Image provided by: Silverton Country Historical Society; Silverton, OR
About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 15, 1898)
THE TORCH OF REAM >5, SILVERTON. OREGON, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1S98. 5 My H onest O pinions. them the best I had and met several very nice people. Mr. Hay, who runs (Continued from 3d page.) Snake River, the hugest and the hotel, furnished me hoard ami giving wav, and the m ind weaken up st im portant fork of the great lodging and treated me very well, ing wiih the body in disease, are t »lund'ia, d iain s an im m ense c u n - M r.H an nau and M r.Sm ith subscrib very unreliable, to say the least. in'. Its head waters rise in five ed for the Torch, and d u rin g my But such are alm ost in v ariab ly different state-, reaching as far east short stay in Salubrin, I met m any seized upon by C hristians to distort a - the Rocky M ountains in Wy- w h o h a v e th ro w n , o f t tin orthodox the real v iews oi a person after he oming. I* or some distance, the river yoke. is dead and cannot reply. Hows through sag eb ru sh plains and journey ’8 end. Mr. Allison lives in th e country , . , ... . . As to the C hristian religion, I where the water can he used for I proceeded directly to the home and I called at Ins home for a few , . .... have studied it som ew hat, and am irrigating, the land is very produc- of oiof Sorenson, who lives on the m om ents to acquaint him with our convinced th a t it is not “ C h ristian ” tive and no more delicious fiuit hillside, one mile from Council, the work and he expressed satisfaction at all, only by adoption. It is a grows anyw here. 1 he Snake River thriving little city situated in the at learning th a t we are doing warm ed-over re-hash of ancient Pa peaches, grapes and w aterm elons v ajjev p v the sam e nam e. I found so much for h u m an ity in the nam e ganism , adapted to the needs of the are known all over the I nited y jr a n j Mrs. Sorenson at home and of Secularism . R etu rn in g to Salu- present-day priest. It is a fraud >tates. 1 his river flows across the jjja de m yself known to them . The bria, we proceeded to Middle \ alley, pure and sim ple. Not only a fraud, Southern end of Idaho and then Secular traveler is alw ays m ade eleven miles away. I he hike with hut it is the most cruel, inhum an , forms the boundary between that welcome at their place. I was pleas- the new tires went nicely and we m erciless and dem oralizing fraud >tate and Oregon. Tow ards the V(| to meet Michael Johnson and were soon at the home of Mr. Kil- on earth. I know of no religion Northern boundary of Oregon, it family from Yale, Oregon, but was horn, a good Secularist, and a good which is more so. Hows through between towering sorrv to fearQ th a t they were to m an. I was kindly treated and All system s of su p ern atu ral re m ountains, loaded with rich depos- jeave for hom e early next m orning, enjoyed my stay over night. Mr. K. ligions are frauds, and are founded its o f gold, then the river makes a yJr j oh nSon is the g ra n d fath er of i subscribed for the Torch and express- on th e ignorance and superstition sweep through W ashington and L illian, our highly esteemed Liberal . ed a desire to give the cause a further of w eak-m inded people, children, joins the old C olum bia, on itsj U niversity student. I found Mr. “ boost’’ at another tim e Next em otional women and designing way to the Pacific Ocean, before 11, Sorenson nursing a felon, which m orning we took leave of the lx.il- ,, , i , , , persons. And the “church” he- forms the boundary between O r e - ! nearlv ma(]e him sick. Mv le tte r horn fa m ily a n d w orked our w ay 1 „ , , 'com es a refuge for rascals and a gon and W ashington. had not reached there yet, so there over m ountains and through valleys feeder of scamps and hypocrites Payette, Idaho, is ju st across the were no arrangem ents m ade for a ' to W eiser, where we stopped for a | wj1() <*gtea| (he HVery of heaven to river from O ntario, Oregon, and it [lecture and we spent the evening short rest, and for dinner. i serve the devil in” Yet there are «•as at th is point th at you last visiting. D r. Le?, and Mr. M arsh, Mr. T riplu (I guess th a t is t h e ; .<in the ch u rch >. heard from me. I left Payette o n jth e photographer, called and we | way he spells i t ) owns an interst in It Inonstr()Ug poor religion lb a t W ednesday m orning, A ugust 24, spent a very p leasant evening. Mr. in a nursery at W eiser and prom is-j (jon>t bave 8ome ad h eren ts better and with the aid of the hike reach Marsh resides in W eiser and devotes e d to s e n d us some trees for the j t |,an There are some other- ed Weiser, seventeen miles down the sum m er m onths to traveling. diversity grounds. , wjHe gOO(j people who “ profess re- Snake river, at the m outh of Weis- He is an enthusiastic Secularist and From W eiser to Baker C ity, the |jgjon” for policy’s sake, and m an y er river. 1 never saw so m any wa- gaysit has never injured his business country is m ount; inous and sandy I u n believers both in “ the ch u rch ” termelons. The farm ers raise them to tell people his exact Opinion on and I decided to travel by rail for a n H out of it, keep quiet from the for the m arket and at this time all questions. 1 visited him a t his a change. The train was late and sam e cause, not caring to com bat were busy hau lin g them to town place of business next day and had I passed the tim e in a discussion or en(l,,re. the vilifying, back-biting for shipm ent. Of course there are a very pleasant tim e. He pointed ! with a C hristian Advent m i n i s t e r ! ^ o t[,Pr petty persecutions, in other varieties of fruit, but this was his cam era a t me and drew th e slid e who expressed surprise to learn th a t| which “ church people” so much A b ro a d . at Weiser, as I thought th e o ld o n e s would carry me to Council and re- j u rn , hut at Indian Valley, ten miles fron, Council, they failed, »o I took j be ‘‘hurricane deck’’ of a horse ami ro(je to my destination later in the evening. I h ad no saddle so had to ride bareback ah a the stirrups go^ a little long before I reached my the melon season, and one could which m ade quite an im pression on the railroad com pany should g ra n t ¡n(l u |ge, tow ards those of courage -t-e nothing hut melons. the dry plate. I d o n ’t know w hat me a half-fare permit. I snp- anj m ental independence, Persecution is about the only I stopped at W eiser for dinner, the outcome will be. The last I pose he was of the opinion th a t rail after which we (m y dinner, the saw of the plate he consigned it to roads are ( h ristian instituitions, weapon th e C h ristian s have now. hike and I) started for the interior the dark room, in a negative con- run in the interest of t h ristiain ty q'jipy d are not resort to argum en t of the state of Id »ho. An extra dition. and th a t the owners were all in defence of th eir system , so they drv season m akes an ex tra am ount We advertised for a lecture th at C hrietians. use such force as is yet left then) of dust, and the road in some plac- night and I was surprised to see so Following down S nake River a to the extent of their ability. es is very sandy, so the traveling m any out on sh o rt notice. I secured feA- miles, the railroad crosses into Time was when C hristians had was not easy. Night overtook us i another m em ber to the Oregon State <')regon. Here, the Oregon Short power even over the lives of people at Middle V alley, and we stopped I Secular I nion and m et several Line ends and the (). R. <fc N. he- : H istory shows th at they have never at the home of a good C hristian la enthusiastic Secularists, am ong gins, and at this junction, the town hesitated to use th a t power freely brll, a „ y< Ignorant,b ru t- dy who, although she was not well, whom are, Mr. < am p and fam ily, of H untington is situ ated ,d ep -n d en t j treated tie well, and the next m orn- Mrs. Morrison, Mr. Hancock, M r-j " ¿ T town The train stopped for al and savaga, the wise and virtu- ing I gave her some Secular tracts K ehrli and others. Secularism was ¿ ¡ nner anfj | put jn the half hour ous have ever been their especial and a copy of.the Torch of Reason, introduced here a year ago by Mrs. visiting friends and eating peaches, j prey, and the dungeon, the rack, the which I hope will prove th e prop- H osm er and Miss D ePeatt, who held Upon boarding the train again, gtake? fjre a n j BWOrd, have been er dose to cure her of her illness, some very successful m eetings and I encountered a M ethodist m inister th(,jr o n ly “ a rg u m e n t” to “ convert” both of body and m ind. Idaho has secured several mem bers to the we^reached Baker City, fifty people to C hristianity. some very pretty valleys, and Mid- S. S. L. 1 here is a chance to build m jjeg d istan t, where my journey by To “ hold no faith with the un- <ile valley is one of them . If there , up a splendid organization at r a jj en d e d . I enjoyed my' visit believer” , to d o e v il that good m ight were not so m any barren motin- Council and I was invited to return with this m inister. He informed corne»^ them , has been sound tains the country would he more this fall and assist in launching the II),; th at In is a lif l n y r in then o r(bodox doctrin. U nder the sav- desirable to live in. Crossing a low organization on a hrm footing. range of hills, we reached Salubria S aturday m orning I borrowed a valley, farth er up the Weiser, and saddle of M r . Sorenson, to go with by far the prettiest valley I saw in the horse, and started on m y retu rn Idaho. S alubria is a neat little to S alubria, where I was to lecture evolution is rulod'over by God. age sway of C h ristian ity th e Roman j tj|at theocratic evolu- Em pire was destroyed; the arts and tion s im possible, for God sciences lost; and for tw elve hun- cannot rule over evolution. Evolu- ,jrvij years civilization was carried tion rules over God. I he God of backward into degradation and town in a th riv in g country, and Secularists are not w anting there, The editor of the paper is a S«cu- larist and he express* d willingness to arrange for a lecture S aturday blan5.e to t he g(,d of the past. He barbarism . ¡g nubject to the laws of evolution After the Infidel invention of and evolution has changed him as printing and gunpowder, learn in g well as S atan. began to revive, though the church 5 ou m ay as well talk of d vilistic all its m ight ag ain st th a t evening. I reached the home of the horse a t noon and stopped for dinner. Mr. Johnson of Vale had taken the bike to S alubria. where I ha<l ordered the tires sent, so I rode m ight, on my re tu rn trow Council the other ten miles in a freight Evolution needs no handle. It can ,L B ut under the sp irit of inquiry, Valley. We stopped only a few wagon. T he w eather waa hot, the |,a ndlc itslf, and handle both God lonht. hkepticism, freethought, inti- m om ents, and then journeyed on. farrm rs were busy, and my lecture and tlw devil. d tlity , or by whatever nam e U The new tires for the bike were left,’ was not well attended, hut I g^v»*. P earl W. G her . , may he called, civilization began