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THE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY, SEPTEM BER 8, 1898.
laboring men and their troubles,
after which he to«>k some blocks
AUNT riA R Y ’S LETTER.
and nails and pipes and showed
how he would* build a house, and
S il v e r t o n , O r ., Ju ly 1,2000. ventilate, and drain , and heat it.
This pleased Jonah so he clapped
D ear S ister M a rth a :
his hands until I had to shake mv
Jo n ah arid I had a very pleasant head at him. You know he some
trip and readied thin city much tirrx*s forgets where he is.
sooner than we expected to. W'e
The next girl told all about when
are well pleased with the city and printing was discovered, and how
will move here this fall.
they m ade hooks of skins and
I wish you would make np your things before th at, and, oh, lots
mind to come too and send your more, and then she showed us how
children to the Liberal I Diversity. to fix type, and she printed a little
You m ust setxl th e children h e r e ! verse with a hand press they had
to school any how, whether you there.
conclude to move or not. I promised
A nother young fellow had an
to tell you w hat they fetch here. oration telling about how the
Well they teach good useful book governm ent should he run, and
learning and how to work too, so then he bound a book that bad no
the children can take care of th em back, just as good as you can buy
selves when they grow up.
of an agent.
There were several others, but I
They teach every boy a trade of
some kind, how to keep accounts, will skip over these and tell about
how to garden, mend his own clothes the last girl. She told about how
wonderful our bodies are made and
and cook.
The girls all have trades, too, p u t together, and how we should
besides learning how to sew, cook take good care of them . She just
gave the women fits for the wav
and keep house.
We have been all through the thev dress, and Jo n ah kept w ink
buildings and grounds, and have ing at me and winking, but before
seen the children at work and heard long be had to catch it, too, and
them recite their lessons from books. then he w ouldn’t look so I could
It was very interesting to watch wink. After we got done laughing
them . They cook, dairy, type and applauding, she cut and fitted
write, print, carpenter, trim hats, a long apron on one of the girls,and
prune, black-sm ith, carve wood, they told us she had chosen dress
make dresses, burn bricks, besides m aking for her trade and that she
playing the piano and violin and had made all the graduating dress
p ain tin g pictures. There appears es for the class. They were white,
to be a good steady woman at the and as neat and d ain ty looking as
head of each of the girls’ work, and you ever saw, and not too tight,
the same sort of a m an to guide the either.
boys.
Between the orations they gave
They were all very proud of their us some music. The m illiner and
work and kept saying, “ Look here, the p rinter played a lively piece on
Auntie, at my flower bed,” or what the piano together. One girl sang
ever th ey ’d worked at. I ’d open my a song and the rest of them joined
eyes wide and tell them th a t the in the chorus.
A nother tim e they
youngsters out our way couldn’t be all sang together, and at last the
gin to do th a t well.
boys got out their fiddles and just
They had their com m encem ent made them hum . They all got lots
the next week after we got here,and of flowers, and it did a person good
of course we went.
They have a to see them know’ so much and look
large hall with a platform across so bright and happy.
I wished
one end of it, and we were shown them well, every one of them, and
in there and seated on nice velvet do yet.
chairs. The hall was nearly full
A few days after school was out,
when we got there, hut the people the teachers and all the students
kept coming until 1 thought I n ev th a t did not have to go home for
er saw so m any men and women vacation, packed up and went to
before in my life.
I don’t see bow to the ocean beach to camp. We
the polite little ushers m anaged to had never been to the coast, so we
take care of everyone.
accepted an invitation from them
They opened with some nice m u and went along too. I am glad I
sic by the school orchestra, and did, for I never had such a good
then one of the girl graduates got time before in my life.
up and read a piece shehad w ritten
Every day after the m orning work
about the scenery along the C olum was all done and the cam p cleaned
bia river. Then she went to a lit up, we would go to the shore and
tle table and trim m ed a lad y ’s hat, wade and swim in the surf.
talking all the while about w hat
The young folks have pretty b a th
colors go well together, and w hat ing suits and you ought to see them
shapes are becoming to tall women, swim out to the rocks and tow one
and short women, and round an d another in, so th a t if an accident
slim faces.
Then they exhibited ever called on them to risk th eir
two or three nice, large pictures she lives, th ey ’d be ready for it. I
had painted.
thought it was a fine thing. They
Then one of the boys spoke about were not allowed to go in only when
we all went, so nobody got hurt or
drow ned.
Then we’d come hack, gathering
flowers am i rocks and hugs on the
way, and the hoys would take just
one egg out of the birds’ nests th e y ’d
find and catch all kinds of fish.
After dinner we’d all gather in
rocking-chairs, rustic scats,cots and
ham m ocks and the teachers would
tell about the hugs, flowers, birds,
fish, rocks and alm ost everything.
The young folks would listen and
ask questions about them right
along.
W hy, land! those youngsters
know a heap more th an Jo n a h or
I either.
I only wish I was young again;
but they say it is never too late to
learn. I know I have learned more
here in a week th an I used to learn
in a vear at the old country school
house, or ever could learn there for
th a t m atter.
Some nights we’d all go to the
top of a high, rocky hill th a t seems
to rise straig h t out of the water,
and we would listen to the waves
dashing against the rocks below us
and look at the stars through a tel
escope th ey ’d brought along.
It
would m ake you dizzy to hear those
children talk about the stars and
planets; tell how far away they are
and call them by names.
The old professor ju st dotes on
his students, and one day when he
was telling me about how good they
all are I ju st asked him if he ex
pected to make angels out of all his
graduates.
He sm iled a queer lit
tle smile and said:
“ I d o n ’t know w hat you mean by
angels, hut I do expect to send out
good, noble, intelligent hum an be
ings. Can you im agine an y th in g
better th an th a t? ”
I bad to own I couldn’t.
It is seldom I w rite such long
letters as this, but it is not often I
find an y th in g I am as interested in
as I am in this institution of learn
ing built by the broad-m inded, lib
erty-loving men and women of a
hundred years ago, when the world
was so full of narrow , blighting re
ligious creeds. They have a list of
the nam es of all who contributed
to erect th e first building, and a l
though the men and women have
long since passed away, their work
will live forever and m ultiply each
year.
There, I d id n ’t m ean to preach,
and I will close before you accuse
me of it. Send the children soon.
Y our loving sister,
M ary .
B ib le C o n tr a d ic tio n s .
RY JOHN A. WILSON.
The C hristian bible contains hun
dreds of contradictions. We have
room here for only a few. No ra
tional man or woman can read th(
bible attentively and believe it to
be the word of an unchangeable
god of infinite love, wisdom and
power. The fact th a t the bible was
written by m any different men, and
at remote periods of tim e, is no ex
cuse for the co n trad ictio n s if all
the w riters were inspired by the
same god, who is quoted as saying,
“ For I am the Lord, I change not”
(M ai. iii. 6).
And when they were departed,
behold the angel of the Lord ap
peared to Joseph in a dream , sav
ing, Arise and take the young child
and his m other into Egypt. . .
W hen he arose be took the young
child and bis m other by night and
departed into E gypt: and was there
until the death of H erod.— M att. ii.
13-15.
And when eight days w’ere ac
com plished for the circum cising of
the child, bis nam e was called J e
sus, which was so nam ed of the a n
gel before be was conceived in the
womb. [R ead M att. i. 22-23.] And
when the days of her purification
according to the law of Moses were
accom plished, they brought him to
Jerusalem to present him to the
lord.— Luke ii. 21-22.
W atch and pray, th a t ye enter
not into tem p tatio n .— M att. xxvi.
41.
My brethren, count it all joy
when ye fall in divers tem ptations.
—Jam es i. 2.
Let no man say w hen he is tem pt
ed, I am tem pted of God, for God
cannot be tem pted of evil, neither
tem pteth he any m an.— Jam es i. 13.
Thou sh alt not tem pt the Lord
thy God.— M att. iv. 7.
And it came to pass after these
things th a t God did tem pt A bra
ham .— Gen. xxii. 1.
God is not a m an, th a t he should
lie.— N um . xxiii. 19.
It was impossible for God to lie.
H eb. vi. 18.
For this cause God shall send
them strong delusion, th a t they
should believe a lie.—2 Thees. ii.ll.
Now, therefore, behold, the Lord
hath p u t a lying sp irit in the
m outh of all these tbv prophets. — 1
Kings xxii. 23.
And it the prophet be deceived
when be h ath spoken a thing, I the
Lord deceived th a t prophet.—Ezek.
xiv. 9.
Knowledge is the highest good
\\ ith God all things are’ possible.
and happiness the highest satisfac
— M att. xix. 26.
tion of life.
I am the Lord, the God of all
The world has suffered long at flesh; is there an y th in g too hard
the hands of those who have m eant for me?
There is nothing
well. The serious business of pro too h ard for thee.—Jer. xxxii.27,17
gress and reform has no enem y so
And the Lord was with Ju d a h ,
dangerous as its fool friends.— Dr. and drave out the in h a b ita n ts of
F. E. Roberts.
¡the m o u n tain ; but could not drive