The Oskaloosa herald., 1904-10-06
THE UNDER DOG
"A Lay Sermon BY the Author of Around
the World on Sixty Dollars. !"

we Americans are striving: wealth
knowledge and position, and in the
mad rush many poor fellow IL
trampel down to rise no more.
There is an aristocracy Of society
the Four Hundred which no one car
join unless he comes of certain line
of ancestors; there is the aristocracy
of wealth and fashion which no one
can approach unless he has money t
throw at the birds; and finally there
is the aristocracy of learning and re
ngion, to which, according to oul
best theologians, no one can attain
unless he has certain kind of par
entage.
One of these great divines has just
attended our Yearly Meeting and
preached a powerful sermon on learn
ing and religion. Now / have very
little education except what I got in
a backwoods country school in Indi
ana and Iowa short time each win
ter. When this eloquent man por'
trayed the awful condition of the un
educated man, how he had no more
than enc chance in ten to attain to
wealth and position, my soul was
stirred within me. But still I could
look upwards with a CLEAN of hope;
perhaps / might bestir myself in my
old age and gain a little knowledge,
But when we were shown how much
better off the child of educated par
ents is than the child Of the ignorant,
my soul was shaken to its very foun'
dalton.
Ny father was no doubt the missing
link that scientists have been hunting
so long. He was born in North Caro-
lima near the beginning of the last
century. Like most Carolinians OF
that early day he lived on possums,
persimmons and kind of red clay
that they would root into the hills af-
ter. At twelve years of age my father
was captured and brought to Indiana
and turned loose in the wilderness.
Although there was no red clay there
he would burrougn in the ground af-
ter a certain kind of roots and vege-
tables that were native to that coun-
try. After many years the educated
people from the east began to settle
in Indiana, and crowded my father
back into the wilderness until he final
ly landed in Iowa where for a long
time ne rn9AIfa S S2.s tes .S5 .9 gEairiss.
he Would be roofing yet if we did not
keep him tied up. for ne is now 81
years old and somewhat domesticated,
and If he were not restrained, he
would root up the meadows and lawns.
My mother is little removed from the
missing link. She was born in Indi-
ana, and although she never rooted,
she early acquired the habit OF
scratching. At very early age she
was put to scratching or hacking
fax and wool with an instrument
somewhat like a curry comb. The
time came when she was compelled to
quit that, but the habit was so well
formed that she continued to scratch
in the garden and fields and even now
at the age of eighty, we have to
watch her or she will slip out and
scratch up the potatoes,
Fate is a cruel despot; he consults
no man about where he shall be born
or what i'll wind shall blow upon him
afterwards. Some are born of par
ents of wealth, learning and refine
ment, who have nothing to do but
beautify their persons with silks and
diamonds, and beautify their minds
with the graces of art, literature and
music, and adorn their Characters
with song and praise to bountifui
Creator, and transmit to their chil
dren the germs Of their exalted state
As the words of the great and good
man come rolling down like the thun
behring's of Sinai, is it any wonder that
my heart sank within me when he
proclaimed the decree of Jehovah that
the child Of college-bred parents had
ten times better chance in the world
than the child Of the ignorant
fed from the house with these words
ringing in my ears: Where is wis
dom to be found, and who knowetf
the place of understanding" Fol
five days / ceased not to rush hither
and thither and beg for information
from every college and training school
man and every lawyer and doctor
met For the benefit of those who
dwell in the valley and shadow Of ig
norance, give list Of the informa-
ton. Among the Penn college faculty
examined, three said the changes OF
the moon were caused by the shadow
OF the moon upon itself, and one said
1t was the shadow Of the earth upon
the moon. One said that in light the
4Agle Of incidence was equal to the
eagle OF reflection, and showed by q
diagram ON the blackboard that the
Light shining ON the moon and re
bounding to the earth would produce
new moon In the east and n full
moon in the west.
Among the graduates OF Penn exam
ined. seven said the shadow OF the
moon upon itself caused it's changes;
four said it was the shadow Of the
earth ,Iuon fha moon and ono knau