The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-03-03
A PLEA FOR THE BIBLE

Iof Crossing the Bar
Twilight and evening bell.
And after that the dark;
And may there be no sadness Of fare
we'll
When j embark
For tho from out our bourne OF time
The flood may bear me far,
/ hope to see my Pilot face to face
When | have crost the bar"
Very simple and unframed minds
can understand that--provided some
little understanding of the Bible has
told them there is a Pilot to he met
after crossing the bar and going out
upon the wide sea of death.
The late John Peyton Mcclure, one
of the most accomplished, beautiful
and successful of teachers, who train
ed generation after generation OF
Richmond boys Jew and Gentle,
Catholic and Protestant Baptsts and
/ Episcopalians, and sent out many
strong and useful men of all denomi-
nations and creeds, made all his pupils
recite together every morning the
twenty-third psalm:
THE Lord is my Shepherd: shall not
want
He maketh me To lie down in green
pastures;
He leadeth me beside the still waters
He restoreth my soul
He leadeth me In the paths of right
Aeousness for His names sake.
Yea, though ! walk through the val
ley of the shadow of death
/ will fear no evil, for Thou art with
me.
Surely goodness and mercy shall fol-
low me all the days OF my life.
And I VIII dwell in the house or the
Lord forever"
There is no poetry in literature
sNeeter. stronger or expressing more
beautifully the aspiration OF human
ity--the watching shepherd, the green
pastures. the still waters And II is
not necessary 10 have keenly trained
or college cultured mind TO under
stand its music, its beauty or its mean
ing.
In The Roanoke schools they tell
the stories Of Ruth and Joseph. of
Daniel and Samson--the strong man
destroyed hy one foily-~of the coming
out Of the Israelites from Egypt, and
they read the Psalms. III these we
can find no destructive union II
f =
rights Of any citizen. no demand for
a keenly trained mind 10 comprehend
no intrusion on the religious beliefs
+ Of anybody All these and their les
sons Or Mcdaniel would Danish from
the public schools, leaving the chill
dren to tho teachings nf parents, or to
chance attendance on Sunday schools
for this principle is stated broadly
and applies 10 white and colored. 70
alike. The Bible must be banned
from the school life OF the Virginia
child according 90 the sermon Of DF.
Mcdaniel II Is dangerous conjunc-
tion Of church and State and trained
minds are needed to- comprehend Ia
I literature says Mr., Mcdaniel
II would not be amsss to 80 much
further than the Roanoke schools gu.
The proverbs Of solomon may not he
literature, but they are sense. and
the boys and girls who I've by them
viii be fine citizens. We cannot see
that anybody VIII be hurt. even a
Jewish boy, by going over into the
New Testament and learning the
/ parallels Of the prodigal son and Of
Dives and Lazarus, The Sermon on
the Mount will not hurt anybody. Il
is In line with the new democracy
and brotherhood We are learning
now
blessed are they that mourn, for
they shall be conforted.
Blessed are the meek. for they sh&il
inherit the earth
blessed are merclful. for they shall
obtain mercy
! Blessed are the pure in heart. for
they shall see God
In this there is no violence to the
bill of rights or the constitution and
no intrusion on the prejudice or
privileges OF anybody, When a boy
is taught from Isaiah
And a man shall be as an hiding
place from the wind. and a covert
from the tempest: as rivers of water
in dry place as the shadow of q
great rock in weary land
is seems there should be no trcslhIs
in comprehending the purity. the
beauty and the majesty Of the idea
and that there should be inspired
some thought and aspiration OF a
! big manhood--"as the shadow OF Q
great rock in weary land.
If we are trying TO make gentle
men. why should we avoid or evade
or hide from the boys in the schools
that great outburst of St Paul on
charitS he was Jew Oh Jews, q
Baptist practicing immersion, accord
ing to the Baptists gentleman and
a hero, and he told that charity suf-
fereth long and Is kind: envieth not:
\ is not pufred up; vaunreth not itself:
doth not behave itself unseemly.
With all this history; with all these
noble and beautiful precepts: with all
the splendid literature and poetry Of
the purest and most soul reaching
why should the Bible be banished
from the schools? Why should COM
motion be made over matter SO
easily and fairly adjusted in this day
of tolerance and kindly giving and
taking? Why should the people OF
this land abandon utterly their an
Client and inherited basis of civilization
and thought for shadowy and too fine
spun theories, even If proclaimed
from an influential pulpit by an at
tractlye preacher?
4 "CuteneSs' is Arrested.
4 Howard Ross, alias "Cuteness"
was arrested Yesterday afternoon on
warrant charging him with shoot