"In the state of Michigan, town of St. Johns, in the middle of last month, a Baptist clergyman, the Rev. J. T. Gregory, being arraigned for the crime of rape committed upon a girl 11 years old, pleaded guilty and was 'sentenced to serve from one to ten years at the Ionia reformatory with a recommendation of two years by Judge Searl.' What extreme penalty the law of Michigan imposes for outraging an infant we do not know; the terms of the sentence named in this case show it is at least ten years, and here is a man of God getting off with a sentence of from one up, and recommended by the court to be let loose again upon the community in two years! The report of the case, printed in the Grand Rapids 'Press,' is exasperating to any one who believes that the law should be administered without favor. Every courtesy was shown the clerical violator of childhood. 'The sentence,' we read, 'was dealt out by a special arrangement with the judge,' as court would not convene for a week, and the minister 'was desirous of pleading guilty and beginning his term in prison as soon as possible.' The judge carried his consideration for the clerical rapist so far as to grant the latter's request 'for a day to clear up his personal affairs.' All this favoritism, as the reporter innocently puts it, because the Rev. Mr. Gregory is 'highly respected as the pastor of the Baptist church.' That is benefit of the clergy with the lid off! Now we would like to inquire why there is no public excitement about this miscarriage of justice. The man is married and has three daughters, two of them school teachers, and one a high school graduate, and is hence a middle-aged man who has not the excuse of youthful ardor for his crime. The girls in the California case were old enough to marry or to consent without marriage. The minister's victim is eleven years old. If the laymen had money and political influence, which they haven't, to protect them from prosecution on a charge of which on the face of it they are not guilty, it still would not be as base for them to avail themselves of that advantage as it is for a court to consider the alleged 'holy calling' of a minister and withhold adequate punishment for an atrocious crime he confesses that he committed. Men possessed of a nature that permits them to attack female children are among the most dangerous persons in any community, because they only want the opportunity to repeat the offense. The motive is always with them. The are like the Chicago priest who saw a 'stimulation to lust' in Chabas' picture, 'September Morn.' No young girl is safe in the power or presence of that kind of degenerates; and hence when one of them gets into the clutches of the law he should be kept there as long as the statute will permit. Had the Rev.