THE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, NOVEMBER 15, E. M. 300 (1900.)
Yet ru in m ay m eet you any day or n ig h t
W hen m an h as rig h t of way by rig h t of
(WITH a NKPI8OOB.)
m ig h t.
Toads have no rig h ts in h u m an codes
W hence and w h ith e r, little ru sty toad?
nor roads—
H ith e r and th ith e r on th e d u sty road
Big m an lias no respect for little toads.
H opping and sk ip p in g —w here is your
T h e re ’s peril in th is p a th w ay , puny hop­
abode?
per—
S tand u p a n d an sw er,p u n y sq u a tte r-sa y ,
T h e re ’s d anger h ere, th is p a th belongs
How cam e you h ere
to m a n —
iv itli such a q u a in t and q u eer,
The soul-endow ed, th e reason-gifted,
And curiously contriv ed an ato m y ?
F a ith -in fected , m y th -d e lu d e d m an —
p oor little lu m p , or stu m p , or c h u m p !
Sole p ro p rieto r of m aterial m a tte r
I w onder if th e r e ’s any way of know ing A nd im m aterial soul—
How you developed such a h u m p and C allo u s’d w ith o u t and petrified w ith in —
, „
I
ju m p ,
K eep away from h im .
arnacny.
A nd curious way of going?
•
“ But my conscience—have I no }|ow (Jid you come to ,ife> or life to you? Sw itch oft' your feeble o u tfit teeny toad,
right to that?” exclaims the one How did you do th e first little h o p o r tw o! Beyond th e reach of cruel hoofs and
w heels,
thus addressed.
Betw een th e im m aterial a n d m aterial^
Or
sad
calam ity and d ire d isa ste r,
How did you bridge th e ch asm ?
l o u h a v e n o rig h t
p jjow many evoiu tiong have you made? A nd all th e differen t k in d s of ru in
your individual conscience against How many hops a n d ju m p s from proto- T his n a tio n ’s on th e verge of, will over­
tak e you
the national conscience,” is the re-
plasm ?
Im
m
ed
iately if not sooner.
ply. “As we have said, it is not a For such a sq u a t as th a t, w h at did you
tra d e ,
question of your rights. That doc­
Or sw ap for such a funny freak, a n tiq u e? T h is world was m ade for m an —t h a t ’s
trine cannot justify you, for it has F ro m w hat evolve th a t q u eer configur­
safe to say,
(T h a t m uch is sound theology, we know )
had its day aud been set aside.
a tio n —
And m an was m ade of d u st, a n d d u s t of
What must be secured in this na­ Develope such an ato m y u n iq u e?
n o th in g —
tion is the greatest good to the ; Or how m uch “ n o th in g ” d id it tak e to (Is it not
w ritte n in th e record so?)
greatest number.
All are now
m ake
agreed upon this, and the greatest Y our little o u tfit? have you any notion? In th e early m orning of “ th e b e g in n in g ”
good to the greatest number re­ O r, of “ force and m a tte r” how m uch did Som ething took a prodigious pile of
i t tak e
“ n o th in g ” —
quires that all observe the first day To m ake
your “ m ode of m o tio n ? ”
T h a t’s w hat th e records show —
of the week. We must have uni­
it is m ost im p ro p er, little h o p ­ A nd w h at the record says is so, is so—
formity in this matter. So I re­ Y our g p a er!
T h e re ’s no appeal from th a t, w h e th er
i t ’s so or no—
peat, you must hereafter observe Y our locom otion seem s to need im p ro v ­
U n less you have th e im p u d e n t a ssu m p ­
the first day of the week. The
in g ;
tion
public good demands it, and the Y our style of going is’n t qu it« th e proper,
To
ap
p
eal to com m on sense an d n ativ e
state must see that this rule is firm­ And popular idea of rig h t m oving.
g u m p tio n .
T h a t’s not th e g ait th a t tak es “ first.
the seventh day ie the .day to be
observed as the Sabbath.”
“The seventh day is not the Sab­
bath,” rejoins the clergyman, sharp­
ly. “In this country it is settled
that the first day is the Sabbath;
public opinion and practice are
overwhelming on this point. T h e
courts have declared it, Congress
has declared it, and you cannot be
permitted to set up your opinion
against the authority of the nation.
You cannot be permitted to teach
ly enforced.”
So, instead of being able to claim
the individual right of conscience
in the matter of Sabbath observ­
ance, the dissenter from the popu­
lar religious custom has nothing
left to stand on hut “the greatest
good to the greatest number,” and
when he can prove that bis freedom
in religion is for the greatest good
of the greatest number he will be
allowed to worship differently from
the majority and not before. But
bow long will it take an individual
to prove that it is for the greatest
good to the greatest number that
he be allowed to observe the seventh
day of the week instead of the first,
in the face of popular teaching and
custom touching this point?”
As the result of such teaching as
that we have quoted from the Out­
look and the Independent, the fun­
damental American doctrine of
natural, individual rights is being
ewept from under the feet of the
American people; it is passing rap­
idly away before our eyes, and who
is amazed or alarmed at the spec­
tacle? It is high time indeed that
the people everywhere should see
and know what these things mean.
—[Sentinel of Liberty.
A Node on a Toad
m oney,” now’,
You w ant to m end your pace and break
y o u r record—
,,
R educe y o u r tim e for “ g ettin g th e r e ”
som ehow —
O therw ise, I fancy,
Y o u ’ll have to tak e the d u st from L ittle
N ancy.
A dry an d d u sty road
You have to hop, poor toad !
The rig h t and p ro p er th in g for you to
do—
( I t strik es me p re tty plain)
W ould be to see th a t fak ir, th e ra in ­
m aker,
And bargain for a th o u sa n d -d o lla r rain .
T h a t’s w hat th e gran g ers only th e o th e r
day did,
And any toad m ig h t do th e sam e as th e y
d id .
Reflected Rays.
Dr. Hensen wants more million­
aires in the church—more Wana-
makers to reduce the church work
and business to a practical basis
—perhaps the church is short of
money.
But it is not short 01
preachers, for the reverend doctor
says that “ we do not need preach­
ers; we have preachers to burn”
—a suggestion that the Christian
hells are becoming overcrowded
with members of the cloth!—[Ex.
The pope regrets that free speech
is possible in Rome, “under the
shelter of the public law.” The
spirit of the Inquisition is still in
him and his church. He dares
publicly to regret what little liber­
ty of expression exists in Italy on
religious questions. Had he the
power, imprisonment would seal
the lips of any man who dared
breathe a word against papal super­
stition. The Roman Catholic spir­
it is still, as always, that of tyr­
anny and persecution.—[Free So­
ciety.
The Sons of the American Revo­
lution in Hawaii recently offered a
prize for the best oration, written
and delivered in English, upon a
specified historic theme. The com­
petition was open to every boy in
the islands.
Was it the son of a
Son, a native Hawaiin, a clever
Japanese, a Portuguese of ancient
—In th e early m orning of “ th e begin-
lineage who, at that cosmopolitan
m ng »?
S om ething took a prodigious lot of crossroads of the Pacific, won the
coveted prize? No, it was a full-
“ n o th in g ”
A nd b u ilt th is m ighty m acrocosm , h u g e— blooded son of that China, which
P u t u p th e universe in six days all is now the political problem of the
world.—[Youths Companion.
com plete
W ith
th e best b ran d of b ra n d new
“ n o th in g .”
M illions of first-class sta rs w ere m ade
and p u t up,
For m an ’s special, every-day use—
(B esides several for S u n d ay .)
E v ery th in g in sig h t, an d o u t of sig h t,
(In clu d iu g th e tw’o little m oons of M ars,
A nd a n o th e r one for J u p ite r ) was m ade
for m an —
F o r “ godlike m a n ” —“ th e im age of his
m a k e r” —
H opping here upon tn e public way
“ Only a little low er th a n th e angels”
You d esecrate o u r som ber S ab b a th d a y ; ( “ T he crow ning w o rk ” —“ th e m a s te r­
Y our hopping h a b it’s bad fu l—som e will
piece,”
say
W ith im m o rtal m o v em en t, full-jew eled,
I t ’s tru ly s in fu l;
And geared to go forever w ith o u t w in d ­
You m u st load u p in it te r chloride every
ing.
d ay —
T h a t’s w hat th e p a sto r says, an d if any
S tuff y o u r skin full.
body
I t ’s p lain you need reform ing, little Knows o u g h t ab o u t tom orrow o r th e
h o p p er,
n e x t d ay —
Y our m o v em en t’s n e ith e r practical nor Or any tim e h e re afte r, its th e p a sto r:
proper.
H e know s it ail for su re, because he has
“ N othing was m ade in v a in ,” th e p asto r
to —
says—
T h a t’s w hat h e ’s for, an d should he fail
Of n o th in g th e world was m ade, th e To g u a ra n tee a m ansion in th e sky
record sh o w s;
For every tru e and o rth o d o x believer,
To m ake his th in k e r th in k in certain And an g el’s o u tfit— wings a n d h a rp
ways—
com plete—
On p e n alty of everlastin g woes—
R eady to h itc h to ;
Im m o rtal m an was m ad e—
O r should he fail to find for faithlees
An Episcopal clergyman of Bos­ B ut w h a t a toad was m ade for, nobody
d o u b ter
know s.
ton makes the declaration that
An ev erlastin g , n ev er-en d in g hom e
“the church can have no specific T here is n o th in g wicked in your eyes so In th e tro p ics of som e in can d escen t
p lan et
solution of the labor problem.”
m ild,
We agree with him and further af- Y our placid countenance show s n a u g h t W ith never a bush for shade—
T he tru e and faith fu l o rth o d o x believers
firm that the modern church has
th a t’s vicious;
.
j Y our look has in it, n o th in g fierce o r W ould have no use for him ,
no specific nor even general solu-
.J(l
And his occupation,like O thello’s, would
tion of any other problem now be- ^ n(j your m ovem ents, q u eer, are not the ' Be gone for good.
fore the worldl—[Flaming Sword.'
least su sp ic o u s;
I
T rue F a x .
The falling of the elevator is per­
haps not the only danger associa­
ted with life in the modern sky­
scraper. Some physicians, in mak­
ing physical examinations for life
insurance companies, think that
they have discovered that elevator
boys and others who make many
trips a day are peculiarly liable to
heart disease and premature degen­
eration of the arteries. They do
not know whether this is due to
changes in atmospheric pressure in
passing from basement to roof and
down again, to the disturbances
caused by the sudden starts and
stops and the rapid descent, or to
some as yet unsuspected cause.
—[Youths Companion.
The Russian priests seem to be
as holy as those of Rome. Not 20
per cent of the population have re­
ceived the rudiments of education;
and there are 10,000 villages with­
out schools. Well, in Italy, when
the pope ceased to be a king, there
were 17,000,000 who could neither
read nor write. The priests of the
Greek church, like those of the
Popish, never educate, except for
purposes of their own. An educa­
ted population would scout them.
The sky-pilots will never favor any
education which is not poisoned by
theology and is thus calculated to
enslave the children. They hate
knowledge in the people.—[Liber­
ator.