Religion: Grand Old Word

Without blanching, last week Philadelphia’s weekly meeting of Methodist clergymen heard Rev. Dr. Samuel Walter Grafflin, 66, a colleague from White Plains, N. Y., declare: ”The Church is spending too much effort reaching the nice little boys instead of the hell-raisers. And while I’m at it, let me say something in favor of that grand old word, hell. I’d like to know the bo who first called that word profane. The ministry could do nothing better than legitimatize it. Hell is the only word you can use to say, ‘It’s as hot as,’ or ‘as cold as’ or ‘as dry as.’ You just can’t say anything else and make it sound right. If you say, ‘It’s as cold as hell,’ everybody knows what you mean.”