T H E TORCH OF REASON, SIL V E R T O N , O REG O N , T H U R SD A Y , JA N U A R Y 28, 1897. hut th a t we should rem em ber th a t in their present m anifestations at P. W. G eek .— D ear Friend: least, th» y are hut th e o u tg ro w th Since I bad the pleasure of forming of centuries of religious tra in in g , your acquaintance when you were coupled with the barbaric, super here on your lecturing tour, I stitious tendency of the h u m an have often resolved to write to you race, it would seem th a t some of anil have as often pui ito ii, but at* the ancient belief in an uniathom - last I will try to do so. able com bination of Deistic a ttr i It pleases us very much to see butes has, by atavism , or some th at your labor and capacity in the sim ilar process, become the h e ri great cause of M ental Liberty has tage of a great portion of our great been duly appreciated in our n a hum an brotherhood. To eradicate tional, as well as in our state or this from the m ental and m oral ganizations. T h at is as it should m an, should be our thoughtful and be. We are keeping up our organ earnest task. If th e task some ization here, if it is sm all. We times seems to he a thankless one, have Sunday School every other we have only to gaze backward Sunday, and meetings every other through the cycles of tim e at week on S aturday night, both well the slippery steps which have been attended considering the small left behind and com pared to which neighborhood. In the school-house our present road is a broad tu r n above Yale where you delivered a pike, to feel encouraged and press lecture, they have had Christian forward in th e glorious m a rc h ol revival m eetings lately lasting from Liberty and Justice, as if we could dav to «lay for nearly a week, and see a “ light about our feet.’’ \Ve the poor preacher notw ithstanding realize our lim itations, and should all his begging, coaxing, and per work accordingly, for we cannot all suasions failed to get one of the he Ingersolls, able to m ake our “ m iserable sinners’’ to come for words burn into m an ’s conscious ward to th e seat of mercy to be ness, with a realizing sense of th eir prayed for; but there was one eternal tru th , hut if we will, we th in g he did not forget, and that can clear a small space in front of was to abuse the F ree th in k ers from our own dwelling, so th at the first to last. According to his own weary trav eler’s feet will be g lad statem ent lie had been an Infidel, dened thereby. and at th a t time was a d runkard, a Ah, soul-sick and heavy-hearted gam bler, and guilty of other vices. brother, yon m ust keep yourself out H e declared th a t Infidels do not of your “ slough of despond.” You have more than half a teaspoonful are only held there by your own o f brains in th eir heads. beliefs and isms. Come out on the As his estim ate of Infidels m ust dry land of reason. Let th a t sam e have been from his own experience, reason be a land of hope and I was led to wonder if he was still promise flowing w i'h milk and em pty-headed, or if his brain had honey. You have only to grasp started growing when he becam e your opportunities a u d io ! the cup converted; but 1 think the former of happiness h ath been found. was the ease, for he declared that Z. J. M. he would never enter into contro E d . T orch of R eason , Dear Sir: versy, or debate with an Infidel, and advised others to do the same for — N ight before last I went out to they would he defeated, and the In h ear the “ Rev. A. W. Snyder, the fidels would get the best of them “ Evangelist” (w hatever th a t may every time. At his last m eeting 1 m ean,) who is holding “gospel sent to have arrangem ents m ade to m eetings” at the Baptist church get the school-house, and notice here. He is a fairly good looking gentlem an, with a given out th a t I would lecture to middle-aged them on the following Sunday. bald head a rath er high-keyed To this, one pious brother objected; voice, a big m ustache, and sm all the result was th a t after some con forensic power. His discourse was su ltation on th e subject one mem neither new nor brilliant. O nly a ber of the school hoard present fair average. The only notew orthy withdrew’ his consent for me to get thing he said was, th a t people us the house, only on condition th at I ually “get religion” in th eir youth. would cot speak in favor of Free- He said the age of fifteen was the most thought, so I let the m atter drop susceptible. After th a t the liability declines with years, and most peo for the present. ple “ get religion” from fifteen to Y our friend and well wisher, twenty-five; and after the age of M ichael J ohnson . forty years, they seldom have it. Vale, Oregon. It is about the sam e wav onlv E d . T orch of R eason . Dear Sir: more so, with children in their b e — W hen we rem em ber the great liefs in S an ta Claus and the pro strides th at civil and m ental lib verbial “ B lack-m an.” As age erty have taken in the last decade, strengthens th eir m inds ♦hey ont- we should then and there rem em grow these infantile conceptions, ber to he ch aritable to those of a put them away as “childish things” different belief from ourselves. I and never retu rn to them. do not m ean th a t we should view So “children of a larger growth” superstition and ignorance with emerge from their early taught hal an y less degree of abhorance, lucinations regarding the Christian Correspondence. conception of God, of Je>us C hrist, of greed and selfishness, and is h im ami the Devil. Ami once outgrown, self an object of com passion; hut the hallucination never re tu rn s, ami the terrors ol the C hristian’s god, his devil, of his hell, moves them no more. \\ hat a blessing for innocent, loving am i tru stin g ch ild h o o d , to be tree !rom these im a g in a ry g h o stly terrors. Hence the need of freethought schools, to di-pel these priest-m ade delusions, and tide the young over this early period of their lives. To this hum ane end freethinkers in every school d istrict should work harm oniously together to run S u n day schools, and m ake them useful and entertaining. It doesn’t take hut a few persons to do it, if they onlv will take hold and woik and persevere. The opp »sitioii of the christians will avail hut little, if they m anage well. Spread the light. And by all m eans support the U niversity. E vervone can do som ething. Do it, however little, and the school will live and thrive. You wdll be glad o f it,- brother freethinker in after years. F. S. M atteson . C h a rity . [ F o r t h e T orch o f R ea so n .] There is a kind of ch arity th a t gives scanty meals and h alf worn- out clothing to poor people. Those who practice this kind of ch arity usually look upon the poorerclasses asdifferent beings th a n them selves. They regard them not as brothers and sisters in the great hum an fam ily, but as an inferior class created for the express purpose of affording the w ealthy an opportun ity for exercising th eir feelings of pity. M inisters do not hesitate to say from the pulpit, th a t God created the poor for the benefit of th e rich, th .it they m ight have sonic one upon w’hom to bestow charity. And so the poor are tau g h t to he contented with th e ir condition and the rich are encouraged in the idea th at it is perfectly right they should rem ain so. This kind of education has tended to divide the feelings and sym pathies of th e h um an race. It has set up a m oral as well as social h arrier between equally good and honest people in all countries and climes. It has fostered ins» i- t nt ions entirely foreign to individual and national welfare— in stitu tio n s of so called c h a rity and philanthropy which are but festered heads of social corruption. It has discounted gen uine m oral worth and purchased the nam e of honor for a few p a ltry nuggets of gold. It has narrow ed the conception of justice, and sm othered the kindlier prom ptings of the hum an heart. True ch arity , which is better explained by the word justice, does not m easure a m an’s worth by the num ber of dollars he possesses, nor does it deem the deeds of pliilanthopy and love as especially m eritorious. The m an who w ithholds aid from his needy fellow’m en, exhibits traits he who extends th e helping han d whenever needed, w ithout question of rank or race, does so from the prom ptings of his strong moral and benevolent nature, nor considers it ought but w hat, being a member of the hum an fam ily, it became his du ty an d pleasure to do. This kind of ch arity , instead of h u m iliatin g the u n fo rtu n ate ones, cultivates the better tra its of th eir natures and strengthens th eir power for usefullness; while with the more fortunate it elevates and en nobles every p a rt of th eir being, m aking their lives a leverage in the great work of reform ation and hum an progress. C harity in this broad and com prehensive sense is one of the underlying principles in the tru e religion of hu m an ity . N ettie A. O lds C hicago N ew s. To the E litor; Professor C haney is giving a course of lectures before the Secular U nion. The Professor is an astrologer and took for his sub ject last S unday evening “ The F ic tion of C reation.” The lecture was illu strated by a m ap showing the signs of the zodiac and the app aren t path of the sun through the heaven and I honestly believe I learned more about heaven during th a t lec ture than I would learn by going to church every S unday for a thousand years. The lecturer claim ed th a t the Bible was sim ply a story based on astronom ical observations of the ancients and th a t the story of cre ation and all the subsequent d isast ers recorded in the Bible were fnllv explained in th e signs of the zodiac no god no devil no nothing was ne cessary in the beginning for there w asn’t any beginning. After the lecture the P ro fessor read a horoscope p re pared for the occasion by one of his pupil's. lie described v ery accurately President Gam m age, who was the subject of the hoioscope, w ithout any knowledge of who the subject was, nor did the m an who prepared the c h a rt know’. I don’t know how he did it, hut he did. The m inisters of th is city seem to think som ething m ust he done so they have decided to hold a series of revivals throughout th ecity . At a meeting held for th a t purpose 300 of the gentlem en who w ant o th er people to rest on S unday, m ade prelim inary arran g em en ts for a great aw akning. The president explained the objects to be “ to m ake conversions and prom ote th e growth of higher life in the churches.” Dr. P. S. H enson said: “ B um ptious in tellectuality is our besetting sin ” “ the early c h u rc h ” he said “ had no higher critics.” I w onder if the Rev. Doctor th in k s th a t the absence of the two above m entioned ob stacles is w hat m ade the early church such a howling success. J. B. B.