17
:£
T orch
VOL. 2.
For the Torch of Reason.
SILVERTON, OREGON. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1897.
Principles of Society.
and having fourni the means of ob­
taining within a small com pass and
without removal, plentiful subsis­
tance and durable stores, they es­
tablished them selves in fixed h ab ita­
tions; they built houses, villages,
and tow ns; formed societies and
nations; and self-love produced all
the developements of genius and of
power. Thus by the aid of his
own faculties, man has raised him ­
self to the astonishing height of his
present fortune. Too happy if, ob­
serving scrupulously the law of his
being, he had faithfully fulfilled its
only and true object! But, by a fatal
im prudence, som etim es m istaking,
sometimes transgressing its lim ns,
he has launched forth into a laby­
rinth of errors and m isfortunes;
and self-love, sometimes unruly,
sometimes blind, became a princi­
ple fruitful in calam ities.— Ruins
of Em pires.
¿¿a
No
1.
their visitors hesitated to decline
th eir invitations, which subsequent­
By A lonzo Leora Rice.
By C. F. Volney.
ly, indeed, became rath e r su p er­
“ S urren d erin g up th in e individual be­
\\ andeiing in the woods and or.
ing, sh alt thou go to m ix forever with
fluous. The children of the w ilder­
the e le m e n ts.” — B rvant.
I the banks of rivers in pursuit of
•
ness u n h esitatin g ly prefer the
game and fish, the first men, beset
“ At last th e rootlets of th e trees
hardships of winter cam p to the
Shall find th e prison where she lies, with dangers, assailed by enemies,
atm
ospheric poisons of our tenem ent
And bear th e buried d u st they seize,
houses. Sham yl Ben H addin, the
In leaves and blossoms to th e sk ie s.” ' torm ented by hunger, by reptiles,
—H olm es.
Circassian war chief, whose iron
by ravenous beasts, felt their own
constitution had endured the vicis­
“ I had ra th e r th in k of those I have individual weakness; and, urged by
loved, amt lost, as having retu rn ed to
situdes of thirty-four cam paigns,
e a rth , as having become a p art of th e a common need of safety, and a
pathetically protested against the
elem ental w ealth of th e w orld; I would reciprocal sentim ent of like evils,
pest air of his Russian prison cell,
rath e r th in k of them as unconscious
th
e
y
united
their
resources
and
their
and
warned his jailers th a t, unless
d u s t; I would ra th e r dream of them as
gurgling in th e stream , floating in th e strength; and when one incurred a
his
dorm itory
was
changed,
clouds, bursting in light upon th e shores
H eaven would hold them responsi­
danger, m any aided and succored
of o th e r w orlds.” —Ingersoll.
ble for the guilt of his suicide. I
him; when one w anted subsistence,
I cannot help hut th in k how richer far
have known country bovs io step
Are you, my friend, who paid long another shared his food w’ith him.
out into a shower of rain and sleet
years ago
i 1 bus men associated to secure th eir
to escape from the contam inated
The debt that, I, as m ortal, too m ust
atm osphere of a city workshop, and
pay.
existence, to augm ent their powers,
after
a week’s work in a spinning
I never th in k of you as gone; b u t! to protect their enjoym ents; and
mill return to the penury of their
changed,
sell-love thus became the principle
T ran sm u ted from the d u st to e a rth -
m ountain homes, rath er th an p u r­
born things,
of society. Instructed afterw ards
chase dainties at the expense of
By w ondrous crucible w ithin th e e a rth , by the experience of various and
their lungs.
And clear alem bic of m eandering
The word frugality, in its original
repeated accidents, by the fatigues
stream s.
sense, referred literally to a diet of
A ir claim s a p a rt of your sw eet p res­ of a w andering life, by the distress
tree-lruits, in distinction to c a rn i­
ence; buds
Lessons of Instinct.
of
frequent
scarcity,
men
reasoned
T h at open by the w ayside and the rills,
vorous fare, and nine out of ten
Or sta r th e azure m eads; your beauty with them selves a n d 's a id :
By F. L Oswald.
children still decideillv prefer ripe
bides
“
V
V
by
consum
e
our
days
in
seek­
N ature has guardeJ the health fruit and farinaceous dishes to the
In delicate d rap eries w herein ttie moon
Enfolds herself, when over L a tm u s’ hill ing scattered fruits from a i narsi- of h e r creatures by a m arvelous richest meats. They as certainly
She looks down on her fair E ndym ion, m onious soil? Why exhaust our­
prefer easy homemade clothes to
system of protective intuitions.
Who hears, like me, the m ortal th rall
the constraint of fashionable frip­
of life.
selves in pursuing prey which eludes The sensitive m em brane of the eye
peries. I he main tenets of our
And you are with me everyw here I us in the woods or w aters? Why resents the z intrusion
of every dn-’s-reformerx are anticipated in
tu rn ;
not collect under our hands the a n i­ foreign substance. An intu itiv e the sensible garm ents of m any half-
In clouds th a t brighten in th e u p p er
Boys, within
air,
m als th a t nourish us? Why not sense of discom fort announces civilized nations.
Or blush when the long day goes out apply our cares in m ultiplying and
reach of a free bathing river, can
every injurious extrem e of temper
at la s t;
dispense with the advice of the h y ­
We will feed on ature. To th e un perverted taste o dropathic school. They delight in
The snow ’s w hite san ctity , th e crystal ' preserving them ?
dew,
their increase; be clothed in their anim als in a state o f nature whole­ exercise; ihey laugh at the im agi­
And m ists th a t curl from alters of th e
m orn.
skins, and live exem pt from the some food is pleasant, injurious nary danger of fresh air «lraughts,
And when th e rain is gone, and clouds fatigues of the day and the solici­ substances repulsive or insipid and the perils of barefoot ram bles
repose
tude for the morrow’.”
C aptain K ane found th at only the in wet and dry. They would cast
In fair and pleasing visions of th e east,
their vote in favor of the outdoor
And men aiding one another, rage of fam ine will tem pt the foxes pursuits of hundreds of occupations
The sun comes out, and over hill and
vale,
seized the nim ble goat, the timid of the Arctic coastlands to touch which custom , ra th e r th an necess­
From ra in d ro p a n d th e vapor of th e sky,
He weaves the arch th a t spans th e sheep; they tam ed the patient spoiled m eat. In times of scarcity ity, now associates with the d isad ­
world w ith lig h t;
camel, the fierce hull, the impetuous the baboons of the Abyssinian vantages of indoor confinem ent.
And th ere I see vour presence shining :
still,
horse; and, applauding their own m ountains greedily hunt for edible The hygienic influence o f arboreal
vegetation has l»een recognized by
W ithin th e rain b o w ’s splendor, seven industry, they sat down in the joy
roots, which an unerring faculty the ablest pathologist of m odern
fo ld !
of their souls, and l>egan to taste enables them to distinguish from times; avenues of shade trees have
And m yriad m in istratio n s yet w illcom e
repose and com fort; and self-love, the poisonous varieties. The n at­ been found to redeem the san itary
And kindly offices th a t never cease,
As still th e years pursue th e ir endless the principle of all reasoning, he-
u ralist Tschudi m entions a troop of condition of m any a grim y city,
course.
and the em inent hygienist, Schrodt,
I he beauty of the blossoms th a t bedeck ! came the incitem ent to every art, half-tam ed cham ois forcing their holds th at, as a rem edial institu
I he bride, and load th e breeze with and to every enjoym ent.
way through a shingle roof, rather lion, a shady park is worth a doz­
odors rare,
When, therefore, men could pa-s th an pass a night in the stifling en drug stores
But all these les­
Is yours. The w axen flowers th a t are
held
long days in leisure, and in c o m ­ atm osphere of a goat stable.
sons only confirm an often m ani­
W ithin th e senseless hand of him t h a t ’s m unication of their thoughts, they
Man in his prim itive state had fested, and too often suppressed,
dead.
Speak of a resurrection soon his own. . began to contem plate the earth, his full share o f those protective instinct o f <»ur young children:
heir passionate love of woodland
I heur your voice at nightfall in the the heavens, and their own exis­ instincts, which still m anifest them ­ sports, th eir love of tree shade, of
pure
tence, as objects of curiosity and selves in children and N ature- greenwood camps, of forest life in
V ernacular of the com m uning leaves,
I hat w hisper lullabies to my sad soul, reflection; they rem arked the course guided savages. It is a m istake to all its forms Those who hold th at
And charm me w ith th e old-tim e m el­ of the seasons, the action of the ele­
suppose th a t the lowest of those “ n atu re” is hut a synonym of
odies.
“habit ’ should witness the ra p ­
The lapse of waves along the wooded m ents, th e properties of fruits and savages are nfcturally fond of a r­
ture
of city children at first sight
shore,
plants;
and
applied
their
thoughts
d
en
t
spirits.
The
travelers
P
a
r
k
,1
of forest glades and shady meadow
W hen I sit down at eve to w atch th e
stars,
to the m ultiplication of their enjoy­ G erstaecker, V’am hery, Kohl, lie brooks, and com pare it with the
E n trance th e dusk with countless w hite • m ents.
And in some countries, Focquevifle, and Brehm agree th a t city-dread of the Swiss peasant lad
resolves,
Is still the sound th a t pleased me long having observed th a t certain seeds the h ist step on the road to ruin is or the American backwoods boy,
sickened by the fumes and the u p ­
•go.
contained a wholesome nouri-h- alw ays taken in deference to the ex­
roar of a large m anufacturing town.
I bide m v tim e ; till interfused and merit in a sm all volume, convenient
am ple of the adm ired superior race, A thousand years of vice and a b ­
m ixed,
The elem ents th a t know corruption here for tran sp o rtatio n and preservation, if not in com pliance with direct norm al habits have not yet silenc­
Shall p u t off »lull m o rtality , am i Bleep they im itated the process of nature;
persuasion. The neyroes of the ed the voice of the physical con­
F orever in a close and clasped em brace
Ami l»e com panions to the sta rs, am i they confided to the earth rice, Senegal highlands shuddered at the science th a t recalls our steps to
run
the path of N ature, and will not
barley,
and
corn,
which
multiplied
first
taste
of
alcohol,
hut
from
a
■
T hrough all the generations of the
perm it us to transgress her laws
flow e r s !
to the full m easure of their hope;, wish to conciliate th e good will of unw arned. The Bible of Nature.
The O ther Life.