El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-03-24
What s Become
Of The OLdti1ne
BibLebONnder?
Modem Amy Chaplain
Gets His Message Home,
But Oh, So Differently.


As Abe Martin might ask. what has
become Of the old time minister who
preached heITs fire and thought It a
sin 10 do anything but pray. preach
and praise IN a church,
He has just about vanished. and.
strange as il may seem he disap-
peared along with the army canteen
and other evils that ran ooineident
with his popularity.
In the days Of the old time preacher
who exhorted until he was red in the
face. prayed until he was exhausted
and then had ms congregation sing
hymns until it was all tired out one
soldier in the army drank more booze
than 40 do today and the canteen
openly sold liquor TO the man as u
sells him chocolate and picture postal
cards today
There is now a new regime OF re-
ligion in the army, along with ne
chocolate post card canteen ana the
absence Of red liquor and beer on the
military reservation
The old time preacher with his or
gan and choir would have been
Shocked at a Sunday night service
OPENING with NY Wild Irish Rose
and Just a Girl and a Boy and clos
ing with a three-reel moving picture
featuring a burglar and a rich young
sport clipping with a girl in motor
boat. with a sermon 10 minutes N
length saudwiched in between
The Difference.
But the old time preacher Woulu
have had about ten listeners from 2
regiment Of men and the rest Wouiu
have been in the canteeu or IN some
Of the dance halls that surrounded al
army posts in those days
q nH#HawaUT
service BIZ chaplain W B. thinner
mann at the SIND field artillery sun
dav night as typical. The great recre-
alton hall was full Of men-tnere must
have been 500. There was no dronins'
vvheezv organ. but q piano. lnterna-
tfonaI mitch" and a man at It who Is
more at home with ragtime than with
First. however, the regimentsl band
nlaved a concert Of an hour upon tne
staEe-classical and ragtime alternat-
ing Then came four songs BY a VS.
tor from the city. three OF them popu-
lar and the third. somewhat .'ehurcny,
since Il was a selection from the
Hawaiian Music.
Then a couple OF fellows from lhS
regiment with guitars played some OF
maj soft. dreamy music that the girls
dance TO without very mucn clolnlns
fr Hawaii. where they're Wearlm EN-
higher and then comes the cnapl lam
with his message II was not lons
enough 70 make even sololer Ilseus
and il was full Of laughs, sucn Is
Vow. this story IS from the Bibles 4
know YOU are all familiar with Il IoL
I s-ave Bibles TO all OF YOU recently
and know anything the cnaplstl.
asks you 20 read, that YOU reau-
There was a point to the taik. LoH
ever. and the chaplain drove II nome
weU me point was that man must
stick 10 whatever he starts. II ne IS
fo h. a success. and that he can't &C
curnuIate money or fame unless ne
sticks. and Il was punctureq tnrols -
ont with stories some OF them aoolt
lions and elephants and even niue
referenca 10 the regiments proves
in athletics and a soft. though pointed
fiba AT its weakness in the boxln s
matches Of the brigade
And the Men smoke
Then came the moving pictures
And the men smoked clsarels anu
pines throughout the service
There we're no prayers. no e3loI-
-a+fons to come forward now and Les-
-ffv or offer your hands IN IoiloW snip
nothing OF that sort II was Just
clean. wholesome sunday night e.
rertafnuent that kept the men IN
car0n- auav from any outside tempta-
-Ions that might have been tugslns
ar them and sent them all back 70
their hunks thinking that there vas
but one way 70 do q thing and thar
was right It probably DID more
dovnria-hr goOdethan a score OF neil
tire sermons with the att ndaut re-
HEious acrobatics OF the old time min
ister-and the men didn't 90 because
they considered II duty. but BE-
cause they wanted 70 be there
Even the colonel occupied place
OF vantage up in the balcony and en-
loved Ii al from the first song 10
the last reel Of pictures-he must
have enjoyed II for he even told the
chaplain after it was over that he
liked his talk. and a colonel doesn't
have TO tell a chaplain that unless he
means H. you know.
The army chaplain may not be
preaching orthodox sermons. but the
army's not going to hell-not by a
long shot