The weekly true Democrat. (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1905-1912, 1906-10-19
ACRRnr PRRCuRR coIU.

As is usual, on all subjects. tive editor
Of the Live Oak Daily Democrat says
10 all in the following editorial, which
we reproduce. 81" "
Sam Jones, the great religious COM
moner, the divinely inspired Georgia
cracker" the dauntless and invipci-
bic champion Of the ""old- time religion
the preacher who beyond all others of
his time got closest to the hearts Of the
plain people Of America and touched re-
sponsive chords with the most elabOr-
ate pulpit learning and eloquence could
never reach, Is dead. The dispatch Else
where in this issue tells how he fell
dead in a railway train in Arkansas
Monday while he was on one of his lee
turing tours through the west. He will
be mourned in every State in the Union
for this rough and ready Georgia Meth
odist preacher whose genius and good
ness and power redeemed his frequent
coarseness Of speech and harshness Of
abuse, made the whole Republic his
field Of action and he was as much at
home in addressing an audience in the
far north as in the far south. 1t is said
of him that he was wild in his youth, a
rural rowdy given over to horse racing,
drunkenness, fighting and other evil
ways; but he had brains and heart, and
that mysterious essence called genius
was lurking like potential electric light
in the convolutions of his gray matter ;
and into this matter, unpublished dia-
mond of a man there came the grace of
God one day and he was transformed
for life into a rare power for good with
out parallel or precedent, so unique was
his personality and so forceful his
speech. In the early years of his evan
gelistic work he was marvelously scin-
tillant and persuasive, and cold cultured
Boston preachers and scholars were laid
under the spell of plain Sam Jones, Of
Georgia, as readily as the great congre-
cations of the hterate and illiterate he
talked to through the south and west.
In the leading cities Of the nation the
big dailies gave stenographie reports Of
his sermons each morning during his re-
vivals, and it is probable that no other
evangelist IN the country ever reached
as many people as he did. His courage
was IS undOubted as his genius and he
spared no type or class in his fierce de-
nunciatiOn, his biting sarcasm and his
fiery, penetrating wit Many people Of
refinement abhorred his slang and
coarsefess and reckless grammar, but
they went to hear him, for intellect and
true piety and genius and courage were
ell his in large degree, and armed with
these he was a very Christian knight
incesSantly making the good fight and
dealing stalwart blows against all forms
Of evil that afflicts the land. He was
fearfully rough and inconsiderate. but
his splendid virility saved him from the
fate Of lesser men and It was impossible
to write him down or appreciably dim
inish his hold upon the masses. He
knew no theology except the Bible, but
ne believed that awful book with al his
mind and soul and he preached Is few
others have ever done in this or any
other country. As he grew older and
expanded under the influence of thought
and travel he became more refined in
speech and tolerant In spirit, but the
characteristics which made him famous
remained with him to the last and he
died as he had lived and as he wished
to die, a fighting soldier of the Cross
with his harness on.