The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1912-04-03

1
| had not intended to participate
any further in the controversy which
has been running for some time in the
Public Forum" of your paper. l have
not even been reading the articles for
some time, because ! had discovered
early in the game that both the Chris
tianity'' of the Christian controversial
lists. and the "infidelity" of the lin
fldels" We're at least half century be-
hind the times. But several friends
have called my attention to "El Ma.
than's" insulting reference to me in
Mondays letter, and | must ask your
Indulgence
With "El Nathan" | have no CON
troversy ! have talked with him, face
to face, and he has apologized, like a
man and a gentleman. But in the
course of his apology, the writer of
that letter, with whom had not been
personally acquainted, and who did
not even know me by sight, excused
himself for the character of his ref
erence to me by stating that he only
gave the impression of me which had
been given to him by prominent and
reliable Christians of the City of Vim
ita. When, therefore, | am attacked
and ridiculed as an "ex-preacher dude"
with the higher critical measles"
am to receive the attack as representa-
tive Of the spirit towards me of rep
resentatiye Christians of this commun-
ity And therefore | wish word with
the Christians" of this community.
Yes; | have been a preacher. For
ten years l preached the gospel ls
John Calvin. Preached it earnestly
Preached it sincerely And there are
people now living who bless God and
hold me in honor ard gratitude for
the help that have given them in The
conflict with sorrow and sim And to
this day. letters of brotherly affection
come to me from old ministerial as
sociates who know me well enough,
from years of friendship, to believe,
that, though | have departed from
their standards of thought, and in
some degree from their standards of
conduct, that l must have done so in
honor and good conscience, even in
those particulars wherein they could
not approve my conduct Of life.
And so | am dude Well. am
different from YOU many of you. But
that is nothing more against me than
it is against you. So are you different
from me. Therefore we are even on
that point. Our lives, our histories,
our training, have been different; and
if we are both ourselves, we will nee
essarily have different ideals of life,
and different experiences to exchange,
when we meet and talk. Each of us
will talk of the things he has seen and
known, and the thoughts to which life
has led him. And you have no more
occasion to think that | am putting
on airs" when l speak of the thrilling
moments of life when have stood on
the battlefield of Waterloo or in the
presence of some masterpiece of ar
tistic achievement. than have to
think the same thing of you when
some of you talk of the days when you
punched cattle or chased outlaws in
the wild free past of the Indian Ter
,ritory.
| have tried to live my own life
among you | knew no other way to
live, and retain my self-respeot
could not be pocket copy of any man.
| have friends in every grade of so
ciety, and in every stage of culture
Friends whose names stand high on
the roll Of literary achievement and
independent thought, and friends who's
names have never stood anywhere else
than on the police court records.
have not stunned. or ostracised OF
looked down on any of them. have
not felt that God made me a judge OF
divider over humanity. My expert
enee of life has led me to find IN ta,
lowest a full brother to the highest
and in the most abandoned a biooJ
sister to the best. In them all | hays
found the fierce. free, divine humanity
which has tanned nature, built empires
created civilization, literature, religion
and art In short, | have tried to live
in The spirit of Sam Walter Foss
poem,
Let me live in house by the side Of
the road,
Where the race of men go bg,
The men who are good, and The ner
who are bad,
As good and as bad as I
| would not sit in the scornel's seat
Or hurl the critics ban.
Let me live in a house by the Side 81