THE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY, JU N E 3, 1897.
¿elfish motive. You know I am
not a hypocrite. I work in sad
sincerity, chained and galled, yet
feeling there is no other way to do.
Oh th at these creeds were dead and
buried, and th at, free as the air it-
self, I could pour forth the ideals of
’ ••
my soul.”
“ W hat do
doctrines?”
vou
do
with
the
“ I let them alone. I forget them.
I preach nothing but sim ple
hum anity, love, goodwill, reverence,
and work.
My audiences are
’ delighted. They don’t want any
theoldgy, though they won’t let me
deny theology; and th a t is the curse
of my position—to profess faith in
what neither I nor my congregation
wish to hear a word about, and vet
dare not disown.”
“ Isn ’t th is a living lie?”
“ Yes and no. It is either this
way of speaking or eternal silence
on my part, and this is worse than
death. I long for utterance. I
delight in speech; and yet, to win
the power of speech, to pour forth
what is grandest, I must chain m y
self to th a t which I think con
tem ptible. It is not hypocrisy or
lying: it is a terrible m artyrdom ,
Don’t blame a thousand m inisters
W’ho are working and cursing as I
am, and yet, in the midst of all,
are striving to be m anly. Come!
I ’ll introduce you to Milly, my
wife. If it were not for her, I could
do nothing.”
Milly was a surpassing woman,
a perfect h ttle poem. There was
nothing stiff or an g u lar ahout her.
She flowed in liquid beauty like »
fountain
Her eyes were soft and
bright, her voice beautiful. She
was not in any sense a H unker: she
was sim ply an artist. She lived in
the world of motion. She was or-
in o d o x , sim p ly [«cause liorn so.
She had no logical capacity to go
from it any more th an a child,
She sim ply believed as she had
oeen tau g h t, and th at ended the
whole m atter.
She had alw ays
regularly attended church, but the
sermon generally went Io at one
ear and oat at th e o th e r. SI..- sup-
posed it was all right, and tha.
satisfied her. She h ad n ’t much ex-
perience to relate. She took it for
granted that she was a sinner, hut
she never felt very had about it. In
(
,
i
i •
j
fact, her church m em bership and
theological belief hung about her
like a suit of clothes that she felt
obliged to wear, and which she
m ade look as graceful as possible.
Her inner life, the substance of her
being, was artistic, poelic, and not
intellectual. She delighted in the
cultivation of flowers, in the ar-
raiigemer.t of color and form, and
.
. ,
in the decoration of her rooms.
She had, w ithal, a good musical
skill, and could fairly interpret the
l>est com positions of the m asters;
and this was no sm all source of
. ,
,
, «
,
pride and pleasure to her husband.
( to be continue !».)
Hemorial
Day.
I lit? m em orial exercises in Silver-
ton were & « grand success.
The
-------
----
^eautilul flowers, that far surpassed
an y lh in g of the kind in the east,
beautiful day of a beautiful
clim ate,
the beautiful
shady
grove th a t seemed like a fairy-land,
all conspired to m ake it a day long
to be remembered by the patriotic
people of our patriotic city.
Superstition, the vile thing that
it is, was the only thing to m ar the
harm ony of the occasion.
The
Secular Sunday school having been
invited by the com m itte to m arch
in the procession did so and
presented a very credible ap
pearance, there being nearly as
m any members in line as in all
other Sunday schools put together
and one quite large orthodox Sun
day school came from one of the
country districts. The M ethodists
did not march however and we un
derstand th at the leaders refused to
do so, saying “ if those infidels are
going to m arch we won’t have an y
thing to do w ith it." O, how we
wish these feelings of hatred could
be relagated to the dark ages
and th at all men could have kindly
feelings toward one another.
A lthough the words on our ban
Oregon
State Secular
Union
gbou|d have W n ,eft out
Incorporated 1S9J.
UNIVERSAL MENTAL LIBERTY
The
Liberal
University
The O n ly School of the Kind
In the W orld
STRICTLY
NON-SECTARIAN
S ilv erto n , Oregon.
ners are different we ought not to
hate each other.
The only contest between us
should be one of reason and that
should be confined to principles.
One banner had “ God is love” as
;tg mo„ o> but nQW wh<> can te„
w hat th a t m eans? Qne wo(||d
meang one th jn g and one woi|,;,
i ggy another and gure, R C()u|(, n(>,
conBidered aB p atrio tic ag the
emblem carried hv tbe g . g g _ th e
l)ag above the cro’BB_ The m ugi(;.
the Silverton M arine B and was ex-
th „ Bj nging and Bp„aki
waB very goood) b(lt th(.
>r
Organized 18S9....
For terniH an d p a rticu la rs address
J. E. HOSMER, President, Silverton, Ore.
A nnouncem ents will be o u t the first of A ugust.
F b e T 'o r c l i o f R e a s o n
Issued every week. T he only S ecular p a p e r pu b lish ed on th e Pa-
einc C oast. A fearless advocate of C onstructive, E ducational, Moral
Secularism . S ubscription price, $1.00 per year.
T lie L i t t l e C a n d le
A weekly paper for th e young people. E n tire ly free from supersti*
tio n . Devoted to Secular Sunday-school w ork. P er y ear, 26 cents.
Nw
honest tru th , w ouldn’t it be better
ou, of rHi|(ect (or th e thougandg of
goldierg both dead a „ d ,ivjng wb((
nevel.
guc|> t}).
ont of reHpect (or o, herg pregent
wbo look upon it with disgust, to
|eave the pravcrBO()l of gucb pub|ic
eX(.rcigeg and ,et , b()Be
bl.|jeve
in these things do as their .Jesus is
supposed to have tau g h t—“ But
^ ,<Hb when thou pravest, enter into
1 !‘*v C H n < ^ " h e n thou hast
shut thy door, p ray to th v father
wllieh ls in gPcret>?
,)jU(.l|
better this would be than to allow
a few to impose their religious
hleas upon the people.
, VT '£
S '? ," hy
evening was q u ite interesting and
well attended. The speaking and
singing was very good and the
recitation by Miss \\ olf,
our
«loc,»'.ion , ‘eaic.h,;r> wa." very ap-
propriate for the occasion and ex-
ceedingly well rendered.
There are battles still to fight and
the brave volunteers m ust come
arm ed with energy, patience and
» « fific e »nd meet the enemies
of justice and rig h t as did the brave
bovg
79 al)d ,fi]
forw ard
m arch!
H.
F lie S e c u l a r
S u n d a y S ch o o l Q u a rte rly
A carefully e d ited , n eat p am p h let, co n tain in g m oral and scientific
lessons for each S unday. Price, 10 cents each, or 40 cen ts per year.
D ra m a tic a l
E n te rta in m e n t,
Local T a le n t o f S ilve rto n
W ill render
The
New
Com edy,
JANE
* *
AT
*** L i b e r a l H a l l ,
in
T h ree
A c ts.
* *
S ilv e r to n « * *
S a tu rd a y Eve, Ju n e 12, 1897.