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)