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Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.): n. Sunday, December 24, 1905.
Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.): n. Sunday, December 24, 1905. Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.). 400dpi TIFF G4 page images Blade Publishing Co., Lexington, KY 1905 blu1905122401 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, December 24, 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. r rF tW 1 ryc 1 f 1 Y BLJE GR4SS BLADE Jw t EDITED BY A HEATHEN IN THE INTEREST OITGOOD MORALS 1PUBLISHED WEEKLY ONE DOLLAR A YEAR IN ADVANCE tt litVOLUME XIV NUMBER 40 i r TERMS OF THE BLADE One Issue for one year 100 In clubs of nve NEW subscribers 50 cents each 250 for five Torms100 per year In advance foreign subscription 150 Five new subscribers sent one for 250 J Make all Money Orders Dra Express Orders payable to t s Grass Blade Lexington Kojc en you change your addr vrtSthl8 office giving your well aeNihtnew address When you senctryour subscript whether y uie new or ola scriber tt Office of publc tlo 1i3 W Short Lexington Kentucky Ei I1n tal legal murder gives ovi the humanizing iniluenco jed Gospel the tidings Mary Rogers was hange- is not forget that the ofliuirls polite about it und politeness Counts a good deal even iu victim on theyscaffod Yes Mary Rogers Is dead She was guilty of an atrocious crime almost as astroclous as the Stats of Vermont committed against her The legal murder of Mary Rogers was more brutal and cowardly than the murder she committed It Is time for the people of the United States to ask and answer these questions What good has been done by thisI dreadful official murderIAre the citizens of the Green Moun thin State proud of their workIHow many of her Individual citizens would have done what required their paid officials to doIIs human life safer in Vermont than before they hung this ignorant half crazed woman Will not the brutal and lawless sayC If the State may take human lifo why may not nfIf the State legally murders its citi zens may not the citizens commit the same act the State does k Does not capital punishment turn the minds of the ignorant and brutal toward violencefLet us watch the humanizing in fluence the hanging of Mary Rogers will have How many men have mur dered their wives In Vermont How many have been hung for wife mur der This Is an opportune time forf criminal statistics on this point If allc the wife murderers In this country would be reared In every community and they would be as permanent insti tutions as our jails and penettentlar ies We can expect nothing less than rJcapital punishment in a Christian clv IfBIllzauton that was forced by rational public sentiment to abolish kr witch burning and selling human be ings on the auction block We are i more civilized now We only burn criminals at the stake hang women and men coin fortunes from thetl t hearts blood of woman and child labor and through the legalized liquor traf A fic trade on the vices of our own peo and send thousands to drunkards 1rpIeves in the potters field yearlyB are but a few of tho pur advancing Christian civilization a It is more humane to hang a woman than burn a witch and more Christian V to burn a negro at the stake than to to sell him from the auction block Hang ing criminals is an open confession of T ParkerNigh slid tslIf Last Ild SAIft JONES SLANGSLIMIER FROM GEORGI- GETS OUT OF THE CINCINNATI VBLE GULLII Sam Jones we Georgia Whoop jivaiibeiist hasjust closed a big dl tracted meeting at Music Hall Ci cinnati He TOg here once 20 years ago am won a big reputatlo- at that time turslang slinging Th was such a jn pit novollty that all the newspapeTsjrlnted his sermons many years after ing people wond red at the dlspositio- of prude Christ ins In being literally carried away h Jones vulgarity People who had veer permitted such uncouth languag in their homes an who had cautlou ly reared their dren in an atm phore free of elan suddenly becatou Jones worshippers and so have req lined eyer since About 100 Itestant preachers formed an alllad e hero last fall and feeling that the amoral conditions o our city requlredAbat they should g together and ra e their Ebesnee- ers z brought JocJp here for this on man to start t distraction which they themselves ere not able to do The head and fwnt all this whop Irla brigade waif Jev McKinney tor of a little HjCorm Presbyterian Church in the cits What Is most re markable about tifc Presbyterian and some other churches Is that they are Reform parties which Reforming each other v eeditIn last to ased his member n ers so I am told ljgatlon Tha memo less that It wa f people now children who boys generally fey begin to thai a well known iby relTglon is 1ar years of useful life so that he ma hids may see his ancient enemy superstition dead and burledE D NAUMAN Oklahoma City Okla Dec 05 Miss Mao Hamilton Omaha Neb Dear MadamI noticed in a recent issue of the Kansas City Star that Bishop Scannell has taken it upon himself to excommunicate you for at tending a wedding in which the groom hada divorced wife thus showing to the world that he is oppos to Freethought freespeech free dom of action and meddling with other peoples business That is the history of the Catholic church tyrannizing over its subjects holding them mental bondage persecuting and prosecuting them whenever anyone of them dares to think for themselves The same paper contained an account Pope Plus X complaining that thefCatholic church in America is losing ground so many deserting It Is it any wonddr that as people become enlightened the desire is to free them selves from mental bondagetIn the United States marriage is a civil contract like deeds and mort and this being a secular ernment the clergy and priest have really no right to meddle with the Intstitutions of marriage and divorce in any manner whatever Church and State are separate yet the people sufI er the church to dictate in certain with the arrogance of a tyrant Good people can get along without the church but the church cannot get along with good people And from history and observation for the lastI 20 years ft would seem that theh churches are trying to rid themselvesb of the most intelligent the reason beII ing that the church thrives best where schoolhouses are the scarcest and theh peope are the most Ignorant Read I Science and Religion by DrapernPlease excuse me for the liberty and It you desire further formation or investigation kindly IntJ form meA D MARBLEn gIeesburgDear Slrqur subscription to the to lade expired November 1st Here Is check for 125 for another year I make it 125 so in case you have to discount the check or any exchange pay you will have a dollar net any way We are much pained to hear pttyour continued Illness and am liUral prised you take such a pessimistic iJ jl i i x Jt J L12i LEXINGTON KENTUCKY SUNDAY DECEMBER 24 1905 ONE DOLLAR A YEAR IN ADVANCE you Sam until you come again to take from our orphans and to give to yours down there Then after Sam has decamped with hs gOlden wad these preachers set usAness men begging for orphans When Jones came the clergy posted him about all the wickedness of our city and without any personal knowl bLae evensuo i a 1the best thinking people of tho city 9The lawyers were uot running up to la1sw yore as o society women not bowing at his shrine they got particular Hades Out preachersneach evening and the tabasco sauce was spread all over the clerical delln quents The Infidels got the usual ofIour newspa hiesermoegave over a umn and often not over a quarter of a broke his heart The silence fof press was like a muffled drum etbeating the funeral march of Sams geet over although he had very large audiences and on several occasions there was nothingIThe great wonder is that they were so small for out of all the Protestant- churches In Cincinnati it would be ex Pccted that ho would get at least three or tour thousand regulars Add these to the curious wok attended and all varietynup a T61amuchcredit can bo given Sam Jones He is a man who has s something He has made a discovery He has demonstrated that religious people naturally like and take to the u t1 c sad he happened to strike this chord in their beings and ha played on It Here comes a drunken oLwho tut Ing preach t rIt has fat to rey lot to books the starting vf a libn district No7 Mariposa Jasper Iowa and if any of the Blade reat would like to donate a book to the school it will be kindly received and placed in the library C W CRAV EN I New Phlla Ohio Nov 27 i90f Dear SlrI enclose you herewith P Money Order for 300 for which please place the tab on the Blade ahead three years from the time It was paid for I hope Brother Moore mYJregardsweek before last was a hummer I agree with the Doctor in politics and religion Wishing you all good health and a long life I amDANIEL HO jK STETLER Minn State Prison 112 K M 305 Dear SlrAs you know I do not the Blade I write to you to let you know that I do not forget vu fimyyears Your birthday will be in a week or two and I hope you will live be 100 years old You are now 68 and how many people you have made happy I do not know All I can says to hope that you are spared tows to continue the good and great wOrk you are engaged In I have read Dog Fennel twice It is the great est and best book I have ever tend loaned it to the deputy Warden He told me one day without my asking him that he believed to be an inhonestbeautiful and simple to understand have also loaned it to the Warden have not had the opportunity to oak what he thinks of you and the ook I am sure he will say tha ItC one of the best books he ever readtI am at the same time going to risk of to let mo get the dear old Blade will be here till next winter if I crget a parole I expect to mot one next month The Warden is doing all he can for me and if I do get one day I leave here you will got P O Order and address so I can the paper I will go to see youas as I can leave the State I wUnt show you my plans I have mai I As this is a Holiday we are allowed 1IfalterGods I am the only Infidel hijre I am hero nearly years I h ve u 4 6 ghty five Sam ought to keep his ifs at home when he gets oIl those c ushlng heartrendering stories You e le tells these stories a thous a id times a year putting on the same haveb1enlib felt each time that his voice Indl cated Sam made a great many people cTorgy as well as others sick in Gin ci teat and It Is doubtful if the even Jelly leal will ever bring him here at aln He went out with about 1800 a4d expenses and now the parsons w int money for Cincinnati orphans J J B W j SEARCH THE- SCRIPTURES TO FIND ETERNAL LIFE By Josephine Henry i f through common justice and common sense this world were made a more fit pace for human beings to live the human mind would not expend its best efforts manufacturing heavens d devising means to get there All th religions in the world are founded on the idea of trying to get to a bet terplace Yet of all the billions who on this planet there is not the slightest proof that any of theme r landed any where but in the bosom of old Mother Nature Th Bide talks a great deal about res Ing In Abrahams bosom Now honor bright Christians how many of yo after lifes fitful fever want to res In Abrahams bosom How many Jtant all speak at once Think of spending an eternity in Abrahams boyom the man the Bible says tried to dehis bridesmaid and the twined her and her Illegitimate child mandire e bcwom of such a man Not any of Atrahams bosom for die rather let a Ddibleft you ie keen humor sarcasm uu logic which have served to make so many hours pleasant but for the vast information which has given me- a broader better view of life Again hoping for your speedy restor me pas eternity in anon to health I amJ CUNING HAM Penryn California 25 1905 Dear SrEnclosed find P OI Money Order for one dollar for renew- I cannot get along without the Blade I do hope that our dear old Editor C C Moore may live many years to edit the Blade In mind there could not be any greater calamity befall fiepeople than the death tour kind friend C C Moore We will live In hopesJ M PUTNAM Penryn California Nov 25 05 Dear SlrWhen I first read in the Blade of your illness my eyes were lled with tears and my heart with griefI a peculiarly sympathetic feel ing for all great and good men When you were first taken started to write to you but a thought struck mehthat you had thousands of besides me who would be writing to you at the same time and that too many letters might worry you and crease is your Illness so I postponed it till now Now that your condition has proved In the last week as reported the Blade of the 19th Inst I will write to you to express my sympa thy and best wishes for you and your family And hope you will soon recover from your Illness and resume good work of destroying superstl and error and advance the cause Liberalism and good morals as you have been doing In the post twenty The benighted people are sorely In need of such men as you and such papers as the Blue Grass Blade There are not many great and good men In this country now Ingersoa manybelieveHoping you are much better now and will soon be well again I remain frlendHENRY KAISER fiNorway Kansas Dec 12 190- 5SirIikr like the Blade best of of spars that I take Its contrlb re unexcelled My subscription all if run behind so long as I f upon the scene and do a lot of stunts that no one outside of a lunatic asylum could understand Then Hez kiah tells the Lord that the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the na flans and cast their Gods into the fire And the Lord spoke thus The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee Then it says I come up to the heights or mountains cut down cedars and fir trees dig and drink water dry up rlv ers with the soles of my feet laid waste Cities in ruinous heaps Terri ble things kept on happening in searching of the Scriptures to find eternal life and I ran upon the 29th verses of this favorite chapter of the divine author It reads this way Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ear therefore will I put my hook in th nose and my bridle in thy lips and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou tamest Now when I ran on that verse I confess I Vas disc aged in my pursuit of eternal life along the Scriptural highway this hook in the nose and bridle bus- Iness has to do with eternal life I cannot sec I do not pretend to be literary critic but why It should take kings priests sackcloth blasts rumors casting gods in the fire laying waste nations virgins cedars and fir trees grass herbs house tops blasted shieldes Stto write an inspired chapter in the atetit r masculine reasoning powers to puzzle this out for it is said women are not reasoners only Intultioners still continued my search for sternAlOr Theeannj smote In the camp of the Assyrians a hundred four score and five thousand and when they arose early in the morning behold they were all dead corpses Well now that gets by me Whoever heard of llvol corpses and swJr is an eard of rpses wakin STTl C COOMER tt sasf ti and America sa Th respondent of the Stamili Turin Italy is au thorityfjwf itement that when a few Bishop Thomas S Byrne ofJ5 jiTenn was received in pk lenco by the pope the conythe pontiff dealt principal pious abuses which are said toi in the church In America li1r- determined declared he was it ess them at any cost Accord thls Information Plus X comp jof the Tact that while the nun if Catholics in America had if the increase for many years patrobause of immigra ion from CathojflCMwuitrles the num ber of actual co Lions from Pro testantism contlnu acUcally to be very limited whlleathere are thous ands of instances athOllcs aban dotting their religlo or other denominations To the u r amazement of the prelate the pope then spoke very emphatically of thetil f that he knew how some of the American bishops had surrounded themselves with more luxuries than even thlpope thought entitled to vfr Excommunication tromithe Catholic the penalty of the RightRev Bish op Richard Scannell ot Omaha has placed upon Miss Mae Hamilton and others for having attended the Ken nedyPritchett wedding in Omaha last week The order was Issued because Representative Kennedy the groom has a dovlrced wife living Members of the Catholic church ire warned not to attend the wedding Miss Hamilton disregarded the warning and was a bridesmaid during the cere many Friends of Miss Hamilton de clare that the incident Is not closed They insist that Miss Hamilton shall take an appeal to a church authority in higher than the bishop Miss Mao of Hamilton and her sister are reputed IIMissworth more than a million dollarsC which was left her by the late C W Hamilton president of the United States bank If church members would empty their purses Into their heads instead into the keeping of so many gentle jmuchwiserwould be that much hotter ti ill to Induce St Peter to let them through the pearly gate Yet when you como to think of it getting into heaven i by the leap frog route would be much peasanter than plunging in a faun tain filled wth blood These Little callying and election sure should indeed become as little children and providetthemselves with nursing bottles rat tiers soothing syrup and the like These folks will no doubt be mem tiers of tho spiritual 400 in the Now t Jerusalem Certainly with such child like Innocence and faith they ought to find eternal life myJames N Boult in the Peoples Press of Chicago asks these pertinent questions which it would bo well for r all searchers for eternal life to pone der 0WhoeWho knows there is a God that rules ythe earth Not you nor I Who knows that wg shall have a ond birth IoWhich of us knows that the Bible Is Whhtinspired Not you nor h Who knows outside of those Tor aey hired That each one could be saved If ho desired j Who knows there is an overlasting- hell Not you nor L Who knows there Is place for saints to dwell Not you nor L j In fact who knows there is a future state iIFor those who put the most within Ithe plate Syr those who turn repentant soonoifj nlate JtlS Not you nor IrtrThen let us speak thertnuF these things lBoth you and L fJ1 Let us not fear to losf wings t jffc Igdnlu f au tae clones werqlltlioi pedlto which bones got prayers so expeditious good Pope SartQ cf ou For an exposition were made and ruiiiot hoaxas like the abovesee to Rome Rev Ware of Lead S Dj has been arrested by the federal grand jury at Omaha for defrauding the government out of 125000 acresvoC land in Hooker and Thomas counties Nebraska These preachers are a vir tuous lot If this is what the environ ment of religion does for gods sake gve us a bigger dose of Infidelity The Kansas City Journal of Nov 29th tells how a pious churchman In the prooduce business at Topeka hay ing on hand a lot of cold storage eggs hired an old farmer to tape hem around and sell them as fresh country product to the retail stores When the customers complained the bracersIdiscovered the cheat and the paper Bays that the reverend gentleman now has more time to pray What a goodiinfluence religion does have on some people The prests might bo made less IniJurlous if they were all pllchered But flargelyAMERICAN CATHOLICS ARE LOS ING FAITH SAYS POPE Turin Italy December 4The Stamp in a Rome dispatch says that t when Mgr Thos Byrne of Nashville Tenn saw the Pope in private confer ence Pope Plus dealt principally up on serious abuses said to have been i found in the church In America and which he declared must be suppressed ImmediatelyIt the Pope complained that while Catholicism was on the Increase America because of the steady flow immigrants thousands of Catholics were renouncing their faith and join Protestant Churches while few Protestants were joining the Catholic hurch Ho Is said to have decried the fact that many American Bishops surround themselves with more luxury than tho Pope himself and were living In pal aces leaving the work to be done by parish priests Tho Blnde will come out next week ns a full sheet twi I J AND THEY HANGED MARY ROCERS tj apnerenry Despite the strongest protest over made to a Governor the cultivated civilized and Christian State of Vermont on December 8th took Mar liogers trout her cell and hung her by the neck until she was dead The State her legal murderer was so erouss as to buy her a nice black dress to be hanged In No doubt the miserable woman took some pleasure In the possession of a new gown They made her cut away the collar of the ute s bo the rope ouiU worK nice and commanded her to take off her corset so she would be more com jj fortable1 at the necktie party How fl thoughtful and humane They then told the woman to prepare to die and 1tomake her peace with God It Is tnot quite clear to me how this thing Is done The Bible says you cannot by searching find God so how will a poor human being In the shadow of tt tho scaffold get the all loving and all merciful Heavenly Father to sign a treaty of peace at such a crucial moment Of coure the good Chris- tiansr of Vermont and Mary Rogers who was a Christian attended In her last moments by her spiritual advisor know how the peace with God Is tmadeThe cowering woman In the hands of her male executioners promised she would be brave and she uttered not a tSOund while the vast impersonal brutal power of the tv tian State of Vermont swung this mis erable wretch from the scaffold The press says that the hanging was suc or cessful and the great and good Gov ernor Bell sent his congratulations All the arrangements for hanging Mary Rogers were complete and artistically carried out Two bravo stal wart men walked beside her on the way to the scaffold ready to catch her if she should fall The noble sheriff t adjusted the black cap The men straightened her up on her feet and itfastened the rope around her neck they proceeded to vindicate the majesty of the law just as they do all over the earth where savages live j They have done this thing for thous ands of years and that is what they do in Vermont today The picture woman with u black cup over her ld a black bag drawn over her her neck with limbs pinioned starting from her head and tad blackened face hanging mutes Is a majestic object Acindlcation of the majes hnt men can be found trial capaciCyconixaitauc Jtol legal murder gives evi the humanizing influence of bed Gospel the tidings of Mary Rogers was hanged Jis not forget that the ofllcirla polite about it und politeness counts a good deal etw it HU1I1 on the scaffod Yes Mary Rogers is dead r She was guilty of an atrocious crime almost as astrocious as the State of Vermont committed against her The legal murder of Mary Rogers was more brutal and cowardly than the murder she committed It is time for the people of the United States to ask and answer these questions What good has been done by this dreadful official murder Are the citizens of the Green Moun tain State proud of their work How many of her individual citizens would have done what they required their paid officials to do Is human life safer in Vermont than before they hung this ignorant halt crazed woman Will not the brutal and lawless say If the State may take human life why may not n If the State legally murders its clti zens may not the citizens commit the same act the State does Does not capital punishment turn the minds of the Ignorant and brutal toward violence Let us watch the humanizing in fluence the hanging of Mary Rogers will have How many men have mur dered their wives In Vermont How many have been hung for wife murder This is an opportune time for criminal statistics on this point If all the wife murderers in this country would be reared in every community and they would be as permanent institutions as our Jails and penettentlar ies We can expect nothing less than capital punishment in a Christian civ t illzatiton that was forced by rational humane public sentiment to abolish witch burning and selling human be i ings on the auction block We are I more civilized now We only burn tfrcriminals at the stake hang women i and men coin fortunes from the fhearts blood of woman and child labor the legalized liquor traffic trade on the vices of our own pee drunkardsSgraves in the potters field yearly I These are but a few of the signs of pur advancing Christian civilization It Is more humane to hang a woman than burn a witch and more Christian flt7 to burn a negro at the stake than to sell him from tho auction block Hang ing criminals is an open confession of rnt the state that it is unable to protest society except by the hangmans noose If that is so the state had better be revolutionized or go out of business Common humanity common justice and common sense can Inaugurate a better system than that leaving out the sacred Influence of religion and the majesty of the law In the case of Mary Rogers Vermont has made a specialty of hang ing a woman and letting oft men murderers with life sentence or a pardon The press says that Vermont has con victed many men murderers in the past 20 years and hanged not one It is barbarous enough to hang male criminals but to disfranchise a woman load her with disabilities tax her without her consent to support unjust government and then if she commits crime to hang her is rank cowardice and diabolismeThe very fact that women bring the human race into life through the pangs of travail and all through life are treated unjustly by Church and State should make the Christian religion arise in its majesty and abolish capital punishment Will it do It Never If the human race is ever made more merciful just and humane it must be done by the uplifting influence of Rationalism There is no proof that hanging has a deterrent effect upon murder The philosophy of government and the philosophy of jurisprudence must be based upon a proper ng of tho causes of crime Let us hope that the hanging of Mary Rogers will bring on such a tide of public sentiment against capital punishment that it will be forever abolished In the United States ShouU this be done the star of American Republic will be in the ascendent shedding its beneficlent influence on the nations of the earth Down with capital punishment Let us as a na tion banish it to the dark and cruel past The 20th century with its knowl edge and broad humanitarian spirit demands this- Versailles Kentucky SHORT LETTERS SIgourney Iowa December 1905 Dear Sir Inclosed Is my check for 100 which please apply on my brother L O Naumans subscription I think this pays for him till April Kindly send me a receipt show- Ing the date to which this pays his subscriptionI hope our old and tried friend Mr M ore is about his afortlme self again a ady top Mxla with suparstltWiil shIliPtnrn years of useful life so tilt he may sea a mighty monument raised to his good work In the form of an enlight ened humanity and that ho may see his ancient enemy superstition dead and bunted E D NAUMAN Oklahoma City Okla Dec 11 05 Miss Mao Hamilton Omaha Neb Dear MndamI noticed in a recent issue of the Kansas City Star that Bishop Scannell has taken it upon himself to excommunicate you for at tending a wedding In which the groom had a divorced wife thus showing to the world that he is opposed to Freethought freespeech freedom of action and meddling with other peoples business That is the history of the Catholic church tyran nizing over its subjects holding them In mental bondage persecuting and prosecuting them whenever anyone of them dares to think for themselves The same paper contained an account of Pope Pius X complaining that the Catholic church in America is losing ground so many deserting it Is It any wonder that as people become lightened tho desire Is to free them selves from mental bondage- In the United States marriage is a civil contract like deeds and mortgages and this being a secular ernment the clergy and priest have really no right to meddle with the stitutions of marriage and divorce in any manner whatever Church and State are separate yet the people suf fer the church to dictate in certain cases with the arrogance of a tyrant Good people can get along without the church but the church cannot get along with good people And from history and observation for tho last 20 years it would seem that the churches are trying to rid themselves of the most intelligent the reason Ing that the church thrives best where schoolhouses are the scarcest and the people are the most ignorant Read Science and Religion by Draper Please excuse me for the liberty takeh and If you desire further formation or investigation kindly form meA D MARBLE Leesburg Florida Nov 24 05 Dear SlrOur subscription to the Blade expired November 1st Here is a check for 125 for another year I malta it 125 so in case you have to discount the check or any exchange to pay you will have a dollar net anyway We are much pained to hear of your continued illness and am dur prised you take such a pessimistic r view of things Tl ere la no nerd tor that for n man of your great moral characur nail one who has lived rs clean as you have need have no apprehension of an early end We hope ere this reaches you that you may be entirely restored to health and your former vigor again The Blade also has my best wishes IL EAKER Brunswick Maine Nov 29 1905 Dear SirI feel sorry I have not sent you a bit before Enclosed find two dollars It will not go far but If others will drop you some of their loose cash it wont hurt them and will do you good You work hard to struct and interest us and tlie best we can do Is to divide with you You cannot work for nothing Why do not those who love the B G B pay up As I understand tho condition ofI things there are many behind in their subscription who if they would pay up would start you toward Easy Street at least It would give you a pleasant Thanksgiving I shall do the same about Xmas time send two or three dollars Now how is our good editor He is not going to leave us is he Oh I hope not What would we do without himI know wed have Dr Wilson and you left to see to the Blade but the peculiar characteristics of Editor Moore would be missed I have felt all along that he would get well or at least better so he can attend to the Blades wants some years yet I am aware that heas well as myself is getting into the sere and yellow etc I shall be this coming January 1st Three years more if I live I shall have rounded out my threescore and ten I cannot realize that I am so near the end I was myself quite unwell last spring and early summer My friends were alarmed and I was put under a doctors care But notwithstanding tho drugs I took I got well I think I am as well as ever So I hope Brother Moore will pull through Remember me to him Mr Ham was in to see me ths A M He says he is poor and owes for his paper and will pay as soon as he can He has a hard time of it Has been sick with neuralgia so he cant work as he would Hoping you will get into easier times and that Brother Moore will be himself agalnI S CUFTIS 1901Dearlars for which please advance tho date on label one year and send one Dr Wilsons book for the other lol lar I was sorry to hear of Mr Mere being sick T thaSfal o Ii books the starting of otgdistrict No Mariposa Iowa and if any of the would like to donate a book to the school it will be kindly received placed In the library C W CRAV EN New Phil a Ohio Nov 27190k Dear Slr1 enclose you herewith P O Money Order for 300 for which please place the tab on the Blade ahead three years from the time it was paid for I hope Brother Mobro will soon be well again Give my rO gards to all Dr Wilsons pi oe week before last was a humme agree with the Doctor in politics d religion Wishing you all good health and a long life I am DANIEL HOCK STETLER Minn State Prison 112 E M 3057 Dear SirAs you know I do lot get the Blade I write to you to let you know that I do not forget yiu my emancipation and instructor lor years Your birthday will be ta week or two and I hope you will live to be 100 years old You are now 68 and how many people you have made happy I do not know All I can say is to hope that you are spared to us to continue tho good and great work that you are engaged In I have read Dog Fennel twice It Is the great est and best book I have ever read I loaned it to the deputy asking told me one day without my him that he believed you to be an honest man and praised it to beiob- eautiful and simple to understand- I have also loaned it to the Warden have not had the opportunity to oak him what he thinks of you and tM book I am sure he will say that Iff is one of the best books he ever read am at the same time going to asS him to let me get the dear old Blajleif I will be here till next winter if I do not get a parole I expect toet one next month The Warden is do all he can for me and if I do get on the day I leave here you will kit my P O Order and address so I caw get the paper I will go to see youj soon as I can leave the State I wr to show you my plans I have ma As this is a Holiday we are alloy to talk and mix up In the cell ho after the entertainment in church enclose you the program You will by It that there Is not one word abj the Gods I am the only Infidel and I am here nearly 3 years I hf t Yt r I w found out that all the colony here are afraid of Liberalism so when I get a chance I try to tell them that eralism is not Libertinism which is vicious and disregards morality and that they should examine into things for themselves and not leave it to the clerics I also tell them that Liberals are Infidels and that all dels do their own thinking and that Infidelity is a thought that cannot be frightened Into one or scared out and that he who is free must help to free others and the scattering of Free thought is the way to liberate the mind from every shackle and to allow the free and unhampered exorcise of Its every faculty and destroy the ease calle religion To use Reason for their God As It was Reason was the God Mother who attended the birth of Liberty when mother Nature travailed upon the bed of torture for for the life of her beloved child Reas on not conscience is the true guide the only light that has guided the steps of humanity through the tangled swamps of superstition idoatory persecution fanaticism planting the standard of personal and intellectual liberty upon the lofty heights of equality besides the throne of Justice where Nature holdeth court I want you to write to me when you have time and tell me how you and Mr Hughes are Hoping you and all your friends aro well I amW F WILSON Brunswick Me Dec 05 Dear FrlendI have not written to you nor sent anything for a long times have been so poor with us here In Maine and especially in this county that I could not seem to spare a dollar all I could get going to pay expenses But you are one of the most deserving and patient of men that I must squeeze out 20onot much I know for you If possible Ill send you a little more between this and the 1st of the year as a New Years present I hope others who have plenty will remember you at this time It is a good time to re member those who work for our terest instruction amusement etc etcand who more deserving than lour Freethought Editors I am right glad to learn that our good Editor and friend C C Moore is mending God could not do a better job than to restore him to his former health and strength Remember me to him I S CURTIS St Louis Mo Dec 2 1905 Dear Mr MooreI write to express my deepest sympathy for you in your illness and trust you will soon recov avo taken the Blade eleven to root een humor sarcasm in ogle which have served to make so many hours pleasant but for the vast Information which has given a broader better view of life Again hoping for your speedy restor me pas eternity In ation to health I amJ CUNING HAM Penryn California Nov 25 1905 Dear Sir Enclosed find P O Money Order for one dollar for renewal I cannot get along without the Blade I do hope that our dear old Editor C C Moore may live many years to edit the Blade In mind there could not be any greater calamity befall the people than the death ot Pun kind friend C C Moore We will live in hopesJ M PUTNAM k penryn California Nov 25 05 Dear SlrWhen I first read in the Blade of your illness my eyes were filled with tears and my heart with grief I have a peculiarly sympathetic feeling for all great and good men When you were first taken ill I started to write to your but a thought struck me that you had thousands of friends besides me who would be writing to you at the same time and that too many letters might worry you and In crease your illness so I postponed it till now Now that your condition has Im proved in the last week as reported 11n the Blade of the 19th mist I will write to you to express my sympathy and best wishes for you and your family And I hope you will soon recover from your illness and resume your good work of destroying supersti Lion and error and advance the cause of Liberalism and good morals as you eve been doing in the past twenty rears BThe benighted people are sorely in seed of such men as you and such pipers as tho Blue Grass Blade Ifcrhero are not many great and good M in this country now Ingerson- M Only a few think and many ve wing you are much better now mill soon be well again I remain griend HENRY KAISER ray Kansas Dec 12 19- 05rI like the Blade best of pets that I take Its contrlb unexcelled My subscription arun behind so long as I Sirf A FEAST FOR FREETHINKERS 1 everyFreethinlccr r ism In the list of contributors are numerous names familiar to Blade reads including Josephine K Henry Clarence S Darrow Dr J B Wilson Harriet M Closz Prof W F Jamieson Judge Jarrish B Ladd Otto Wettstein M M Mangasariau Vattsr McCabe HolyoakeDr All Rationalists will want to read the current number Dar rows great article on Punishment and Its Function Free thought the Essential All Progress by Wilson All is Matter All Matter is Mind by Dr William Cooper and Liberal Optimismmany other firstclass features THE CULTURIST THE WORLDS FOREMOST FREETHoUCHT MAGAZINE An periodical well printed on excellent aper and with a beautiful cover in colors 100 a year 10 cents a copy No free costs top much to produce THE OULTURIST PUBLISHING CO Box 970 Station M Cincinnati Ohio can raise a dollar I will enclose 100 to renew it I enclose you a letter front a convict If ho is not a subscriber to hte Blade please send it to him without delay and write me and I will forward his subscription just as soon as I hear from you Please give my kindest re gards to Charles Moore W SCOTT M D A VISION talking with God and he said to me Do you see son Jesus there You must glorify him or you never canoe and goodr nor ever can see The city of Zion so fair Then I said to God said to him Whatever possessed The care of your son so grin To desert your whim x Or from UlslncI The God said said When I was Before I was bo Hence ney wif free to wed With the pliab C C P1 and America Threspondent of the Stam Italy is au thority foment that when a few Btehop Thomas S Byrne o fvJTenn was received in j 4nco by the pope the coil the pontiff dealt prlnclpall ipus abuses which are said t In thee church in America a declared he was determined them at any cost Acco s Information Plus X coil J the Tact that while thenu- America Catholics in had tho increase for many years p two ot Immigration from Cathc tries the num ber of actual co ions from pro testantism contiuactically to be very limited wre are thous ands of instandee jathollcs aban donlng their r llgI Lothar denominations To the utJSJkamazement of the prelate the pop a spoke very emphatically the fit that ho knew how some of the African bishops had surrounded theme es with more luxuries than even Ui pope thought himself entitled to1sw Excommunication fromtthe Catholic Is the penalty of the Rigl tRev Bishop Richard Scannell ot Omaha has placed upon Miss Mae Hamilton and others for having attended the Ken wedding ia Omaha last week The because Representative KcunCdythe groom has a dovlrced wife living Members of the Catholic were warned not to attend the Wedding Miss Hamilton disregarded the warning and was a bridesmaid during the ceremony Friends of Miss Hamilton declare that the Incident is Sot closed They insist that Miss shall take an appeal to a church tthorlty higher than the bishop Miss Mao Hamilton and her sister art reputed to bo the wealthiest Omaha Miss Mae Hamilton Is said to be worth more than a million dollars which was left her by the late C W Hamilton president of the United States bank If church members would empty their purses into their heads instead of into the keeping of so many gentle men of the cloth they would boonuch wiser than they are and the world would be that much hotter J r 1r Charles Joseph Singleton W Davis Stephen D Parrish J T Patch Walter Hurt in of Colby artistic copiesit was my nedyPrltchett Hamilton POPE DECANONIZES The Popular Neapolitan Saint Who Granted Prayers Too Expedlously Napes December St Expedite a popular Neapolitan saint whose specialty has been the too quick grant ng of prayers has been decanonlzed by the Pope and the officials of the church in Naples have been ordered to remove his Images from the places of worship It appears that the worship of St Expedlto rested on a misunderstand- Ing An Armenian martyr by that name is known to have existed but he was not canonized In the latter half t of the nineteenth century some nuns begged that certain relics discovered the catacombs might be sent to convent and the Pope gave hisxislon to its being done laso containlnlg the bones was Expedlt and tfie good Sis mistook the directions for tha t the saint to whom the rr N mentThe ab via SSVHH ue bones taken Jrlu OOIle8S JP dj jJ Mere sent to Nap AslSiil which means I p J1 t livered expedlty or wit i CuoraiaicJiThe nul 1e palmr tiEgc theDhnaawefe7i o pedlto which bones got prayers so expedltlou good Pope Sartq oa For an exposition were made and nMme hoaxas like the abovese to Rome Drf7hasland In Hooker and Thomas counties Nebraska These preachers aro a vir tuous lot If this Is what the environ ment of religion does for gods sake gve us a bigger dose of Infidelity The Kansas City Journal of Nov 29th tells how a pious churchman in the prooduce business at Topeka having on hand n lot of cold storage eggs hired an old farmer to take them around and sell them as fresh country product to the retail stores When the customers complained the grocers discovered the cheat and tho paper says that the reverend gentleman now has more time to pray What a good Influence religion does have on some prests might be made less in jurious if they were all pllchered But then perhaps their piety depends largely on their passion AMERICAN CATHOLICS ARE LOS ING FAITH SAYS POPE ITurin Italy December 4The Stamp in a Rome dispatch says that when Mgr Thos Byrne of Nashville Tenn saw the Popo in private confer ence Pope Plus dealt principally upon serious abuses said to have been found in the church in America and which he declared must bo suppressed immediately It Is said the Pope complained that while Catholicism was on the Increase in America because of the steady flow of immigrants thousands of Catholics were renouncing their faith and join- Ing Protestant Churches while few Protestants wore joining the Catholic Church He is said to have decried the fact that many American Bishops surround themselves with more luxury than the Popo himself and were living In pal aces leaving the work to be done by parish priests The Blade will come out nextNweek as a full sheet a 4I