Image provided by: Silverton Country Historical Society; Silverton, OR
About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (June 15, 1899)
4 THE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, JUNE 15, 1899. men in this part "f who believe« in working far a their wisest among then, the Torch of Reason Or( are sending their wool to heaven here on earth. Here we priests, like many ignorant par- « I. kina T h e Dalles at this time of year and ate as only hungry bicyclers can ents, carelessly told them false The Only Paper ol Its . et six and elght. horge eat, received financial aid for our stories or threatened them with the teams with mammoth loads, slow- University and moved on. Mr. dark closet of hell to silence their P ublished W eekly by th e L iberal U n i Iv crawling over the hills to that .John Allen is a Secularist, indeed, troublesome questions. versity C om pany, in th e In te re sts ot C onstructive, Moral Secularism . citv one hundred miles away, and, although of no relation, puts The child diseases of our race where it can be shipped by rail to us in mind of our friends of the were as dangerous and as trouble- J. E. Hosmer,.....................Editor ail parts of the United States, same name in Silverton. He is a some as our own youthful con- p. W. Geer,.................... Manager This freighting business is quite an great sheep man, although he does tagions, and they lasted much , • i » in itaolf fbft imuH.1 nrice not wa-h in the blood of lambs, longer. \\ e have outgrown mans cents and shears at present 14,000 of of the diseases known as super- per hundred pounds. Some of the these woolly clothiers. stitions, but still the germs of some subscription RATES. i hills are very steep. We felt sorry On Bridge Creek there is no of the worst ones continue to dwarf »1 00 for the poor horses, and hope that l.ridge and the water flows very and degrade people of the highest Sia 7 ,o X n h?VaadvCaence::::::::::: BC ?ciencfl wiH goon give us a practi- swiftly over a rocky bottom, but development Yesterday we were Three months, in advance............... -o cal wav of getting produce Tirnfinee to m ar-; we boys take off our shoes and like naked children, playing on the mar- In clubs of five or njore, one year, ket without causing so much p a in stockings and carry the bikes beach of human existence. Me in a d v an c e ...................................... . . Money should be sent by registered to these poor, faithful, dumb crea- across the sharp stones, cutting our are still young, but neatly clothed, le tte r or m oney order. feet and causing some queer ex and with glow’ing cheeks and glit tures. pressions of voice and face. Charlie, tering eyes we are searching for the Notice! We reached a pretty little ranch Mrs. Hosmer’s brother, and her simple pebbles of common sense about 1 o’clock, where the teamster A h a n d pointing to th is notice denotes informed us we could get dinner, worst half made a chair of their along the shore. When will we th a t your su b scrip tio n h as e x p ire d . hands as w*e used to in our “child reach the prime of life and, with You á re earn estly req u ested to r e but the landlord, Mr. O’Neil, hard well-equipped mental apparatus, new so th a t you m ay receive th e p a ly knew whether we could get din hood days of yore” and carried our per w ithout in te rru p tio n . W e have de better half slowly, but surely, learn to wash from the soil of na cided th a t it is best for all concerned ner or not. After some delay we th a t we do no t send papers longer th a n managed to get a cold lunch at 50 across the surging water. Thus we ture the gold of eternal truth? th e tim e paid for unless so ordered. journey on, stopping on every oc T his will prevent any loss and we will cents each. We thought this “a casion to talk Torch of Reason to know just where we sta n d . L. B. Silver, a prominent citizen big price for beans,” but better We request you to send us th e nam es the people we meet. We met many of Cleveland, Ohio, and a well of Secularists who m ight becom e su b things were in store for us. We friends and secured a number of scribers and we will m ail sam ple copies. reached the Shrum ranch and re known Infidel, died a few days ago. new subscribers. And here we are The press, in reporting his d e a th , ceived a hearty welcome. W hen at Mitchell among enthusiastic TH U R S D A Y, JUNE 15, E. M. 299. ever we find subscribers to the said nothing about “the horrors of Secularists, with a fine prospect for an Infidel’s deathbed,” but statpd Torch of Reason we find friends, a large audience in a good hall. plainly that Mr. Silver’s death was and at the earnest invitation of ALL ABOARD! not attended with any great suffer these workers, we stay over one At Antelope a Christian boycott day and rest our bicycle-weary THE WORLD’S CHILDHOOD. ing, and that just before his death he “told those about him that he determine« the size of our audi limbs. This was one o f the hap The analogy of the life of the in ence, and, instead of being a large piest days of our l’ves. Rest was wanted it known to all that he one, it was what we considered what we needed, and the heavily- dividual and that o f the race is in died as he had lived—an unbe rather small. The cause of this loaded breakfast, dinner and sup teresting, and especially so in the liever in the Christian faith.” The was clearly shown. A gentleman per tables, laden with all the good study of our weaknesses. The next preacher you hear declare entered just before it was time to things of an Eastern Oregon ranch, child’s weak limbs cause it to goon that Infidels alwavs die a horrible begin our exercises and, coming up the pleasant strolls, seeing and all-fours as did our animal-like an- and repentant death, just knock j own vrith this instance, to us, enquired in regard to the learning many new things about cestors, and when it can stand erect | nature of our lecture. He said irrigation, the cultivation of al and walk, it is with tottering steps. that there were several ladies at falfa, reariug of sheep, etc., all con But the most interesting study for Our'business manager, last heard the door who would like to come spired to make our stay at the the student of mental science is the in, but that it had been noised Shrum’s a memorable one. The comparison of our mental idiosyn from in New York city, reports around town that our lecture was one thing that pleased us most was crasies. Sense perception is the success even greater than he antici against Christianity, and they did our trip to “the cave” and our geo original source of all knowledge, pated in his work. The Eastern not like to hear it if it would inter logical studies of the rocks. What and it is the first power of the Secularists take quite an interest fere with their religious belief. We great changes have taken place on child’s mind to be developed. See in our work in Silverton, and are went to the door and explained to the earth’s surface since animal ing, hearing and feeling, with but proving it by generous help. A the ladies as best we could and and plant life have existed! We little memory, conception, classifi highly encouraging report may he gave them permission to leive the found layers of rocks made up en cation, and less judgment and looked forward to at the close of building when the lecture com tirely of ground-up shells. This reason, characterize the child’s Mr. Geer’s tour. menced, inviting them to come in shows that this high and dry coun mind as it does the lower forms of and hear the rest of the program. try was under water at one time. life. The very earliest mental The clergyman who imagines They concluded to run the risk, Midway between the top and bot faculty is feeling and all know that that Jesus went up into the physi came in and remained interested tom of a very high cliff of meta the very lowest forms of life have cal heavens can never tell what he listeners the whole evening. Their morphic __ rock we found the petrified I ; only this power, but m as the various • has been doing since he went away. escort contributed more to help. remains of a log, about one and lengths of waves of the great uni There is nothing taught in heathen along our work than any one else one-half feet in diameter. Other versal ocean, continually breaking dom that is more absurd, ridicu in the house. discoveries show that this sparsely- upon the sensitive bodies of early lous, superstitious, illogical and Sunday morning, after paying timbered country was probably forms, produced the organs of sight unreasonable than the modern . . conception . of r the ., ascen- our hotel bill, which was more covered with a heavy forest at one and hearing, 7’ so in our individual . Christian . , . , , human form . than our income at this place, we time. How we would like to stay lives, ’ only J in a much shorter time, sion ot . a physical, . . . . the open space “ . whirling , . „ packed our bikes and started in this wonderful little valley for are these and other organs aevel- into of . . the toward .Mitchell via Cherry Creek, mouths and study the great stone- °Ped- worlds of modern astronomv.— The tiny hand of the little child [F|ami[)g gwOTd. the home of Jack and Nancy book of nature! But no; duty Shrum, who are so well known to calls us on, and early next moru- reaches for the moon, and the tiny our childish ancestors , our readers. The road is very ing, after receiving hearty invita-1 minds - of - w»* hilly, and after traveling several tions to come again aud a goodly reached out to grasp the solution of Let pure modern morals h» miles afoot, we were all glad to ac- donation of cash for the University, ¡the mighty problems which entered taught in the schools in place of cept an invitation to ride in a we turn our freckled and sunburnt ' their mind’s eye from far beyond biblical instruction. Teach chil- freight wagon. The wagon, or faces toward Mitchell. About 2 their grasp. Like children crying dren that morality is wholly inde- rather w’agons, for there were two o’clock we reach a fine, large, white for the moon, our ancestors cried pendent of theology, and its claims of them hitched together,- was house, surrounded by trees, flow-1 for a knowledge of the earth, of enforced, not by Sinai, but by use- drawn by six horses. ers and gardens, where lives a man their own origin and destiny, and 1 fulness.—[Robert C. Adams. i