The Prague Patriot. (Prague, Okla.), Vol. 3, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 9, 1905 Page: 4 of 8
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THE PATRIOT.
INDEPENDENT IN ALL THINGS
Published Every Thursday In the Interest
of Prague and Vicinity.
W. S. OVERSTREET, Proprietor ond
Business Manager.
Subscription Pric© $I.OO
Per Annum
Adv«rlifting n*t«w Mado Known on Appl catloa
in Per on or by Letter.
Don't Rive tip hope yet; there are
ptill fifteen vacant tablets in the Hall
of Fame.
The fatuous turkey, fattening on
luxurious feed, feels that he is popu-
lar. He is, too.
Which would you rather? Suffer
from insomnia or know that you snore
like a tuba horn?
Moral of the Taggart case—The
man who teaches his wife to drink
whiskey is a fool.
VHFl-TSr
A Silent Tcast.
Ti Uh tuny, s wt 11 shadows of sunrise—
To tti- coo (if thi' doves in the irei s -
'i'., tliv t in/... himI th< cliff- and th.
land.
And the breath r f the tropic seas.
To thi* moist, raw (dor of plantains—-
To tin coolness of tr< sh-cut sheavis—
To tin perfume of lire pimento,
And the orange's scented leaves.
To the trill of the •chit" in the Junuli—
To the solitaire'.* morning complaint
To ti ' Sit lit of '.he klne in the pastures.
And the hills the sunbeams paint.
To tin rise of the moon on the ocean—
To the ravs on the mountains' sides
To the glint of the light on the palm-
frond?!
In the dear ol) midnight tides.
To the nights all alone in the glory
(if the hush with tiie lizard and owl
'in the whistling toad in the tin fern.
And the night wind's dismal howl.
To the upturned face in the moonlight—
To tin kiss of a land-bom briih
,'o the last faint whisper at parting.
With the crack of the whip' 'safe-
ride."
Stephen (".lalmers in N( w York Times.
A livestock census is now planned.
It is odds on that there'll be no kick
on telling ages this time.
Dr. Osier has evidently changed
his mind. No one hears of his asking
anybody to pass him the chloroform.
In this his hour of greatness let Mr.
Christy Mathewson remember the
fate of Pflug. He, too, was famous
once.
It is a pertinent suggestion that the
automobile horn should be tuned to a
musical note. Even the swan song is
^soothing.
A Chicagoan is under arrest In Kan
sas City charged with "having one
wife too many." He might have only
one at tlmt.
A Russian prince was fined for
speeding his automobile in Chicago.
It, is needless to say that Chicago is
not in Russia.
A man has written a large book en-
titled "What to Have for Breakfast,"
when It could all be boiled down into
one word, food.
Oysters are said to be large and
plentiful this year, and many churches
have voted to use two at each socia-
ble.—Boston Globe.
Somebody has invented a new field
gun which fires 800 shots a minute.
Here is another argument in favor
of universal peace.
Spain probably does not see that
there was anything inferior about
Dewey's work at Manila, even if he
was an elderly officer.
A careless newspaper reports that
Mr. Taft "is getting thin." What it
means, of course, is that the secre-
tary is getting less thick.
When an austere man of science de-
dares that kissing is an "unpleasant
custom" it is only right that he should
tell the world how he knows.
If every man could use King Al-
fonso's system and have the neighbors
pick out a wife for him the divorce
problem might be simpler than it is.
The Lancaster boarding house man
who made n potpie out of buzzard was
filled, although justice fairly clamored
that he be condemned to consume the
pie.
Little Freeman Meinertz. the Brook-
lvn "scientific baby," who has never
tasted meat, candy or cake, has lots
of treats in store for him if he lives
to grow up.
A Berlin professor says the bite of
a girl is frequently fatal. It has been
noted that the bite of a girl often
brings a box of chocolate creanu to
an early end.
It is claimed now that the spices in
the food which Is eaten by rich people
cause them to become immoral. What
about the farmer, whose apple pie
is mostly nutmeg?
A Pittsburg court is going to deter-
mine the money capacity of woman's
stocking. That will be of no advan-
tage, however, for the average man
isn't able to reach it.
Some editors are troubled because
a New York stock exchange seat sold
for $85,0u0, and only the Portland
Press stops to consider that the buy-
er at least got the seat.
The fall styles in women's hosiery,
judged by window displays, are rain-
bow-hued and boldly designed. Until
a muddy day's disclosures, no man
may say whether they are popular.
An Eminent Physician's Views.
In reply to a request for a brief
taumcrtt of his views on the use of
tleohol, Sir .lames Grant, the cele-
'irated Ottawa (Canada) physician,
writes as follows:
The drinking habit is widespread
and few who follow i' that path per-
sistently will live the allotted span,
but as a general rule much less. The
brick and mortar of the Human Sys-
tem are not held together by alcohol.
It quietly and steadily undermines
i tin humi.n system, and establishes
' the very foundations of disease. For-
tunately. Its use as a beverage is on
the decline, and fashion is a powerful
factor in that common sense direc-
tion. Tea. coffee and milk beverages
are rapidly coming to the front, on
all public occasions.
The late Sir Henry Thomas held
that the evil and, undoubted, effects,
of alcohol are chiefly on the cellular
structures. It paralyzes their activity,
j prevents their growth and retards
their renewal, in fact hardens the
| very protoplasm, the basis of life.
Alcohol is not only injurious to the
i young cdls of youth, but also des-
i troys gradually the new and young
I cells of mature age, resulting in de-
j generation and decay of bodily tis-
sues generally. Alcohol In the stom-
ach is a regular dog-in-the-manger,
not. capable of building up the body,
but actually preventing nourishing
power and hastening the general tear
and wear of the constitution.
I.et us hope that the liquor traffic
will follow, in time, the slave traffic,
and disappear from the entire North
American continent as a drinking
habit, which to-day we note gradu-
ally on the decline, the result of edu-
cational and simple temperance prin-
ciples
Alcoholic beverages do not assist
digestion, but most certainly retard
pnd preyent the healthy solution of
food. Alcoholic drinkers are by far
the most subject to epidemic influ-
(nee, and with a much lessened pros-
pect of recovery. The Arctic explor-
ers with whom 1 have had personal
conversation. Rae, Kane and Nanien,
required no alcohol for their crews
all ot whom endured great fatigue in
the Arctic exploration and returned
home in robust health. As a medi-
cine under cartful medical advice it
is a powerful factor in certain states
of depression of the system.
First and Second Natures.
I have just read an article on the
enormous consumption of te«jacco in
this country, and it struck me it
would be of public interest to call at-
tention to the first and second natures
j of man in relation to alcohol and to-
bacco. says a correspondent e>f the
Chicago Evening Post. 1 talked late-
: ly with s man who said that he has
spent $150,000 In drink. He keeps
himself "just so" all the time. He
never is what is known as ungentle-
manly drunk. He converses rational-
ly. He seems nearly right, from the
standpoint of second nature. He is
never troubled except abenit the
whisky supply. Insure him that and
"dull care" departs. He is well
: aware that the primary danger that
menace s him is an enforced sobriety.
] He ('id not acquire this second nature
In a day or a month or a year. His
higher. better self uttered protests
i a.id retellings and headaches innum-
i ( abte, but peralitenee In drinking in
j denial of the groanlngs of the entire
physical strucfure at last silenced its
l voice
We accommodate ourselves to our
: degradation, and behold, the first na-
ls dead and from its grave ap-
i the death's face of another na-
of foreign fiber. "Habit is sec-
nature." The man who keeps
jus half drunk is comfortable and
jolly until he reaches his limit. Once
;> •quired we must submit to the see-
on.I nature. All the former conditions
are rever ed. The second nature, in
st( ,i I of showing abhorrence to the
ust of alcohol, stands nearly as firm-
ly aiijln-t its disuse and to suddenly
<to-i It often endangers the very life.
getMn1; drunk. He takes just as vio-
lent a reverse spring when he gets ■
sober, and death soon winds him up,
for he lives in neither his first nor
his second nature.
Foe to Health, Wealth and Happiness.
Intemperance is a menace to health.
There is not an organ in the body
which is not Injured by the continu-
ous use of alcoholic liquor. A drink-
ing nation soon becomes distinguished
lor dyspeptic and nervous troubles. ,
The physical ills resulting from its
use are handed from one generation
to another perpetuating themselves
continually in a wider and wider cir-
circle.
Intemperance is a menace to
There is no place in nature for
what is known as the "periodical
drunkard." He is constantly at war
with himself. He tumbles himself in
wealth. One billion dollars spent in
the United States in a single year for
liquor is an appalling factor in na-
tional economics. Such an outlay
means pinching elsewhere. It means
a shortage of meat, a lack of fuel, a
scarcity of suitable clothing in thou-
sands of American homes. The
sequel to such extravagant expendi-
ture must be grinding poverty,
Intemperance is a foe to happiness.
The drunkard is himself the most
miserable of men. The drunkard s
wife is the most, to be pitied of wom-
en. His children come into the world
at a disadvantage which few of them
are courageous enough to overcome.
T! e heartache and suffering for
which this curse is responsible would
make a record too ghastly for perusal.
This enemy to health, wealth and
happiness is an enemy to the race.
One who is not willing to join in
the battle against it is false to his
kind.—Young People's Weekly.
/.• m? e sf ■ ft-'
' ,«*• A.'.". ' *
Z.fS
LESSON SEVEN—NOVEMBER 12.
GOL.DEN TEXT—The hand of our God Is upon ull them for good that seek
him.—Ezra S:-2.
The Drunkard's Course.
Drink destroys the drinker's self-
respect. Some of the best men in the
world have been victims of alcohol.
There have been more desperate
struggles to reform made by drunk-
ards than were I er made for any
other purpose by men holding them-
selves above their less fortunate
brothers.
A drunkard struggles and strives,
over and over, to save himself—to
save the self-respect that is slipping
away from him.
But eventually self-respect is buried
also in the graveyard of drink and
principle.
Honesty can be found in a grave
near by.
A man's conscience attacks and
worries him, even in the last stages
of drinking. Others forgive him
again and again—but in his good mo-
ments he does not forgive himself.
He hates himself, his self-respect
is gone. If he lasts long enough and
sinks low enough, principle and hon-
esty f,o as we ll.
Hope, of course, lies in the grave-
yard of drink. Its death is slow, for
alcohol deceives the man that it is
destroying, and it deceives him with
hope.
Hope and health end together at
last, and they are buried and added
to the list of graves.—Chicago Ameri-
can.
The Church and the Saloon.
I walk by the stream fed by the
saloon, and I see beastly manhood,
degraded womanhood, depraved child-
hood, Jails, prisons, madhouses, living
skeletons, death and hell. I then
stand beside another stream fed by
the church of Christ. I see redeemed
womanhood, cultured manhood, angel-
ic maidenhood, heaven-inclined child-
hood, churches, Sunday schools, mis-
sionary enterprises, happiness and
heaven. These two Institutions stand
before us asking us to take a stand
with one or the other. The church
comes with a message of love from
God; the saloon with hate and war
from the devil. The church has tears
for the sorrowing; the saloon curses
for the fallen. In the name of God.
who is our Father, let us "abhor that
which Is evil, clcave to that which Is
good."—W. C. Cole in Christian
Standard.
tun
ure
-id
An Emperor's Opinion.
Emperor William of Germany for
several years has been discouraging
immoderate drinking. His latest
move in that direction is to engage
several chauffeurs for public duty,
making it a condition that they shall
be total abstainers both on and off
duty. The wages of the men are to
be higher than usual on account of
their total nbstinence. In explaining
his action the Emperor slates that he
believes all men. who have fn their
keeping the safety of human 111-,
should not touch Intoxicants. Their
responsibilities require that all the
faculties be kept In prime condition-,
so that the sensibilities are keen and
-■r.f.y to respond to f mergence- (all
I. The Desolations of Zion.—The
enthusiasm aroused by the leaders
and the prophets Haggai and Zechar-
iah (Lesson V.) culminated in the
completion of the Temple, and then
gradually declined Into a deadened re-
ligious condition. The Temple had
been built, but the opposition had
been so great that the walls had not
been restoreel and the rubbish still
arose in long-stretching mounds. The
visions of glory had faded. Poverty,
oppression, hardship and disappoint-
ment had settled down on the little
Jewish community, which now found
itself far worse off financially than
the captives at Babylon. I hey began
to make alliances with the Gentiles,
the leading families intermarrying
with the heathen, till the land became
defiled with the filthiness and abom-
inations of idolatry. The religious
home life was being destroyed. Lax-
ity of morals, religious indifference,
desecration of the Sabbath, moral ig-
norance, were in the ascendancy; the
spiritual declined, and high ideals
grew dim. Such was the condition of
things seventy-eight years after the
first joyous Return.
11. Ezra, the Man for the Times.—
Our sources of information are Ezra
7-10; Neh. 8-10. and the two books of
Esdras (—Ezra) ir. '.he Apocrypha.
Ezra was of a priestly family, and his
great work was that of a scribe; not a
mere copyist of the Law, but a dili-
gent student and interpreter of .the
Law. He grew up amid the culture
and intense literary activities of iiaby-
lon. The literary activity of Greece
was not far away. He grew up also
in the consciousness of the humilia-
tion of the captivity, as a punishment
for sin. He saw that the only way to
save the nation was through the pow-
er of their Law, and of obedience to
it.
Iir. Preparations for a New Relig-
ious Movement.—First. The exile was
indeed a punishment, but it was also
a discipline for a better life. Foreign
culture and literary activity made
their indelible impress on the Jews.
The scribes copied the Law, comment-
ed, recast and wrote. They "saved
the people from the worst of all possi-
ble calamities—from ignorance of its
. own past."
Second Preparation. In the year
465 B. C., Xerxes was murdered in a
palace conspiracy, and his son Artax-
erxes Longimanus reigned in his
stead. He was a young man and had
reigned six or seven years when
Ezra had it in his heart to go up to
Jerusalem. This king granted the de-
sired permission to Ezra (1) perhaps
because of his natural amiability and
bonhomie, (2) because of the powerful
Jewish influence at the court where he
was trained. Mordecai, Esther, Nehe-
miah. and probably others had been
favorites.
Ezra needed three things—"men,
money and authority." The king gave
the latter two, and permitted the men
to volunteer.
Third Preparation. Volunteers. By
the decree no one was compelled to go
1 an unwilling sacrifice, but whoever
"were minded of their own free will to
go" (Ezra 7: 13). About 1,700 persons,
including heads of families and their
retainers (Ezra 8: 1-14), pr'ests, Le-
vites and 220 Nethinim, or the serv-
ants who assisted in the work about
the Temple.
Fourth Preparation. Fasting and
prayer (vs. 21-23.) The rendezvous
was (21) "at the river of Ahava,"
probably one of the many canals run-
ning into the Euphrates, and not very-
far from Babylon on the north. "Then
I proclaimed a fast." Fasting, as a
religious act would seem to have its
basis in (1) a grief over sin so deep
and intense that all desire for food is
taken away. (2) In the aid to devo-
tion furnished by a body unburdened
with food, so as to leave the mind and
heart in their most active and free
condition.
22. "For I was ashamed to require
of the king." There were many dan-
gers on that four months' journey,
particularly from the robbers and Be-
douins of the desert. Ezra had told the
king that God was with his people,
and against their enemies; and, there-
fore, to ask a guard of soldiers might
seem to the king to contradict his as-
sertions, and bring disgrace on God's
cause.
Fifth Preparation. Means for car-
rying on the work.
24. "I separated twelve," etc. He
committed the treasure into the hands
of twelve chief priests of whom the
first two arc named. These men would
take special charge and be responsible
for the safe keeping of the treasure.
Besides, it would relieve Ezra of all
possible scandal in regard to it.
£5 And weighed unto them the sli-
ver. etc. We may gather from this
that the silver and gold were in bars
or ingots, and not in coined money.
20. "Six hundred and fifty talents
of silver." A talent of silver, accord-
ing to new Oxford Bible tables 11.1*03)
was worth about $970, by the light
standard, the (150 talents being a little ,
over $630,000. By the heavy standard
it would be twice that. "Of gold an
hundred talents." A gold talent was
worth about $14,542, making not quite
$1,500,000 In gold, light standard; so
that the whole amount of money
would be about $2,000,000 or $4,000,000 *.
according to the standard nse'd.
27. "Drains." Darics, worth about
an English sovereign, or a little over
$5.00.
28. "A freewill offering unto the
Lord God." The money was for re-
ligious purposes, and would be a great
help to the people at Jerusalem as
well as smooth the way of Ezra to the
needed reforms.
29. "Th(* chambers of the house of
the Lord" are the rooms placed on
either side of the main building (see 1
Kings 6: &>), partly as chambers for
the priests, partly as storerooms (see
Neh. 13: 5).
IV. The Journey to Jerusalem.—Vs.
31, 32. The returning exiles left their
homes and the city, and began to as-
semble for their journey on the first
day of Nisan (March-April), the begin-
ning of the Jewish sacred year (Ezra
7: 9), but actually (v. 31) "departed"
from Ahava "on the twelve day of the
first month," about the time of the
Passover (the 14th of the month), our
Easter, about the first of April. "And
the hand of our God was upon us," the
hand that defends, the hand that
gives, the hand of friendship.
32. "And we came to Jerusalem,"
after a journey of four months, arriv-
ing there the first day of the fifth
month, or about the middle of July.
V. Ezra's Work at Jerusalem.—
Chaps. 9, 10. He brought the Book of
the Law into prominence. He rein-
forced the ritual of the temple and the
order of the priests. The deeply relig-
ious spirit of Ezra is notable. "His
one ambition was to glorify God, and
to be of service to his nation." "He
was a Puritan of the Puritans." "He
was deadly in earnest."—Hunter. Con-
sider his prayer before the assembled
people. (Ezra 9: 6-15.)
The course of the Israelites was
ruining and degrading the nation. The
whole history Of Israel previous to
the exile was an argument against it.
The mixed race of Jews and Samari-
tans, with their half-heathenish cus-
toms, was a living warning of the re-
sults of their course. There was only
one alternative—to purify the church,
or to let it go to ruin.
The suffering caused by this course
was the fruit, not of Ezra's work, but
of the wrong-doing. The physician is
not to blame for the bitterness of his
medicine, nor the surgeon for ampu-
tating the limb.
True liberality is both Christian and
wise. But even the wisest reformers
would not include rumsellers in the
Christian Temperance Union, nor
think that town blessed that did not
say to saloon keepers, "Repent or go."
The choir is not narrow because it
does not include those who can only
make discords, nor is the sheepfold
intolerant that refuses to include
wolves, nor the medical society that
excludes quacks, nor the church that
does not invite the unrepentant wick-
ed ty its communion.
The Heart of the Lesson.
In this section of history we can
study the progress and method of a
great revival of religion.
We see the power of a single man, a
deep student of the Bible, a keen ob-
server of the times, tilled with the
Spirit ( f God, and ready to sacrifice
himself for the redemption of his peo-
ple.
Note the means used. (1) The call
was to volunteers. (2) The prepara-
tion was through an awakening Bible
study. (3) The timeliness of the move-
ment. (4) Prayer and fasting, re-
pentance, putting away sin. (5) The
splrti of heroism and consecration-
(ti) Free giving to the cause. (7) Hard
work in spite of great opposition. (S)
Concerted action. One ember alone
will not make a good (ire. Two are
more than twice one. A hundred to-
gether are ten times a hundred sep-
arate individuals.
It was an ethical revival; a revival
Of purer morals, of better living; of
putting away wrong at the greatest
cost. We sometimes hear it said that
we do not need so much a revival of
religion as a revival of honesty, of
truth telling, of kindly deeds. I have
seen several revivals of religion, and
never knew one that was not also a
revival of morality, The religious re-
vival was like a springtime to the
moral nature, awakening It to new
life. No power known can do so much
to uplift the moral character and de-
velop a righteous life, as a re al revival
of true religion
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Overstreet, W. S. The Prague Patriot. (Prague, Okla.), Vol. 3, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 9, 1905, newspaper, November 9, 1905; (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc116096/m1/4/: accessed April 25, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.