1892 



GLEANINHJ.S IN UKK CULTURE. 



read it 1?-K-K-K insloiid of '• Hcos." I suppose 

 the U-K-K-K is more oommon to tlio eyes of 

 iravcltTs. How is it in your town, my friend ? 

 Well, when tiiey saw they hat! made a mistake. 

 and that tlie whole lot of ns were what llnu 

 miiiht call a " imritanieal " class, then, instead 

 of submit I insf to the customs of the place wheic 

 they happened to he lantled. they commcMicins 

 cursing the people litrhl to their faces. Does 

 tobacco make boys unjientlemanly. or is it the 

 lial)it of swearinsr".' t)ne of our old pastors once 

 maiie the remark, that inhdelity is the most 

 uncourteous and ungeiitlemaniy thing tlu^ 

 world has ever invented. There are not many 

 people in the world who advocate swearing. 

 Skeptics, however, often say there is nothing 

 particularly w rong about it. liut after reason- 

 ing with them some, however. I believe all 

 liave admitted that it is a very uncourt(>ous 

 and nngentlemimly tiling. Where a crowd of 

 people get to swearing. I think anybody of good 

 sense and fairness must admit it is bad. It is 

 bad for boys to swear. Swearing almost in- 

 variably accompanies drunkenness and crime. 

 What prompts it. anyliow? A man who has 

 no control over his temper, I believe almost 

 always swears. It seems to be a sort of indica- 

 tion that the man or boy is more or less of a 

 savage. He does not control himself, and does 

 not try to do so. He does not scruple to let (til 

 the irorld know that he puts no restraint on his 

 worst passions. It is prompted by an unclean 

 spirit, even if you make the best of it. If he 

 lias any self respect, or wishes the world to 

 know that he has respect for himself, he cer- 

 tainly should not swear. I have often wonder- 

 ed, with the great amount of swearing we have 

 in public places, tliat the morals of our country 

 are as good as they ar<'. When I hear so much 

 of it I wonder that our jails and penitentiaries 

 are not tilled to overflowing to such an extent 

 that more than half of the guilty ones go free. 

 There is a law against swearing, it is true; but 

 public sentiment has not yet backed up this law 

 to the extent that it is verv much enforced. 



We are told that, in olden time, the name of 

 Jesus Christ the .Son of (iod was a perfect anti- 

 dote for all unclean spirits of every description; 

 but we are also told that it was the only reme- 

 dy. •• for there is none other name given under 

 heaven," etc. ; and it seems to be true now. 

 When a boy can be made to realize that his 

 heart is sinful, and that an unclean spirit lurks 

 therein, then he is near salvation. People may 

 break off from using tobacco ; they may quit 

 swearing: they may even jjiomise themselves 

 and promise their friends that they will give up 

 the practice of repeating low-lived and filthy 

 stories; they may sign the pledge: and I would 

 by no means discourag*' any of these undertak- 

 ings: but the unclean spirit can never be fom^ 

 jilcteUj cast out and banished forever until that 

 I>ure spirit of Christ tinds a lodgingplace in the 

 lieart — that spirit that said. " Love ye your en- 

 emies, and do good to them that hate you." 

 Dear friend, do you not realize the contrast? 

 Do you not long to be one among those who are 

 hungering and thirsting after righteousness? 

 If so, then let me beg of you to join a Christian 

 band. You will not have to go far to do it. 

 The church of Christ is found in every neigh- 

 borhood. Scarcely one among the thousands of 

 those whose eyes rest on these pages but can 

 ■easily find a minister of the gospel inside of 

 twenty-four hours. The little church in your lo- 

 cality may be sadly run down, and the profess- 

 ing Christians may be altogether a poor lot. If 

 both of these things are true, then the need is 

 tenfold greater that jyou should help to restore 

 it. Oh I I beg of you to go and attend to it this 

 minute. Drop this paper you are now reading; 

 go and assure bod's ministering servant who 



lives nearest you that you are ashamed of your- 

 self, and that you will hang back no hmger. 

 Tell him you want to /(r//> in the work of ban- 

 ishing uncleanness and impurity from the 

 hearts of all men: study (Jod's lioly word; ask 

 him to help you build "up that little church; 

 kindle anew the heavenly llame in that run- 

 down Sunday-school; wake iii) the mi-mbersof 

 that Endeavor society if they liave gone to 

 sleep. With the spirit of Christ in your heart, 

 go to work among the /^oj/s- in your own neigh- 

 borhood. Discourage profanity, and show them 

 that there is something better than tobacco 

 when they start out to have a holiday or a good 

 time; and when you go, remember tliat your 

 old friend A. I. Root is praying that God's Holy 

 Spirit may go irilh you, and that you may be 

 successful in holding aloft the banner of Christ 

 Jesus; that you may be succe.ssful in driving 

 out and keeping away the unclean spirits that 

 have been and are now the sworn enemies of 

 all that is good and pure and holy— the sworn 

 enemies of the Lamb of God who taketh away 

 the sin of the world. 



Notes of Travel 



FROM A. I. ROOT. 



IN ARIZONA TERKITORY. 



It was laining, and after dark, when we took 

 the train at Colton. bidding good-by to Califor- 

 nia and the Pacific coast. I greatly longed to 

 make all this trip by daylight, but" it was im- 

 possible. There is only one train a day over 

 the Southern Pacific, and therefore it is out of 

 the question to see a great part of the road by 

 daylight unless you happen to pass it in going 

 the other way. I especially wanted to see that 

 new lake that has recently been formed by the 

 overflow of the Colorado River. I asked the 

 porter whether it was true that they were 

 obliged to take up the track; but he said it was 

 not. At one time they feared they would be 

 obliged to do so; but efiHcient engineers suc- 

 ceeded in giving directions so that the overflow 

 has been at least partially stopped. The rail- 

 way, however, runs close beside the great lake 

 where formerly we had what they called the 

 bed of the dried-up ocean. 



As soon as any thing was to be seen at all. 

 Mrs. Root and I were pressing our faces close 

 to the window of the sleeper. It was just get- 

 ting daylight when we passed through Yuma, 

 at the extreme southeastern corner of Califor- 

 nia. This town has become celebrated because 

 it is about the hottest place on earth— at least 

 they give it that reputation. When the light 

 enabled us to see plainly, we began studying 

 with much curiosity the wonderful objects 

 along the desert of Arizona. The queer cacti, 

 taller than the telegraph poles, were objects of 

 great interest. Every thing is odd and quaint 

 and weird in Arizona. Its vegetation is unlike 

 that in any other part of the world, and the 

 mountains themselves make one think he is in 

 fairyland instead of in the United States of 

 America; and when the strange mirage puts in 

 its appearance early in the morning, one might 

 readily be excused for feeling that he was in an 

 enchanted land in earnest. I am not ready just 

 now, however, to speak of the mirage. It did 

 show up — at least, on that particular morning. 

 At Gila Bend (this word is pronounced Heela) 

 we encountercid the first strange group of Indi- 

 ans. As the train stopped, the crowd gathered 

 about a blind Indian boy who was playing on a 

 fiddle. His instrument was a very rude one, 

 wires supplying the place of strings to a con- 

 siderable extent. Although his eyeballs seemed 



