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Show The Revised Testament in the Lime Kiln Club. <br><br> "I take pleasure an' satisfaction," said the President as he held up a parcel, "in informin' you a worthy citizen of Detroit, who does not car' to have his name menshun'd, has presented dis revised edishun of de Bible to de Lime Kiln Club. We do not open our meetin'n wid prayer, nor do we close by singin' de Doxology, but neberdeless I am shah dis gift will be highly appreciated by all. Dar has bin considerable talk in dis club about dis revised edishun. Some of you hab got de ideah dat purgatory has all been wiped out an' heaben enlarged twice ober, an' I have heard udders assert dat it didn't forbid lyin', stealin' and passin' off bad money. My friends, you am sadly mistaken. Hell is jist as hot as eber, an' heaben hasn't got any mo' room. In looking ober some of the changes las' night I selected out a few paragraphs which have a general b'arin. For instance, it am jist as wicked to steal watermelyons as it was las' y'ar or de y'ar befo' an' de skeercer de crap de bigger de wickedness. <br><br> "No change has bin made in regard to loafin' aroun' de streets. De loafer am considered just as mean an' low as eber he was, an' I want to add my belief dat he will grow meaner in public estamashun all de time. <br><br> "De ten commandments am all down heah widout change. Stealin' an' lyin' an covetin' an' runnin' out nights am considered jist as bad as eber. <br><br> "I can't find any paragraph in which men am excused for payin' deir honest debts and supportin' deir fam'lies. <br><br> "I can't find whar a poo' man, or a poo' man's wife, white or black, am ‘spected to sling on any pertickler style. <br><br> "Dog fights, chicken liften', politicks, playin' keerds fur money an' hangin' around for drinks an' all sich low bizness am considered meaner din eber. Fact is, I can't fin' any change whatever which lets up on a man from bein' plumb up an' down squar' an' honest wid de world. Dey have changed de word ‘hell' to ‘hades,' but at de same time added to de strength of de brimston an' de size of de pit, an' we want to keep right on in de straight path if we would avoid it. Doan' let any white man made you believe dat we's lost any Gospel by dis revision, or dat Peter or Paul or Moses have under gone any change of speerit regardin' de ways of libin respectably an' dyin' honorably."-[Detroit Free Press. |