THE TORCH OF REASON, 81LVERION, OREGON, J HI RSDAA, SE PI EMBER 29, 1898.
4
ijio red by the happy one that the anv effect upon it at all.
By provisions of the ordinance,
la w — th e great law of the survival
The O n ly Paper of Its K in d .
of the fittest — will at last solve the the butcher and barber shops are
problem, and future generations allowed to he open certain hours,
Published W eekly by th e Liln-ral U n i­
will have elim inated the meek and and m erchants are allowed to sell
versity Com pany, in the In terests oi
C onstructive, Moral Secularism .
th e weak, and the brave and strong goods in case of em ergency, ami
Torch of Reason
J . E . H o s m e r...........................E d it o r will in h e r it th e e a rth .
P. W . Geer,
........
M anager
If the ten d encies of advancem ent
in th e h u m a n
fam ily c o n tin u e un-
E ntered at th e postortiee.at Silverton, interrupted for a long enough lime,
Oregon, hs second-class m ail m atter.
the common m ind of today will he
some of the m erch an ts were on
hand w atching for one of those
emergencies, but none came along
and the doors rem ained closed.
So far as the Torch of Reason is
concerned, it is none of our busi­
ness. W e are glad to see the m er­
ch an ts and clerks (th e w riter was
once a clerk) rest all they can, h u t
if they want to work on Sunday or
sell goods on th a t day, we see no
reason why they should not be a l­
lowed to.
W’e are glad of one
thing, and th a t is th a t this ordi­
nance does not appear to be an
orthodox invention, and no one is
prevented from doing all the work
he w ants to.
Miw th a t the sta rt
has been made, the church may try
to carry it fa rth er and prevent
work and play on S unday, but we
have little fear of their doing a n y ­
thing of the kind in Silverton,
where the people are so fond of
work, ami especially play, on S u n ­
day or any other day.
A person can rest on Sunday
w ithout losing m uch, hut the m er­
ch an t in Silverton who would have
closed his d o o r s on Sunday b e fo re
the passage of this ordinance would
have lost trade.
T h a t is what
prom pted the law.
We feel th at
there is no cause for fear. The
church is not in power in this city
ami the question of religion does
not figure in m unicipal and school
elections or affairs. W’e will ven­
ture the assertion, however, th a t
the law is unconstitutional and
would not stand a test, but there is
no occasion for its being tried if
those affected are all w illing to
have it as it is.
supplanted by the higher, and the
subscription rates .
higher by one beyond our eompre-
One year, in a d v an c e .......................... $100 hension in its strength of intellect
Six m onths, in a d v a n c e ....................
and will and its control of the emo-
25 ;
T hree m onths, in a d v an c e ................
| tions.
In clubs of five or m ore, one year,
in ad v an ce..........................................
' 5 ! I t is th o u g h t th a t if black bears
Money should he sen t by registered
introduced into the Arctic re-
le tte r or m oney order.
•
.
gions they would in tim e become
white, for the lighter ones would
N o tic e !
e s c a p e the notice of th eir enemies
A pencil m ark here denotes th a t your better than the blackest ones, and
subscription will e x p ire w ith th e next the lightest offspring of the lighter
num ber. You are earnestly requested
to renew so th a t you may receive the pa­ ones the same, until only white
p e r w ithout in te rru p tio n . We have de­ hears rem ained. The hum an fam ­
cided th a t it is best for all concerned
th a t we do not send papers longer than ily is going through the same pro-
th e tim e paid for unless so ordered. , ceHp. n o t in color alone, but in the
T his will prevent any loss and we will I t
...
, , ., , ,
characteristics of both body and
know ju st w here we stand
semi us the nam es In j n(] which fit OUI race for the po­
We request you to send
of Secularists who m ight
ig h t become sub-
. .
. . . . .
scribers and we w ill m ail sam ple copies. eihon which it occupies.
We m ust alw ays remember, how-
THURSDAY, S E P T . 2«. E. M. 298 ever’ ,hi" if
POHilion which we
occupy dem ands no use of eyes, out
tin y go, ami like the fish in subter­
N a tu r a l S e le c tio n o f M a n .
ra m*an rivers and lakes we will be-
tliat men would
The discovery of th e law of the
’
w i’h one accord leave the dark
survival of the fittest in the propa-i
t
.
...
,, , ....... .
’
w a te rs of su p e rstitio n an d tu rn to
galion of species is far more im- ^}]e g,-ea^ PUtl of tru th whence com ­
portant than all the supernatural (q|, our help!
religions of the world, and there is
higher intellectual pleasure than
I ocal S u n d a y L aw .
the com parison of the two ways for
accounting for N ature’s phenom ena
Among the business men «»f Sil-
— the old, superstitious, bible way vert«»n very few C hristians can he
and the m odern, civilized, scientific found. In spite of this a n ajority
way. W hat a great field for happy of them have d« sired to close their
thought and investigation there is places of business on S unday, not
in the comparison of the Genesis through piety, hut in order to have
creation theory ami the modern a day for rest and recreation. A
idea of the highest form of life hav- few of the principal places of husi-
in g passeil th ro u g h th e em bryonic ness refused to close, ami the others
G o n e b u t N o t F o r g o tte n .
state, the babyhood, the youth, to did not do so on account of losing
Our editor has gone again, has
the present manhood of our race, custom ers, since Silverton, through
How different they are, and what custom , had grown to be q u ite a taken his wife with him , and the
business m anager is left alone in
foolish trap s people ge, into when lively business place on S unday,
they try to harm onize them! We
A short tim e ago a petition, his glory, to wield the editorial pen
have the painful feeling of sorrow signed hv the citizens and business at the office and atten d to the pig
T his is the second
when we think of the trouble we men of the city, was presented to pen at home.
once had and the m any conscien- the council, asking th at an ordi- time we (the pigs and the w riter)
tious young men and young women nance he passed closing the houses « have been left in this predicam ent,
who aie fighting this battle of the of business and am usem ent on lan d we will try and pull through
gods against their own reason and Sunday. The council acted accord­ in as good shape as we did before.
the conclusions of the philosophers. ingly. and Sunday, Septem ber 25,
Yes, the editor is away, but the
To he sure, there are some who was the first day affected. It was best part of it is, he will soon re­
He and his wife started
are born with m inds too lazy to rath e r a novelty for Silverton, and tu rn .
fight, and they live and die happy, the result was watched with inter- F riday m orning with J ie ir backs
perhaps, hut their happiness jeem s est. Some prophesied th at the u n ­ tow ard the rising sun, and it is
to us like the happiness of a swine, w illing ones would oppose the law, supposed they continued to travel
They just g ru n t around — eat, sleep hut no opposition was noticeable, un til they reached the great Pacific.
and work like a machine, hut never and all m erchants seemed to he They will m ingle business with
really think. For them , error is as satisfied and w illing to rest for a pleasure, and let us hope th a t their
good as the tru th . The words th a t change. The clerks in the stores trip will be p leasant for them selves
stir to quick pulsations the brains m ounted their bicycles and struck and profitable to the cause they
W hen they retu rn we
of thinkers, fall dead upon their for the country, or passed the day represent.
dull ears and excite no em otions of as best suited them , few, if any, at- will welcome them , for we do not
patriotism , of fratern ity , or of pa- tending church.
In fact the law like to he alone, and we hope they
ternal affection.
But sad as the will tend to lessen church atteud- j will bring us plenty of fish with
thought is, it is overcome and con- ance in the sum m er time, if it has which to feed our tired brain.
A t H o m e a n d A b ro a d .
Last week I prom ised a change
of scenery. Here it is.
Upon my
arrival home I began the re g u la r
routine of work answ ering letters,
running the p rin tin g pre*", getting
o u t the m ail, am i o th er things too
num erous to mention.
This kind
of work may have kept me busy,
but it became m onotonous, so I
took the bicycle and struck for the
famous W aldo H ills, A arrived at
the borne of my uncle, Phil Bowers,
just before bedtime. 1 have a fail­
ing of arriv in g in the night nearly
every time I visit th a t h o m e , hut a
welcome aw aits me at any hour,
and A unt Maid alw ays has a bed
ready for me.
Next m orning while we were
seated at the breakfast table, word
came th a t the neighbor hoys had
an old coon and three baby coons
up a fir tree.
H a rry shouldered
the gun and aw ay we went over the
hill a mile away, where we found
three men. two «logs, two guns and
a dead coon a t the foot of the tree.
The young coons were perched on a
limb one hundred feet above. They
were not “ M am m y’s little pum pkin
colored coons,’’ hut real-for-sure
coons, g rin n in g at us as m uch as to
ask what we w anted. W h at we
really w anted was the chickens
they had stolen, hut as we could
not get them we had come after
Mr. Coon.
Two of them were sit­
ting on a limb together. The first
two shots missed, but a well aimed
shot by Mr. .Jones bit one in the
head, and lie im m ediately descend­
ed to the ground w ithout excusing
him self fr^m the others’ com pany.
It was my tu rn next and I took the
gun.
I d id n ’t aim at any certain
hair on the coon, but was satisfied
with any vital p art of his anatom y.
I aim ed at the whole coon, and I
hit what I aimed at. I hit him in
the biggest p art and down he came.
There was hut one left and H arry
brought him down.
W e all gathered at the base of
the tree and spent a few m om ents
telling coon and bear stories and
then started home.
H a rry and I
each took a coon.
I decided to
send m ine to th e L iberal U niversity
to have it m ounted and placed in
the m useum . A team was passing
on its way to S ilverton, so I sent
the coon, with directions to leave it
at the Torch of Reason office. The
fate of th e coon and the b lastin g of
ray hopes will be told later.
I am the owner of one of the
neatest little farm s on e a rth ; not
because it is m ine, nor because my
grandfather gave it to me, but sim ­
ply because N ature and g ra n d ­
fa th e r’s energy made it so. I t was
on this place th a t I spent the re­
m ainder of th e day, g ath erin g fruit
and storing it away in the old farm
bouse. I never saw such fruit. My
g ran d fath er settled here in the
early 40s, and continued his resi­
dence in the sam e place as long as