamental priuci-
pie" Of our government. 1t could not
well be otherwise, seeing that our gov
eminent is purely democratic, and the
public school system is purely social |
istic."
In reply we beg TO say, not TO please
Jew OF Geutile. followers Of COnfu- |
cius or Buddha, worshippers ofstock or
stone, sun or star. those who train with |
Mahomet or Brigham Young, nor yet |
at the demands of agnOstic, iniidel nor /
any fool who says in his heart there /
is no GOdn would we exclude the BIZ
bic from the schools Of Christian
America, and to those who are offend
ed we would say go elsewhere, just as
we would say there is no room in
America for any man or class Of men
who are not willing to obey our Con.
stitutiOn and our laws.
This is Christian America aud those
who come to US should recognize that
fact, just as when we go iutO the home
Of a neighbor it is expected that We
will conform TO the rules Of the house
hold. AID, is the "public school sys-
tenn purely socialisticn after ali? and
that too, in the opinion Of our comrade,
who has been one of its wOrthiest and
staunchest supporters? Suppose we
had SAID to Mr.. Ogden and others on
their recent visit to Richmond, you are
here to "fan the flames Of Socialism,"
what would have been the answer Of
leading newspaper In our
opinion the cure for socialism and all
other hurtful isms is to be found in
the teachings Of the Bible, the King
James version, the Bible of the pews if
not OF the pulpit, and we would have
{ unclaimed, unabridged aud given to
'ur schools, our homes, our churches, .
'ur people a. free rs the air we breathe.
Force no one to read it, compel 10
me to believe its truths, rest upon its ,
promises or heed its warnings, but put
t within the reach Of all, that even he
Who runs may read, and reading may
ind his way to nOblest citizenship here
md truer royalty hereafter.