(il.HAMNt.S IN I;KK CULTUliK. 



85)5 



m!il<i> no hfiulway at all aniii"^' tlif raiilv coiii- 

 nuMi weeds, .lust su with spiritual IhiiiKs. 

 SpiriMiality will not jiruw in your heart with- 

 out t-a re ami I'neonraijeinent. Voiir spiritnaii- 

 ty will he dead ami iroiie unless yon look alter 

 it, water it with love and kindness, and keep 

 llie weeiis friMn shadinix and crowdinjj and 

 choking it. Does some one say. " Well. \Nhai is 

 ihe use of spirilnality, any way".'"'.' Why. 

 spirittialily is what maki^s ns men and women 

 in (!od*s own imasie. inst(>ad of wild beasts. 

 What a hideous thinn is a wild heasi! Perhaps 

 you have seen eonlliets lieiween h(»asts of prey 

 and their viotinis. Sontetimes the victim is of 

 suoli si/e that it and its natural (Miemy are pret- 

 ty well matched. I have seen a dog and a wood- 

 ciiuck stand in about this relation to each other. 

 Tlie (log for a time seemed to almost fear a 

 contest. I"'inally he summoned all liis savage, 

 ferocious iiatuie. ]\y barking, and showing his 

 teeth, he wrought him.-elf np to state of rage 

 and frenzy. Then lie pounced upon the poor 

 cornered victim, and in tlie most savage and 

 cruel way proceeded to tear him limb from 

 limb. .Such sights give us pain, or ought to; 

 but they give us a glimpse of the low brute 

 nature. People who learn to love — by the way, 

 the word "' love" is not the oue after all, fq;' it 

 seems sacrilege to use it in thatsense; but what 

 I mean to say is this: Even men and women 

 may develop a low taste for scenes of ferocity 

 and bloodshed ^o that they look on with satis- 

 faction in seeing one animal d(>sir(,y anoLluM". 

 Dog-tights, cock-lighting, bull-lights, and 

 things of this class are an illustration. After 

 they have seen an animal "■ drag the berating 

 heart to light" fnjm his victim then Satan puts 

 it into the heart to demand that the tierce wild 

 animal shall try his low brute nature iu a con- 

 test with a human being; and wiiei-e there is a 

 chance that a in<tn may be killed, instead of an 

 animal, thousands wiU'llock to see it. Wliile in 

 Paso del Norte, mentioned in another column, 

 Mrs. Root and I visited the arena, where they 

 hold their bull-tights. It was a cheap wooden 

 structure, and its size indicated they did not 

 have very large audiences. They can not have 

 them in the United Stales. The Humane So- 

 ciety has put an end to it; but Mexico has not 

 as yet got far enough advanced in civilization 

 and Christianity to do the same thing. When 

 they have these bnll-tights, however, they are 

 adverti.>;ed for hundreds of miles away. The 

 people come from the I'nited States to see them. 

 They always have them on Sundny. Isn't 

 that- a little signiticant? and it is point I am 

 coming to a little further on. 



Well, the.se things I have described are types 

 of the lowest and most degrading order of let- 

 ting flesh rule instead of the Spirit. No, nol 

 hold on. A bull-tight does not compare in low 

 sensuality with a prize-light between two men. 

 Isn't that true ? There is not a specimen of the 

 animal kingdom but that stands hUjher up in 

 the scale of animals than the two men who thus 

 ■consent to pound iiiul biuise each other because 

 th(! populace demand it. Why, it is often urged 

 that these men have no unkind feelings toward 

 each other at all. and no sort of grudge. Be- 

 fore the contest they ai-e as pleasant toward 

 each other as a couple of brothers, and it is just 

 so after they get through. If a man were to 

 insult you or some of the weaker members of 

 your family, and yon were to pound and bruise 

 him. we miglit say there was some excuse for it; 

 and even some Christian people might say. 

 "Served him right.'' Hut this prize-lighting is 

 a cold-blooded affair. Men bi-uise eacli otlier. 

 and mar the image that Ood has made, with the 

 same coolness and deliberation as that with 

 which a butcher would put his victim to death. 

 I suspect that it is the gambling craze that lies 



at the l)otI()m of the w hole of it. Satan likes to 

 link his agencies together. When the nmn 

 light, then other men give loose to their unscru- 

 pulous greed to rob each other of theii- earnings. 

 They take money without equivalcint. It is not 

 (piile highway lobbery. because l)oth i)arli(!8 

 (•onseni lo it. The party who is I'obbed is not 

 drunk with //'/u'vA;/, but he is drunk with the 

 Udiuhlhiii craze, with a tierce passion to take 

 the money or property that l)elongs to his ncMgh- 

 bor. without ('([uivalent. Why, what an awful 

 thing gambling is, any wayl Did you ever 

 thiuK of it? A young man in my emi)loy — yes, 

 a boy who for years sat under my teachings at 

 on(^ of the mission Sunday-schools, after he 

 grew up, and while in my employ, I found he 

 was spending all his earnings in <jni»hlli><j. I 

 talked to him about it, and lie frankly owned it 

 up. Said I. " Why, look here, my young friend. 

 Can yon look me in tlie face and own uji that 

 you witiitedlo take, or were wiirnnj to take, or 

 did take, the hard earnings of your comrades 

 and friends simply because you won it in a 

 game of cards?" He did not reply in words, 

 hut nodded whih^ he cast down his eyes, as his 

 clii'ek Hushed somewhat with shame. " Why, 

 could you b(^ happy with the money in your 

 pockets that they had worked slowly and pain- 

 fully for during past weeks and months? Is it 

 possible that, iu this enlightened and intelligent 

 country, with such a mother as you have had, 

 and such brothers and sisters, that you could 

 (V(mt the money l^elonging to somebody else, 

 without working for it? What has got into 

 you?" He assented to all I had to say, and 

 gave me a feeble sort of promise to do better. 

 But he was in Satan's toils, and I fear he is yet. 

 He behaved almost exactly as do those who are 

 crazy for strong drink. In fact, the two are 

 twin — v\ ill it b(; wiong if I say twin devils in- 

 stead of twin eoilsf Well, if you are so foolish 

 and thoughtless as to let either one of them get 

 hold of you, you may look back some time and 

 say, " Brother Root was right. He called the 

 thing by its right name." 



These fleshly lusts grow upon us amazingly. 

 They extend tneir roots and tendrils until they 

 get all over us; and aftei- you think you have 

 shaken them off, you will lind tin; old roots 

 and tendrils clinging there still, until it seems 

 as if you must tear yourself to pieces to root 

 them out and make them let go their hold. God 

 knows that / know something about it, even if 

 my most intimate friends do not suspect it. 



We used to have a Jersey cow that was 

 taught to tear down the fence around our pas- 

 ture lot. The way we taught her to have such 

 amazing skill with those little hooked horns of 

 hers was by a careful system of education. No, 

 no! I do not mean careful— I mean careless. 

 Every time she broke out and got into the sweet 

 corn, we patched up the fence a little better. 

 She was young, restless, and intelligent, and 

 she finally began to enjoy the ftin of ripping up 

 things with those sharp horns of hers as fast as 

 w(! could icpair the breeches with barbed wire 

 and clinched wire nails. She soon learned to 

 use her horns as dextrously as a carpenter 

 would use the claw of his hammer. After she 

 had pried out the nails sufficiently, and pulled 

 out the staples with her horns, then she would 

 push against the fence until she could hear 

 something crack. Then she would work with 

 her horns once more, then she would cret her 

 head in a hole, and lift, .so as to pull the posts 

 out. Finally she would march oil' with a part 

 of the fence on her back, a good deal as Samson 

 did when he carried off the gates of Gaza. 

 After we got it tight all around, then she would 

 make a tour of inspection and investigation, go 

 clear round the whole lot, and look out the best 

 spot to begin operations. Why. I have .some- 



