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T H E TORCH OF REASON, S IL V E R I t>N, OREGON , T H U R SD A Y , JU L Y 22, 18b;
deuce,” »aid Sockdolliger. " I do
hope she is in heaven.’’
Sockdolliger
really felt bad.
Death to him was a dreadful m ys
tery and hell an awful reality, and he
was enough of a m an to be tortured
bv the thought th at one soul had
been plunged into eternal torm ent».
He would fain believe th at some
how Blanche had been converted.
“ I th in k she is in h eav en ,” said
Gooch. ‘‘The last tim e I read the
Bible to her, she was very quiet.
Indeed, 1 think she wept. She said
nothing, but it m ay be hoped th a t
she accepted the plan of S alvation.”
‘•It m ust be so,” said Sockdolli-
ger. Sockdolliger could dam n by
the wholesale folks he never knew
and did not care much about; but
when it came right home, to one of
his own sh ip ’s passengers for in
stance, and he could realize som e
thing of the enorm ous horror of the
doctrine, why, then he was ready to
back down and accept any little
sign th a t the u n fortunate sinner
had been converted.
Gooch looked awfully solemn
hut it required but little perception
to see th at it was an artificial m ourn
ing. B lanche’s death really made
it easier to carry out his purposes
concerning her fortune. All the
papers were in his possession; and,
as her sole rem aining legal repre-
sentive, he could lay claim to every
thing. It did on this account
seem to him a dispensation of pro
vidence: his selfishness was so a lli
ed to his religion th a t he actu ally
( to be continued .)
Isth e P o w er of C h u rch es W a n in g ?
For th e Torch of R eason .
It Is R est.
H ere lieth in th e tom b
One who was sorrow 's guest,
I ’m glad although in gloom
And silence, it is rest-.
In c o u n try bleak and wild
No jo y was in req u est,
In city troubles piled—
B ut herein there is rest.
No m a tte r if the m ound
Be bare or flora d re st,
C ontent dw ells u n d er ground,
The grave lied givetli rest !
From law suits th ere is peace,
P hysicians d o n ’t infest,
Of preaching th e re ’s surcease—
0 , welcom e! It is rest.
—Jo h n Prescott G uild
B e tter T han th e
Rib S to r y .
“ Among the m any interesting!
traditions that have n c e n tly been
brought to light by a man who has
been m aking a careful study of the
legends and folk-lore of the C hey
enne and Arapahoe Indians of the
In d ian territory is one tha« ac-
counts in a singular way for the
origin of woman. The In d ian s of
these in lies sniff disdainfully a t the
rib theory when the resident m is
sionaries try to teach them th e ini
tial lessons of the Old Testam ent
regarding their first parents.
The
wise men of their trih«s wrestled
with i he fundam ental facts of the
creation l<»ng ago, and evolved th e
ories concerning it which with the
lapse of tim e have come to be look-
upon by tin* Indians of to-day as
historical truths.
It is little wonder th at the C hey
enne and Arapahoe braves look
down upon their women as inferior
beings, in view of their supposed
origin. The legend says th a t orig
inally all men were created with
long, sleek and comely tails T insel
tails were th eir delight, and they
adorned them with paint, beads and
wam pum . Then the world was at
peace, w ars and discord w« re un
known.
Men became prosperous
and proud, forgot th eir Maker and
became envious and quarrelsom e.
T heir M a k e r became displeased
with them and sent a scourge upon
them to teach them hum ility and
m ake them realize th eir dependence
upon the G reat Spirit.
He am p u
tated their tails, and oui of these
beautiful members fashioned woui-
The Rev. Tnom as Dixon, jr., in
the Academy of Music Sunday
morning spoke on ‘‘The New Theol
ogy,” saying:
“ The organic church life has lost
its hold on the public mind. W om
en are the only ones who hold to
church organizations of to-day.
There are not 35,000 men in the city
of New York to-day who go into
Protestant churches. This is tru e
also of Roman Catholics. Accord
ing to the latest statistics it is esti
mated th at 385,(XX) persons attend
Catholic churches, but of th at n u m
ber there are m any who go to
S te in e r ’s L ectu re D ates.
church once or twice a year and
Mr. F ran k lin Steiner is on his
some who never go unless they
way to the coast. His dates are as
think they are about to die.
“The decline of the m inistry is follows:
another great factor in the decay of Spokane, \V is h in g to n J u l y 3 1 , A ug-
ust 1.
th e ecclesiasatical m achinery.
* • If Rea rdon,
“
Aug. 2, 3, 4
there is a runt in the fam ily who Davenport,
“
“
6, 7, 8
is no ea rth ly use for a n y th in g else W ilbur,
“
“
9, 10
“
“ 11,12,13
the parents make a preacher of him. S herm an,
“
“
15, I«
There are 1,000 preachers in this W atervi lie ,
M r. S te in e r will arrive in Oregon
city out of a job.
“ If men ofb rain sget in to th e m in - about Sept. 1. The Liberals of Si>-
nistry and begin to th in k , and give vert<»n, McM innville, W amic, Rufus,
expression to th eir thought, they Wasco, Dayville, H ighland, Canby,
have to get out m ighty quick or stand Cottage Grove, and North Powder
trail on a charge of heresy. Dr. are m aking arrangem ents for lec
Briggs, the brainiest man the Pres tures. It is to he hoped th at oth
byterian church ever had, was put er places will do so. W rite to Mr.
out when he began to th in k .” — S teiner.at Silverton, care “ T orch
New York H erald.
( of R eason .”
T he A rm y of T ram p s.
The arm y of tram ps is larger this
season than usual. 1 he h»ngindus
trial depression w hich has prevailed
since 1893 has added t<» the profes
sional vagrants a large body of in
voluntarily idle. According t<> re
ports the tram p arm y in many states
is ot unusual size and is trouble
some to the in h ab itan ts. “Conser
vative estim ates, based on official
figures show th at this year New
York S tate has 1 10,(HM) tram ps.”
In Indiana the tram p arm v is so
num erous th at the bureau of ¡-tatis-
ties has Hiai fed out to enum erate it.
Tin* estim ate for Pennsylvania is
60,0» 0. A railroad m anager at To
peka say s,th at in places the citzens
have petitioned the railroad to carrv
them aw ay; t h e v i n n s t the freight
train s to such an extent th a t on the
Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific,
guards wiih double barreled shot
guns pa rol the tops <«f the ears to
keep them off. In W isconsin the
local authorities are endeavoring to
keep the bands broken u p a u d inov-
ing, to prevent tin- conc< n tratio n of
idle and desperate men. The in te r
ior of Missouri is invested with
tram ps to a degree unknown here
tofore, and in m any cases they de
m and this year w hat form erly they
w e re w o n t to beg.
The num ber of unem ployed in
all the cities is large. In Detroit
the other day the applicants for
work on a street th a t was to be
repaved outnum bered the dem and
40 to 1. About 10 per cent, of the
adult m ale population of M ilwaukee
is idle and w alking the streets for
work Let us hope th a t the in d u strial
revival is near a t baud, and th at
the ranks of the unem ployed will
soon he reduced to the num ber of
those who are idle from choice.
But the evil of the professional
tram p, which has existed since the
war of the Rebellion, will still ex
ist to be dealt with when prosper
ity returns.
In justice to those whose bread
they eat and to the population at
large, these voluntary tram ps should
he com pelled to earn th eir own liv
ing, at least to work or starve.
I hose who are unem ployed liecause
th e y cannot find work deserve all
possible sy m p a h y ami aid.
< ’()H RESPONDENT.
Uanied-An idea
Who can think
o f som e s im p le
thing to (taten I ?
P rotect your M e n s; th e y m ay bring you w ealth
W rite JOHN WEDDEHBUHN A CO.. P a ten t Attor
neya, W ashington, I). C., fo r their >1,810 prize offer
and new lint o f on e thou sand Inven tion s w anted.
*
orroh of J ^ e a s o n
S ong Book
“ Keep th e Torch of R eason B u r n in g .”
P rice, Ten c e n ts.
'T he above shows the exact size of (he
little song hook we
have ju st com pleted. It contains th irty -tw o pages. The songs
are se t to fam iliar tunes anti should he in every Freethought
home and S unday school. Send us an order. Price, 10 cts.
'F ile
L i t t l e C a n d le
A weekly paj»er for th e young people. E n tirely free from suf»ersti-
tio n . Devoted to Secular Sunday-school w ork, and co n tain in g les
sons for each S u n d ay . Per y ear, 26 cents.