Newspaper Page Text
Banks County Gazette,
VOL I.—NO. 52.
What Side Will The Clergy Take?
The forces are now being marshaled
for the greatest battle ever fought
upon this continent. A battle, how
ever, not to be fought with bullets,
but with the ballots of the patriotic,
liberty-loving citizens of the United
States. On one side will be arrayed
all the plutocracy of the nation with
its vast horde of parasites and cring
ing slaves, all who how the knee to
the golden image set up by the money
kings in Wall street.
On the other hand will stand the
patriotic farmers and working men
of the great American Republic
united in one grand invincible phal
anx, contending for the inalienable
rights of man. The contest has al
ready begun. The tongues and pens
of millions of freemen, who have
been awakened to a sense of their
danger, are daily pleading for equal
rights to all.
Wall street working through a
subsidized press and mercenary poli
ticians, is making a desperate effort
to crush out this grand movement of
the industrial classes, that the work
of spoliation and robbery may con
tinue till the 3,100 persons who now
own three-fifths of the nation’s wealth
may gobble up the remainder.
As every intelligent citizen must
sooner or later take one side or the
other in this contest, a very important
question is which side will the clergy
take ?
Will they, like the Master, sympa
thize with the common people, or
with the plutocracy ? Will they ad
vocate the cause of tho weak, the
downtrodden, and the oppressed; or
those who “have kept hack the hire
of the laborers” and “laid up_ their
treasurers in the last days ?” Occa
sionally we see flings at the Fanners
Alliance, made by preachers in re
ligiotis Journals. Some good brother
says, ‘“Well, that is a small matter.”
Very well; it may he a small matter,
originating in a small brain or narrow
heart, hut straws show which W’ay the
wind blows. When “for gold the
parson preaches tru h, “for gold he
will frequently do something else;
for gold or some other cause he will
sometimes step out of tha narrow
way to misrepresent the farmers to
whom, by God’s grace, he owes his
living.
Here is a sample: “Farmers demand
special legislation, so the government
can loan the money for a song, and
enable them to hold their products
for higher prices.” Is this true?
Have tho farmers ever asked the
government to loan them money for
a song, liter, lly or figuratively? If
the farmers deposit wheat, corn or
cotton with the goverment, and bor-
row less money on it than it will
bring on the market, do they get it
for a song? Is wheat, corn cotton
only a song? Has not each an in
trinsic value? If the worthy divine
were hungry and naked would he not
soon conclude that the simple pro
ducts of the farm have greater in
trinsic value than even gold itself?
Is it not a patent fact that Congress
by one iniquitous act lifted $484,-
141,180 out of the pockets of the peo
pie anr! put them into the pockets of
the bondholders? Was not this
special or class legislation ? Why is it,
then, that the tongues of many
preachers cleaves! to the roofs of
their mouths while this and many
such like things were done, but as
soon as the fanners ask only what is
just and equitable their tongues are
loosed and they become eloquent over
the evils of class legislation?
Again, it is well known that in 1884
Congress passed a bill loaning *l,-
000,000 to the World’s Industrial and
Cotton Fxposition, and as far as is
known to the writer no clergyman
entered his protest against it; but the,
idea of loaning money to the poor
farmers, even on the best of security,
is in intolerable to some that wear
the surplice, as well as to the bankers
and krokers.
When, Jesus dwelt on earth the
i
humble, suffering poor were the
special objects*of his love, and those
preachers who do not follow Christ
are doing more to promote the cause
!of infidelity than the cause of Christ,
j So long as they respect men’s person
■ and money instead of their character,
so long honest-minded sinners will
fail to appreciate or heed their teach
ing.
When men see magnificent tem
ples built for the worship of God
from which the humble poor are
virtually excluded; when they see
the preacher worshiping the million
aire more than the lowly Redeemer;
when they see the immoral holding
high positions in the church because
they are rich; when they see all this
and much more of the same kind,
with loathing they will turn away and
say, in truth, this religion is all a
splendid farce, for Jesus is not there.
Reader, would you have an answer
ito the question, Which side will the
clergy take? Here it is: Many who
are trying to follow Christ will he
found on the Lord’s side, and some
who arc vainly trying to serve God
and gold will sooner or later be found
on the other side. The I.ord’s side
is the side of the oppressed; the other
side is the side of the- oppressor.—
T. J. Stone.
Gillsville.
Every body in this community
seems cheerful, and are as happy as
June bugs. Their wings shine just
as bright, and oh, how some of them
do “flop” when a little cloud sails up!
The farmers have certainly made
use of the recent fair weather, and
some of them are very near finished
planting.
■ Mr. J. N. Garrison, one of our
thriftiest and most energetic farmers,
has finished planting. He is ahead
this season.
Mr. ],. B. Carter has the finest oat
crop of any one in this section.
Sunday the 2fith of April was a
very bright, sunny day, and a large
crowd gathered at Midway church
and listened to mi excellent sermon.
I)r. Bryant, of Maysville Ins locat
ed at Gillsville. The pupils of the
academy gave the Doctor a hearty
welcome, especially the young lady
pupils.
M iss Annie Eborbart, of Gaines
ville, is visiting her sister, Mrs. Dr.
Welehcl, this place. Miss Annie is a
sweet girl.
Our school commissioner, Mr. J.
D Gunnels, hag at lust made his ap
pearance at Gillsville. He his visit
ing all the schools of Banks. We
hope he will be so well pleased with
the schools tha lie will visit them
again.
The school at this place is still in a
thriving condition, though some of
the girls have dropped out for a while,
taking a resting spell, among these
are Misses Maggie Chandler and Hat
tie Mulikin.
The appearance of our little town
is greatly improved by some painting.
The cold weather kill most of the
peaches, but the other fruit tr. es are
full of fruit.
News is scarce.
We appreciate The Gazette ever
so much. Broad Brim.
Live Your Text.
Among all writers, so long as
the world began, there have been
those who have earned greater laurels
than others, and whose works live
long after the pen t at wrote them is'
idle, and the hand that wielded it,
dust and ashes. But the works that
live longest, whether of written text
or chiseled in innrblef or yet again set
by the painter’s brush, are those
whose tale is the more life-like, and
whose story is tlfe more often seen
and easiest comprehended It is
never told so well as when the writer,
the sculptor, or the artist feel its
throbs of passion. Ah, he must feel
ere lie can make the plain pages of a
book talk, or the colder marble speak,
or the canvas reveal.
The best preachers we have—not
always the most eloquent, perhaps,
■but those whose sermons tell with
the greatest force, and whose lives
are living examples —are those who
have lived the text they offer long ere
the ears and hearts of the multitude
receive it. It gains fire and force
from conscious striving; wherein is
HOMER, BANKS COUNTY, GEORGI A, WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 1891.
written, “I know whereof I speak.”
A child once, seeing her pastor carry
the best of his own dinner to a poor
woman who was sick, said, with some
astonishment: “Why, he lives what
he says, mamma,” —a sad satire upon
those who do not.
Teacher, Sabbath after Sabbath
appearing before your class, armed
with patience, as full of the lesson as
you have been able to acquire, are
you yet in a condition to teach? Has
its text been the key note of your
own better living during the week?
If so, with the soul-life you will put
into it there will he little danger but
what you will gain the keen attention
and the heart of your hearers. They
will know by the way you present
it, by the interest you show, by the
effect of it shining from your face,
heard in the tones of your voice, that
you are yourself living in the midst
of it. With such a teacher hardly a
class hut will, sooner or later, follow
in the teacher’s footsteps—for your
self is lacing ever reflected in some or
all of your class. They note your
weekday manner, and will draw’ sharp
comparison between that and the
Sabbath teaching. Would that both
might always agree.
Ye that stand in the place of leader
at the weekly prayer meeting or lift
up your voice in prayers for the
people—does your own life at home
and abroad agree? If not, let them
he humble, indeed, *nd your speech
of the most sincere, until such time
as the divine favor of God, unmerited,
and which we call grace, lighten and
soften your being into a more fitting
speech anti prayer.
Ye who write the thoughts you
cannot altei, and whose accents are
redolent with grace and beauty,
charming those who read with a de
sire to know and appreciate the
author of so much that is rich and
worthy—see to it that the pen be
dipped, not so much in the old ink
well and its dusky fluid, as in your
heart's blood, out of which come good
or evil, according to its kind. We
have no right to stand before men
save sincerely, honestly, uprightly,
with ourselves somewhat in keeping
with the words we write,the thoughts
we utter, the things we do. If you
would advocate generosity, give of
your means—not gingerly, hut gen
erously, self-denyin ly, and where
you tread many will follow—but you
must go before. If you would in
spire missionary zeal, don’t be afraid
to turn missionary yourself, and come
down from your high stool of com
mandery from whence you have been
wont to dispense precept and maxim,
and*toueh with the hand of your own
love til at hand of the lowly, and the
very sinful even, for it is here that the
lesson begins.
Ay, the text without life is but a
dead truth, falling short of its mis
sion, however eloquent the words or
graceful the manner in which it is
presented. The look in the eye of
the speaker, the fire and force of the
words as they follow each other, re
gardless of the exact form in which
they should have corno, sue so many
evidences of the soul growth that,
out of its own struggle and victory,
would wfn the heart of its neighbor.
No cheap imitation there, hut the
ringing true metal of moral growth.
What would you do, then, to win
the hearts of the people to the thing
you present, the truth you utter, the
text you preach? Live it in your own
life, over and over again, until its
meaning is given unconsciously in
word and look and love, and action,
tco, as never the finest oratory could
give or the most graceful command.
It is yours, and therefore.you can give,
it the more truly.—Christian at Work.
A Conspiracy Against tlie Alli
ance.
The bitter and vindictive war
against the Farmers Alliance is not
confined to Georgia, or even the
United States, but the moneyed pow
ers of the world are now arrayed
against us. Capital has combined to
crush this young and powerful organi
zation, the doadliest enemy to con
centrated wealth. The money centers
of Europe have conspired with t'e
speculators and monopolists of this
country to wreck the Alliance, by
bringing about a financial stringency
and unnatural condition of affairs, all
of which would be charged up against
tile Alliance. The low price of cot
ton and other troubles is nothing but
this war of the money power against
our organization. But so far from
discouraging the farmers in their
efforts for relief, it should only
cement them the more tightly and
strengthen their determination. Let
us elect to office men who will lessen
the .burdens of the struggling masses,
and by creating a currency that can
be controlled by the people, rid us of
the tyranny of European capital.
Before the next general election you
will see every scheme that brains can
conjure set in motion to discourage
lire fanners and disrupt the Alliance.
In order to cru-h our organization
these money kings and protected
manufacturers would bring upon the
country not only’ financial ruin, but a
famine if they could. The farmers
may expect every trouble that over
takes the country to he charged up
against the Alliance; but, in fact, the
organization lias nothing whatever to
do with such matters. It is a deep
laid conspiracy tcfcfdestroy confidence
in the flatly possible measure of relief
that stands between the’thiling masses
and the oppressors.—Southern Alii
Alice Farmer.
Man, coining in contact with man,
for the betterment*of the race, always
results in loss as well us gain. The
benefactor must lose, if the beneficia
ry should gain. As supply and de
mand ape the only legitimate laws of
commerce and power and speed the
only true factors in forceful motion,
the loss of merit and the gain of Vie
merit are the fundamental rules of
moral economics. But understand,
that we speak only of the contact of
man with* man. With Jesus, as the
Son of God, tliis was not so.—Kev
R. T. Bentlv.
No onp will be able' to find any
work adapted to himself who cannot
in a large measure adapt himself to
his work. Persons who waith to find
something that “just suits’’ them
before they go earnestly to work are
never likely to be just suited to any
form of useful emyloyment. It is the
forcing of one’s self into the general
outline of any mould which God lias
ordered for him, that develops in one
that quality of metal that is necessary
for his life-uses. The great pianist
composer, Liszt, s lid of the eminent
violinist, Wilhelrnj, that he was “so
thoroughly adapted to the violin that
were the instrument not at hand we
should have to invent it for him.”
Not in any degree could or would
the violinist altar the shape of the
instrument to suit his seeming phys
ical needs while lie was a learner,
and yet the adaptability of the mas
ter is so great that he seems to be
the mold into which his instrument
is cast, rather than that the instru
ment is the mold into which he has
been cast. Has God put an instru
ment into your hands? Make your
self superior to it by making it seem
to have been made to suit you, rather
than you suit it.
In so ne parts of Scotland there
was formerly much oppossition to the
culture of the science of music. On
one occasion two ministers of neigh
ing churches exchanged pulpits. One
of the churches had a fine choir and
excellent congregational singing, hut
the other utterly disregarded such
creditab’.e work. As the minister of
the one fond of musical culture was
going to take dinner with an elder of
the other church, he remarked to him
that he was surprised that they had
such poor singing in their services;
he could not see how such perform
ances could be pleasing to the Al
mighty. The elder, not liking the
criticism, replied: “O, we do not sing
to please God.” “Indeed,” said the
minister, “pray, then, what do you
sing for?” The elder, being of a hu
morous turn of mind, made the
ridiculous, not to say blasphemous
response: “We sing to frighten the
devil” which the minister made
the reply: “Well, brother, I caa as
sure you, you are in a very likely way
to succeed.—Musical Messenger.
Let The Church Goto Work.
The church is a power for good or
evil in the land. So long as it teaches
real, genuine religion, as taught by
our Savior, it is entitled to, and
should have the support and encour
agement of all good citizens. But it
cannot be denied that there is more
todayism to wealth and aristocracy
in the church of to-day than is con
sistent with the teachings of the Man
of Galilee. As in the days preceed
ing the Christian era, there is greater
stress laid r n the forms of religion
than the spirit of Christianity. Men
go to church on Sunday and pray
that t (is earth “may be as the king
doti uf heaven” and put in the bal
ance of the week making it as near
like hell as possible for a very large
majority of people. True Christian
ity is charitable in its speech. Imag
ine Mary or Martha making use of
the expression “Shoo: them down
like dogs—mad dogs.” Beal Chris
tianity does not sit surrounded b\
millions of wealth while thousands
arc starving for the common neces
sities of life. Imagine Simeon, Paul
or Peter sitting on a Richly uphol
stered chair, at a tabic inlaid with
pearl, surrounded by all the luxuries
of wealth, counting, with a gold
tipped pencil the interest on bonds or
railroad stocks, or an income on rents
from tenement houses that breed
disease and death, and crime misery,
while the cries of distress from their
tenants commingled with the music
of a magnificent upright piano which
decorated their parlor. A Chris
tianity whieTt iefiyhjes that poverty
for the many is a hat-ural condition
and should of drawing
them a lie. A Chris
tianity that negleotslo look after the
temporal as well as the spiritual wel
fare is not worthy of the
often do we hear a Her
man preactrod against the curse of
usury? How often do ministers of
the Gospel raise their voice against
tie infamous and vicious system of
class laws which enrich the strong
and impoverish the weak? Let the
voice of the church be raised against
these evils. The Reformer suggests
that its readers take this matter up
and press it upon their ministers to
preach against the existing evils. As
a starter wc suggest as a lesson Ne
hemiah V, 1 to 11 verses, with the
latter part of the 10th verse, “I pray
you let us leave off this usury,” as a
text. The Reformer will front time
to time persent other lessons and
texts as subjects bearing upon the
existing evils. Now let the church
go to work and perform its part in
tho great work of reform.—National
Reformer.
In these days when total abstinence
is becoming more popular, there is a
renewed effort to introduce alcoholics
into cookery. If you put the devil
out of the door, he flies in at the
window; and if you put him out of
window, lie dances down the chim
ney and sets his blue lights timing
on the cook-stove. Caterers consider
many of, their most delicate dishes
incomplete without the smack of alco
holics; they hide this devil in solution
in their sherbet, in their pudding
sauce, in their cakes, their pies. Let
temperance people be on the lookout
at restaurants, hotels, and s--calle<l
high-toned dinner-tables.—Union Sig
nal.
A traveler, on leaving the dinner
talrle at the hotel, was sorry to leave
any thing behind; he therefore slyly
appropriated a chicken and put it in
his pocket. The waiter in attendance
noticed the proceedings, hut said
nothing. He took the gravy tureen
and deftly emptied the contents into
the traveler’s pocket. The latter,
feeling a strange warmth, turned
round and said: “What are you doing,
waiter?” “Sir, you forgot the gravy;
they both go together,” was the
reply.
A little girl, in order to prove that
it was wrong to cut off the tails of
horses and dogs, quoted the scriptural
injunction: “What God lias joined
together let not man put asunder.
SINGLE COI’Y THREE CENTS,
A Sore Evil Under The Sun.
There are cities in several Western
Stales containing hundreds of retired
farmers. These absentee landlords
take little interest in sustaining
schools of a or in keep
ing up good roads* in the townships
where their lands lie. They do not
even keep up improvements an their
farms, as a rule, much less undertake
new ones. They erect no substan
tial buildings, plant no orchards, set
out no ornamental trees and shrubs.
On the other hand, the tenants,
having no interest in the improve
ment of land rented form year to year,
simply get out of it what they can.
Thus is forming a distinct peasant
class, such as is found on tne conti
nent of Europe. There are entire
in Illinois and Wisconsin in
which, outside of the large towns,
the English language is scarcely eyer
heard. Church servicestand school
instruction are ’Y* ven in foreign
tongues. The mental development
of the people is on a par with that ot
peasants in Central Europe, or with
the lowest class of laborers in our
large citiiv. The townships
liabit seem like detached portions, of**
Bavaria or Bohemia.—The Watch
man.
A decided sensation has been
caused in Jerusalem by the introduc
tion of electric light into anew and
flourishing flour rn 11 just started
there. The building in which the
light has been introduced is near to
the supposed site of Cavalry and
close to the Damascus gate. It need
hardly he said that the Arabs and
Jews arc much puzzled to account for
a light in a lamp in which there :s
no oil, and up to the present lime,
whilegaxing with wonder, have been
keeping at a respectful distance.
We all have our secrets which are
not the common property of tho curi-*
oils and careless throng. We all have"
our personal traits, impulses, charac
teristics, which those who merely
meet us on the street, or in the mar
ket place, never know. *We all re
serve pur wea th of most ardent
affection for those whom our hearts
have enshrined in-a closer nearness
than the rabble. We don’t trust our
secrets, our inner selves, or our in
tensest affections —unsought, unask
ed —upon the world. We do not cast
our pearls before swine. It is so with
God.—Rev. M. 11. Moore.
“There is,” says Bishop Stecre, in
one of his published sermons, “a lan
guage that all can understand, Shat is
to all most convincing, that has made
more converts than any other. A
loving, devout, self-sacrificing spirit,
shining through the life, goes home
to the hearts of all, and they cannot
refuse to listen.”
The Canada Presbyteriart says:
“In one of Ids charming letters to the
British Weekly, on religious life in
Scotland, Rev. W. J. Dawson says:
‘ The stream of religious life does not
babble as it flows, but it runs deep
and constant.’ The trouble with some
types of religious life on this side of
the Atlantic is that there is more
babble than flow.”
The Freeman, London, says words
true enough to be graven in gold:
“If a minister of Jesus Christ spends
some time each day in communion
with God, in meditation on his work,
in reading for spiritual help his Bible,
he is certain, as the week goes on, to
have a message from God for his
fellow-men. And if he delivers that
for their good, not for hits own glory,
they will come and hear.”
The word “habit” is one of the
most, peculiar iu our language. If
you take off the first letter .you still
have “a bit.” If you remove the
second the word “bit” is' stiff* .on
hand. Decapitate that bjf removing
the “b,” and it is still a word. Take
off the “i,” ffnd *you find tha old
“habit”, not “t”. totally destroyed.—
St. Louis, Republic. * . ' *.