Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1910-12-10
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THOU SHALT NOT.

THU shall NOI.
Text, Whose breaketh hedge a SER
pent shall bite him."-Eccl x, s.
Thou shalt mott Who said so?
God But why shan't /? There's rea-
son. You need not know it-possibIy
couldn't understand. When you tell
your little three-yearo that coffee isn't
good for children you don't bother OK
blaming about caffeine, the active and
dangerous alkaloid of coffee. You might
as well read Rants "Critique," But
ler's analogy" or Browning's poems
Her nervous system will become just
as strong by obeying your thou shalt
nots" as If you had tried to explain
1t ought not to embarrass you to learn
that you must believe first and be
taught afterward You knew your
MULTIPLICATION table long before you
could prove It, Most of your knowl
edge came that way. The thou
shalt not Is a hedge. The purpose Of
a hedge is not to annoy, but to pro-
tect. Uncle Sam maintains 5000 bea-
con lights, 6,0OO buoys and signals
along his coast. Each one says, Thou
shalt notw No mariner is quite such
fool as to think Uncle Sam bully
ing policeman with big stick.
Don't Go Out the Gate"
Feudal days had meats with draw
bridges Then came walled cites.
then houses with brick and stone
walls. Our colonists built stockades;
after the Indians had gone. board
fences, then the picket and almost in
visible wire or a bed of geraniumS-
now none! Johnny, don't so out the
gate" mother used to say. Now John
ny plays on the street Whether he
did better among the lilacS and the
old fashioned sweet williams protect
ed by the hedge or out In the street
lodging automobiles and Tipping Gig
arctic pictures is a question. It's an
age of transition. Following the trend
of things, we are tearing down many
fences. They're so old fogyish! There
was time when folks got married
and they said, For better, for worse.
till death us do part" That was the
understanding, and they meant it, If
they had a tiff they made it up long
before communion Sunday at the old
church. But the marriage fence seems
tottering. Only one In eight stands!
Reno has a permanent settlement, and
our wives get circulars mailed from
there at the breakfast table. They are
busy tearing down the old Sabbath
fence our forefathers thought was so
necessary for the safety Of the repub-
lie. Even the theological professors
are feverishly removing the barriers
about the Bible. Stars! We can re-
member when mother used to read
those wonderful Bible stories to us.
We thought they were true, but it
seems not. OF course fences are anti
quated and outlandish. That verse
about Remove not the ancient land
marks which thy fathers set" must be
all folderol
Hedges Are Law.
Sin says, Don't bother about the
hedges" When you read tomorrow
mornings paper you will scan the story
of the suicides, murders, home wreck
ings, sensational trials. The whole
surface of the social sea seems strcwn
with this human flotsam. Who are
they? They are the hedge breakers,
and the serpent has bitten them. They
have broken some law. Law makes
the earth revolve. Light follows dark
ness. Spring, summer, autumn and
winter follow in endless procession
with their flowers, harvests, fruits and
SHOWS. 1t Is law that lets birds fly.
fish swim, cattle to roam in the field.
If a fish leaps on the shore it has
broken a hedge; if a beast remains I'M
der water 1t has broken n hedge; If a
plant should refuse water it will have
broken a hedge. The serpent of pen
atty will bite them. The penalty and
broken law go together like fire and
heat. We are hedged in with law
natural law, civil law, social law, COM
mercial law, common law, moral law,
ecclesiastical law, international law.
Law Is the throne on which the Al
mighty sits. You can't break one Of
these laws with impunity. That story
back in Eden doesn't have to be true.
There are hundreds of cases before the
men have closed the gates of paradise
on themselves. God help US! The
brambles Of the hedge have scratched
us more than once
Tho Sting of tho Serpent.
Better keep hands off the hedge. Be
fore shutdown of your little day you
will feel n fostering wound. 1t means
restraint-in the family, parental au-
thority; in the social circle, conven-
tionality and Mrs. Grundy; in the
church, still more stringent limitations.
How you envy the bohemians! Will
1t never cease? Never, from cradle to
grave. Children hardly move without
"don'ts." You will outgrow those
"don'ts" only to encounter others,
Seems tyrannical? You can reach
through and get the coveted thing
others have-but you get 1t only as the
mouse gets the bait In the trap. Fame
comes slow. You can become noto-
rious In an hour. Want money with
out earning it? You can, but theft and
embeZZlement are on the other side
of the hedge. Want to crafty passion?
First visit the municipal hospital,
Want your social glass? Better not.
Red light ahead! Hedges are really
rails put along the sides of life's foot
bridge. They limit your liberty, true,
but they limit your danger. The night