INGERSOLL SILENCED

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 24, 1879

INGERSOLL SILENCED.

SHORTLY after Robert G. Ingersoll was defeated in his race for governorship of Illinois, he was one day boisterously and blasphemously proclaiming his infidelity on board of a railroad train between Chicago and Peoria. After being for some time offensively voluble, he turned to a gentleman near him and defiantly demanded, “Tell me of one good and great public result that Christianity has ever accomplished?” The gentleman, not wishing to open an argument with the boaster, hesitated to answer. The train had stopped, and all was silent in the car. Just then an old lady of eighty years, who sat just behind Mr. Ingersoll, touched his arm with trembling hand, and said, “Sir, I do not know who you are, but I think I can tell you of one glorious thing that Christianity has done.”

“What is it, Madam?” said Ingersoll. “It has kept Robert G. Ingersoll from being governor of the great State of Illinois.” If lightning had that moment flashed through the car, the effect would not have been greater. Ingersoll turned literally pale with rage, and remained silent. The grand old woman lies under the prairie daisies now, but her courageous act “smells sweet, and blossoms in the dust.”

[Mr. Ingersoll had been very sure of a nomination by the republican party, which was equivalent to an election, but a strong remonstrance from a large number of ministers of the State compelled his rejection by the convention.—Ed. of the Golden Censer.]