T orch
VOL. 2.
Science an d S u p e rstitio n .
s ope rst ition, deeply rooted
In the hum an h e art and m ind,
Must by reason l>e refuted,
Men no longer should be blind ;
The? have lieen th e slaves of e rro r.
Overawed by w ildest terro r.
^Mysteries have long deluded
Millions of th e h u m an race,
Fraud and falsehood long have brooded
Over n a tu re ’s rad ia n t face;
We must seek with firm reliance
In her breast th e tr o th of science.
Science is the noblest teacher,
Benefactress of m a n k in d ;
Reason is her gifted preacher,
Elevated and re fin e d ;
Raising our liest th o u g h ts and feelings
With beneficent revealings.
Let our spirits 1 >e asp irin g
With the a n ie n t love of tr u th ,
Glorious purposes adm iring,
(dewing foom o u r e a rly v o u tfij_______
Superstition^ in due season.
Will give way to human reason.
Tloral C ourage M akes H eroes.
BY B. F . UN D ERW O O D .
An “old soldier” is reported to
have talked in this style:
“ I would like to let young men
know that courage, like alm ost any
other attrib u te can be acquired. I
would like to let them know this
because there are some poor fellows
who are brought into the world w
a timid n atu re th a t causes them
much suffering. W hile having an
admiration for brave men, they feel
that they are cowards, and, accus­
toming them selves to this belief,
they never attem p t to fight against
their weakness. I)o you know, I
real I a v r believe th a t most of the not-
ed brave men of the world have be­
come brave sim ply
by
sys­
tematically overcoming cowardice.
Did not Lannes, Napoleon’s most
dashing general, say, ‘The man
who says he never felt fear is a pol­
troon and a liar.’ But while L an­
nes thus acknowledged to the sen­
sation of b a r , he never allowed
himself to show it; and th a t is the
point. Moreover, by practice such
things become easy.”
This “ old soldier” says th a t if a
man is a coward and wishes to be-
corne brave he should m ake up his
mind first of all th a t it is better to
suffer death than to be tram pled
upon or to be hum iliated. If you
are unjustly assailed, he says, you
shoul <1 throw yourself upon your
;onist “ with a vim and punch
antago
R eason .
SILVERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY, MAY 19, tS9S.
NO. 24.
in mere combativeness, in a d isp n s-' Moral courage can be cultivated
A ncient a n d H odern H iracles.
ition to fight for the sake of fig h t-■ and strengthened by m oral disci-
BY JE A N M F S L IE R .
ing, and this men and nations out- pline and action, such as the lives
grow in proportion as they become of m any men and women dem and. !
If our C hrist-w orshippers assert
enlightened and the necessity for It is fortified and increased in th a t their saints had the power to
m aintaining the fighting spirit and youth hv exam ple and precept. It raise the dead, . . . the Pagans had
a ttitu d e ceases to exist.
is encouraged hv knowledge of the said before them . . . th at E sculap-
W hat “ an old so ld ie rs’’ words great shining characters <»f the race ius, son of A pollo, h ad ra i-e d th e
really mean to commend is moral and by the contem plation o f those d e a d ,a n d ,a m o n g o th e rs, he b ro u g h t
courage, although they do not dis- deeds which m ake the blood of the to life H y p p o lite s, son of Theseus,
tinguish this from ordinary fear- student of history tingle with a d ­ bv D ia n a ’s req u est.
lessness ami readiness to fight. Mor- m iration as he reads of them .
i If the C hrist-w orshippers pre-
a I courage is th a t q u ality which
S trength, h ealth, physical endur-
lhpil.
makes even those who are physic- ance, acquaintance with hardships bodies were m iraculously saved
ally weak and ordinarily tim id, and experience in battle are neees- from decom position after d eath ,
ready to face danger and sacrifice sary to make the most effective sol- and th at they were found by divine
life itself for the right. Moral cour- diers. Moral qualities cannot take revelation, after having been lost
a.ge„niakes heroes and m artyrs. D the place of these advantages, hut for a long tim e, the Pagans say the
nerves the delicate woman to en- they add to them and are necessary same o f the hodv of Orestes, whicii
dure hardships and perils and to to m ake the highest type of soldier, they pretended to have found
m ake sacrifices from which most such as is possible where there is through an oracle.
persons w ithout devotion to some intelligence, a principle oi a senti-
If our C hrist-w orshippers claim
priuciple and purpose deemed high ment to fight for and moral enthus- that several of their saints contin­
and noble, would
instinctively iasm or religious fervor to unite ued to speak after losing the head,
shrink.
men closely for a common purpose. or having the tongue cut out, the
Soldiers when they.go into battle,
The idea that toughs and roughs, Pagans claim th at the head of
are in r proportion
as reason and re- bullies and prizefighters
make the ¡Gum
.
• •
•. i a n long
„ . poem af-
f
1
1
lieinus
recited
fiection still hold sway am id the best soldiers was completely explod- ter separation from his body.
exeitem ent, conscious of danger and ed in our late civil war. The vet­
If our C hrist-w orshippers claim
the chances of falling dead or erans who survive know th a t the th a t several of th eir sain ts were
wounded.
The consciousness of v .^es of such men helped to fill m iraculously
preserved in
the
such danger is accom panied by the com panies to th e m axim um ! flamps w¡|h(lut r(,cpiving any ¡lljui.y
more or less fear. After awhile the strength and to increase the pay to their bodies or their clothing,
ear becomes accustomed to the roll, hut they constituted an ele­ the Pagans claim that the holy wo­
w histling of bullets, the roar of m ent of weakness ra th e r th an of men of the Tem ple of Diana w alk­
cannon, tlie bursting of shells, and strength. They were in the guard ed upon burning coals barefooted
the eye in like m anner becomes fa­ house, or on the sick list, or in w ithout burning or h u rtin g their
m iliar with the sight of com rades m ilitary prison, or am ong deserters, feet, and th a t the priests of the
dead and dying, but the soldier or regarded as u n tru stw o rth y , or Goddess Feronie and of H erpicus
who rem ains cool and self-possess­ for some other reason oft duty most w a||jeci jn the sam e way upon burn-
ed am id the noise and smoke of of the tim e and generally absent ing coals in the fires which w’ere
battle does not cease to realize th at w ithout leave when a battle was to made in honor of Apollo.
his life is in peril.
begin. The men who made our best
If Moses forced a stream of w a­
volunteer
soldiers
were
the
men
For this very reason the man
ter to flow from a rock by strik in g
w ith moral courage an«l self-respect who had been good citizens, good it with his staff, the horse of Pega-
m akes a better soldier than does members of society, business men, gug j j j ^he same: by striking a
the man who is destitute of these m echanics, farm ers, workingmen of rocj( with Ids foot a fountain
qualities. Moral courage and pride
classes, who left their homes ¡88Ue(T
keep soldiers in the ranks when with the patriotic desire to help
F inally, to abbreviate, because
mere physical courage would not preseive the u nion and to keep the we couu report m any others, if
restrain them from going to the dag flying over all the state
our
C hrist-w orshippers pretend
rear. Soldiers who have true pride
I dad nearly four years of active ^ a t the walls of Jericho fell by the
are thereby impelled to act in a m ilitai y service as an enlisted m an goun(j of their trum pets, the Pagans
way to com m and their own respect a ,|d as an officer, with opportuni- Hay th a t the walls of the city of
as well as the approval of their fel-
f° r seeing m any kinds of men 'fhebes were built by the sound of
lows. Though they shake w ith fear before and during action, and what the inljKjcaj in stru m en ts of Arn-
they will stand firm in their places, ^Y aH oni * * FeSU * Pwr8onal °h p|,jon. the stones, as the poets say,
hard”, feeling th at it is better to dying rather than turn their backs
arranging them selves to the sweet-
die than to be regarded as acow ard
to the enemy. I hey prefer death
T he esteem which so ipany peo- hess of his harm ony.
I his would
or to suffer hum iliation.
to disgrace.
It is easier for them pie have for the ‘’sp iritual sub- be much more m iraculous an d more
A man does not m ake his own to remain in the fight than to leave stance , appears to result fiorn th e adm irable th an to see th e walls de-
nature, and w hether be shall 1« a it. The chame, the reproach, the im poseildlity they find in^lefining moli9,led.
’ ‘
... .
. - ...
-, •
it in an intelligible way. The c o n -!
.
. . .
. .
L
_
their country tempt which our m
etap
h
y
sician
s!.
Ih
e
r
e
is
ce
rtain
ly
a
great
sim
i-
brav e man cr a cow;
m etap
depend upon his own decision. E n ­ in the suprem e moment of its need, gj)Q^ j()r |natter> C(,rneM'fro m t h e . larity between the Pagan m iracles
vironment and heredity through is too great to incur, even though fiiet th at “ fam iliarity breeds con- and our own. As it would be great
When they tell us th at fidlv to give credence to these pre-
ages have made creatures courage­ they can thereby escape death, tem p t”.
T his is the way a aeU-reepeeting i'.,e "?,‘l >« '"ore excelent andI no-I ,endpd lnirHelw of PagallisIn it is
ous or tim id.
Inheritance, to a
ble th an the body, they tell us
, ,
.
, , . .
large extent, and surroundings from m an feels when the instinct of self- nothing, except th a t w hat they " ot any ,h e lew *° lo have fallh 1,1
childhood determ ine a m an ’s fear preservation would, hut for his know nothing about m ust be more those of C h ristian ity , l>ecause they
or fearlessness in the presence of pride, make his legs take him, it beautiful than th a t of which they all come from th e sam e source of
danger. There is no moral q uality possible, out of danger.
have some faint id e a s — [M eslier. ! error.