Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903, September 09, 1897, Image 2

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    TH E TORCH OF REASON, SIL V E R T O N , OREGON, TH U R SD A Y , S E P T E M B E R 9, 1897.
for it is the dryest and boniest of
“ I am afraid you are aesthetic, only through melody. T hat which
subjects. It is neither m eat nor To seek sim ply th e beautiful is not words have vainly tried to exhibit
[ a ROMANCE BY SAMUEL P. PUTNAM.]
is brought to us in the inexpressible
d rin k .”
m anly nor womanly, is it? ”
If, as von , . k sav, tone-colors of music. The won-
“ W hv not?
differ from the church creed, hut
“ I « » «¡"¡»(S t0 Bive U UP for a
,
.i
t
i
,h»n h c re e d good steak,” said Charlie.
beauly and tru th are united, then, drous blending of sounds, the in tri­
the church is more th an a creea. e
,
.
It has been a life, a part of the moral
“ Ves, we will cheerfully go to the ,f we earnestly s e e k the le-autifnl cate harm onies, the tossing to and
orogress of the race; and I sav to steak.” said Jim m y. -W e are will- we m ust hnd th e true: and we find fro and m ingling together of deli­
myself because I hate th e creed, ing m artyrs there every tim e.”
It in the best and most practical cate strains and massive movements,
— these m anifest, as no splendor of
‘‘Would th a t all discussion on way.”
m ust I ’ tear myself from the ^,„1
soul J I
f
love? W ill not the creed perish, theology had ended as com fortably
“ I g ra n t th a t, to a certain extent, thought can m anifest, the lim itless
while the soul endures? I t is with as tb isl” said W ill. “ W hy is it I suppose we m ust m ake beauty so u l of the universe. Music is for­
the innerm ost spirit of the church, th a t theology m akea men hate earl, the suprem e end; fo-, as Goethe ever the prophet of m an ’s undying
as breathed by a thousand noble other so?”
says, beantv is the tru th and some- glory.
She closed with a little of V ag­
men ami women in the centuries
“ Because they talk about what th in g more.
Yet we know not
th a t are gone, th a t I agree; and, In ‘hey don’t know, and there Is plenty always w hat is beautiful, unless we ri1 r, whose strain s like a sea of fire
spite of the dogm as. I would abide ” f room for vanity and prejudice, first know what is true; an.l the seem to wi irl in tum ultuous wreck,
with th at. So I cannot follow t h e , " 'h a t is theology hut an Infinite most beautiful things come when yet anon ending like a benediction.
This was music by which one could
cool dictates of my head. I cannot lum ber-room of prejudice, pri.le, we sim ply seek the tru e.”
pack up my tru n k and leave the conceit, and all the idols that m an
“ The soul of a r t is, in d eed ,tru th ; scorn the ty ra n ts and fools th at
old home with a form al good-by, is Pr" ne to worship? X<> wonder but art m anifests tru th , and so be- rule by custom and not by sense.
“ ‘The shades of eve are falling
for I cannot take all my inherit- th a t It m akes people crazy.”
comes onr teacher. And. through
auce w ith me. A thousand things
I* ’»’* talk it in my presence art, it seems to me. the highest ever fast.’ I m ust tak e m y banner and
I must leave behind. Of my own th en ,” said Millv. “ I wonder th a t comes. The poet tells us more th an go forth and cry, ‘Excelsior.’ I
suppose by m orning I shall helv in g
will, I cannot go. The church Itse lf! I “ « >»•'" wi" bother about it. the m athem atician.”
must take the responsihlity, and Women never think of such things.
“ Yet the poet m ust be a tru th - at the foot of the icy Alps of O rtho­
th ru st me forth. I do not desire T hey are too sensible.”
seeker. He m ust be a m athem atl- doxy, all my youthful enthusiasm
“ T h a i’s a privilege of their b irth ,” ci><n. or he cannot properly expres- quenched. Come on! As L uther
m a r t y r d o m n o r n o to r ie ty .
My pur
says, ‘Though a thousand devils
p o se is to let t h e c h u r c h m a k e th e said Jim m y. ‘‘They are not ex- his art. He m ust sing hv m easure.”
fiat of my departure. I h av e a right pasted to settle the pr-hlem of the
“ W hat he seeks finally is melody, were in the way, I won’t turn
to do this, in order th a t ever after universe, and so they can he happy. not measure. In studying music, hack.’ ”
CHAPTER XXXI.
I may be certain of my course, and I do pity th e horn theologian. He I m ust study the scale; hut i t ’s
Demorest was obliged to meet the
never cast one longing look behind, makes him self ami everybody else music th a t I’m after, and not mere
I ask the church to let me work in uncom fortable.”
technique. I think knowledge is issue a t last, ¡n spite of his reserve.
The conflict was irrepressible.
sincerity, just as I am , am id its | “ This dinner is a g<»od prepara- useless, unless it can inspire.”
dear associations.
If it refuses,, tion for your m arty rd -tn . You are
“ T h at m ay he so, yet our highest There is t >o much deadly an tag o n ­
then from henceforth I am free and Letter off th an the old-tim e here- ideals spring from what we know .” ism of thought. The old will not
P erhaps not always. Sometimes allow itself to be calm ly supplanted
the whole universe shall he my tics.”
Is precede our knowledge, by the new. It clings tenaciously
“ T hat shows th e progr
home.”
to it. T h e p o e t h e a r s the to life. Things may go smoothly
•‘Ilow does your wife take this world. A hundred yean
I should he io a dünget •
ire he realizes its form .”
for awhile, and the new ideas play
change?”
' a hit transcendental, nicely into the vacancies of the a n ­
“ She is thorough orthodox, I be­ of eating this delicious
nrove it.”
cient doctrine; but, sooner or later,
lieve. She was horn and bred to it suppose F ath er Skinflint
“Old yon men always ask for some vital point is touched, and
an d never questioned it. I have to see me roasted. But he w as
pioof. W e women take things on tin* glare of battle awakes, and dis­
not had an h o u r’s talk with her on horn to late.”
“ And you were h-.rn too early, trust. You like this plum pudding, ruption takes the place of softly
the subject. When I told her the
gliding evolution.
issue was to he met, she was with A hundred years hence, your radi- I know; hut you can ’t prove it.”
“ Except by eating, and I will
The ecclesiastical council was
me a t once. I was indeed asto n ­ cal thought will he food for the con-
agree* to furnish th e most ample convened to try him. The church
ished. She has been, 1 think, mo.-t servative.”
“ Not necessarily. The purpose p ro o f”
was crowded to its utm ost capacity.
of her life, in a sort of a chrysalis
“ Well, the wav we prove most There were about a hundred m inis­
state, her artistic nature brooding of radicalism will itself he served,
am id a stiff wrapping of outw ard when freedom of t h o u g h t h a s he- things is hv eating or using them .” ters present; a queer looking com ­
“T h a t’s a good test. A uything pany.
As Ingersoll says, they
orthodoxy.
When the m om ent come universal. When this is done,
came for her real life to be m ani- free thought can go no farth er in th a t we can ’t eat or use is u n tru e.” represented the “ salvage” of the
‘‘Now. vou agree w ith me, an d intellectual life of U’c age.
fested, then she flew forth, free from th is direction; tor it will have ac-
Of
dogina, ready to enjoy all the glory complished th at by which all other furnish a w om an’s reason
A thing course, clergym en have a certain
of the new-found sky. She repre- things m ay be accomplished. Rad- is good because it is good.”
sort of inform ation and ab ility ; hut
Rents the slow ami subtle progress icalism am, cons* rvatism will then
“ Then let me, like a wom an, have they always give one and over­
of i he artistic or purely poetic na- be succeeded by new term s, for we the last word. Beauty is use, and whelm ing sense oi flabbiness Once
ture. 1 he intellectual nature goes shall not need them . Liberty will
beauty; and beauty and use in a while there is one who seems
forth first; while art rem ains at *»e the universal state in which all m ake for us the tru th . O ur practi- desirous of throw ing off his clerical
homc, and dwells in the order al- m inds can peacefully work; and (>a| ]jfe ¡s t ,,e pest revelation that garb and being a man am ong men.
ready attained. It dreads to go liberty will employ new met hods f we have. As the proof of the pud- These, however, have an air of
fort h into the raw, rough world. It science and thought, ami new te rn s ding is in the eating, so the proof apology, as if they recognized the
wants the com fortable fireside. But by which to enforce them . Wiili of every theory lies in what can be intellectual inferiority of th eir pos­
when the sturdy intellect, in spite of such impulse and aid* as thes»* will accom plished hv it. The universe ition; th a t they did not occupy the
all obstacles, has built up a new give to future arts and inventions, is a blank until it becomes expressed van of hum an thought, and were
world, more beautiful because more w hat m ay we not expect? Under in '»nr personal work.”
not true teachers, hut mere re­
tru th fu l, than the old, then art this horoscope, I confess th a t, for
“ I will answer in m usic,” said peaters. The m ental degradation
hastens to dwell therein.
Do we my own sake, I was born too early .” Millv. “ And then you won’t com- of this class of men is indeed piti
not see how all literature, painting,
“ Oh, ye>! It is all wonderful,” plain of my tongue. A little Chopin able, com pelled to think they must
sculpture, music, are treeing them ­ said Millv. “ I begin to wish I will prepare you for your evening’s think in chains, and tam ely creep
selves from the tram m els of the h ad n ’t been horn yet awhile. So e n ter'ain m en t, the ecclesiastical in titne-worn paths. There an* no
past, and draw ing their noblest in ­ m any discoveries are being made council, where dogs delight to hark m ountain heights for them , only
spirations from fresh hum an needs th a t we wonder what will happen and bite.”
the jungles of ancient sufierstitions;
and themes9”
next, and how we would find things
She placed the sweet, fantastic and, compelled to dwell in these
“ I think you had better come to a few hundred years hence. At strains of Chopin, which so wonder- jungles, they become a sort of wild
dinner now,’ said th e artist, hurst- any rate, we should find a few fullv express the pathetic and mvs- beast, despite their white neck-tie
ing like a sunluam into the study, things the same. The beautiful tic side of hum an life. Music is and sleek appearance. They will
“ I know you have been discussing endures, and I for one will seek the veritable voice of the infinite. hark and bite and tear in pieces.
thtologv. It must make v»»u h u n g ry ,, th a t.”
, which in its essence can l»e sounded i No class of jieople are capable of
GOLDEN THORNE