Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-09-19


: carefully and diligently. with the
result that he has unearthed truths
that affect the whole world. He
has combined his feelings into a
sermon that is considered one of
the most powerful in his program
: Of services. Speaking on the sub
: ject of Home" he last night said
in part as follows:
, In Genesis, the 18th chapter, the
18th verse, Il know him." (speak-
: ing of Abraham God said, Il
I know him, and he will command
his children and his household
| after him"
want you to go with me for a
brief time to the most sacred spot
in all the world, the one around
which clusters more sweet asso-
, Citations and precious memories
| than any other in the universe
and that is home The longer 1
live and the more I visit up and
down the land and see the joys and
the sorrows and the successes and
the failures of men and women,
the more l become convinced that
the home is one of the greatest
! n Ob1CA4lo " z A4eAF <
The homes are like streams
pouring forth their current into the
great world, and they should be
the center of everything that is
noble and inspiring. Nothing
should ever be permitted to wrig-
gle its infamous destroying car
cass across your threshold to as
sassinate virtue, or to murder any
thought that might lead that boy
or girl toward God, or on their
/ knees to develop a Christian char
acter
/ I think the proper or improper
! settlement of the home question is
the most important thing in the
world, and you never can settle it
right, my friend, unless you settle
first of all that you as a father and
mother will be a Christian and
serve Jesus Christ. 1t will mean
the joy and sorrow or the veal
AID woe of more boys and girls
than any similar question that
comes up.
Oh! you may build your palaces.
You may amass your fortunes.
You may pile up your luXuries
around you.
But nothing will ever make hap
py the father or the mother who
waits for the coming footsteps of
some girl who has been careless
and frivolous and coquettish, and
it won't be long until, perhaps, she
will help to feed the brOthel. or
she will become the mother of an
illegitimate child because of her
Indifference Or some whisky
/ soaked boy who bears your name
is putting a stain upon the family
escutcheOn that wealth and culture
can never in the universe be able
to erase.
Not only does happiness center
about the home. but the social and
| the moral and the civil and the re-
/ ligious power centers about the
home. The downfall of most men
and women can be traced to some
defect in the home Not all of
/ them, for there are homes where
/ the children are trained rightly,
/ but they set out with some God
| fOrsaken, gOOd-fOr moral
assassins who electrOcute and muir
, der every thought and ambition
that might lead them to be decent
/ and serve God; and they go down
! the long line with a bunch whose
names are synonymous with whis
/ ky. with booze, with blaSphemy,
with everything that is degrading
and pOlluting and injecting and in
/ Testing and blighting and pestilen-
tial
| Now nearly one-haIf of the in
mates who are in the refOrmatOr-
! les in this country committed the
I crimes for which they were incar-
/ ceTated while they were in a state
/ of voluntary or involuntary va
granCy
The genesis of vagrancy is too !
big a question for me or anybody !
else to attempt to handle in one |
address, but it is one of the most |
prolific sources of Juvenile delin- |
anenCy to be found. One-tenth of |
the boys and girls in the reforma-
tory have lost both parents and !
one-half of them have lost father |
or mother. and 65 per cent of them /
came from homes where the par |
ents had been divorced.
So, broken homes and wrecked |
lives seem to be synonymous and /
inseparable. and many times sons |
and daughters brought up in idle
ness, unrestrained in the eXpendi- |
ture of money, rapidly acquire
profigate habits, and they figure
conspicuOusly in the disgraceful
escapades in scandalous society
and they indulge in fast horses and
fast women, wines, champagne,
the most costly from the vineyards
of France or California, and the
long lists of the diversions Of the
indolent. idle. Indifferent, apathet-
ic, stOlid. lazy, and they go to pre-
mature graves and they are only
remembered because of the disso-
lutte. disreputable. drunken, licen-
tious lives they lived
And of many of the women too !
much cannot be said in just con-
domination. Oh! many of them,
are frivolous. and the are
silly, and they are extrayagant, and
thew will throw to the winds all
restraint of modesty and Of pru-
dence. and of religion, and the
many virtues which are so noble Il
and attractive in wOmanhOod. and
thew allow themselves to be fiat !
tered and bamboozled and cajoled |! 1
BY a lot of good-for-nothlng,
emptv-headed ginks who call them ;
selves men. They ought to be ar
rested for going around disguised
as men. 3
Influence of Dance. /
30 ~