T H E TORCH OF REASON, SIL V E R T O N , OREGON, TH U R SD A Y , A P R IL 15, 1897.
GOLDEN THRONE.
“ Then, I guess there w asn’t much
“ Life is full of compromises and ing oration, begin to th in k , how
luck about it,” said Morton.
m asks,” said M orton. “ The in- terrible the consequences m ight be!
[ a romance m - ami el p. 11 tnam . J ‘‘Except in tu rn in g the corner,”
ward and the outw ard never have Our brave little com pany was
After th at there was com-
replied Moccasin. “ I th in k F ran k an y th in g more th an a speaking on hand, securing the best seats in
p arativ ely little danger, for the
him self m ight adm it th at a puff of acquaintance. We can have only
the house, and determ ined to have
road had onlv •7 few tu rn s ' and wind would have sent us Hying one confident, ourself: and then we th eir fill of all the good things
although the horses went at full over.”
have, occasionally, to pull th e wool said.
speed, F ra n k ’s firm grip held them
“ I t ’s all right, and would have over our own eyes.”
“ I w ouldn’t have believed this
in the right track.
been all right, if we’d gone to
“ H onesty is the best policy,” said possible, ten years ago,” said Mor-
“ T h a t is splendid!” said Paddie. sm ash,” said Jennie.
“ Let us eat Paddie, “ when your honesty is like
ton, as he glanced over the
“ I never went so fast in my life our supper.”
th at or the world; but, when it’s a m agnificent audience— “ t h a t a n i n -
behind a horse. We are saved and “ T h a t’s philosophy,” said Pad-
different thing, th *n to be honest fidel could be as popular as the
what will th e saint3 say? And die. “ We d id n ’t go to sm ash, and
don’t p ay .”
theatre, and draw a larger assembly
such a good time a s w e have had of
now the best thing we can do is to
“ Then comes the question how th an most gifted preachers. I a m
it! To tum ble right by th e ja w s o f
eat. T h a t’s w hat we w e re saved much we can sta n d ,”
said M orton, sim ply astonished a t the progress
death like th at, and euchre him at for. T h a t’s the final cause, as the- “ I m ust confess th a t I ’m w illing to the world is m aking.”
last! I w ouldn’t like to try it ologians say.”
com prom ise for my food and
“ It has taken a long tim e to get a
again,
though. I ’m afraid you
After supper, the p arty broke up clothes. I don’t care for the brown- start, hut we are
going with
w ouldn’t hold so good a h an d again, and drifted here and there over the stone front or the coach and six. geometric ratio now,” said Paddie.
F ran k .
gorgeous and w onderful city.
But, when it’s u tter honesty and “ Infidelity is in the very air we
“ We
won’t try it over,” said
Paddie an d M orton and B urnham u tter starvation, then I think my breathe. Fvervbody is catching it,
Frank.
“ Once in a lifetim e is stood at the sea, and watched its tongue ought to do a little lying, though they may not break out.
enough. But, as you say, it’s fu n ; ra d ia n t tides, over which the ships for the sake of m y stom ach.”
I presum e half this audience are
and I ’m glad we did have a chance floated and Hashed, and listened to
“ Be true, though the heavens church m em bers. T hey p ay a
to set* how fast we could go around the deep, far music of the billows fall,” said Paddie.
d o llar to hear Ingersoll, not from
the point. Only a little more, and as they broke along the w inding
“ T h a t’s easy enough,”
said mere curiosity, but because they are
Morton, “ hut it isn’t easy enough really hun g ry for w hat he says,
we’d a gone.”
shore.
The horses dashed two hundred
“ W hat a m agician civilization to be hungry and naked, when all They want som ething new .”
feet bv the station before they is!” said M orton. “ How it has the world about you is happy; and,
“The whole church will finally
could be stopped, they were going transform ed these shores, decked if you die, you are forgotten the succum b to th is deep w ant for
a t such wild speed.
them with a m illion jewels! W hat next m inute, and people wonder som ething new,” said M orton.
“ H ere’s my h an d ,” said Moccasin a power we ourselves have in and w hat you were such a fool for. I t ’s “ For hum an n atu re is the sam e
Bill to F ran k . “ You did a good through this m agical touch! We easy enough to be a m a rty r a t the everyw here, and it won’t alw ays be
seem to have a hundred arm s.”
stake, but it’s m ighty h ard to be a satisfied with the old, unless it can
turn there.”
“ T h a t’s when I depended upon
“ We do have the advantage of m a rty r in a g arret and live on six- prove itself the best; an d w hat is
luck,” said Frank.
th e savages, though we sacrifice our pence a day. W h e n it comes to best the spirit of the age will no
“ Luck of course,” said M orton; liberty, ’ said Paddie. “ But liberty th a t I cave in. I shut my m outh longer p erm it trad itio n alone to
“ but there was skill
also. We is so sweet th a t 1 h ard ly know in preference to being snuffed out. decide. O rthodoxy is fast losing
ca n ’t pay for luck, th a t
belongs to which to choose, the palace-car or Society has got the drop on me; its rigor/, even to the most elect,
all of us; but I chip in this bag of the canoe.”
and, generally, I m ust ju st back H ell fire’ ceases to bring a shudder,
gold for your sk ill.”
“ I th in k I’ll take the palace-car,” dow n.”
The devil is no longer an object of
“ And I too,” said the rest; and said W ill. “ I go for comfort.
“ Sometimes, I suppose you’ll interest. I t ’s all come to be as dis-
in the tw inkling of an eye two or Liberty is sweet, but I don t care to stick,” said Paddie.
agreeable and com m onplace as the
three hundred dollars *vas shoved lug a canoe for the sake of having
“ Absolute subm ission is worse tax bill.”
into F ra n k ’s hand. H e
d id n ’t my own w ay.”
th an d ea th ,” said Morton. “ I ’d
“ C h ristian ity has been a fairy
w ant to take it; but in the end he
“ But civilization enlarges, even rath er die th an live as the in,ij o rity la n d ,” said B urnham . “ But the
had to, an d then there was a trea t while it cram ps,” said Morton. of people live, like so m any soul has gone out of it, and i t ’s as
all around.
“ It carries us over land and sea, m achines. I m ust kick some, I dry as sum m er’s dust. In fid elity
The scream of the iron horse was swift as a bird. It breaks a m ust have a little fresh a ir.”
is the only th in g th a t gives the
beard, and the th u n d er of the thousand chains, where it rivets
“ T h a t’s the way with all poor im agination a chance to play,
clatterin g train ; and, as if by m agic, one.”
m artyrs.
They kicked in
the W hen voiced by genius, the world
they were soon sweeping
to the “ I don t know, ’
said Paddie.
wrong place. They took ju s t one becomes en ch an ted .”
Golden Gates.
“ W e are so used to our chains th a t whiff too much of fresh a ir.”
U nannounced, the speaker stood
It was evening when they entered we d o n ’t feel them . But it is a
“Som etim es our m anhood drives before the vast audience, an d was
the vast and splendid city. For luxury to leave society, and traverse us to an out-and-out fight, and greeted w ith a storm of applause,
miles, th e lights were glitterin g ; the universe afoot and alone, and then we c a n ’t help it; an d we m ust He was of com m anding presence,
am i, as they traversed the b rillian t follow our own sweet will, up and go to the wall, it m ay be, but w ith
“ H e rem inds me of the h ills and
streets on ev^ry side, they could down, over hill and dale, and your own colors Hying.”
big plains,” said Moccasin Bill, who
see colossal palaces. Like
all pluck the roses and the thorns, and
“ We won’t go to the w all here,” arose and waved his h at in the ex
m iners, they put up at the most ex rest a t night with the boundless said Paddie. “ Money in out citeinent of the m om ent. “ I feel
pensive hotel in the city; and soon sky above.
I’m not willing to pockets, a city, one of the wonders ihe breath of my home about me
a supper fit for a king was placed yield my
liberty. I only keep of the world, at our feet, and I n as I look upon his face.”
b e fo re th e m .
trace with
civilization.
I don’t gersoll to give us a breath of fresh How
calm ly the o rato r
began,
“ T h at stran g e ride gives me a m ake peace with it. I ’m ready to air. I ’m satisfied with w hat I with the gracefulness an d ease of a
good ap p etite,” said Paddie, “ so break at any tim e.”
have for the present.”
d ra w in g -ro o m
conversationalist!
I guess I ’ll pitch in .”
“ I ,” said
Morton, “ m ake a
Slowly, the great hall filled. He seemed to speak without effort,
“ T h a t’s enough to cure any m an defensive alliance, but not offensive. The w ealth and fashion of the city and to ta lk as if he had but a sin-
o f dyspepsia,” said Morton.
C ivilizalion is my fort, but not my were gathering to bear the m ighty gle listener. There was an indis-
“ We escaped by a m iracle, base of supplies ”
oration. The faces of most of them cribable melody in his voice so
because we were com ing to hear
“ It is our m aster and our slave,” were beam ing w ith intelligence strong, so clear, so full of the
Ingersoll,” said Pardie.
said B urnham , “ As a m aster I and keen interest. H ere and there abounding freshness of p rairie
“ Escaped by good luck, I should abhor it, as a slave I adm ire it. It was a sombre countenance, as if lands. Like th e notes of a bird it
say,” said Moccasin Bill.
is as strong as Jove. I will use it, some spies from the Christian camp opened the great, wide horizon of
“ Now, w hat do you call good and I will defy it.”
were in attendance, to find out the w orld’s advance. How easily
luck,” said Paddie.
“ Good for you, W ill!” said Pad- w hat was really going on and his m yriad listeners were caught
“ It’s com ing out all right when die. “ Let us have a little revolt report proceedings. It was a da r- up and borne along the cu rren t of
you ca n ’t help it,” said Moccasin, all to ourselves. I t’s so nice to ing u n d ertak in g , however,
to run his talk th a t swept so broad and
“ At the sam e tim e, if F ran k h a d n ’t pitch into things on the sly and get the risk of having
the
reason deep, and yet with such fine equi-
held those reins p retty tight, we’d the better o f ’em, while we seem to aroused; for if one should, under poise! There w as no
ja r: the
a gone to the devil, sure.”
be th eir most obedient servant.”
th e m agical influence of the charm - hum or burst forth spontaneously,