The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1919-02-07
SOME BOLD SAYINGS
OF MARSE HENRY

am accused by my good friends
. of the Brooklyn Eagle of the atroci.
Gus crime--to paraphrase Pitt the
younger--of being not indeed "a
young man." but "pessimist" As
suredly am no optimist of the Billy
Sunday sort, who fancies the adoption
OF the prohibition amendment the
coming of de jubilo" Why should
the able and venerable organ of the
City of Churches not have written at
once "son-of-a-gun," instead of pessi-
mist and let 1t go at that?
Early IN life. while yet recog-
nized baseball authority. Mr.. Sunday
discovered pay dirt" in what Col.
Mulberry Sellers called "piousness ="
He made 1t an asset and began to
issue celestial notes. cosntersigned
by himself and made redeemable in
Heaven. From that day to this he
has been following the lead of the
renowned Simon Suggs. who. having
In true Camp meeting style acquired
the grace o. Cod" turned loose az
an exhorter, shouting step up to the
mourner's bench. my brethering. step
I up lively. and be saved! I come in on
ma er par, an see what | draw'd!
Religions the only game whar you
can't lose. Him that trusts the Lord
holds TO aces,"
The Billy Sunday game has made
aBilly Sunday rich. Having exhausted
Hell-fire-and- birthstone, the evangel
turns to the Demon Rum. Satan.
with hide and horns, has had his day.
Prohibition is now the winning card.
The fanatic Is never either very
discriminating or very particular. As
rule. for him and taking ism" will
suffice. Today 1t happens TO be
whisky" so-called. Tomorrow 1t
will be tobacco. Finally, having es-
tablished the spy system and made
house-to-house espionage a rule of
conventicle. 1t will become a INSIDE
meanor for a man to kiss his wife.
From takers who have cards up
their sleeves, not 10 mention snakes
In their boots. we hear a great deal
about the people" pronounced by
them as if it were spelled "pee-pul."
II is the unfailing resource Of the
professional politician in quest of
votes. Yet scarcely any reference.
or referee were faultier.
The people en- masse constitute
what We call the mob Mobs have
rarely been right-never except when
capably led. II was the mob of Je-
rusalem that did the unoifending Je-
sus OF Nazareth To death. II was
the mob IN Paris that made the Reign
D of Terror From that day to this
mobs have seldom been tempted, even
had a chance to go wrong, that they
have not gone wrong.
The people" is a fetish. II was
: the people, misled, who precipitated
the South into the madness of seces-
sion and the ruin of hopelessly un-
equal war of sections. II was the
people backing II not compelling the
Kaiser. who committed the hari-kari
for themselves and their empire in
Germany. II is the people leaderless
who are now making havoc in Russia.
Throughout the length and breadth
of Christendom, in all lands and ages,
the people, when turned loose, have
raised every inch Of he'll to the square
foot they were able TO raise, often
upon the slightest preteXt. or no pre-
text at all.
This is merely to note the mortal
fallibility of man, most fallible when
herded in groups and prone TO do in
the aggregate what he would hesitate
to do when left TO himself and his in
dividual accountability.
Under a wide dispensation of
power, despOtism, we are told. en-
bodies the best of all government.
4 The trouble is that despotism is sell
i dom, IL ever, wise, II is its nature to
k,ss inconsiderate, being essentially
fish, grasping and tyrannous. As
ule, therefore, revolution--usually
'orce-has been required to change
reform it.
In fine and in short, ours is world
of sin, disease and death, perfect
ability not designed nor intended for
mortal man. That indeed furnishes
the strongest argument in favor of
the Immortality OF the soul. life on
earth but the ante-chamber of eternal
life. II would be a cruel Deity that
condemned man to the brief and vex-
ed span of human existence with moth
ing beyond the grave.