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Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.): n. Sunday, March 25, 1906.

Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.): n. Sunday, March 25, 1906. Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.). 400dpi TIFF G4 page images Blade Publishing Co., Lexington, KY 1906 blu1906032501 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, March 25, 1906. Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.). Blade Publishing Co., Lexington, KY 1906 $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. i44rfl f l BLUE GRAS BLADEf i1i TWEAIM TO OUT DOWN ERROR AND ESTABLISH TRUTH k a174 sl11llot t VOLUME XIV NUMBER tit rAStLEXINGTON KENTUCKY SUNDAY MARCH 25 1906 PUBLISHED WEEKLY 100 A Y EAR IN ADVANCE JfCHARLES MOORE Founder of the Blue Grasa Blade Died February 7th r JAMES E HUGHES Editor and Publisher TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION One issue for one year 100 in advance In clubs of Five NEW subscribers 50 cents each ffTermsscription 150 per year rOf Five new subscribers sent for one year for 250 4H Send your subscription by registered letter st office or express money order New York draft and if personal checks are sent add collection charges as local banks charge for collecting same Make all money orders drafts checks etc payable to James E Hughes Lexington Ky When you change your address advise this office r giving your old as well as the new address When you send your subscription say whether you are a new or old subscriber f eapihattonart date changes as soon as the pays Subscriptions to the Blade arc not liscontint at StrOracsd t r oxplra runSs 4n The courts invariably holda scriber L sible to the publisher for thesubscription price pf all papers received uni the paper is paid f rIIi full aiitiTg4eJl3t eand ordered discon tinued Office of Publication is located at 153 W Short St Lexington Kentucky Eajered at the post office at Lexington Kentucky as Second Class Mail Matter Address all communication to Blue Grass Blade P 0 Box 393 Lexington Kent- uckyEDITORIAL +1111I11 111111111 ++ III 1111 1 j Successful labor is the sire of fame a a a a To be in ignorance ofa misfortune is a clear gain a a a The first and greatest steps toward happiness to s be kindly charitable and benevolently tolerant a a a a Speech is the prime mover of the mind for as a man thinks so is he yet we are bound to realize that it is not every question that deserves an an saver a a a a Good health and good sense are two of lifes greatest blessings and happy is that man or wo man who can keep the golden mean betweensay ing too much and too little a a a a Whosoever neglects learning in his youth loses the past is practically dead for the future Hope peace and sunshine are promises of nature open all o who seek their gifts After all there is in the worst of fortune the best chances for a happy change a a r a Can it be true that an Almighty God allloving and benevolent Father gets angry at men for eating meat on Friday for failing to take a cold bath in a rubber suit for refusing to talk to your grub before eating or declining to believe that man is doomed to hell for art honest opinion What fools these mortals do be to be sure a a a Many earnest but ignorant people not only be lieve the text of the Bible to be inspired but the very headings of the chapters It is difficult reason o with them We should strive to avoid wantonly wounding their sensibilities and reach them through the milk of human kindness They are incapable of argument impervious to reason Erogresmust s jestic march it must crush an occasion pismire r dJ2 jl t r Wo cannot bid Progres to stand forever in the same old rut like some abandoned road cart be cause across its shining pathway lies the honest prejudices ofa zealous stupidityfa a There was never a religion instituted upon the earth that tilt priest did not transform into an ar rant folly The cult that followed the teachings of Zoroaster of Sidartha Guatama of Confucius aye and even of that figure denominated Christ have all been behedged with foolish nonessentials of selfevident absurdities until intelligence was compelled to revolt and seek to find the cause of existence by the light of Science It is an histori ispriestof the doubt with which the defenders of that faith have now to contend a a a a It is better that men should die like dogs thtn systemfor than a moiety of the industrial evils that now afflict and accurse mankind Thee hands of Desti nys clock point irrestibly toward an upheaval a revolution that is inevitable a revolution that will tense peaceably if it can but forcibly if it must Why should honest toiling millions care for the preservation of a government which is of for and by the plutocrat When industrial conditions are such that a working man is half the time an illfed theyhrolackingiscontentment and ask a on faithtIf there should ever be brought into the world a religion founded upon virtue and not on foolish faith then that will be the religion the whole world will follow There can be no doubt in the mind of any honest and impartial student of his tory that the virtues of the Christian religion are mainly conspicuous by reason of their absence Such virtues as now exist in the world are here in spite and not because of Christianity Nothing- plainly demonstrates the intrinsic nobility of human nature as the fact that man has been able to outlive and outgrow thejiorrors and calamities t rht f riot a a a a TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS f One month has passed since we assumed both tike editorial management and publication of the Blade This will make the fourth issue we have edited and published and our aim has been to give oursubscribers full value for their subscription You must now agree that the Blade is second to no weekly Freethought paper published in America and it is the cheapest At the rate of fiftytwo copies every year for the modest sum one f dollar it ought to find a place in the home of every Freethinker in the country The Blade has no endowment funds or legacies of any kind to support it and it is altogether dependent upon its subscribers to keep its head above the flood of burdensome debts Our subscribers can materially assist the Blade if they only go at it right Surely there is not one on our mailing list who could fail if he tried in getting one subscriber in the Hex thirty days Do you realize what that would mean to the Blade It would mean that our circulation would just be doubled from what it is now that it would penetrate twice us many homes that its usefulness as a Freethought missionary would beincreased and above all to us it would mean the removal of all debts we now owe put the Blade on easy terms and give it a little working capital All this could be done by each of our subscrib ers sending in just one new subscriber If the could make it a club of five at the old rate i would confer still greater benefits upon us and the circulation would be still further increased Friends we have shown you that the great im provement we have inaugurated not a mere ex periment but is permanent We have made the Blade a paper of which Freethinkers may be just ly proud To do this we have had to incur addi tional expense We would like to devote our en tire time labor and energy to the Blade but as the paper is not selfsustaining we are now com pelled to work at outside matters in order to earn a livelihood for those dependent upon us Think of it friends whoa one subscription from each would do for us This appeal is made directly to all Wo do not ask a donation from you simply that you induce some personal friend to take the paper and send in his subscription Now all make an effort and see who can be the first to send in one new subscriber a a a a a The world especially the Christian world is cursed with too much hidebound orthodoxy and too little humanity On every hand one can hear and read subscriptions being taken with which to build palatial churches while in the centers of great population brawny men with families to support are glad ofan opportunity to toil from sun to sun for a dollar a day Is it not a wonder that God doesnt get tired of lending his name to such a religious layout f i ATHEISM AND CRIME clippingour of our subscribers This fact isa practical demonstration of a mental remonstrance upon the part of Freethinkers toward the statement and while it is almost too absurd to demand criticism yet as criticism has been requested in each case we make answer accordingly Tile as will appear bears a Chicago dateline and is attributed to the Associated Press one of the greatest news agencies in the civilized world The author of the statement is evidently n congregation or at least a pastor of some Jew h in the Windy City as the denom n Temple Israel would induce one to in fer JAs a rule Jewish rabbis are learned men lib eral1 and tolerant hi this instance however out two conclusions are inevitable Dr Hirsch is eith er an ignorant individual or a falsifier If he knows and understands the facts he also knows that lie was uttering an untruth when ho made tha statement If he does not know the facts then he is to be pitied for his ignorance and is certainly ungtnlifi d to assume the pastoral duties over any cungVeguion followsc1uCAGO the very bad crim inallI mean the murderers holdup men burtglars and others who are ever ready to murder in pursuit of their abominable business are fatheists said Dr E G Hirsch at Temple Is rae last night Murderers and the like are the only real atheists There are no deliberate murders who are not atheists They have no God and conscience and those are the very reasons why hey are atheists and murders No real Jews are atheists Its the first place Atheism in its strictest sense postulatespersonal God Technically speaking it has noth ing whatever to do with morals Atheists may evdlve and formulate a system of morals based upon purely human ideals in contradistinction to partakeas an intelligent designer or creator of the uni verse The Atheist postulates a universe without Gid and sttspends his judgment upon all ideas of patible with truths already demonstrated and in experienceThemurderers etc are Atheists is the merest vau deville and was probably made to enable its au thief to obtain a little cheap notoriety some small public notice and get himself talked about A skunk compels attention and makes a man notice him and so can a Jewish rabbi of the Hirsch stripe Both animals stink for attention It is useless to put forward the prison data ob personalknowledgetion During the past five years four white men Lexingtonnegroes are now in the county jail under sentence of death for murder one being granted a new trial It is with the white men who have gone deepltwe believe was a Campbellite Onee of the Cath earlyinHe had been convicted of wife murder The oth r two Catholics were hung to vindicate the majesty of the law On the scaffold they professed repentance accepted the ministrations of the attending priest were given conditional baptism and just before the fatal trap was sprung which sent them into eternity both kissed the preferred cru shootingt a s bed at night while attempting to burglaize his stranglehis d at night to a ponda mile away from the scene of his crime null threw it into the water to convey an impression of suicide As soon as he stepped upon the scaffold he knelt in silent prayer and urged the spectators to put their trust in GodThese are facts and facts are always stubborn things What win be said concerning tilt religious convictions of criminals in Lexington can be said of other cities An Atheist criminal is a rare speci men Requiring a high degree of education and an extraordinary standard of moral courage to become an Atheist crime is at once made an in capbletion to a well established rule From the data furnished by prison officials of both Europe null America few Atheists are found among the criminals for even petty crime much less crimes of a higher degree When Dr Hirsch says No real Jews are Athe knowlofcannot rob them of their nationality They areas much Jew us Dr Hirsch and judging from his utterance they aye more truthful and present a higher type of moral manhood Dr Hirsch should u Jtn4 put his gall in pickle and tell his foolish fables to ancient dames which done he might with convenience pray the God he worships to transform him into a contented goat and turn him out to grass a a a a a UNDER WHICH CREED i Christiana teachLove thy neighbor as thyself Freethinkers teachJustice towards each other It has been well said that as between perSons comparisons are odrous As between principles creeds and doctrines upon which are dependent the facts of our daily social and business intercourse such comparisons can be made with a per fect and acceptable propriety No system can beIproperly blamed for the faults or sins of those who profess to follow it Years ago an effort was made to catalogue and classify the crimes of preachers taken from daily newspaper reports and court statistics These were useful only to a limr ttianprove to be wrong the absurd claims made by Christians concerning their moral system As a preachers assume a holier than thou atti and by reason of the more ridiculous claim that they are the authorized expounders of Gods will they have been erroneously regarded as in dividuals of a superior quality to laymen Naturally enough if the Christian moral system was capable of exerting any power or influence for good over the minds of men preachers should be less guilty of crime than any other profession The real value of any system of morality in its effects upon human conduct can only be measuredJby what it produces If it produces only virtue it ft may be classed as a virtuous system but if vice be mingled therewith then it becomes an indifferent system to say the least True there issome good producesit is the best known to man The best system ofrproduces r possible number Measured by this standard Christie jnprality with its futijwards and its heaven and eda J Istn t professing Christianstthegreatest immorality appears The criminal assertion of the United States will bear out this A perusal of the criminal records ofIour country will show that there is a greater ponderance of crime among the Christian clergy exclusively than there is among the great body of Freethinkers In proportion to their numbersJ I preachersGlancingatining them in the light thus afford we might wellIask Under which text The one given to us by the Christian is imposible in practice that give en by the Freethinker is sufficient for all tHe prac t lourjust in our dealings with friend and foe alike If justice were more universally practiced there iny j jextremely rich and the extremely poor If jus heartsy i in the world If justice were given its proper rec j rtwouldsystemlies befoundquences of our acts are inevitable and we must face them ourselves Christianity offers men a crucified bill of indemnity as a medium of escape declaresthatlowing the law of compensation demands full sat ii fiskJ110wUlgnever smiled again The statement however would lead one to infer that prior to his bereave smileNowproductionmake answer to the question propounded in this caption Did Christ smile Even the most liberal of his followers are bound to make a negative presumedlikeness othislaughterOn as a man of continual gloom and sorrow His biographers so called picture him as sweating in bloody agony Continued on Page Four I l H- L z f V I L Nit Ifj II f THE SCOPE OF OUR FREE THOUGHT PROPAGANGA VITH CHURCH AUTOCRACY AND CAPITALISM COMBINEDDR WILSON SUGGESTS THAT FREETHOUGHT IS INSEPARABLY SOCIATED WITH ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL PROPAGANDA Two weeks ago Dr J B Wilson wrote of his contribution to the March Number ot the Culturlst and spoke ot I1 It as a breaking of the Ice The fol lowing Is the article as it appeared in full It is a common saying that the her esy of one age becomes the gospel of the next This aphorism applies to political and economic as well as to religious revolutions In fact these three principles move forward in uni son Creeds once characterized as cast iron are being dissolved by force of UDieNew political and economic ideas are1 compelling a readjustment of tho old 1Lhe mighty material changes now being made In human history are be tf lug met not only with change of thought but change In the modes of r living Within the last 100 or 161 years the Inventions of mankind have f been greater than in all the centuries preceding clear back to primeval dawn Within this comparatively brief period the mechanical and sclen title changes have almost completely roVolutlonlzdd the methods of think f ing working and living Mankind has been startled stunned at the sud den and sweeping change puzzled tperplexed unable to organize human nr so all may justly share in the benefits of the new inventions So far men have been powerless to contjustice perceives that the present ad ministration of government must un dergo a radical change Labor like a sightless giant is pain fully groping its way in its endeavors to get into tho proper path All other elements are blundering along In blind wonderment of what the solution Is to be Thinkers great thinkers every where in all parts of the worldat much labor and sacrifice are at work p obgerving weighing and comparing The opposing and retroactive forces those of religion monopoly and au r tocracyare preparing to maintain the old established conditions This sudden change wrought by in vention and disfiyery has called Into Pt1esQlOtjlmow before ih tepoctpa commerce agriculture l marjrlagei the labon of the sexes in i19 all organized society Men and too Have been forced In y divvldually Into new condilldng and In t tonew relations with each other The playtime of the child has been con verted Into toll More and more is marriage becoming impracticable or impossible and likewise procreation 0It la now quite usual for young girls at an age when our mothers had lit tle or no knowledge of the sex and procreative principles to declare that they do not wish to bring children in to the world to repeat their sufferings and experiences Men wbmen and children have become a part of the machine a product of things a commodity to be bought and sold The old economic order and social basis of life is rapidly being swept away As the resuit of these changes and inventions a new social organism Is in the process of evolution and there must be a reorganization of society on the baSis of new achievements Many great Inventions will be added to those wen w Ittave making conditions still t more complex and Increasing the nec essity 6i change in the modes of thought and living Since these Inventions lessen drud gory men will not give them up Since men will not give them up what then y What does all this change Imply Simply this Since the new order of things will not adapt Itself to the old the old must adjust itself to the new All those powers heretofore have controlled conditionsReligionI Autocracy Landlordism Militarism and Monopolymust become producers must themselves become a part of the machine- It must come to this for growing gradually growing is the conscious ness of the people of the right to do their own thinking and of their power to apply and exercise their own thoughts and to control their own conditions As soon as the now ignorant blind bigoted politically fooled and priestled masses have progressed to the point where they will freely ex ercise and apply their own thought what is more natural than that they should base the social conditions upon the standard of their own judgments The secret of the power of the auto crat eccleslast and monopolist has al ways depended upon their scheming ability to keep the laboring or com mon class Ignorant and thus incapl tate them for organization It is thus rthey are able to keep them divided 4Sa 1Ai and in coulllct with on8nother With such division and lack of organization among the majorities the ruling powers become more strongly fortlued and better able to conceal their mercenary designs When this condition ceases to be asit surely will wnen the lab orers refuse to fight the battles of the ambitious and greedy when they ie fuse to be led to slaughter at the command of Houses of Lords and million aire Senates when they can no long er be deceived by the false cry ol patriotism yhen they come to Know that they are not secure in their own liberty while the people of any othe- race or nation are enslaved when- they refuse longer to be led by the clergy when they begin to think and reason for themselves what then These are conditions that look ever y thinking man squarely in the face it it no use to avert the gaze and try ra see them lor na matter In whlci direction you may look you find then still staring you in the eye It is ol no avail ignorantly to rant against economic organizations woman suf frage socialism and labor unions These of course have not solved the problem Since it is a question con corning all no one or any number o classes can solve it alone They an only in the process of evolution The are groping feeling their way dolni the best they can with the light the y have just as we all must do Since the laboring class is to figure mlgUtly and possibly dominate in the solutloi of these problems it is the part ot wis dom for all others to Inform them selves with its views Every new order of things affecting mans freedomreligiously politically or economicallyis sure to bring up on itself the opposition and contempt of the bigoted the prejudiced and o those accustomed to luxury and east and thQ power to command but thE settlement of great principles is neve based Upon rant and contempt It far wiser to think study and freel Investigate for yourself and quallf y yourself for becoming a factor in the solution of the great problems whicl the new order of things has presented to try of every cIU u wJ DInt and creed and declar himself a freeman Let him cease ti be the blind fatultous follower of an party wlienVu his Judgment It cease to represent the greatest liberty an good and with equal freedom let bin attach himself to a new party when in his judgment it represents th greatest liberty and good A pejv era of enlightenment is draw fug Everyone feels This is th day pf the organization of the proletai lat The question of economics is talc lug its place beside those of religion militarism and government Since WonTdOwn what are we to do with it Sha lwe treat it philosophically shall we decry it and attempt to how it of all the dogs in the universe cannot stay the moon nor diver her from her fixed and shining path Likewise principles in the course o evolution cannot be diverted The oh order of things is undergoing slow but certain change The economic inequalities wrought bYinvention and discovery are affect ing all life society thought modes living home marriage education rell glonin fact ever feature of our cial organism Blind indeed is the ing who can not perceive these changes and the fact that they are in process of evolution for adjustment College faculties are delving deep in to these subjects Few of the clergy believe or preach as they formerly did Freethought being the most ad vanced thought is necessarily of slow growth Because it is the most ad vanced thought all should be taught to aspire to it There can be no great er crime than that of retarding or dl verting thought from its natural chan nels by the inculcation of superstition sophistry prejudice and blind obed ience to selfproclaimed authority Time was when Christianity ruled absolute throughout Europe Politicians Economists Socialists Nihilists Probihltionltst Populists Single Tax ers Trade Unionists and Woman Suf frage then were wholly unknown There existed in those times only four classesKings Priests Believers and Heretics It was Galileo Vaninl Bruno Helvetius Servetus Rabelais Grote Godwin Hume Gibbon taire Volney Rosseau Coudrett Mira beau Danton Goethe Schiller Shel ley Diderot Jefferson Paine and a million unknown unrecorded and un sung martyrs who made Darwin Spen cer Huxley Haeckel Marx Ingersoll George Hugo Renan Gambetta Kra potkln Tolstoi Elizabeth Cady Stan ton Ruskin Morris Whitman and r all presentday reformers possibilities The Freethinker has ever been the pioneer in thenworlds redemption Economic political emancipation is the outgrowth of mental emanciapa tion and never will these prevail until the great majority of minds are lIber- ated from the prison of their political and religious superstitions- In former times Freethought ap plied only to liberation from the ec clesiastical powers Today the Church Autocracy and Capitalism are combined Freethought therefore is inseparably related to the economic and social propaganda While In our country there is not a union of Church and State in name there is such union in fact and this union extends to opoly and Militarism There is no greater hindrance to the expression of Freethought than the fear men have for losing their positions or of injur ing their business This fear is far greater now in my opinion than is fear of tile Church How then can we disassociate Freethought from the economic issues rThat a man may become and remain truly a Freethinker it is necessary that he should not be dominated and constrained by patrons or employers or by political autocracy It is unde niable that ninetenths of Freethink ers are not Fee actors because of the coercion of capital which owns their means of a livelihood That all men may be truly free to exercise opinion they must be independent of Capital as well as of the Church Freethought then certainly applies to the social questions as well as to liberation from mysticism and superstition When we onlyIallies Militarism and Monopoly The women of America who are free of the Church are only half free Their economic and political freedom Is yet to be acquired Freethought then is nothing if it aspires not to social ac tion It can not too frequently be pointed out that the basis of fourflfhs of all he Injustice imposition coercion and irreconcilability of organized humanity arises from the enslavement ot the mind of the child To prepare tho mind for the freedom- of I thought without which there can be no peace prosperity or progress the entire present system of education must be wholly changed or greatly modified Development must begin with knowledge of health selection and the productive principleswith breeding feeding and physical and mentaltralning The child must not be fed with either physical or ment- altnaptalr trJltfnl n p gestlon f- In years to come mankind will stand amazed and find it hard to believe y that the people of this apparently civ ilized age Instructed their infants in dthe gloomy depressing mysteries jof a tuture lIfeof the unknowable heaven and the equaly unknowable hell even before they instructed them in the fundamentals ofUlis existence They will wonder who manner of ilizatione we possessed that we should have Instilled all kinds of prejudices s into the minds of our placed a padlock on each chlldrenfand The development out plorable conditions is all a matter o evolution The governments oft the earth are guilty of many wrongs cruel heartless wrongs against the Ig norant and Superstition their ally is the prop that upholds and andretuates those wrongs Political f liglous tyranny are natural They be gin with the primitive conditions they are born of wonder and fear andjare nourished and sustained by selfishness Edconspiracies firing fearless few who always wib in the end The only solution is tuch freedom of the brains of the majority that they will have the courage of heir convictions the manhood to as sert and maintain them and the will to rThethis end With Freethought comes the exer else of reason and with reason comes a higher civilization more eq lty justice truth culture peace content happiness and the ability to and adjust all differences CXiStlngtbe tween men and nations J B W INGERSOLL AN j EXEMPLAR ofprJnati TimesStar In yesterdays Issue you reported a statement made by Cyrus Townsend Brady the Toledo preachernovelist who is conducting noonday meetings at the Columbia Theater which ylll be noted by many He said Men can live moral lives without acknowl edging a Divine Power and there has been morp harm done to religion in the upright honest life ot Bob Ingpr soll than by all of his lectures I wish to make a few comments tf WANTS TO HEAR FROM KIDDER IN AN ESSAY ON FUN THE WRITER WANTS KIDDER TO KID SO FREETHINKERS CAN LAUGH AND GROW FAT By John T Clarke Let us have a little fun now acid then It works in like cheese into a bread sandwich and helps fill out the mental bill of fare All of us cannot be funny or comical all the time but some of us can be a little humorous some of the time There may be a cause or method in Christians putting on long faces but the perpetual sun should light our countenances Even those Christians who havjb earned their passage to the realms of glory are sad because some one to whom they are attached is hell bent When a fellow believes that his beloved friend is to roast perpetually you may tickle him all day long and not get a single laugh Even when Christians do forget themselves and laugh the thought of hell breaks in like a fire extinguisher and puts the laugh out Tho Christian is naturally a sad ani- ma as a babe he is soused Into a cold baptismal fount and startled by a Jesus shock or has the cold shivers let down his backbone from a pitcher of icecold pretention to baptism Al thought it Is done for Jesus sake nine out of ten will cry like their feelings have been outraged for Jesus sake When they begin to talk they are broken In to do the knee drill and are stuffed with the catechism in a dog matic way that makes them sad They are told that Jesus will not like them if they do not sit up in church and lis ten to a long string of tommyrot Their mothers whisper to them about the awful hot fires of hell and scorch their imaginations Then they are told that God is watching them and recording angels are putting down in the Book of Life their bad acts Just why uptodate angels do not use typewriters I do not know By the time the Christian becomes a man he is looking over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of God and the recording angels Then he finds out that the Catholic says that no one but the Catholic faith will never get a glimpse of Heaven and he fears that it is true He can not laugh at that Then the Baptist tells him that immersion is the only straight road to Heav en Belief without immersion is like pie crust without the pie Then the ctrout ofrthe Chrfsanministry In the direction of the liberal doctrines taught by Mr Ingersoll There was a time and not so long ago when theaters and novels were pro claimed as the agents of the devil Today we find ministers of Christ not only writing novels but preaching in theaters and actually refusing to slander the Infidel Poor Paine being only a writer and living at a time when there was but little intercommunication had the full contents of the vials of clerical wrath and defamation poured upon his de tenseless memory It is becoming rapidly known that Paine was a deist and one of the most religious and hope ful of men and today the clergy are using his splendid argument in support of the existence of God against the atheist More and more we per ceive the clergy evoluting in the di rection of the rationalism they have long isrepresented and defamed It was fortunate that Ingersoll made him self so publicly wellknown that any misrepresentation would have acted as a boomerang The statement quoted b yMr Brady is unique He says that it ls true that men may live moral lives without knowledging a divine power Now that seems to me to be about as harm ful to Christianity as anything that ever Ingersoll said against it for it is a candid admission that an atheist may be a moral and good man With Charles Larwin Herbert Spencer Ern est Haeckel and thousands of others for examples what other could he say Admitting this what preeminence hath the Christian over the atheist He turher says The upright honest life of Bob Ingersoll has done more harm to religion than his lectures Here he eats his own words Why should the example of an hon cst upright life be harmful to reli gion Honesty and uprightness Is ligion is it not What he really meant was that it was harmful to Christianity which most people mistake for religion Christianity is not religion but only one of the many crude and imperfect expressions of religion To be religious is to be moral and to be moral is to be honest truthful just charitaole tolerant temperate progressive etc and if a man may be all this without recognizing a dl vine power as Rev Brady says where is the necessity ot keeping up expensive churchlsnf and perpetuating a wornout superstition Why not base all conduct upon morals For verily it must be plain to all thinking people that all men can get along without Y1t1 foot washer rises and explain that un less ye do this to teach other ye have no chance He also says that unless the men give the kiss of peace to men and women to beware of crossexklssing yo will be damned By this time the Christian begins to wish that he had been born a Turk and had the job of bossing a harem He does not see anything to laugh at All is vanity and vexation of spirit Then ho begins to hoard up money to give to God when ho dies to make his calling and election sure Some times his family breaks his win and takes from his only chance to pass the Pearly Gates You bet the Christian has his hands full making his passage to Glory Then he has to grease his faith and keep in perpetual working order for fear he let a rational thought get crossways in his thinker and damn his soul Then he begins to save brands from the burnlra and just a few stars in his crovm so that when ho gets to Paradise he will have a tiara of planets to wear on his head and be celes tially pretty I wonder if low neck and short sleeves go with these crown Jewels If some Christian had saved Col Ingersoll he could have had Mars or Venus for a eolataire that would have put the other head dresses out of business If the Christians can not laugh the Infidel can When the Infidel thinks how the Christian Is going to be fool ed on the star racket he can laugh until the clouds crack The Infidel ought to go to the prayermeeting and hear the praying fellows tell God what a mistake He is making in allowing the unbeliever to be merry They shriek for God to do something to the Infidel to make him think before revivalwants Lord send the fire right now They jump up and shout before the Lord even as David did and they tell God some awful lies in the interest of His cause Let us hear from M Grier Kidder Let the Kidder kid while we laugH and grow fatILet the joy be uncon fined JOHN T CLARKE Arlington Md March y get along wltlJ ndcit lty All plfrH tlans are notJ moralby a whole lot neither are all Atheists Belief or dis belief in the unlmowable1s not a guar antee of morality orality depends upon reason and ion a proper knowledge of our regions to nature and to each other As men progress they perceive tha right living and right conduct must be based upon morals and presentday environments and not upon the incul cation of a prejudicial belief in mysti cal saviors and in the legermeain an superstitions of dead centuries Again I repeat theChristIaa who ig a moral man hath no preeminence over the rationalist who is a moral man Stand the primate of England beside Herbert Spencer and the illus tratlon is made plain Stand Bob Ingersoll beside anyAfreverend gen tleman of our own land and It is made equally plain There is a growing respect springing up betweenthdChristlan clergy and rationalist teachers for through the medium of the press they are coming to know and understand each other better The present trend from all dlrecions Is toward morality and living tor and belng happy in this worldJ B W Will Be a LlfiTvsubtcrlber Havana Cuba Enclosed please find money order for BiBj 100 being payment in advance for one year on recommencement of my subscription to the Blade and the balance for Dr Wilsons Rome book orwhfch I sent in my name about the time the Doctor sailed for Europe enroute for the Holy sic City I have learned from the Blade of Mr Moores illness and by the last received bearing date of Feb 18th I am made aware of his death which most sincerely deplore and beg to tender my heartfelt con dolanco to his sorrow tetricken rela tives I was born twoears and two months before bo was and while he was preaching the gospel I was wag- Ing war against Christianity in foreign lands and trom myown personal knowledge and experience I know somethings which he only surmised or guessed at I wish you unqualified and great and pub lisher of the HladoaHdyou may regard me as life subscriber Would be glad to hear from you in a per sonal letter and wlllbo pleased to aid you In your labors in so far as I may be able to do so And with kind est regards and besjkwjshefl 1I am ale ways faithfully yours CArT B F CLARK WX t UPTODATE PAMPHLET ON MARRIAGEAND HY JOSEPHINE K HENRY OF VERSAILLES KENTUCKY All orders promptly filled Price copy 25c 5 copies for 100 A Good Route to Try It traverses a territory rich inJundeveloped resources a containing unlimited possibilities agriculture horticulture stock raising mining and manufacturing And last but not least It Is The Scenic Route for Tourists The Frisco System now often the traveling public excellent service and fast time Between St Louis end Kansas City and points In Missouri Kansas Arkansas Oklahoma Indian Terri tory Texas 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 cheerfully furnished upon appli cation to any representative of the Company or to Passenger Traffic Department Commercial Building Saint Lrul- aMETHODS T ti9 in P IF lWNlAIN TIm sxcuuit OllER Tins y prinocal2 resisting State uniting with assisting tlutor belief i bytheAny rights to all governdlibertylustdale a sent must rest OBJECTS The Compute Separation of Churchand State L Property 2 all the ervance a lal 8 appropriating army other State UtuUons i The the oath theIin other alliand rq That diplomatic relations be I1nyc1l1rrchinto the stitution other cle the to the a grantlogTTlle Our fee returned if ctnAny sendingYsketch and description invention win reeconcernlngthe securedUPatentenolle t without charge in Tea JournalwconlultedSend for sample copy FRIrAddreas VICTOR J EVANJ Patent Attorneys Evans Building o YEARSII TR i1DESIGNSa sketch and inlcklr ascertain our as invention ptentable Communlrn Iateuta oncyforecurngpatentsPatents without the Scientific JlmerlCanihanltlomely illustrated r ulntlon ot aclentiannurnal Penn fJ byallnowgdeateraEIUN OOto F A 4fI II f jr j If Ll 1 THE BLADES 3I44 1LETTER BOX 11111111111111111111 ++Andrew Cook You are correct In gersoll had two daughters and both were lIving at the time of his death- The preacher has possibly heard the Ethan Allan fake and had got his name mixed too well In the shuffle James A StarrDoubtless Mrs Henry or Dr Wilson will read your letter In this Issue and grant your re Edwin Brokaw Received copy of The Equltlst with pleasure We shall be pleased to place It on our exchange list Would gladly publish papers suggested clipIwas sent to us by Albert Lawrence of San Diego and this Tact evidences how FreethinKers are always on the alertCharles BarnesBehlnd the Bars was written by Mr Moore while he was in the penitentiary at Columbus It is the nature of an auoblography John F ClarkWe hope to be able to publish further writings of M Grier Kidder Albert LewmanAmerlcan Free thinkers are practicaly without an or ganization If you write to Dr J B Wilson Cincinnati 0 ho can give you some Information concerning the objects and plans of the National Lib eral Party of which he Is vice prest dent M F Klrby The statement to which you refer was made by Presi dent McGarvey of Kentucky University In the pulpit ot the Christian church In Lexington It was In effect that Charley Moore had never told a lie In his life Carl Vandever Thanks for clip Ungerl The Rome book will soon be ready for mailing We are waiting to hear from our readers before publishing the Moore memorial publishedI iNo Doubt About It Mineral City OJames E Hughes Enclosed find money order for one dollar which please credit me with on the Blade and oblige I will try after the winter Is over to get you a few subscribers I did hope to some t day have the pleasure of meeting Mr ours but 1lie Dope gone tI think Mr Moore Is no moreABNER DICKSONApproves the Memorial Bieathedpvllle MdrIt was with the deepest regret that we learned of the death of the reverend and honored editor of our weekly visitor the Blue Grass Blade and the shadow ot his death will extend to all who were wont to read the charming iminlta bio articles from the pen of Mr Chas C Moore which will be so sadly miss ed henceforth We had hoped from the latest reports we received that he was recovering and were the more shocked therefore to hear of his thejon receiving sad tidings through our familiarity with his writings as though we had lost an old familiar friend upon whose stanch and sturdy leadership we could rest our faith for it vigor of Intellect betokened the physical condition we felt he should be with us yet for at least fifteen years But alas the hope was vain We hope the subscribers will all be true to his cause and stand by you In your efforts to continue his worl We are very favorably Impressed with 1the editorial of March 4th not the of which is your charming poem to his memory But my mission in writing Is to give you a number of addresses of friends to whom I sire you to send copies of Feb 18th containing those most eloquent fun eral orations and a few other copies tor which I shall enclose stamps if I J cant get to town for a money order- I very much approve the idea of col lecting all this Into a memorial book Hoping and believing you will prove to bo equal to the responsibility which devolves upon you I am with much sympathy yoursMISS LAURA E GROH Like a Dainty Dish Barnesvllle Ohio Allow me to congratulate you upon the Improved apearance of the Blade Like a data tily served dish a periodical brought out In good style whets the appetite for a taste of its contents These last as far asI have read first page please me greatly How rejoiced Mrl Moore would have been to have foreseen this Issue Wishing you every possible success in the future ma- njag6ment of the paper I am cordially 1LOV LAWRENCE Thinks Price Too Cheap San Antonia Texas Enclosed ten dents In stamps for which I hope you wean send me five copies of the Blade of March 4th We all regret Mr i ulL i iii Moores death but I believe If ho could see his paper as It is now he sure would be delighted You must drop the five new subscribers sent for one year for 250 The paper Is worth one dollar each of them I need every dollar I can get but there are magazines who cost that much for which I would not give five cents I nearly had a new subscriber for you for one dollar Looking again over the Blade and see five for 250 I had to hear One can find four more and have It so much cheaper The four more have not been found yet That five for 250 makes the Blade look too cheap Wishing you success I am yours truly MRS D WUESTE Still Wants the Blade Vincennes Indiana Pleaso find en closed one dollar for which give me credit I am an old subscriber I am sorry to learn of Mr Moores death though we will all go the same road And he had nearly reached the aged limit so we need not mourn Give my love to the family Hoping you may succeed I am yours trulyAL BERT P JOHNSON Likes the Blade Better Locust Corner O Enclosed find one dollar to extend my subscription another year You are producing some fine editorials and the Blade is according to my Ideas somewhat im proved I hope you can continue Its publication and achieve success CHAS O HAYS We Lost a Good Man Stockdale Kans Many thanks to you for sending me word about the Rome Congress book I will send the thirty cents to pay the postage As soon as I can I will renew my subscription to the Blade I hope that allI the subscribers to the BlueGrass Blade will be prompt In paying up their subscription That will help you out in paying for the material andI publishing the paper I was sorry to hear of Brother Moores death We lost a good man and an honest man He loved truth liberty and freedom His life was well spent in trying to do good and to free the human race from mental slavery and superstition I send my sympathy to the bereaved family Their loss is great but death has no respect for person and his sum mons must be aboyed Man cannot live always here If thore is a life In another world Brother Moore wUlI find it Do right and ah will be wen 3 THOMAS DUELLIP tU WattRade Birmingham Ala enclose you a money order for 100 tor which move Geo E Devlne up another year and acknpwledge receipt J have disposed of those five cards all to police men Next pay day a month from today I will send you money order for same Write and tell me about the Rome book There are many ask Ing me about it and you can sell a good many here I am looked on here as the agent of the Devil Bladeand they all come to me Let me hear from you when you have leis ure I cannot write anything as to Charlie Moore I loved that old man I and his death as also the death of Dr Wilsons little Marjorie has made me feel cast down However we must bear these Ills but having met with the same troubles I can truly sym pathlze Yours for all tlmeL BISHOENFIELD The Good Men Do Live on Hartford City IndianaEnclosed find renewal of my subscription for the Blade Long may It live to carry the glorious message of love and good will to all mankind so long and faithfully set forth by its illustrious founder The good that men andS women too do live to bless the world long after even the marble shaft that marks their last resting place has crumbled into dust Theres the one time Idol of France on whom was Centered the hopes and fears of a na tion departed from his field of labor but the republic appears at this time to have fair ideas of progression as some of her time honored institutions in the throes of extreme anguish The night of April 14 1865 when the light of one ot the worlds noblest benefactors was snuffed out by the d ruthless hand of an assassin a later victim James A Garfield exclaimed the government at Washington still lives So it is all along the line of i human endeavor The man who lives a useful life like Bro Moore has done leaves an Impress on his time that will never grow dim Mr Moore rec ognlzcd the fact that the Blade stood for a principle for justice for human rights and these will live for all time It shall receive our encouragement and support In the future thus enab Its editor to continue the unequal battle against superstition and wrong Wm NOONANsKnock Out for Preachers Dennison OhloI enclose 30 cents In stamps tor which please send me copy of Kldderfr Virgin Mary and Sacrament and Ifthey are 10 cents each balance in of Blue Grass Blade containing tho erationstitgrave of Mr Moore I gave my copy to a Freethinker In another town and sev eral have asked to see copy of above Say Brother Hughes last weeks Is sue March 4th is O K and the eel torial is in my opinion more liberal and better than any I have read In the Blue Grass Blade Your argument is strong and In particular your question of the souls origin is fine and a plete knock out to sky pilots The Blade has not lost anything as to edl torial ability by changing editors It deserves success and I hope it will get sufficient supportGEO O ROBERTS Doing a Good Work Norwalk ConnI am still distributing Palnes Age of Reason and Facts Worth Knowing both books post paid for fifteen cents In stamps Although written over one hundred years ago it is today the greatest missionary document extent As my means are limited and no funds have been provided for the free distribution of erature I have taken It upon myself- to distribute several hundred copies every spring at about the cost of printing I have sent books to patrons in every State and Canada Now if patrons of the Blade will continue- to cooperate with me In this missionary work to circulate the above books by the thousands our work will count something for the Freethought cause I will do my part What say you comrades Rationalists etc who will be the first man or woman to order ten copies of Age of Reason at ten cents eachA B BENNETT Wants an Epitaph Royston GaI wish Mrs Josephine K Henry would please write out some good and appropriate Inscription for an Infidel of about 65 or 75 years of age I would also like to have Dr Wilson and others write something of the kind I want It to put on a slab about eight feet square on my grave and I think Mrs Henry or Dr Wilson or some others of the Blades contributors can write something that would be suitable for an Infidel If this request is not acceptable to your good will pass It by and excuse me JAMES A STARR The Right Way to Help Royston GaPlease find check for 200 for which send one copy of the Blue Grass Blade to James A Starr and C L Westmoreland Royston Ga lament the death of C C Moore much as any man but I cant help myself and I have to submit Commence J t Starra STrt55CrttJWC5niaT3b to the date of February 11th It gives the death of Brother Moore and send the next numbers in regular order till the time of this subscription I wish you and all concerned In the Blade happiness and success If I can get any more subscribers I will do so Good wishes to you and all contributors to the BladeC L WEST MORELAND Suggests Monument Duncan Ind TerI want to gratulate you on the splendid number of the Blade you have just gotten out am more than delighted with It in its new garb and want to pledge you my support I was a great admirer of Bro Moore and felt deeply grieved- at his death yet I think that his work can be taken up by others and car on to victory Bro Moore did a great work and liberals should see to It that a suitable monument should be erected to his memory I wish to Say a word too in reference to Mrs Watson Heston I would like to seethe Liberals donate enough funds to pay all her expenses of Mr Hestons sickness and burial and leave her a nice little bank account Why not our appreciation of his worthy noble efforts in liberalism With sincere wishes for your success at the helm of the Blue Grass Blade I am Fraternally yoursA A ROBERTSON Had Fun With PreacherP Manatee FlaI had Just enjoyed- a few hours listening to the talk of a Primitive Baptist minister Hardshell by the name of Kemp formerally of Kentucky Learning that I was an fidel he startced in to demolish infi elity according to the old stand by rule of the ministers defaming noted Infidels His first assertion was Bob Ingersoll was not honest To which objected and he proceeded to prove his statement by reciting how Inger sell told his dying girl to have faith In her mothers religion I told him was not so that Ingersoll never had a girl to die while ho was living which I think Is correct I told him that had been said of Paine also when the fact was that Paine never had a daughter He changed his tac tics and told how ho was onto an fidel until the Lord changed him He aid ho could then see how little he had been I retorted that was just my feeling wh n I first got to where I was not afraid to doubt I could then see how little I had beat Blindly following others without having any independence of mind Ho changed again and tried to prove his religion true by the miracles that had been worked up J pn him and those the Lord had work ed through him on others Healing tne sick even when they were thought to be dying were the most of his per formances I failed to keep account of the number named but can say they were close up to the number rec orded of Christ and the apostles and had bed time not arrived I think the church would have had to hold anoth er council and revised the scriptures- to add a few more miracles to have kept him from carrying off the prize for miracle working After ho had stated that he was once an Infidel he seemed to see the dilema he was In and admitted In gersoll and other Infidels were honest in their belief saying he only meant that Ingersoll was not honest in his mode of argument I would have given him a few nuts to crack had we not been at the house of another preacher a friend of mine who never makes it his business to force his arguments on me and I knew ho would not like for our objections to the Bible to be forced on his child Kemp Is a great talker and in argu ing In favor of foreordination said that people who had opposed him had referred to Pearl Bryan and Walling and Jackson Also to cases of negroes ravishing white women While he did not say positively that those cases were foreordlned he tinued to argue to prove foreordina- tion What more evil Influence could be exerted on the mind of children than to teach them that whatever happens was foreordained by a supreme being and bound to occur The child so taught naturally believes that what ever meanness It may be tempted to do was Intended by a supreme being that It should do and therefore It could not otherwise and that It Is not responsible If everything Is foreordained and bound to happen so some Intended for hell regardless of any good de sires and good principles they may possess while others are Intended for heaven regardless of their mean de sires and mean deeds for what are they preaching if man Is not capable of deciding for himself and doing either good or evil as he may choose- I see that many of them live easy off ot the labor of those who never reason and are willing to accept the Ideas of the preacher I have read in TimesStar Dr Wilsons criticism of the preacher Novelist Dr T Brady we need a few Wilsons In this neck of the woods Respectfully ANDREW COOKa The Past and the Future Editor BladoIn common with all your readers I have preserved the Blade for the last few months with- a melancholy interest All along I was disposed to take an optimistic view and persuaded myself that Mr Moore would regain his health and strength and be able to take up anew his editorial burden But this was not to be Death the unsparing leveller has taken him from among men I had not the pleasure of knowing personally the late editor of the Blade My knowledge of him was from his books and editorial writings He was an honest man He was eccentric He was no servite copyist His mind was of a strong type He had a vig orous understanding and a will like iron From boyhood to say nothing of prenatal Influence he was a child of the church and although a cleric from the start In a most conservative community and bulworked by a collegiate training and social surroundings of extreme orthodoxy yet In spite of all this he burst the barriers of edu cation and environment and cast to the winds dogmas and creeds and came before the world an honest searcher after truths and once having basked In the sunshine of liberalism he was willing to endure contumely sneer scoffs jails and penetentlarles for the sake of the faith within him For an orthodox clergyman to do this was greater than he who taketh a city If all our clergy would show a like honesty and courage what would be the doom of the creeds They would perish in a single decade But they will not do It Why Because they lack the moral stamina of our dead and lamented brother He was a great man They are small men Hall and farewell to him who has gone The king Is deadlong live the king You must now as a desciple take up the burden where tho master left off You are fortified by youth and much experience and you should bo able to achieve great good and not only realize the ambition of the found er of the Blade but enlarge and increase Its capacity for ennobling mankind You are already doing this your paper looks well and Is doing well and I hope and believe you will show yourself equal to your opportun sties Now departures and new du ties will engago your attention and should give a vigorous humanoslty to your treatment of them and aided by your corps of talented contributors you have a field of usefulness for all the coming years In Intend aiding you by my goodwill by prompt payment of subscription and strongly recommending oth ers to do likewise and if your renders are as I hope they will be amenable to my insistence you thus be enabled to do all the good that lies in your path as you follow the footsteps- of your lamented talented and forceful predecessorB MORRISON Pointers for Dr Wilson East Liberty Ohio Editor Blue Grass Blade Dear SlrI have just finished Dr Wilsons reply to the Inquiry of Miss Blank In your last Issue While the Doctor has written a most excellent letter and every line embracing truths i do not deny but It strikes me the Doctor has failed to answer the quiry directly Miss Blank seeks to embark upon an unknown and an unexplored sea- to her and asks the honest question- of the Doctor of the ports of exam pies first to explore and how should she poise his compass to find them She asks the Doctor to pilot her through point out the mile posts bear tho lamp of hope to carry her through Ihe great vortex of uncertainty that besets the way She having read perhaps Bunyans Pilgrim Progress and she classified terrific wandering rocks of Scylla on the one side and the Malstrom Chorybdls on the other She asks the Doctor to pilot her through for if she should not be dashed to pieces on the sinful rocks of the church on the one side she would be swallowed up by that terrible gulf of hellfire and brimstone on the other side She has learned she will be damned if she did or would be damned if she didnt and she asks for a way out to escape for neither Peters Rock or the devils den of Sulphur hath any fire escape I would suggest to the Doctor that the place at the head of her mass the lamp of reason keep it well trimmed with the light of Truth and well filled with the oil of inquiry Send her adrift from the post There is no criterion ot truth outside of nature When well adrift her eyes will open her chart which will read ALL THINGS have their antlcedents Nothing New under the Sun Seek and you shall find it In the study nature Anaxmander was the first to teach principles which eternal at rest and in a sphere a primal force He called love holding all things alike as one These princi pies were In perpetual youth never grew old or decayed He first put his principles down In writing taught there was no such thing as vocum that the earth was central t pherlcal and that man came froth some proceeding animal Anticipating Charles Darwin of today Then Miss Blank would enjoy a season of mental fruits was the real factor of Democracy and established the qual ity in all things a soul of evil in everything good and a soul of good In everything evil opposlts exist in all things to the extremes even unto infinity He taught first the doctrine of love and hatred the good and the evil light and darkness heat and cold and In the infinite our God and our devil exist by reason of eternal and the natural law ot extremities for God and tho devil exist by the same prin ciples that heat and cold exist Stop over with Thales 600 B C who first discovered the light of reas on as Edison discovered the electric light So Thales first to discover the light of reason In the natural man Visit Socrates 400 B C and Plato 355 B C Pythogoras 600 B and Hom er 100 B C The mothers ot the last three conceived without sin With Plato she will find when all sin is fathered at the formation of selfish ness and to void self Is to void sin from society and to void sin from so ciety you void Satan from the nation which Is the sum total of Jesus teach ing and preaching With Socrates she will find all the morals that Jesus taught in fact all that Jesus Christ did or is recorded ot him is to be found In the older classics of Greece India Persia Egypt etc Have Miss Blank to take a pinch of salt in all history written or oral look ing backward from Lots wife to Bel lamy While Lots wife still stands as a monument of truth to her folly then she stands 30 feet high and six feet In diameter unto this day though Lot was only probably 5 feet Ws inches with the pinch of salt remember there were giants in those days and on Faiths Peters Rock It may be Salt Petre hence to nupterlous pre servation with this daySPENCER GARWOOD Best Paper on Earth Eureka California Mr James E Hughes v Dear SlrAllow me to congratulate you on the Blue Grass Blade of March 4th It Is the best issue of the Blade that has appeared since I am a subscriber and I have read the paper for a number of years There have been times when I have felt no interest in the paper but your Issue of March 4th gives me hope I pity the man who wrote you to discontinue the Blade as he never cared for anything except what Mr Moore wrote But I feel sorry that the bread he has eaten Jt all these years could not have been eaten by somebody with better brains If future Issues of the Blue Grass Blade are as good as the issue of March 4th I warrant the paper will not go down If some sore heads should drop from the list of Its subscribers For my part I have no use for a per that treats on mere personal mat ter I want science reforms or even 1 fun but I want something that interests every body Of course not everything in a paper will Interest all readers but all readers ought to find some- thIng In each issue to interest them Liberal papers ought to serve as In terchanges of ideas tersely and decently expressed By Mr Moores death Freethought- has lost an able companion I have always admired his fearlessness his 5 honesty and his unflinching adherence r to what he thought was right But he was prone to exaggerations arfd often used the superlative when the positive would have answered better If all Freethinkers were like Mr h Moore fearless and outspoken Instead of the cringing crawling slaves thattsome of them are Freethinkers would be more respected than what they are am very much grieved to learn that my friend Judge Parish B Ladd is ill He is another one the Free thought ranks can not well afford to lose He Is a man of scholarly attainments well Informed on all and not afraid to tell what he thinkstjI hope his life will be spared so I may have the pleasure of seeing him again The lecture you printed by Prof Oswald is quite interesting But I think Prof Oswald is a little too san guine in his Ideas Well Informed people no longer believe that a god creat red the world or anything In it The best scientists Inform us that life Is a chemical process and reason confirms their opinion But there is a vast gulf between fructifying sea urchins eggs artificially and producing a horse All organisms are built up of cells which divide and keep on dividing and so form tissue skin and bone by their product Germ cells unless functified do not divide but decay but by tune tlfylng they acquire the power of di vision We all have started in a single cell which if it had not been mono tified would have passed off Loebs sea urchins did not grow We can not tell what the future will bring but 1lam afraid Mr Oswalds elixir of life will never be realized That death is duo to internal causes is all true and j r if we could control the molecules 4 which form the plasm of the cells findawe do not know what these molecules- are The article gives food for thought and anything that sets peple to think ing is beneficial to the human race = ROBERT GUNTHERQi NOTE REDUCTIONS ts Hampden 18 size Way 23 jls 2600 New RWayrs20 Deuber Watch Co 21 jls 17 same 17 jls Elgin Veritas 23 jls 29 Father Time 21 jls 2250 B W Raymond 19 jls 20 B W Raymond 17 jls 1860 Waltham Vanguard 23 jls29Crescent Street 21 Jls 2250 pleton Tracey Co Premier 17tjls 1850 same not Premier 16 The above guaranteed to pass R Way Inspectors Sundries Waltham P S Bartlett or Elgin Wheeler 17 jla justed nickel same gilt 7 same Hampden nickel 10 same not tadwpdenElgin or Waltham nickel noncatch able hair spring 7 jls Hampden jls gilt 475 Standard or Century jls Al the above In 3 or 4ounce all verine case prepaid In silver or gold filled screw case accompanied by manufacturers and my guarantee for 20 years or In hunting case 560 hunting case 860 more than in ail verine case In solid gold case 10 to 50 more LADIES GOLD WATCHES Large 6 size Elgin Waltham or Hampden 20year gold filled latest style artistic handchased 7 Jlfl 9 15 jls 11 16 jls adj 16 Small o size jls 1150 15 jls 16 16 jls adj 18 Riverside extra fine 24 In 25year case 1 more In 14k solid gold case 10 to 50 more Latter with diamonds all In plush box prepaid with guarantee Send for prices of Watches not listed Jewelry Rings Sliver and Plated Ware Optical Goods and My Tract Theism in the Crucible free VLaTHE BEST LINE rCD IONLY ri I it cjtlu t Editorial Continued from Page One wearing a crown of thorns spat upon made to drink vinegar when he did not want it repudiated by the chief of his disciples and finally hung up between two crucified criminals If nil this is true it is no wonder Christ never smiled How could a man smile under such circumstances and yet this is the peace on earth and good will towards man story which Christ is said to have into the world Christians believing such to be true ought never to indulge in a smile A religion based upon such a picture is incapable of putting joy into any human heart As a matter o fact there can be neither beauty or joy in a re ligious system the highest culmination of which was the wanton and cruel murder of an innocent man Any professing Christian who could act ually smile while thinking of his Man God suffer ing such a fate is a monster of devils born Col Ingersoll once defined laughter asII the blessed boundary line betwixt the man and the beast And so it is Laughter always indicates a happy disposition One of the Bladeswriters in this issue asks Kidder to kid that Freethinkers might indulge in laughter and the suggestion is valuable as drawing a clear line of joy between Freethinkers and Christians Laughter invariably springs from the wells of a cheerful and un oppressed heart It is the certain harbinger of joy It is like the sweet song of a spring bir which wakes up suddenly and sings when we lens expect it Catching the happy cadence we treas ure it in our hearts unconsciously and it lingers long upon the ear A hearty laugh steals through us like a silvery stream of sunshine and possession of our being like a wild melody fro some happy buoyant child It is the true measure of the depth of truth sincerity and earnest by comparison it is no wonder Chris- never smiled The picture of an ideal man or character as that presented to us by the Christian religion can only produce feelings of profound despair It fills life with sadness and gloom It destroys all hu roan ambition and clouds the heart with an asce ticism that is calculated to blot out of life the bright sun of hope Leaving the gods to take care of themselves man progresses more readily and rapidly Just in pro portion that man has abandoned Christian theo logy has human development been made Whi l Christ was triumphant with selfabnegation and prayerful gloom superstition reigned and ignorance was universal Now we see men and wom standing erect fully conscious of their huma- glory and majesty They are selfreliant strong in their human love making earth glad with their labor and beautiful with their skill r These are the ideal nien and wonieilrofbjamnn rtit ity that are enshrined in the every thinker They live and move nearer to each othe because they know and understand They wor ship no divinity save that which lies within them selves Their ideals are human of the earth am not of the clouds Their joys are real because they actually experience them They labor for earth instead of heaven for men instead of Gods r Time is the solver of all problems Time explain it all Time will tell all without any ques tioning Time will heal all wounds and prove all people that gold and silver are not the only passet4currentCHARLES WATTS DEAD Charles Watts for many years editor of Secu r lar Thought published in Toronto Canada and well known in America as one of the strongest advocates of Freethought appearing on the pub lic platform is dead His demise took place on l February 27th last at Birmingham England the I details of which has not yet reached the Blade of ficeIn his death English Secularism has lost one of its best exponents With a well informed mind strengthened by careful study of quick concep tion and ready perception of a logical bent he was a power in oratory and debate He was the fortunate possessor of rich vocabulary and his mind being storehouse of information he was ready for any emergency His massive frame and build and stentor voice gave him a pleasing ap pearance in public while the peculiar charm of his personality never failed to draw his audieencc to wards him- Vith all his opportunities and capacity his life 4 was what most men would call a failure His career might well be termed a chapter of humon mistakes He lacked the moral courage to face danger for the sake of truth His desire to appear of an aristocratic turn which is a common failing with a majority of English people and his love of luxury kept him poor and he doubtless died poor despite the many advantages that came in his way Before coming to this continent Charles Watts and Charles Bradlaugh were associate editors of the National Reformer a weekly Freethought journal of great merit published in London With others including Mrs Annie Bcsant they were c part proprietors of the Freethought Publishing Company and engaged in disseminating Free thought by the distribution of literature Charles Bradlaugh was president and Charles Watts secretary of the National Secular Society establishingyday a crash came The Secular Societys leaders weree irrevocably rent in twain A separation and breach followed which was never successfully healed Every effort made in America to give what purported to be an explanation of that un F I Jv L ff 2 happy event had for its object the removal of any responsibility therefor from the shoulders of Charles Watts which left an impression upon the minds of American Freethinkers that Charles Bradlaugh was to blame This was an injustice to the latter and as both are now in the land of the unknown lot the simple truth he told The facts were that about thirty years ago the Freethought Publishing Company or those corn posing it were prosecuted for publishing a small Philosophywrittproscribed by the British government and strange as it may seem it was the very same pamphlet for pafed by Federal Judge Barr in Louisville The sen fence was suspended upon a promise to cease pub lication of the advertisement When Brndlnugh Watts and the others were under prosecution in England a difference of opin ion arose between the parties defendant Watts feared to risk prison and wanted to enter a plea of guilty to the charge of publishing an obscene book throw himself upon the mercy of the tour and escape with the payment of a small fine Bradlaugh and Mrs Besant bitterly resented such a proposition and arguing that no honest man would ever offer such a plea insisted upon a vig orous defense against the echarge Thee case began to look bad for the defendants disagreed The day of the trial came and true to his feelings giveta but it lost him the warm personal friendship of Charles Bradlaugh As one of the official repre sentatives of the Freethinkers of England Charles pumfoe As a result the Freethinkers of England re pudiated Charles Watts and he came to Canada Charlestfought the case to a finish and won it He was given a verdict of not guilty and in that supreme hour of triumph he had struck the shackles from the freedom of the British press He had finished the work for which Carlyle had spent nearly ten years of his life in n British prison Bradlaugh was now raised by the force of hi character to a point of almost idolatry by the Freethinkers of England He was the helo of their hour and day Had Watts stood by him sueseparateWatts continued his work in Canada and America oceurrend in 1891 when Watts sold out his interest in Secu lar Thought nnd returned to England This review of such an unhappy episode is not intended as any reflection upon QharlesWafiwhuL for the purpose of explaining to Americian iec explainedrwith innuendo and carefully studied design It is written that Honor and glory may be given where- it properly belongs and above all to tell tlisim pIe truthtt THE ATHEISTS GRAVE i The following poem has been universally admir FreetlupkegsoWe can but say that so far as we know the poem is ann onymous Although we have seen it in print upon several occasions we have no knowl edge of the author Perhaps some other person may be better informed The poem reads I wandered among the churchyard dead On a sunny Sabbath day And I marked a grave where the sexton sidIAn Atheists ashes lay t A headstone pointed the lowly spot 1JInscribed with his age and his name if But other memorial there was not To draw either praise or blame But I noticed the daisy as fresh in its hue The elm did as lightly wave And the springtide grasses as green grew As over a Christians grave Anti I marked that the sunbeams through th trees Fell as lightly upon the sod- As if its inmate had been of these Who hind died in the faith ofa God Then over my mind a reflection came Of a new and a startling kindlTwas whispered within me that man may blame Where Nature no fault can find So the bigots curse from the Gothic pile On the skeptical foe may falls SmillHer found in ristianM place to which suffering humanity can look for relief The church promises more and performs less than a candidate for congress Charity is a word that is awfully misunderstood as man a man will find Time path to heaven Is too steep to be climbed by one weighted down with several millions of dollars hanging on him Singing hosannahs has of little tendency to make a man truthful or honest andcease trying to dodge an honest debt j When- a man is foolish enough to profess himself chief among sinners he must feel happy in being calledupon to substantiate his stntemc tie In iIi PERTINENT THOUCHTS ON THE RESURRECTION VALUABLE HINTS TO FREETHINKERS THAT ARE WORTHY OF CONSIDERATIONUSE THE BLADE AS A MISSIONARY AND DO GOOD By JOHN T CLARKE When the body becomes actually pulseless and inert unless embalmed In some way disintegration begins and all the Superstition that over ex isted all cohered into one mass and applied with all the vigor of fanatic faith on one body that has become dead would not cause a reverse In the chemical action known as mortifica lion The wheels of chemistry cannot be set in backward motion by any Hercules of Imagination Religion appeals to the plastic mind thte masses should be assured of His er through a manifestation of Ht Sons resurrection He should have as sembled the philosophers and scion ists and had the miracle attested b yond peradventure He owes it to each individual who doubt to put before him the same con wincing evidence that St Thomas demanded That Thomas could chum with Christ for three years and not be absolutely convinced that his friena was what he claimed to be thou we who have not had Thomas chances must be excused from believing nut we are made as wise as Thomas Why must we be discrimnatod against When Christ selected twelve gentle men as a jury to test his divinity he should have taken men of such prom inence that there could have been no doubt The synoptic gospels appear to me to be the record of a Chile cromancer and his twelve confeder ates and I have seen tnem do things that apparently were miracles Had oxplairswere e might guess for weeks and then not know how it Is done Mystification is not hoiyness else Herrman and Kel leI were the high priests par excel find it stated la Exodus that Pharioha sorcerers did the same stunts that Aaron did and Aaron was a priest One ot the gospels tells us that Mary took Christ into Egypt the land of mystery and kept him until he was ready to astonish the world tl t wEerelhe skies opened and fBe pfr- It came down like a dove and perch ed upon Jesus shoulders might have been a bit of Egyptian Magic posing- as God The voice may have been from a crude megophone I have no doubt that Thos A Edison could get up a scene that would convince thous ands that Jesus and John the Baptis- were going through a realism If the Pharlohs had only had the aid of electrical apparatus in their mystery they could have had a real live religion that would have put to shame all oration of Mrs Josephine K Henry over the remains of Charles C Moore surpassed all her previous forts It was magnificent I want ten copies of the Blade of February 18th A Copy should be sent to the editor of every paper in the land Some would comment upon it and thus open the eyes of some poor misguided religion ist who otherwise might be forever wrapped in the unbllssful Christian Ignorance The Real Light is on the outside of Christianity and it is the duty of every one to spread the Light Wehave the same inherent right to be missionaries as religionists have Wo have a better and simpler gospel Truth and we should put it forward Even those editors who Ignore Mrs Henrys throlling and inspiring words would necessarily get a glimpse of them and Truth is mighty I sent the last two Blades to The Sun of HaIti more and I feel assured that they were at least read That is all that we can reasonably ask There must be a demand for Agnostic and Atheis tic editors of The Sun would not allow to appear in its column as wo do Mr Elias LJvezey ot Catousville has had quite a controversy in The Sun upon an article that he wrote The Foundation of Immortality also Defense of Paine Mr Wm A Tumble appears often and I also get in an occasional whack A Mr Frank Jones had one in which he said that The Sun was all the Blblo ho wanted as he could rely upon what it said but not trust the Canonical Bible y but the preachers jumped upon him with both feet This has been going on for three years and the ef fect upon tho people is startling It reacheS the masses I got two Atheis tic letters in The News last summer but The News announced in an editor ial that it would never allow anything that kind to occur againtMost of the editors are Agnosics but the proprietors ore not Tho preachers all have that standing texttWhy do not men come to church and they work it to the limit The expression among workingmen is get T ting to be common To hell with re ligion The Socialists in making converts to their economical cause from the Catholics has caused Red Hat Jimmie to come out in denunciation of Socla llsm Socialism is destined to split Catholicism into fragments The American spirit of independence has a greater hold upon Catholics than we were aware of I personally know of a score of Socialists who were formerly Catholics but I do not know of a single ono that has gone back to Catholicism Several of them attends the Free Discussion Society meetings and they tell publicly of their renounc ing Catholicism I believe our letters themeto think and act upon their own inlative Get the Blade of the 18th insU into the hands of every editor possible Editors are men who think Even de nunclations of Mrs Henrys oration will help as they cause people to v stlgate Urge those editors who cannot publish it to denounce it Those who knew Mr Moore can as long as they live bring him to mind which is the only real resurrection We can all resurrect his words when we wish to While reading an old de the other day I got so inter ested in one of his pieces that I en tirely forgot for the time that he was is the way to live for ever A few weeks ago Mr Mark Jackson lectured at the Free Discussion Socie ty upon Omar Khayyam and read from The Rubiat After the lecture a man said to Jackson Say tell me where that Omar fellow lives I want to write to him he is a daisy The Omara words are just as much alive today as when first penned So with Mr Moores More Infidels are worthy of ressurectlon in this way than are other people JNO T CLARKE ON PUBLIC UOPEBSHIR Gratified at the Open of The Blade and PUshea Economic Re forms to the Front Stonej gratified spheretpermit discussion In its columns of any question pertaining to human wel fare Only by doing this can it lay any just claim to the title of a Free thought paper But unfortunately there are so many claiming to be liberals who are such only in name or at best are liberals only on one or two subjects that it is hard to get the needed support for such an advanced policy If things dont run to suit their particular hob by they get mad and quit when right here is where they should enter into the fight in real earnest Ah I wish I could inspire these brethren with an abiding faith in Truth and Justice yea in themselvesthen they would not desert the cause nor would they fear to enter the arena of pUblic dis cussion will only make it more mani fest and if we are in the wrong the sooner we find that out the better There is no subject either too sacred pr too profane for discussion if it has for its aim and object the betterment of manldndIutilize every available force In our fight for freedom and not only a small part of our artillery- A physician when called upon to combat any kind of disease will first thoroughly diagnose the case and when he has located the cause of the trouble he will if he thinks ho can afford to be honest exhaust every means within his power in his effort to stamp it but He will also take such preventive measures as he may think necessary In order that we may be rendered less liable to similar attacks in the future He will not only mend the broken bones as far as possible of those who have transgressed but i fhowSociety is sick sick unto death and the publications standing for so cial health are the physicians Thereffore let us use every means in our power to combat the social diseaseILet us bring Into position all our bat teries and attack the citadel of Ignor ance from all sides and I am sure that victory will be ours much sooner than if we use only a single gun excellent though it may be Theological discussion is all right in Its place but to my mind Ills no long er the paramount issue as the church does not today occupy the center of the stage The church is today simply the handmaiden of capitalism therefore we should not expend all our energies is fighting minor issues but rather concentrate our forces at points of greater friction Capitalism with its triune creed rent Interest and profit is the same the world over It requires for its dally ration a plentiful supply of human flesh and blood and as it moves along its line of least resistance it has acquired a special taste for women and children But Capitalism will continue on its deadly march just as long as we permit the tools of produc tion and the natural resources to be privately owned Only through collective ownership of the things that everyone of us must have in order to live can we hope to stop this wholesale slaughter But we must not expect that the possess lag class will commit economic sui clde and hand us the cooperative commonwealth on a silver alver Liberty Is never handed down to us that way Those who would be Tree must them selves strike the first blow It is up to us the workers of the world to throw these parasites off our backs We must fight our own battles both on the economic field and on the political field we must cease to voto our taskmasters into power because their interests are not our Interests and their ways are not our ways MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE Josephine K Henrys pamphlet Marriage and Divorce Is receiving warm commendations from all classel a ncrnsect ono e masferlyman ner In which this vital subject Is treat ed In this pamphlet was referred to In several of the speeches made at the Divorce Congress recently held In Washington It should be read and pondered by members of theh bar and judges members of ethical societies womens clubs and all men and women who desire better domestic and social conditions Marriage and Divorce Is the most vital problem In every munity of our land and should engage the best thought of both sexes as upon Its proper solution depends the weal or woe of the Individual and society at large Mrs Henry predicted In this pamphlet the failure of the Di vorce Congress to foist Its medieval Ideas on the public and the refusal of the S Congress to pass a Uni form Divorce Law or Instruct the states to make their own laws on this question and no right to Interfere with the Individual affairs of the people The conservatives led by the clergy will now have to Invent some other method to carry their point which will be no more successful than those that have so signally felled Every man and woman who has not read thisfpamphletshould order a copy read It and pass It on to your neighbors Its reading will set brains a pondering and thus by action of mind grand and noble Ideas may be evolved that may be fraught with hope and happiness All orders for MARRIAGE AND DI VORCE win be promptly filled by ad dressing JOSEPHINE HENRY Versailles Ky One copy 25 cents Five copies for one dollars GREATEST DISCOVERIES OF SCIENCE EVER MADEG- OD SATAN AND HOLY GHOST ARE NOTHING BUT CREATIONS OF FICTION HEAVEN AND HELL ARE ONLY MYTHS CON SCIOUS LIFE IS EXTINGUISHED AT DEATHiThe Church of Humanity teaches these great discoveries through its organ The Truth About God which It publishes monthly and Its school Typewritingand The Truth About God in a general course of study given by the temporary t International Instructor for tho church formallyorganize i organizers of the CHURCH OF HUMANITY worsWpIngPOSterityfromWrite to W H KERR 2210 Broadway Great Bend Kan for blank ap plication for membership information about the college and send 25 cents for a years subscription to tho TRUTH ABOUT GOD Do It now I f j J

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