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Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.): n. Sunday, September 6, 1908.
Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.): n. Sunday, September 6, 1908. Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.). 400dpi TIFF G4 page images Blade Publishing Co., Lexington, Kentucky 1908 blu1908090601 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, September 6, 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. whft t tBLUE GRASS BLADE 3 The Way In Which Saints Are Made How Saul the Sinner Was Transformed Into Paul the ApostleHistori- cal Review Away with such a fellow from the earth for It Is not fit that he should live If there was no other evidence against Saint Paul than the statements in the scriptures it would be conclusive that he was unfit to live but I want to show be yond a doubt how these saints are made Saul son of Barthus and Eunice Benja min born 2 B C two years before Jesus David called the christ of god in Tarsus Cell cia a Roman munlclpium fatalist and politician noted for intolerance and persecution and for strenuous activity in having Jesus puto death executed at Rome June 29 66 A D The New Testament says As for Saul he made havoc of the church entering into every house having andjgathered the chief priests and Pharisees a council and said What do we If we let Jesus alone the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation And one of them named Calaphas being the high priest that same year sold unto them It is expedient for us that he should die and that the nation perish not From that day they took counsel together to put him to death and gave commandment that if any one knew where ho was he should show It that they might take hlmS1 John 11 4557 Tactius says Jesus was brought to punishment by Pontius Pilate the Roman procurator nevertheless it was through conspiracy organized by Saul who after the death of Jesus pretended to be con verted to his doctrines and sought to Join the honest disciples but they were all afraid of him and believed not that he was a disciple Acts 14 26 He insisted upon speaking in the temple to convince them and they asked him Art not thou that Egyptian which before these days madest an uproar and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers But Paul said I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus a city in Clllcla a citizen of no mean city and I beseech thee suffer me to speak unto the peopleActs 22 And when he had given him license Paul stood on the stairs and told the story of his socalled conversion saying I persecuted unto death binding and de livering into prisons both men and women Which thing I also did In Jerusalem and many of the saints did I shut up In prison having received authority from the chief priests and when they were put to death I gave my voice against them And I punished them oft in every syna gogue and compelled them to blaspheme and being exceedingly mad against them I persecuted them even unto strange cities And I said Lord they know that I prisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on Jesus And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed I also was standing by uid consenting unto his death and kept the raiment of then that slew him They gave him audience unto this word and then lifted up their voices und said tt Away with such a fellow from the earth for it Is not fit that he should live And as they cried out and cast off their clothes and threw dust Into the air The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle and bade that he should be examined by scourging that he might know wherefore they cried so against him iAnd as they bound him with thongs Paul said unto the centurlan that stood by Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that la a Roman and uncondemned When the centurlan heard that he went anu told the chief captain saying Take heed what thou doest for this man Is a Roman Then the chief captain came and said unto him Tell me art thou a Roman He said Yea Then Paul called one of the centurions unto him and said Bring this young man unto the chief captain fqr ho hath a certain thing to tell him So the chief captain then let the young man depart and charged hm See thou tell no man that thou hast shewed these things to me And he called unto him two centurions saying Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea and horsemen three score and ten and spearmen two hundred at the third hour of the night And provide them beasts that they may set Paul on and bring him safe unto Felix the governor And he wrote a letter after this manner Claudius Lyslas unto the most excellent governor Felix sendeth greetings This man was taken of the Jews and should have been killed them then came I with an army and rescued him having understood that he was a Roman But do not thou yield unto them for there lie in wait for hlnfof them more than forty men which have bound them selves with an oath thattJiey will neither eat nor drink till they hav 7kllled him Saul was known as atterror throughout Judea but pretending tl ti he had been converted and that he had also converted Serglus Paulus a Wealthy Jew he chang ed his name hoping thereby to deceive the Jews but when they determined to kill him he hastened to have the chief cap tain told a certain thlngVtbat his namo was not Paul that he wasnot a Jew but that he was the same Roman Saul of Tarsus who had wrought the ruin of Jesus and his followers Then as Just shown they rescued him with an army and took him by sea to Rome And when we came to Rome the cen turion delivered the prisoners to the cap tain of the guard but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept nim t And Paul dwelt two wholeVyears In his own hired house and received all that came in unto himActs 2ft He then was arrested charged with having flagrantly Insulted anoble lady was tried condemned and executed June 29 66 A D near the pyramid of Caestus When misfortune had overwhelmed him no cried out I have suffered greatly suf fered for my misdeeds I am writhing with the tortures of hell within meiiThe stings of remorse are piercing my sgul with ox yI w cruciating agony I must enlighten the world concerning my history In connection with Jesus of Nazareth and give a true narrative of that part of his life which ter minated in a tragic death of which I was the instigator It is the only atonement I can make for the outrage I have given InjusticedoneJudas I slew with my own hands from fear that he would betray me to the world belne the depository of my secrets of the conspiracy against Jesus Stephen I hated for his virtues and talents and I was afraid that while he lived I could not be disciplesAccordinglyfury of the Sanhedrim I then came for ward in the open day as an actor As I approached tho city a storm arose of myselftromground and acted a pantomlne of great terror I pretended that the spirit of Jesus appeared to me rebuking me for my wick gothroughMy imposture was partly believed by some but tho disciples rejected me the Jews seized me the Romans ruined me and brought me to RomePages 2226 intro duction to The True History of Jesus ot Nazareth by Alexander Smyth mysteriousIsvery men I admire most I seem destined to destroy Two men have fallen through myfaithfulboh Whence comes this power to de stroy Is mans moral freedom but a tion Can he refrain from doing what he does As his existence is without his choice or control so are his actlonsTheTrue History of Jesus page 323 This will relieve us of the necessity of believing that Judas cast down the pieces of silver In the templet and went and hanged him self and the chief priests took the silver pieces and bought the potters field to bury strangers In Matt 27 37 Or that Judas purchased a field with the headlongburstbowels gushed out Acts 16 as he could not have died each way accordingtocriminal held up to us as the chief apostle rightlivingthis wicked man According to an elabo rately illustrated work authorized by tho Roman Catholic Church Tho Death of the Holy Martyr St Paul was as follows St Paul was bound for nine months to a pillar In the horrible Mamestlne prison but so great was his faith and fortitude that he converted his jailers Pro cessus and Martlnus And you aro shown the very fountain in which sprang miracu drearydungeonthese two soldiers When ho was led out to be executed the procession was met by Plaut lila the daughter of the Roman prefect Flavius i I iH s 4 BLUE GRASS BLADE Sablnus The Roman maiden had accepted the Christian faith and wanted to do some service however small for the noble martyr St Paul thereupon besought her to lend him her handkerchief to veil his eyes at the fatal moment promising to return it after his death The soldiers made no end of sport at this simple quest but Plautilla remembering the story of St Veronica and the saviour showed her faith in Pauls promise by at once handing him the kerchief And the holy martyr kept his word appearing to Plautilla one evening subsequently while she was at prayer The picture of this event is oneof the sights in St Peters St Paul was beheaded by the sword is now known as The Three Foun tains and is one of the most Interesting spots in Italy to visit which is only In creased when you come to the Church of S Paola alle Tre Fontane Here you are shown the pillar to which St Paul had been bound the block of marble upon which he had been beheaded and the fountains which sprang up when his head fell to the earth In three bounds crying Jesus Jesus Jesus After the decapitation the weeping friends of the apostle took his body and carried it off to the catacombs where through many ages it found sepul chre Later on the pious Lucinda secured possession of the body and interred It in her own private property And from thence it passed into the hands of the Roman Catholic Church The head of St Paul is now Inclosed in q gold and silver case underneath the beau tiful canopy in the church of St Giovanni in Laterano This is known in Rome as the Popes Cathedral inasmuch a s nearly all the Popes for the last 1500 years have been crowned here It Is rich in marble and mosaic and contains among other things the original table on which the saviour ate the last supper The body of St Paul now rests be neath the beautiful confession of the church of St Paolo fuorl le Mura which is a beautiful monument to the martyr apostle and one of the most magnificent bascillcos in Christendom Such in short is the story of the clos ing scenes in the life of St Paul as they are told today and as you may see them for yourself hereRome correspondent of Louisville Commerclan Sunday October 17 1898 Men who will thus lie about such mat ters for their own selfish interests will never brighten and better the conditions of human life Count Leo Tolstoi the famous Russian author says- Religion is truth and goodness the church falsehood and evil I tell you frankly I cannot agree with those who be lieve the church is an organization India pensable for religion The church has ever been and cruel and lying institution which in seeking for temporal advantages has perverted and dlstroted the true Christian has ever been simply a pre text for the church I may be told that there have been and still are in the Catho lic world men and women of holy life but Ianswer that these sainted lives are not due to the church but rather In spite of the church The present religious move ment which is going on not only In Catho lic countries but in the whole world is I believe nothing but the unrest accompany ing the exit from the dilemma i When Liberty Will Be Enthroned I Priest and Bible Despot and Sword Double Hybrids Must be Destroyed By E D Northrup Your leading editorial in your paper of June 21st the only number that I have had time to partly read is able and dwells on a subject that I have for years stated In nearly the same way that you do I reduced my statement to original aphor izms viz The path of Liberty is over the carcases of dead gods when the last god called manmade In mans own image is dead Liberty will be enthroned Mankind has through all the ages lan guished suffered and died under two quad ruple causes the priest ana the bible the despot and the sword double hybrids Rent economic or private property in land Interest usury denounced even by the bible the aes alienus that Cicero de nounced Catallne for profits that always fall heaviest upon the poor who must buy piecemeal and wages wage slavery the four only sources of great wealth all un earned Col Ingersoll and I met at a halfway goal he starting from his conception of the gigantic fraud of the whole theological sys tem at which his great and noble mind revolted and of its terrible effect on and economic degradation or the masses until his whole mind and energy became enlisted In a lifework for the relief of the poor and the downtrodden while I In 1887 when I discovered that the democrat party was as devoid of democracy as the Sahara sert is destitute of water became deeply Interested in the labor question and I was not long in discovering that the way was blocked at every step by the church and the priest the handmaids of despot Ism Then I directed my attention to the foundation on which the authority of the churcn rested and found that it was on an old misconceived fiat and motionless earth with an undiscovererable hell under it and a firmament tent decked with little churchlanterns to solely give light to this speck of dirt that science had turned that little lump of dirt into a revolving globe whirling around the first worshipped god the sun and had dumped an undiscovera ble heaven into that hell leaving no place for those manmade gods to roost on but even then I did not make that discovery save dimly until I moved my family to mid dle Georgia where during five years I had a chance to discover just how matters were a hundred years before and the mending came about that old fire and brimstone hell Mr God the democratic party and the nig ger tired me out and I changed from an active ardent church member to a Free thinker and have ever since saved thereby from 50 to 100 a year to devote to the cause of humanity- I notice that HollandJew Roosevelts1 some sort of Jew Postmaster General has been making googoo eyes at you too It is high time that leaders of advanced thought and humanitarians should cease being forever dependents If I must have a law fight on any question whereon I am in the right I always prefer to be plaintiff i Zt P or prosecutor That smuggled Penrose law that went through at last without the dis senting Voice of one single Republican or Democrat misrepresentative is utterly void and unconstitutional and any postmas ter who refuses and falls to forward your papers or to deliver them to subscribers when received should be prosecuted civ illy and criminally- As I was brought to examine the foundation of cnurch authority so now more and more the intelligent common people are brought to examine the foundation of the authority of the U S Supreme Court and to learn the fact that In the matters of human liberty Freedom Free Speech Free Press and Freemen such authority is solely a usurpation concocted by such rank Tories as Judges Marshall Story and Taney and that authority so partially ex ercised is rapidly toppling to its fall Evolution is doing her perfect work the business man the partnership the corpora tion the trust the lawyer the partnership lawyer the corporation lawyer the trust lawyer against an enslaved and robbed people Socialism Limited vSevergrowjing Socialism Universal will win And then Mr God help your plutocratic archchrists f AND THE SAINTS AROSEI By William H Cox In the early beginning of time it is said Jehovah commanded the saints who were dead To arise from their graves and take a walk And back to Jerusalem they did stalk But since that time life just the same Is confined to the earth nom whence it came No saint or sinner through power to save Has ever arisen from the grave But suppose the dead now past and gone Should arise from their tombs as these had done And walk the earth as in former time Why then we would have some proof divine Such tales seem very strange to me How men can believe them I do not see jestOrThey sleep the sleep that knows no wak ing quakingItLest the people should become their own A REVISED VERSION A poet who has been known to tell the daughterHer mother overheard her expounding the origin of the sex to her family of dolls You see children she said Adam was a man all alone and was very lonely so God put him to sleep took his brains out and made a nice lady of them 0i BLUE GRASS BLADE 5 i Yuletide Petition to they Throne of Grace from One of the Sanctified By Harriet M Olosz Oh Mighty Master I in suppliance bend And to Thy throne of grace my cares I send Withallobserving eye thou seest well How I have worked myneighbors to excel In bringing sheckels to thy failing cause Regardless of the letter of the laws Ive diligently worked with hand and head And now before repairing to my bed I crave thy blessing on the Christmastide Though for thy glory I mayhap have lied Ive saddled husband with u double share Believing thou will lift his load ofcare And teach him patience for he sometimes swears When I solicit for bazaars and fairs Tis difficult for men to comprehend That priestly favor on church work depend And if these saints approval but withdraw Why what on earth would we poor women do Thou knowest Lord I love my children well Thoughoft I trust them with an infidel My kindly neighbor says this lifes supreme And heavenly mansions but a misty dream But thou art God And I with faith expect Their minds thou wilt from heresies protect And such assurance gives me grace andzest For Christian effort though I be a pest To thinking people who attempt to draw A line of logic from the Natural Law I must of course keep up thy vineyardwork Een though I may domestic duties shirk Since thou declarest in thy holy book Till parents homo and children weve forsook Wo cannot thy beloved disciple bo Hence on that line dear Lord depend on me And while my homo affairs to thee I trust To seek and save the heathens soul I must Therefore Ill double discount present toil Though I engender a domestic broil For festivals Ill furnish things to ont And thus deserve a place at thy dear feet perAndTake coppers from the Sunday class forwell To keep the precious Pagans out of hell But if the money I perchance divert In God We Trust will mitigate the hurt Jjj Ill peddle pasteboards for tho lecture course And shout its benefits until Im hoarse I cannot talk to interest home folks But am an expert on the churchly hoax Illscrub tho church and many garments make And play the scullion for the dear Lords sake But to admit thy service costs too much Would finally deprive me of my crutch Ofcourse poor Mother Eve deserved thy curse For seeking knowledge of all things the worst To spoil thy splendid scheme of holding us In meekly servile penitence without a fuss But thanks to thee thou sayst tho wellbehaved Through special childbirth perils may be saved And I may hope that Heavens joys be mine Though thou hast sent me children only nine Thou Lord knowest best and I with humble mien Am duly thankful there were not thirteen compareWithAnd wrest from Natures store of heart and brain gainThe sayIAnd criticism of them cannot brook godButadmitThat churchArcclingsTheyreBut lean upon thy mighty arm I must trustWhenThoult find mo prayerfully upon my knees hellIAnd now this weary year draws to an end Still I am happy to thy cause defend Ive tried to be industrious andmeek But tearfully dear Lord thy pardon seek Andwhen thy glorious work is dono why then I pray thee take me to thyself Amen t y 6 BLUE GRASS BLADE Cause And Cure of Intemperance Prohibition and Revenue from High License only Aggravate the DIs ease A New Light on an Old Issue By Franklin H Heald The question of intemperance has come of such vast Importance that It Is a serious matter menacing our civilization and deserves and demands the combined wisdom of the best brains in the nation to investigate the CAUSE of its increase and to determine the best methods of re lief For half a century this question has been left to cranks zealots and fanatics To the writer it appears that Intemperance was at its minimum when these first seized upon it as a means of advancing their Interests by compelling other people to take their dictation in worldly matters At that time the market price of good pure homemado whisky was only from ten to fifteen cents per gallon and a drunkard was only a poor unfortunate creature of his own gluttonous appetite and was shunned by the balance of hu manity as beneath their notice There can be no safer state of society against any evil than societys disapproval and especially societys contempt for the offender If a man has any selfrespect at all htf Is anxious to be thought well of by his neighbors and if a drunkard was to be de spised he would use more selfrestraint in controlling his appetite before he al lowed himself to become a drunkard than ho would if drinking were popular as it is contented with this state of affairs which made the drunkard vulgar and un popular a certain class of people con ceived the impossible notion of doing away with all drunkenness and from that mo ment the real trouble and the terrible in crease in intemperance began The first move after violent agitation was to lm pose by legislation certain restrictions upon liquors of all kindsby taxes censes revenues fines and duties thus forcing the price of liquors higher as new penalties were added making it harder to obtain from year to year Voltaire a great and wise man once said All fanatical movements aro dI rected by knaves And if this move was not directed it certainly was and is fos tered and encouraged by the distillers manufacturers and wholesale liquor deal ers At a glance they saw the advantage of raising the price of liquors It made the saloon possible and the only way to keep that institution in existence is to keep the price of liquors high With whisky at ten cents a gallon a saloon could not exist because no one will pay ten cents for ono swallow of whisky when he can buy a whole gallon for the same price Man is a social animal always ready to show his good fellowship by dividing his good things with his good friends but he would not thinkof insulting a friend by asking him to take a drink which costs less than one tenth of a cent It would be only rldlcu if it showed anything it would show him to be penurious and mean and he might as well ask his friend to take a r x drink of water for sociabilitys sake He would make no sacrifice by treating his friend with what costs nothing and therefore there would be no sociability about it Fifty years ago liquor was only kept In groceries the same as sugar molasses vinegar and other commodities and sold to lamllles at very little profit The sale peopleboughtThey did not want It to treat their friends with because It was too cheap for that To show an act of sociability they would have to spend enough money to at least amount to a small sacrifice which this would not be But as soon as liquor reached a higher figure people began to treat each other and so drank more than they needed As taxes and penalties were added and the price raised it became more find more popular as a social evil or means M showing goodfellowship until tho saloon decame a social necessity You could now take your friend and spend a quarter of a dollar in convincing him that you were a good fellow and not afraid to spend a few cents Of course he would not allow you to spend all the money and must treat also Then another friend would drop in and the treating increased as the crowd increased until perhaps a dozen good fel lows were under the Influence of liquor who would never have thought of such a thing under the old prices of liquor and under the old system of only drinking vhat they wanted But thanks to the now conditions of only using it socially at the saloons the sale of liquor has Increased to such an alarming extent that the brewing of malt liquors the distilling spirituous liquors and the sale thereof have come to be the largest and most lucrative business enterprises in the whole country Where fifty years ago there was one poor shamefaced drunkard made to by an ap petite which he could not or did not con trol today there are a thousand made so by the saloon and goodfellowship So far aa prohibition Is concerned it is a failure except possibly in extending intemperance to our females by forcing the sa loon into the drug store and thus giving them a chance to make use of the same deadly social evil Take up any prohibi tion socalled temperance or religious pub lication if you wish to know exactly how startling has been the increase of intemperance in the fifty years last past of their impractical tutorage aided secretly of course by the great associations of the liquor traffic It is truly appalling ana one of Its most deadly features is that at the high price at which it is forced to sell much of it is weakened by water and then restrengthened with poisonous drugs which irritate and inflame the stomach with an unnatural craving which soon hur ries its victim to an unnatural and horrible death Now my good people you of the inner circle after half a century of signal fail ure is It not about time you would sit down quietly fora moment and take a look backward at your handiwork Is it not about time that you should step to one side and let men take this matter In youhavelong a time v Of all the impractical people on the face of the earth commend me to the longhalrea man and the shorthaired woman for Inno cent stupidity You have by advancing the price of liquor brought the saloon into ex povertytearsState and the Muncipality continue to be parties to this social saloon Iniquity by re ceiving a portion of the blood money for which we sell our boys and girls to the devil Let tho preacher return to his vomit and the W T U to her wallow pennlUesfromcents a gallon let the saloon die from the low price of whisky let the present drunk ards kill themselves in miserable diseased children take the disgrace of abetting crime and dividing the profit from the GovernmentIt to go back half a century in Progress of this kind than to follow It up and land our posterity in drunkards graves or the Insane asylums It Is the height of foolishness to imagine this crime can be entirely prohibited by law The only thing to be done is to find the penalty keepItdisapproval of society The idea of fore ng people by law to a certain limit of the appetite would perhaps never enter the mind of a person with more intelligence than piety Fellowcountrymen something must be done and that very soon to decrease this social evil If necessity demands It we must sit down on the dear ladles There are tens of thousands of sincere temper ance people who believe the saloon can never be vanquished until wo return to the free whisky of our grandfathers days when they made it pure at home soaked It in Boneset and Tansy gave it to the little folks for medicine and drank it themselves three times a day for their stom achs sake There was not one drunkard then to where there are a thousand now Let us reason awilo together and get rid of this great curse in a reasonable way EARTH AND MAN Dust of my dust lost and supremest race Of races lifting on from age to ago This conscious creatures awful pilgrimage Oh build upon his bones a better thing And yet a link to lifes eternal chain Depose humanity or once again Thy primal silence fling Heed my long agonies and let them cease Lighten the horror of my endless woe From off this bleeding bosom bid him go And give thy planet peace But if thou shalt ordain we never part Then Mother pity mo by pitying me Despatch thy swiftest goldwinged se raphim With reason to his heart Send them and this thy gift let Reason reign So that a reconciliation comp Between the children and their ancient home Ere darkness fall again BLUE GRASS BLADE I 1 NNNNNHNNHHNHHNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNH Current Comment on Public Events 1 T6T Public speakers writers and debaters In need of some figure of speech to drive home an argument or to Illustrate some desired point will make reference to footprints on the sands of time The advocates of orthodoxy when anxious to rake In a little more cash or to bring some accused sinner to repentance and further the glory of god will make refer ence to the woundprlnts In his hands and feet as If to win their case by pity and compassion Instead of by reason and fact Men of science rely more on footprints and completely Ignore the alleged wound prints but priests and preachers minus the slightest evidence for their assertion still bank on the latter and Ignore the former Through scientific research the footprints of antedeluvian man and animals have been discovered deep buried in the earth made and left upon the sands of time long be fore the world ever dreamed of a cross on the hill of calvary Geological discoveries made from day to day confirmatory of the antiquity of man upon the surface of the globe and every new fact thus discovered advances another solid argument against blical records With nothing stronger than mere imagi nation to support them the priests of the Christian faith continue to urge the assum ed truth of the story of Doubting Thomas who towards the latter end of 300 years af ter the occurenco Is said to have taken place is made to thrust his hands into the wound in the side of the suffering savior and thereby become convinced Footprints on the sands of Time In his feet and hands are woundprints and his side latterismer is only accepted by the intellectual few The latter behedged with mummery and sanctified slobber still sways the heart and mind of millions The desire to believe may account for many strange vagaries of the human mind The desire for knowledge must ultimately transcend all sentimental beliefs There Is nothing touching or pret ty in the account of a crucified savior for sin Where suffering and agony Is portray ed it cannot be elevating And yet men and women or some of them will Instinctively turn to fiction and Ignore fact Recent explorations In the Connecticut valley in the region of what Is known as Lily Pond stone quarry at Turners Falls have revealed tho slabs of stone evidently once at the earths surface upon which are imprinted the footprints of both manlike beings and animals One of tho footprints of immense size resembles that of man the foot evidently being encased In some sort of a covering while the footprints of the animals Indicate a connection with the Dinosaur family These are indications of animal life on this continent at an extremely remote period and these discoveries furnish unquestionable data contradictory of tho bi ble accounts of tho origin and development of life These are admittedly and Indusputably the footprints on the sands of time Men J otof 11 of science turn eagerly towards them and from their testimony new facts are obtained for compiling the worlds great history Races of men and species or animals once lived and flourished now long extinct races and species of which no mention Is made or could have been made in blbllcon rec ords It would follow then that if the bible is the product of divinity it ought to have contained some record of these extinct races some mention of them although dis appeared long before the bible was written for god who knowetiht all things from the beginning could not possibly have for gotten them What better evidence do we need of the overwhelming facts of science and that the bible Is but a human production compiled and prepared by designing men to secure an influential control over the mind and actions of their fellows Rev G S Fitzhugh aged 67 years will not wed Lulu Virginia Frazer a ten year old girlWellthe Blade would say Nit And any public official granting a license therefor and any magistrate or preacher who would perform such a ceremony ought to Impris oned for the balance of their natural lives Considerable discussion has taken place In the public press over and concerning this rellglodomestlc farcecomedy No nonot a farce comedy for it came near being a tragedy of the most diabolical stripe Here was a preacher tottering upon the brink of the grave with sons and daughters hav ing children of their own forming a mar riage contract with an infant under the age of consent who knew not the wiles and sins of the world and possibly for the mere purpose of gratifying a prurient and sensual passion Fortunately for the child so much pressure was brought to bear upon her prospective husband that he desisted from his purpose and returned the marriage li cense to the clerk who had issued It and wuo ought to be deprived of his office for having done so True to the orthodox instinct excuses are being manufacturea for the preacher but not one is offered for the child The mem bers of the preachers family In a published interview insist that he is bordering upon a condition of imbecility superinduced by excessive labors for the poor people in his congregation The same old tale As for the child though guilty of no wrong incap able at her age it is simply reported that she has been sent back to her home In the mountains of Virginia and restored to her parents How she ever left them for such a purpose Is a mystery to all save to those who are superstitiously insane They may be able to understand it but reasoning men can find nothing but condemnation for the wholo transaction Had the marriage taken place biblical justification could have been found David was a man after gods own heart and are we not told that a pure young virgin was found and put in bed with him to keep his aged body warm If Davids conduct and the conduct of those about him was right In the sight of the Cr1rmft nr f 7 Lord and had his approval no religious fault could have been found with Rev Fitzhugh God is the same yesterday to day and forever and changing not what he commended 3000 years ago must still be acceptable in his sight From Milwaukee through Rev Patrick Fairbanks rector of St Patricks Roman Catholic church In that city comes the an nouncement of approval of the plan suggest ed by Lord Halifax of England for a un ion of the Roman Catholic and tho Episco pal churches which is intended to embrace all the churches of both denominations In England and America Another pipe dream Rome will consent to no union that it is not absolutely Roman When the Episcopal church somo years agov sought to bring about a union with Presbyterian church it was a union based upon Episcopal con siderations alone There was to be nothing Presbyterian about It and the latter denom ination was to lose Its identity The union did not take place and the Presbyterian leaders decided to remain Presbyterian and retain Infant damnation along with predes tination and foreordination- So will it be in regard to any union be tween the Roman and English churches If the coalition ever takes place it will be In strict accordance with Romish dictation Rome will make no surrendp The Epis copalians must make the surrender mcon ditional and submit to Rome in all things This may account for the commendation fit Rev Fairbanks of the proposed plan It would mean a return to the mother church a strengthening of her power and an In crease in her ability to collect Peters pence The secular world entertains not the slightest alarm over such a proposition for In the effort to reach an agreement concerning a division of the spoils further discrepan cies would be produced and tho sects get further apart than ever Evangelist Billy Sunday is determined to keep In the limelight As a worker in slang he is an adept and has the system down to a fine art There is nothing spiritual about Billy He is grossly material and If souls are to be won by his methods we have our opinion about the actual human value of the souls he is able to capture As a slime monger and coiner of catch as catch can phrases Billy has Sam Jones done to a brown turn Jonesey wasnt in It with Billy The newspapers report a recent sermon as they are called by Billy in which he de scribed the fight between David and Gol iath in the slang phrases of the day Read It I can Just picture the old man saying Dave you had better take some cheese and wine and get out and see how tho boys are getting along Dave goes and Goliath comes out And Dave said Who is that big lobster Thats the head cheese of the bunch of Philistines the main works Why dont some of you go out and soak the guy The bunch all got cold feet when he comes out here He does his little stunt every morning Oh you fellows make me sickgive me a sling and some stones and he soaked him in the coco between the lamps and Dave drew Goliaths sword and chopped off his block and tho gang skid us from a Billy Sunday and save is from a religious system claiming to be of divine origin that must depend upon such vigorous uses of modern and vulgar slang fi JJ iryti fr i 8BLUEGRASS BLADE BLUE GRASS BLADE Published weekly at Lexington Ky Founded by Charles Chilton Moore In and edited by him until hi death February Publisher and Manager JAMES E HUGHES Editor JOHN CHARLESWORTH 1268 N Limestone Street Lexington Ky P O Box SUBSCRIPTION RATESI160 per year in advance By mall postpaid eachat one remittance 100subscribersFive new six Five trial subscriptions sent In with one remittance for months cents each Trial subscriptions cents per month Foreign subscriptions postpaid 200 per year ADVERTISING RATES 60 cents one month or four One Inch single column 1 Insertion 100 six months 608 one year 800 sixInsertions month 100200 one Quarter column single 1 insertion months one year 3000 advertisements at special Half column whole column or larger rates upon application and all advertisementsto reject any The publisher has the right offered GENERAL BUSINESS RULES to the Blade will be discontinued at the ALL SUBSCRIPTIONS the subscription has been paid expiration of the for which will show sub The address sUP on the paper In numbersBackup subscriptiondate of expiration ofthe inscribers renewal or numbers omitted will be If asked for upon case of disclntinuance advise thischange his or her addressSUBSCRIBERANYSHOULD desiredaddress asold newbothoffice giving North Limestone OFFICE of publication of the Blade is at willTHE Street Lexington Kentucky to which all Freethinkers be given a hearty welcome Kentucky as THE BLADE Is enterd at the Postofflce at Lexington secondclass mailing matter COMMUNICATIONS TO THE BLUE GRASS BLADE ADDRESS ALL P O Box Lexington Ky AT THE CONVENTION By the time this issue of the Blade is in the hands of our readers tho Editor will be at Canal Dover in attend tho annual convention of the BuckeyeSecular ance upon Union to be followed by the first annual convention of the Materialist Association Some way or another this trip to visit Freethinkers to bo with Freethinkers real men and women and to talk Freethought once again begins to feel like a sort of rein carnation and we have looked forward to this day with un bounded pleasure About to leave now upon our journey wo express tho hope that these gatherings will bring good results and constitute tho nucleus around which similar organizations will develop in other States to tho end that Freethinkers can become better and permanentlyorganized It has striven to en Tile Blade believes in organization organization and wo are strong enough to build up courage a good organization if we go at it in tho right way Avoid ing tho mistakes of tho past and profiting by the experi ences of tho past let us lay tho foundations for more gatherings of liko character The Blade will strive to publish a full and complete report of these conventions so far as our limited space will permit If we cannot get it all in one issuo then wo will if Wo want our readers use two or three issues necessary lil j +r and all Freethinkers to know justwhat took place at the conventions and just as wo are able to secure the manuscript the different speeches made will also bo published With Dr J B Wilson Dr J T Bowles Otto Wettstein George O Roberts Jesse P White A 0 Narragon Sam uel Toomey J Wilbur White Mrs Helen M Lucas Mrs Eliza Mowry Bliven Lou Lawrence and other wellknown men and women in the field of Freethought propaganda they ought to draw a large gathering from all parts of Ohio and fill tho Opera House to overflowing Come one como all Let us meet and greet each other on tho broad platform of Freethought and unfurl the flag of freedom oer tho ramparts of old orthodoxy PARKER H SERCOMBEl AND OTHERS Information came to tho Blade too late for our last issue that Hon Parker H Sercombe the distinguished and capable editor of Tomorrow Magazine and his most trusted colaborer Bruce T Calvert will both bo at tho Canal Dover Ohio conventions and prepared to take part in their Sercombe will address one of tho conventions on the subject of Health and Longevity Bruce T Calvert will address one of the conventions on the subject of Tile Food QuestionRational Dietary With this announcement tho conventions ought to be and the results should be taken more than a mere success advantage of to make the cause of Freethought more of a power BLADEINOW PUSH THE Wo wish to make an urgent appeal to our friends to aid us in getting the Blado more widely read The present arrangement under which the Blado is being publishedwas largely of an experimental character but there has never been a week or a day since last January that tho Blade has been able to meet its own expenses Improvements have been made all entailing great cost Wo wish to continue them Tho pictures and biographies of Freothought workers which wo are publishing being a valuable contribution to Freothought historical literature with tho cost of making tho necessary cuts compels an expense which wo are not able much longer to maintain unless additional aid is forthcoming Wo would rather see our circulation double than be made tho recipients of charity In this way tho Blado can maintain itself and other improvements bo added from time to time During tho past few months wo have been unable to publish a number of articles submitted owing to lack of space Wo would like to enlarge tho paper by increasing tho number of pages This would admit of more reading matter and avoid tho delay in getting really good articles them wait for publication in tho order of receiptrNow friends what do you say re you an 1 r jP T BLUE GRASS BLADE 9 willing to get into line and increase tho circulation of the Blade Our premium offer and the additional new sub scriber for fifty cents with your own subscription at tho regular price was made to stand good until October But one month now remains in which to make good Our proposition is that you send us two dollars This will be the regular price for your own subscription and fifty cents for a new one If we do not keep the new one it will be our own fault and not yours Without appearing to bo bohstful we do not hesitate to express tho opinion that we have the very best Free thought weekly in America without considering tho price ofannual subscription Wo have a corps of the most capable and uptodate writers Their contributions alone aro worth what is paid for the entire paper Ifeach subscriber would but adopt the plan we have suggestedour circulation would just double itself in the next thirty days By these means we could maintain tho present highstandard of tho Blade and still add other improvementsThis talk is meant to include all Wo ask that each one will strive to do his or her best If you think the Blade worthy of such an effort got into harness and begin to pull HEAR THE OTHER SIDE Untilrecent years the Christian world refused to admit that there could be any other side Theological expositions of the cosmos was all there could possibly be and these did not admit ofa doubt Belabored for argument they refusedupon the hypothesis that there was absolutelyno room for argument Current controversial ethics admit of a possibilityof argument and they further admit that there is another side and every attitude taken or position assumed by theologicaladvocates is for tho solo and express purpose of attempting to prove their own theories true and such facts as oppose them false This is a decided gain over tho past andwith tho constant unceasing pressure of advancing forces tho hitherto deemed invulnerable points in orthodoxy are giving way In our last previous issue wo gave space to an article by John T Pearce taking issue with the Blade and Blade writers upon matters advanced in the columns of this paper So far as tho others criticised are concerned we feel that they are amply able to take caro of themselves and our purpose hero is simply to make a brief reply to tho questions propounded to ourselves directly Mr Pearce very evidently did not like our criticism of tho Christian familywho had employed minister to deliver a Christian burial service over a deceased Freethinker one who had readand enjoyed tho Blade while in health and strength upon which we made comment at the time Now Mr Pearco in his article asks What harm pray docs it do to you and your faith if Ffi the woman and her husband shall never see life beyond the confines of the grave That is not the question It is not the issue we under took to discuss For generations the Christian world has argued that infidelity may be all right to live by but that when we come to die we instinctively turn to Jesus seek forgiveness for our unbelief announce repentance and an acceptance and strive to make peace with some monster of a god in the skies To bolster up such an argument the church lots through her paid advocates defamed and in suIted the name of every Freethinker of prominence who has died through the ages These unclean harpies have befouled their graves and knowingly preached the falsehood of their supposed conversion Wo do not doubt that the writer of that very article has at some time or another discussed Painos supposed recantation when approaching death and used the argument in favor of his god and his Jesus Even Ingersoll is held bsome to have announced a modification of his views and a thousand different con structions have been placed upon his famous address over tho grave of his brother as showing how he was giving up the truths ho had promulgated during his active life In order to aid in this systematic suppression of truth and to further the advocacy of foolish superstition Christians will at every opportunity pounce upon the corpse ofa Free thinker give him a Christian burial when ho i unable to utter a protest knowing that he would have protested had ho been able and then use the incident as another beauti ful illustration of tho power of Jesus and the Christian religion It is against this hypocritical system that we made our protest and wo still protest against it Suppose tho shoe had been on the other foot Let us imagine the case of a Christian a church member a communicant a devout believer in all the idiocies of tho Christian faith dying among Freethinkers or at least Freethinkers having con trol of tho obsequies To be consistent they shouldat least allow tho deceased a burial in consonance and harmony with his or her beliefs But let us also suppose that ignoring tho personal views of tho deceased Christian and ignoring tho beliefs held during life those Freethinkers should hold a Frecthought service over the corpse preach a nonbelief in god heavens hells bibles holy ghosts and what not would not Mr Pearce denounce the proceeding as a sacrilege and belch forth his condemnation thereof If ho did not other believers would And this is just what we arc contending for As that man had believed in life so his wife had she the slightest regard for him would never havo insulted his corpse by bringing a minister to preacha sermon over him and tell the world that ho had believed in a glorious resurrection The preacher know it was false the wife knew it was false and those who heard the sermon or a majority of them also know it was falseChristianity built upon falsehood propagated by falsehood has depended upon falsehood for its support If Christians desiro a Christian burial at death they havo a fl i T4t r i ti t J 10 BLUEGRASSBLADEr right that their wishes should be respected and ifa man lives a life in open hostility to the church it is a murder of truth for the church to pounce upon his body at death andclaim him as its own parentageChrist myth are totally and altogether different From earliest infancy I had no knowledge of any other parents save the two that brought me intoexistence The moment I was taught to lisp a sentence they were with me I questionhere These facts I know I also know I was not and I further know that I shall not be again The proposition as to the character of the evidence is both foolish and Q absurd EREETHOUGHT IN POLITICS adoptedissuesorupon which the various political parties are appealing to the country for preferment at the polls that each may be selected to conduct and manage the internal and external nationjlcan entertain the slightest doubt but what success will follow in the wake of either tho Republican or Democratic party and at this writing if one can judge from public expressions in different parts of the country it is an open question which of the parties named Bryanhasmade that fairly shiver the Democratic timbers The conclusion must be reached however that the coming election will bring about a realignment of parties which thoughmerely prospective creates a wide divergence of opinionFreethinkers as such can have but little choice as be tween Bryan and Taft Individual opinions may direct the casting of the vote but Freethought has nothing to gain by the electron of either With either in the Presi dential chair tho orthodox can bo assured ofa cordial support in a propaganda of their doctrines while the ad vocates of mental liberty can have very little to hope for Bryan is a truckler to the pious for political glory Taft has played a desperate game with the papacy for the same kindof a stake Were Freethinkers left to themselves it is probable that a largo number of them would vote the Socialist ticket as a rebuke to both the dominant parties and doubtless many Freethinkers will do so Others who are eternally opposed to the Man on the Horse ruling the nation who are opposed to military despotism will vote against the Republican party and others who cannot stand for the many inconsistencies emanating from the Demo cratic leader can hardly find him the goods upon which to put the label of their suffrage Some years ago the late Col Ingersoll then in the full ir ti IT7 zenith of his intellectual glory sought to establish anew political party In other words he wished to weld the individual masses of Freethought into one compact organi zation in the hope that by holding the balance of political power and throwing their support this way or that way all parties would be compelled to grant due recognition and abstain from incorporating into their platforms such planks as indicate repressive legislation in matters affecting re ligion Ho met with opposition and the project was aban doned Time will prove the wisdom of his policy The trend of political leaders to seek the favors of this or that church denomination the truckling to agroveling supersti tion is all for votes that power may be won thereby It was so in Ingersolls day It is so in our day It will be so in our childrens day It will long continue to be so unless Freethinkers manifest the same elements of or ganization as shown by church people but use their in fluence in the opposite direction In spite of the fact that the church has bitterly assailed socialism the advocates of the latter or some of them appear fearful lest they be suspected of infidelity and their cause injured thereby Many socialists are avowed Freethinkers and these do not care But with it all Free thought is shunned oven by those who ought to give it sup port in public while secretly adhering to many of the principles it advocates This is because we lack cohesion organization Vo have failed to manifest our strength by open cooperation Politicians of every stripe realize this Tho result is that Freethinkers ally themselves with every kind ofa political party and we find them voting Democratic Republican Prohibition Socialist Populist and what not Upon the decay of paganism tho Christian religion laid its foundations for the future Upon the decay of Chris tianity the Ercethought elements must unite to build for themselves Wo must be prepared for the change to take advantage of the opportunities coming our way andutilize them in the common interest Tho Blade realizes that an Ingersollcould not be elected President Once his candi dacy was announced all the cohorts of superstition would unite against him He would be regarded as their com mon foe But who knows what the future will bring What are you doing to encourage and hasten a change i Are you willing to do your part Then stand up and be counted Never be ashamed of doing what you conceive to be your bounden duty for fear of being termed an infidel There is a radiant glory in being an infidel to error and superstition The years which are seldom unjust will prove the truth here given and wo hope that the day is not so very far away when all Freethinkers will show their colors and present a solid front to the enemy oven in poli tics that we are not compelled to make choice between two evils but openly declare that we will have neither The list of friends offering to officiate at Freethought funerals in case of necessity keeps growing and ina little while the Blade will have the country in airports b fir or BLUE GRASS BLADE 11 amply provided for in all such emergencies There is stillroom for more The list is by no means closed Those who are capable and willing to render such a service are invited to get on the Blades official list oFIDES PUNICA Many wondrous changes have been wrought in the history of tho race but none more wonderful than in tho domain of religion Changing impulses changing desires changing customs all have combined to produce a complete transformation in the work and propaganda of orthodox religionIn old days those days of which we can only read creed building was a sort of special trade or profession and new religious notions sprang up with nearly every phase of the moon Men devoted their lives to the religious work of their day with extreme avidity and he who could succeed in spreading the belief that ho of all others held a stronger personal pull with the deity was looked upon as the greatest of allasort of viceregent clothed with plenary powers from on high From this custom sprang the idea of deity holding per sonal confab with man To talk with the deity was a sure andcertain sign of divine authority Of course it was necessary to make tho people believe this and as tho mere statement of tho talkee would be but selfserving tstimony other fakirs were procured to spread tho information Later on books were written in which tho narrative of these alleged discourses were given and every trick that human ingenuity could devise were resorted to in order to buildup the popular belief An examination of the Christian bible will reveal that similar conditions prevailed among the Jews In it we are told that god talked to Adam It docs not appear that he made any effort to hold converse with Eve Had ho dono so and Evo given tho right to toll her version of that affair tho current of tho worlds history might have been changed Bible writers could not agree that tho deity should talk to a woman Such would never do It would mean to exalt woman and degrade god Then again wo aro told that god spako with Moses twice or three times and upon another occasion made a rather questionable exhibi tion of himself which Moses himself might have refused to have dono had ho been so requested Jacob dideven more for wo aro informed and asked to believe that the son of Isaac actually indulged in a wresting bout with the deity in which deity put Jacobs thigh out of joint Enoch took a walk with deity and of course must have been in close communion Up to this time and oven later not a solitary woman had been such privileges Make a mark at this point for reference Several generations rolled away and these personal con fabs wore received with considerable suspicion Male creed builders began to realize tho necessity of going a trifle slower in such matters Doubts were expressed Free thought began to get a foothold Conversations with the deity were stilla necessity however to guarantee authority but they began to come now through the medium of dreamsAccording to the inspired record Solomon was among the first to try the dream racket Ho had successfully cheated his elder brother out of tho throne and was now king of Israel To be a success as king ho had to bo on terms of personal friendship with the reigning deity The people now knew too much for him to successfully fool them with a personal interview so he gave it out that the Lord had appeared unto him one night at Gibeon in a dream and upon his request the Lord had given him a wise and understanding heart to enable him torule the people properly This was a clever ruse on Solo mons part and through it he was able to keep his job Dream conversations now became frequent and was kept up until Josephs time but in his case it was too much trouble for tho Lord to appear in person and Joseph had to take his message secondhand from an angel tried to work a similar bluff but ho dared not go too fartand had it reported that while he heard a voice ho did not see a man But enough Tho main purpose herein was to show that every sort of a conversation given in tho bible whether in person through a dream or by an angel was withmen Thus tho Christian god never spoke to a woman Did you make that reference mark Well put another ono down just here Two instances are given one in the old and one in the new testament wherein deity had been involved with women Both got into trouble Mrs Lot was turned into a pillar of salt and the other gave birth to a child out of wedlock Whore aro tho women today Now for your reference They form tho entire working force of the church Denied recognition of the god they blindly worship denied equal opportunities and privileges with their deity tho women have flocked into the church by the thousand while men make themselves very conspicuous by their absence Men formerly monopolized religion Now the women aro in absolute possession In other words tho women who are thus in the church are in tho attitude of licking the hand that smote them and tho greatest of all paradoxes is that theyseem to be happy in their servitude When woman begins to think Consider what will happen then In view of tho fact that tho deity specially favored man and as persistently ignored woman and in view of tho further fact that man now ignores the deity while woman is the only friend deity can boast tho meaning of the caption to this article strikes tho situation very forcibly Fides Punica Punic faith is treachery ti lig s 12 BLUE GRASS BLADE Two Freethought ConventionsCa- nal Dover Ohio September 5 9 BUCKEYE SECULAR UNION SUNDAY SEPTEMBER HARDESTYS OPERA HOUSE PROGRAM Morning Session 900 ToomeyResponse1000 Report of the SecretaryMiss Lou Lawrence Report of the TreasurerMr J Wilbur White 1030 Election of Officers for Ensuing Year 1100Short Speech or Round Table Discussion by Members 1200Adjourn for Luncheon Afternoon Session 130 Why I am a FreethinkerMr A C Narragon McCarthy245Evolution245What Is EducationMr Jesse P Whit- e315The Basis of Our Hopes Is the Law of Progress Dr T J Bowle- s430Trolley ride to Tuscora Park Evening Session 73oIdealiswMr Walter C Hardesty 750 What Women Ought to do Instead of Church Work Mrs Eliza Mowry Bliven 830 Secular Philosophy vs Christian Faith BladeParkerHdress the Convention on Health and Longevity The following committees are herewith appointed OrganizationEliza M Bliven Gus A Parr Benjamin Bald win Esq- ResolutionsDr J T Bowles Helen M Lucas A C Narragon PressJohn R Charlesworth Lou Lawrence E M Lowe Wm McCarthy Chas Botcher FinanceSamuel Toomey Anna H McGuire Joseph E John stonEntertainment Walter C Hardesty Belle M Converse Alfred M Stowe MATERIALIST ASSOCIATION MONDAY SEPTEMBER 78 HARDESTYS OPERA HOUSE Program SATURDAY NIGHT SEPTEMBER 5Round Table Conference In parlors of Central Hotel to outline convention work and discuss methods of propaganda SUNDAY SEPTEMBER Buckeye Secular Union at Hardestys Opera House MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 Morning Sessions i t Election of chairman of convention 2 Chairmans opening address Secretarys report of membership and finance Appointment of Committees Discussion of members present and reading of letters from absent members upon methods for the promotion and welfare of the Association and its propaganda AFTERNOON SESSION Reports of Committees General discussion on propaganda with such recommenda tions as may be deemed advisable 3 Introduction of secretaries writers delegates fraternal delegates from other organizations for five minute talks on any subject EVENING SESSION AddressSunday Meetings Eliza Mowry Bliven Address Dr T J Bowles The basis of our hopes la the law of progress Address John R Charlesworth Life death and Immortality or Materialism v Theology DebateFor and Against Socialism Bruce T Calvert of Tomorrow Magazine will also address the Convention on The Food QuestionRational Dietary TUESDAY SEPTEMBER Morning Session General discussion liDo we need any constitution In addition to our invitation and application blanks Shall we Introduce the words I believe into all future blanks before the words There Is no god or future life 2 Election of officers for ensuing term Final reports of Committees and action on propaganda work AFTERNOON SESSION Womans Meeting This is not only for materialist and agnostic women but for all women promoters of the various moral educational political and philanthropic movements We want to bring these women together at Canal Dover and each explain their methods objects and plans During this day examples will be given of the meetings proposed that should take the place of religious services in all churches EVENING SESSION AddressSelected Jesse White 2 Address Otto Wettsteln The Axe to the Root or a God Impossible in Nature Address Tho Reign of King Humbug Dr J B Wilson DebateWoman Suffrage and Prohibition J r i iirI t t BLUE GRASS BLADE 13 I Capital Punishment Relic of Barbarism and Sustained only by a Sordid Superstition By Hulda L PotterLoomis In the consideration of a subject relat ing to any of our established laws or creeds or modes of living a writer must necessarily become Impressed with a sense of wonderment that society or the State If you please could have encumbered Itself by tho ponderous machinery that everyturnthe endless aqueducts which the Romans built over hill and dale yet which serves to Illustrate the Importance of the discov ery of the law that water never rises higher than Its source The Illustration while not a new one subjectcertain if the laws of the State are to be changed and made to conform to a higher and more humane ideal the people who compose the State must first be educated to higher and more humane ideals In order to effect such a result it would seem proper to Impress upon the minds of each individual member of society the responslbllltrlaws creeds or conditions which are found to be unwise unjustifiable and inhuman in their application Alas for the selfishness of human nature but selfish we are without a doubt for it is a sad fact the majority of people do not perceive the lack of wisdom the in establishedlawsdisastrously affect their own individual comprehendthelaw is the natural law which never changes never wavers in its equal administration of justice never relaxes ltd vigilance and Injurydonemust eventually react upon every other member Thus we find that the teaching of this code of natural law answers the question which every one should but does keeperWewould feel not only startled but horrified if suddenly confronted and accused of the crime of murder yet the writer of this article deliberately and in all seriousness lays that accusation upon every man or woman In the United States of America llgalnsttheCapital Punishment In support of that accusation I challenge denythatderer by society or the State is any less a murder than that committed by the In defines murder thus The act of killing a human being with malice prepense or aforethought express or Im plied To kill with premeditated malice to destroy to put an end to According to this definition the average execution of a murderer is more duly mur der than the act of the victim of the law for the individual may and often does take m the life of his fellow being when Inflamed by drink or passion and Is therefore a partially Irresponsible creature while weyes every man and woman of us who does not oppose this Inhumanity and Injustice we I say who compose the State proceed to consider every detail of his action and deliberately and calmly premeditate the destruction of his life If the murderer committed the act while under the influence liquor then we who are the State have an added responsibility In the matter since we license rumsellers to sell the poison that is the most potent of all agen cies in the propagation of murderers and other criminals Nor does our barbarism end here Hav ing determined upon the destruction of the murderer we permit those who are author ized to carry our will Into effect to Issue cards of invitation to a chosen select few murderous members of our society to attend the execution and witness a scene the preparations for which in precision of detail far surpass anything that their vic tim could have conceived of and in fact had there been any necessity for such care ful preparation in carrying out his own act of murder it must in ninetynine cases out of one hundred have appalled tho Individ ual and deterred him from his purpose Space forbids our mentioning In detail the many ways In which we gratify our mur derous propensities upon these occasions The reporters for the dally papers serve up an account of the execution In the most harrowing and bloodthirsty manner for the delectation of those of us who were not permitted to attend the execution our children ask questions about it and we tell them this bad man killed another man and now we have killed him And so we teach our children to do murder for how can the childs mind discriminate between legalized and unlegallzed murder when in the depths of our own hearts we know that the only discrimination than can be made Is that of might which never makes right Perhaps It is not so much to be wondered that that wo are a nation of murderers when we take Into consideration the fact that those to whom mankind generally has looked for their spiritual advice and teach ing stand In their pulpits as Rev W A Hunsborger of Camden N J did recently and advocated capital punishment taking for his text the old heathenish Mosaic In junction Whoso sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed The demand for the shedding of human blood has over come from the priesthood their saintly robes have left their bloody trail down througn the ages while with sanctimonious faces turned toward the sky whore the bloodthirsty conception of their God was supposed to dwell they repeated the commandments of Moses among which Is one that reads Thou shalt not kill sepulchersWhenhave you sat In judgment upon your follow beings But the light is breaking In upon the minds of your victims the tide judgment has set In the opposite direction and the end of your bloody reign Is not far distant and the religion of the Brother hood of Man will soon be enthroned in tho hearts which are rapidly rejecting the Wf trmurderousupon them Capital punishment must go graduallybringmony with the operation of the natural law and realize now Indissolubly Interests are entwined we shall endeavorito bring our mentalities up on to higher planes where their combined power and might shall set In operation the of love and peace and sympathy mankind which will eventually vibrationsIforever the spirit of hatred murder that we have so long been propagating Each Individual can assist in bringing about this happy combination by cultivating within himself or herself a spirit of love so strong that tho thought of tak ing a human life will call for their loudest protest and their best effort to prevent such action whether by the individual or socalled society DAVES LETTER TO HIS DEAR HEAVENLY FATHER Copyright applied for 1908 by Franklin H Heald My dear hevenly fatherWell we are gpln up two the mountains for a few weaks and Papa is going to show me how to shute a fox when he trees won He is humrndngbirdsthings that I dont no know Wood you care if we take Papas big microwscope and look at the way nature does things up at the mountains Joe thlnka it Is blassfeemy to look thru It and says If you wanted us to see such things you wood of made our eyes that way and we youhavethat the reason you dont like Papa thlnghescope I would rather look at a bug or a flower thru a mlcrowscopo than to see ti forth ofjuly fireworks Did you over look thru a mlcrowsclpe at Jupitersthink you wood of known the earth was round If you made It Is it so that you maid the earth before you maid the sun and the stars also and dident you know that sum of the stars are blger round than all ov our soler system If I had bin mak ing them I wood of made the blgest won first and so wood Papa Joe sez the son goes round the world and anybody can see It and besides the bible proves It He thinks Papa or anybody that sez the erth goes round the sun is a blassfeemer and is liable to be struk ded How do you ever manage two keep Joe so scared He Is afrade to go out In the dark but will go out anyway for a watermelon or chicken As ever DAVE GOVERNMENT IS STUPID Count Leo Tolstoi Is quoted at length in the papers recently relative to the suppres sion of his books He declares that the Russian government Is guilty of amazing stupidity In prosecuting the distributors of MB books and not arresting him He adds that he will never stop writing no matter what tactics are adopted by the Russian government s = lr tfY I1C BLUElfrRASS BLADE The Story of Etulas Victim Could Not Change But Her Christian n Friends Changed In Their Hearts Towards Her By John F Clarke Etulas was born into the world the same as any other specimen of genus homo She was fair of face graceful of carriage and sweet in demeanor but the God who had created her physically perfect had spirit a of malice crossed her blood and in fused a trace of Negro blood in her veins Through chance she had received a fair ed ucation and accident placed a competence within her reach Sho was forced to leave her home because of caste prejudice and moved to another state Although nearly white she had been denominated a negress In her new home she made friends and be came quite popular Sho Joined church an partook of the communion and contributed to the various church funds The people thanked God for sending them such a love ly communicant A lady who took much Interest Etulas secured her photograph and sent it to a correspondent at a distance and wrote a rapturous enconlum of her friend She shortly received a reply in which the glamour was taken off her friend ship for Etulas as lye bites the paint from distant lady wrote What a seraph you have found what a treasure from the diamond fields what a gem of lovllness what an angel Butyour seraph thougn fair outside is dark internally your treas ure has a blemish your diamond is a black stone your gem has a flaw she Is a ne the Christian lady hold out the man tle of charity to the detected one Did the slstership of Jesus serve to ward off ladydramaticallyhement malice and scorn Three other sis wrongdoneto their Eden and they called for angels with flaming swords to purge the community of the pestilence Etulas listened to the quadruple tirade and her color ebbed and flowed in her cheek as the denunciations rose and fell At last she rose and said I not the same as yesterday Did you not seek me out and urge mo to attend and to join your church Did you not share your salvation with me freely Have you not all prayed for my welfare And is this Gods answer to that prayer Have not all you women met me with tho kiss of wel come and did you detect any taint in my person Are you going to crucify me for an idea If so you castigate the God who made us all When we meet in heaven will you charge God with a mistake or shall I charge Him with folly I have commit ted no wrong Am I to be cast out for youInIt was decided that Etulas was not fit to remain in church nor in society Etulas married the brother of the lady who de nounced her first One of tho other ladles got too familiar with the preacher and an SuperintendentGradually Etulas won her way and society gave way until she became its leader Neither she nor her children ever joined church Opinion changed Etulas was courted and heads bowed to her every r where Even her nameread backward was SALUTE AUNT ALLIES PROVERBS Religion promotes Ignorancestands in the way of enlightenment Freethought says Turn reason on your beliefs Test these Freethought bids you develop Intellect Religion says Some things I will not read think on or listen to Religion bids you dwarf intellect Present conditions are due to millions o minds at a standstill This is true in politics as well as in religion An earnest desire to be pure and wis needs no prayer to assist to nobility an truth LAWS AND LAWYERS VictorydProducer By W McCormick We have Lawand there is Legal Lawwith Statute Lawand the Law of the Universal Cosmos Ask a Lawyer to define Law and he will begin to quote BlackstoneA rule of action etcbnt not one in an average ten thousand will g t deep enough into thought to give the real meaning or version of the term Law Law always existed it surrounds end less fathomless boundless space and is intermixed with every part of earth air waterand dead and living substance- In obeyance of Law this earth and all other earths suns moons stars or planets came into existence and Blackstone and our human Law writers and Codal cobblers and legal executors can not write make or enforce a law In violation of Natural Law without entailing upon themselves and tho entire human family a harmful and hurtful penalty for this violation of the common principles of General Common Catholic or Universal principles of Life Rights appertain alike to every living substance either animal or vegetable and tho manwritten Law that says Thou shalt not kill applies as much to the protection of animal and veg etable life as it does to human or animal life and while the penalty Is ever present yet life may be destroyed and the penalty entailed and still conditions might bo seeds and produce vegetables grass and fruitbearing trees we dig pull cut and reap to sustain life but when wo cut down and kill fruitbearing trees as George Washington did we entail a harm ful penalty It would be better to climb for fruit and spare the tree But when wo cut down and klll a barren and unfruitful tree as Christ did giving more room forbearing trees wp then entail a helpful and right penalty So it all depends One man of early his tory violated the Law of Thou Shalt Till and roamed at will over field forest and plain hellbent to kill He killed one of gods not only good but very good ani mals and made a flesh and blood exhibit at the first Fair and took first premium but went down in defeat and death in Cains cornfield conflict And this time tho working jman Cain thq tiller drew the capital prize or premium in a good i Jj I IFcitiesand while one phase of this LawThou shalt not kill was apparently violated yet acting hi selfdefense as Coin did on tho principle of If you wont work neith er shall you eatkilllng a nonworking ablebodied vagrant in defense of the pro ducts ot the field saved Cains life from starvation and peopled the world with us Law Abiding progressive Canaonltes leaving the final meaning of Law to beThat Silent Hidden Force or cause as fWill Equalize Settle and Lead all Con flicts in Harmony with RIGHT and REA SONQ Sterling Ky It Aint no Joke New England Farmer Writes On the Resur rection of Mrs McNulty Plain ville Conneticut Deer editor i never rit nufln fer a paper afore an perhaps yet dont kare tew here frum a ole farmer but as a krlshtyon feel It ml dewty i Feel consarned about yer yer nlr so wickld i dont flak yer ort ter make joks about sakrit flags i seed In ure paper what yer rote about mlses micknulty what dyed and was berried over on ter ever green shore an doctor muligin toed her back Wel yer se it aint fer frum hear ter whar she lives an Dyes let us Jes 1kunslder it seereus an filosoflkaly- Mlses Macknultys body dyed an her sole returned tew ther god what glv it doctor ter that fwasher sole agin that was meraclus er puffin Jelse Now docter muligin has found out helkin do it he aint ngoln ter reserreck eny more kristyunns arter he noes thay air salt j in heven hell git slners outer hell so thay kan go to kamp meein and git saved heven1thisNow mister editor Ime agoln ter try an konvurt yo but ef yer dye fust an doctor j muligin kant kum tew lexintun sure fokes kin send ure body tew new brlton an doc ter muligun kan git yer out on bale if this leter due yer eny good ile rite agin prey fer ye ures In krist bruther furkerson i Do You Believef That We Humans are as Important as Pigs Potatoes and Pups JDo you believe that we grownups and even the Children should know as much about oifrfplvip as we know about Fished Mowers anl Flogs Do you believe in Better Progeny a More Elevated Race anyway- If eo Fond 325 for a years subscription to the American Journal of Eugenics and be in the Van of Human Progress Published monthly at 649 South Main iSampleswith pamphlet Institutional 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