Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-12-23

the frolic, and. surprised them by
CRYING, Dave, do think you're h
dearest thing since you. got your aair
cut!" That was an excellent sally.
Everybody applauded. kennicoH
looked proud. EVA $a,
ally must 20 out Of her way. to pass
Hicks's shop and see this frenk.
III. 5s
She was at Sunday morning service
at the Baptist church, lin a solemn
row with her husband, Hugh, Uncs'
whittier, Aunt Bessie.
Despite Aunt Bessie's nagging the
Kennicotts rarely cnnrctl.
The doctor asserted, Sure, religion
is a fine influence-got to have II to
keep the lower classes in order-fact,
I, it's the only thing that appeals to a
blot of those fellows and makes EN-
respect the rights of property. M
L guess this theology $50. K; lot. OF
wise old coots figured 1t all out. n
they knew more about 1t than we DO.
He believed in the Christian reHsiop,
/ and never thought about it; he be-
lieyed in the church, and seldom went
near it.; he was shocked by Carers
lack of faith, and wasn't quite sure
what was the. nature of the faith that
she lacked. n ~
Carol herself was an uneasy and
lodging agnostc.
When she ventured to SUNDAY
school and heard the teachers droning
that the g%enealogy VI Shamsherai was
a valuable ethical problem for chill
dren to think about; when she exper-
imented with Wednesday praye7-
meeting and listened to store-keepins
elders giving their u%nvarying weekly
testimony in primitive erotic symbols
and such CORY Chaldean phrases as
washed in the blood of the lamb"
and "a vengeiul God";;t when Mrs.
Bogart boosted that through his boy
hood, she had made Cy confess nightly
upon the basis Of. Ten Command
ments; then Carol was dismayed to
find the Christian religion, in Amen-
ca. in the twentieth century, as alb
normal. as NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
the %splendor. But when she weRt
to church suppers and felt the friend
sisters served cold ham and scatloped
potatoes; when Mrs. Champ Perry
cried to her, on an afternoon call, my
dear, If you just knew how happy 1t
makes you to come into abiding
grace then Carol found the human
ness behind the sanguinary and alien
theology. Always she perceived that
the churches--Methodist Baptist,
CONGREGATIONAL Catholic, all of them
"Il4S O. SA4A W
: to the judges home in her c~hildhoods
] so isolated from the city struggle In
st. Par', were still, in Gopher Prairie,
the strongest Of the forces compelling
responsibility.
This August Sunday she had been
tempted by the announcement that
the Reverend Edmund Zitterel would
preach on the topic America, Face
Your Problems!" With the great wal,
workmen in every nation showing a
desire to control industries, Russia
limiting a leftward revolution against
: Kerensky. woman suffrage co1ningt
there seemed to be plenty or prob
S lens for the Reverend Mr.. Zitterel to
t call on America to face. Carol. gath
cred her family and trotted off be-
: hind Uncle Whittier. ~
The congregation faced the heat
with informality. Men with. highly
II plastered hair, SO painfully shaved
:. that their faces looked sore, removed
g their coats, sighed. and unbuttoned
two buttons Of their increased Sun
day vests. Large-bosomed, white
o bloused. ~hot-necked. specialized ma
trons-the Mothers in Israel, pioneer.
e waved their palm-leaf fans in "a
steady rhythm. Abashed boys slunl
into the real pews n giggled, while
milky little girls, up front with theil
mothers, sef-consciously kept! from
turning around. II
The church was half barn and hall
u Gopher Prairie Harior. The streak,
= Edislnal sweep only by framed texts
= "Come Unto Me- and THE Lord il
d My Shepherd /" by a list of hymns
r. and by a crimson and green diagram
) staggeringly drawn upon hemp-col
= ored paper, indicating the alarming
If ease with which a young man ma.
d descend from Palaces Of Pleasure
d and the House of Pride TO Eterna
1t Damnation. But the vanished oal
pews and the new red carpet and tn
d three large chairs on the platform
behind the bare reading stand, wer
re all Of a rockingham comfort.
Carol was civic and neighborly mi
1t commendable today. She beamed an
r bowed. She trolled out with the 9th
n, ers the hymn. =
n How pleasant tits on Sabbath NOR;
To gather in the church., ~ 4
- And there I'll have no carna
- thoughts, II.
Nor sin shall mo besmirch. r.
re With a rustic OF starched line
ut skirts and stiff shirt-fronts, the con
1! gregation sat down, and gave hee
ss to the Reverend Mr.. Zisterel., TIL
le priest was a thin, swart, intens
to young man with a bang. He wor
~ a black sack suit and a lilac tie. II
ut smote the enormou Bible on tn
lg reading stand, vo%ciferated, Come, lie
g us reason together" delivered aIpray
3. err informing Almighty God OF tn
g. news Of the past week, and began Z
W reason.
a 1t proved that the only problem
lie which America had to face were Nor
,p monism and Prohibitions:
a Continued Tomorrow Evening.
lie III