Commandments Most Important

HELLO FOLKS! — If we abide the principles taught in The Bible, our country will continue to prosper.

True liberty consists of the privilege of enjoying our own rights, and not in the destruction of the rights of others.

—o—

THE WORLD literally makes a beaten path to one's mailbox. The great literature of all ages can be at our fingertips if we but will. Yet, prejudices, indulgences and taboos keep so many of us ignorant in many ways.

Of all the great literature in the world it is hard to pick out which is the best. As for me, I think the greatest piece of literature in the world is also one of the earliest — the Ten Commandments. The brevity clarity and forthrightness of The Commandments, make them easily the leader of all literature.

The Ten Commandments' negative laws were given to a chosen people, who had been kept in slavery for nearly 400 years. Laws given to them, had to be easily understood.

The Commandments are given in sequence to their importance. The first one: Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me, meant just that. Lest these poor ex-slaves tried to get around this one and so that they would better understand the significance of it, the second third and fourth Commandments were given. Thou Shalt Not Make Unto Thee Any Graven Image, Thou Shalt Not Take The Name Of The Lord Thy God In Vain and Remember the Sabbath Day To Keep It Holy.

The other six of the negative decalogue have to do with man's relations to himself: Honor Thy Father And Thy Mother. Thou Shalt Not Kill, Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery, Thou Shalt Not Steal, Thou Shalt Not Bare False Witness and Thou Shalt Not Covet. These are all given in relation to their severity.

Killing and adultery are listed in close proximity because they have to do with the taking and giving of life.

Cecil B. DeMille made the statement once, that "The Ten Commandments were given to be kept and lived by, and not to be broken." However, because men delight more in breaking them, than in keeping them, we have to have several other laws of the land to be used as guideposts.

As the next most important piece of literature, I would place the answer that Savior gave to the young lawyer who asked Him: "What is the greatest commandment?" He said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all the might, mind and strength. With the second being like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self."

This law is the positive supplementation of the decalogue. It is positive and all inclusive. It needs neither interpretation, nor explanation.

The Golden Rule, The Beatitudes, or any other are but furtherances of what Jesus called the "Perfect Law of Liberty."

Columns Have Increased Mail

HELLO FOLKS! — I have been getting a lot of mail lately, some in favor of what I have been writing and some against. In fact it is divided right down the middle, with half for and half against. The two columns that have generated the interest are the ones on how to punish car thieves and the Welfare state.

Some of the letters are long. Going into details concerning the writers' beliefs, I am going to start with the first letter that I got recently and I hope the writer will consider this a reply to his fine 'treatise'.

The writer takes exception to my suggestion that the offenders should be put on a well balanced diet of gruel and water, sent to school and church and the rest of his waking hours be put at hard labor. Says it will cause them to be bitter against society and be like some of these boys that have taken revenge and went on a crime spree that has landed them permanently behind bars and in many cases caused them to murder some one.

Our jails are not suppose to be torture chambers, but neither are they suppose to be places where the offenders are coddled and fed appetizing food. They are there because they have committed crimes against society and are being punished for it in order that they will have a remorse of conscience and thereby be returned to society as assets to that society and ready to carry on their fair share of the load in helping to build a better civilization. Criminals start as youths, and because they are not brought 'out of the kinks' when they are still in the formative stages, they many times go on and develop into criminals or at the best fail to develop into profitable citizens.

I know a minister who lived near a reformatory. He had charge of all the boys and girls who came to this reformatory and were of his religious faith. He was never interested in their background. To him they were not case histories, just human beings who had stepped over that imaginary line and landed where they were in his charge.

On only one occasion did he look into the past of these young people, although he had free access to the files all the time. That experience taught him differently.

It was with a young girl. As she grew to respect her minister, she became brave enough to ask him one day if he knew hey past. He had looked into the files on this one girl and told her so. The reaction left such a horrifying complex on this young woman that he determined to never use the files again. After all, it was the future that counted.

As he met these young outlaws, he would verbally tear them from limb to limb for not going to church or not doing this or that, that had in the end landed them behind bars. He would get them to feel thoroughly ashamed of themselves, then he would start building from there.

As a result of his attitude towards them and his forcefulness in teaching, the Rev. B. R. Lange stands out with men such as Father Flanagan; for of the more than 200 youths he came in contact with in his teaching and praching at the reformatory, not one of them returned to the institution as second offenders. That is a phenomanal record, considering the calibre of those he had to work with.

Rev. Lange didn't coddle them. He just followed the Biblical instruction of Solomon: "A wise father reproveth his sone and he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes."

What I am trying to say is that it is our attitudes toward our fellowmen that counts, and a diet of monotonous but nutritious food will probably go a long way toward giving them that remorse of conscience that they need to humble themselves.

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The Egg Shampoo

For those who haven't tried an egg shampoo and would like to this is how it is done.

Take a well-beaten egg, pour it over the scalp a couple of times and then rinse. You'll get a more thorough rinse if you don't use hot. Many use just the egg whites but both yolk and whites may be used although the yolk is harder to rinse out.

College Need Being Filled

HELLO FOLKS! — There are 4,000 more people in the world now than were an hour ago.

One fifth of the world population is white or Christian.

We in America are six per cent of the worlds wealth. Of that six per cent, American farmers are in the upper two per cent. This is because of the capital necessary to produce enough to earn comparable income with the balance of the population.

—o—

IF WE WERE TO consider the world from the creation until now as a 24 hour day, we have made more progress in the last 15 minutes until midnight than in the whole 23 and three fourths other hours.

At one time it took 90 per cent of the population to produce enough food to feed the world. Today it takes less than seven per cent to feed everyone on a far better diet.

—o—

THERE IS IN Albert Lea a group of citizens dedicated to the creation of a new college. They are in the process of gathering enough funds to get the program underway.

These men deserve our deepest respect and loyal support. Albert Lea needs a college and a site has been picked on one of the most desirable pieces of land one could imagine. 

It is easy to criticize and laugh at such a project, and while I have heard very little negative thought concerning it there is sure to be some. It could come from well meaning citizens, too.

It might be well to take a look back and see what has been the result of lack of foresight in the past. Then if there are any who want to go ahead with ridicule, let them know what they are doing to themselves and the community.

Had One, Once

Years ago Albert Lea had a college. Had the success of it been pursued with vigor it would have been a great asset to Albert Lea all these years and a greater asset for the future. We will all readily agree that it should never have been allowed to die.

Also, years ago the State educational Department wanted Albert Lea to install a vocational school. Albert Leans failed to take action and it went to Austin—currently a great asset to that city, much to Albert Lea's chagrin.

Today there is a revived effort to try to get such a school started. Nothing but Herculean effort can get the job done today. Albert Lea just missed the 'boat'. It may not be around again.

These are just two of the major things Albert Lea has missed in the past. It is not a pleasant thing to have to mention these things but if it will help us in the future and keep us from listening to the 'knockers' who are pretty apt to come along, it will have been worth it. 

We are just in the infancy of the educational boom. I am sure that in the future we will find ourselves more and more educated. 

If it is the least bit important that we have a college in Freeborn now it will be many times more important 10, 20, and 30 years from now.