The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1923-09-20

horse races, Tor people may dttehu
county fair and be sure they are do
ing no wrong in supplying exhibits
and taking recreation, but II there
are contests Of strength or speed that
brings them into a racing atmosphere
and il that means their doom they
are apt to feel deeply troubled. Much
peace of mind has been lost over the
ouestion of whether to go to circus
and see the birds and beasts and
show the children everything includ-
ing the parade and the display OIL
bright colors and tinsel. 1t is pretty
hard to keep children a few blocks
away when a circus is parading ana
most of the population are rushing
around and enjoying and talking
about it for weeks before and after.
Children brought up In such isola-
ton. for the sake of salvation, mo
it pretty hard to be content and feel
assured of just where the good comes
in II they stay away or where the
evil comes in II they go and see, or
If they fail to go into the house ana
refuse to see or hear when the circus
comes along in front of their mouse.
The old idea was that the beaut11ui
parade was simply vanity and was
wrong; the music, of course, was
part of the wrong, and so were the
pretty horses walking proudly In the
procession. The same horses walk
ing alone and without decorations
would not be wrong. The church
people found it very difficult to ex-
plain to the children and to eacn
other. and not all children accepted
their teachings in good part and re-
NAMED loyal. AS the years went on
thew were liable to experience a re-
volt from within and cease to honor
their teachings respecting paragraph
$50 and also a great deal more. In
such events the church had a de-
tractor by holding to and trying 10
enforce an extreme view.
P. T. Barnum, the show man,
posed as a very devout man, yet ne
was in the show business nearly all
his life. When he was conductlns
the American Museum in New YORK
City and had vaudeville perform,
ance every afternoon, he adVertiseo
it and spoke of it as a demonstra-
ton, and the audience he spoke or as
the congregation" and church peo-
ple felt free to go in. Later wneh
advertising his circus, he had MS al
yertising manager get list OF the
names of all ministers and church OIL
ficials in each town or city, ana senu
each of them letter inviting them
to attend his assembly OF Goa
creatures and see them and the at
tendants taking their recreation anu
going thru their exercises. Compll-
mentary tickets were enclosed with
the letters and they we're promised
a great day Of education. The result
was that Barnum's circus was &C
ceDted as an educational institution
and church people attended IN good
faith and satisfaction. Feeling that
they were doing right and learning
more about the world and us
creatures. they thanked Barnum pro-
fusely and felt much gratitude. II
their state of mind was right ana
their conduct was wrong, II became
foo complicated for explanation, ana
was further muddled by attempting
TO make it clear that person attend
ing church services against their Will
and in a bad state of mind was actu-
ally doing right.
With so prominent a man as
Bishop Hughes asking for the re-
peal of paragraph $50, there will
probably be an interesting discussion
at the next general conference, and
also on the question of what to do
with the Rev. Mr.. Buckley,
Nebraska minister, who had been
preaching for more than forty years
and expressed the belief that certain
in the Bible telling OF
,aving animals devour children be-
,ause of their impertinence in play,
we're. in his belief, not the WORK OF
God and should not have been SO
tated in the Bible, but that such
passages were to be regarded as chan
n the wheat and ignored. The an
lual conference promptly dismissed
Mr.. Buckley and refused to allow
i'm to preach at all. He claimed
he right of a church trial to prove
lis violation of the discipline and
While they admitted that all offend
RS were entitled, to trial If they
Lsked it, they would not honor him
With a trial He appealed to the
General conference which meets
very four years to know whether
he discipline means anything or not,
md to know whether he is actually
dismissed or whether their action
vas void and he is out of the service
" their mistake and now entitled to
,e tried to see if he belongs in or
ut.
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