Image provided by: Silverton Country Historical Society; Silverton, OR
About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 11, 1898)
OF VOL. 2. SILV ER TO N , OREGON, TH U R SD A Y , AUGUST 11, 1898. NO. 31. Progress. upon the original rock, into which a r e m a r k e t p la c e s for the sale cam el The Eddas and their C ontents. stairs have been cut to facilitate and goat meat, m utton and vegeta Revised fu r the To rch o f Reason.J t be upward or downward climb, and bles. Of the latter, the cauliflowers Iceland was settled from Nor- M nning daw ns in regal g ra n d e u r— M other e a rth w ith beauty teem s; are very r steep in places. All are are the largest and best I have ever ! wa>’ in ,he n in th century. A re- , Hoary m ists of su p erstitio n filthy. 1 he ordure of men, women seen. Num erous cam els and don- m arkable social life grew up there, Melt l>efore th e genial lieam s ; Wiiile the ear of day m o unts upw ard, and children is as offensively and keys come io town daily laden with which preserved the ideas, m an- (Mowing, sp a rk lin g on h e r co u rse; publicly deposited in the streets as them . O ther vegetables do not nt>rs, and religion of the Teutonic ' Winning by lier gentle influence— Hers no conquest born of force. is th a t of camels, donkeys, dogs and flourish, potatoes being not much P,()P,e in their p u rity for m any bun- cats. The stenches are unspeakably larger th an chestnuts. The com- dred years, and whose Ed das and Principles sublim e and m ig h ty , Are evolved in a m b ien t a ir ; hornble. It was shrewdly suggested mou people do not often indulge in S a g a s a r e the chief source of our All the atm o sp h ere is ra d ia n t— th a t the peculiar corpse-like odors meat, but live principally on o l . - i .............. r>...............~ For the tru th now do and dare ! knowledge of th e race. « In th is This the age dem an d in g action ! prevailing in these holy streets are ives, olive oil, and a q u ality of u ^ ’n,ate a >‘d barren region of the Gird your arm o r firm ly on ! a ttrib u tab le to the bodies of the bread, black and unsightly. There e a rlh > where seas of ice make Noble w orkers, ceasing never, Hum an prejudice is strong. saints who caine out of their graves is no water in Jerusalem save th at thousands of square miles desolate Toiling with a noble purpose, at die time of the resurrection and caught in cisterns, and this in dry an(1 i,npenetrable, where icy masses, When the early m orn ap p ears, “ went into the Holy City and ap- seasons becomes both scarce a n d elsewhere glaciers, are here m oun- Glorious shall be th e noonday (if th e sw ift revolving years. peared unto m any,” and who, per- foul. Babies and children up to tains, where volcanoes w ith terrib h Errors old m ust be com bated, haps, never returned to their two or three years of age are car- eruptions destroy whole regions of Priest and people m ust advance, Musty p arch m en ts cannot longer graves again. As there is no record ried by th eir mothers astride of one inhabited country in a few days hv Chain th e m in a in ignorance. th a t they ever did return, and shoulder, being held in place by lava, volcanic sand, and boiling For the p resen t tim e is b rillia n t surely they would not wish to, there the arm or leg. It is a novel sight. water< was developed to its highest With th e th e prom ise of th e age; wo,lid seem a deal of - plausibility, ---- -------- Erom all th at has been said it is degree the purest form of Scandina- They who run m ay read th e lesson; Bravely tu rn each glowing page. espeeially that Jerusalem as a place o f ! virtn ,ife- especially to those who have scented r plain ___ _________ And the goal is h u m an freedom ! these u n earthly stenches, . th L at . the residence is . not attractive. Yet, The religion of the S candinavians Who shall dare th e race im pede? Mis your b irth rig h t, m an and w om an! co, pses of those old saints, though outside of the walls, or city proper, is contained in th e E ddas, which Bow to n e ith e r sect nor creed ! no longer visible, are still stalking there are m any handsom e residenc are two,— the poetic, or elder Edda about the city, shedding their pious es, missions, m onasteries, convents, consisting of thirty-seven poems. The Holy City. odors for the benefit of whom it may hospices and the like, on which the younger,or prose Edda. Tht _ 111? 1 l « « —. G w -v i »» 4 1 . z. X! __ . „ « e concern. Surely such a phenom m illions have been expended. The first poem in the first part of the BY DANIEL K. TENNEY. enon would he appropriate in Jew s have about a hundred syna poetic E dda is th e V oluspa, or We were greatly surprised to find Jerusalem , if anyw here. All things gogues, the Greeks about twenty Wisdom of Vala, a prophetess, pos- sensing v»st su p ern atu ral knovvl- that Jerusalem lies, practically, at are possible with God. m onasteries, nunneries and relig- edge. It begins thus, Vain speaking the sum m it of a m ountain range 1 he city is said to contain about ious schools, and the R om an Cath- I com m and th e devout a tte n tio n of all twenty-five hundred feet above the 80,000 people, of whom eight °lh*8 about as m any more. The noble souls, Of all the high anti tin» low of th e raceof M editerranean. There is no level thousand are T urks and A rabs— A rm enians and Copts also have a H e in d a li; land within or about it. Ravines M ahom etans— two thousan d Ro considerable num ber of chapels and I tell th e doings of th e A ll-F ath er, ost a n cien t Sagas w hich come and declivities everywhere abound. m an Catholics, four thousand other holy edifices. The Mahome In th e to m my m ind. There are, indeed, some sm all O rthodox Greeks, one thousand tans are well supplied with mag- T here was an age in which Y m er lived, m ountain peaks overtopping the \rm en ian s, a few hundred Copts, »ificent mosques. The P rotestants \\ hen was no sea, n o r sh o re, nor salt waves. city itself, but only a few hundred. E thiopians and Syrians, and about aiso have a num ber o f structures Nor earth Motv, nor heaven above, Barrenness is everywhere ap three hundred Protestants. Of the devoted to religious uses. The prin- No yaw ning abyss am i no grassy lan d , parent. A few old olive trees and rem ainder, sixty thousand are Jew, (‘ipal source of popular revenue con- Ti*l th e sons of Bors lifted th e dom e of wild flowers alone relieve the gaze a t least half of whom were expelled « is* >n preying upon the fifty to And ,.rea,'ed’’the vast M idgard (earth) as one rides about I be country. from Russia a few years ago, and seventy-five thousand pilgrim s, below; Hie south rose af>ove the There are no forests,all having been have wandered here because they whose credulity or curiosity annu- 1 >H*n cut down and consum ed. The city knew nowhere else to go. T heseare a Hy leads them to visit these weird And th e green grasses ma<le the g ro u n d itself, within the old w all-, is noted for the most p art supported by the an(t weary scenes. Beggars are | so u th , com panion of th e chiefly for rubbish and rottenness, ch a rity of Baron Ilirsch, and some even more ab u n d an t th an ruins. religion and ru in s, piety and pover other w ealthy people in England " b y should we, however, espe- H*dd the horses of heaven with his right ty. The general architecture is cheap and elsewhere. The Turks are in po- d a ily care for the present appear- The ,,ot wlmt its course should and uninteresting. One or two story litical control and heartily despise ance of this wonderful country and he, both Jews and C hristians. All of city, or for the m aterial o ccu p a-;Tbe " X m ld " ^ Wbat heF P° WCr buildings of cement or stone mostly prevail. L ittle or no wood en tersin - these unanim ously reciprocate the tions of its present in h ab itan ts? The stars knew not where their places to their construction. Rough arches sentim ent. So the people of the Evidences of the holy past are were. overtop the rooms, and m any are H oly City do not dwell together as in dem and, and a r e v is ib le on ev- n went *nto the hall entirely w ithout floor. Most of the brethren in unity. Most of them , ery hand. There were, of course, And the all-holy gods held a council, windows are w ithout glass, and few of w hatever age or sex,are the most ^oine scoffing sinners in our party -arn<M ar)d new houses have chim neys. The first filthy in appearance and conduct, who challenged th e divinity of the They called to the m o rn in g an d to m id- Hours of dw elling houses are com ragged,unkem pt, bare-headed,hare- scriptures and insisted th a t 'h e j To the afternoon and evening, arranging th e tim es, monly used as stables for camels footed, beggarly specimens of the m any tales of m arvelous things al- < Then V ala narrates how Ih eth ree and donkeys. W hitew ash seems to race possible to imagine. Large l^ged to have occurred here are be freely used on the buildings, num bers are afflicted with sore eyes, mere fictions devised by priests to gods, Odin, H onir an d L odur “ the giving about the only appearance The only business carried on, o u t- deceive an ignorant people. How m ighty and m ild Aser,” found Ask "i cleanliness visible in the city. side of the hotels and hospices, is strange!— [H oly Smoke in the Holy an<l Em bla, the Adam and Eve of m of Land. 1 e , o rth o n legends, lying w ithout the m anufacture anufacture and and sale sale of 1 he streets are absolutely abom the soul, sense, motion or color. Odin inable. They vary in w idth from rosaries, crosses and crucifixes of gave them th eir souls, A H A onir '7 1 1 1 1 th V l l eir vl I olive wood or m other of pearl; mere lanes, five or six feet wide, . www. v. ....z»..». %z. jzv«.., If people would do the good to- intellects, L odur th eir blood and Then comes a d e arched over from side to side, dark wooden saints, pious photographs, day th a t they talk of doing tomor- co^ re.^ and dingy, to others ten or twelve olive-covered Bibles, pressed flow- row, the church people would not ^ rip tio n of the end and renewal of feet wide. Most of them are poor ,rs of the Holy Land, and fuel have to drag th e tnillen........ in by {Jh.g'm ightfeT 'than a i l “ h a U a r r ^ - ly and roughly paved. Some are from camel dung. Of course, there the years. — ' [ .......... I en G reat — Religions. a r? u i i v v .w v z « *