Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1916-08-23
EXTRACTS FROM THE AUTO
BIOGRAPHY OF
TANE GREY SWISSHELM
First Newspaper Woman Of
Minnesota.
A Remarkable Woman Of Ante
beIIum Oays-1815-1865
c II a p II + r LXII.
Religious Controversies.

The st. Cloud Democrat found in
orthodoxy a foe almost as powerful
and persistent as slavery ITSELF In a
local controversy about dancing, |
recommended that amusement as the
only substitute for lasciviOus plays,
and this was eagerly seized upon by
those who saw nothing wrong in
wholesale concubinage of the South
n fierce attack was made on The
Democrat by a Jealous Baptist minis
ter: to which | replied, when it was
announced and proclaimed that on
certain Sabbath, ut 10 a. M, this min
lister would answer The Democrat
ut the appointed hour the house over
flowed, and people crowded around the
doors and windows. while Gen Low
rle occupied a prominent seat in the
audience.
1t surely was an odd sight to see
that preacher mount the stand, carry
ing an open copy of The Democrat,
lay it down beside the Bible, and read
verse about from the two documents.
The sermon was as odd as the text.
1t disposed of me by the summary
mode of denunciation. but also dispos-
ed Of David, Solomon and Miriam at
the same time. When | gave the dis
course a careful Scriptural criticism,
carried the community. and was
strengthened by the controversy. But
another, more serious and general dis
pute was at hand.
When Theodore Parker died, the
orthodox press from Maine to Georgia
handed him over to Satan to be tor
mented; and then my reputation for
hpraSV raachad tic foOd.ti1o
Rev. John RenWick, one Of our Gov
enanter martyrs. was my ideal of
Christian, and when he lay in the Ed
inburg prison under sentence of death
his weeping friends begged him to
conform and save his life. They said
to him:
'Dinna We think that we, who ha'
conformit may be saved?"
AYE. aye. God forbid that I should
limit his grace"
"An' dina We think. We too could be
saved and conform?"
ooh. aye aye. The blood of Christ
cleanseth fra all sim
"Weel. what mair do We want, than
the salvation O. yer saul?'
"Mair mickle mair! | want to hon.
or my Master, and bear witness to the
truth"
To satisfy this want, he died fell
on's death. The central idea of that
old hero-making Westminster theol-
Ogy was, that mans chief end is to
glorify God first, and enjoy him for
ever when that is done. In all the re
ligious training OF my youth. | had
never heard the term "seek saliva
tion." We were to seek the privilege
of serving God; yet l was willing to
be dead-headed into heaven, with the
rest Of the Presbyterians
A Protestant Episcopal convention
had pointedly refused to advise mem
bers of that church to respect the
marriage relation among their slaves,
and so had dimmed the Elizabethian
glory of church which once stood for
freedom so nobly that the winds and
| waves became her allies, and crowned
her with victory. The General AS
sembly had laid the honor of it's mar
tyrs in the dust by endorsing human
! slavery; and I must be false to every
| conviction if I did not protest against
calling that Christianity which held
out crowns of glory to man-thieves
and their abettOrs, and everlasting
torments to those who had spent their
lives clarifying God and bearing wit
ness to the truth. My defense of Par
ker and unwillingness to have all I'm
| itarians sent to the other side of the
Great Gulf, won for me a prominent
place among those whom the churches
pronounced "Infidels"
But there came a time when "PrOvi-
dence" seemed to be on the side of
the slave.
Rev. J. Calhoun was a highly-cul-
tured gentleman, Presbyterian cler.
gyman, and one of those urbane men
who add force and dignity to any
opinion. His wife was Gen. Lowrie s
only sister. He preached gratuitously
in St. Cloud, and Border Ruffianism
and Slavery gained responsibility
through their connection, when he and
his wife made that fatal plunge off
the bridge in St. Cloud-a plunge
which sent a thrill Of horror through
the land. I accompanied my sympath
etc, respectful obituary notice, with
the statement that the costly cutter
wrecked, and the valuable horse in.
stantly killed, were both purchased
with money obtained by the sale of a
woman and her child, who had been
held as slaves in Minnesota, in def
ance of her law, and been taken by
this popular divine to Tennessee
auction block.
The accident was entirely owing to
the unprecedented and unaccountable
behavior of that horse, and people
shuddered with a new horror on be-
ing reminded of the price which had
been paid for him-bodies and souls
Of two citizens and the honor of that
froo Ctofo