Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1910-05-27
Appreciation of IngersoIl

WIZ aCCpCt VI cOnOOuc dis views on
religion, ii freely n mi;s that aside
from mis- writings on these subjects,
he enriched the literature OF his
time 10y his wonderful thought and
subperb Imagination. He has given
us some of the most beautiful and
perfect literary diction OF the Ian
guage, and ii is reg Tettable that as an
author he can never have that place
to which he is entitled, on account
OF the dangerous tendency of his
writings on religion to impressiona-
BILE minds.
1ngersoll was friend and con-
temporary of such men as Henry
Ward Beecher, and Gladstone, of
England. MI. Beecher, the great
American preacher, was his intimate
friend. With both he had lengthy
discussions of religion that attracted
the attention of the world. He WAS
one of James @. Blaine's most Law
ish admirers.
The famous Grafton on the tomb OF
Napoleon, by Ingersoll, is almost
without a parallel in our language,
while his writings are replete with
such magnificent gems of thought.
He worshipped the child. In the
coruse OF one of his lectures he said
The laugh of child will make
the hottest day more sacred still.
Strike with hand of fire, o weird
musician, thy harp strung with APP
pollO's golden hair I'LL the vast ca
thedral aisles with symphonies sweet
and dim, deft TOUGHER of the organ
keys; blow, bugIer, blow, until
thy silver notes do touch and kiss
the moonlit waves, and charm the
lovers wandering mid vine clad hills
But know your sweetest strains are
discords, all compared with child
hoods happy laugh-the laugh that
fills the eyes with light and every
heart with joy.
30 ripping river of laughter
thou art the blessed boundary line
between the beasts and men, and
every hayward wave OF thine doth
drown some fretful fiend of care.
80 laughter rose Tipped laughter
OF joy there are dimples enough in
thy cheeks TO catch and hold and
glorify all of the tears of grief"
Scarcely less beautiful than the
above is Ingersoll's bIief grafton on
alcohol, which next to the Grafton
on Napoleon's tomb, has probably |
been more widely quoted than any
OF his writings. 1t was written at
time when there was no saloon reg
ulations and at every cross road there
was barroom. 1t is as follows
l am aware that there is a pre- iu-
dice against any man engaged in the
manufacture or sale of alcohol. | be-
iieve that from the time il issues
fIoms the coiled and poisonous worm
in the distillery until it empties in
to the hell OF death, dishonor and
crime, il demorallzes everybody that
touches il, from its source To where
ii ends. | do not believe anybody
can contemplate the subject without
becoming prejudiced against the Ii
quor crime.
"All we have TO do, gentlemen, is
TO think OF the wrecks ON either side
OF the stream of death, of the sui
cides, of the insanity of the poverty,
of the Ignorance, of the restitution,
OF the little children Juggling at the
faded and weary breasts of weeping
and despairing wives, asking for
bread of the talented men OF genius
Ii has wrecked, the men struggling
with imaginary serpents, produced
by this devilish thing; and when
You think of the jails, of the aims
houses, of the asylums, of the pri-
sons, of the scafTolds on either bank,
do not wonder that every thought
full man is prejudiced against this
vile stuff called alcohol.
Intemperance cuts down youth in
its vigor manhood in its strength,
and age in its weakness. 1t breaks
the fathers heart, ii beTeaVes the
doting mother, earthquakes natural
affections, grasses cOnjugal love, bIots
out filial attachments, blIghts pa
rental hope and brings down mourn
ing age in soIrow TO the grave. 1t
produces weakness, not strength !;
sickness, not health; death, not life.
1t makes wives widows, children
orphans, fathers fiends, and all of
them paupeIs and beggars. 1t feeds
rheumatism, nurses govt, welcomes
epidemics, invites cholera. imports
pestilence and embraces consump-
ton. 1t covers the land with disease,
misery and crime. 1t fills your jails,
supplies your almshouses and de-
mands your asylums. 1t engenders
controversies, fosters quarrels and
cherishes riots. 1t crowds your PEN
itentiaries and furnishes victims for
your scaffoIds. 1t is the life blood
of the gambler, the element of the
burg lar, the prop of the high way