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Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.): n. Sunday, February 26, 1905.

Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.): n. Sunday, February 26, 1905. Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.). 400dpi TIFF G4 page images Blade Publishing Co., Lexington, KY 1905 blu1905022601 These pages may be freely searched and displayed. Permission must be received for subsequent distribution in print or electronically. Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.): n. Sunday, February 26, 1905. Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.). Blade Publishing Co., Lexington, KY 1905 $IMLS This electronic text file was created by Optical Character Recognitio n (OCR). No corrections have been made to the OCR-ed text and no editing has be en done to the content of the original document. Encoding has been done through an automated process using the recommendations for Level 1 of the TEI in Librar ies Guidelines. Digital page images are linked to the text file. k BLAJFEDITEDADVANOt erVOLUMEkezLEXINGTON KENTUCKY SUNDAY FEBR RY 26 E M 305 100 A YEAR r i outl iLcrC Wi 6rTERMS OF THE BLADE luue for one year 100 vln clubi of Are NEW subscribers 50 cents each 260 for fiv- eTermer1110 per year In advance foreign subscription 160 Five New oubicribers sent one year roc 250- plake all Money Orders Drafts an Orders payable to the rmueOrass Blade Lexington Ky When you change your addrew j t vise this offlc giving your old a well as the new address send your sublcriptlon 17 wl1eU1er you are anew or old eubecrlber OMee op A lleatlon166 W Short SL d office at Lexing MatltonMatter Address all communications to r SLUE GRASS BLADE P BOX 393 Lexington Kentucky fVyette Telephone 619 Cumberland Telephone 807 MOST VERY REV CHARLES MOORE f A letter from St Louis with the above superscription comes to hand containing In the St Louis Post Dia patch a full length picture of Rev R A Torrey who In large letters is explained to be a Noted Illinois Evangelist who Is giving London great religious overhauling There is no written comment had a two cent stampexcept the single word scoundrel written by some fellow man or woman who everlast ingly knew how to shove a pencil The account says Torrey halls from Chi cago guess the comment must b part of the discretion of Torre Is as follows Then his dress smacks in no wa of the evengellst Upon his wellmade figure hangs a frock coat that the great Poole might himself have built His collar with its wings is snowy white and Is encircled by a glossy satin tie No wrinkle mars the dead creased splendor of his trousers and the eye rests gratefully upon his trim shapely boot While Torrey is over there the band ought to play all the time God save the Queen and they oughtent- to let him beat the band DEATH OF BHO J M SMILEY Dundee 0 Feb 15 1905 t Messes Moore and Hughes My subscription hns expired and I cnnnot do without the Blade so I send in the neon for another year On Feb 1 Mr James Monroe Smiley of this piece died aged 55 He was a Liberal nnd a good citizen honest and honorable I have known him ninny years and had ninny cant versations with him He was a great thinker I never Paw or heard of any wrong that he over did The funeral was conducted by SH- hooker of Dundee who delivered inn able orationWT TTOSTET TEH fdsFUNNY OLD MIX UP Has Editor Sommers of The Ellzabethtown Ky Something or other Gone Into the Sunday School Lying Business About Things That he and Saw on the MoltkeiCrulse I have received a type written pos tal In which I give the word seperate Just as It Is spelled in the card It Is one of the words that all halt educated people spell that way Something less than years ago I learned that It was one of the words we had to watch The card runs thusly Blue Grass Blade- Lexington Louisville Ky Feb 05 Dear Editor send you under separate cover a marked copy of our Kentucky Sun day School Reporter containing an announcement of the eleventh Inter national Sunday School Convention This Is a matter of great interest to all churches and Sunday Schools of every Denomination in the state and I trust you will make announcement of It In an early issue of your paper May I not ask you to send your pa per to me regularly as an exchange It woill be a great help to me In my work by keeping me Informed of all religiousdgatherings in your country E A FOX Gen Secretary Endorsed by aH A SOMMERS State Presl dent Ellzabethtown Ky I got the copy of The Kentucky Sunday School Reporter before f did the card It had on the wrap- perrjMarlteCopyy Itoefee te fce found something about the next meet- Ing being in Toronto Canada The next thing that I struck that was of any Interest started out thus ly As we compile the statistical port for 1904 there seems to be a small loss in the number of Sunday Schools Of course we are never able to get an entirely accurate report from all countries but Banner Coun ties are supposed to gather complete reports and even in most of them there is a tailing off Small matter but i was glad to see It looked like the Blade was getting in its work The only thing In the roomawas headed Cruise of the Jerusalem Sunday School Pilgrims I see from the papers that some Sunday School fellow sent over there from this country died In Jerusalem on Christmas day but whether it means the Christmas day that we theeChristmas Day they have in Jerusa knowyMay on Bibleyyou died over in that country twice and Judas Iscarlot died three entirely dif ferent ways hanging inning and ox cartand I suppose they were all at different times For the oxcart death see Apocry pal New Testament The Jerusalem Pilgrim story was fairly well told except from being told by a Christian it Just had to fairtly coincided with Dog Fennel the most authentic history of that country written by a famous Kentucky divine The lie is found in the following of our most delightful exper lances was a trip around the walls on donkeys On this trip We see the Pool of Gihon the Hill of Evil Counsel Potters Field Tree on which Judas hanged himself Jacobs Well Pool o Slloam Tombs of Absalom St Tames and Zachous Virgins Fountain Rob insons Arch and the various valleys surrounding the city It is the fact that the writer claims to have seen The tree on which Judas hapged himself that Is a He Those fellows over there are the most inconceivable liars I over went up agln except preachers In this coun try but If they have the cheek to say that that tree Is standing there yet its a lie that they have added to their repertoire since was there In 1903 On the other hand our Moltke party were shown the place where Judas Iscarlot hung himself and there was a no tree on It big enough to hold up a Kansas grasshopper and there did not seem to have been any tree there in the last 3000 years reckon Solomon chopped em all down with his little George Washington hatchet This same H A Sommers of Eliza bethtown was the only person from Kentucky except myself who was on that trip and ho vlll notdare to say that any body on that tour saw what was said to bo the tree on which Judas hung himself Sommers was wizen pious and aired his piety once In the chapel exercls es on the Moltke still for all that I am not going to say he lied for I dont dead sure know that he did and besides he is a pretty big fellow and lives here in Kentucky and these dam Kentucky Christians will shoot quick as you can bat your eye But I will repeat here In substance what I say about Sommers in Dog started out on that tour with one of these darned Travelers Accident Insurance policies in his glad clothes At Cairo a party started on assuack across a stretch of the Sahara that I always felt like calling Sallie for shortto go to Memphis about 15 miles away You know Salllo Is all sand and its so soft that you might catch a baby by the heels and throw it 40 feet and let It fall either end up and a baby of ordinary pluck would notcry Just any old breeze that will iiy a kite will pile that stuff up ute goose feathers 40 feet nigh on old Mrs Sphinx or Miss Sommers got onto a durned old Jackass with all that fancy barber work on his legs that te you about In Dog FennelIIf you would take oft that jackass ears and hia bray aml tunChlrriVout JWingrasshim any more than a rabbit Ken tucky rabbit not Texas Jack rabbit Lord When was down in that Texas country debating with that liar Wil kinson I saw jack rabbits that it would be dangerous to turn out Som mers Cairo jackass withthe jackrabbits would run over jackass and kill him Thev couldnt get along congruvial ly at all like poor Billy Brecklnridge and I did when Veach printed Dillys picture and mine In the Blade facI ing each other and over somo article that he headed Two Jacks and a whole lot of card playing slang When Sommers was on his lilUeI jackass on the streets In Caironone of your big St Louis fair doings real thing and the little old donkey could not sink In the solid streets Sommers with legs bordering on four feet that Is four feel long he had only two feet on the ends of his legs like other people could manage not to wear out his shoe soles by turning up his toes a little and you will notice that on this account all the Mo hammedan shoes you see in the tures turn up their toes so they whl slide along on the ground nicely when they are riding these little Jackesses But the durned little things are the pluckiest little devils you ever saw got sand In their craws cant help it gets in there every time they go out on the great Sarah Ann or Sallie every time they bray When Sommers get out on the Sa harah Ann and Into the sand and the little jackass went down kne deepnot to Sommers the other oat Sommers had to take a tuck in his legs like In a growing girls skirts to get to ride at all In that shape Sommers and a Congregational preacher named Marshall started out to have a jackass raceI cant recall whether Marshall was riding a jackass camel ostrich for elephant or was simply walking when Summers proposed a jackass race with him- Sommers was a dull fellow and would not have seen any irony in the last event but at any rate Sommers made that little donkey do his Baal est across that sand and barrenness Mary Mac Lane and the little don key fell down and Sommers wen between the little jackass cars over his head and he got up and tools outI a handerchlcf as big as that one ilafiMiJ Mark wales Grimes pulled out to wcp on when ho saw Jerusalem and JMmmers fixed a long sling for his a and ho paid an Arab doctor hanjul of money that looped lute ami re of American counterfeit nlckeK and the outlandish coin of that Aim that looked like 30 and wit Arab doctor in a centsI hero phlcs that looked for world like those on the obelisk at Hlerafclls and that the Devil and Tom Walker themselves could not read ore by the beard of Moham med Jpat Sommers did not have bone from his head to his heals that ws not broken two or three tlmesfcnd on that fellows certificate Sommjrs carried his arm in that sling for thlee or four days to collect from that travelers Accident Insurance Compfcy when he got back to Ken tucky and I suppose he collected enoug on that poklicy to pay for his whole tourtower they call it in Kentucky where Sommers livestI tank it was one of these tickets to that the companies give to editors for advertising them Therefore I believe that Jerusalem Sunday School fellow was lying when he said he saw the tree on which Judas hung himself For I saw the Judas shuttled off this mortal coil and there was no tree there and durned if I am going to believe that God himself could make- a tre since 1903 that would be 1905 yearsfolcl now I LIGHTNING STRWlNKLY DESTROYS A MOST BEAUTIFUL CHURCH Onqjpf the most striking tastance9 of Gods dealing with churches ls his Mfrti i with lightning havee bothVwaltertcollln ot Los AUf ilgal68 alit la1and from a news co nt of the destruction by lightning of ihurch In Pasadena California in only condense them church was the Methodist Epis copawith Rev Dr J C Elliott at the throttle It was the most beauti ful In the city and only four years old They were holding a protracted sometimes called by the ungodly dis tracted meeting there and forty persons had joined Gideons band The 0 weather and religion seem to have prevailed together this winter all over the United States They are having both of them very bad as I a write in Louisville- I have not yet heard of the conversion there of Henry Watterson or John T Walsh In the midst of the religious meeting in Pasadena the lightning either of its own free will and accord or as managed by God or the Devil Just banged away for no reason that any body could see and of all the houses In that town picked out that church patIterson Department and the balance of town were promptly on hand Firel There were fine new stained windows and elegant carpets fine upholstering and new opera chairs and fearing they would dam age these by water they undertook to extinguish it with their gas engine The pious relied on the gas natur ally and the wicked bet on the The gas engine would not wor worth a cent and then they prepared Meethodists they didnt think much o water in religious matters When they got there with the water engine it turned out that the screw on the hose would not fit the one on the hydrant and so the stood there and saw tho whole churchIconsumed by the fire and not house was burnt Same old story God Is always burn Ing churches but never burns a sal eon or an Infidel lecture hall or pub lishing house SCHAFFER DIES ON SCAFFOLD Washington Feb 10 Augusto L Schaffer was hanged in the States Jail hero at 1207 oclock i day for the murder of his divorce- t wife In August 1903 Shaffers spud ual adviser announced that tho demned man had been repentant for tho last four monthsI j t i ffL REV BAKER a ONTRIALO- n Embezzlement Charge Growing in out of Defunct Investmentt Company Cases SPECIAL VENIRE TO GET A JURY J B Baker is on trial In the IRev Court on a charge of embez The case was called soon after court convened and both sides swered ready The entire morning session and part o tike afternoon wasg necessary to empanel a Jury of twen y men were summoned from which complete the Jury Mr Baker is one of the five men under Indictment for embezzlement growing out of the alleged miscon duct of the officers of the defunct In dustrlal Mutual Deposit Company He was one of the officers and directors of this concern which failed for large amounts The indictment charges that the fendant fraudulently appropriated 500 of tho companys surplus fund which was paid to him under the guise of a dividend on stock which had not earn ed a dividend theII The Louisville CourierJournal con tains the following account Lexington Ky Feb IGThe trial of the Rev J H Baker a minlster of Wlth1Wmbwas cupleo in securlaiaifuryiGbelag necessary for Judge Parkartb call iii Rev Baker Is charged with Caving taken from the Industrial Mutual Deposit Company an incorporated cern of Lexington of which he was an officer 500 that should have re mained in the dividend fund of the company because the stock had not been paid for and could not have earn ed a dividend He is one of about thirty men indicted for the same fense Two of these have already been tried the first being Dr A P Taylor who was president of the tual Deposit Company and was given three years sentence in the penitentiary and W N Bush of Winchester the jury In his case disagreeing Dr Taylor took his case to the Court of Appeals where the verdict of the er court was reversed and the case referred for retrial Mr Bush willv also have another trial The Investment company cases are of long standing having been on the criminal dock et for several years a column in the Leader over op the one headed Rev J H IIn on trial were other headlines the beginning of an account that ran as follows RED HOT TIME AUNT CARRIE AND ZACHARY LIVED STRENUOUS LIFE IN SOUTHWEST Lexington Apostle of Temperance andkRobbed of of seemfto have had a strenuous and lurid time of it in Texas and Indian TerriI tory where they lectured together CampIbellite preacher with whom I debat ed in Ryan Indian Territory was principally taken up by writing sign ed Rev James W Zachary he hav ing written the Rev before his own Wilkinsons large pile of books that he brought each day to 11be used In the debate real or socall loJndbacks of it cartoons of Ingersoll nn me but all fixed to indicate that In gersoll was a small potato and few 1I 1 J m JII hill as compared with the world renowned Moore who was really the IT with a large I of the whole Infidel push This same Baker and Zachary edit ed and published that book together and in it they made charges against Ingersoll one of which Is so obsceno that I cannot even indicate It here Zachary and Baker edited together Lexington The Quarterly Chris ian that always had that same cartoon of Ingersoll and me The Christian Standard Campbell e paper in Cincinnati published that Zachary was getting money under false pretense by the publishing of that paper in claiming to be raising money for a certain missionary In Armenia The government suppressed the publication of The Christian Quarterly At the same time that Baker was the money for which he is now being tried by what they calles Investment Companies Baker be- Ing being engaged in one in Lexington Zachary was engaged in a similar one In Mt Sterling Ky and when Baker was arrested or about that time Zachary disappeared from Kentucky and went out onto the Pacific that time Zachary has been advertising in the Lexington Leader stock that he was selling In gold mines in Georgia There are many people in the In dlan Territory Infidel and Christian who believe that Wilkinson Grant as they call him is a big goodheart ed honest but ignorant fellow But beleve =and I want you to watch my prediction that if Grant continues to associate with Zachary Grant will be in the penitentiary inside of r ten years from now I am an old pen Itentlary blnitand had a better chance o knpwaboutconvicts than anyman whomever lived In America ask WardY denCafHuwand Onntwhlle yJ- tmaye ad I hope is yetlnnooeBt 1llif irpr man that getsIntothe penitentiary BEWARE OF THE SHINDIG Brother Frank Zimmerman Dutch for carpenterof Sadott Wisconsin has sent me for reading and comment- a tract called Danger in the Dance am getting old and life is too shortalto read it and as I never lanced a gle stepor twostep eitherin my whole life I am not in shape to depose on the subject If you ever read my book that I wrote In hocnot In hoc slgno vlnces oh nocalled Behind the Bars 3149Sfor sale at this office price 100you will see how I got my wife at a big function they call It now because she didnt dance nd could dance and a lot of nice ows would have been delighted to dance with her And believe I tell In that same book how the belle of the whole function I reckon cant think of anything elsequit all the 0 dance and came and sat with me youngest fellow in the house on the steps and played chess the whole evening because couldnt dance Daniel Webster had the honor to resemble me in the matter of dancing- A young swell at an Inaugural ball who was managing the thing kept In sisting on old Dans dancing reck on really the fact was that old Dan was too drunk to dance Brandy but the young fellow finally said to him Why wont you dance Mr Web ster And old Dan whispered to him sorter loud like never had the ca pacity to learn The Bible says And David did cut the pigeon wing before the Lord or words to that effect and Davy and the Lord were sho congruvlal and Miriam and Jepthas daughter did the High land fling according to Hoyle and from the Bible dont see where any kick comes in about dancingthat is excepting the kicking that just has to be done in dancing Reckon that was the reason I couldnt danceno kick coming to me Marietta 0 Feb 13 The First Congregational Church of this city the first church in the Northwest Territory was completely destroyed by fire early today The church was built In 1788 and had been several times remodeled the althoughdmaintained The loss Is 30000 with insurance of 27000 ltkJP 7 J sLWiuiiL REV ULYSES GRANT WILKINSON And A A Snow The Beautiful Of Iowa Four Feet Deep Have Discussion About me Through The Comanche News T and Correspondenclally t IIBrotherIam In receipt of a letter from U GI Wilkinson and I hereby enclose my reply to It as It may be of some InI 9nterest to you The correspondence came about by my writing to the Comanche News and asking If It wouldnt be Just as iconvenient to hold a discussion In Its columns with Wilkinson as to publish his accounts of the MooreWilkinson discussion In which case I agreed to r furnish him a competent disputant My letter was handed to Rev Wil klnson for reply and on that point he speaks as follows I must say that I do not care for such a discussion in the Comanche News neither would the editor permit It for It is only a local paper and does not reach the people who be Interested in such a dl wouldI I asked the Comanche publish the proposition I made it bu have no reply as to that Wilkinson writes quite a lengthy letter In which he says As for the East of the Miss issippi C C Moore Is the only one r who had the courage to come her for a debate and he was so badly licked that his people here would not pit him against a school boy any more lgr He is not to be compared to Welch I refer you to N P Grayson H A Hinton Linwood I T and all who are Infidels who attended the debate as to whether I have stated the truth or to the postmaster of I T about the Blade subscribers r fusing to take it from the office since the debate if you care to investigate the matter All I know is what h voluntarily told me I did not ask hi for the Information even He is a nice man and will tell you the truth I could put these things all before th Blade readers and this Is what Moor knows and this Is why he refuses m space Write H G Morris of Woolsey I T another Infidel an fsee if he has not quit Moores because he has fatted to make good his claims thikbut bluster and braggadocio I eri pert w hen I get ready to thoroughly uun7art being busy but have his papers alii 1laid aside that I have been able to allra take them up and refer to them by numbers and show where he has agreed that if he did not convert me he would turn the Blade to a Chris tian paper etc etc- Very SNOW Following is a copy or the letter of brother Snow to Wilkinson Linevlllo la Feb 8 Route 3 Wilkinsonr I T fXDear slrI am in receipt of yours of thatscan be interested in your account of a I debate with an Infidel but would not be interested in a discussion where they would surely know that both representedtin which case you might do wrong in giving them an opportunity of hearing the other side You might lose some p of them without being able to gain buttt I note this in view of the fact Yourwished both sides of the question dis cussed But even you say a preacher may do wrong in debating with an Infidel before an audience composed of Chris tians Then of course every Chris tian that reads such a debatehe be ing Christian and no part Infidel is doing wrong being In danger of los ing his soul without any chance of any gain This I read in your letter without reading between the lines It Is wicked then for Christians to read Infidel literature It is wicked for them to read anything that might lead to Infidelity and science has led tens of thousands that way What would you think of scientist who would refuse to discuss scienti fic subjects except before somewhat skeptical audiences lest he might have converts to lose The Christian church is and a1waysI has been opposed to free I am afraid U G Wilkinson is not absolutely an exception The Catholic priest frequently says Get all the Protestants to come out to hear me that you can but dont you dare listen to them I am glad I am free and have no chains He that doubteth Is damned never rings in my ears when I listen to evidence for any faith The man who poisoned his wife said I want no Investigation A religion that believes not in free speech believes not in progress A religion that believes unbelievers shall be damned believes not In free opinion cannot be free when we are to be damned for it or an posite Paul said Prove all things This Paul thought was all right when the proof was coming his way but when he thought it was going the other way he said He that preaches any other gospel let him be anathematized Both Paul and the Old Testament laid the foundation of the Inquisition Those who put Jesus to death were following the laws of Moses in so do ing Now could not the News accept a discussion of only a column each week But as to your debate with Mr Moore though I know nothing about theIwte Moore badly fooled in his own opinion of himself on meet- Ing an experienced opponent for the first time fellowseto Supposing Moores followers had turned against him as you aver would not that desertion on their part show a greater weakness than they could claim for Moore Would their cause die when Moore dies When Jesus miraculous powers failed to deliver him from his enemies it is said he was forsaken by his fol rallieed pretense God had a hand in the conspiracy sucheveryrnficient strength of mind to know what havee theyayou axe just a little the opposite of free speech w1111nr g an e you thinks it is a little dangerous for the Christians to hear such You have the first catch em then hold em Idea of salvation When a man escapes hell ho cant wloBfivinore His only room tor- o antI In a down ward direction Any agitation is liable at any mo ment to let the fish after once caught slip back Into the water Well that Is sound orthodoxy sure othersIfor a momentA A SNOW I think the two letters are of very great Interest rind hope that all per pons who are Interested In the conten tion between Infidelity and Christian- Ity and who may see or know of this will do nil they can to circulate this issue of the Blade Copies of it in packages of five or more will be sent to any address for one cent each paper or will be mailed as ordered in separate wrappers for two cents far each paper It is quite comnion for newspapers and es pecially small papers in small towns with only a local patronage as is the case with the Comanche News to pub lish the Christian silo of an issue like this and decline to publish the Infidel side of it This is because the editors and the patrons of such papers are not gener ally so intelligent as the editors and patrons of metropolitan papers Many of our largest newspapers print each side of the religious issue dispassionally and print Infidel editor- Ials and our very finest American Magazines are printing the very finest of Infidel articles In fact to such an extent Is this true that while all true Infidels are of course glad to see it so much Infidel literature is being printed InII books magazines and metropolitan papers by persons who are not professional Infidel propagandists that they most seriously embarrass the work of the professionals by butting In and with their enormous facilities furnishing a higher article of Infidel literature than we professional Infi del propagandists can possibly do or our limited opportunities 1 have only lately seen the country and the people In the Indian Territory and I was exceedingly pleased with their qualities to of heart and mind but they know as well as others know that a people in a new country like that could not however inclined devote so much I time to intellectual culture as people can In more wealthy countries and the people In the Indian Territory could of not even if they had millions of money have the intellectual and educational surroundings that we have in Lexington and that the people of Boston for Instance have In greater degree than Lexlngtonlans have Wn klnson In the Indian Territory seem ed to be a popular man I had that impression of him before I saw him and the impression was sustained af ter I saw him though I heard aim say I think twice and probably born times publicly that his brethern wore not encouraging him ashe thought they should nut Wilkinson could not come to Lexington and get to preach in any of the firstclass churches of the city not even of his own sect any more than Zachary of Lexington with whom Wilkinson associates on terms of equality could Jet to preach in one of our fine churches Mr Wilkinson in the pulpit of either of the two fashionable out of 1111Lexington people smile possibly audibly yea possibly laugh a laugh that would not be entirely up their sleeve like Ah Thee strenuous not to say fenzied eloquence that he used with great aplomb and eclat in his debate with me I incline to think would bring down the house almost like Samson didBut for a that I personally liked Wilkinson as long as I was with him and though Ithought I discovered a little of the spirit of the victorious chanticleer among the last words he said publicly I must confess I was greatly surprised even with my broad whatJheation is so utterly at variance with his words and conduct to me when we were together his good breeding then being beautifully accentuated b the sweet and ladylike deportment his wife toward me The misleading and Insincerity in Wilkinsons utterances are phenomenal evenas coming from thecloth iln this letter even he speaks of himself as a school boy and seem Inclined to pose as one of these Infant prodigy preachers who in curls rind pinafores begin to astound the worl at about the age of three years some nine years earlier than Jesus is alleged to have done that f My recollection of Wilkinson sub ject to glad correction is that he is about forty years old weighs pounds and Is very robust He Is a practicing lawyer also reetoWeIchWelch being a dobaterand ve r even having heard any debate il took part in t he onounder co era tlon W- As to the matter of the stooping of the Blades by its patrons at Ryan the following are the facts I live eight miles from Lexington and I do not think I have been inthe city this winter- I only know of the Blades mailing list from the letters that are opened in Lexington by Mr Hughes or his clerk or bookkeeper the business In them noted and then sent to me About one letter out of ten however comes to me first unopened and I open it and send It back to him with any money that may be in it using the letter condensed or In full as I may conclude for publication or notusing it at Sometimes discontinue cards come directly to me and sometimes they are sent to me by Mr Hughes For some months past I have hardly heard or known of any dlscontln uances of the Blade Nearly every case of discontinuance that Is at the suggestion of the party to whim it goes is accompanied by a kind letter in which the party says that he or she discontinues the paper from want of money to pay for it and nearly always expresses the desire or Ifgetsbe the duty of the postmaster at Ryan to send the Blade if the Blades going there are ordered discontinued- I remember to have seen but three In ast several months One was some address where the reason assigned by the postmaster was 11Bladeulng one of the papers A third one was from Ryan I T some place near there No It wasJnot an official card simply a from a party who asked me in a kind manner to discontinue the Bladet him as bo had become a Christian and I printed his card IntuUln the Blade with a kind comment upon itIJust as I began to write this piece t stepped to the telephone to call up Mr Hughes my purpose being to ask I him about the alleged discontinuances the Blade at Ryan The phone was answered by his bookkeeper She isalrt Mr Hughes was InMf Sterling rand would not be in today She is an ex perlenced bookkeeper and opens all the mall for the Blade and of course It Is her business to know about dls continuances In answer to my question she said she knew of no discontinuances atI Ryan unless they were such as MrI Hughes had discontinued because they were two or three years in rears and that we had a package of Blades that go to subscribers in Ryi anMr Wilkinson has previously made this same statement in writing I think to the Comancho News- I hope that parties In Ryan will in vestigate this matter and report me for publication in the Blade and namesIin the Blade plain statements of the influence of my presence in theirI country It seems to me that Mr Wilkinson ought to be somewhat In a hurry to expose me as he Is a preacher and I am an Infidel editor who am every weak issuing a paper against his religion Having the Blades in his posesslon as he said it would have been a good point if he had given my language and the dot of the Blade In which according to him I said I would turn the Blade to a Christian paper If I did not con vert him- I do not know of ever having said any thing even approximately resem bling that and think you will never hear him quote It As to Mr Wilkinsons alleged desire to further the debate with me the following are the facts When I left him at Ryan I most earnestly asked him to come to Lex- Ington and here debate with me the same questions that we debated in Ryan I have since asked him through andjHe replied that he could not afford to spend 5000 for such a purpose I think he alluded to it as awIld goose chase I renew my request for him to come to Lexington for this debate lawyerscannot personally and with the as sistance of his friends raise 50 to amdpay to come No Christian gave a cent sofar as I knew to pay my expenses to Ryan TOMAS PAINE8 0PATRIOTIC SERVICES Editor The News Your editorial in your Issue of the 1st upon he Anniversary ol Tnomas Painewasa Just tribute to one of the brightest stars In our revolution ary galaxy of great men Thomas Paine did as much for the cause of the colonies as any man living In the days of patriotic and heroic struggles Common Sense the Crises and The Rights of Men are contribu tions to the literature of the world that will live as long as mankind loves freedom of thought freedom of In quiry and freedom of speech The pen of Thomas Paine did as much for the cause of American liber ty as the sword of Washington Falnos courageous spirit was to the struggling colonies a pillar of fire by day and a cloud by night The revolu tionary soldier as he read by the bivouac fires hungry ragged and sore footed squelched the spirit of mutiny As he read the flaming words of Paine he reconsecrated himself to the cause of American liberty as he proudly resumed the ardlous march to battle For a long time we have lived un grateful to one of the foremost of revolutionary patriots thanks to theI powers that be we are at last reach ing the point where we can pause and honor the name of a man who was truly great enough to be called a citi zen of the world Out of gratitude we the beneficiaries of his immortal deeds should place his statue in the hall of fame and this grateful recognition is glorious enough for all the states to participate in He wrote the book that has caused his fair name to be slandered and his services underestimated The Age of Reason was the honest embodiment of the immortal patriots reUI gious views Had Jefferson Washing J on Henry and Adams written their on religion they would have come for the same Niagara of abuse that Paine did They were all Deists Benjamin Franklin was a Deist but he had too much policy to write on religion The day is breaking in the intellectual world We are nearing era of a conservatism that will enable us to honor the good that men do as we as stand in the tranquil of a higher and nobler clvlllza ion Honesty and liberalism of senti ment Is what we pray for Some day believe the anniversary of Thomas Paine will become a national holiday WILLIAM M HAIRSTON Elberton Ga Feb 2 1905II It has always been a contradiction contibutedItion of a government predicted on the separation of church and state should have been denied for a hundred years the credit he deserves in statecraft because of his religious- opinionsIf could reconcile the thodox to look with any degree of tolerance upon such a man as Tom Paine surely it would be the thought that liberty was the Inspiring motive oven of his religious views Certainly we should be able at this late day to rise superior to his religious views and think of him as a patriotic citizen who contributed his splendid talents toward the foundation of the republic The above letter and the editorial comment on it appeared the Atlanta News of February 10 The first time I was ever In Atlan ta was about twentyfive years ago I was there on business and was talking to the two proprietors of probably the largest wholesale grocery in the town When we had attended to business rollegious matters and made a fairly servative Infidel remark There was no one present but us three Either of the two men was as big and strong as I was They both seemed to resent what I said so deeply that It looked almost as if they might attack me for It Then one of them said to me You can talk that way in here and be safe but If you talk that way on the street here you will be in danger My stay In that room was not protracted Now a citizen of that country and an editor combine In one of Atlantas fine papers to compliment Tom Paine and I have not heard of either of them being killed for it and that too In the state where the Rev Sam Jones holds forthor did hold forth we dont hear of him these times Rev Jasper may well say De worl do move LET US PRAY That Charles C Moore May be preserved In Good Health for Many Years Vlemic Chicago Feb 13 05 Dear Mr Moore It is not often that I am In the congratulating business bBlade =bea 4IAhC1nglWw fltt size la in its last issue full of palate and facts with an extremely interest ing way of saying it You are like wine the older you get the better and more Interesting you grow I am 72 and of course in the regular probabilities am apt to be cut down any day but you and I may live many years to resist and show up the machinations ot priest craftIt is more important that you live long to labor for good than I because you are much better qualified ToI Independent Freethought people women and men Let us pray that Charles C Moore may be preserved in good health for many yearsW W times though not so frequent now as formally my dear dear doublydear old brother when even with the best wife and best children in the world I some how covet the rest of old Brother Green and his wife and Watson Heston and want to go to eternal sleep beside my curly headed birl in the Lexington cemetery but a letter like that makes things look brighter and takes a whole lot off my heart that younger people cannot understand and I hope that your effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man will avail much Many other happy useful years to you PHYSICIAN HEAL THYSELF Through one of the most distin guishing tenets of Uowles church is that of the miraculous healing of the sick it is a fact that among Dowlos people Deacon Stern is dead Mrs Overseer Speicher is dead Mrs owls is in bad shape and old Dowie himself has gone South for his health I used to have brotherinlaw who was a doctor He got sick and did not take and medicine I asked hint why he didnt and hesaldr keep my medicine for other people Dowles style of curing by faith seems to be for the other people Strict Sabbatarians qught to be glad to know that there Is a Lords Day celebrated all the week round The Greeks observe on Monday the Persians Tuesday the Assyrians Wednesday the Egyptians Thursday the Turks Friday the Jews Saturday flue Christians Sunday Loulsvllle Her I said in Dog Fennel that when we were on the Moltke tour we had three Sabbaths Mohammedan JewishIand Christian and that we compromised by not keeping any of them but I recall that I failed to mention two of the Sabbaths that we had the Greeks on Monday and the Egyp tians on Tuesday We were among Syrians but not Assyrians CLERGY ARRESTED ON CHARGE OF RAISING BILLS IN THE MIDST OF HIS REVIVAL Huntington W Va Feb 13 Rev Washington Hager Baptist minister of Hadley was arrested here today charged with passing two dollar bills that had been raised to tens He was engaged in conducting a revival meeting at Big Ugly Creek when the arrest was made TRUTH BEATS FICTION have been at many of the most II graves In America Europe Asia and Africa- I have taken off my hat at some of them simply because I knew the guards would take it off for me if I did not But at only two of the worldsIfamous graves have I ever taken off my hat because I wanted to do so The first time was in 1865 at Rowen in France where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake by the Catholic church under the charge of being a witch and the other time was at the grave of Tom Paine at Ned Rochelle in Now York Now the Catholic Church Is canonizing Joan and she will soon be known as Saint Joan of Arc Funny old world aint it KENTUCKY CHRISTIAN TO BE HUNG Roy Greennot colored white is to be hung In Owensboro Ky on Friday February 17 Mr Greens spiritual adviser Is Rev J D Rocker Baptist and to him Col Green has confessed the crime with which ho Is charged Ho killed a me named Coomes for f2800 he had in his pocket- Green says some whisky that Coomes gave him made him crazy They ought to make better whisky in Kentucky f The Bible for Children lately Issued the Century Co is recom StoeSCS other reasons because it omitssuch- parts as parents are apt to omit when reading aloud to their children FAMOUS FRUIT LANDS Of the East Texas Country Home of the Elberta peach the strawberry plum pear tomato and other fruits and vegetables Big money In growing for the northern 7th and 21st March 7th and 21st round trip homeseek ers tickets from St Louis Thebes Cairo or Memphis to Texas points at rate of one fare plus2 not exceeding 15 One way colonist tickets at half fare plus 2 on February 21st and March 2Ist Write for booklets on Texas fruit lands map and time table L O SCHAEFER T P A Cotton Belt Route Cincinnati O r A Good Route to Try It traverses a territory rich in undeveloped resources a territory containing unlimited possibilities for agriculture horticulture stock rais ing mining and manufacturing And last but not least it is The Scenic Roul8tforTourists The Frisco System now offers traveling public excellent service theIfast time Between St Louts and KansasJCity and points in Missouri Arkansas Oklahoma Indian Terri tory Toxas and the Southwest Between Kansas City and points in Tennessee Alabama Mississippi Georgia Florida and the Southeast Between Birmingham and Mem phis and points in Kansas Arkansas Oklahoma Indian Territory Texas and the West and Southwest Full information as to route and rates cheerfullyfurnished upon appli cation to any representative of the Company or to Passenger Traffic Department Commercial BulIdUtf Saint IiuU I I THAT 5000000 You have probably seen tho statement of R G Wrightsome where in the far Westthat under condi tions that ho think the Blade might have 6000000 subscribers There is nothing too strange to take place now especially In the department of roll glon Russia tEo greatest Christian power on earth will be conquered by an atheistic nation In such a way as to show that Infidels are wiser and bet ter people than Christians and the whole Christian religion Is tottering to its fall You may say If you please that r am boastful of the achievements of this little paper but just as when I was a preacher you cannot say I am actuated by any merceary motive I believe that any fair man or wo man will say that the Blade has fur nished Infidel literature as good as the best and not merely cheaper but immensely cheaper than has ever come from any publishing house in the world and I am proposing now to make it in club rates still cheaper t To this time the single copy has been 100 a year and our only club rate 50 cents a year in clubs of or more and now we are going to send it at 40 cents a year in clubs of 10 or more that is at a little over oneI eighth of the cost of any of any other Infidel paper of Its size and merit You who have read It can tell Just as well as Icnn what the people think about It from their letters I print their names and addresses and any of you could detect me in any misrepresentation There may be other Infidel publications that would suit you better than the Blade does even at several times the price of the Blade or you might take the Blade and take one or more of the others too I want you all to Inform your solves on this point Send for sam ple copies of some or all of tho others and see how you like them and then act accordingly and to assist you In this investment I will here say that I will print the terms of any Infidel paper that asks me to do so of course without any change I mean by this such publication as all Infidel publi cations recognize as being solely Infl d publications It seems to n 1be true as far as I can be dispassio- nii in the matter that the Blade is the only Infidel publication in the world that stands any show ever to at thin circulation of say 10006 IOnce there was a lltUo boy and his SundaySchool teacher asked him Who made you1 and ho said God made me when I was about a foot high and l growed all the rest my self oJIbelieve if those who are enthusiastic friends of the Blade though th- oyidont say like Brother Greenhill that it is ten times as good as any of the- otherswill make a fairly strenuous combined effort they can raise the clr culation of this paper to 50000 as Bro Wright suggests and then I feel almost sure that I could grow all the rest myself up to 250000 Cant we make this now a subject of special effort I simply ask you to do what you recognize in yourselves each one for himself or her self that you are abundantly Able to do Some real sacrifice now and then in a good cause Is good for us and makes us happier and better but I dont ask any body to mako any real sacrifice for tho Blade Tho cause of Infidelity is tho greatest of all tho causes in the world We cannot have anything good until vile superstition tho Christian reli gion are conquered and suppressed The land is simply rampart with crime practically all of It being com mitted by Christians priests and preachers being in proportion to their number the vilest people on earth practicting every crime konw to the statutes of any and of all our states and teaching lying and hypocrisy to the people until C P Williamson presidentia week ago that Christian officers of the law could not bo trusted to keep their oaths Christianity wherever It goes fills drinkIto get money all of which doctrines are plainly taught by Jesus Christ There are in America alone IGOvoO of the lying hypocritical pampered vagabonds who preach this religion solely and soundly for money and teach that to believe their superstition is worth more than tho practice of morals and we can never be a free and happy people until these lying im posters are driven as they are being driven out of France and Italy two countries that have seen and know these villains for centuries Of course wo mmf all try to be personally not merely good citizens but we must bo good men and women our lives showing that in our own homes and among our neighbors but it is the height of folly to attempt any great and public good until Christianity the greatest enemy of morals is destroyed We are simply wasting our time and energy and money to bo monkeying with any or all of the isms and fads that are growing up and falling down all the time like Jonahs joined in an effort to advance the human race If I mention any one of these there are people who call themselves Into dls that will flame up and get mad and act like spoiled children because I havo hurt their feelings by an in Blnuatlon against something which has no moral quality in it and InI which they are cooperating with the Christians and which intelligence ought to tell them will havo passed away and been forgotten in ten years from now Ten years ago if I had said anything against Bryans to doctrine II would mortally have offended a man who has been a very great friend to our cause I believed just as she did but never said anything about It one way or the other and now soI thoroughly has that fad been forgot ten that of tho people who read this about one in ten can recall what to 1 means and most people would think it meant one Mormon having wives or one Methodist or Carapbel lite preacher having concubines In tho same way In a few years aboutIselves now will have gone and have been forgotten and a new Job lot of them will be on the market certain ones of which will be picked out by different Infidels and proclaimed as the kingcurealls for all the evils of meIAll of that kind of Infidels have still so much of their old Christian rearing In them that it is hard to reason with them and we will just have to letI them go on with their fads until they develop into something one way ofI the other and we who have determm ed to stick to tho old fight against preachers and religion will simply have to increase our zeal and make more sacrifice and work harder and be personally better men and better paper stands for nothing but opposition to religion and for higher and better lives I enjoy Immensely seeing the ex presslons of the peoplo from all the againstIcomparatively can read these letters Cant we all who are real true friends to the Blade join in a discus slon of this matter for print In the Blade and let us see thoroughly what can bo done about It even if it occu pies the most of three or four Issues of the Blade I have tried this same thing sew oral times before and have not suc ceeded in eliciting any special Interest and it has simply afforded an opportunity for some only professed friends of the Blade to write mo letters saying that I am all the time begging when they know that financially it Is not a cent of profit to me That kind can now write to me just as much as they want but their letters will not appear In the Blade and all of these outside Issues and crank fads will be left out of any letters that may be good otherwise I do not ask you to give one single cent to assist the paper I only ask you to pay for Its circulation in pro portion to your means if you are not already doing that If you are already doing yopr share write mo a short let ter about It any how If you cannot pay for any moro Blades at the present rates a year possibly you can send a few cents not less than fivefor Blades at 1 cent each to be sent to any one dress or at two cents each to bo sent In separate wrappers to any address- In America When you send for these It will be with the understanding that we will send any issue or issues that you der if we have them and that if we do not have them we will make up tho number In others as wo think you would prefer or as would bitmost pos sible for us I want to give this one more thorough trIalmore thorough than I havo ever done and then ii i see plainly that I cannot succeed at it the chances are that I would never again try It during tho balance of my daysI not expect to bo much disap pointed or hurt in my feelings if this falls to elicit any Interest and I shall remember that thIs little paper has had many expressions of kindness for in all conceivable ways but some tit rs how I have long had an idea that some day before I die this little paper would make it one of tho wonders of tills country It would only bo in keeping with my strange life up to this date that it should do so Just think what a stir it would create in religious circles to know that this paper which has brought so much outrage and injustice upon its editor had attained a circulation of 100000 It would I believe be the greatest Influence that theworld ever saw Ingersoll and Haeckel anti even Paine not excepted I suppose it will hardly bo possible for any zealous opponent of Christianity to escape Christian hato and Wl1111comeyou who read this will believe that up to this time when I am in my year no man or woman of any standing has ever attacked my character as a moralist I may not come up to my own standard of manhood and am not an exem plar of my own Ideals but while I am living and the facts of my fife are all easily obtainable you can see that while I am continually attacking Christians and especially preachers- no man or woman attempts to retal late by exposing any immorality in m me about this please and tellI me what you think about It All I If you dont thing it is worth discussing I will just drop It and you will probably never hear any more from me on this subject- In answer to this trere will be many who will say that the thing for me to do is to make a good paper andt faThatman who will say that will go and man who will say that he may have for sale and will say in his advertise ment that It is the best kind of an article which may or may not be true But he will all the same ad vertlse lit oven when he knows it is tho best kind of an article In the same way advertising will help the Blade even If it were known to be the best newspaper in the world and I am simply asking you to help mo to advertise it I am going to try to make the beet Infidel publication in tho whole world and to make it at the lowest rates that any publications of that sort were ever offered for and I want you to help me In this IL were bogging you to sond your money to mo it would be another thing But I dont get any of the mon ey that comes to this paper and I dont want any of it I have no money myself but I amJ not dependent and I simply want youI to pay not give this money to 1IrIHughes for printing for the infidel cause pure Infidelity no politicsI no fads tho cheapest Infidel litera ture that the world ever sawIAny way let me hear from you REV FRANK ON SUICIDE First I charged Atheism with the chief rcsponslbllty for the crime Self murder is the hideous blackvisaged executioner of the merciless monster we call Atheism Agnosticism Infidel ity It is tho old slimy serpent coil ed up under the overshadoM ue branches of the gnarled and worm eaten tree of unbelief at the foot of which sits the grinning beareyed hag Misery crooning a dirge for a lulla by It Is tho death rattlo of a human being whoso parched lips have been set to rim of the chalice filled with tho scorching poinonous concoction- of blasphemy and falsehood com pounded by a Voltaire a Rousseau Thomas Paine or a Robert G Inger soll It Is the whetstone wet with human blood upon which tho moral sensibilities can be blunted and at tho same time the suicides knife sharpened for It teaches immoral manI that there is no hereafter and that he is responsible for his lifes actionC to no divine maker and King The above Is from a recent sermon of the Rev Frank DeWitt Talmage He talks very much as If he had open ed a barrel of his fathers old ser mons that gave us that tired feeling even as delivered by the old man and they are not liable to be any more stimulating for moral or intellectual pabulum when warned over three cold times by the son I am afraid Franks frankness Is mostly In name As a moneygetting method his present one may be a success probably Isbut If ho has any ambition for fame and to live among the leaders In thought he ought to remembe- rthat some years prior to his fathers death It was a continual struggle for the older Talmago to keep himself In tho public eye and that ho f r J suglgestJveblack one finding no place to rest where the people seemed anxious have him rest In fact they to say to him Give us a rest toI While the name and sayings of elder Talmago once appeared to newspaper readers every day it is a fact that we hardly ever hear of him now Ho and Sam Jones were a few publicilat the funny things that Sam said wero were of dally occurrence Now the name of Sam Jones is most unknown to the newspapers and before long the papers will report that Sam has died and in a few days more Sam will have passed almost entirely from the memory of men It young Talmage courts lasting famo it would probably bo better for him not to preach so much like his was witty but I never havo been one of his worshipers He lived too easily and made too little sacrifice for others but any discern- Ing man can see that while the elder Talmago is now almost forgotten and Sam Jones is forgotten even before ho dies the name of Ingersoll even by his detractors Is becoming balmed with those of Voltaire Itous seau and Paine and Frank Talmage contributeltogorsoll just as much as if ho were an Infidel propagandist- if Frank Talmago were to die day its announcement in the papers would make many people know for he first time ore merely recall the that T DeWitt Talmage the once preacher had a son who was also a preacher suggesting the political candidate who also ran and the scriptural expression He made the stars also There Isa good opening for a career for Frank Talmage but not along thelInes he Is now running He ought to know that exact duplicates of Shapespeare and Ingersoll could not nOw attract Interesteven to compete with Mary Mac Lane of Butte man is nothing if not ori Frank Talmage would right now square off stop the frenzied and strenuous style of his father that had cloy1ion the public taste and ape tits end be erne a modest moderato o p aTn speech as has been com non among great men Beecher and Macaulay and show by his- swor and his deeds that he really wan ts to make the world happier by mal ng it better he could do a great and valuable work and make him self happier But as it is now ho ways suggests Strain at a gnat and swallow a camel My father used to tell of one of his young school companions who in reading in class and getting it out with difficulty word at a time read it Strain at a gate and swallow a saw millSomebody send the man a marked copy of thlsa wink is Just as good as a nod to a blind horse- I distinguished preacheryou will find it some where in the Blade has recently taken the position that sui cide under some circumstances is not wrong Of course It is not What could have been more beautiful and pathetic than the suicide in each others arms heart to heart of oui dear old brother and sister Green in is better and purer and happierfor their having done it and no human being on the whole earth was harmed by It except the suffering that we all must feel for the sorrow that made them do it Infidelity has not been set back by It Oh the other hand it was the grandest answer the world ever heard to the Christian contention that Influx deathbeds are scenes of horror Ingersoll was the most distinguish ed apologist for suicide but the smile on his face when his last word Bet terwas spoken to his loving wife the one woman for the one man will forever answer a thousand times over Frank Talmages thread bare straining at gates and saw mills another Don Quixote with a new brand of mills to charge onto show that Infidelity makes suicides In the meantime Blade readers will please send In to me all reported cases of suicides where the religious opinions of the parties are given Each fellow shinny on his own sMolet the Infidels look out for Christian suicides and the Christians look out for Infidel suicides and we will find out about this thingbut dont forget some of youespecially some of you Los Angeles fellows sounds mighty like Lost Angelsto 1if o 1 1fir t l uummmuuumnmammmmmmnmmmmummmmnmuu I PRICE LIST r J MENS NEW MODEL 16 SI- ZEWATCHES r t r HAMPDEN No 104 23 Jewels 105 23 Jewels Wm Kinley 21 jewels 23 same 17 jewels 12 General Stark 17 y Jewels 10 Jewels 7 Jewels 550 k WALTHAM Riverside Maxlmus 23 Jewels 50 Vanguard 23 Jewels 30 Riverside 17 Jewels 21tIp S Bartlett 17 Jewels 1250 15 Jewels 97 Jewels ELGIN No 150 or 21 Jewels 49 270 21 Jewels 25 243 or 17 Jewels 22 242 17 jewels 18 241 17 Jewels i2 15 Jewels 850 7 Jewels CASES All the above in the new Model thin Sllverlne Screw Cases In Fahys Crown or Deuber filled god screw case guar j anteed by manufacturers for 20 years artistic hand chased or plain 300 more hunting 500 more In 25 year case 200 more than in 20 year case In cases guaranteed for all time screw 800 or hunting 1000 more than in Silverlne case Prices of solid gold cases on application watch guaranteed fresh and new from factory no shop akeepers an accurate timekeeper and If well used good for fifty years or longer Will be kept In order for one year Beware of Special movements and cases made nobody knows where and which you cannot price intelligently and buy everywhere Also of diework stamped engraved casesthey are a fraud Those listed above are known to bo the best watches made andIf watch is new and perfect you are safe to buy them where price is lowest I pay freight a LADIES GOLD WATCHES Large size Elgin Waltham or Hampdcn 20year gold filled latest stylo artistic handchased 7 Jewels 10 15 Jewels 1250 Jewels adj 17 Small o size 7 jewels 1150 15 Jewels 15 Jewels adj 18 Riverside extra fine 20 In 25year case 1amore In 14k solid gold case 10 to 50 more Latter with diamonds all in plush box prepaid with guarantee CHAINS Long Guards latest style soldered links opals or other sets in slides rolled plated 150 and2 Best Filled Gold 250 3 and r4 Extra heavy Solid Gold 10 10 and 25 Gents Chains some variety Orders filled from any catalogue at same price or less Cash refunded at option DIAMONDS PEARLS OPALS ETC I am an expert In this line and will save you 20 per cent if you will order of mearSend for price list of Jewelry Freethought Badges Rings Silver and Plated Ware Optical Goods and My Tract Theism in the Cruc r ble free a OTTO WETTSTEIN 4 110 N KENSINGTON AVENUE LA GRANGE ILL rrrIIiaaaaaiiasaaaaiaaiiaaai send Frank a marked copy of this Drop him a little note too and get him to send me newspaper clip pintati4lt Infidel suicides Bro Groh will please notice that Talmage thinks Infidelity simply means unbelief HEAVEN AND EARTH MAY PASS AWAY BUT THE SHALL NOT Upland Ind Feb 2 05 Friend HughesI send you names of those who pay and those who will I not The truth of the matter Is the leaven of G O P politics and holy I smoke have penetrated their cuticles until you cant tell one from the other and some of ours are Just as slippery as the Lords anuoulnted The leather and the hideviltho past month at University place where they mould skypilots from skimmings gathered by the M theI church On Febraury 5th the dlsts will dedicate their 13000 church and cold as It is up here hell will be at high tide and the fumes ofI spent gas sulphur and foam will doubtless rise In guysers cubits In perpendicular height and fill the Western hemisphere wit hthe odorl ferous stench of burning bones all a vindication of Satans existence Such a scraping together in divers ways of the filthy lucre for months past has been enough to fleece the penitent lambs to the bone and twould seem little left to condone their Innard cravings to satiate their mortal appetites Saint and sinners alike have been entreated to cough up for the Masters cause Poor hard working wash women are urged to contribute their dimes for a Lord Bless You Sister Great and small old and young havo all been up against the graft and if any unwary pilgrim or knight of the grip has not been collared for a gift he has not been heard from If tho financial condition of tho vII lage does not burst its bands and go broke it will certainly be on the verge of It with thousands of dollars to stand off by mechanics liens if some fool taker cant bo found to risk the ducats for the son of a ghost that dupes and suckers may always got their innings Below find for persons who stand pat on their con and earth may pass away but the B G B shall notI M MIL LER lL j L GRIER KIDDER Tells of a High Lonesome That he Had With Rev Bob Burdette San Francisco Gal Feb 10 05 Mr C C Moore My BrotherThe first last and only time I ever meet Robt J Burdette 1 was In the 80s In New London Con nectlcutHe I were both drunK but I was sober next day and ho wasnt I am surprised at his present penchant for water Ho was a good fellow In llquor dont know how ho is in water I was pleased with one remark Before get too drunk I am going to send a present to my wife she is tho best woman on earth I thought that a sober husband would be the most ticceptable gift but I reserved my suggestion He was very good company and the drunker he got the more ho seemed to 1m prove He seemed to think the same r of me Before morning we both graduated Into perfection If ho follows the hydopathlc cure for alcoholism as assiduously as he did the alcohol route for hydropathyjhe will die of water on the brain- I hope you are well Adieu my pretty gazelle M Grler Kidder ++334433 1111111 ++ + SAINT LOUIS TO THE ENTIRE SOUTH AND WESTiSERVICE AND EQUIPMENT J KEEPING WITH MODERN + IDEAS AND EXECUTION TO POINTS IN MISSOURI KANSAS ARKANSAS TEXAS INDIAN TERRITORY OKLAHOMA For deollcrllJtlvo wetter through ecLedulee nod other needed par tlculars iddrees H McGUIRE ae TCINCINNATI OWIO 4t I JI r 1It TO AMERIICAN ASSOCIATION Greeting and a bappy and prosperous New Year to all the members of our Association We stand for the rights of Reason for the liberty of Man Woman and Child for a secular government a school system where religion of every brand Is rig- Idly excluded the complete divor of church and state a morality built upon a sense of right and justice a womanhood and a manhood that stands for Intellectual development that refuses allegiance to the creeds codes and canons of dead genera tions Our whole American civilization is a complex fabric of organization fro our rich and powerful government that at the expense of human liberty is verging on to rank Imperalism and the church the robber baron of t Republic that holds a trust on the minds hopes purses and fears of our people to the most insignificant vII lage club4 The very van guard of all the organ izatlons both great and small in our country today is the American Free thought Association Insignificant it may be in numbers but its principles r are graver In letters of living fire and its ensign floats from Reasons loft lest peak and every wave of evolution Is driving the world from the realm of Faith into the realms of Reason which rejects the authority of a book a church a pope a philosopher a prince a president or a precedent less these can produce the validity of their authority to control the man mind The very fact that the human tellect can soar to magnificent heights u ten with ideas and hopes that race e is heir to better and nobler con ditions than have ever been dreamed of In the age of might that is fast retreating before the march of mind this very fact Is proof that the think ers of the race are its only saviors- It takes neither thought nor cou age to believe and obey but it takes bath to bring the priest and the Ueian up to the bar of Reason Freethought is the lever of progres- The very principles for which hero Freethinkers were hunted and exile fifty years ago are today the strong bolds of church and state and so t l be fifty years hence The demands of the American treethought Asso elation will nave been conceded ur4s will demand that the race be litter higher still and it will be done Since lay election to the Presidency of the American Freethought Association I have been profoundly Impressed with the responsibility of the position I have been trying to devise some to gain the cooperation of our mem bers and give our work an impetus but before I had conceived of one Dr Wilson our retiring president has presented the Annual message pla that to my mind is the best most feasible and practical that Im adoptedIt not recognized but it is a fact that Freethought an unorganized movement is the greatest power in the civilized world today Faith is in full retreat before science and because of the searchlight that individ ual Freethinkers have turned upon the Bible church history and ortho dox methods the towers of old ZIon are reeling the creation theory Is fast being silenced before evolution and church councils spend their ef forts not in trying to advance the kingdom of God but to checkmate the advance of Rationalism by re casting the socalled inspired book and their creeds and canons The truth Is the clergy with their stale platitudes have become Chris tianitys professional apologists but the world does not yet realize that theI rmighty power of Freethought Is chang ing the mental attitude and policy ol the religious world Doubt is eating out the heart of socalled revealed religion and ortho doxy is clinging spasmodically to an Ark of the Covenant which it half feels to be but a phantasm To make the masses realize what this power is will be a great aid to the cause of Rationalism No one in America understands theI status breadth and scope of Free thought better than Dr Wilson who has proven himself an able loyal un tiring sentinel on the ramparts of Reason and his plan to issue an An nual message sweeping the whole field of Freethought as It effects all phases of our civilization is to my mind the best that has been suggest edThis plan can bo shaped to reach all classes of people and enable not only the American Freethought Asso elation but the Individual Freethinkers to render great service to the cause with little effort or expense Dir1 Wilsons message in a recent issue tire Blade should be printed by tens of thousands In leaflet convenient for enclosing in ah envelope Some one person should be found In every state In the Union who would see that copy of it be placed on the desk of every congressman and legislator Religious and political leaders of all types and classes should have copie- mailed to them Political soclologl cal ethical and religious organlza tlons should be supported with this document and thousands could be dls trlbuted by enclosing same in privet letters As well try to arrest a of light In its passage from the Su as to arrest a thought when once launched upon the world fitThe facts conceiving the influence that Rationalism is having on the human mind are more appalling to or ganized Christianity than all the hohosts of Satan The clergy dare n have heart to heart talks with quiring members of their flocks and the facts contained in a yearly R tionalistic message will put the in full retreat It they dare to fac themI command Dr J B Wilsons Annual Message plan as the mos practical and inexpensive on that can now be adopted To all the members of the Amer lean Freethought Association I tend fraternal greetings Let us strike hands and rally under the standard of Reason renewing allegiance to our principles Let us show our loyalty by becoming propagandists and Induc- Ing others to join the A F A uson and K HENRY President American Freethought Kentucky KENTUCKY INFIDEL STORY Bridgeport Neb Feb 05 Charles C Moore Dear sirPlease read the enclosed thrBlade if you think it worth while fYoursfor Infidelity DR V ANDERSON sThe pamphlet Is headed Good 1892dseems now are circulating it It begins with a piece of Christian nsolence by saying that people wh n not believe Christianity ought to itove it of America and go and live among the heatherns in Africa- I have lived some among the heath lens In Africa They are immensely better than the Christians in America and if I were disposed simply to con suit my pleasure and had the means of doing it would live in Africa at Cairo The main thing In the pamphlet Is a story that begins thus A Virginia banker who was the chairman of a noted Infidel club was throughnKentucky having with him bank bills he came to a lonely forest where robber les and murders were said to be frequent he was soon lost through tak ing a wrong road The darkness of the night came quickly over him and how to escape from the threatened danger he knew not In his alarm he suddenly espied In the distance a dim light and urging his horse onward he at length came to a wretched looking goes on to tell the old story that I have heard ever since my childhood and that probably thousands who read this paper have heard The Virginia banker was afraid the man in the buckskin clothes would murder him for the money and the banker would not go to bed and go to sleep for fear ot it But after a while the man in the buckskins took down the Bible read chapter and had prayers and the chairman of the noted Infidel club went to bed feeling that he was all hunkadory As usual with all this brand of Christian lies no names of persons or places or dates are given In sight of my home are three fellows who are worth an aggregate of 100 000000 and the hut that one of I them lives in cost 380000 but its only a summer shanty or shack hisc shonuff fine house being in Now York IIgroundIt will be a colder day than any we have had this winter when any one of those three chaps gets down a Bible and then gets down on his knees and talks to anybody up in the sky This pamphlet Is being circulated by a party who is described in a sep arate dodger in big letters at the head as Rev E P Hammond the Great Evangelist of Hartford Connect ticut I had a very pleasant sojourn in Hartford Connecticut in about 1859 n Connecticut is the state where it is against the law for a man to kiss his wife on Sundayno law against kissing some other fellows wife and where they adulterate seed oats with shoe pegs sharpened on both ends- a Shoe fly dont bolder me BILLY SUNDAY ON THE SABBATH- s Dixon Feb 1405 Mr C C Moore Dear sirPlease find enclosed P O order for 100 for Blade for coming year The various churches are building 13111nSunday to hold a big revival meeting It has caused some discussion between one of my neighbors and my selfI told him that Billys convictions were more financial than spiritual ofAly neighbor said to me Oh you wt feel different when you come to dieiI said to him I have no oneLtransforms deathesuper that poisoned the mind for thousands of Istevery one such teaching and devote that wasted time to educating himself in natural laws I believe that every one who wit do that will be strengthened In hod and mind and financially But Billy will fill his pockets then leave laughing In his sleeve at the thought of how he caught the suet ers HARVEY HERRICK WANTS DOG FENNEL Likes the Wilsons Thinks we Ought To Be Good Cobbs Ark Feb 10 05 Editor Blade Enclosed find 100 for the Blade to September 305 I am tussellng with new ground cleared and cultivated 21 acres last year I am weak Intellectually bu blessed with physical strength I will try to send for one of you books soon and also for one of Dr Wilsons I have often said that ft G anyYShakespeare but I have about decid ed that if he Ingersoll ever had an WilsonoI would like to see you and hits Wilson get into anothwyspnt JiutJ ddnt blame her for letting you lone letJtlngIf Mr Gunther could speak 40 lan guages it would not help him out when he runs against a genius like J B W I agree with you that all o ought to be as good as we can be I think we all ought to live so that it could be truthfully said at our graves what Ingersoll said at his brothers grave If every one for whom he did some loving service should bring a blossom to his grave he would sleep tonight beneath a wilderness of flowers Guess I got that nearly right it has been 18 months since I read it I close hoping you will be a hun dred years old and one or two over J E HAGERMAN P SI have said ever since I have been a subscriber to the Blade tha If Iever got as many as 3 subscribers I would pay for the other 2 I have 3 promised me When they pey me 150 I will pay for I still have bales of cotton to sell andI when I sell it I will send for Dog FennelJ E H Larchmont Manor N Y Feb 05 Editor Blue Grass Blade Dear slrI wish to express myself as thoroughly in sympathy with the article by Mr Walter Hurt in yourI issue of Feb 5th upon the value of Dr Wilsons annual address except where ho speaks of eliminatingevery thing essential but this may be owj ing to the fact that I am a full fledged Populist In at the birth of the party and can take a pretty full dose of socialism without making a wry face may add Incidentally that my name was on the Populist electorlal ticket the Empire state at the last Presi dentlal election It brother Wilsons socialism does not sit well on tile sensitive heads of some of the Blades subscribers that portion of the an address may be omitted without marring its diction or its value to the cause of Liberalism The proposition to have an annual message from the President of the American Free thought Association Is a sensible one and Dr Wilsons late message is in my estimation a good one to begin with As you doubtless know I remitted for 100 copies more or less of Blade at the time it appeared as it seemed to me it ought to have a wide circulation Every one who reads it within the circle of my friends is J i4 njt1JJir delighted with It I notice in your columns that many of your readers ex press themselves in its favor I trust we may often hear from Dr Wilson in the columns of the BladeE B FOOTS SPIRITUAL MENU FOR HANGING Sister Edwards who murdered her husband in order to marry a nigger not Negro Oh no arranged a lovely spiritual spread to be enjoyed at her handing The accost closes kris The Confessions When Rev Stephen Schweitzer Mrs Edwards spiritual advisor called en the condemned woman she con fessed to him that she murdered her LiisbntKi and tint Oreason was in no way implicated In the crime Mrs Edwards bad given up all hope- and had selected the text for her m neral sermon and the hymns to be rendered She selected Rev Stephen Schweitzer to preach the sermon from th text found in Isaiah xl 20 Thy sun shall no more go down neither shall thy moon withdraw itself for the Lord shall be thy everlasting light and the days of thy mourning shall fce ended She requested that three hymns be sung at her funeral the first Jesus Iover of My Soul the second Rock 1ni Ages and the service bs closed- with Nearer My God To Thee It seems to me that this singing Nearer my God to Thee by people who are just going to be hung is probably a misfit When they are up on the scaffold they are of course nearer to God than the balance of us down on the- groundIve been there though sim ply as a newspaper reporter never was hung myself oh no but its the only thing I havent beenbut when the sheriff touches the button and the fellow shoots down and stops suddenly in his downward career with the dull thud that I am sorry to see them leaving out of hanging attfellowIbeenra streak not blue mind youtoward the other place PRAYER AS A POLITICAL PULL In a special to the Oklahoman anent the discussion in the state Sen ate on Its admission Into statehood r rr 1tL symkpass congress There were amens responding from all parts of the sen ate chamber Both in our national and our state affairs while the chaplains are not supposed to be heard on the floor political matters and to have votes they are nevertheless immense poll cal factors lobylsts logrollers The state of Kentucky has Just gon through throes of practical frenzied politics re the site of the very expen slve new capitol that pur state Is to build resulting in its retention in Frankfort a town most markedly un fitted for It and in a locality even more if possible inappropriate for it than the original site and all of this when every consideration that could tater showed that Lexington was preeminently the place for it But the Chaplain of the Kentucky Legislature was a Campbelllte preacher named Thomas N Arnold This Thomas was not exactly the disciple who was also called Dldy mus meaning one of a pair of twinssin the American languagebut our Kentucky disciple of that name was the father of a pair of twins under very interesting financial circum was handsome and in the pullpit so called from the pufl its Incumbent always hasThomas used the American language with great fluecy and volubility knowing by a heart the names at least of many of the longest words in our language Under these circumstances Tom- ewhile quite young married the daughter Stof a very very rich man That was some fifty years ago and before Teddy the Strenuous had glv en the impetus to race suicide Toms Pa1n law forgot his name call him Smithjust doted on his as girl and extended his dote to Tom as the old fellow was in his dotage any a how Old Smith had been a businessman as and had read In the Bible A Blessed Is he who hath his quiver full of them babies and old Smith said to Tom and his girl that be the said Smith party of the first part would pay unto the said Tom and his girl parties of the second 10000 In the coin of the realm or such as was la- ingal tender in KentuckyIt was before the warImmediately upon the birth of each child that should be born unto j I ILLIN OTCENTRALRAILROAD I EXCURSION TICKETS NOW ON SALE AT REDUCED RATES TO NEW ORLEANS LA HAVANA CUBA HOT SPRINGS ARK CITY OF MEXICO CALIFORNIA AND MANY OTHER POINTS WITH LIBERAL STOP OVERS AND RE TURN LIMITS toTexasReduced oneway Colonist and home seekers excursion rates to paints South and West first and third Tuesdays In each month FARMING IN THE SOUTH The Passenger Department of the Illinois Central Railroad Company to issuing monthly circulars concerning fruit growing vegetable gardening TennesseeMlsseslppl Cinutarson or address nearest railroad Agent or address F W HARLOWDIVISION PASSENGER AGENT LOUISVILLE KENTUCKY GO SOUTHWEST Like Time and Tide the Great Southwest awaits no man but Its a heap easier to get aboard at the Instant of starting than to contend with the ment lof momentum later Let us give you the details of this new countrys rapid growth and your r chance to grow up with It Illustrated literature free IrGEOthe said Tom and his wife parties of parteThe young people considered the matter said the snap was soft that business was business and they so reported to old Smith They did not let up until they had fourteen children Including a pair InSmith promptly paid Tom 20000 The twins were boysboth of them kept on being the same age until Iethen they went down to Florida an sailed from there in a boat 18 feet long both of them atoneto or for Cuba and neither of them has ever been heard of from that day to this Tom the father lived in Frankfort and attended strictly to theology and the paterfamilias business He invested his 10000 a little over in Frankfort real estate and lived himself and family with old Smith and it got so that it took 7 figures digits including zeros of course to tell how much Tom had Tom was chaplain of the Kentucky State Senate and he demonstrated beyond any skeptical gainsay tatement of James in Holy Writ that The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man or any other old man who has the sweet Williams avalleth thing in the Bible about the needle going through the camels eye Tom said was all in his eye if was not in the camels and he was camellte anyhow and In one of his prayers before the senate said to one of the finest prayers over delivered to a Kentucky audience Tom pray d long and loud with a voice like a Louis Fair megaphone that the Lord would put It into the hearts of tho Kentucky legislators to keep the capital in Frankfort where Tom had laid up his real estate treasures and Tomarepresentefl the richest colt glous sect in Kentucky the Lord In horn put it into their hearts to do Tom wanted done and in a few hundred years from now say about D 2205 some gentleman from New Zealand will with a kodack be sitting like another Volnoy among the ruins of our newold capitol In that capitalsnote the o and the a and will pause to ruminate What kind of whisky did those damfools use that day anyhowISend in n RATES SOUTHWEST CUT ALMOST IN TWO DIG 620 1904Jan3l7 1905 LEAVES MINIS rnYi tMr Joseph Severance of New town has resigned as pastor of the Christian church at that piece to ac ax cept a position with the Hagau GasxEngine Company of Winchester He will have charge of a branch office to be opened in Louisville arid will move to that city with his fami ly about March 1 Mr Severance was graduated isddecision to quit theh ministry will be received with regret I Joes severance of himself from the Campbellitcs looks like the B n might be getting in its little work on him Still the change aint much just from one kind of gnu to anoth er kind Once To de wor when everybody- was beginning to hoard all metal money a man wrote to Editor Pren lice asking How shall we make small change Prentice did not like the man He answered Turn fool it would be the smallest change you couldmake A1 PIJNPION FJiEETIIINKEHS I liar a few hundred copies left 186tpages and Pacts Worth Knowing 8G pages both books postpaid for 1C cents in stomps For missionary work there is nothing better Let us cooperate and circulate this lit erature for the benefit of humanity Address A B Bennett Norwalk Conn WINTER IN COLORADO Your own phyaclan will tell you that the dry mountain air of Colorado as an elixir of life stands preeminent Al ways rigorous and stimulating the crist atmosphere of Colorado Is at its best In winter To accomodate win ter tourist to the Rockies the Union Pacific has put In effect from Chicago around trip rate of 4720 and from St Louis a round trip rate of 3920 with proportionate reductions from all points within its immediate territory Tickets on sale every day until May 1st 1905 with return limit June 1st 1905 Bo sure your ticket reads over j the Union Pacific the popular route to Colorado For full Information in quire of W H Connor G A East fourth street Cincinnati O

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