The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1916-11-14
MINISTER'S SHARE
RESPONSIBILITY
Should Preach Modern Ser.
mons; Humorist Proves
Very Pleasing

Lou j. Beauchamp, the humorist
with a worldwide reputation, who
entertained large audience at the
Church of Christ Friday evening as
one of the entertainers of the 1867
Y. NJ. c. A. lyceum course, exceeded
by far the expectations of the ap-
preciative audience with which he
had to DEAL Mr.. Beauchamp was
introduced by Rev. j. A. Long, pas
tor of the Church of Christ.
The delightful entertainer was re.
ceived with great applause, of which
he was well worthy as he later proved
himself to be. Mr.. Beauchamp open
ed his lecture with the fundamentals
of his practical philosophy-that
there were only two classes of the
happenings of everyday life; first,
those things which cannot be helped,
and second, those that can be rene
died. AS to the way to take these
two classes of happenings, the first,
those which cannot be helped, let
them happen, as they are in more
efficient and capable hands. The sec
ond class, those things which can be
helped, remedy them and forget that
they ever existed.
During the first part of his lecture,
Mr. Beauchamp told various stories
of humorous nature, using them to
excellent advantage in explaining his
point. However, in the remainder OF
his lecture, he pursued straight sue.
cession Of facts, making every point
clear with a humorous tale or actual
experience when possible.
Some very interesting, as we'll az
appalling, facts were given out by
Mr.. Beauchamp in the course of the
evening, all of which will be of great
benefit to those present in the future.
The main gist of Mr.. Beauchamp's
lecture was the cause, result and
preventative for the increasing
amount of crime in the United States
as compared with European coun-
tries. In connection with this sub
ject, the speaker brought in the re-
lation of the church to crime. In
London in the year of 1905 there were
% murders committed; four were
cases where the insanity Of the Grim
inal was proved, four more were
found to be suicidal, leaving IA which
were committed by persons of normal
mental qualities. All of the IA Grim
inals were hanged.
In the same year over $50 murders
were committed in the city of Chi
cago which has only one-fourth the
population Of London. Two of the
criminals were electrocuted, the rest
were proved not guilty through pet
ty technicalities of the American law.
This was but one instance referred
to by Mr. Beauchamp in his lecture.
Mr.. Beauchamp then produced
some startling facts in regard to the
retarded growth of the church which
has taken place only recently. In
late years the growth of the church
has been limited to only per cent
and the salary Of the ministers av-
eraging only $645 per year while
good authority states that $725 is
necessary for man, woman and
child to live decently. Mr.. Beau
champ places the responsibility for
these appalling statistics on two fac
tors, the official board and the people
in general.
In one of his statements, Mr.. Beau
champ said that statistics show that
81 per cent of the present day con-
gregations are women and only l3
per cent men, Upon being asked the
reason for this condition, the average
business man explains that the min
listers preach about the ancient mir
acles such as the story of Jonah and
the whale while more important in
this day are the sociological condi-
tions of the American people. The
responsibility for this is placed on
the official board. However, the
boards are made up OF church peo-
ple and in the final analysis fault
lies with the people.
Mr. Beauchamp referred to the