Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903, October 07, 1897, Image 1

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    VOL. 1.
Beyond th e Grave.
S IL V E R T O N , O R EG O N , T H U R SD A Y , OCTOBER 7, ¡897.
NO. 49.
" ith injurious and even deadly his thirst with acidulated grap -
cabbage have all to he artificially
products, often closely resem bling juice. Poppy fields need no fence;
By A P. M artin.
acquired; and in regard to the se­
Beyond th e grave—m ost ch erish ed of the favorite food-plants of anim als, tobacco h aves are in no dung- r of
lection of our proper food, the in ­
h e r creed—
T here gleam s a b rig h te r w orld, from which in a state of n atu re are nev­ being nibbled by browsing cattle. stincts of our young children could
sorrow free,
ertheless sure to avoid m istake and N ature seems to ha ve had no occasi* >n
teach us more than a whole library
So m ost m en h o ld ; b u t, a h ! it seem s
select their food by a faculty of for providing instinctive safeguards
to me
of ascetic twaddle.
Not for the
But th e m ere reflex of o u r e a rth ly recognizing differences th at m ight against such out-of-the-way things
sake o f “ m ortifying the flesh,” h u t
greeds,
escape
the
atten
tio
n
of
even
a
as certain m ineral poisons; yet the on the plan of recom m endation of
VS e deem th is life too narrow for our
needs,
trained ootanist. The chief m edium taste of arsen ic, though not violent! v
the n atu ral senses th a t prefer p a l­
And so d em and h e a v e n ’s high fe­
of
th
a
t
faculty
is
the
sense
of
smell
repulsive (like that of the more atable to disgusting food, the pro­
licity,
B ut of our afte r life w hat sign have in the lower, and the sense of taste common, and therefore more dan
geny of Adam could he guided in
we?
in
the
higher
anim
als.
In
m
on­
gerous, vegetable poisons), is cer­ the path of reform and learn to
In vain m an prays and tells his fu­
tile beads.
keys, for instance, the olfactory or­ tain ly not attractiv e, hut ra th e r
avoid forbidden fruit by the sym p­
A las! he never h ears th e faintest
gans
are
rath
er
im
perfectly
devel­
insipid, and a short experience to m s of its forbidding taste.— Bible
sound
Of voice div in e in an sw er to his oped, and I have often seen them seems to supplem ent the defects o f
of N ature.
cries.
peel
an
unknow
n
fruit
with
th
eir
instinct in th at respect.
T rappers
H e know s full well, th e n , w hen at
Dawn Of the New Day.
length he dies
fingers and then cautiously raise it know that poisoned baits after a
H e m u st be laid w ith grief in burial
to their lips and rub it to and fro while loose th eir seductiveness, and
By H. O. Ingersoll.
g ro u n d ;
If in celestial glory he shall rise,
befere venturing to bring their teeth old rats have been seen driving
Beyond the universe th ere is
W hy do th e weeping m ourners sta n d
into play. The prelim inary test, their young from a dish of arsenic- nothing, and w ithin the universe
a ro u n d ?
however, alw ays sufficed to decide poisoned gruel.
tin* su p ern atu ral does not and c a n ­
the
question
in
a
couple
of
seconds.
Temperance by Instinct.
C ertainly no anim al would feel not exist.
The A byssinian m ountaineers who any n atural inclination to seek-
The m oment these great tru th s
By F . L O sw ald.
catch baboons by fuddling theln arsenic or alcohol for its own sake, are understood and ad m itted , a be­
Instinct is h ered itary experience.
with plum brandy, have to disguise and there is no reason to suppose lie! in genera) or special providence
The lessons derived from the repe
the taste of the liquor with a large ‘bat m an, in th a t respect, differs becomes impossible.
From th a t
tition of pleasant or painful im pres­
ad m ix tu re of syrup before they can (from every known species of bis in-tjint men will cease th eir vain
sions have been tran sm itted from
deceive the w arning instincts of Tellow-creatures. Our clerical tem ­ efforts to p le a s e an im aginary be­
an infinite* num ber of generations,
their victims. \\ here copper mines perance lecturers ran t about “ the ing, and will give their time and
till im pending dangers have come
discharge their drainage into a lusts of the unregenerate h e a rt,” atten tio n to the affairs of this world.
to proclaim them selves by instinct
water-course, deer ¡mil other wild ¡ th e “ weakness of the flesh /’ the They will abandon the idea of a t ­
ive dread, opportune benefits Io
anim als have been known to go in ^danger of yielding to the prom pt- tain in g any object by prayer and
instinctive Jesire.
The shudder
quest of d istan t springy ra th e r than ings of ap p etite,” as if N ature h er­ supplication. The elem ent of u n ­
th a t w arns us to recede from the
quench their th irs t with the pollu­ self would tem pt us to our ruin, certainty will, in a great m easure,
brink of a steep cliff is felt even bv
ted water.
and the path of safety could be be removed from the dom ain of the
persons who have never personally
T h at protective instinc.s of that learned only from p retern atu ral future, and m an, gathering courage
experienced the peril of falling from
sort are shared even by the lowest revelation. But the tru th is th a t to from a succession of victories over
the rocks of a precipice. M ountain
anim als is proved by the experi­ the palate of a child, even the child the obstructions of nature, will a t ­
breezes are more attrac tiv e th an
ment of the philosopher Ehrenberg, of an h abitual d ru n k ard , the taste tain a s.-rene grandeur unknown to
swam p odors; the fumes of a foul
who put a drop of alcohol into a of alcohol is as repulsive as th a t of the disciples o f any superstition.
dungeon warn off a child who has
bottle of pond water, and under turpentine, or hitterwood. Tobacco The plans of m ankind will no
had as yet no o p p o rtu n ity to ascer
the lens of his microscope saw- a fumes and the stench of burning longer he interfered with by the
tain the danger of b reathing con­
swarm of infusoria precipitate them ­ opium still nauseate the children finger o f a supposed om nipotence,
tam inated air. A few years ago I
selves to the bottom of the vessel. of the habitual sm oker as they and no one will believe th a t natio n s
bought a pet fox, with a litter of
A nim als in a state of nature would have nauseated the children or individuals arc protected or d e­
cubs, who were soon after orphaned
rarely or never eat to an injurious of the p atriarch s. The first cigar stroyed by any deity whatever.
bv the escape of th eir m other. They
excess; the apparent surfeits of dem onstrates the virulence of nico­ Science, freed from the chains of
had to he fed by h an d ; and, am ong
wolves, serpents, vultures, etc., a l­ tine by vertigo ami sick-headacbes; pious custom and evangelical pre­
other proceeds of a forage, mv
ternate with long fasts, and are the first glass of beer is rejected bv judice, will, within her sphere, he
neighbor’s boy once brought them a
digested as easily as a hunter, after the revolt of the stom ach; the supremo. 1 lie m ind will investi­
bundle of lizards and a dead ra ttle ­
missing his breakfast and dinner, fauces contract and writhe against gate w ithout reverence, and pub­
snake. For the possession of those
would be able to digest an ab u n ­ the first dram of brandy. N ature lish its conclusions w ithout fear.
lizards there was at once an an im a­
d a n t supper.
In stin ct indicates records her protests in the most u n ­ Agassiz will no longer hesitate to
ted fight, hut at sight of the serpent
even th e most propitious time for m istakable language o f instinct, declare the Mosaic cosmogony u t­
the little gluttons turned tail and
indulging in repletion. The noon and only the repeated and co n tin ­ terly inconsistent with the dem on­
retreated to the farth er end of
heat of a m idsum m er day seems to ued disregard o f th a t protest at strated tru th s of geology, and will
their kennel.
T hey were not a
suspend the prom ptings of appe­ last begets the abnorm al .crav in g cease pretending any reverence for
m onth old when I bought them ,
tite; cows can he seen resting drows­ of th at poison-thirst which clerical the Jew ish scriptures. The moment
and could not possibly have seen a
ily at the foot of a shade tree; deer blasphem ers ascribe to the p ro m p t­ science succeeds in rendering the
rattlesn ak e before. <>r known the!
doze in the m ountain glens and ings of our n atu ral appetites. T h e y church powerless for evil, the real
effects of its bite fr un personal e x ­
come out to browse in moonlight; m ight as well m ake us believe in thinkers will be outspoken.
The
perience; but instinct at once in­
p an th ers cannot afford to miss an a n atu ra l passion for dungeon air, little flags of truce carried by tim id
form ed them th a t an encounter
opportunity to slay th eir game at because the prisoners of the Holy philosophers will disappear, and
with a reptile of th a t sort had
noon, but are very ap t to hide the Inquisition a t last lost • Ic-ir'love of the cow ardly parley will give place
brought some of th eir forefathers to
caicass and come back to devour it liberty, and came to prefer the to victory— lasting and universal.
grief.
in the cool of the evening.
stench of their subterranean black*
The vegetable kingdom , that pro­
The idea of certain su p ern atu ral
i he products of ferm entation are holes to the breezes of the free
vides food for nine-tenths o f all liv­
gifts
being conferred upon certain
so repulsive to th e higher anim als m ountains.
men is the common error of the
ing creatures, abounds with an end­
th at only the distress of actual , T he craving for hot spices, for most advanced races, as well as of
less variety of all kinds of edible
starvation would tem pt a monkey strong m eats, aud such ahom ina-
fruits, seeds, and herbs, but also to touch a rotten apple, or quench tions as fetid cheese, and fermented the most degraded peoples of a n ­
tiq u ity .— R enan.