Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903, September 30, 1897, Image 8

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    FIELD NOTES.
I meet and have a pleasant conver­
sation with m any friends, am ong
whom are Mr. ami Mrs. Naylor,
Mr. and Mrs. Coleman, Mr. and
Mrs. Mirch, and others. The next
morning friends call and we pass
the time very pleasantly until time
for departure arriv es,an d I go hack
to Eugene, where I take the train
for Roseburg.
K ate D e P eatt .
LITTLE
POINTS.
“ O h ! G ran d m a, you d o n ’t know th e
awful tim e
We had in o u r back y ard .
My dog and J o h n n ie ’s h ad a d read fu l
tight,
I never prayed so h a r d .”
“ T hai'.- rig h t; y o u ’re G ra n d m a ’s.own
sw eet, precious 1 m ,v;
Your little p ray er repeat.
W hat did you say ?” “ W hy, G ra n d m a
d ear, ofYouree
I prayed my dog would l>eat.”
—Selected.
Monday finds me in Eugene, the
“ City of Knowledge.” The U niver-
eity of Oregon opens today and the
streets are thronged with guy»
laughing girls and the more serious
minded students. The sight brings
hack pleasant memories and also
pleasant hopes, f earnestly look
forward to the tim e w h e n S ilv e r to n
NEW S AND NOTES.
If “ God loveth a cheerful giver,”
will present such a spectacle, and
The Liberal U niversity will open why arc not the m inisters who get
the Liberal University colors wave
big salaries noted for giving?
triu m p h an tly in the breeze. I c a ll W ednesday, November 3rd.
“The pope is infallible,” says the
upon some friends of the cause and
Work on the dining hall is now
then take a rest before lecture time. being pushed more rapidly than Catholic. “ The hihle is infallible,”
says the P rotestant. “ Scier.ce is
In consequence of the opening of ever before.
our best guide,” says th e S-cul u ist.
the university, the audience is not
Please send us the nam es of your
so large as coidd be expected, Secular friends, so we m ay send
W hy isn’t the whole “ word of
however, those present gave undi­ sam ple copies of the P orch to them . God” tau g h t in the orthodox S un­
vided attention and we had a good
There will he a regular business day schools? Is it possible th a t
meeting. 1 understand the Liberal
meeting of the Silverton Secular God isn ’t alw ays good com pany for
sentim ent is not very strong in E u ­ church at Liberal H all, Sunday, | young people?
gene, and quite a num ber are pre­
W rite certain portions of “ G od’s
Oct. 3rd. at 2 o’clock p m.
vented from taking any active part
Erank S. Bowers of S m F ran­ word” on a postal card; try to send
in the work on account of their
it ihrough the mail, and you will
business. Now this is not wh.it it cisco, a sketch a rtist on the E xam i­ be arrested and perhaps sent to
should be. The civilization of the ner, ami a cousin of our business prison. W hy?
nineteenth century should be far m anager, has been visiting with us
“ Keep vour shop ami your shop
enough advanced to allow men at this week.
Dr. A. A. Leonard of H untington, will keep you,” is a good saying of
least freedom of thought. This is
a wise m an. This world is our
not the true spirit of the American. Ore., who occasionally contributes
shop, and we should not he bother­
W hen the founders of our govern­ articles to the T orch and money to
ing about an im aginary one in the
ment succeeded in their struggle for the U niversity, m ade us a w ry
*kv.
freedom they declared that man pleasant call last week.
God was obliged to have a blood
A splendid article for the “ Pro­
should worship according to the
dictates of his own conscience, ami moters of Scientific W isdom ” ha- atonem ent in order to keep him
th at noreligiousqualification should been received from Eliza Mowry from letting his children go to an
be required to hold any office; yet, Bliven, too late for publication. It eternal hi ll, and now’ those that
don’t believe in the atonem ent are
I regret to say, men are persecuted will appear next week.
going there anyw ay. “ 0 , how he
on account of their religious opin­
The m onum ent to he placed over
ions, and no office-seeker dares ex­ the grave of Katie Kehtn Sm ith, at loves! *’
press his honestconvictions if he does W agner, O re g o n , has been ordered,
Two C lasses of C rim inals.
not uphold C hristianity. Friends, and will be placed in position soon.
it is time this was done away with. We are not informed as to what thei E ditor T orch of R eason :
It is tim e that character and real m onum ent cost.
R egarding the tilt of the A lbany
worth should take the place of pre­
It is possible for every reader of college professor (I wish his nam e
tentions. The church will, as in
this paper to send us a new sub­ had been given) with Miss D ePeatt,
the past, move onward only when it
scriber. If you will do this it will on the occasion of her lecture there
is forced t«> do so, and let us force
greatly help the paper and the t h e 21st inst., while I think the
them to take this step, so th at
work. Ju s t try once, and see Imw
lady sustained her side of the case
men can he really free.
easy it is to get us one subscriber.
W ednesday m orning they send
very w’ell, yet a different sort of
Miss
D
ePeatt
writes
from
S
o
u
th
­
for me from Coburg, and I enjoy a
ern Oregon th at she has secured answ er appears to me suitable.
pleasant drive through the country.
I’he
Rev. Professor’s fam ily
This is a farm ing country, and a tu o new students for the U niversity,
splendid one it is, too. Old Mother and th a t one of them will come to were, of course, all sm art and re­
Silverton with her when she re­ spected men and women.
It is
E arth is assum ing her most lovely
turns.
T
hat
is
right;
we
are
going
the otiier fellow who isn ’t respect­
gown.
The leaves are passing
to
have
a
good
school
this
year
and
through all the varying tin ts from
able. But if th e Rev. Professor’s
i
the
more
itu
d
en
ts
the
better.
green to a golden brown, and I join
neighbor’s children were a had lot,
Where, oh where is our editor? j and grew up with the sam e su r­
with the poet in saying th at a u ­
tum n is the grace and poetry of the No word of him has reached this roundings am i instructors which
year. I am received at Mrs. Be office for nearly a week. We hope his fam ily had, it appears to me
Lane’s pleasant horn«*, and meet Mr. he has not had another one of those th at the great influence of C hris­
John Diamond, the old veteran in dream s like the one described on tianity was shown the wrong wav.
the ranks of F reethought.
Mr t lie editorial page, and turned into Why d id n ’t the influence of C hris­
Diamond has been in Oregon for a fish and sailed off through the tianity m ake them
sm art and
respectable like him ?
It seems
over fifty years, and despite his age, briny waters of the Pacific.
We have for »ale a work by C. to me th a t th e great moral influ­
eighty-three, his mind i- still vigor­
ous ami active.
He is a great Elton B lanchard entitled “ Uncle ence of C h ristian ity m ade a failure.
reader and is a subscriber to nine Sam ’s Hom ilies on F inance.” All But the bad fam ily did not, nor
different periodicals, am ong which the proceeds arising from the sale could not, grow’ up with the sam e
are the T orch of R eason , the Bos­ of the book are to go to the Liberal surroundings and in stru cto rs as
ton Investigator and the T ruth- University. The au th o r is a Secu­ the Rev. Professor, for they «lid not
seeker. Mr. Diamond had made larist and people on all sides of the have the sam e parents, and did not
arrangem ents for th<* lecture most money fence should read what he grow up in the sam e household.
thoroughly, and by eight o’clock has to sav. If for no other reason, And it appears th at the Rev. Pro­
the hall is completely tilled with buy a hook to help along the U ni­ fessor takes no account of heredi­
an audience of intelligent people versity. Price 25c.
tary difference .»f character, or in ­
tellect. or condition in life, and
fam ily environm ent.
Therefore,
his argum ent isn’t worth serious
consideration. But taking the Rev.
4’rofess<»r on his own ground, if
these people died in jail, it is infer­
able th a t ihev were ra th e r low in
the m oral scale, ebpecially as this
Rev. Professor d id n ’t like them .
The “ I am holier th an th o u ,” u s u ­
ally is ap p aren t in these Revs.
And another answer to this Rev.
Professor, more severe perhaps, hut
none the less corr ct I deem, occurs
to me. One lot died in jail, the
other lot took up the C hristian m in ­
istry, and this one became a teacher
and a college professor. T he ja il­
birds probably com m itted a “ to rt,”
in law parlance; a trespass upon
other people’s rights. T h at was an
im moral it v, also a crim e, by statu te.
Was the other more m oral and less
crim inal, de fact«»?
L*-t us see:
The one trespasses on property
rights of people, the other on t h e i r
right to he tau g h t facts. The one
crim e is mad«^ punishable by statu te
law, the other is not. The one
trespasser is deprived of personal
liberty and branded with infam y;
the other is allowed the largest lib­
erty, not only of person, but of
speech, to m isrepresent and m align
those whose efforts protect him in
the very liberty which he is not
slow to abuse. And he is honored,
and enabled to eat bread (and pie
and cake) in the sweat of other
people’s faces, and is clothed in
broadcloth and “ fine linen,” as
though he was a public benefactor.
The one trespasses upon the rights
of grow nup people and takes the risk.
The other trespasses upon the in ­
tellectual rights of helpless and
confiding children, deceiving them
as to facts, and filling th eir recep­
tive m inds with a false and degrad­
ing superstition, to the end th a t he
and his class m ay dodge th e curse
ihey tell us was placed upon all
m ankind through our remote a n ­
cestor, one Adam.
W hich of the
two are more m oral, or more h a rm ­
ful to society? The isolated and
one-sided instances which these
Rev’s, are so fond of giving us,
prove nothing, of course.
They
only go io show th e poverty of
their resources in trying to bolster
tip their pet superstitions, an d en ­
able them to hold on to th eir fat
jobs. But they should board up
their own windows before they
throw m any stones at F reeth in k ers’
houses.
M.
U n iversity Fund.
Tin* am ount given in this fund
is actual cash paid in. regardless of
w hat has been prom ised:
Previously acknowledged, $410.80
W. M. R ichards, Oregon,
1.00
C. E. Glaze,
“
3.50
J. E. Johnson,
“
5.00
M utual Im provem ent Society 5.00
MATERIAL, ETC.
Previously acknowledged,
E. J . T hurm an (w ork)
A A. Leonard
“
1228.50
6.00
10.00