THE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1897 I oxen arid his donkeys; b u t the worst of all, the Devil getting con- T h e O n ly P a p e r o f I ts K in d . trol of the w ind bags in some w ay ~ ' or other, blew down Jo b ’s oldest Published Weekly by the Liberal E 'd - , Hon»„ h o u se a n d k illed ev ery o ie of Torch of Reason versity Company, in the Interests of C o n stru c tiv e,M o ral Secularism . h i s seven beloved boys, w ho w ere ---- ;,t their elder brother’s house hav- J. E. H o s m e r,................... M an a g er ir,K a ,ittk * R egressive euchre and P. W . G eer, w ine p a r ty . T h is m a d e J o b feel E n tered at th e postoffice at S ilverton, lik e d o in g so m e th in g ra d ic a l, an d Oregon, as second-class m ail m atter. so he to re h is new n ig h t s h ir t, shaved his head and fell down and w orshipped, and, although God de .¡H oo One year, in a d v a n c e .................. 50 served a good “cu ssin ’ ” fo r allow Six m o n th s in a d v a n c e .................... . 2o ing the Devil to act so much like T hree m o n th s, in a d v a n c e ................ In clubs of five or m ore, one year, him self, Job d id n ’t seem to u n d er in a d v a n c e ........................................... M oney should he se n t by registered stand just how the thing stood. le tte r or m oney order. People in those days were more childish than they are now and Job N o tic e ! supposed if God gave him an y th in g A pencil m ark here denotes that, your God had the right to play “ baby- su b scrip tio n will ex p ire w ith th e n ex t n u m b er. You are earn estly requested trad e” and tak e it hack again. to renew so th a t you m ay receive th e pa W hen people give presents now-a- per w ithout in te rru p tio n . We have d e cided th a t it is best for all concerned days they never think of “ taking th a t we do not semi papers longer th a n them hack” atid some people are so th e tim e paid for unless so ordered. T his will p rev en t any loss and we will independent th a t they would not know ju st w here we sta n d . accept a present under any old We request you to send us th e nam es But Job of Secularists who m ight become su b “ tak e-h ack ” conditions. scribers and we will m ail sam ple copies. d id n ’t lay up God’s foolishness against him at all, ’cause he feared THURSDAY, DEC. 30. E. M. 297 him , you see. But G od’s oldest son, the Devil, seems to he a “ chip T h e S e c o n d P s a lm . off of th e old block” and h a d n ’t had O h, w herefore should th e preachers rage, fun enough yet; and so he m ade And dope tu e ir dupes w ith do ctrin es his “ awful d a d ” believe th a t if Job vain? They pose as pro p h et, priest am i sage got, sick he would he apt to go hack W hile m ental lam bs for them are slain . on God at anv tim e. God seemed They teach not th a t t h a t ’s good for m an , , . to n l e a s e his B u t filthy m y th s th ey know’ not t r u e ; j a *w a y s n ry <1 x u. t j They council in th e ir p riestly clan first horn, and so he told the Devil To sjMiil the work th at th in k e rs do. th at Job is “ his m eat”, to go ahead Of», Jet uh break th e ir galling bands and “do him 1 p” and telegrapti him Ami fiave no cords upon o u r th o u g h t, the result (telephones were not in And help th e good of every land To laugh to scorn w h at priests have use in those d ay s). Then d id n ’t ta u g h t. old Job catch the devil! Poor old T hen let us set o u r ideals high, Job, how he did boil over! But, And elim b th e H ill of Science fa ir; L et N a tu re ’s sons for N ature ery, ns soon as God found out th a t th e And work while dupes are a t th e ir Devil had been fooling him and prayer. th a t Job was “ tru e blue,” he gave T he w rath of gods and sons, is not The sp u r th a t should in sp ire the free, him twice as m any donkeys and Ami blest we’ll be w hen C h ristia n rot things as he had had before. Is washed from “ L ands of L ib e rty ” . I'he Devil? Oh, the Devil! We d o n ’t know ju st what did become T h e S to r y o f J o b . of him , hut we should judge, by the A lung, long time ago, one beau num ber who believe the story of tifu l, sunshiny day in spring, when Jo b to he inspired, th a t the Devil all anim als feel like sunning them has been condem ned to do nothing selves, the Devil and a few of G od’s but m ake donkeys ever since. children met with the old gentle Selah. man to talk over th eir business of controlling the earth . The Devil, D o n ’t N e g le c t U s . being the oldest, reported f ir s t; he told his heavenly — father th at he had I It hiu.'t be « vident to every •» th in k - been “ walking up and down in the ing person th a t there is an extrem e e a rth ” a good deal, and he m is in w hat some call liberty that tru sted th at a certain rich man who would he very detrim ental to soei- lived in Vz was a little bit hypo- ety and at last plunge us into ruin •critical in his services. This m an j as a people. This extrem e is one was Job, and although Job feared of the greatest hindrances to the God and chewed evil, this m ighty onw ard m arch of real liberty and Devil created a doubt in the m ind tru e progress. of the O m nipotent One, and he Most people will accept tru th and concluded to give Mr. Jo b a thor- when convinced of error will leave ough test. Jehovah was so very the old stranded wreck a t once hut busy with his h arp factory and when in the presentation of one o th er things th at he put the whole ' tru th people will cling to errors m atter into the Devil’s hands, worse perhaps th an the one which T his of course pleased the Devil affects the people we are try iu g to and he went at the work in dead save, then our work is m ade very earnest. Poor Jo b was soon rob weak and moves very slowly indeed. bed of his sheep, his cam els, his Those who wish to bring th eir creeds SU B SC R IPTIO N RATES. of folly into the F reethought ranks will continue to endeavor to de stroy our work as fast as we build, but we hope th at the people who are really interested in m oral, pro gressive Secularism will not for a m om ent forget us. We cannot suc ceed w ithout help, and although your help m ay not h e considered essential by you. yet it certainly is. Please d o n ’t think th at we’ll get along in some way and neglect to lift your share. Som etim es the burden all falling on a few, crushes them , and then people think it is their fault, when just a little help at the right tim e would have saved them . Our school is prospering finely, the teachers and students working in dead earnest, hut our expenses, although not large, are larger in proportion th an they will be when we have a larger num ber of students. Some time ago we made it plain, we thought, th at we need ed help, but there were very few who seemed to realize th a t we m eant it. We are satisfied lhat there are m any who would take right hold with us at once if they understood the im portance of it to "Ui cause, hut we are tied up here with the school work, printing, etc , e tc ., and ca n ’t s e e t h e m anv honest, faithful Secularists who we know’ are looking W’ith pride and much hope tow ard our Secular education al endeavors, but do not realize now much we need ’their help. Many who could write short a r ti cles or letters for the T orch th a t would do much good, wait for o th ers, th in k in g perhaps th a t others can do better. M any who could send us a thousand dollars and h ard ly miss it, neglect to send us any help at all, not realizing how much a few here are sacrificing for the cause we all love so m uch. there is nothing — absolutely no th in g — in it and never will be, for every dollar th at we get for tuition and for the papers goes to help pay expenses, and if we are ever fnrtun- a»e enough to get a surplus it will all go to build and furnish our school and auxiliaries. Now, are the friends of progress going to come to our aid, or not ? Must we sacrifice everything, drag out our whole lives in the hardest kind of toil, and when we become old he kicked for w hat we tried to do? This is juM what we will have ,0 do unless we have help, for we will never give up u ntil forced to, and even then would try again as soon as we could. But why can’t we have a little help just now when we ne« d it? I f you would sell all you have and help get this in stitu tio n b u iltjm u would he doing no more th an others have done for what they consider right. Those who are scarcely able to get enough t«> eat should keep their money for th eir families, but some of you fellow’s who have a surplus that is no good to you, help the cause with it. W hat if you can’t get a fancy price for that property; sell it at any price a n d come to the rescue. Please don’t let a few Free thinkers slowly and laboriously build up th is tem ple of science and m orality, hut let us all take hold and put it right up. Now come on friends, let’s do th is th in g without w aiting for others. O n e world at a tim e, and now ’ is the time. T h r o w A w a y th e C ru tc h e s . The following seems to be a fair sample, of C hristian philosophy (bigotry) and C hristian fairness in m aking statem ents: “ A lthough not new’, the following incident, said by a gentlem an who If we can only succeed in g rad u lives in W ashington to have occur red when th e late H en ry Ward ating the class of young men and Beecher and Col. R obert G. Inger women th a t we now have in our soll were accidently throw n togeth school, we will have a force th a t er a t a m utual frien d ’s house, is will rescue our noble banner from good enough to repeat. After the the filth of the filthy who are try conversation had been general for aw hile, somebody introduced relig ing to sail under its beautiful folds ion. Col. Ingersoll proceeded to fa and place it on a lofty height far vor the com pany with his Atheistic above the m iasm atic swam ps of view’s, which were com batted by spookish superstitions, and lawless, several. Mr. Beecher said nothing licentious libertinage. We realize u n til he was asked if he had noth ing to say on the subject. Then, th a t on account of the world being draw ing him self to an erect atti full of frauds and those who only tude, he replied, “ N othing; in fact, work while they have an axe to if you will excuse me for changing grind, m any are suspicious and the conversation, I will say that are slow to help such enterprises as j while you gentlem en were talking my m ind was bent on a most de ours. We blam e no one for this, plorable spectacle which I witness and we wish th a t there were more ed today.” “ W hat was it?” in honest doubters, hut should we not quired Col. Ingersoll. “ W hy,” Mr. be earnest investigators as well? We Beecher replied, “ as I was walking have no way of assuring our friends down towm today,I saw a poor man slowly and carefully picking his th a t we are working for the good way through a cesspool of mud in th at we m ay do other than to say the endeavor to cross the street. so and work. T here is not a work He had just reached the m iddle of er am ong us w ho would not stop th e filth when a big bully, him.-elf work im m ediately were it not for all bespattered w ith m ud, rushed up to him , jerked the crutches from the fact th a t we believe th a t we can u n d er the u nfortunate m an and left do the most good by working as we him spraw ling and quite helpless are for progressive, m oral S ecular in the liquid d irt, which alm ost en- ism and Freethought. F inancially . (Continaed on 6th page)