Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-01-07
For Sunday Reading
III Sorts Of Opinions

Plain Talk From . Dusiness Man.
We have a village ordinance which
requires the property owner TO keep the
adjacent sidewalks free from snow and
ice. and which also provides that if
the owner fails TO do so the work shall
be done 10y the street com missioner and
the expense OF the same charged
against the property and collected with
the taxes. Churches are exempt from
taxation. 50 this ordinance can not De
enforced against them. In order 10
reach his place OF business. the writer
must pass one OF these churches and
10 his positive knowledge. there has not
been one shovelful Of snow removed
from is Sidewalks during The pas,
three winters. Some one Will eventually
receive a bad fau OF this stretch of
slippery stone. and then all of the
;neorstic religion in the world vii! he
una plo "A repair the damage which 4
little practical christianity would have
prevented.
During The winter season, n which
every door and window in tho church
is closed tightly to keep out the cold,
our preachers will stand up before the
people in room in which two hundred
pairs Of lungs, tWo large stoves and a
dozen lamps have been consuming the
oxygen for an hour or more and de-
nounce the man who drinks pin, of
beer with his dinner as an undesirab BILE
citizen. He does not seem TO know that
rhe pint Of beer may be beneficial while
me breathing of foul air over and over
again is positively harmful
Our preachers approve OF all sorts of
games played with oblong pa s;eboa rtis
n ade To initiate playing cards. bu, if a
man and his Wife indulge in a game of
cribbase Of an evening they are severe
~ censured
They sanction lawn tennis and Gro
quet, but disapprove OF billiards. which
is far more scientific game than the
two former ones. They say NOTHING,
when uncilaperoned young people Of
both sexes indulge in midnight frolics
Of all kinds, bu, Wien dance is an
nounced the anvil chorus inmediateiv
begins.
our ministers have led q campaign
which has resulted in closing the
poolrooms. a law which prohibits
Sunday baseball has been resurrected.
and church people openly rejoice be-
cause the hall il which dances were
held was burned sonic time ago.
Youth must give expression. to its
exuberance Of spirit and its joy of liv-
ing The church has no right to take
from the young people the amuse-
ments and recreations common to their
stage of life without substituting
something which truly replaces it. and
this the church in oar town has failed
to DO.
The foregoing statements descend to
mere fault-finding unless supplement
ed by some constructive criticusm. The
writer's plan contemplates one church
and one minister in each town, and an
exchange of pulpits by these ministers.
SO that while each one has a parish
under his direct care he would have
but two sermons per month to pre-
pare. Under the present system Of two
sermons each week We have discourses
which are either original but rough
and unpublished or brilliant and pro-
found but plagiarized. BY the system
proposed the sermons might posses
both depth of thought and originality.
and the problem of How to bring the
men TO church" be partly solved.
Suppose that instead Of four or five
church buildings in each Of these little
towns We had one large building de-
signed with some thought toward
beauty and comfort. with steam heat, a
small electric lighting plant. and proper
arrangements for ventilation. This one
building would be used for sacred meet
!nss and would also be used as a pub
lie hall in which meetings OF a political,
social and educational nature could be
held The expense of erecting and
m maintaining a structure Of this kind
would be no greater than the expense
of constructing and maintaining three
or four smaller churches and the in
evitable parsonage.
Instead of three or four narrow
minded, poorly paid preachers who
seem to imagine that the quality of a
poor sermon may be improved by shout
ing it, let US have one well-paid, big
hearted, broad-minded man to teach
by word and deed that goodness is q
positive, not q negat.9e. quality; that
a truly good man must not only refrain
from evil, but that he must perform
deeds of kindness and love, and that
we need not die to achieve heaven, but
that this world today would be para
disc II Christ's DISCIPLES lived the love
he taught.
e NJ RTANCuARD