THE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, NOVEMBER 23, 1899.
4
ence means to our struggling insti-
tutjon
Yes, true Liberals will never for-
The Only Paper of Its Kind.
get this, the first lesson of the Lib-
Published W eekly by th e Liberal U ni- eral University—to be faithful to
versity C om pany, in the In terests of
their convictions, neither turning
C onstructive, Moral Secularism .
this way nor that w’ay for the sake
Editor
a 8hort-lived advantage. Let us
J. E ’
’
Mamo-er
“hew to the line, let the chips
P. W. Geer......................... Manager
fall where they may.”
Torch of Reason
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THURSDAY, NOV. 23, E. M. 299.
OUR R E W A R D .
not want to help this great work
along are not forced to do so, and
those who think that it will ruin
the eternal prospects of the souls of
the coming generation are expected
to fight us; but the chronic kickers,
grumblers and fault-finders in our
own ranks are invited to take a
back seat for a while, as time is too
precious to waste on trifles. Come
on now, Freethinkers, do as a few
of the very best representatives of
our cause are now doing! Isn’t the
fact that Dr. Foote, N. F. Griswold,
Susan Wixon, Mrs. M. M. Turner,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, B. F. Un­
derwood, T. B. Wakeman, George
Jacob Holyoake and other well
and very favorably known workers
are doing what they can, sufficient
to arouse us all to action? “Let
us now hang together” and build
up along the main line, and forget
all the little side issues and petty
notions.
Don’t find fault but help us to
build!
guards as they mount to their perch
(the pulpit) and shoot with their
old blunderbusses (the Bible) every
poor soldier who dares to reach be­
yond the (leadline of his cried.
yc
Ti
Talk but a moment with some of
these poor w’retches and discover
that mental gangrene has set in
and that the strong right arm of
thought (the reason) has been shat-
tered and that the remaining part,
unattended, has become a disgust-
IN N A T E C U SSE D N E SS.
ing and a pitiable sight.
We are building a fort. We are
There exists in the minds of
in earnest. It is liberty or death
many people what some call innate
with us. We need palmetto logs,
bales of cotton, sand, rock, powder,
cussedness. They seem to care to
lead, hard-tack, beans, socks, blan­
do nothing excepting to keep oth­
kets, canteens, and a letter from
ers from doing something to make
home. We need the sinews of war.
the world better, and it is re­
We have stopped bushw’hacking
markable w’hat great pains these
and are building a fort, we repeat
anarchistic human harpies will
—an arsenal—a strong tower; and
by the gods that die young, we will
take in order to destroy the good
hold the fort as long as a drop of
works of others.
emancipated
blood
circulates
When Prof. Wakeman was mak­
through our Freethought veins.
ing preparations to leave his home
For the love of Humanity, we
in New York and join the great
must not let our thoughts of free­
W HAT W E W ANT.
hegira of Secularism that is gath­
dom, our labor of love and our
ering force in Silverton, he received
If we do not, in some wav, make fight for the right be in vain.
letter after letter from these poor
children of destruction warning our wants known to our friends,
him not to come. The president how can we ever expect to get help?
MUSIC IN TH E L. U. O.
of the University was represented The Torch of Reason is our letter
as a bad man, as narrow, as unjust, to our friends, and to let them
Perhaps nothing drives away our
as selfish, etc., etc.
know what we want is our duty.
cares and puts us into the heaven
It seemed strange that such in­
So here we go again! We want of harmony as well as good music,
terest should he taken in a perfect
stranger, as Prof. Wakeman was to our building finished; we want our and therefore our University would
the writers of these letters, and he debts paid; we want more black­ not be complete as a Secular Heav­
concluded to “stay by the people boards and other apparatus.
en-builder unless it puts much em­
who were doing the work”, and in
There are other wants, but these phasis on the art of music. Now
spite of false prophesies and warn­ are very pressing, and it seems to
ings of many disinterested(?) us that they are imperative. We in order to get this great work
friends(?) he came, and now those care not for money, only as it can started we have, in addition to
who have read the Torch since his be used to make our University a special lessons, organized a brass
arrival know his opinion. Free­ success. “Our (school) days are band, an orchestra and a choir, all
thinkers must investigate for them­ gliding swiftly by”, and if we don’t composed of members of the L. U.
selves if they want to know the hurry up our long vacation will
O. Our plan is to eventually have
truth. Come and See!
come before we get our alphabet the University own all the instru­
learned, let alone the great ability
to conjugate such a great verb as ments of music, so that when a
U N JU ST CR ITICISM S NOT
W ANTED.
Luo (I set free). Students of the player goes away it will not break
Universal University of Secular up the band or orchestra, and we
Many of the so-called Liberal Thought, we must help each other fee^ sorry that we are not able to
people in the United States have;learn to open the doors of the old buy a full outfit at once; but we
Friends of the Liberal University
know it to be a fact that we have
never temporized or catered to the
opinions of any one. We have
done our very best to “hew to the
line,” and now our reward for not
being hypocritical begins to come
in. And what is the reward we
most highly prize? It is recogni­
tion, help and sympathy in build­
ing up such an institution as will
be what the Liberal University is
fast becoming—a perfect terror to
the old orthodox world of thought
and “glad tidings of great joy to
honest, progressive thinkers. Read
Mr. H. L. Green’s communication
in this issue regarding an Ingersoll
Fund. Is not this a reward for our
stick-to-itive-ness?
become cbromc entice. They have ,
have instruments and those who
The following, taken from a pri­ gotten into the hah it of criticizing
Andersonville prison, in Great J have been Hble to borrow wi>l have
vate letter, speaks for itself:—
the church until they know but
Rebellion times, is what orthodox regular practice.
“ I adm ire your p ersistency, and I little else.
institutions are to the minds of men
^he brass band is composed en-
hope you will succeed w ith o u t lowering
T< our educational and ethical ideals.
T einponzing is, th e business of sm all
S h a ll w e h e ln th e m ? Others are Da of young men, hut the choir is
m inus. High ideals will win in th e long is not up for criticism, especially ®han we n e ip m e n u
Miners me
j
&
’
run. Cordially,
.
fo„it finJi
tk «• being captured and forced into its composed of both ladies and gen-
B. F. U nderwood .”
that spee.ee of fault-find.ng th at j crow8 edPand fl,(hy
This should teach us all a lesson on^y annoys and does h a rm . M e
that the Liberals of the world have want kind advise and help. We
been long in learning. We should may differ on minor points, but no
not try “to be popular” but try to Freethinker can say that a Univer-
be honest; we should not try to sity built on the broad basis of
secure aid by pretending to be liberty of thought will not be a
everything, but we should take our good thing, and therefore we must
stand and “stand firm,” only chang­ stick to this fact and build it. All
ing when convinced that we are on these minor points of difference can
the wrong track. If we had not and will be settled and adjusted
followed this plan from the begin- after we have succeeded in getting
ning we would never have been the school firmly established on
blessed with a Prof. W aketnau; and our platform as outlined in our in-
just see what his ability and influ-corporation papers. Those who do
ghaU | Uemen.
we help them to escape? Some
have gone insane. How long, 0
how long must the tender minds of
our youth be driven into confusion,
recklessness and debauchery by the
dark and dreary doctrines of the
gods? How long? How long?
W’e must all do all we can, and
we all know that will be little
enough. Look into any prison
house of superstition and see the
poor victims drinking of the filthy
stream that is polluted by the waste
matter of ancient myth! See the
We wish all of our friends
could be in Silverton tonight,attend
the Thought Exchange at Liberal
Hall and listen to the Secular mu-
s'c a8 from piano, violin and the
throats of young Freethinkers peal
forth the anthems of the free. But
we can’t all be here, and the next
best thing is to be here in thought
So we have written this that all
the members of our great Free-
thought family may know that we
are not neglecting the great factor
of music in our grand march to
Universal Mental Liberty.