276 



ing the literature of the ancients for brilliant illus- 

 trations and high-sounding phrases that they do not 

 recognize the needs of the present day. I beliove 

 that, if our ministers would burn half their books, 

 study the newspapers, and stick their noses out of 

 their studies occasionally, they would begin to preach 

 sermons that would hold the multitudes. At any rate, 

 St. James church here was packed so that there was 

 hardly standing room last night, simply because Rev. 

 Mr. Yard had announced that he would reveal his 

 discoveries, and the discoveries were those that con- 

 cerned the people. Mj-. Root, I believe that, if we 

 had more such preachers — men who can fit religion 

 into politics and everyday life, the world would grow 

 better many times faster than at present. 



Harris T. Kille. 

 New Brunswick, N. J., Oct. 27. 



My good friend, I have for a long time 

 been " hungering and thirsting," if that 

 expression is not too extravagant, to hear 

 our ministers touch on things of the present 

 (lay a little more. Just now, however, here 

 in our Ohio home, as you may judge from 

 the two sermons I have given in these Home 

 papers, my wish has been gratified. Per- 

 haps I should explain to our readers that 

 the quotation alluded to by Mr. Kille comes 

 from the New Brunswick, N. J., Times. The 

 pastor mentioned, Rev. George W. Yard, 

 said in his sermon, " A howl went up to the 

 ceiling when I asked the ministers at a con- 

 vention they held, to help me in this fight, 

 so I started out single-handed." On Sunday 

 and Sunday night he visited 80 saloons. 

 Only 6 out of the 80 were closed up accord- 

 ing to law. He tells in his sermon where 

 lie went, what was going on, and mentioned 

 names. No wonder that St. James church 

 was " packed so there was hardly standing 

 room." 



Thou Shalt not kill. — Exodus 20:13. 



We clip the following from the Cleveland 

 Plain Dealer: 



THE PENALTY FOR MURDER. 



Twelve years ago a young tramp was found guilty 

 of a most revolting crime. He had drifted from the 

 east, a worthless derelict. An old and crippled watch- 

 man took pity on the tramp and repeatedly befriend 

 ed him, sharing his meager lunches with him, and 

 giving him shelter. 



In return for this kindness the youth deliberately 

 planned the murder of his benefactor. He waited till 

 pay day, and then beat the old man to death with a 

 ( oupling-pin, stole his money, and tied. He was ap- 

 prehended, and charged with murder in the first 

 degree. 



The verdict of the jury was an utterly unjustifi- 

 able compromise — murder in the second degree. If 

 the defendant was guilty of any crime it was first- 

 degree murder; but the jury could not be brought 

 to send him to death. The death penalty, as estab- 

 lished by Ohio law. was responsible for a verdict 

 which was wholly at variance with the facts. And 

 yesterday, after having served a dozen years, the 

 prisoner was released from the penitentiary, paroled 

 by order of the Board of Pardons. 



When I first saw 1 he above I could hardly 

 keej) still. It comes right on the heels of 

 the report of another murderer who has 



GLEANINGS IN BEfe CULtURfc 



been pardoned. You may recall a temper- 

 ance detective (Etherington) who was cru- 

 elly strung up by a drunken mob at New- 

 ark, Ohio. The leader of that mob lias been 

 " pardoned out " after serving only three 

 years in the penitentiary. Has this young 

 tramp, who seemed to have no scruples 

 about murdering his benefactor, and a poor 

 crippled man at that, been pardoned out, as 

 we must look at it, to go and do the same 

 thing again"? The only excuse we have for 

 such pardoning is that he had a good record 

 for behavior during the dozen years. Now, 

 if the daily paper had stated that he was 

 truly penitent for his crime, had expressed 

 sorrow and regret, and had started to lead 

 a Christian life, giving reasonable evidence 

 that he was truly born again, perhaps it 

 might be well to pardon him out; but even 

 then there is the record standing before the 

 world as a precedent, and other men (and 

 boys) seeing him get off so easily would be 

 more likely to be tempted to do likewise. 

 The paper does not tell us that his crime 

 was committed under the influence of drink. 

 We only read that he had been in the habit 

 of going to that good old soul when he was 

 hungry; and that was the reward the good 

 man got for having had pity on the poor 

 tramp. And, by the way, how does it come 

 that this young vagabond had no money to 

 pay for food? He was in the prime of life; 

 and, so far as we know, was well and 

 strong. In the great city of Cleveland there 

 is all the time an unfilled demand for help 

 - -any kind of help. Just at the present 

 moment, wlule I dictate these words, we are 

 paying skilled masons who came down from 

 Cleveland almost a dollar an hour; and the 

 mason's helpers that came along get half as 

 much. Yet able men are going about beg- 

 ging for " cold victuals," etc. 



" THOU SHALT NOT KILL.-^' 



Somewhat more than a month ago a mob of citi- 

 zens of Spartanburg, S. C, dynamited the outer gate 

 of the jail and demanded of Sheriff White that he 

 yield to them the person of a negro prisoner. Sheriff 

 White stood before them, supported by a single dep- 

 uty. There was a revolver in Sheriff White's hand. 



"Gentlemen," he said, "I hate to do it; but, so 

 help me God, I'll kill the first man who comes past 

 that gate." 



Perhaps the members of that mob knew Sheriff 

 White well enough to understand that he meant pre- 

 cisely what he said. Perhaps they were influenced 

 by mere cowardice. But, at any rate, the mob evap- 

 orated. 



The negro who was the object of the mob's efforts 

 has now been tried by a jury of white men, and has 

 been found not guilty. There was, it appears, never 

 any thing but ilimsy suspicion against him. Mere 

 suspicion had been sufificient inspiration for the Spar- 

 tanburg disciples of .Judge Lynch. 



The above, which I clip from the Cleve- 

 land Leader, vividly illustrates several im- 



