WHO ARE THEY ?

Inangahua Times, Volume IV, Issue 69, 17 September 1877, Page 2

WHO ARE THEY ?

The Now York Times thus writes of tbe wicked and unbelieving people, whose sudden and easy conversations are faithfully recorded in the tract literature t— lt is a peculiarity of these mysterious people that they regard an illusion to their re« spective mothers as an irresistible argu* merit. Thus tbe young man who swears in the presence of an eloquent orator, and is thereupon tab en by the arm and solemnly asked if he ever bad a mother, or if be ever heard his mother swear, or what his mother's, probable riow& of; pro» fanity were, jiever fails to burst into'tearsand to instantly reform. Hundreds of bold bad men, who hare bad the effrontery to express doubts as to tbe wisdom of a prohibitory liquor law, have- been crushed by a few simple inquiries as to their mothers. No, it nerer happens- to the ordinary man to bo Bfcopped ia> the street by an eloquent orator and' asked if heeror had a mother, and if so-, how many, and of what rarities ; and it never happens to tbe eloquent orator to- be- handed over to the police as a disorderly lunaticby tbe persons to whom he has proposed his curions question Hence, it fellows' that these persons are a class by themselves, living apart from other .men, and known only to the .eloquent orators- The extent to which these, remarkable.peopleare addicted to infidelity is only paralleled by their wonderful readiness to discard their heretical opinions . whenever they meet an eloquent preacher. The other day, as an eloquent preacher was walking 1 down the aisle of his crowded meeting* house,, an infidel banded him a copy of Paine's " Age of Season/ and arrogantly asked him to refute it. The eloquent preacher immediately proceeded to do so by sternly informing the infidel that he was a very wicked man, and that his couitenancc was written all over with the characters of vice. Of course the infidel instantly burst into tears aud asked theeloquent preacher to pray for him. It need bordly be pointed out that no ordi* nary man of tbe present day dreams of reading Paine's stupid blasphemy, aacfc tbnt no man who- has sufficient vulgarity and self-conceit to invite an eloquent preacher to public diwussioa of the socalled arguments of the " Age of Beason " would burst 'into tears and change hi* creed merely because be was called a very wicked man.- Tbe infidel in questionwas one of tho extraordinary class whofurnish moral anecdotes, and ' he v illustrates the wonderful facility witli wbicb that cIaRS abandons infidelity. The few examples which have been giyen are sufficient io prove that there exists a classof people who have extraordinary thingshappen to them, iv order that eloquent orators may be applied with extraordinary anecdotes. We know from these reported acts that they ' are, in tbeir original condition, both vU-ious and idiotic, and tliat after an eloquent orator has reformed them, they become meu of remarkaole piety and intellectual force. How they can successfully keep theniselTes hidden from all tbe world except the eloquent orators is a mystery. In all probability they receive a regular salary for their services as furnishers of anecdotes, for they are uniformly represented as passing their entire time in drinking, gambling, blaspheming, and other unprofitable em* ploy men ts, and hence must have some other source of income. Whether it is right to thus hire men to lire in idleness and vice is a question which concerns theeloquent orators, and it is difficult to sea how it can be answered in the affirmative* except by those who believe that the end justifies tbe means.