Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1907-09-26
Wtterson's Warning Against "lsms."

at the opening of the Bluegrass Fair ir
Lexington in which he warned the peo
pie of his State against the intrusion o
certain "isms,'' and counseled them +.
live without hypocrisy by adhering te
the standard Of morals OF Old Kentucky
WARNING AGAINST "IsMs.'
81 protest against that religion which
stnds the sugar and waters the milk be
fore it goes to its prayers. protest
against that morality which poses as a
saint in public to do as it pleases in pri
vate. As the old woman said Of the old
mans swearing, if there's anything / do
hybominate it is hypocracy. In my opn-
ion those things which threaten Ken
lucky are not the gentlemanly vices OF
the race course and the sdeboard, but
pnrfdy and phariseeism in public and in
private life.
"The men who made the Bluegrass ia
nous, who put the brand Of glory upon
its women, its horses and it's vintage.
were not ashamed to take drink nor to
lay wager, though they paid their losses
and understood where to draw the line.
They marked the distinction between
moderation and intemperance. They
did not need to be told what honor is
They believed, as believe, that there is
such thing as pretending to more virtre
than honest mortals can hope to attain
~ warn our people against the intru-
sion of certain 'isms' which describe
themselves az progress, and muster un-
der the standard OF what they call God
and Morality but which, fifty years ago
went by very different name; 'isms'
which, take their spirit from Cotton Ma,
ther not from Jesus Christ; 'isms' which,
where they cannot rule, would burn at
the stake; isms' which embrace the sum
of all ianatcism and intolerance, propos-
ing that, instead of the rich, red blood of
Virginia, ice water shall flow through
the veins of the people; 'isms' which,
in one word, would blot Kentucky out of
the galaxy of stars and recreate her in
the dread image of Maine and Kansas.
NO ANGLES BY LEGISLATION.
81 refuse to yield to these. Holding
the ministry in reverence as spiritual adj
visors, rejecting them, as emissaries of
temporal power, | do not intend, if can
help it, to be compelled to accep. rule
OF modern clericalism, which, if it could
have its bent and sway, would revive for
us the prest-ridden systems OF the Middle
Ages. do not care to live in world
that is too good to be genial; to ascetic to
be honest; too proscriptive to be happy.
| do not believe that men can be legislat-
ed into angels, even red noseed angels
''The blue laws of New England, dead
letters for the most part, did more harm
to the people, while they lasted, than all
other agencies united. l would leave
them in the cold storage to which the
execration OF some and the neglect OF all
consigned them long ago, not emba,m
and import them to Kentucky to poison
the meat and drink and character OF the
people. ! shall leave my home life, my
professional career and my familiar asso-
ciates to say whether do not place, and
have not always placed, the integrity OF
man, the purity of woman and the sane
tity Of religion above all earthly things;
but hope never to grow to old to make
merry with my friends and forget for a
little that am no longer one and twenty
When the time arrives for me to go to my
account, mean to go shouting; to 60
with my flying, and, as never have lied
to the people OF Kentucky, please God |
never shall, ! have told them a great
many unpaatable things
II have met their disapproval full in
the face. ! have lived to see most OF my
against this, that and the
other vain hope vindicated by events.
want to live yet little longer still to tell
the truth and shame the devil; but il OBJ
scurity and adversity and neglect shall
overtake me it will be comfort even in
the valley Of the shadow of death that
from first to last | fought not for the
speckled gospels Of the short haired wo
men and the long haired men of Babylon,
but for the simple manhood and lovely
of old Kentucky-never New
Kentuckey, but always and forever, Old
Kentuckey-your birthright and mine"
WANTED-Men for all kinds OF woods
work, teamsters, swampers, bark leaders,
log cutters, trimmers and sawyers. Good
wages and nice ground to work on.
LAQUIN LUMBER co.
I.aouin, Bradford Co. Pa.