Preaches--The "Prodigal Son"--An Interruption.
CONFEDRIT × ROADS
(wich is in the Stait uv Kentucky),
July 6, 1866.
I preached last Sabbath, or rather, tried to, from the parable of the
Prodigal Son. We hed a splendid congregashun. I notice a revival of the
work in this part uv the Dimocratic vineyard wich reely cheers me. The
demonstrashun our friends made in Memphis, the canin uv Grinnel by
Rosso, and the call for a Johnson Convenshun in Philadelphia, all, all
hev conspired to comfort the souls uv the Dimocrisy, and encourage em to
renewed effort. It is bringing forth fruit. Only last week five northern
men were sent whirlin out of this section. They dusted in the night to
escape hangin, leavin their goods as a prey for the righteous. Six
niggers hev bin killed and one Burow officer shot. Trooly there is
everything to encourage us.
The house wuz full. The weather wuz hot, and the pleasant incense uv
mingled whiskey, tobacco, and snuff wich ariz wuz grateful to me. The
sun shone in on Deekin Pogram's face ez he gently slept, and when the
sun hits him square I kin alluz tell wher he sets, even ef it is dark.
He drinks apple-jack instead of corn whiskey, and chaws fine cut
tobacker instead uv plug, and consekently when in the pulpit I kin
distinguish the pecooliar aroma uv his breath from those around him.
"My brethren," sed I, "sich uv yoo ez hev Bibles in yoor houses, kin get
somebody to read yoo the parable to wich I shel call yoor attention. A
man, wunst upon a time, hed sons, ez many men hev since, and wun uv em
wuz a tough one. He left his home and went into far countries, makin the
old man shel out his share uv the estate, and he lived high, jist, my
brethren, ez yoor boys do, or rather, did, when they went to Noo
Orleans, in the days when yoo hed a nigger or two wich yoo cood sell to
supply em with money. He played draw poker and faro; he drank fancy
drinks, and boarded at big hotels; and he follered after strange women,
wich'll bust a man quicker nor any one small sin the devil hez yet
invented, ez yoor pastor kin testify. Uv course, his pile give out, and
he got down, my friends, did this ingenuous yooth, to rags and
wretchedness, and ended in being an overseer uv swine. What did he do?
He ariz and went to his father, and the old man saw him afar off, and
went out to meet him, and fell onto his neck, and give him a order for a
soot of clothes and a pair uv boots, and put a ring onto his finger, and
made a feast, killin for the purpose the fatted calf wich he hed saved
for another occasion.
"My friends, you kin find in the Skripter suthin applicable to every
occasion, and this parable fits the present time like a ready-made coat.
The South is the Prodigal Son. We went out from our father's house on a
expedition wich heznt proved altogether a success. We spent our share uv
the estate, and a little more. We run through with our means, and hev
cum down to rags, and dirt, and filth, and hunger. We are, and hev bin
some time, a chawin husks. We run out after them twin harlots, Slavery
and State Rights, and they've cleaned us out. Our pockets are empty. No
more doth the pleasant half-dollar jingle in sweet unison agin its
fellows. Our wallets is barren uv postal currency, and the
grocery-keepers mourn, and refuse to be comforted, becoz we are not. We
hev got to the husk stage uv our woe, and wood be tendin hogs, ef the
armies, wich past through these countries, hed left us any. We hev kum
back. In rags and dirt we hev wended our way to Washington, and ask to
be taken back. Now, why don't our father, the Government, fulfil the
Skripter? Why don't it see us afar off, and run out to meet us? Why
don't it put onto us a purple robe? Where's the ring for our finger, and
the shoes for our feet? and where's the fatted calf he ought to kill? My
brethren, them Ablishnists is worse than infiddles--while they preach
the gospel they won't practise it. For my part, I--"
At this point a sargent, belongin to that infernal Burow, who wuz in the
awdience, with enough uv soldiers to make opposin uv him unpleasant, sed
he hed bin a sort uv an exhorter in his day, and desired to say a word
in explanation uv that parable, ez applicable to the present time; and,
sez he, "ef I am interrupted, remember I b'long to the church military,
wich is, just now, the church triumphant." And cockin his musket he
proceeded, very much uninterrupted.
"The prodigal son," sez he, "wuz received by the old man with
considerable doins, but, my worthy friends, he went out decently. He
didn't, ez soon ez he withdrawed from the house, turn around and make
war onto the old gentleman--he didn't burn his house and barns, tear up
his garden, burn his fences, and knock down the balance uv the children.
Not any. He went away peaceably, a _misguided_ good-for-nothin, but yet
a _peaceable_ good-for-nothin. Secondly, he come back uv his own akkord.
The old man didn't go after him, and fight for four years, at a cost uv
half his substance, to subdue him and bring him back, but when he hed
run through his pile, and squandered his share uv the estate, and got
hungry, he came back like a whipped dog.
"My friends, let me draw a small parallel between these cases.
"The Prodigal Son went out,--so did the South,--thus farly the cases is
alike.
"The Prodigal didn't steal nothin. The Confederacy took everything it
cood lay its hands on.
"The Prodigal spent only what wuz his to spend. The Confederacy spent
not only all it stole, but all it cood borrer, when it knowd its
promises to pay wuzent worth the mizable paper they wuz printed onto.
"The Prodigal, when he did come, come ez penitent ez the consciousness
that he hed made a fool uv hisself cood make him. The Confederacy wuz
whipped back, but it still swears hefty oaths that it wuz right all the
time.
"The Prodigal didn't _demand_ veal pot-pies, and purple robes, and sich,
but begged to be a servant unto the more sensible brethren wich stayed.
The South comes back _demandin_ office, uv wich the fatted calf, and
rings, and purple robes is typical, and considerably more share in the
government than it had before it kicked over the traces, and went out
like the lost tribes uv Israel.
"Spozn the Bible prodigal hed stopped his parient, and remarked to him
thus: 'I am willin to come back, on conditions. Yoo must pay my
debts--yoo must give me an ekal share uv the farm with the other
boys--yoo must treat me in all respecks just ez ef I hadn't gone out,
and--this is essential--yoo must take with me all the sharpers who
ruined me, all the gamblers and thieves with whom I fell in while I wuz
away, and make them head men on the place; and above all, I hev with me
the two harlots wich wuz the prime cause of my ruin, and they must hev
eleven of the best rooms in the house, and must be treated ez your
daughters. To avoid displeasin the others, I'll dress em in different
clothes, but here they must stay. Otherwise, I'll go out agin.'
"Probably the old gentleman wood hev become indignant, and would hev
remarked to him to go, and never let him see his audacious face agin, or
rather, he would hev strangled the harlots, scattered the blacklegs, and
choked the young sprout into submission. Them's me. I am anxious to kill
that fatted calf, and am also anxious to put on yoo robes and shoes.
But, alas! the calf suffered from want uv attention so long doorin the
late misunderstandins that he's too poor--the robes wuz all cut up into
bloo kotes for the soljers we sent out to fetch you in--the shoes they
wore out, and the rings--Jeff'son Davis wears the only style we hev.
When you come back in good shape, yool find us ready to meet you; but
till then, chaw husks!"
Lookin around, this armed tyrant remarked that there would be no more
preaching that day, and sadly the congregation dispersed.
I'm heart sick. At every turn I make that Burow stares me in the face,
and counteracts my best endeavors. It's curious, though, what different
sermons kin be preached from the same text, and it's also curious how
quiet our folks listen to a ablishnist who hez muskets to back him.
PETROLEUM V. NASBY,
Lait Paster uv the Church uv the Noo Dispensashun.