McNairy County independent. (Selmer, McNairy County, Tenn.) 1902-1969, 1916-02-11

prophet as of old, forth and preach
my gospel to every creature" And
/ left my pillow with the mules hitched
to it right there in the fields and have
been preachin' every SINCE" He said
he knew every verse in the Bible, and
it was wonderful, when I tried him,
to see how much he did know of the
letter" Of the Scriptures; in the
spirit of that great book he was in
some ways sadly behind.
Scaggs was taken to the peni-
Tertiary. He did not believe he would
be put to hard labor till they began
to shear off his long black hair and
measure him for his convict stripes.
Then he bawled like baby with the
collie, so the papers sud. The Elijah
of old was fed by the birds with the
mamma of the Lord; here was Elijah
the Third condemned to still his crav-
ings with corn pone, sow-belly bacon
and black-strap molasses, and work
ten hours day at breaking rock on
the Arkansas roads. Elijah called
down the thunders Of Sinai on the
heads of the wicked authorities, and
at last his prayers were heard. Gov
ernor Donaghey was called out of the
state on some erranda for a week Oh
two, and as soon as he was off, Lieu
tenant Governor Hammeter signed an
order releasing Scaggs, and declaring
that his conviction and Imprisonment
was "a blot on the state" And so it
was, for the only witness against him
was the woman who afterward swore
that he was innocent. But the Fort
Smith people were tired of his antics,
and took that way to get rid of him.
AS soon as he got out of the peni-
Tertiary, Scaggs went to preaching
his doctrines with redoubled yigor,
calling down the wrath of heaven
upon all who failed to help him and
his cause. One man who had refused
him shelter had big barn. Scaggs
predicted the barn would burn down
within a week. The citizens saw the
dangerous trend of his ideas, and gave
him tremendous fogging, with iron
trace-chains. Then the fiery prophet
shook the dust of the state from his
feet, and never heard any more.
about the doings of the luckless queen
and king of the Gentiles.
Civilization has advanced too far in
Arkansas for these loony evangelists
to make much Roadway. The metal
grass is not dry enough to take fire
from such religious zeal. But it is
not of the type that relishes the high
flown elognence Of the Eastern reviv-
alists. either. and doubt if Talmage
or Moody would have made much Of
an impression at Fort Smith. Iheard
the great evangelist, Torrey, deliver
discourse there that was wonderful,
especially for its enlightening refer.
ences to the revelations Of modern
science. He said, among other things,
the following:
What is man, that God is mindful
Of him? On this earth there are ff-
teen hundred millions of human beings
today. This earth itself is so small
that one million, four hundred thous-
and balls Of its size could find room
inside the sun, if it were hollow
ball. And there are at least million
suns larger than ours, in the visible
universe, to say nothing Of the invis-
lible works Of God--invisible to us,
and yet there may be thousand uni
verses of whose existence we do not
dream" Wonderful ideas, not idle
speeulations, but the gleanings Of
modern science! And yet he did not
draw big crowds. The people out
there are very conservative and prac-
tical. | like them.
Sometime | may, If desired, tell
some interesting things about great
preachers and presidents have seen.
When you get close to some of these
big people, they do not seem so big,
after all. A McNairy lady, on hear
ing Talmage preach, was much disap-
pointed, and declared she had heard
Brother Curry preach much better
sermon than that, many time.
When it came to pastoral visits, there
is no doubt whatever that Brother