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Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.): n. Sunday, May 24, 1908.

Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.): n. Sunday, May 24, 1908. Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.). 400dpi TIFF G4 page images Blade Publishing Co., Lexington, Kentucky 1908 blu1908052401 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, May 24, 1908. Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.). Blade Publishing Co., Lexington, Kentucky 1908 $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. BLUE GRASS BLADE Volume XVII Number 5 LEXINGTON KY MAY 24 1908 Published Weekly DEVOTED TO THE PROPAGANDA OFFREEDOM OF THOUGHT W tr 12 BLUE GRASS BLADE F John Rollings Charlesworth Whenever a man boasts of being practically selfmade it is times argued that he makes a mighty poor job of it Whether the argument is of Christian origin or otherwise as a sort of an answer to not being Godmade is of little moment for in the case of our present subject John R Charlesworth the Blades present editor al most his entire education and training for the work in which ho is so admirably fitted was acquired by his own effort John Rollings Chnrlesworthi was born in the parish of Crlpplegatei in the cityof London England on the 27th day of April 1804 His father was a descendant of the old French stock which settled in the fens of Linconshirc at the time of the revolution while his mother came from an old English family his maternal grandfather being during the latter ellrsaf his life a sergeantmajor in the London Metropolitan police was crushed to death in the performance of his duty by being ground between a brick wall and a heavy cle driven by burglars whom he was trying to capture At an early ago he went to Nottingham with his parents and his father being a building contractor the son had to learn the trade of laying bricks When but sixteen years of age his father died and his mother be coming matron of the womans department in the Vine street Casual wards off Clcrkcnwell Road London he was thrown upon his own resources By hard labor he managed to provide for himself and a younger brother His education had been completed at years of age when he was taken from the public schools and put to work While in Nottingham shortly after his fathers death he became a member of tIll National Secular Society attended its weekly meet ings and listened to several lectures by the late Charles Bradlaugh W Foote prrnclnt of the National Secular Society Mrs Annie Besant Wallace Nelson and others Before reaching the age of twenty years he had taken the platform himself and frequently discoursed before the society 1880 he came to America and landing in New York City he followed his trade for nearly five years and in 1890 lIe commenced lecturing upon the Freethoucht platform in this country- 1890 ho attended the annual Congress of Secular Union at Philadelphia representing Newark N Liberal League and was nominated for the office of Secretary Owing to the fact that R B Wcstbrook the then president of the Union desired the election of Miss Ida B Cradock to that office Mr Charlesworth caused his name to be withdrawn At the following Congress held in at Portsmouth Ohio he was elected to the office of Travelling retary and organizer for tIll Secular Union an office especially created for him it being the desire of the lenders of the Secular to see ot work on the Freethousht platform Owing to a disagree ment as to policy Mr Cliarlesworth never assumed the duties of this new office and upon the advice and encouragement of the lecturers nlrcadv in the field he took the platform on IIIown account the meantime ho had lectured in Boston New York Brooklyn Newark end Philadelphia While on the platform he lectured from coast to coast end was heard in nearly all the states in the Union the spring of 1892 he met the notorious Clark Braden In Joint debate for six nights in the Armory at Seattle Washington and his signal vie tory was acknowledged bv all who heard it Braden was never heard in that part of the country again Upon returning East in that year hems advised nnd encouraged by friends Mr Charlesworth joined interests with the late Samuel P Putnam and assisted the latter h1 prgnnizingthq Freethouffht eration of America at Chicago Mr Putnnm was e ectr1Tresident- and Mr Cliarlesworth was elected Secretary the next year 1893 dur ing the Worlds Fair Mr Cliarlesworth was made the Secretary of the 0P I 4r rii ii III Joint Committee of Arrangements composed of representatives of tho Secular Union and Federation for the purpose of arranging for the International Congress of Freethinkers which constitutes one of the notable incidents in connection with Freethought propaganda Mr Charlesworth arranged and prepared the entire program which lasted for eight days and to his untiring efforts the success of that Congress was due Mr Chnrlesworth acquired his education at night after his days routine of labor had ceased lie studied the natural sciences a course upon which ho had entered at the Nottingham University before leav ing England These studies were continued in America While trav eling and lecturing Mr Charlesworth procured the elementary text books upon law which he studied on the train and upon reaching Wichita Kansas he obtained permission to use the office of Judge Sankcy an eminent lawyer and here ho began a closer study of the subject These studies were concluded under Messrs Crawford Crawford at Dallas Texas where Mr Charlcsworth was admitted to the bar in 18ft and began the practice of his profession In 1898 ho was admitted to the Supremo Court of Texas later to the United States District Court and again to the Department of the Interior at Washington Mr Chnrlesworth came to Lexington in September 1000 being employed by the committee defending C 0 Moore the late editor and Jas F Hughes publisher of tho Blade before Judge Waiter Evans in the Federal Court at Louisville The cases were de feated on a demurrer and Mr Cliarlesworth brought his clients back to their homes in triumph Spending a few days on Quackeracre Farm the home of Editor Moore ho became infatuated with Kentucky and settled in Lexington where he embarked into journalism becoming editorial writer on the Lexington Morning Democrat For the next eight years he successfully followed his new profession and his em ployers were reluctant to give him up when he finally resigned his tion to assume the duties of editor of the Blade in January of this year- On the 17th day of December he was married to Miss Isle B Martin of Wichita Kansas a pronounced and fearless Freethinker His wife began to help him in his work Tie was now independent of any organization Husband and wife appeared together on the Freethought platform in Texas where they now made their home As tIle parental cares developed and issue was born Mr Charlcsworth was compelled to give up lecturing in order to more substantially provide for his family It was now that ho began the practice of law Mr Charlesworth was later admitted to tho Lexington Bar In Kentucky and has appeared in a number of important trials with great success Blessed with an intellectual and complete harmony in their home Mr and Mrs Charlesworth are the happy parents of five children four sons and one daughter They are named after Freethought leaders and writers or possess some antiChristian name Their names In the chronological order of birth are Charles Bradlaugh Byron Edwin Isis Linnle John R Chariesworth Jr and Kenneth Bruce Mrs Chnrlesworth still takes pleasure and delight in assisting her husband in his work and not a few of the timely thoughts suggested in the columns of the Blade emanate from her Many Freethinkers who knew Mr Charlesworth during his active labors on the lecture platform have written welcoming words upon his return to advocate the cause Favored with exceptionally good health a rugged constitution and being still a young man the prime of his life It Is hoped that he may be enabled to devote tho balance of his life to the Freethought propaganda 7 vwr f I BLUE GRASS BLADE 3 j HeartaJ Caustic Criticism of a Famous Bible Hero to Revisionsr i L King David Jr2L By Josephine K Henry YNr The world claims to hu wiser than ever t before so the Popes Bible revisionists must bo tho wisest men of the ages or they r would not bo chosen to interpret correct 7 revise or reedit Gods Book his message to the human race Perhaps tho Pope deems r a new version of Holy Writ is necessary to y the stability of his heirarchy John 832 i records Jesus as saying And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free As a revision of the Bible is ordered by the Vicar of Christ it seems tho clergy are dissatisfied with the truth as it is in Christ frcedonV it has brought the laiety is the alternative of accepting Bible truth as offered by the clergy or tho loss of a passport into the now Jerusalem the denial explanationsoffered to them ns truth from an infallible Bible The very fact that the Pope of Rome has ordered a revision of the Bible shatters the corner stones of Roman Catholicism an infallible Bible and an infallible Pope It really seems that the laity who sacri flee so much vitality and treasure in tithes Peters pence purchase of indulgences as sessments payments for confession masses for the souls of the dead marriages baptisms confirmations and funerals should have rev imbursement of tho vast sums they have expended as the spiritual goods sold to them were not genuine Let us hope that tho Popes revisionists will have a Restitution Committee of expert mathematicians who will repay back to tho faithful what they havo paid for spurious goods 1st The Thcsalonians 40 says Let no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter because that the Lord is the avenger of nil such Perhaps tho Pope has been pondering this passage of scripture and the conditions in France Spain Italy Germany and in fact the whole religious world have made the vision of tho Bible a necessity To get at the root of tho Bible truth and teaching the revisionists should have before him the 29 Books that Jehovah quoted from when he was writing the Bible and which ho quotes or refers to 53 times in the old Testament Tho titles of these Books will bo furnished on application These works must all havo been inspired or the Divine Author would not havo ouotcd them world would read these books today 4with absorbing interest and tho Pope should r have modern editions of them printed and allow tho laity to rend them Surely there would bo no taint of modernism in books that were written before God created tho world and quoted by God after he created the world out of nothing and as soon ns got chaos straightened out enough to settle Himself down to literary work to pre pare His message to His children The re f L1 r A 1 lIPW 4 visionists should settle once for all the con tentions between the Jews and Christians The Jews claim that at the same time Jehovah wrote the ten commandments amid the thunders of Sinai He also wrote the Tar gums of Onkelos and Johnathan and tho Christians say Ho did not write the Tar gums It is painfully true that both Chris tians and Jews of today expend their time and energy in the capturing of the Almighty Dollar and give little heed to the writings and commands of Almighty God but this is n momentous question and should oe settled to help on the salvation of the race Let the revisionists determine once for all if to obtain salvation men and women must pattern their lives after the Bible men and women whoso characters are depicted in the pages of Gods Book Now there is the magestic figure of King David who rises like a Norway pine in a forest of scrub cedars David the reputed ancestor of the Savior the Son of God David who wrote the Psalms especially Psalm CIX the Psalm of cursing that is enough to frighten the wits out of the human race David the father of the festive Solomon the wisest man of nil ages David a cunning player on the harp Simi 2010 David the shepherd lad who slew Goliath the Phil istine with a stone Saml 1751 say Therefore David ran and stood on the Phil istine and took his sword and drew it out of the sheath thereof and slew him and cut off his head therewith and David wont be fore Saul with tho head of the Philistine in his hand Saul demanded to know whose son David was and David answered I nm tho son of thysermnt Jesse the Bethlehemite The most impressive thing of my Sunday school education was about King David naked my teacher a prominent lawyer of Newport Ky who was Davids mother that his fathers name was Jesse He replied to me in these words My child if King KitH Davids fathers name was Jesse his mothers name should have been Mrs Jesse the Bible does not say anything about her wondered then and wonder now if thin Bible truth will help me train a harp a halo and a pair of golden slippers in the New Jerusalem viewing the character of Divld it should be remembered that he is the greet grandson of Ruth and Benz and his grandpa Oiled was nursed by Naomi See the 4th chapter of Ruth With such a ornd mother as Ruth under the tutilaee of Naomi much allowance should be made for the sharp angles flaws and blemishes on Davids char acter for no man in history has more shady sensual vile and tricky ancestry Naomi and Ruth were sensual deep designing wire pul ling domestic diplomats with experience in the art of trapping They spread tho net to entrap Benz and tho old simpleton under tho influence of woman and wine fell into it Poor old Boar When Naomi had ono eyo on him and Ruth had twn how could he escape History proves that David inherited ninny of his tricks and propensities His grandpa Boaz was the best of the bunch and that is not saying much for him If my name wore Naomi or Ruth I would apply to the legislature at once to have it changed The t k d fqr jl idea of parents afflicting their daughters with the names of these vile women King David was up to as many tricks as his grandma Ruth changedhismad in their hands and let his spittle fall down upon his beard revisionistsIsDavid have helped to fit the human race for wholehurdenIsrael is donthappenDavid had so many enemies he knew he adoptedhis tohelpexceptwhenenticingotherfew notes from the harp of the Sweet Sin ger of Israel Ps 37 Thou shall break them with a pieceslikePs 1840 Thou hast also given me the stroythclII IntotheirlivelyandtightagainstofGurllingconsolation to the earnest eeeker after vation David seemed to be a King who truly ruled by divine right for Samuel tells us that the Lord himself chose him from among the sons of Jesse to rule Israel in hehmlDavid was ruddy and withal a beautiful AsDavidrior who wore military trappings and a king of beautiful countenance is it any wonder ho was a favorite with the fair sex A hand somo King in military uniform could have girlsTtDnldditlThe estimate in which the warlike David was held by the women is shown in 1st Saml 1807 The women came out of all the cities of Israel singing and dancing and saying Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten There is thousnndsIthe faithful on question of Irarrln eIand Divorce it is the bounden duty of Popes Hiblrt revisionists to make it clear to the Christians whether David the man nf ter Gods own heart is a perfect model for them to follow along these lines We are inspirationand for instruction in righteousness 2ndi if il N8 l i y A tt 4 BLUE GRASS BLADE Timothy 310 David was Gods prime fuv onto the man after Gods own heart and God even made David the progenitor of tin Savior of the world Gods beloved son In whom lie was well pleased How Jesus sprung from the House of David is not easily explained Joseph the husband of tin Virgin Mary is recorded in Luke 127 as Joseph of the house of David The Holj Ghost is recorded as tho father of Jesus The only office performed by Joseph in fecting the scheme of salvation was to dream that his wife Mary would bear a son by the Holy Ghost Luke 135 And also that holy thing which shall be born of thee Mary shall be called the son of God Luke 108 And hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David Joseph was merely the deposed or sidetracked stepfather of Jesus and it is up to the Bible to traco His ancestry to David Figuring on the Trinity and tram ing the genealogy of Jesus to David are two problems that should be settled once and for all by the revisionists King Davids military and matrimonial en tangling alliances were numerous and unique King Saul in Samuel 1817 offered David his daughter Mernh for a wife if only David would fight the Lords battles for Saul and David in order to become the Kings sonin law said he would accept her but Merah jected David and took Adriel instead Then Sauls daughter Miclial for a wife if David would go out and bring in poi lions of one hundred mutilated Philistines and David put on his war paint and went out and brought in two hundred David never did anything in the slaughter business by halves when was on the firing line It is recorded in the 20th verse And Miclial Sauls daughter loved David This is the first official record we have of a woman loving a man Since Michals day there have been others Saul from the day David became his soninlaw sought to kill David and the Sweet Singer of Israel owes his name and fame to his wife Michal and her brother Johnathan Saul pursued David up hill and down dale and David hid in mountains caves and secret places to keep Saul from murdering him Miehal and Johnathan were true as steel to David Once when Saul was going to sieye and slay David in his bed Michal let David down through a window and Michal took an image and laid it in the bed and put a pillow of goats hair for his bolster and covered it with a cloth This deception of Michals sawed Davids life And David fled and caped and carte to Samuel to Ramah Saul was wrath and sent messengers to take David and the Spirit of God was upon the messen gers of Saul and they also prophesied Saul kept on the war path after David Saul went after David himself And he went on and prophesied before Samuel in like manner and lay down naked nil that day and all that night Wherefore they say Is Saul also among the prophets t This method of making a prophet was to say the least of it both peculiar and unconventional but perhaps Saul could prophesy better naked than with his clothes on pre told the ways of Providence are past finding out The Popes Bible revisionists might try- Sails method If it would help prophesy it should help the revision of prophesy Now this Michal the daughter of Saul who was Davids first wife is with no exception tho most wonderful woman in sacred or any other kind of history This Michal should be canonized above all prophets priests and kings of Holy Writ Continued on Pago iiJII Thoughts on Religion II Fear Debases Mankind and Insures Obedience To Authority By Channing Severance Genuine religion which is belief and worship applied to a phantom god is the rankest kind of superstition and it is kept alive and per petuated because of its power to subjugate and control the masses fear the most potent influence ever applied to ignorant minds Fear debases and insures obedience to authority making men the slaves of priestcraft and tyrannical governments All governments favor religion and tho reason is found in the fact that minds satu rated with it are more easily controlled and have greater respect for authority than those minds which reject it Religious people are rut radical thinkers for believing in God and holding fast to the idea that the affairs of this world are under his control a spirit of resignation animates them and prevents any serious disturbance of society no matter how rotten and corrupt things become When religious people get restless and discontented because of oppression and injustice they are quieted by being told that Gods ways arc not our ways and there is a purpose in their afflictions which while not now understood will be made perfectly clear in the world to come are also led to believe that whom God lovcth he chastcncth and that the greater ones sufferings here from any cause the more certain will be their bliss and felicity in the life without end Such people are not apt to do much think ing or kicking about governments and the way those in authority conduct themselves for regarding this life ns a temporary affair and something liable to be ended unexpectedly any day they concern themselves more about the next world than this one Because Paul told them in his day to bo obedient to authority the chumps still think they must be and so when radical reforms are started the unbeliever and the Freethinker is the man that the business Religion is a soporific to the mind and a sure preventative of rational thinking It is therefore the worst thing that can afflict mortal man for that which prevents rational thought and keeps the mind insures a host of evils that could be nvoided and fills his life with groundless fears that generate misery without limit A mans thinker was made me and those who do not exercise it without restraint or fear are losing the most satisfactory blessing and privilege Nature has given to man The power and the pleasure contained in mental action in the exorcise of till mind in perfect freedom on all questions and subjects gives to mankind the highest kind of happiness and this faculty to think and to reason which elevates him above brutes ccn nnd will if not restrained by re ligion and superstition raise the race to heights never But while re ligion continues to muddle the brains of any portion of the race that portion will be kept tack and down The most religious nation on the globe is probably Russia and she is the most backward and undeveloped There it is a crime to teach the peasants how to read and write for if her vast hordes of human beings in a low stage of development are to be kept under the iron heel of depotism ns they now ire religion and ignorance must make it pos lible The progress of all nations lips been dependent on getting away from religion and J i 1r religious influences and no exception can bo found in history The United States with all its imperfections in government and unjust lawa is the fore most nation in existence and there is less religion among the people at large than can be found elsewhere Our greatest progress has been made in the last sixty years and we have grown intellectually during that time more ns a whole people we did from the very settlement of country by the Puri tons We arc forging ahead with rapid strides bemuse religion is petering out and does not wield the influence it once did on society But it is yet a widespread and dangerous force and must bo fought to vent ns far as possible its evil influence When a man has once got rid of his religion he feels a relief words cannot express and I never knew of a ease where a former victim of that mindparalyzing superstition known as Christianity ever felt regret at losing his faith in it The world is hungry for new ideas and the stale rot that has been fed so long in the name of Cod and Jesus is turning the stomachs of untold numbers for which let us bo truly thankful nnd give to reason so long dormant the credit JUSTIFIED BY TORTURE Modem Tries to Pander to Ortho dox SuperstitionCalled Down By Mnnley A Brigham From far away Massachusetts came time ago the report of a horrible and fatal fire One journalist silw in that fearful suffering a justification of Christian belief Ho wrote as follows The Vindication of Christianity Last Sunday fire fanned by a gale robbed 10000 people of home in Chelsea Mass One hundred persons were injured and half n dozen killed Forty babies were lost in the panic only to be found again next day Within hours 10000 homeless people were cared for and sheltered and fed Tho injured were pro vided for in hospitals the schools were ro organized Christianity is justified There was no mob little disorder Outputs of practical sympathy poured in from common wealth and nation This is a Christian nation There is a Christianity deeper than any tarian embodiment because the fniition of nn underlying faith In real humanity we nil get under ono ling and justify one creed Lewiston Me Journal Another journalist at Rumford taking up the nrgumcnt writes the Blade as follows This from a pnpcr that prints now and then gems of thought from Ingersoll nnd other rationalistsItvindication of the Republican party tr of rum drinking or of free government as much ns it is a vindication of Christianity iVhy did not God calm the wind and stop tho spread of the flro t Bible Revision it pro of the strongest nr fumcnts that could ho offered against book nd it ought to bo circulated everywhere Send ten cents for a copy or one dollar for twelve j l IJ Ic F r 4 r BLUE GRASS BLADE 5 11 The Christian Bible ICause of Rejection Found Upon its Own Pages After Careful Investigation By J J Greenough beendeemedEuropeandMatthewCareywith all the octavo bibles used in the schools and elsewhere My father had the territory MrCareyearly in the beginning of the last century standinging some tons Subsequently my father stereotyped the using the metal of the standing type My father was the best proof reader I ever knew Ho read all the proofs in the stereotyping and I was called on to read standard bible to him In timesthrougllwas well posted in that literature retentiveIinconipreliensible blushCausedadvent To my surprise I found that the most learned had no knowledge of the au writtenIcompiledbyBabylon where they had been held in cap antiquitywhoseliteraturo theHehrewologians had twisted and transformed the revelationsonlyonea crime was the God the Hebrews wor had been brought up in a school of equity and was too independent to be influ thelegendsfound the God of tho Bible to bo quite man in his attributes unquestionably Inhu onetimespeaketh unto his friend and nt another time in the same chapter v And ho said to God I beseech thee show me they glory v 20 God said Thou canst not see my face for threre shall no man see me and live And the Lord said Behold there is a place by me and thou shalt stand upon a rock And it shall come to pass while my glary passeth by that I will put theo in a cleft of the rock and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by and thou shalt see my back parts but my faco shall not bo seen such is the frippery of the God of the universe as delineated in Exodus Robert Ingersoll has well said An honest Goers tho noblest work of man but no man has yet achieved it While there is much to deprecate in the legends of the Old Testa ment tho Christians have developed it as con 0c taking divine revelation for their divine savior believed it true But we will not alyze the book in detail Its moral teachings are not above the times in which they were written and clcany show liod in human form vascilating vengeful repentant and grossly partial The New Testament was composed by au thors of whom no knowledge is extant The Uospels were written by proselytes trout tra ditions a hundred or more years alter the death of Jesus and show every mark of the fabulous in their composition That according to Matthew relates a story ot the miraculous conception and birth ot Jesus which is closely copied train tho ancient story ot Buddha written six hundred years before andwell known at that time throughout the cast hue remarkable feature of this abnormal incident was the profound secrecy in which it was kept The only witnesses being unknown shcpards to whom it was revealed and who after worshipping him vanished into oblivion and a bevy of wise men from the East came with gilts for him and vanished who they were and where they came from is not stated Tho improbable story of the slaughter of till children is clearly taken from the story of Buddha no mention of it is made in any history of tlw times and no allusion to it is made by the mother or father of Jesus Subsequently sonic thirty years after the neighbors of tint family well knew Jesus his father and mother brothers pretentiouslopretcnson of knowledge of his divine origin about which Joseph and Mary were equally silent From the gospels wo learn that he went up to Jerusalem with his followers sure live thousand who were with him on the mount arnica as wo team from Luke who with shouts of hosannoh son of David and King of the Jews took possession of the Tem ple and turned out its occupants which in the eyes of the Jews was a sacrilege deserving death After holding the Temple for some days ho was out and went into hid ing where he was apprehended by the treach cry of ono of his disciples and as the Jews had no authority to execute him he was turned over to the Roman Governor Pilate tried and executed for making himself King of the Jews From those incidents and the story of his byPaulEurope anti stultified the thinking world up mythisceivable as been set forth in any vol conceptionsAfterto a woman proselyte who did not know him till he declared himself and subsequently his disciples declared they saw him and that ho lingered nrounu 40 days during which time ho longtarryingexplained ho neither said nor did anything to advance his cause and kept carefully out of sight of nil but his adherents ho finally ascended up to heaven and disappeared in a cloud thus showing that the writer of the story thought was a permanent place located abovo the stable earth in which God resided nil of which modern science annihilated showing the fabulous character of the whole story to Upon this incident ofa fraudulent Messiah of the Jews expanded by Paul and his fol thedeathtian world believes it while I who realize repudiateBE INDEPENDENT One of tho principal injunctions of the Chris tian bible is that to be considered a true be godThis or woman in whom flows the blood of independ ence Walking humbly before a nonentity a figment of the imagination is even worse than falling prostrate before tho idols of pagan worship Humbleness is ever subservi ent must and will continue to outgrow the narrow cramping creeds of orthodox faiths Creeds are just like men in the strict sense that they are born live and die Creeds do not grow because men grow for as men grow the creeds disappear and die For a time newer creed take the place of the old The slave is not free if in striking off his chains he permits others to be substituted therefor Every creed known to man manded humility meekness and subservience to someone in supposed authority and as a rule this was the priest In proportion that man has grown inde pendent and has dared to proclaim it the humble walking has disappeared This spirit of independence invades and permeates the realm of intellect o a greater extent today than it has at any previous time in the worlds great history Once the beneficient rays of independence enters the mind of man whether in politics or sociology it soon reaches out anti extends to religion anti in tho process orthodoxy suffers Just as the creeds demand humbleness so does Free thought insist upon independence Freethinkers are as Independent of the gods as they are of orthodox believers Is It necessary for a man to be humble in order to be holy We prefer independence wih all the unholiness that may attach to us by reason thereof The mind of an honest man or woman is a law sufficient unto itself rail it needs no other religious or political When a man knows he becomes independent When a man merely believes ho continues in humbleness accepting dictums sec omllmndcd Every reform has been won by the independent thinkers among men and women The greatest difficulty with the so Christian reformers is that they insist calledIreforming other people but make no to reform themselves Moro men are mined for useful work by theological schools than are helped by them It is not possible that right must always with tile minority Truth must ultimately acquire universal rec ognition When that day comes where will all orthodox religions bet l 7l i o c fftr iV 6 BLUEGRASS BLADE J NHNH + NNN HNH N1 HNNNNNHNHNHNH + t Current Comment on Public Events i 6 4 RELIGIOUS NATUREFAKIRS If recent reports be true the nature fakirs have invaded too realm of religion and it is up to Roosevelt and Chancellor Day to come to the rescue For many moons the orthodox kayo laid serious claim to what is called the religious instinct This instinct generally supposed to permeate all nature and was therefore natural and Inherent to man The argument meant tint man could not escape irom its influences even had he so desired and as a result thereof a belief in god with all that such a belief implies was as natural to man as being born Nor indeed was man the only object brought under such influences for the belief was inculcated that ail Nature was Hound find controlled by the same instinct Forms of worship were ac corded the same universal tendency but as education and experience began to expand the human mind to broaden the horizon and extend the scope of information it was soon discov ered that in all nature man alone was the only being bound by the narrow cramping customs of religious worship Men saw that hens laid eggs cows gave milk bees manu factured honey birds built nests irrespective of day and time but according to the yarn recently told by Rev C W Watkins of Muncie Indiana as announced in the press dispatches of the day all this is changed and even the hen is accredited with such a pious turn of mind that she actually refusesto lay an egg on Sunday while following the course Nature mapped out for her during the other six days of the week Rev Watkins is ported to have first noticed her religous tendencies several weeks ago and it was nose perhaps combined with her industry as a layer of eggs that arc responsible for her being alive today I had bought her for a Sunday din ner and was just waiting for the proper time to before slaying her when she sur prised us by laying an egg Then the next day she laid another and so on daily until Sunday On that first Sunday she refused to lay and she has not laid an egg on any Sun day since although that was several weeks ago Now she has Income a fixture in our home She is In no further danger of the roasting pan The religious tendency of the hen is a splendid figure of speech anti this preacher ought to feel proud of having suggested it The inference however is cruel While con fessing that we not believe the reverend gentleman story we opine ho had his minds eye upon the female members of his congre gation when he thought of the religious in stinct in the hen And yet the lIen knows just as much about god and crucified saviors as the women These are essential parts of religion without which the religious instinct would be a vain superfluity Uence the re ligious tendency of the parsons lien is on a par with the religious tendency of the whole Christian world This feathered biped is deserving of a place in sonic orthodox shrine as being the only known animal side of the human species betraying any evh Irncos of n religious tendency unless mark the preachers story is another attempt 4 I as naturefaking In any event as this is said to have occural so near the domicile of opportunityfor WHEN A WOMAN WILL ETC Rev Robert William MacCullough which is his full name with all the trimmings pastor of the First Baptist Church at Middleton New Jersey is woefully lacking in business judgment lie has brought himself in serious conflict with the ladies of his church and if history is worth anything as a teacher he is in for a bad time We predict the women will win out and the parson may lose his job It appears that the Sewing Club composed of the females of his flock had been in the habit for years of indulging in a game of progressive euchre In pursuance of this custom established y long usage the ladies are said to have announced another series ot gullies at which n list of twenty prizes were offered whereupon the preacher openly nounced them quoting the law of the state against gambling and likened them all maids und matrons unto the common tinhorn professional gamblers of the country and went so far as to call upon the police to en force the law against the women Then what happened I The women simply resolved to fight back and dared both parson and police to interfere with their program The report docs not state whether the euchre party has yet been held or if it Is yet on the program Luicfer may lurk in the euchre neck and if ho does we take it that the ladies will risk chances on the game and permit the parson to skidoo Not so very long ago a Brooklyn preacher actually organ Ized a monster euchre party at Coney Island in which one thousand couples participated and the realized from the game were used in liquidating the church debt It is evident that god does not part similar instructions in each of the earthly agents The question that now presents it self is if the ladies in this case are arrested and fined for a simple game of euchre what will becomeof the church and what will the parson do for n congregation THE CHURCH OF MANY ACES Anent the recent promulgation of sively stringent rules by the Roman Catholic Church in America concerning marriage it is interesting to observe that the same church governed by the same authority but in France has adopted and issuedit rule upon the same subject exactly the reverse of its American proposition In America the marriage contract is made altogether subservient to the church In France the church is made subservient to the marriage contract These extremes indicate the pop ular will among Catholics of these countries American Catholics being accredited with loyalty to the church are easily controlled by the church authorities French Catholics are manifesting nn indifference toward the church and in order to meet their defection the church has let loose of its orthodox tff I i strictures and now announces that priests may marry any couple presenting themselves formalityrestriction upon the marriage In other ParisMonsignorauthorized the abolition of the bans which quired a pending marriage to be announced Sundaysbeforothis has been a large uecrease in the number of church marriages and a corresponding in crease in the number of civil marriages Un authorlityits attitude upon this question and is com peoplefhis Churchinmany sides of its face are made apparent It powerlesstochurch is willing to make an unconditional gallerySucllof the people over the church It does not re Americathatto their brethren in France and be denied to them Yet there is no accounting for the willingnessfor him by an unscrupulous and selfish priesthood BABIES vs BALLOTS CBranllsuffrage the majority of the fair sex would ballottacka ofthesuffragettes it appears that a large number electoralcomesfrompaper which recently propounded a number suffrngeand uponthoopenlyinexercisedinbringinganswers are truthfully given they do but suffrageadvocatesenemies of womans suffrage are the women themselvesIf right to vote or the privilege of voting would mean the slightest Improvement anythinggent men perceive the mass of corruption and engulfedthey sweetheartsof honest men take no part in politics because they have no wish to become contaminated Professional politicians men who steal votes anti men who miscount votes realizing their own condition of servitude are in n sense unwilling to see their female relatives in volved in such questionable transactions i ri 11 p oi f i4- tI r j1lll ric f i rE BLUE GRASS BLADE 7 Admitting the truth of the argument that womans presence in politics might have a purificationbiped would lead to an utter disregard of the women workers There can be no doubt but what thousands of women could vote as in telligently upon political issues as many men but the mere fact that a preacher can exert such an influence over them in matters of religion suggests that they would become equally as easy prey for designing politicians and their agents puts the fact of womans suffrage so far in the future that even the glimpseWithmust precede political freedom The yoke of the church must first be sundered before the political yoke can be removed This would open another sphere for the propaganda of women Break away from the ironbound superstition of orthodox religious belief and emanclpation PREACH THE GOSPEL FREE The nonattendance at church upon the part of the masses has led a St Louis preacher to hit upon a novel plan lie has made a prop osition to preach the gospel free that is without any salary provided some wealthy philanthropist will build him a church and endow it with a sufficient income to guarantee its support and maintenance The plan wont work With innumerable churches already in existence and these having many empty pews why build any more If the refuse to attend churches now in operation for soulsaving it is not to be presumed that they would attend another It may be that they are too indifferent towards the soulsav ing business in the event of which twenty new churches would be no more effective as to results than one It is true that many people cannot afford to become church mem hers The constant demands made upon them for money for different church enterprises convinces them that after all neither the preaching of the gospel or the offer of salva tion are free and a church that could be run without cost to its congregation would soon fall into Grover Clevelands innocuous de scutudc The poor man who may be religious has discovered that ho can pray and meditate upon sin and the plan of salvation in the solitude of his own home without having to hire some preacher to do it for him by proxy In the course of time he further learns that the sun shines on the unbeliever as well as the believers and that when the tempest strikes it hits saint and sinner alike Then reflection comes and ho soon perceives that prayer and faith cannot change occupationIscine man of the savage If the St Louis parson will but pause long enough to give a truly serious thought to the situation he would discover that the ago of faith is not of today that it belongs to tho that decline of religious faith has lessened belief and attendance at church has correspondingly fallen off The free church idea is but a blind guess in the dark made in tho hope of reviving a prestige once en joyed now lost No philanthropist of wealth will be found to build this church for him True philanthropy docs not belong to ortho doxy The philanthropic impulse is Humanl tarian and never a place in Intolerant orthodoxy c NO CHRISTIAN UNITY rlportedinexisting conditions point to the conclusion gettingfurtherunite to damn the independent unbeliever but the freedom of the latter is enhanced by this togetherFrom that the General Methodist Conference which has been in session in that city denounced the Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic churches in most emphatic and bitter language while from Philadelphia the report comes that fifty Isters of the Episcopal church have renounced that particular brand of saving grace and have agreed upon a date not given but said to bo in the near future when they will join the Catholic church in a body At the same time the Methodists got in a fight among themselves and the preacher applied the gag rule to the lay members in such a vehement manner that it forebodes further trouble The denunciation of the Catholic branches DlshopWilliambeen assigned to labors in Europe and came in his report to the Conference upon his work in that field He declared that the Roman Catholic Church had become degenerate and corrupt and utterly devoid of the spirit of evangelical Christianity and his criticism of solelyinof the Greek church are multiplied and em phasized in Romanism but with this differ aggressiveHowSuch a castigation comes better from this source than from the unbeliever It ought to have its effect upon other Christians Regarding tho renunciation of the Epis copacy by tho fifty ministers aforesaid and their prospective admission into the Catholic faith but little need be said They were all High Churchmen anyhow and Catholic at heart while Protestants by profession The defection will have but a temporary effect for enough sapheads can be found anxious for an easy job to till tile vacant places AN UNCONVERTED BURGLAR Christian Theories Are Bad But Their Practices are Worse By John F Clarke Dean Swift said The nearer to the church the further from god Here is nn account of a Christian gentleman who trained under two evangelists and is entitled to a degree of proficiency in burglary rust read Tim and Charlesworth one of you pray while the other takes up a col lectionVIRGINIAN HELD AS RAFFLES Recently Wed Society Girl And Is Accused BurglarySan W W Goelet graduate of Columbus College and traveler who married a young society woman of Oat land four months ago is in the Berkeley city prison charged with burglarizing eight rest dences and apart linne in Onkand and Berkeley His name appeared oh most of tho hotel and apartment houses registers nc W F police have hail Cocl under suspicion for two weeks Goelets method according to the police was to engage rooms in highclass hotels and t 1i 9f apartment houses and then plunder right and left Some time ago he traveled with Benja min Fay Mills the pulpit lecturer as his pri vato secretary He had also been secretary for Dr Biddewolfe a noted evangelist Goelet is 35 years old and a native of Vir ginia His parents it is said live In Wash ington D C He was in the Spanish War serving in the hospital corps in Cuba layoutYet land telling the people that infidels are the only people who do wrong It takes a lot to disgust some persons with the religious rot of this day but we are get ting there and the sanctified are helping us out Christian theory is bad enough but Christian practice is fierce professellChristianstempted to quit the business and join me in fighting the hypocritical humbug Fear of retaliation has kept many from renouncing Christianity but that fear is proving ground stepsintianity is heard in the land and seems an outlet for the doubters to leave the sinking ship of Zion Preachers are kept busy gizing for bad breaks and out cropping of free lovisitt Since Jesus Christ allowed women to wash his feet and dry them with their hair there has been an epidemic of that business upon the part of pastor and maid accompanied with mishaps to the maids It was a bad precedent to set nail a worse one to imitate I see that an Episcopalian rector in New York State was charged by the father of a school girl with kissing the lass and tho rector stood his around and declares that it is his pastoral right to kiss the women of his congregation and his duty to do so Tho irate parent and e rectors wife both dissent front this dictum Quito a controversy is raging over tho matter tile bishop of tho diocese upholds the rector while other rectors express doubts as to the tenet One rector says that he sees no harm where the rector is years old and the girl about 0 or 8 years old In the case at issue the man is 33 and the girl Kissing girls is no doubt an egrecable passtime hut the damsels lips arc likely to be loaded with passion and the kiss is apt to bp felt like nn electric shock throughout the system Persistence in the contact is apt to set both souls aflame with the love of Jesus name or something else Preachers loudly proclaim that Frecthought and freelove are synonymous terms and that the exponent of the one is the practitioner of the other- Freethinkers aro mostly philosophers and platonicfrirndllhlpyum Philosophy while it may not make h one immune to temptation yet cools the blood and systemizes the system Mentality predominates and the nerves are more or less under control This is much safer and saner than tho high pitched rhetoric or passionate religion And religion is passionate It stirs the emotions and causes thrills Thrills are those telepathic soul emanations that find rev sponsive echoes in opposite sexes Emanative missionaries are lot loose to make dates be tween those who have no legitimate business with each other This makes religion popular 1 iihavoelement that is opposed to sermons but eel religion in their bones hurglariol1RChrlRtians them nowadays 4 i i w0l ilWMMMWiWL 4t n 4 4 a8 BLUE GRASS BLADE BLUE GRASS BLADE Published weekly at Lexington Ky Founded by Charles Chilton Moore In and edited by him until his death February Jas E HughesBus Manager and Publisher John Charlesworth Editor 1268 N Limestone St Lexington Ky P Box SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mall postpaid 160 per year In advance Five new yearly subscribers at one remit tance lfO each Five trial subscriptions sent In with one remittance for six months cents each Trial subscriptions cents per month Foreign subscriptions postpaid 200 per year ADVERTISING RATES One Inch single column Insertion cents one month or four Insertions 1100 six months 600 one year oneumonthc4 single one Insertion year six months 2000 one 3000 Half column whole column or larger advertisements at special rates upon application The publishers have the right to reject any and all advertisements offered GENERAL BUSINESS RULES ALL SUBSCRIPTIONS to the Blade will be discontinued of the term for which the subscription has been paid up In advance The address slip on the paper will show subscribers the date of expiration of subscription Back numbers or numbers omitted will be sent If asked for upon renewal in case of discontinuance SHOULD ANY SUBSCRIBER change his or her address advise this office giving both old and new r 1TUB OFFICE dr publication the Blade Is at 128128 North Limestone Street Lexington Kentucky to which all Freethinkers will given a hearty welcome THE BLADE Is entered at the Postofflce at Lexington Kentucky aa secondclass mall ing matter IAD ALL COMMUNICATIONS TO THE BLUE GRASS BLADE P Box Lexington Ky CttHOtt Editorial MANS MONOPOLY Reading over a prospectus just sent out for the benefit of Asbury College Kentucky we were deeply impressed with the alleged holiness of the institution and the braggadocio the faculty in preparing young men and women for tho ministry The power of the spirit is certainly rest ing over and upon this institution for tho prospectus assures the readers thereof that they have had prayer for breakfast prayer for dinner and prayer for supper prayer at bedtime and prayer upon rising They might have gone a little further and sent a hunk of it to the laundry where by a process of steam cleaning and scouring something might get a thorough cleansing One of the articles designed for the instruc tion of parents and guardians of prospective students informs them that during the past l1I1I1M year our energy has mostly been expended iii agonizing prayer That kind of prays ought to fetch em If it dont the other brands are sure to fail and the good lord of the Christian hosts will soor be up a a perusal thereof however wo have been able to learn the gender of the holy spirit and to our immense delight we find that it is masculine It would have been a terrific blow to the sterner sex to have the holy spirit a woman a she as it were but with the tutors for authority our fears arc allayed and we delight in the fact that he is a male person Speaking of a patchcdup re vival indulged in the prospectus says that it was without a leader and that the holy spirit was tho chief executive and everyone acted as HE dictated This makes the trinity composed absolutely of men Not a an in the firm As inferior creatures just a little lower than men they ought not to aspire toa partnership in tho god business As we have never been previously informed upon the sex of the holy spirit we had begun to dread the possible fact that it might be a woman but Asbury College came to the cue in time to save us from doubt and almost despair Now wo know we are safe Man is likely to stand by mini and our chances on the future are enhc cd No female deities for us The heavenly hierarchy would be In a dreadful fix if a woman should happen to creep into the firm Safety and satisfac tion is thus derived and as the prospectus is to be widely circulated let us hope that oth ers will also profit by the information thus comes to doing the god business man has a gigantic monopoly and ho can now rest in sweet content take a smoke in the chimney corner and reflect upon what it is to to be in such a combin RELIGION IN THE PHILLIPINES In a recent mail the Blade was made the recipient of u copy of a small pamphlet pub lished by Bruce Rogers of Girard Kansas consisting of a compilation of extracts from a message transmitted to the United States Senate by the late President William Kinley upon the issue of religion and ligious influences the Phillipine Islands especially dealing with the conduct of tile friars and representatives of tho Roman Catholic church under Spanish dominion The work is ofa startling nature and exposes by investigation inquiry and judicial or quasi judicial procedure the political intrigues and gross immoralities practiced upon the people in the name and by the authority of a mer ciful Christ For the most part the pamphlet gives the testimony elicited verbatim and names of persons testifying That sucha document should bo Bumbktcd to the Senate of the i f f II United States by a President of this Repub lie and in the face of such testimony cabinet officers and their colaborers could indulge in political intrigue with the modern representa rives of that same church is almost beyond credibility Mere flashes of this testimony had heretofore found its way into public print but so far as we know this is the first timu it has been so extensively published Taken from an official report the facts fur nished are accorded both weight and authority A perusal of this pamphlet is well calcu lated to make the American people sit up and seriously reflect upon their possessions in the eastern archipelago American officials also give their testimony which include Brigadier t General R P Hughes and a number of Amer ican journalists Interviews with Filipino ficials and prominent residents of the larger cities who with one accord condemn tho friars for their conduct in general and many cite instances and particulars wherein they constituted a distinct curse to the country The whole investigation is based upon a Senate resolution adopted January 20 1001 RELIGION IN AMERICA The struggle for religious liberty in Amer ica culminating in the Declaration of Inde pendence and that essentially secular instru ment the constitution of the United States constitute a harrowing and bloody chapter in tho early history of tho colonization ot tho New World Tracing through the uncertain light and in definite accounts given jf that early period we find that on December the Mayflower landed at Plymouth The company numbered King James I of England had declared that he would compel the Puri tans to conform to tho church of England or failing in his purpose to harry them out of tine country through governmental persecution Innumerable persecutions followed All over England tine separatists were jected to such gross brutalities that they determined upon leaving und hundreds of them emigrated to Holland Some of them dreaded that their children would lose their English habits and speech among the Dutch so they applied for and secured per mission to settle upon tile coast of New Jer sey then a part of Virginia and under the leadership of William Brewster Miles Stand ish and John Bradford they came to America Winds carried them too far north to allow them to land on tho Jersey coast so they landed at Plymouth Still later in Archbishop Land made an unwise and injudicious attempt under Charles I to restore Roman Catholic Cere monials in the Church of England This ated further religious dissent rind more ecutions for opinions sake followed Re volting against this policy a largo body of Puritans decided to emigrate to America as others had done before them Acquiring a d G2 BLUE BLADE g grant ol laud between the Merrimac and Charles Kivcrs from the Council of New Eng land they came and settled upon it obtaining all the rights of a selfgoverning corpora tionAlthough fleeing from persecution in the old country their first act was to establish a theocracy in the new Laws were made and promulgated giving the right of suffrage to none but church members The ministers wielded a terrible power in politics They were its spiritual and temporal masters In the course of a few months tho colony grew to be a rabid theocracy in which the building of churches and the preaching of the gos pel were of tie first importance In 1030 Roger Williams led a revolt Ho demanded that all religious beliefs should tolerated and that the affairs of church and state should be kept entirely separate For this ho was ordered to leave the colony and return to England by tho Puritan clergymen on tho ground that his views were danger ous In this they were aided LJthe magis trates who were tho servile tools of the church Williams left tho colony but ho did not return to England Ho plunged alone into the wilderness and into tho country of tho Narragansetts Their chief Canonicus granted him a tract of land upon which ho established a settlement and named it Prov idence in the hope that it would prove a shelter for all who were persecuted for opin ions sake Here all citizens whether church members or not were to have equal rights before tho law Following the banishment of Roger Wil liams and in the same year Mrs Anne Hutchinson was also compelled to leave Massachusetts because of her religious opinions She settled upon Aquidneck Island and tho colony site founded was named Portsmouth Newport was founded a little later by other in Massachusetts religion was enjoy ing a wild orgy Tho law was active in en forcing tho performance of religious duties The people were summoned to church by the beating of drums and were marched up to it in military order The bible printed sermons and almanacs were tho most popular litera ture Witch trials were had in abundance The malice and envy engendered by religious hito anti despotism caused thousands of offensive and aged women to fall victims to the dread superstition And so things con tinued until when Patrick Henry then n young and obscure lawyer fought tho par sons right to claim tithes of tobacco and by his boldness and eloquence succeeded In put ting the parsons to route This was the first serious break from the church in America upon its own territory Step by step the breach grew and widened The intervening gulf became impassable The clergy were determined to stand their ground Tho liberal element refused to surrender iSt Thousands had fastened upon the issues raised by IatncK Henry but the church was unable to regain its lost prestige and power From that nay the policy of the church has been to temporize Concessions weio granted in ono direction for privileges in another At last came the immortal Paine who aided by Ills compeers gave us a government without u king a country without a church and a constitution without a god TWO FREETHOUGHT CONVENTIONS the Blade is pleased to announce that angements are practically completed for the holdingof two important conventions of Freethinkers at Canal Dover Ohio beginning September 0 and continuing for several days Both of these gatherings should be well invitation is extended to all Free thinkers to attend and show their colors by Ink ng part in the proceeding anti cncourag ing the work by their presence First will come the convention of the Buckeye Secular Union lion George erts president Second in line is the Convention or terialist Association Mrs Eliza Mowry Bliv- eu secretary The Opera House at Canal Dover has been secured for both Among the wellknown Frcethought writers and advocates who leave promised to altcnd are Dr Bowles Otto Wettstein and others It will be worth the trip to meet these cham pions of the intellectual arena and hear them expound the gospel of universal mental liberty If it is possible the Blades editor will be on hand and helpln the work Every Freethinker within a radius of 300 or 400 miles ought to bo present Sonic will travel much further Distance cuts no when ones heart is in the cause If you are thinking of atendlng write to George Roberts Dennison Ohio or to Mrs Eliza Mowry liliven Brooklyn Conn and ei titer will give you more detailed information NOT LEAD BUT DYTNG At the risk of being deemed a trifle orthodox we have made a biblical text the oasis of this article It wits used in u recent crmou by Dr Aked the preacher imported from England by John Rockfeller in an effort to point out some un plat able truths The thoughts suggested by Dr Aked were not original with him but were first promulgated by Thomas Dixon in the New Broadway Magazine mention of which already appeared in the laude Dr Aked denounces the modern orthodox preacher as being parrots and all guilty of repeating dead church cries Has it not occured to Dr Aked that ho is but parroting Thomas Dixon and that he has used much of the lat ters identical words and figures in his sermon The text however is as follows L Can ye not discern tho signs of the times Mathew 103 a This question can be answered affirmatively The poignant signs of the times point to tho inevitable conclusion that Christianity is out of joint with the age tho times and the people Following the universal law theology is pissing away aria yieldin place to new ideas A period of disintegration has set upon all forms of religious faith and in the gation that must follow the ola theologies will be forgotten Most important of all is the admitted rapid spread of Atheism in Germany Tho refined and eimatcd classes have cut loose fron e orthodox faith To such an extent is this recognized that the pious scholastics are pour ing out torrents of protests Above it all comes the welcome admission that a special propaganda is being undertaken in Germany on behalf of Atheism which is being prose cuted with intense enthusiasm and Atheistical literature is being widely disseminated among German college students and the information is given that on every hand the people are tiring of old religions and that orthodox theories are unable to copo with the adtuncing intelligence In America the signs of tho times appear ing through the recent discharge of Prof II Bawden from tin Cincinnati University because of his advanced personal views points to nn arrant hypocrisy embodied in modern Christian methods of instruction Prof Baw den in a published interview says tile average college professors have not the cour age to stand up and say what they think This denunciation extends not alone to their thoughts concerning sociological problems but strikes all religious concepts und practices Upon latter subject Prof Bawden do ctorod I think am reflecting the opinion of ti- thrt education lm I say that a university is the ono place above all others where tho spirit of free inquiry should prevail and where any question and any problem of a kind including human nature should be opera to uiitriiimolc vcstipatpt- Thura n a time when it was ilinnnaMi heresy to doubt the geocentric thory of the solar system There was a time when Protest anism was what the world originally eight fleda protest against tho established church There was a time when it was hlasphellouII to suletitute ttvolutbi for creatir n lhfJreIwas a time when tho higher criticism was carded as endangering the authority of reIChristian scriptures All these subjects successively come under the scrutiny of set enco and the heresies of yesterday have be come creeds of today But little reference need to be made to tlio situation in France The separation of church and state has there been made absolute and the Republic still maintains n defiant Tho demand for a purely secular nttihuleI fJr i 1 Iilii- O f iwi BBTJE GRASS DE uoand rupmiy increaoiiig The pro beoou iUleea UU luUng I1Leae numuets jiuia will ue luuuu a uncut political issue m too pulluillg unialliell lury demon and tildes are iig closely drawn mmu lacie there way seem but lit io iiupufiuucc m this struggle but beneath hit auriacu there lies a smoldering puulic jpiuiou that is deciuedly antagonistic to the notion of promulgating orthodox views through public school instruction The real issue is church or antichurch control of the British educational institutions and a protest against the method of tainting the mind of childhood with superstition and orthodox fanaticism at public expense Our own country seems to be lagging in these essential features of aggressive propa ganda The habit of quietly giving way to orthodox encroachments upon legislation has become a custom Roosevelt recognized the mockery of the In God we Trust inscription upon the coin of the realm but a mamby pamby toadeating Congress promptly re stored it because of a desire to make a show of holiness before professing Christian con stituencies Religious laws are enacted and in some cases an attempted enforcement fol lows but while the majority of the people are heard to make feeble protest there is no concert no organized plan of opposition Delegations of preachers call upon executive officers and the latter hearing but one side foolishly imagine there is no other and read ily agree to appease the feelings of the pious by official action in the direction sought Prosecuting the inquiry further we find that special reliance is placed upon the publication upon fake feature stories in the newspapers which account some newly discovered evidence tending to prove the truth of Christianity Even the pope of Rome is said to be unduly alarmed but if the Christian church is of god as is claimed what need exists for the slight est alarm These are the signs of the times They are but a partial and inconsequential capable of discerning them we agree with Dr Aked in concluding that they point a rapid decline in the orthodox faith but in them we can also see that which Dr Aked is unwilling to admit namely that no policy can be put forward by the church that is cap able of arresting it STUDIES IN ORGANIC LIFE The study of Nature offers n certain anti dote for the follies of superstition and relig ious faith No earnest student of Nature can possibly believe in god or the special creation of plants and animals according to their specie No student of Zoology can be brought to the be lief or a conception that animals plants and minerals are independent members of exist ence for he perceives and is brought face to r- luce Wiiii the idct that all are dependent and uvmauy luuuii upOu one another lue matter mo living urgteufi worm id identical witii that iiiif llullunug or organic car uuiimeui uiimiuuiu aim water a uuuc oi grass anti u horse uiia even wan are but the same elements dmuruiuiy combined and arranged Plants compress the forces ol inorganic nature chemical compounds animals liberate them riuuU produce All umiiiaiu consume mo wurK plants is synthesis a building up the worof animals is analysis or Hiruction Thu tendency plants is de oxidization the lunuuiiuy ol animals is ox idization Uithout plants animals would perish without animals plants would be less in the economy of Nature Animals like plants live grow reproduce and trio These are the capital facts of every manifested in certain special acts called functions These functions are per formed by certain special parts called organs The stomach is an organ whose function is digestion A single organ may manifest tality but except in the very lowest forms it does not show forth the whole life of the animal In being set apart for a special pur pose an organ takes upon itself so as to speak the duty of doing something for the benefit of the whole animal and is absolved from doing other things The stomach for example whose sole function is digestion is not called upon to circulate or purify the of the peculiar facts in animal life is that there may be functions without organs as the organless Amoeba digests respires moves and reproduces by its general mass As we ascend alto scale of animal life we pass from the simple to the complex Groups of cells tissues instead of being mere repeti tions of each other take on a difference and become distinguished as special parts with specific duties The higher this rank of the animal the more numerous the organs The more complicated the structure the more com plicated the functions But in all animals the functions are performed under conditions essentially the same For example respiration in the sponge the fish and in the man has but ono object and one means though the methods are different A function therefore is a group of similar phenomena produced by like causes The life of an animal consists in the accum ulation and expenditure of force The tissues are storehouses of power which as they waste and decay is given off in various forms All the apparatus and phenomena of life may be included under Nutrition Motion Sensation These are possessed by nil animals but in a variety of ways No two species have exactly the same mechanism and method of life The task set before the student is to learn to distinguish between what vital and what is accessory That only is essential to life which is common to all forms of life r 0 11n I W Our bruins stomach livers hands and feet ore a sense luxuries They ure necessary maKo us human beings but not to make us living beings Tlio first object of life is to grow No ant mat is born finished Some animals like paius grow as long as they live but the majority soon attain a fixed size In all ani mals however food is wanted for another purpose than growth namely to repair the waste which is constantly going on Every exercise of the muscles and nerves involves the death and decay of tissue The supply must equal the demand in order to maintain the life of the individual and as an organism can slake nothing it must seeks it from without An animal begins to die the moment it begins to live Proceeding with our studies we find that many animals as most insects and mammals live solely upon vegetable food while species are restricted to particular plants The majority of animals feed upon one another Among these are the hosts of microscopic forms and all the radiated species such as Crustaceans beetles flies spiders fishes reptiles birds quadrepeds and man The latter and some animals lire omnivorus and feed upon a mixture of animal and vege table food The use of fire in the preparation of food is peculiar to man alone but for ages ho ate his flesh food raw as other animals A few of the strictly herbivorous and carnivor ous animals have shown a capacity for chang ing their diet while certain animals in pass ing from the young to the mature state make a remarkable change of food The tadpole foods upon vegetable matter alone but when it becomes a frog it lives upon insects Many tribes especially of reptiles and in sects nre able to go without food for months or oven years Insects In the larval or cater pillar state are exceedingly voracious but upon reaching the matured or winged state they eat very little food some species taking nono at all The Zoologists have discovered ono specie what Is called the male Nottommata which takes in no nutriment from the time it quits its egg until it dies Hero is an interesting field of Nature study Tho subject will be more minutely gone Into through the Correspondence School In this branch of study will be shown the general unity in structure order of development and the general reign of natural law over all Many have written making inquiries con corning the plan scope methods and system of instruction and seeking information on the subjects to bo taught These brief reviews or outlines of Nature studies are designed to permit an insight into some of the lessons that are to bo taught in the hope of rousing a greater interest concerning the possibilities of the School Our confidence in it is supreme We desire to put all our readers in tho same frame of mind that they may come to view it as wo do and interest cmselvca in its success ti nx 4 c i BLUE GRASS BLA 11 t IThe Christians Messiah If Bible Prophecies Are Wrong Whence Came The Christ Idea CHAPTER TWO By A A Snow As we have seen there were predictions made in the Old Testament of various liverers that were to come in the future and rescue the Jews from the various distresses they were in such as captivity and similar oppressions These predictions acted as n nucleus on which future prophets extended and enlarged Titus grew the idea of a coin ing incssiuh The term messiah in Hebrew signifies anointed Cyrus was called the anointed of the Lordas he was to deliver tho Jews from the seventy year captivity of Babylon Being in constant warfare he con ceived as a great diplomatic scheme the t of giving the Jews their liberty in order to insure their cooperation zeal and sympathy This notion ho made known to tho people through pretended predictions from the Lord even going far as to make interpolations in Isaiah written two hundred years before as has been ferreted out by the Higher Crit ics of tho present In Isa 4428 and 45 13 we read I am the Lord That saith of Cyrus He is my shepherd and shall perform all my pleasure even saying to Jerusalem thou shall bo built and to tho temple Thy foundation shall be laid Thus salth the Lord to his anointed to Cyrus whoso right hand I have holden to subdue nations before hint and I will loose tho loins of kings to open before him the two leaved gates and the gates shall not be shut Now if tho word messiah means Christ Cyrus and not Jesus was that Christ or else tho Old Testament was not only going to deliver the Jews but also to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple Tho people were very ignorant when not in bondage the priests and prophets had al most entire control over them They made great appeals to tho future or tho past rather than to tho present as they furnished better fields for deception and every one who thinks he knows that Christians are adopting the same tactics today The Now Jerusalem was to be built nnd it was to he a heavenly affair indeed and when tho prediction had fully grown and been enlarged upon that city was to como down from God out of ITeavep In the future yes indeed in the fu ture one prophet would make the Jews kill off nil their the gentiles anti live on the spoils nnd their dominion extend to the uttermost parts of the earth Another would make Jerusalem the cathedral of the world and all nations como up to Zion to worship And the Jews Gods holy people would be decidedly In it In my holy mountain nothing shall offend saith the Lord The wolf and the lamb shall lie down together As time went on the proph ets still enlarged For behold I create now heavens and a new earth nnd the former shall not be remembered or como into mind But be yo glad and rejoice for ever in that which create for behold I create Jerusalem ft rejoicing and her neoplo a joy and tho voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her nor the voice of crying For as the new heavens nnd the new earth which I will make shall remain before me saith tho Lord so shall your seed and your name language ns this nnd that in the hook of Daniel most surely portrayed in the eyes of b f fif i Z f the people the coming of a golden age Can you imagine what inspiration it must have planted in the breast of a poor ignorant zealous believing Jew Ah too there was some messiah some great leader to make his appearance to bring about this great triumph of God 0 h this great triumph of Gods chosen people was not all accomplished at the delivery from the Babylonian captivity it cannot be in the past it is surely in the future and soon to come was the cry of thousands of Israels unfortunate sons Hun dreds of messiahs did arise and ledtens of thousands of Jews to destruction Ono Jqsus of Galileo had made great pre teutions but he came to his death without delivering the Jews It is said at his death many of his followers were disappointed who trusted that it were he who should have de livered Israel After his death after it had become an event of the past religions are always built on tho past or the future some of the sayings of Jesus still lingering the people resurrected him It was not God but the people that did this resurrecting and not three flays after but many years Yes Jesus time tail not yet conic to make his deliverance He was to come again and within the generation in which lIe lived and this part of the Bible was evidently composed within that same generation Little by little tho gospels were formed and added to In them Jesus was made to foretell his own resurrection but not one of this followers claimed to believe it at the time but virtually denied it anti I dont believe it either IIf Jesus followers really believed He was tho Christ sent from God then they also believed that till they told them was true If they told them ns the Now Testament represents ho did that he should be put to death and raise again the third day the would have believed it which the New Testament resents they did rot To make all tho Old Testament savings harmonize with the facts as they occured and the theories of the makers of the Christian religion they were spiritualized but as the Jews have not even been delivered spiritually this de liverance was not intended to take place at his coming butt at some spiritual coming in the future no one knows when but very soon you know Tho New Jerusalem that Cyrus was to rebuild is also made a spiritual affair by the New Testament writers the gentiles are are all going into itallt- hat dont go to hell ns is the most of them But they have to die to get there which ii quite near the truth still using spiritual language WRITE HIMLADIES Wanted Correspondence Ladies of earnest industrial ranks Address JOHNSON Missouri TeacherWhere did Columbus first land Johnny Lcfthook I dont know mum I didnt read no accounts of do fight Downtown Is your sons collegiate education of any practical valuo GoldbondOh yes it cured his mother of bragging about himJudge The thinking man knows that orthodox re ligion is only a confidence game Jf J x b y1 DAVES LETTER To His Dear Heavenly Father Copyrighted by Franklin H Heald 1908 My Dear Heavenly Father Why did you change your mind and drown all the people in the world but Noah Why did you save two rattlesnakes and two skuffa Were all the mountains in the world covered with water Where did all go when it quit raining How do you make it rain and why did you not make it rain last month when all the Priests in Los Angeles nnd Bob Burdette were say ing mass for rain They were terribly dis appointed that you went back on them and then made it rain when Hatfield started his smoke Did you think it was Holy smoke he made Did you destroy San Francisco with earthquake Papa has a pixture of the citygtaken from a baloon and there is one big building left all alone It is a wholesale r whiskey house Did you save it on purpose Is it tho blood of Jesus Joe says you are not opposed to urinking Is that so Joe is not a prohibitionist but he is as pious as a darkey can ever get He says all the good people in the Bible drink and some of them used to get drunk He says that the first black man was white till he got drunk and Inycd all day in the sewer and ever since his children have been black Joe believes it He thinks it is a blessing in disguise Do you ever get drunk and have a good time when a person like Durant or Orchard are hung and go to heaven How many mur derers are there in heaven now Do all murderers go to heaven I wish I had a list and a list of the good people who are in the other place It might help me decide where I want to go Joe says when a bad man cmbrasscs de lod der is music and dat all thln s are iJocttall Now if I wanted somebody to find los chickens at nite I would hire Joe He thinks n chicken is los when it is asleep and the person owns it that wakens it if it dont squack Is he inspired when he finds chickens and when he tells about tIle big light ho seed when ho was converted I just went to see the big fleet of battle ships Do you believe in killing all the people you can and would you make the sun stand still so that Roosevelt could kill more people if he wanted tooY Wood yough shoot a person in the hack to keep him from getting away if you were jealous and angry or only just sometimes Why didnt you want Eve to dress up in fig leaves I declare this is a funny picture papa has you I wonder if it is liko you I mean thesand with a twoeyed soward for a tung I will put my picture in tIle next letter if ou will send me yours firstxWell I must clothes There is not a thing to go to Sundayschool for now since Easter but tho preacher getting up a trading stamp scheme so wo can get candy the same na they do in Denver then there will be some sense in goingAs ever sDAVE Auntie I think you say your prayers very nicely Reggi- eReggieAh but you should hear me gargle Punch l f L tc i rf3 12 BLUE GRASS BLADE THE MAN AFTER GODS OWN HEART Continued From Page 2ndSamuelter of Saul had no child unto the day jjjThentook the two sons of llizpah whom she bare thedaughterhangedthem intheIf Michal the daughter of Saul had n child unto the day of her death then it Michaldaughter deathThewelivingandLorolaysJonahdid wonderful things but Michal his first andDavidication with the Lord David enquired afterIllsthLordbeforethedancingbeforeheart And Michal said to David Saml Israeltodayeyes of the handmaids of his servants as uncoverethimself baseinthPsalme heartkeptllarpinFor mine iniquities are gone over my heavyforMy wounds stink and arc corrupt because of my foolishness loathsomedisease lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore and my kinsmen stand afar off pondswelllearn what manner of man he was 2nd Saml 32 reads And unto David were sons born in Hebron The daughters were AmnonAkinoamAnd his second Chilcab of the wife of NabalIMaacaliThe AbitalcAnd wifetlsays And David took ho IImorewives and son3 and daughters David had David and the Lord only know but the Bible gives prominence to ore more painthekingsofwoman washing herself and the woman was uponAnd and took her The rest of this chapter will enlighten the reader as to the doings of David The sweet singer of Israel the man after Gods own heart regarding this matter Bathsheba was the name of this beautiful woman 1always thought it a queer proceeding hoa woman to take a bath public David is the only man on record 10ain love with a woman when she w etaking her bath and Bathsheba was quite a appropriate name for her gottheway 1st Samuel 2538 the Lord smote Nabel that he died David by scheming sent the husband of Bathsheba to the forefro of the battle and had him killed Davi was an expert at putting men withattractive wives out of the way and he might have ha pidaysrThe second son Buthshcba bore to David was Solomon Now this Solomon is celebrated not only for his wisdom but for having wives and 300 concubines Some allowance should be made for Solomon when we remem ber that ho had David for a father for a mother and his greatgreat grand ma was Mrs lluth Boaz who was under the tutilage of Naomi The maxim Blood will tell was strongly exemplified in capturetillto pursue his enemies and slay them 2nd pursuedDavid80 David slew of the Syrians two and twen ty thousand men 2nd Samuel 1018 Da Idslew the men of seven hundred chariots of the Syrians and forty thousand horsemen rand smote Shobach the captain of their host who died there 2nd Samuel 813 And David got him a name when he leturned from smiting of the Assyrians in the Valley of Salt being eighteen thousand men 1st Chronicles 141017 Therefore David did as God commanded him and they smote the host of the Philistines from Gibson even to Gazer and the fame of David went out into ands and the Lord brought the fear of him upon all nations ing Davids son Absolom like Solomon hadrfollowinginreekingwithtike character of David the man after Gods own heart and more space is given to him celebrityDavidthe arithmetic to tell how many wives an children he had and how many murders helcommitted Davids mothers name is mentionedas he was such a favorite with Lord perhaps he was like Melchisadck managed to get born without a motherdever a man waded through throne David was that man and sad to late it is recorded that the Lord waded with ilJL butcheriesItcan only come through the Christians guide book the Holy Bible Christianvogue Tha British nation the leader of tohelpslewthousandsfend their homes and families exampleuttered thoyrikonsnmilitary camp armed to the teeth and its theIto show how closely Christians should follow tolwere notntogodgodly and nowdnearttricks recorded of them in Holy Writ Sarah straightLet0attention to David the man after Gods own heart KentuckyaDick looking at illustrated HlbleI won der what the Noahs did with themselves all arknMabelFished I should think Bobbie They didnt fish for long Dick and Mabel Why not Bobbie Well you see there were only two wormsl It seems strange said Deacon May berry as ho counted the money after church that a large congregation can be so small Napoleon is credited with having said What makes mo think that there can be no Rod who metes out punishment is that good people are so often unhappy and rascals j prosperous Today well livedmakes every yesterday- A dream of happiness And every tomorrow n vision of hope Whittier A member of the Nebraska Legislature was speaking on some momentous question and DanieldGive me or give me death One of his colleagues pulled at his coat and whispered Daniel Webster did not write tho It was Noah speakerNoah tf r m BLUE GRASS BLADE 13 i oar a xHooHox s oo rar xo04 ao a wro0oa I LUU t Che Blades u Correspondence HHHpr rw rtrrVVt1Vw Another Freethinker Gone ALVIN TEXPlease stop the Blade to Lewis Hall Courtland Kansas nnd send bill of amount due for same and we will settle Father died February 1003 at the age of eightysix August 28th was in his eighty seventh year Ho died without a struggle went to sleep and passed away Ho died as he lived an Atheist Please change A B Halls address from Courtland Kansas to Alvin Texas Wo have sold out at Courtland and moved everything to this place nnd have no further interest in the dryold state of KansasC H HALL Surely Wants the Blade SIGOURNEY IOWA My mother told me a few days ago that her subscription to the Blade would expire in May and she requested me to renew for her as she likes to read the Blade Please continue to rend each Blade in wrapper by itself The reason for this re quest is that there are several people living out in the country near here with virtually the same name Part of the papers are taken out by the rural carriers and not returned and these people in the country being pious and ignorant it does them no good E D NAUMAN Interested in the School BASALT COLO Please send me particu lars concerning your Scientific and Philoso phical Correspondence School Also sample copy of the Blue Grass Blade as per your advertisement in Tomorrow for May CIIAS H SCHWARTZ Wishes School Successe MILO MAINE I send herewith check for fifty cents 050 that is my indebtedness to you on extra copies I trust you got the Philistine I mailed you that dying testi mony of Ex3ovcrnor Chamberlain of North Carolina was one of the most forceful state ments I have read for a long while a kind of a material setoff against the last words of so ninny Christians who have say at the eleventh hour Ill try and sen1 you a Mag with an articlue you can comment on re Haeckcl and gospels I have not made up my mind about the School but I certainly hope it will suc ceed I have mcdo Geology a Btudy for many years and a good thing to know in the power it gives to the minagree eat of Science with theology armaments But where you can let pupils know the synonims of certain scientific terms As Archaean is often called logic an another name nothing is more confusing to a pupil than this WM COOPER Believes In Future Life BARTOW FLAI have been a subscriber for fifteen years or more to the Blue Grass Blade and while I enjoyed reading it very much I have not been entirely in sympathy with it I like the writing of W B Wilson and Mrs Henry and the efforts to destroy theology superstition and ignorance but I p cannot accept the Materialistic ideal for I believe in life after socalled death I am and have been n spiritualls for the last twenty years The continuity of life to mo is a proven fact and no argument can remove it It is a question of investigationL Another School Applicant GRAY N C Having just noticed your ad vertisement in oecular Thought and being interested you will please send further par ticulars etc of the Scientific and philosophi cal Correspondence School Also please send a sample copy and terms of the Blue Grass Blade LEANDER WOODIE See the Postmaster T1TUSVILLE PAI have not received any Blade since the fifth of April I dont wish to miss any Our mail carrier says there arc two Blades in the office but not my name Ho said I was the only one he had on his route It looks suspicious Please send paper will sendstampsG C GUILD From a Willing Heart NEVADA MO Pardon my delay I am just able to sit up after a long illness Send 150 for subscription 10 cents for Mrs Henrys Bible Revision and cents to send samples of the Blade to a few neighbors I like the Blade just fine since you changed its form and hope you will be able to continue the portraits I am so glad the old writers havo come back again noble Mrs Henry convincing Dr Bowles straight to the point Mrs Closz and all the others I think your Correspondence School will be a grand thing Am tempted to enter it myself only I am a very busy woman or will be if I ever get able to work Live on a farm and havo three little children Send samples to names enclosed JOSEPHINE M GIST Wants to Know RUDE N DAKI see by the Ingersoll Beacon that you will start a Correspondence School about July 1st I should like to get further information na to the amount of time a student will have to spend in study how much previous instruction required and the amount of experimental work required in Zoology Geology and Astronomy- N M GREFSIIEIM A Future Life A Critical Inquiry into the Scientific Value of the Alleged Evidences that Mans r Conscious Personality Survives the Life of the Body- Embracing A discussion of the Doctrines of Resurrec tion of the Body ReIncarnation Spiritism Annihilation Theories of Metaphysicians Phenomena of Spiritualism etc BY SINGLETON WATERS DAVIS An octavo volume of 172 pages with fine frontispiece Portrait of the author and full table of Contents well printed on Crystal Book paper and neatly bound in cloth A Future Life is the title of a book just out In my opinion It takes rank with the best thought of the times on the subject Every conceivable phase of this mysterious subject is treated In the clearest scientific manner My impressloL on reading it was that all that is known on this subject up to date is told here It is a fortification behind which the thinker may feel himself secure this very ex ceptional book is the product of a mature and exceptionallyfine analytical mind J B Wilson M D In the Blue Grass Blade Seventyfive Cents Postpaid to any point within the United States Foreign lOo extra Published by the Author at 854 E Lee St Los Angeles Cal No Beginning By William H Maple THE IDENITY OF GOD WITH NA TURE DEMONSTRATED The only hook of its kind In existenceINeat cloth binding 183 pages two illustrations 75 cents paper strikingIcents postpaid INGERSOLL BEACON CO 78 LA SALLE ST CHICAGO r q q i i14 BLUE GRASS BLADE Information Wanted EXCELSIOR WISPerhaps you remember that about a year ago I proposed to Jehqva J C and Co that if they would extend my time ten more years in this world making me eighty years old I would give one thous and years off my life in the next world have waited and listened but received no answer therefore take silence for consent So will give notice to my Spiritualist friends that they need not call me up for I will sleep a thousand years as per agreement I have made it a practice to read the Blade then pass it around but since the change has been made in the form I am filing it away for 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that I had robbed glad I would at least furnish them with one square meal warmingbeforeto soar to that lofty hay mow above Enclosed fine one dollar 100 for which send the Blade to Mrs E A Pickney at St Paul Minnesota 044 Doyton Ave I will CorrespondenceSchool you see fit to run in the few lines enclosed do so and if you havent the room throw them in the waste basket and I will not feel in the least offended With kind regards for you and yoursE A PINCKNEi The Way to do Things DENNISON Oon Sunday April 26th E M 308 the subscriber was sixty years of age and in honor of the occasion I invited thirteen of the old guards all staunch Freethinkers to tako dinner with me well they came and several others as well The old veteran Sam uel Toomey headed the gang mid they made things lively until dinner was announced at one oclock and then my wife and daughter found out to the entire satisfaction that Freethinkers can eat as well as talk A 0 JNarragon an old veteran of the civil war said that he noticed the absence of river j water whereupon ho was informed that it vas contrary to the rules of the domicile to serve liquors on Sunday but that in as much as the sky pilots served wine to the faithful on Sunday we would also have a little for our stomachs sake and we did We had one Christian with us but it was remarked that he did not try to interest us in real estate beyond the skies After dinner Narragon said he felt what inspired did not know whether it was twelve year old juice of the vine or the good looking fellows in the circle so he talked freely and without price Guss Parr led in a few well directed and appreciated stories John S Bowser said A Materialist is the happiest man in the world as he has no Hell to steer around II II Kai recited How the woman tried to pull the wool over St Peters eyes then Kothc laughed Im not going to tell you what every one said but Toomey said some nice things and among these and in particular that he was the oldest one present and by the rules of nature he ought to die first and he wanted all the Freethinkers to be present and say a few true words over his remains and that he did not want any sky pilot hocus pocus nonsense at all Jessie P White said the condition of the times demanded that every man should give close attention to industrialism Well we sepa rated but before doing so Ben Baldwin said Dr Osler must have been mistaken about the sixty year age limit as there were several presentover that age and not ready to be Oslerizcd by a long shot Well you fellows all come and take dinner with me when I reach tho year milestone 0 ROBERTS Overcome Orthodoxy WILLIAMPORT PAEnclosed postofflco order for three dollars 300 for which pays up till June 1008 as per attached bill Not remitting sooner was a case of putting off until another time I wish you success in your work but I am more interested in the cooperative commonwealth I must admit though that the Christian religion will have to be overcome before we have the 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to state the Blade have some of the best writers they ever read after I will come some day with my balance The Blade in its new dress Is fine I want you to send a sample copy to Rev Wadkins of James Oklahoma ho says the greatest Infidel Bob Tngersoll was con verted to religion before his death- J V THORNTON From An Indiana Veteran NOBTRSVILLB INDDear Made The only plea I have to make fir sing ro far In arrears to the Blade is just little carelessness but find enclosed postal order for amount due 430 for which you will please move up my tab Brother I will soon ho eighty years old and I was taught in my youth to believe that the Bible taught tIle doctrine of endless hell torment to all unbe lievers and I believed it until I rend nn oral debate between Erastus Manford ITniver snlint of Chicago and elder Ben Franklin of Milton and when I became a Universalist and advocated that doctrine until I was in duced to subscribe for tho Freethousht Macazino of Cliicatro and I stayed with it until it died and expect to stay with the old Blade till one or tho other of us moot the same fate I nm very much interested in the articles of Dr J B Wilson Dr T J Bowles and Mrs Josephine K Henry and would like very much to hear from them a little oitcner J W BOONE SULPHUR SPRINGS TEXAS Enclosed find forty cents stamps for which please send me Palnes Ago of Reason and Com mon Sense paper covers If I was a young man I would like to take the course of In struction as I am sixtythree years of age and a farmer I have little spare time I have to work to support I have been Investigating and searching for tho truth for the past eight years nnd feel that have now found it I have failed to get any subscribers to the Blade but will keep on trying May you bo cat moderately exercise plentifully use your prosperous in the good work and be the means of leading many good men out of the darkness of superstition is the wish of your friend II II TARTER A Good Suggestion NEWARK N J Believing that I am not tho only one who likes to frame between two glasses the front page pictures of tho Grass Blade with the brief biographies of those daring fighters who tear off the masks of present generation so that the ture peoples tray not bo blinded to the falsity of the belief in tho mithical Jehovah and his offspring handed down by the pagans of the past I would suggest that your paper bo rolled up for mailing purposes instead of folded as they are in the latter process creased twice spoiling the pictures and some time are torn because of the gluo of tho wrapper sticking fast improvementinGrass Blade and wishing you success in youi humane effort to enlighten the blinded I main thankfully yoursN BERNE Card of Thanks To sister Bliven for striking tho chords o- fCooperation Yes Cooperate Cooperate It is our only hope Down with per sonal egotism and self emulation for the sake of truth our only saviour down with tho traitor Graft and up with the lag of Science We will do our best too to bring young people and with our Infant lass wo will do our best to bring forward thi timbers for tho true foundation for social purity among tho youth after tho Blade and the bright keen blade of truth has hewn down the rot tn timbers of the false foundation Heres success to usl brothers sisters oh let us lift together Let us cooperate in senting tho truth for seed Do not the ex ploiters cooperate to present the false t Does not the Pope of late congratulate on the growth of Popery in America t Wo can down Popery if we will Tho beautiful truth from the lips of tho child will down it Let us co operate Gessner Blackford Philbrick official hoard Los Angeles Local Motherlove Society Wonderfully ImprovedI OWENTON KYI enclose money order for three dollars 300 please give J L Slocum and Miko Brock an extension of time for the Blade for another twelve months I tried faithfully to get a few now subscribers to send with our list but failed Too many churches hero to fool the people to get them to subscribe for a Freethought paper They will get their eyes open niter they are born again The Blade has been wonderfully im proved and I appreciate your fffort J L SLOCUM Take theology with a of salt metaphysics withII grain of mustard and supernaturalism with parts green Study physics as often as convenient and practice hygiene for both mind and body Let physiology chemistry and geology have fair play Listen to the story of botany zoology mythology and authropology disprove tho laws of gravity nnd astronomy if you can But keep your feet on tho earth your lead in tho air walk uprightly breathe deeply observation freely sleep sweetly and do your own thinking like a man The Wage Slave Get your name on the roster of the Corre spondence School ns to bo sure and begin with the elementary lessons September is the day of opening The popularity of the Blade is well attested by the numerous letters that appear in our correspondence columns Every man and woman won from orthodoxy makes another worker in the great army of humanitarians Jaundice is too frequently mistaken for a religious nature and a long face for extreme piety The Peoples Press Fearless in its advocacy of Freethought and Reform Published weekly at Blue Island Ave Chicago J B Let au Publisher Official paper of the Materialist Association Subscription 50 Cents a Year In Canada or Foreign Countries 100 a Year Ingersoll Beacon A Spicy Freethought Monthly at 100 a year 10 cents a number Edited by William H Maple Devoted to Science Free Thought and the Gospel of Reason and Goou Cheer In con trast with the foolish forms and cringing faiths of NOW Good things In every number INGERSOLL BEACON 78 LA SALLE COIMarriage and JOSEPHINE K HENRY VERSAILLES KENTUCKY Thousands of copies or this uptodate pamphlet are now In circulation In the United States and England It treats In forcible style of the most Important prob lem before the American people It should be read by both married and single by all men and women who desire domestic promptly filled by the authorfCopy 25 Cent 5 Copies One r 47 t U1GGRASS BLADE 7 The First and Only Complete Edition o- fWORKSVOLTAIRES i ever published in English has Just Been completed by the CRAFTSMEN OF THE ST HUBERT GUILD i New translations T Including the Revised and Modernized A Critique and Biographyi by the ItT JOHN P iof authors and iljIDESPREAD oft u satiristwit use laolernee dramatist of diy Ito of a ofVoltairei The The of and He ofk A mat is femed of GonH are The that path FORTYTHREE HANDSOME VOLUMESS- ize 8J x 5 Inches 13034 Pages over Illustrations of which 45 are hand colorede dramas I or ost1er L as Index It a that it a The text THE EDITION rih Ibir of of a galleryof a to of up to the of THE COMPLETE SET SENT FREE FOR APPROVAL a of Red the rrsstlsractoryremltus3ooandfree TUBI a pass REMEMBER THERE ARE BUT A FEW SETS CUT OUT COUPON SEND TODAY O 95t Itubert GuUb TJdorftsbops AKRON OHIO t1 l T3V lV7hV 71ts fV twos pola a of tasre rcutlsfctory you 100 Irnot ten Signature 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trust tho designer of the beautiful Free thought Badge and the Ingersoll Souvenler to select nicest and best goods made and to save you at least 20 per cent Describe closely what you want and let me send you cuts and pricesalso of my Freethought Badges and Ingersoll Spoons Ring Guago and my great little tract Theism The Crucible free Otto Wettstein

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