2
T H E TORCH OF REASON, S IL V E R T O N , O REGON , T H U R S D A Y , S E P T E M B E R 1, 1898.
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of pedestrians. S harp and sp lin t­ to catch him , h u t the halfhreed, wild
The L am b eth Conference.
ered pinacles th ru st them selves up with terror, turned and fled.
BY MRS. M. M. TURNER.
V
0
T ravelers by the Ma lor tra il
i>0-00-00-0O O0 0 0 -0 0 0 0 0 0 0 oo-ooooO from the depths like *pears of a
crouching f<»e. They would have som etim es turn aside Io hear the
FRIGHTENED BY AN ECHO;
Thoughts suggested by passages of the
called, but feared th at the object wonderful echo of the Rocky C an­
Conference, held in London, Eng­
OR,
land, May, 1897, as rendered "
of their seared) would hide from on, and the people in the little m in­
Ignorance is th e flo th e r of Fear.
bv Current History.
them , so they swung them selves ing cam p perched lik e 'a n eagle’s
u
Am erican and Colonial Bishops
A low-roofed hut, h a lf log cabin down into the depths. Even as nest on the cliff, tell of a poor Swiss
and half dugout, clung to the Hide they did so a fam iliar sound fell fiddler who played to th e echo un- th e P rim ates of E n g lan d , Ireland
But th a t was and S cotland” composed the con­
of a steep, wind-swept slope, which upon th e ire a rs fam iliar, yet set m • til he went m ad.
was brown with dry, rustling tufts iug strangely wild and unreal heard away back in the six ty ’s, and the ference. “ T he sessions were held
behind closed doors.”
of hunch grass and flooded with the in that unaccustom ed spot; it was floods of th irty years together with
A good note in the sweet mu-ic
light of the full moon sailing throuh the sound of a violin. They clim bed the vandal touch of the m in er’s
an unclouded sky above t h e great on over the slippery rocks a ml reach blast have so changed th e profile of of liberty of conscience and reason
hare foothills and the low, diin ridge e<l a sm all opening at the foot of a crum bling rock, th at th e walls hut was sounded when a “ recoil against
of the m ountains.
narrow w aterfall.
answ er back in grum bling m ono­ centralization and absolutism was
An old man was sitting up in his
I he stunted pines th a t grew’ on tone, and the wild, sweet voice of revealed, in which the American
bishops took a leading p a rt.”
bed in one corner of the r o o m ,w a v ­ the canon walls stretched out dark I the canon is forever still.— [Sel.
“ At the close of the conference
ing his arm s and hum m ing a tune arm s th a t strove to clasp hands
an encyclical letter supposed to
The Use of F lies.
softlv to himself; a fevered light across the chasm, and out of their
have been w ritten by the Archbish­
shonein his eyes, and as his w ander­ shadow leapt the water, everchang-
‘‘Y es, Bobby,’' said the m inister, op of C anterbury and signed by the
ing gaze went out to tfie vast brown ing like some riotous living thing,
shoulder of the hill he saw it not, now plunging straig h t and w hite who was dining with the fam ily, bishops of Gloucester and Winches­
but rath er caught the gleam of the into the abyss, now flinging out an “ everything in this world has its ter sum m ing up the net results of
light on the clustered leaves of the a *ry ve’l
sp ray th a t broke in a use, although we m ay not know the discussion, was addressed to the
what it is. N “ \v, there is the fly, faithful in C hrist Je su s.”
terraced vineyards of bis own home shower of mist upon the rocks.
This letter contains the follow­
You would not think
U p o n a ja g g e d point th a t reached , for instance.
valley and beard the women singing
as they descended the m ountain a crum bling edge alm ost to the very ! th a t flies are good for anything, ing: “ Inasm uch as m oral conduct
is m ade by our Lord the test of re­
side bearing their bundles of hay face of the fall stood the old fiddler, y et—”
“ Oh, yes, I would,” in terru p ted ality in religious life,” etc. This is
and with their sickles in their his chin resting on his beloved in ­
strum ent as with nervous fingers Bobby. “ I know’ w hat flies are good an o th er note! Moral conduct, not
hands.
faith, is the “ testo f reality in relig­
the how he drew from the I for.”
His com panions were sound grasping
e
ious life”.
“ M h at, Bobby?”
asleep, rolled in th eir blankets on strings such music as his listeners
The letter goes on to say: “ The
“ Pa says th a t they are the only
the d irt floor; a sw arthy h a lf-breed had never heard before.
Suddenly the superstitious half- thing w hat keeps him aw ake when critical study of the bible by com­
boy, with his d ark h a ir falling
petent scholars is essential to the
across his closed eyes, ami a cowboy, breed crouched dow n upon the ! you are preaching.”
m aintenance in the church of a
weary with his d ay ’s long ride, with rocks, crossing himself. The cow­
health y faith. T h at faith is already
A D iscovery.
his arm s outstretched and his boy’s face even wore a look of s u r­
in serious danger which refuses to
strong features looking pallid in prise th a t was alm ost fear. Soft
A little girl, on looking up into face questions th a t m ay he raised
the square of m oonlight th a t fell ami clear, with an u n earth ly sweet­
ness, the sound of another violin the sky, asked her m other w hat either on the au th o rity or genuine­
across th e ro o m .
ness of any p art of the scriptures
The old m an rose noiselessly, was heard. It seemed to come from those brixjit things were.
“ S tars,” she replied.
which have come down to us.
dressed himself, drew a violin from the very heart of the fall itself, and
“ W hat are s ta rs ? ”
“ It is quite true th a t there have
its case under the bed, and passed its liquid notes blended with the
“ I don’t know ,” said her m other. been instances where in q u iry has
out into the glory of the night. It rush of the waters. Then stealing
The little girl then happening to led to doubt and ultim ately to infi­
was not the first time he had eluded on the senses so g ra d u ally th a t
But the best safeguard
them th u s and had stolen away and they could h ard ly tell when it be­ look down to the front door steps, delity.
retu rn ed in the m orning while they gan, a th ird instrum ent was heard, saw her father and several gentle­ agaist such a peril lies in th a t deep
yet slept.
p lain ly distinguishable from the men sm oking cigars. She tu rn ed reverence which never fails to ac­
to her m other, saying:
com pany real faith .”
T hat night the half-breed awoke; others.
“Oh! I know w hat the stars are.
The writers of the letter do not
the light ju s t then fell across the
The how moved slower in the
bed—it was em pty. He sprang obi m an’s trem bling grasp, he ceas­ They are the angels sm oking ci­ say, as in all tru th they m ight
have said, th a t doubt and infidel­
to his feet and called the cowboy ed to play, and lifted his face, alight gars.”
ity are found in the ran k s of the
an d they searched in and about the with ecstacy toward the falls.
m ost profound th in k ers and reas-
cabin, hut the old man ^teemed to
Still, the wonderful melody poured
W ho S aid G race?
oners; honest m inded men an d wo­
have disappeared as u tterly as if down between th e scarred walls of
Sothern once played an adsurd men, not com m itted to any creed,
the earth had opened and swallowed the canon — one after another u n ­
him up. The white m an gave up seen in stru m en t seemed to take up trick on twelve of his freinds. He who have searched far and wide for
and stood rubbing his drowsy eyes, the st rain until the night throbbed invited them to supper, and wrote 1 ru th s “ th at can he proven without
inclined to go hack and go to sleep, with the breath of th e harm ony. a private note to each m an be­ our ceasing to be m en,” in the bible
but the half-breed ran round and The water shook out its filmy length forehand, to ask him to be so good of the universe and books of our
round the cabin like a hound with , into the m oonlight -----
and ----
the pine as to say grace, as the chairm an earth.
its nose to the trail. AU at once he i houghs seemed to bend lower and was unavoidably prevented from
The bishops have assum ed the
raised his hands aloft and began to lower. ’I et,as the sounds m ultiplied atten d in g the d in n er. T he faces of am using, though pitiable, position
gesticulate wildly ami point up they grew more faint, as they died those twelve men when they rose in of approving of critical study of the
the hill, talk ing rapidly in his own away they were sweeter still and a body to say grace m ust have been bible “ by com petent scholars”, hut
peculiar jargon of Chinook and more entrancing, sw eeter—fa in te r— a sight indeed.
this study m ust he accom panied by
u
French. Up the hill they went, the until the three wacthers breathless,
real fa ith ” arid the “deep rever­
dust rising in little puffs as they listening, heard ouly the night wind
G od’s Apology.
ence” it engenders, to hold the fort
crushed the dry grass beneath their blowing through the dead grass at
against criticism , reason and sci­
Sm
all
Boy.—
“
Does
God
ever
feet,the half-breed leading the way, the top of the cliff and the low rush
ence.
m ake apologies?”
while the cowboy followed, w onder-, of the w ater.
The bishops say, “ The- central
C lerical
Visitor. — “ C ertainly object of C hristian faith m ust a l­
ing w hat whim could have seized
1 he old m an stood with his arm s
the half crazed old m an th a t he outstretched in silent adoration, the not.”
ways he the Lord Jesus C hrist h im ­
should run away like th at.
S. B.— “ Well, pa says you are self.”
violin slipped from his hold and
Over the rise of the hill they came fell unheeded into the chasm , still only an apology for a m an .”
The ropes of “ fa ith ” and “ rever­
to the breaks of a narrow , rocky he listened as if the echo of the
ence” hind these gentlem en to
canon. Its walls were precipitous, music yet thrilled his brain, then To say to a m an; “ I can tru st you,”
strange, unscientific beliefs, such as
and dangerous breaks yawned in the staggered and would have fallen speaks more for his religion than to
the crap in the garden story an d
narrow pathw ay for the destruction had not th e cowboy sprung forward
say: “ I do not doubt your faith .” the fall of m an; an universal del-
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