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 ^ ,? ,)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.