The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. Nation — John Shaqi
The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. NationNation, Carry Amelia
History
The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. Nation
Nation, Carry Amelia
Nation, Carry Amelia, 1846-1911; Social reformers -- United States -- Biography; Temperance -- United States
I was a teacher in the Methodist Sunday school and had given perfect
satisfaction up to this time; but things changed. The minister said from
the pulpit that the teachers should be Methodists, and spoke so pointedly
that all knew he meant me. The superintendent at the Episcopal Sunday
school asked me to teach in their Sunday school. (This was Judge Williams,
the husband of Lola, Mr. Nation's daughter.) I did so, and things
went smoothly for a while.
Father Denroach was the minister, and one morning he asked the
school questions out of the catechism. My class could not answer. I
arose and said: "Father Denroach, I do not teach my class the catechism,
I use only God's word." "What objection do you find to the
catechism?" he asked. I replied: "I cannot teach the Bible and catechism,
for one contradicts the other. The gospel is to be believed and
obeyed and a Christian is a follower of Christ. The catechism in the
first lesson asks this question: What is your name? 'Bob, Tom or John.'
'When did you get that name?' 'In my baptism, when I was made a Christian.'
"Baptism never did make a Christian. Infants cannot be made Christians,
they cannot follow Christ, cannot believe or obey the Gospel. Jesus
said: 'Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven! Now if I teach my class that
the state of being a Christian is something they get without the exercise of
their will, I contradict what I have been teaching." The dear old man
walked up and down the aisle shaking his robes. I said: "A house
divided against itself cannot stand." You must have an Episcopalian
teacher to teach your doctrine." So I was shut out from teaching in the
only two churches in Richmond.
I could not be satisfied. I tried to get the Methodist church for a Mission
school in the afternoon, but failed. I got plank for seats and after
dinner on Lord's Day I had my hotel dining-room seated and gathered all
the little ones I could. These were largely children who went to no Sunday-
School. I got five Catholic children to attend. We had an attendance
of from thirty to forty. We bought an organ, had our charts and
maps. One poor saloon keeper named Frost came several times and always
gave a dollar. He was killed in the fight between the Jaybirds and
Peckerwoods in Richmond. This work was a blessing to my soul and I
have seen happy results from that little school. I kept this up until I
left there for Kansas. The last Sunday we all went to the graveyard to
study our lesson. I wished by this to impress the little ones with the
purpose of the Gospel.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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