The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-05-16
SWITCH AND cArEcHlsM.


SWITCH AND CATECHisA1.
THE most wicked nation on the
face of the earth is the American ma
tion., That was what the Rev. DR..
expressed In his sermon yester-
day morning as his deliberate opinion.
There Is no doubt about 1t that wick
edness bound in this land, that
there is corruption in higl, places and
low places. that as many vile things
are lone nowadays as when the great
APOSTLE wrote his letter to the Ro-
mans. that great riches make men
forget their religious and political du-
ties, that there is much rottenness
among the multimillionaires; but the
preacher made the mistake. as we
think. of Judging the great American
nation by the specified apples in the
barrel.
Rockefeller. the most abused of the
over-rich. has certainly not spent any
of his money in riotous living. John
s. Kennedy disposed of his immense
wealth in a way that has met the APP
prevail of the best and most pious
people everywhere. Mrs. Sage is do
ing a great deal of good with what
she has. Daniel Hand devoted his mill
lions to good works. George Peabody
did not travel around the country
with a woman who was not his wife,
as the multimlllionaire who was seen
by the preacher in a hotel at Jack
sonville was doing, and there are
thousands of rich women in the United
States who never went up to the bar
in any hotel and "swigged" their Ii
quor Just as If they were men. Nine
pages of the World Almanac for 1910
contain the names Of the American
multimillionaires. They have far
more money han 1T is safe for any
group of men TO have: but over
against them there are something like
ninety million other Americans who
do not belong to their class. 1t is
hardly fair. VIC think, to condemn the
whole American people because of
the sayings and doings of a compare.
danger is not so much in the fact
that this minority is possessed of so
great a share of the wealth Of the
country, but in the attempt of the
poorer class, the men and women OF
small means, to initiate the vices Of
the rich. 1t is the little fellows. after
all. who degrade the race by following
the occupation of professional pleas
ure-seekers."
DR., Rogss, however, preached a
great rmo It was based on the
pitiful and pathetic story of Absa-
lom, and IT cut to the quick. 1t was
in fact, a plea for Christian educa-
ton, in the family, in the institutions
of learning, in the Church: a fearless
exposition of the sins and faults OF
these times, Of the neglect of religious
instruction in the family, Of the neg.
lect OF the moral training of the chill
dren. of tho disposition of tho women
to despise their motherly duties, oi
the carelessncss with which the men
absorbed in the affairs Of their busy
life, let their boys and girls go theft
own gait, AS ono OF tho aids TO the
right sort OF teaching, the switch and
the Cateehism were commended as eff
licient instruments in the making OF
better men and women. These wer,
formerly used with good results by
old-tinle Presbyterians. and 1T worlt
be found that they have not yet los
their efficacy. 1t has hecn said tina,
tho hand that rocks the cradle rule.
the world, hut this hand should b,
the mothers hand and not the han,
of the African nurse 10 whose car,
10 many Of tho children OF the prosen
day Of cards IN the morhTnE,~ card,
at noon. and cards or tho @tfentre Il
the evening" is entrusted.
All Of the congregation % The ILL.,.
ond PRESBYTERIAN Church, where pr
Boggs preached, eomed 10 appropiat,
and enjoy what he said.
,lU"