ir
lwT'ev"1 V
THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, POETLAND", MAY 6, 1900.
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NPOIITLAIVD, SUNDAY, 3IAT G, 1900.
THE PRESENT IN THE PAST.
There are no Isolated events in hu-
iman history. All transactions, great
mnd small, are connected with others,
iKrow out of others and pass on Into
others, through an endless series. We
lhave now In mind the history of
kThpmas Kay, woolen manufacturer, of
Salem, who died -a few days ago. The
Tamily is one that has had a prominent
place in English Industrial develop-
fament, during nearly tv o centuries. We
find In the great work of many vol-
jUimes, entitled "Social England," pub
lished a few years ago a work that
lwrrR fhA RnHnl anil lnritiRt.rln.1 llffi of
lthe country for a thousand years an
Jaccount of John Kay, of Bury, Lanca
shire, ancestor of Thomas Kay, the
Manufacturer of Oregon, which con-
JfcUns matter that will interest many
fe-eaders-nho have knowledge of Thomas
3Cay's work here.
John Kay, of Bury, Lancashire, was
(first engaged in a woolen factory at
Colchester, but in the year 1730 set up
it Bury as a reed-maker. His first
patent for twisting mohair and twining
and dressing thread did not come to
much. But in 1733 he took out a pat-
i -tent for a flying shuttle. The shut
tle, which carries the woof, had
liitherto passed from one hand of
the weaver to the other, on its
Tvay through the warp. This was at
best a slow process, and made it Im
possible for a weaver to weave any but
narrow widths. In fact, the common
est of woven cloths is still three-quarters
of a yard, a width fixed by the
Necessity of passing the shuttle from
hand to hand. For wide goods two op
erators were required, who sent the
shuttle from one to the other. The es
sence of Kay's Invention was that the
shuttle was thrown from side to side by
a mechanical device. Instead of being
passed from hand to hand, and the
shuttle would fly across wide cloth as
steadily as narrow. This invention rev
olutionized weaving, but Kay was not
successful in keeping any of the profits
"to himself. As is common when great
Inventions are made, this one was
stolen from Kay, and government was
unable or unwilling to protect his pat
ent. Nor was this all. Kay's looms
"were broken up by labor mobs, and he
"was compelled to flee to France for
safety. Like other great labor-saving
inventions, this one of the flying shut
tle also had to run the gauntlet of vio
lent persecution. But this violence
should not be Judged In the light of the
experience and knowledge of our own
'times; for labor-saving machinery is
accepted now as Indispensable though
in some localities, where the state of
industrial development is still low, and
working people still remain uneducat
ed, there are yet outbreaks now and
then against machines which are be
lieved to restrict employment. It was
common everywhere in England many
years ago. Readers will remember that
the scconl of Charlotte Bronte's great
noeIs, "Shirley," deals largely with
conditions of this kind.
John Kay also finds mention In the
sixth volume of Lecky's great "History
of England In the Eighteenth Century."
.A short sketch of his career is given,
with the remark that "it is melancholy
to observe how many of the inventors
to whom the pre-eminence of English
"wealth Is mainly due, lived and died
In poverty, or were exposed to fierce
storms of opposition." We have seen
something of this In America, yet very
little In comparison with what was
witnessed in England for our Indus
trial development was later. The house
of Hargreaves, at Blackburn, Inventor,
of the spinning jenny, -n as raided by a
mob and he was compelled to fly for his
fVife. His machines were shattered; the
mob traversed a wide extent of coun
try, destroj ing all spinning jennies with
-msre than twenty spindles, all card
ing engines, all water frames, every
machine turned by horses or water.
The spinning and calico-printing ma
chinery of Peel, great-grandfather of
tthe statesman of recent times, was
(thrown into the river at Altham, and
le great manufacturer, finding his life
ecurok retired to a distant town.
bra he took up a permanent abode.
-xge mill built by Arkwright, an-
of the great inventors, was de
d by the mob, In spite of the
jnce of a powerful body of police
id military, who, of course, sympa-
ilzed with the perpetrators of the out-
ige.
Jut the work of John Kay, in spite
"his misfortunes, was the foundation
1 a long line of manufacturers. Mem
bers of the family, we are told, still
continue the business In Lancashire.
"What Thomas Kay did in Oregon was
worthy and memorable, and will have
lasting results; though his life was cut
short before he was able to get well
Under way the plans and purposes he I
had in hand.
Tb
leath at the advanced age of &0
if Rev. T. H. Small, at his home
Waldo Hills, a few days ago.
ics the record or the ministerial
fbrs of the pioneer preachers of the
lominatlon to which he belonged. A
iberland Presbyterian of the old
tchool. "powerful in prayer" and mighty
in doctrine, he was a colaborer as early
as 850 with Rev. 2clH Johnson, Rev.
Cornwall, Rev. WJlliam Jolly -and
Rev. J. H. D. Henderson. All of these
names appear and reappear In the an
nals of the, denomination In the Wil
lamette Valley for a period covering a
third of a century, more or less. Bach
was the uncompromising exponent of
an uncompromising creed, and the
bearer of the message, "Repent, be
lieve and be baptized," -with its awful,
sulphurous alternative to the stiff
necked sinner. The leafy solitudes of
many a meeting-place In the beautiful
"wilderness have become vocal in the
good, old days with the sonorous voices
of these, even then, old men, as they
delivered the message to their "dear
hearers," .and the cabin home in many
a, clearing, with Its earthen floor, -wide-mouthed
fireplace and benches ranged
against the walls, through which the
Summer breezes played or the Winter
snow drifted, answered to them the
purpose of a "meeting-house." Sturdy
men, a sturdy gospel was a necessity to
them, and they did their full part in
striving to convince the unregenerate
settler that it was a necessity to him
also. The death of Mr. Small closes
the ranks of this company of veteran,
old theology expounders, he having
survived his colaborers in this special
field of denominational work In Oregon
by many years.
SLAVES OP THREE AGES.
"Quo Vadls?" at one theater and
Mrs. Stowe's Immortal story at an
other brings before us two widely dif
fering communities alike In one thing1
the possession of human chattels and
Its seeds of racial decline. The South
was saved from its slaves, but by
theirs the ancient Romans were
dragged down. There is no need to an
alyze the causes and Incidents of
Rome's declining years. It Is sufficient
to scan the picture of her domestic life
as ordered by her nominal slaves, but
virtual masters. The once proud, self
respecting, virtuous citizen had become
in one short century, under influences
from beyond the Adriatic the listless
Inhabitant of a semi-Asiatic city.
Slaves managed his business, ordered
his household, adorned his home, reared
his children and in ways the most In
sidious and Influential arranged his
pleasures. Cunning, patient, shameless
and unscrupulous, they had enthroned
themselves by ministering to base pas
sions, fostering luxuriousness and stim
ulating jaded desire. The transforma
tion from sturdy vigor to bejeweled and
enervated effeminacy was swift and
complete. Slavery, If net the' cause,
was the agent.
How far along this road the Southern
planter would have traveled as the
negro gained in Intellect with infusion
of Caucasian blood no one knows or Is
competent to Judge, least of all those
who saw American slavery close at
hand as under a microscope. The his
tory of the South, In true historic per
spective, and with patient elaboration
of detail, has yet to be written, and the
theme has points of repulsion. But
there are native qualities of the Afri
can and qualities acquired through
slavery that might readily combine a
character not unlike the old Roman
slave, and if the true American type
is wiser than the Roman he is hardly
more virile. African slavery, we know,
had within it the possibilities of infinite
moral and physical deterioration, and
no stronger proof of it Is furnished than
the testimony the slaveowner himself
bore to the black's unfitness for free
dom. The economic redemption wrought
for the South through elimination of
slavery is probably a small matter
compared with the service rendered by
opening a moral way of escape from
abysmal ruin. The self-control which
enables Oriental peoples to subsist
along with slavery is no more Ameri
can than it was Roman.
This Oriental serfdom is just now
thrust upon us by the acquisition of
the Sulu Islands, with their ancient
Mohammedan slavery. The nature of
this institution Is entertainingly set out
in Mr. H O. Dwight's article in the
May Forum. If we imagine Sulu
slavery to be the same as our own
Southern slavery, Mr. Dwlght shows us,
we are much in error. And he goes
on to show how tolerable is the lot of
Uncle Sam's Asiatic slaves, and how
deeprooted is the system. The slave,
under the Moslem, is not a being so
trulj- miserable as we should unknow
ingly suppose. His treatment is hu
manely regulated by the same great
code that justifies his enslavement. He
Is a member of the family, with rights
and privileges well defined by Koran or
immemorial usage. Manumission has a
certain automatic form of bringing
Itself In. Male and female slaves of
exceptional capacity achieve for them
selves positions of comfort and honor.
Perhaps they ride in their own coach
with menials to wait upon them. Per
haps they obtain, for a nominal rental,
a partial manumission under which
they may carry on business, hold prop
erty, travel, etc. Attachments of great
strength are frequent, and suicide of
slaves at parting from old masters Is
said to be a common occurrence.
After all, It Is but slavery, and this
we are pledged on every consideration
to destroy, though about all we know
about ways and means as yet is that
simple, direct emancipation Is the one
thing we cannot dream of. This Ideal
ist programme would not only be mon
strously unjust In practice,'1 but the sys
tem itself Is so derived from sacred
authority and so embedded In the relig
ious life of the people that we can pro
ceed decisively only on pain of war
with the whole Mohammedan world, or
all of it that can be interested in the
Sulu islands. "Any attempt to release
by force from the houses of the people
slaves i hom these Mohammedans have
obtained In regular conformity to their
religious law, and who form part of the
family life which that law has conse
crated," Mr. Dwlght informs us, "would
be an attack upon the Mohammedan
religion itself, to be resisted with the
fiercest wrath of fanaticism by a gen
eral appeal to arms, whether made In
Central Africa, In Turkey or in the
Sulu Islands."
Theyhave some curious ideas these
Mohammedans. Their Bible taught
them that Kings were selected by
Deity himself; their Idea of conversion
in religion Is largely that of unreason
ing obedience to a celestial command;
they are able to produce for almost
every tenet of conduct, contradictory
as many of them are, a supporting pas
sage from their sacred Scriptures, and
hence they derive authoritative sanc
tion for belief that the man marked
for slavery "shall serve his brethren
all his days." All this in his mind, Mr.
Dwlght is persuaded that it Is a diffi
cult task to circumvent the Koran, "re
specting which the only question for
doubt or discussion Is whether it has
been eternally coexistent with God, or
whether, like other beautiful things ol
the earth, it is. In Its present literary
form, one of God's works of creation."
Verily hath expansion, as Its remote
services discover themselves, come to
teach us strange things.
EXCISION FATAL REVISION.
The doctrine of everlasting punish
ment was once sarcastically described
by Oliver Wendell Holmes as "the al
leged but disputed value of tho hang
man's whip over the witness-box." Dr.
Holmes, who grew up under this old
orthodox Calvinistic belief. In his early
years accepted it, but when he out
grew It he was denounced by an emi
nent New England theologian as "a
moral parricide," because he attacked
this doctrine of his clerical father's
creed. The generally professed belief
of the orthodox Protestant world, as
expressed in their creeds, is that the
great mass of mankind are destined to
an eternity of bodily pain, according to
the literal teaching of the Scriptures.
At the bottom of this doctrine is the
hatred of God to mankind In virtue of
their first disobedience .and Inherited
depravity, and according to the teach
ing of Jonathan Edwards, "master of
logic and spiritual inhumanity," man
inherits the curse of God as his prin
cipal birthright. Civilization has crowd
ed out the old superstition-laden leg
ends by "the naked Individual protest,
the voice of the inspiration which gives
man understanding," uttered by Burns
in Scotland, who did the poet's part In
preaching the new gospel that has sup
planted that of Edwards when he stig
matized "the fear of hell as a hang
man's whip to keep the wretch in or
der." The text-books of astronomy and
theology have worked their way be
tween the questions and answers of the
catechisms and the doctrine of infinite
hope has been substituted in many
minds In place of that of Infinite de
spair for the vast majority of mankind.
The present movement for the revision
of the Westminster Confession began
with the revolt of the Andover Con
gregational School of Theology against
the condemnation of the heathen to
everlasting torment. The candidates
before the Missionary Board rebelled
against the teaching that millions who
cannot know Christ should be entirely
lost because of blameless Ignorance.
Veterans in the missionary field have
In some Instances protested against the
Iron-clad terms of the Westminster
Confession, because It falls to reconcile
the justice and love of God with the
common sense and sentiment of man.
The Rev. Dr. Parkhurst, of the Madison-Square
Presbyterian Church, New
York City, says:
If we are thorough Presbyterians and be
lieve what our doctrinal prospectua advertises
us as believing, we bellee it probable that
some of the children in your homes, little
children, perhaps the babe of your boscm, is
damned, already damned, damned before it
was born, damned from everlasting to ever
lasting, and then you are invited to come into
church and say "Our Father." Why, any
man who should become a father for the pake
of the Joy and "glory," he would us in burn
ing' and racking- his own offspring, deliberate
ly creating a child with a view to the agony
Into which he was going- to torture It, would
be chaped from the earth, as a fiend, and as
an ebullition.
Dr. Parkhurst Is no quibbling, cleri
cal pettifogger; he admits that the
doctrine of election and eternal punish
ment is an anachronism today, when
societies for the prevention of cruelty
to even brute animals have been es
tablished; when cruel and unusual
punishments have been abolished
throughout the civilized world, which
Instinctively revolts from the doctrine
once universally accepted by Christen
dom that God has condemned or will
condemn a great part or any part of
his creatures to everlasting torment in
hell. Modern humanity rejects 'this
cruel dogma and prefers the conclusion
of the apostle who said that "In every
nation he that feareth God and work
eth righteousness Is accepted with
him"; the conclusion of the Hebrew
prophet who asks, "O man, what Is re
quired of thee but to do justly, to love
mercy and walk humbly with thy
God?" The day of any sincere accept
ance of mere creeds or subservience to
bishop or general assembly, who claims
the right
To stick us -with his cut-throat terms.
And bait his homilies with his brother worms.
Is gone, never to return. The preacher
who resents any lay criticism or ex
pression of opinion concerning the ulti
mate issue of the revolt against his
iron-clad creed as fiercely as a surly
gamekeeper would the presence of a
poacher In his preserves ought not to
forget the rebuke that Professor Jow
ett gave the self-sufficient under-grad-uate
at Oxford: "No one is Infallible,
not even the youngest of us."
It Is pure pettifogging to pretend that
the Bible does not teach the doctrine
of eternal rewards and punishments;
that it does so teach is the consensus
of the professed belief of Christendom.
To comply with Rev. Dr. Parkhurst's
demand for the expunging of the doc
trine of election logically brings up for
discussion the question-, "Is the Bible
an infallible authority upon that mat
ter, or any other?" For this reason,
any attempt to secure any such radical
revision of the creed as the excision of
the doctrine of election will come to
naught, for the General Assembly
knows that the revolt against tho doc
trine of election leads directly to the
rejection of the sole authority on which
their faith Is based, for the Westmin
ster Confession has no vitality except
as It gets its life from the theory of the
Inspired Infallibility of the Bible. Be
hind the General Assembly stands St.
Paul. Behind the Westminster Confes
sion stands the epistle to the Romans.
LEAP YEAR, AND OTHER SORROWS.
Mr. J. L. Henderson writes from
Hood River:
I have been reading The Morning Oregonian
quite regularly for nearly 30 yean and think
It one of the best newspapers in the United
States. In politics it suits my views on nearly
every important question before the people.
It shapes the views of thousands of honest,
disinterested voters, simply because it is al
way vigorous, profound and honest. Since
there can be no perfection under the -sun, it
sometimes makes mistakes. In daily of 2d
Inst., page 5, fifth column, near the bottom,
speaking on subject, "Why 1000 la not a leap
year." you say:
"The year 2000 will have twemy-nin days
In February." Is this correct? I think the
mJlV3nlal years must be dlileible by 4000 to
be leap years.
The Oregonlan's statement was cor
rect, and the year 2000 will have
twenty-nine days In Its February. The
calendar as at present arranged comes
very near being correct, but "since
there can be no perfection under the
sun," with all the tinkering done by
Popes and others, the civil year still
exceeds the true solar year by twenty
six .seconds. As It will take 3323 years
for these odd seconds to amount to a
day, no formal or definite provision has
been made against an error which can
only happen after so long a period of
time; but as the difference between 3323
years and 4000 years amounts to so Ht-
l tie in this matter, it has been proposed
further to correct the calendar by mak
ing the year 4000 and all its multiples
common years; that is, to omit the
29th of February In these years.
So the leap year situation stands as
follows: Every year the number of
which Is divisible by 4 Is a leap year,
excepting the last year of each century,
which is a leap year only when divisi
ble by 400, but 4000, 000. 12,000, 16.000,
etc., are to be common years. Thl3
will not make the calendar perfect, but
comes so near It that, by adopting this
last correction, the commencement of
the year would not vary more than a
day from Its present place in 20,000
years, by which time everybody will
be perfectly familiar with the leap year
situation.
Let us give thanks, therefore, that
the leap year problem may be dis
missed from worrying us again until
the year 40C0, A. D., before which time
many things must intervene; so that
all now on earth are assured of escape
from its perplexities, and perhaps a
new chronology may be built up with
all these troubles absent. What with
the leap year problem and the end of
the centnry problem, and the square
foot or the foot square, and the cause
of the Boer war, the burden of Intel
lectual existence, especially In its news
paper form. Is becoming almost Insup
portable. No one can doubt that the
universe Is ruled by a benign purpose
when he reflects that the end of the
century controversy becomes acute
only once In a hundred years. Methu
selah must have passed through nine
of these heart-breaking campaigns, and
this experience of the patriarchs Is
doubtless the real reason, If the truth
were known, why the days of a man's
life were merclfuly cut down to three
score years and ten.
NONE TO HIMSELF ALONE.
Better it -were to sit efclll by the sea
Loving somebody and satisfied
Better it were to grow babes on the knee
To anchor you down for all your days
Than to wander and wander la all these ways,
Duty forgotten, and loie denied.
Joaquin Miller, 1S74.
Naturally, a staid, moral, domestic
community like that at Forest Grove
would be Intensely shocked at a sud
den death, under mysterious circum
stances, in its midst, stung into wildest
vagaries of imagination at the sugges
tion of foul play connected with It. and
horrified beyond expression at disclos
ures of Immorality that lay behind and
possibly led up to It. It is to the credit
of the community that this is true.
Every man who contributes to Its de
cent, orderly home life; every woman
In It who bears the honored name of
wife and contributes to lt3 domestic
happiness, has an opinion a theory
evolved from the social chaos created
by the sudden death of Mrs. Hatch last
week, and the disclosures that have fol
lowed the event, which is to a greater
or less extent instinct with a sense of
the wrong that has been Imposed upon
it. Is It true, then, in spite of our
modern Ideas of Individual Independ
ence, that "no man lives to himself
alone"? Can a man shirk the duties
that underlie the very fabric of social
and domestic life and permeate its
warp and woof, and not. In sinning
against himself, sin against the com
munity? Can a woman In rating her
own womanhood so low as to accept
the position of wife secretly, upon a
purely animal basis, safely scorn all
ceremonial claim that her private life
is her own business? Are not people
of this class shirks, so far as every
obligation to all that Is highest and
most stable In community life depends?
Are they not worse than this cormo
rants who secretly prey upon the moral
life of the community while availing
themselves of its defenses?
A man may be honorable in his busi
ness dealings and relations with men,
a prosperous citizen, and charitable In
the wider and more superficial sense,
but If, professing love for a woman,
he permits her to toil on Indefinitely
in the small ways of woman's accumu
lative endeavor to maintain herself, her
home and possibly others dependent
upon her, that he may have the free
dom of "a man without a family," he
Is clearly lacking In the essential ele
ment of true manhood. And when to
add to this he makes her occasional
visits to keep up the pitiful fiction
that he intends to marry her, coming
in on a late and going out on an early
train, having spent the night at her
house on plea of "business," he may
well be characterized as a social sneak,
a domestic shirk, a poltroon who fat
tens upon the very essence of commu
nity life its morality and usefulness
as distilled through homes and fami
lies, the love of honored wives and the
bringing up of children, born in wed
lock. And the woman striving to hold up
an honest face In the community, will
ing to marry him, yet weakly permit
ting him to hold her in the bondage of
Illicit love, that makes marriage un
necessary as a passport to wifely favor
what of her? Let the life of pitiful
subterfuge in the community laid bare
by the disclosures of this death; of
strained endeavor to maintain respect
ability free from suspicion by overtax
ing herself with church work; the small
fabrications and the hurried endeavors
to "get him off" in the morning be
fore the neighbors should become
aware of his presence In the house, at
test the weight of the handicap she
carried in the race, and under which
at last mercifully she felL Trem
bling lest her sin should find her out,
hoping that the man would yet con
clude to relinquish his "freedom" and
give her the protection of his name
and the comfort of his home, and yet
afraid, because of his power over her
reputation, to urge hlra to do so surely
her punishment -was bitter enough to
atone to some extent, so far as she
was Individually concerned, for
weak lowering In her hands of
standard of womanhood.
This sudden death, whether
the
the
the
tragedy that some believe It to be, or a
merciful call of kind nature, Is Inter
esting chiefly because of the moral tur
pitude that was revealed by It. Not In
the line of gossip and of scandal, since
these can feed to the full upon far less
painful conditions. It lies along lines
which meet and cross In communlty
life, always to its detriment, whether
they steal along under the hedge-rows
and are lost In the morasses of vice,, or
break openly Into public view in the
great whirlpool of crime. The commu
nity Is the gainer by the establishment
of every well-ordered home that Is set
up within it. It follows that it must be
the loser by the substitution of one that
rests upon the precarious and shame
ful basis of the liaison. It Is not In law
to correct an evil of this kind, since
the most that law can do Is to furnish,
as in the case of the Cycle Park mur
der, when It breaks out into open vio
lence, or to Investigate, with a purpose
of inflicting penalty,, where cause is
shown, when a less tragic form of death
ends the shameful farce that masquer
ades under the name of love. The con
dition represented Is not a new one,
having manifested Its presence In com
munity life throughout its history; nor
will it be eradicated while indvidual
irresponsibility lowers and debases the
standard of manly and womanly duty.
The man who shirks the responsibilities
of family life, yet professes love for
one woman to her detriment rather
than to her honor; and the woman who
denies herself the pleasures and shirks
the duties of maternity from selfish f
dread of its responsibilities and perils,
are barnacles upon the community life,
carried and nourished by the fabric to
which they cling, but scorning to pay
tribute for the protection that it guar
antees. Lord Roberts has three lines availa
ble for his advance. Moving by his
right flank, by WInburg and Bethle
hem, he can turn the Boer position at
Krconstad and at the same time
threaten, the rear of the forces holding
the Drakensberg passes. Should Rob
erts move by the left flank, he can In
like manner turn any position on the
Vaal River, but with Bloemfontein
made his secondary base, he is likely to
move on Kroonstad by the central line
of railway. There are no positions
south of Pretoria that cannot be turned
by the British. The Vaal River does
not afford any protection to the Trans
vaal, it being fordable at every dozen
miles. The position at BIggarsburg can
also be easily turned. The London
MornlngPost's correspondent at Bloem
fontein, under date of April 30, sends
a dispatch which reports that the Boera
up to March 19 had lost 6500 prisoners,
SOOO killed and wounded, while 14.000
had dispersed to their homes. They
are extremely short of wagons, and
were short of wheat until their raid
Into the Wepener district, where the
harvest has been the finest on record.
Their mealies are in bad condition.
Smokeless powder for their big guns is
almost exhausted, but other stores and
rifle ammunition are plentiful.
The destruction by fire of Sandon,
the second mining town of the Slocan
district, Is most unfortunate, in that
it took place at all, and yet fortunate
in that It took place at a mild season
of the year. A total of 1200 people
homeless and with stores and supplies
practically wiped out Is serious enough
in May. In September, or any month
between the two verging toward Win
ter, It would be appalling. The mining
town is a fllmsily built affair, gener
ally speaking. Sandon was probably
less so than many others, since the
rigors of Winter there make adequate
protection from the cold necessary to
existence. Temporary relief Is being
rushed rapidly to the people huddling
among the blackened ruins, and, no
doubt, so great 13 the recuperative
power of such towns, all vestiges of
the fire will have disappeared before
Winter sets In.
General Otis has been the victim of
muph abuse; but It is his singular good
fortune to have received the warm
commendation in his difficult work of
every person who has had the opportu
nity of Informing himself as to the
magnitude and embarrassments of the
General's task. Adverse criticisms
upon his ability and purposes have
been at long range, and they have most
frequently been by persons or papers
who had no means of learning- the facts
and no disposition to state them accu
rately and fairly, even If they did know
them. General Otis deserves a rest,
and he merits, too, appreciation and
gratitude for his high patriotism and
unyielding devotion to duty in a great
ordeal.
Lord Roberts spares his men. Waste
of life would result from impetuous
movement; and the British command
er, supported by great resources, can
afford to proceed cautiously and slowly.
His policy Is to weaken and exhaust
the Boer forces by continual pressure,
rather than attempt to destroy them
by sheer fighting, which would result
in great waste of life. But the British
forces are steadily getting forward,
nevertheless; and the Boers cannot
support the strain for a very long
period.
Seattle is putting plans on foot to aid
the Government in taking the census
there. As a preliminary, persons going
to Cape Nome are modestly requested
to leave behind "the necessary data."
The highly efficient service the Seattle
boomers have given In the compilation
of bank clearances abundantly demon
strates that they have a proper esti
mate of their own abilities to increase
and multiply either population or the
figures thereof.
Mr. Bellows, of Vancouver, gets a fat
Federal plum because of his superior
foresight In divining the exact where
abouts and direction of the Senatorial
band wagon at Olympla a year or more
ago. Senator Foster is displaying great
diligence In rewarding the members of
the Legislature who had the rare acu
men to pick on him as their candidate
for Senator.
The Goebellzed press Is now charging
Governor Taylor with absenteeism from
his post of duty in Kentucky. The
chief Democratic complaint heretofore
was that Taylor had no post of duty,
and the state ought to be permitted to
go along without him. The rare jewel
In the head of Kentucky's ugly polit
ical toad Is a shining Inconsistency.
Some of the counties are very far
short In their registration. But there
are yet eight days. Multnomah thus
far Is much ahead of the average. In
many counties 40 per cent of the vote
Is yet unregistered. In Multnomah the
proportion Is perhaps less than 15 per
cent. In Union, which threw 3351
votes In 189S, the registration thus far
Is but 2007.
Sliver leaders are right in attaching
no importance to the fact that 16 to 1
was omitted from the Iowa Democratic
platform. The Democrats of Iowa are
systematically omitted from considera
tion when the people of that state hold
an election.
The Coal Famine in Germany.
Consul-General Guenther.
There has never been a year In the his
tory of Germany when greater demands
had been made upon the coal production.
Although the output of 1S39 was over 100,
000,000 tons, against 96.000,000 tons In 1S93
and 91,000.000 tons in 1S97, the supply has
been entirely inadequate, and much em
barrassment and annoyance have resulted.
The selling price of coal Increased during
1S99 over 1SSS from 30, to 85 per cent, and
J wke J'rnm. SOytoSa pexient, " --
QS THE SUPPRESSION OF ORATORY
Why ihe Rounder Failed In His . Effort
lo Take the Stump.
"The infymus ring Is a tryln to fasten
the soft pedal of suppression, on the clar
ion voice of tho people. Are we slaves
that our ancient and honnyrable liberties
can be gagged by a-havln a collar put
around our necks? What is the
wrongs of Porty Ricky- besides the
lnikitles the Republican. Juggernaut is.
a rubbln into the City of Portland. Coun
ty of Multynoiny, S. S. Talk about your
Chinese tariff wall around the islands of
the sea and starvin' Inhabitants thereof;
It's a rickety four-rail fence compaxlsoned
to the appallln' sword of Dammycles that
is a-hangln like a piller a-flre by night
over the devoted heads of our eleepln
hinnocents, an' no devoted patriot but me
to sound the alarm. But It's too much
like one a-cryln' in the wilderness of sin
and sorrer; them as has ears to hear
hears not; them as hasn't any ears" and
the Rounder paused and. looked reproach
fully around "seems to prefer doln their
drlnkln alone, while engaged in the mad
denln' rush around in the malestorm of
booze. Has the adder been sufficiently
fed this mornln?"
After this somewhat puzzling exordium
the wants of the inner man were duly at
tended to, and the Rounder proceeded to
elucidate:
"I've just been to see Mackay. 'Don
ald,' sez I, 'the Sunday School ca'm Into
which this campaign has fell makes me
tired. I'm a-goln' to take the stump
sez I.
" 'All right,' sez he, I don't own it. But
Is the bars closed up? sez he.
" 'No they ain't, eez I. 'Storey beln a
candydate lor re-election; but that's an
other story sez I, a-crackln a Joke,
which he didn't see, beln' a Canuck.
What this hre campaign needs Is vim
and vinegar, with a little dash of ginger
fiez I. 'Donald eez I, Tm open for in
ducements. " 'Well, you might as well put up your
shutters,' sez Donald. 'We ain't offerin'
no prizee for bar-room orytorry
" 'Donald,' sez I, 'the dark day will come
when you will repent in sack cloths and
hashes for a-Dermitten' me to devote
my talents to az-smashln' the ring. I
have now discharged my full duty of a
offerhV to heave you a llfepreserver of
hope while you're a-strugglln vainly In
the dismal cattycllsm of despair. I'm
now a-goln' to see Reld, the great re
former ez I.
"That's all right sez Donald, affect
inf to be indifferent, and addin'. In a fee
ble effort to bo joecose: 'When you go
out you'll see two doors before you. Take
the first; tho second ain't there.' This
was a playful allusion to my occasionally
seeln' double.
"When I called on the Reformer 1
found him busy a-reformln' a nice new
set of resolutions for the eddyflcation and
puryflccatlon of mankind. 'Reld sez
I, Tm a-goln.' to mount the platform
with the rest of the pattryots
" Well, the facts is sez he, actln em
barrassed like. we are a-havln some
slight clffyculty a-odJustJn' our platform
to the different-sized feet of our happy
fambly of candydates eez he. T had
prepared a platform that was a elegant
monnyment to my lltererry skill and fas-
tldyusness, and submitted It to o uaj ,
who scrutynlzed it, and says: 'I don't see
no pronBoer resylutlons here an' -he
chucked It In the waste basket. 'We hain't
got no platform yet sez Reld.
" 1 don't mean a platform elucydatln
your principles. If you have any. The
Chicago declyration of Independence is
good enough for me, and Bryan and me
ain't a-goln to have no revised editions
at Kansas City sez I. 1 mean the plat
form where spellbinders do most con
grygate. If "Day says pro-Boer. pro
Boer goes. I'm the greatest smooth-bore
Gatlln" gun of ellyquence that ever spieled
from any rostrum rostorum. I was in the
sideshow busineea for half a century eez
I, 'and your game suits my hand: so I'm
Just your stem-windin huckleberry.
George Is my candydate for Sennytor,
too
" We havent precisely arranged that
little matter yet," eez Reld, 'and we are
a-maintalnln a dlgnyfled and discreet si
lence on that subject.'
" Certingly sez I. Tm on to the delly
cacy of your situvatlon. Vou don't have
to treepan my 6kull In order to pour a
idear into It. You an' me thinks through
the same quill about treorge, sez x.
When the thunder of George's mighty
boom bursts over this devoted state, the
electrlfyin' truth will be conveyed to our
respective salrybellums by the Identlckle
same llghtnln' rod sez I. "What terms
are you a-offerln' me to take charge of
your lyseemf
" 'Orators ain't what we need sez he.
'it's votes. Ennybody can talk. Even Ba
laam's ass could moke a speech. But he
couldn't vote
" Tour allusion to my late friend Ba
laam la mawlapprypow sez I, 'I want
it understood that I ain't a-tryin' to posa
as his posterity. Which reminds me of
a little epic I learned in my childhoods
happy days
"Then I goe3 mm tno ioiiowing;
"In days gone by, when anlmiles was
havin things their way.
The ass he used to talk a lot, 'long 'bout
election day
He'd tell the critters what to do, and who
to vote agin.
An' every day he'd raise his voice an'
argify like sin.
The critters fust they thought a heap o
what the ass 'ud say
From far an' near they'd chase to hear
when he began to bray,
An when he'd howl calamity, and pint hl3
tow'rin ears
At comin' evils, they would all admit
they had their fears.
"But one fine day they came that way a
wise and solemn owl;
He listened to the shoutln ass, an
scowled a awful scowl;
Sez he, our friend he talks a lot, that fact
is plainly seen.
But I misdoubt that he don't know what
all them speeches mean.
"And then the critters all got hot, and
says they to the as3
What song and dance of yours is this?
Can't you keep oft the grass?
you've been a feedin us the stuff that
you've got learned by rote.
Why, when we come to think of it, you
haven't got no vote
"And since that day bad orators has never
stood much show -
Fur people find out mighty soon ho
much that they don't know,
But them that's useful to a cause la
greatly In demand.
And parties who employ 'em always hold
the wlnnin' hand.
"Which goes to show that there Is orators
and orators of which I am one and some
body else is the other, as the case may
be."
"Then you didn't get a chance to
speak?" was asked.
"I was trun down by the machine In
both parties. I guess I'll go and hunt up
Storey an' Tom Jordan an' run independ
ent." The liimitationB of City Life.
Leslie's Weekly.
In a little city one gets In time to know
the faces and the general conditions of
life so that the visible population of the
streets ceases to stir perpetual specula
tions in his mind as he walks abroad. But
in New York men's knowledge of one an
other Is necessarily so much more limited
that In every day's procession crowds of
new characters transpire and put their
queries to the eye as they pass.. Think
of the enormous shifting population of the
city, contributed day m and day out by
all creation! Xou may have lived years in
New York, and yet when there are two or
three familiar faces in a crowded street
car It Is unusual
Xl
x .
MASTERPIECES OF LITER ATURE-XII
UmversaHtyof Christianity Ernest Renan
Rev. J. H. Allen's Translation.
It will thus be understood how. by an
exceptional destiny, pure Christianity, still
presents itself, after eighteen centuries in
the character of a universal and e.ernal
religion. In truth, the religion of Jesus te,
in some respects, the final religion. Chris
tianity was the product of a perfectly
spontaneous movement of the human soul.
Emancipated at her birth from all dog
matic restraint, she struggled 300 years
for liberty of conscience; and now, IB
spite o the failures that have followed,
she still reaps the frult3 of her illustrious
origin. To renew herself, she has only to
return to the Gospel. The kingdom of
God, as we conceive it, outers utterly
from the supernatural apparition- which
early Christians hoped to see flash out in
the clouds; but the sentiment which Jesus
introduced Into the world Is surely ours.
His- perfect idealism is the loftiest rule
of a pure and virtuous life. He created
the heaven of pure souls, where are found
what we seek for In vain on earth the
perfect nobility of the children of
God, absolute holiness, complete cleansing
from, the stains of earth; In a word, lib
erty, which actual society discards as an
impossibility, and which can find
its fullness only In the domain
of thought. Jesus Is still tho great
Master of thoe who take refugo
In this Ideal paradtee. He first pro
claimed tho sovereignty of the mind; he
first said, at least through his acts, "My
kingdom Is pot of this world." The foun
dation of true religion Is verily his work.
Since him, it only remains to unfold It and
make it fruitful.
"Christianity" has thus become almost
synonymous with "religion." All that may
be attempted outside of this grand and
noble Christian tradition will be sterile.
Jesus has founded religion In human na
turejust as in human nature Socrates
founded philosophy, and Aristotle science.
There was philosophy before Socrates anil
science before Aristotle; since Socrates
and Aristotle, philosophy and science have
made Immense progress, but It has all
been built upon the foundations they laid
down. Tn like manner, religious thought
had passed through many revolutions be
fore Jesus; since his day, it has made
great conquests; yet we have not ad
vanced, and we never shall advance, be
yond the essential principle which he laid
down, whereon he has fixed forever the
Idea of puro worship. The religion of
Jesus Is not limited. The Church has had
her periods and her phases; she has ehut
herself up in symbols which have lasted
and can last only for a time. Jesus, on
the other hand, has founded absolute re
ligion, which excludes nothing, prescribes
nothing, unless it be the motive. His sym
bols are not fixed dogmas; they are im
ages susceptible of Indefinite Interpreta
tions. We should seek in vain for a the
ological proposition In the Gospel.
Let us beware, then, of mutilating his
tory to satisfy our petty scruples! Which
of -us. pigmies as w e are, could do what
was done by the extravagant Francis of
Asslsi. or the hysterical Saint Theresa?
Let medical science give Its names to
theso grand estrays of human nature; let
it maintain that genius is a disease of the
brain; let it see in a peculiarly sensitive
morality the first symptom of physical de
cline; let it class enthusiasm and iovo
among nervous accidents It matters lit
tle. The terms health and disease are en
tirely relative. Who would not rather be
diseased like Pascal than healthy like the
common herd? The narrow 'notions cur
rent in our time respecting Insanity most
gravely mislead our historical judgments
in questions of this kind. A state in which
a man says things he 1 not conscious of,
in which thought Is produced without the
summons and control of the will, exposes
him to being confined as a lunatic In old
times this was called prophecy and in
spiration. The noblest things in the world
are dono in a state of fever; every great
creation Involves a loss of balance, child
birth Is. by a law of Nature, a process of
agonizing struggle.
What the golden age of Greece was for
art and profane literature, the age of
Jesus was for religion. Jewish society ex
hibited the most extraordinary moral and
intellectual condition which the human
species has ever passed through. It was
one of those divine hours In which, great
things seem to grow of themselves, by the
co-working of a thousand hidden (forces;
in which great souls find a flood of ad
miration and sympathy to bear them on.
The world, delivered from that narrowest
tyranny of petty municipal republics, en
joyed great liberty. Roman despotism did
not make itself ruinously felt till long af
ter; and it was, besides, always less op
pressive in distant provinces than at the
heart of the Empire. Our petty preventive
Interferences, far more murderous than
torture to things of the spirit, did not ex
ist. Jesus, during three years, could lead
a life which In our societies would have
brought him 20 times before the magis
trates. Our laws upon the Illegal practice
of medicine would alone have sufficed to
cut short his career. The dynasty of the
Herods, on tho other hand, sceptical from
the beginning, occupied Itself little with
religious movements; under the Asmo
neans. Jesus would probably have been
arrested at his first step. An innovator
In such a state of society risked only
death; and death is a gain to those who
labor for the future. Imagine Jesus re
duced to bear the burden of his divinity
until his GOth or 70th year, losing his ce
lestial fire, wearing out little by little un
der the burden of an unparalleled mis
sion! Everything favors those who have
a special destiny: they attain glory by a
sort of invincible compulsion and command
of fate. T ' iVu
-
This sublime Person, who day by day
still presides over the destiny of tho world,
may well be called divine not In tho sense
that Jesus has absorbed all that is divine,
or was one with It; but in the sense that
he is the one who has impelled his fellow
men to take the longest step toward the
divine. Mankind, taken as a whole, show3
us a multitude of degraded beings, selfish,
superior to the animal only in the one
point that their selflshness'is more reflec
tive. Still, from the midst of this dead
level of commonplace, columns rise to
ward the sky, and testify to a nobler des
tiny. Jesus Is the loftiest of these col
umns, which show to man whence he
comes and whither he should tend. In
him was gathered whatever is good and
elevated in our nature. He was not with
out sin; he overcame the same passlon3
that wo struggle against; no angel of
God comforted him, except It was his
good conscience; no Satan tempted him,
other than each one bears in his heart.
In the same way that many of his great
qualities are lost to us through the lacS
of Intelligence In his disciples, it Is also
probable that many of his faults have
been concealed. But, more than any oth
er, he made the interests of humanity pre
dominate in his life over earthly vanities,
TJnreservedly devoted to his Idea, he sub
ordinated everything to it to such a de
gree that the universe existed no longer
for him. It was by this transport of her
role will that he conquered heaven. There
never was a man Sakya-iluni alone per
haps, excepted who so completely tram
pled under foot family, worldly pleasure
and all temporal care. Ho lived only by
his Father and by the divine mission with
which he believed himself charged.
As to us, evermore children, doomed to
Impotence, who labor without reaping, and
who will never witness the fruit of that
which we have sown, let us bow before
theso divine men. They could do that
which we cannot do create, affirm, act.
Will great originality be born again, or
will the world henceforth be content to
follow the paths opened by the bold orig
inators of ancient time? Wo do not know.
But wnatever unlooked for events the fu
ture may have in store, Jesus will never
be surpassed. His worship will unceasing
ly renew its youth; his story will call
forth endless tears; his sufferings will
subdue the noblest hearts; all ages wlll,
proclaim that among the sons of men no
one. has been born who Is greater than he.