Ralph Waldo Emerson comments in his journal entry of 13 June 1838:

The unbelief of the age is attested by the loud condemnation of trifles. Look at our silly religious papers. Let a minister wear a cane, or a white hat, go to a theatre, or avoid a Sunday School, let a school-book with a Calvinistic sentence or a Sunday School book without one be heard of, and instantly all the old grannies squeak and gibber and do what they call 'sounding an alarm,' from Bangor to Mobile. Alike nice and squeamish is its ear. You must on no account say 'stink' or 'Damn.'

_{(cf. Ralph Waldo Emerson (5 Aug 2003), ...)}

TopicLiterature - TopicFaith - TopicSociety - 2007-05-05

(correlates: My Business, Mooning Jane Eyre, MaximumCity, ...)