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Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.): n. Sunday, October 11, 1908.

Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.): n. Sunday, October 11, 1908. Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.). 400dpi TIFF G4 page images Blade Publishing Co., Lexington, Kentucky 1908 blu1908101101 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, October 11, 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 GRA1P BLADE Volume XVII Number 25 LEXINGTON Kai 0FTOBER n 1908 Published Weekly DEVOTED TO THE PROPAGANJM0F FREEDOM OF THOUGHT II itII fj 5iff j 5i i I f2 BLIIEtG BASS BLADE 1 THREE GENERATIONS WITH OTTO I OTTO II ANDrb TTOt IIII Otto Wettstein Though not gifted with the flower and rhetoric of oratory but culling from the fields of intellectual thought rich and rare argument against the popular and orthodox delusions of the day the subject of this sketch has made his name as widely known on the American continent as that of any Freethinker during the past and present reader of the Freethought press no matter where published or distributed and many others who do not claim to be ot Liberal thought are more or less familiar with the name of Otto Wettstein designer and builder of the handsome and attractive Free bought badge the Ingersoll souvenir spoon and many other Freethougbt trinkets of beauty and value His contributions to the Liberal press of the country whereat e has shown marked ability have won for him the proud and envious distinction of being the Father of Materialism In America while his clear and lucid reason Ing has taken all the gods ghosts and spooks out of the universe and relegated them to the realm of fiction and allegory where they properly belong Otto Wettstein was born in Barmen El berfeld Prussia on the 7th day of April 1838 and is now therefore past his seventieth year He came into the world with an abnormally large head and the physicians in attendance pronounced a dropsical brain predicting that the babe could not possi bly live Other physicians were consulted by the anxious parents and some of these held out hopes of life and possible longevity provided the child could be carried up to his fourteenth year Our Otto la Btfll in tle land of the living as the orthodox have well discovered and with a supply of energy and good health he appears to be good for some years yet to come before be Ing called upon to surrender his lease upon a child young Wettstein was always awkward and backward This was appli cable to both physical and mental develop ment He was topheavy and this made him the sport of his playmates until he had reached his 12th year when he began to command their admiration by reason of the superior mental qualities he now began to manifest HIs father Theodore Wettstein was a prosperous merchant but failed in business in 1848 and with his wife and fam ily of six children he emigrated to waukee Wisconsin where he soon became a prosperous and popular hotel proprietor His father also became the founder of the JIfl It Milwaukee Musical Society Determined that each of his sons should learn a trade he shipped Otto at 12 years of age to a friend in Chicago there to learn the Jewel ers art for which the lad got only board and bed His education in this profession however was both systematic and thorough which included tie making of every part of the different kinds of watches then In vogue by hand In 1856 his perlodof apprenticeship came to an end and his employer engaged his services for another year while he was touring Europe At the end of that time a panic came upon the country and Otto moved to Rochelle Ill In 1857 landing theFe with a kit of tools a trunk full of books his clothing and four dollars which constituted all his possessions and effects A board in the front of a farmers supply store furnished him with a workbench and here he plodded faithfully and long until the panic overwhelmed the storekeeper and Otto was out on the street again A little later and he had managed to buy a small building only 8 feet by ten feet where he set up shop on his own account gradually adding to his stock of art and fancy goods and success dawned upon him He soon rented the largest store the city of Rochelle could boast and an era of prosperity was nowat hand During his apprenticeship upon the ur gent request of his mother Otto was con firmed In the old school Lutheran faith Not until after he had reached manhoods estate did Otto come In contact with any liberal publication when a friend placed in his hands a copy of the old Boston inves tigator made famous by Horace Seaver J P Mendum Ernest MendumJL K Wash burn and others Prior to this hour his mind was almost a blank upon matters of advanced thought with no mental develop ment The is was now broken however for an intense desire for knowledge now took possession of him He bought books Works of science and poetry came Into his hands He worked by day and studied by night He wanted to know all that could be known He plunged into the natural sciences and finally became sceptical about the bible stories He realized that the proven facts of science did not harmonize with gods and ghosts heavens and hens and that spirits were impossible In nature He know nothing or little concerning the rules of grammar lese ebout mathematics but with keen reasoning powers he plunged Into the discussions upon naturalism from time w time He also wrote for Rochelle and Chi cago papers and the force of this logic and argument redeemed his lack of higher ucation He was now an out spoken fearless aggressive and uncompromising ma terialist The editor of the Rochelle Rec ister agreeing with Wettstein in his views offered him the columns of that paper for an elucidation of those views aid Otto took advantage thereof He discussed the Issues of Rationalism with both laymen and preachers He succeeded in making both converts and enemies Following their usual custom in such cases the Chris ian people worked a boycott upon hIm with the evident purpose of breaking him up and ruining him In a business way They withdrew their own patronage and urged others to do likewise Otto realized what this meant He refused to retract an Inch 01 his ground He now resolved to fight it out and he succeeded in making a partial recovery for these business losses by turn ing to the Liberal of America for their custom This came but slow and uncertain Protracted bard times Eet In and Otto failed In business lost his store stock and even his home His two sons came to his rescue and now he finds himself established In a snug home den and office owned by them in the beautiful Chicago suburb of La Grangee within thirty minutes of the cityThe family of Otto consists of his wife and their three sons F E Wettstein of Cleveland Otto Otto Wettstein Jra successful telephone contractor and Bryant Emerson Wet teln who will cast his first vote in November of this year While still in the church Otto became a Mason and an Odd Fellow to which organizations ho still belongs His sons are all prosperous and successful honored by all who them a delight to their parents though Frank the eldest has sought in vain to convert his father to a belief in Christ In 1888 Otto designed the well known Freethought badge which is made to repro sent the evolution of the world from the darkness end midnight of superstition toYthe light of science and reason Later came the Ingcrsoll spoon Both are made by the best workmen obtainable of endurable material and are of beautiful design At the recent Materialist Association con vention held at Canal Dover Ohio he was elected by unanimous vote as the President thereof and he delivered the magnificent address which the Blade publishes In this Issue All f lt f BL JflSS BLADE fYJ 7 The Ax tf the Root- or 4 A God Impossible in Nature Brilliant Array of Facts and Authorities Against the God Idea Given In an Address Before Materialist As sociation Convention at Canal Dever Ohio Sept 7 1908 By Otto Wettsteln President Mr Chairman Ladles and Gentlemen I trust the logic force and originality of my argument may compensate you for its prosaic delivery Permit me first to present a few sen timents which will be admirable In lieu of a text and Indicate the alms and mission of the Materialist Association Dr Paul CarusNew truths appear at first sight always appalling They come to destroy the errors which we have accus tomed ourselves to cherish as truths Thus the truth naturally appears as destructive But look at the truth closer and you will find that It Is after all better and greater and nobler than the most beautiful fiction woven of error- sEmersonThe new church will be founded on moral science Poets artists musicians philosophers will be its teachers The noblest literature jjf the world will be Its bible Love and labor Its sacraments and Instead of worshipping one saviour we will gladly build an altar In the heart of every one who has suffered for Human ityMangasarianSdience Is the real Sav ior becase It helps us toy know ourselves and our world By Its help Humanity dustbegrimed and darkened shall become radiant Under Its benign reign race and religious castes and class prejudices shall vanish To a world torn and bleeding with religious wrangles and worn to the bone by barren speculations about gods ghosts and the Hereafter Science brings the olive branch of peace Knowledge translated Into love reverence Justice beauty shall surely change the worlds night Into Bowles Scientific Knowledge or an acquaintance with the different departments of nature organic and Inorganic Is a com plete and perfect antidote for every form of It Is our duty to make ourselves acquainted with the universe around us to know what Is known of sun moon planets stars and nebular It Is our duty to search and probe Into all things taking nothing for granted accepting noth ing on authority testing all we are told i 11 4 k by teacher or preacher by priest or vant Haeckle = The older view of Idealistic dualism God and nature is breaking up with all its mystic dogmas but upon the vast field of ruins majestic and brilliant the new sun of our realistic monism ma terialism or mwhlch reveals to us tne wonderful temple of nature In all Its beauty In the sincere cult of the true the good and the beautiful which Is the hoart of our new monistic religion we find ample compensation for this anthroplstlc ideals of God free will and immortality which we have lost John WesleyThe father of Method ism After all that has been so plausibly written concerning the Innate Idea of God after all that has been said of Its being common to all men in all ages and nations it does not appear that man has naturally any more Idea of God than any of the beasts of the field he has no Knowledge of God at nil Whatever change may after ward be wrought by his own reflection he Is by nature a mere atheist James A Greenhlll Our late old and faithful comrade skilled artisan Astrono mer and regular and enthusiastic arendant of our freethought convenlons The scientist must be free from guess work He cares not for belief personal preferences or sentiment He wants Knowledge He asks you to investigate and If you doubt him you do not have to go to hell And if you did go he wouldnt know where to find you Buckles History of CivilizationThe duty of a philosopher is clear His path lies sralght before him Ho must take every pains to ascertain the truth and having arrived ata conclusion ho instead of shrinking from It because It is unpalat able or because It seems dangerous should on that very account cling the closer to it should uphold It In bad repute more zealously than he would have done In good repute should noise It abroad far and wide utterly regardless what opinions he shocks of what Interests he imperils should on Its behalf court hospitality and persecution being well assured that 11t Is not true It will die but that If It Is true It must produce ultimate benefit albet unsuted for practical adoption by the age or country in which It Is flst propounded Huxley iThe church no longer affords room for selfrespectlngscholars and the next few years will see an exodus of them from Its pale v Rev R Heber NewtonReason must be the rockbed of our faith Rev Dr ThomasWe must permit not even God to come between us and Reason Conforming to the admonitions of all these great and good men many of them s devout Christians I will now endeavor torshow you why any religion that conflicts with the well established facts of nature should be rejected i In lieu of a thousand antagonistic reli glens all alike based on myth and miracle we present to you a philosophy of truths and facts that will eventually unite In one 1humanevery fact of nature on all the empirical sciences comprising the greatest of all sciences Materialism With Tyndallfit finds In matter chemlsm the promise and potencies of all life He said The notion of an atom manufacturer and artificer of souls raises the doubt whether those who entertain It were ever really penetrated by tho solemnity of the problem for which they offer such a solu tion And with Shelley It finds a correct moral law In right living When Reasons voice Loud as the voice of Nature shall have waked The Nations and mankind perceive that vice Is discord war and misery that virtue Is peace and happiness and harmony Then mans maturer nature shall disdain The play things of Its childhood Kingly glare Shall lose its power to dazzle its authority Shall silently pass by the gorgeous throne Shall stand unnoticed in the regal hall Fast falling to decay whilst falsehoods trade Shall be as Improfitablo as that of truth Is now Astronomy Proves There are no Gods When Galileo invented the telescope he unwittingly produced the grand factor of civilization destined not only to reveal to the world the superlatve glory of infinite nature but also to banish eventually all the gods devils and lesser spooks from the universe Theories over which the world has been divided to bitterness ant blood shed shall vanish and facts and truths conceded by all nations and races alike Ago ffl 4 BLUR GBASS BLADE will bring the peace and happiness of a civilization we all hope for t It was natural and so easy In the days of the cavemen when their chief or fakir was called upon to explain the mysteries surrounding them to people the air with an almighty spook to explain all they did not understand All primitive races being alike Jgnorant all naturally thrived the haaIknow nobody could deny or had a better explanation Dense ignorance concerning the natural operations of nature and the potentiality of matter prevailed- If the Godmyths had not originated then and been taught and promulgated by schem ing charlatans as authoritative law and gospel intelligent people would have no Gods today The revelations of science and of our giant telescopes sweeping from mountain tops in every portion of the worM through boundless expanse have removed the dense web of mystery enshrouding nat ure and revealed the same to us in all Us stupendous vastness and bewildering reality making all godmyths appear not only childish and absurd but such beings abso 1lutely Impossible In the realms of nature Atheism originated when this hypothesis was considered a logical necessity to ex plain naturo and life Now when we know that all phenomena are the necessary re suIt and spontaneous produc of Natures own constituents the idea must be aban donedtire need of a God gone the idea f explodes The Revelations of the Telescope h I will now enumerate a few facts established by the laest data of science and corrcborated by the most prominent astron omers of all countries If you will follow me carefully you will have a true and real istic conception of the vast system of nature as it really Is so you can decide for yourself If It is reasonable to believe that r a personal living Godand no other thing 1can bo a Godcan occupy infinitude of space preoccupied bv countless millions or Incandescent flying whirling cosmic bodies most of them so stupendous in size and of such extreme degree of heat that if our little pigmy of a globe would approach one of them even within a million of miles it would vanish Its 1600000000 vain and foollph Immortal souls included like a snowflake falling on a blast furnace The earth looks big to man It is a peb ble compared to the sun but the sun among other suns Is smaller comparatively than a grain of sand on the shores pf the Pa cific Ocean Our oarth which Is of such great importance to us is about 8000 miles in diam eter but our sun is 865000 miles in diam eter Yet there is the little star Arcturus which Is a sun 94000000 mile in diameter SCan you now realize the insignificance of the little orb Vebccupy It would lake 1300000 bodies like the earth to equal our sun but 1600000 such suns are requires to equal the giant sun Arcturus The sun is only 95000000 miles away but this mon ster star is 11600000 times further off In the dogrstar Is fifty eight thou sand billions of miles away from us Po laris the nbrthstiuv two hundred and ten thousand hilltops of tnlles or 2318000 times the distance of jthe earth from the sun Think of Itl The sun Is 95000000 of miles away but ttyls enormous body of molten fire is off SSISOOC times further What are tkstars that people these ful depth of space They are suns count less millions of them all gigantic seething masses of fire whirling and sweeping with in their orbits wlta a velocity entirely be merelyWhere is God Think of meeting seeing or cummunicatlng or praying to a God v hose other parts are countless millions of miles off in space among this shower of parks composed of the collosal t cosmic bodies described There is nothing to indicate a limit to the number of solar systems One of them is 426 trillions of miles away Since space and the number of these giant cosmic bodies are Infinite ihere can of course not be a most distant rtajv We can think of a limited universe rio more than if limited and external space It must be infinite and external because the antithetical postulate is absurd These are the latest absolutely authentic revelations of Galoleps great invention concerning the universe of which we and our handfull of rock and clay are so in finitesimal a partCan the church reconcile them with the revelations according to Moses and the prophets If we but approximately grasp these wonderful awe inspiring facts ofnature we become atheistic all gods vanish end old Genesis is relegated to the category of fairytales Ua worm crawling at our feet could think and imagine this world and all it contains was made torhlmlt would be no more ridiculous than for us to believe that on the fourth day a personal god walking in the garden then and there made our sun dtbe tarsalsoto give light upon the earth placed them in their respective Idealities billions and trillions of miles off ir space without scorching a single hair on his head then complacently creating whales and other creeping things the next day- All8odIdeals Absurd But I must not waste time clipping bran ches otrottlie tree of superstition but must fearlesslyfppltbe ax to the root and prove that any godfrom the crude concept of thepsvage in Africa to the lot ty ideals of the Rev Mr Savage of Bos tonare alike impossible in naturerA God in his transcendent wisdom havIng persistently refused to manifest himself to us having never caused an obscuration of sun mood or star the descriptions of him in the bible being Infantile and radically contradictory and a rational and comprehensive definition of any god ideal by pope priest or preacher not being forth coming the hypothesis conceived to plain existence must In spite of its hoary origin and its almost universal acceptance be rejected It creates and embodies vastly more and greater mysteries than those It pretends to explain A God to bo a God and all it Implies par amountly must be a personal living being Personal attributes cannot exist In the ab sence of a person An Impersonal Godthe inorganic forces fluids aseoua or etherlal aggregations of matter electricity etccan not be the God or possess godlike quali ties But a Heavenly Father who pos sesses wisdom love and capacity to sider the welfare and listen to the supplications of the millions who worship him mus be a living conscious intelligent ing or tha qualities humanity attributes to such a being would of course be impossi bleNow if I dont utter another word and you will endeavor to grasp the actual con dllon and aspect of infinite expanse as I have presented it and where this supreme being is supposed to reside you will real Hze that the tree of superstition root branch and all has already tumbled over not alone because life is Impossible within inerstellar space but also because the Idea of a solitary being residing therein aud occupying all space slmultanlously with these soaring burning giant bodies is too preposterous to be further consid eredHere theists Insist tha God is an un ondltloned bolng that lie is not dependent upon air climate or environments But these good people believe in and assume grotesque miracle In condlions we dont know anything about and which science does not and cannot recognize hence areYexcluded from the arena of debate We are here and der Zeitgeist spirit of the times demands that we fearlessly settle the question Can Theism be Maintained by Science and Reason The greatest personality we can conceive Is a mangrand in physique and mind and in this sense man embraces woman Humboldt Goethe Hugo Shakespeare Emerson Ingersoll were such ideal personali ties the highest known to man In the absence of this crowning workof nature consciousness and mind never originated and cannot be conceived Hence it follows and theism is now in the crucible l that fe BLUE GRASS BLADE 5 a god must be an animal or there Is none Emerson said Divine Personality is a theological cramp He was practically an atheist because in the absence of per sonality what has he to deify but the force and matter of the Materialist Underwood said Infinite Personality la as contradictory as a square circle or round triangle Of course It is It is a God or a universe It cannot be both Has God a brain then how can he be infinite If no brain no physical organism how can he be a Heavenly Fatherall wise affectionate just and control the af fairs of man- Imagine a vast battlefield hot shot and shells flying in every direction and drop ping from the sky Would it be reasonable to believe that any great general could oc cupy every poslion of this ground and survive Yet this is what this godmyth Im pliesImagine a great railway center all trains moving tho rate of ten mles a minute M It is said of Eugene V Debs that when asked for advice in regard to worklngmens votes said Find out what your mas ters want then vote the other way This seems to be the state of Mrs Clos zes mind for when find the popular throng headed in one direction we are pretty sure to find her in tho ranks of the minority The following verses were written Im mediately after the great furore caused by the appearance pf Kiplings The White Mans burden and the flood Ing of the press by others with Tho Black Mans Burden The Brown Mans Burden The Workingmans Burden The Ofllceseekens Burden etc This was written while Mrs Closz was sick in bed with Pneumonia but In stead of wasting time in prayers and conjuring heavenly visions she wrote The Womans Burden which has been copied all over the United States and in Canada and London liberal pressEd Take up the Womans Burden Shes borne her load too long In patience and submission Despite the grevious wrong Tradition has enslaved her Its bonds are strong as steel i i i fcould a solitary engineer possibly occupy each engine and all pf them at the same time If you know this Is Impossible why do you believe thefar more unreasonable proposition that a god can be on this earth creating mice menand mbsqultos listen ing to innumerable prayers etc revolving and flying through space with our little earth and at the same time creating flow ers infants and whales on countless other planets soaring through space with each one and sfmultaniously guide the infinite number of cosmic bodies within their great orbits Think of Inveiltlng the creatOr and ruler of an infinite universe with masculine gen der Furthermore it Is insisted that this God is omnipresent theists realizing that a finite being could not be the ruler of an infinite universe and be eyereywhere at the same time ButtJhlsbnpllesithe absurd proposi tion that this vast infinite of By subsequent production aggregation And fetters Make wounds that will not heal Shes taught by Christian precept- In patience to abide To stand in sweet submission At her Lord and Maters side v And then for information To her husband she must And silence keep in Churches St Paul has told her so So long shes been in bondage From reason been exiledLWhat wonder she bears children Half devil and half child Eternal torment waits tier Should she but dare defy The great Jehovahs mandafe Increase and multiply She must bring forth more soldiers- In holy wars to fight Though to her sense justice Somehow it seems not right The priest with solemn summons Bids herFulfill the law- And girls must be recruited To fill the brothels maw Six hundred years she struggled Against this bar Seeking and pleading vaialyv r giant burning cosmic bodies fly and gyrate around In Him Certainly nota very comfortable state for even God to be In He ought to have known better and not after living in peace and comfort during the eternity prior to the creative act burden Himself with such monstrous Intestinal Swing by far the most bril liant pastor that ever graced a Chicago pul pit was one of the first orthodox ministers who dared to renounce the personal god idea He said It may be that Its faithsin a Heavenly Father would become more real should we break away from the long and vain effort to embody God in a and give to Him some central locality iWhile we thus embody Him He can never Jseem to be near us Evidently there is no such a God To escape practical athe ism must throw away this old human ized Deity and must ask all the air and all 1Continued The Wotiiins Burden Harriet Closz i we superstitions go of of shapoj we To gain her meed of right Then Lot A learned council Whose wisdom we extol With due deliberation Allowed she had a soulIBut years full Have passed away since then And still she is considered Inferior to men For her are laws enacted For her decrees are made By legislator priest and Judge Which all her rights Invade Her sons still march to battle Will wonders never cease Their lives are freely given To serve the Prince of Peace Her daughters by the thousands Who Christian license hold bondageAnd Take up the womans burden Shes waiting to be freed From the tyranny of priestcraft From Court and rite and creed Your dogmatism cast aside Remember Human ties Unbind the Womans Burden And let the victim rise 6L BLTJE GRASS BLADE the sons and all the prairies with the varl gated planes and all the perfume in the winds and the song of the birds and the laughter of our children and the deeper thoughts and emotions to be the place where God has his habitation For what do we know of the form of the Cre- atorIWhat must we think of a Power which the universe across which even far as measured by man light Itself trav eling at the rate of 136000 miles per second cannot pas In a million years To place Into bodily shape and imprison oven in a palce of gold and gems such a Creator is to make little children of our radical departure from old Calvin ism brought down the wrath of Dr Patton and his elders They quickly called a coun cil tried him for heresy and kicked this man who had more Intellect than the total aggregate of all the wisdom In the church combined out of his pulpit The Prof and his admirers forthwith procured one of the largest auditoriums in the heart of the city and organized the Peoples Church In which he preached to crowded houses un til his untimely death Prof Swing like many others of the brainiest men in the church was an atheist in name only He spoke to theists and clothed his beautiful language In theistic garb but this ideas were purely atheistic How can his Heavenly Father be void of personality and retain personal attrlb ujes Why retain personal pronouns He His Hlmetc If npt a person How can He be In the wind etc language of a child etc when he means the unconscious energy and potencies of matter all the time Concessions to orthodox prejudice Armstrong called it The Chemism of Matter the Sole Cause of Organic Life From one ofB F Underwoods lectures quote Theologians view matter as mere dirt unless stirred like the fabled pools of Bethecda by the potent touch of Jehovah But why firs divest It of Its noblest powers and attributes Let them restore to it tno qualities of which it has been robbed to enrich a being whose glory has been at the cost of humanity and they will then see in it the beautiful elements that make the pre cious opal the amethlst and the brilliant diamond the delicate bluebell and the violet the lllly and rosebud the ruby lip and the lovelit eye the palpitating heart and the wonderful brain Prof Dolbear lately made the following statement in corroboration of the above It was once thought that matter itself was altogether inert and lifeless and forces of different kinds were believed to be nec essary In order to have it do anything Now we are aware that this notion Is erron eous A lump of coal weighing a pound possesses energy enough to lift its weight r nearly two thousand miles high Every par ticle of matter is constantly exerting 1U Influence upon every other particle of matter however far they may be apart and if left to themselves will come together The power to do this is inherent in matter and not in forces external to It so that one after another of the socalled force shave been given up as representing any thing more than some sort of motion There is left then only matter and ether this is matter or nothing and the various forms of motion to account for the different phenomena of nature Even organic phe nomena such as belong to living things have no other antecedents Said Prof Tyndall Matter is not that empty capacity which theologians have pic tured It but the universal mother who brings forth all things as the fruit of her own womb Nature Is seen to do an things spontaneously without the meddling of the godsHerbert Spencer endorses Materialism as follows Each generation ot physicists discover In socalled brute matter powers which but a few years ago the most In structed physicist would have thought in creblbleWhen there Is forced upon him the inference that every point In space thrills with an Infinity of vibrations the conception to which he tends is much less that ofa universe of dead matter than that of a universe everywhere alivealive not In restricted sense still in a general analysing theism 1ri hls great brain he said If then I have to ceive evolution as caused by an originating mind I must conceive this mind as having attributes akin to those of the only mind I know and without which I cannot conceive mind at all I cannot think of a single series of states of consciousness as causing even the relatively small group of actions going on over the earths sur face how then is It possible for me to conceive of an originating mind which I must represent to myself as a single series of states of consciousness working the in finitely multiplied series of changes simul taneously going on in worlds too numerous to count dispersed throughout a space that baffles imagination In other words We cannot think of a single mind or factor causing even the lim ited measure of organisms on our little earth much less conceive of a mind capable of producing all the phenomena of an in finite universe Thinkof a solitary mechanic producing by his handiwork not only all the watches made in America but also simultaneously making all those made n Europe and In addition constructing all other mechanical product in the world It not grotesque miracle what is It Newschool theologians and laymen who have discarded a sixday creation snake and fish stories the trinity a literal hell devil etc but who can still believe In this mythical omnipresent omniscient cloud impersonal phantom spook and miracle worker In spite of the facts now in their possession concerning the actual state and aspect of the grand system of nature should forthwith resign their manhood prostrate their reason believe every word In the bible and swear blind obedience to the authority of Rome There is no mlddletground no stopping place between Catholics and NatureallsmlThe infinity of cosmic activity and organicrlife constitutes a Job far too big for a single agent and countless millions of Gods would be required to prevent It rather than a single God to produce it The mys tery Involved In such an Infinite being and His miraculous handiwork crea ing men mice and constellations towers above the mysteries of nature as the Himalaya moun tains above an anthill We KNOW that the supernatural does not exist said Ingersoll In his last lecture after being an Agnostic all his life Con tinuous honest research convinced him that on the highway of intellectual progress there was no halfway house between the orthodoxy of his father and Materialism If a merchant desires to know what his stock consists of he takes an inventory of his wares then KNOWS not only what be has but also what he HAS NOT So our astronomers have taken an accuraeinvenItory of the contents of space with tele scopes and photoplates have penetrated Infinite expanse for a trillion of miles have discovered countless suns and systems yet a God has not been verified as yet All Is found to be natureno heaven no hell There Is and can be but one rational so lution to the riddle of existence namely the constant motion and activity of eternal matter and its infinite changes and combl ftations force us to the conclusion that nature must contain within Its own elements the source and forces necessary to produce all the diversified phenomena man ifest in our environments and in the boundless expanse beyond The potentialities causing all forms of matter from Infusoria to constellations must be ubiquitous coexistent with the material constituting such forms or the latter would be dependent for their being upon chance volition or capriceliable to be deprived of such essential elements of existence at any time in any part of or in all space thus causing either sectional or universal stagnation or Inertlon all un known or impossible conditions In nature In fact the God hypothesis Involves the absurd proposition that nature is universal ly Inert dead and Impotent In and of It self to cause universal life and cosmic tivity and that therefore a God endowed 4 7 ifff a iBLUE GBASS BLADE 17 with arbitrary power omnipotence and omniscience is a necessary accessory to account for natures manifold product Science Insists that wherever there is matter lucre is forcethat matter Is force both physical and chemical and that therefore every world contains within its own constituents and carries around with Itself as it flies through space and whirls on its axis all th potentialities needed tor- the harmonious existence of its innumerable passengers on land in the seas and- air hence needs not stop on Its long journey of ages to admit pilot or captain to guide It a us course and attend to the needs of its Innumerable inmates- Is this Incredible But wo know it is true All life is traced to the chemical elements of matter absolutely nothing to a God These physical conditions favoring produce tho beautiful rosebush and the myriads of lice that devour It when in its glory Now If the God theory solves the mystery of the rosebush and the lice want theists to explain But If there is infinitely more mystery involved In a God a la artificerproducing the roses and then the lice to devour them simultaneously creating all other organic structures on antipodal parts of our earth this revolving on Us axis and flying througn space with lightning rapidity his other parts billions of miles away among an Infinite aggregation of burning bodies I have described then it is our duty to reject the hypothesis Of two antithetical theories let us accept the most reasonable Referring to this subject Herbert Spen cer said They theists seem quite to forget that their own theory Is supported by no facts at all Like the majority of men who are born to a given belief they de wand a most rigorous proof of an adverse belief but assume that their own needs noneTherefore until a God makes his presence known or until Pope or preachers divest the Godmyth of the Inscrutable mysteries now associated with it it Is plainly the duty of rational men and women to main on the solid ground of Materialism and seek in nature the basis of all cosmic phenomena and life It some one would tell us what the man in the moon can do and does it would be evirjexists and is a fact otherwise his assertion would be of no value For llge reasons all talk and tradition of what a God can do and has done falls to the ground until theists first decide which of their Innumer able Gods is the only true living God and then prove his existence as an absolute factHere la where the Materialist Is more consistent and rational than the theist He remains upon terra flrma and confines M t ir his belief to what he knows He Is aware that nature is the supremo fact of exist ence It requires ho proof He looks around and it proves Itself The sumtotal of all existence Is tne basis of his belief and he knows that every object and form of matterfrom the dewdrop to constella ons trom infusoria to manis the spon taneous product of the potencies of matter and not the miraculous handiwork of an almighty spook Even the great Gladstone admitted that outside of the Bible there Is no evidence of a God He said Unless you accept the testimony of the Bible as conclusive what evidence have you of Gods existence and mans Immortality Many of our Greatest Minds Atheists The brainiest men of the world have been Atheists Alex Von Humboldt at the age of 82 delivered a course ot 60 lectures In Berlin to the scientists of the world on the physical construction of ue universe and never spoke the word God He had traveled over the world descended into the earth and explored the regions beyond ide earth but discovered no God no hea ven no devil and no hell By the way Isnt Infinite vacuity vastly preferable to a world with a hell in ItMany of our greatest thinkers have been Atheists though often preferring to pose as agnostic and theists But all those rejecting the Inerrancy of the Bible hav Ing absolutely ho other basis for their faith were practical Atheists Science hap progressed majestically dur- Ing the last century but it has not discov ered a single proof of a God of a heaven or hell Theology Is now precisely what It was a thousand years ago Tile Rev Dr Hatfield said Theology Is not a progress ive science the revelation is made once for all and tie book Is shut the hasp Is upon It and It Is sealed New Interpreta tions and expurgations will not save it and we must believe in that mangod as described in that hoary book or we are practical Atheists Nothing else proves defines or Indicates a God We may then justly classify all those who reject tie Infallibility of the Bible as Atheists This inclues the illustrious names of Thomas Paine Theodore Parker Felix Adler Buckle Brougham Burns Bancroft Byron Bryant Beecher Boling broke Bacon Buechner Burrows Bierce Bradlaugh Bruno Bastian Balzac Button Barnard Barker Bismarck Bain Carlysle Castellar Compte Clifford Channing Ca rus Combes Chesterfield Condorcet Cle menceau Carnegie Cotter Cavour Casson Darwin DHolbach Draper Dickens Denton Emerson Elliott Froude Field Fichte Feuerbach Fiske Flint Fechner Greely Goethe Gibbon Gunning Garrison Gulzot Galllleo Von Glzykl GIrard Hugo Huxley Von Humboldt Heine Hecker Helmholz Hartman Hegel Haeckle HelAve lus Harrison Hammond Ladd Hobbes jJefferson Job Ingersoll Kant Ingalls Kronsecker Liebig Lessln Lyell Lowell Lawrence Lincoln Larkin Lewes Lecky La Place eibnitz Lamark Linne Lindsay Leidy Lesley Lander La Leur Lamartine Locke Mill Maklntosh Martineau Mol liere Macaulay Maudsley iMoleshott Mueller Marsh Montgomery Morley Mott Moore Morse Martin Mlrabeau Mazzinl Nott Nordau Owen Oken Oswald Pllnius Pope Proudhon Phillips Priestley PomFIpanazzl Parton Rosseau Russell Roche fort Rochester Ruskin Renan Roland Rokttansky Reymond Romalnes Rems 1 burg Servltus Strauss Sand Sumner Spencer Smltn Stallo Shelley Seneca Spinoza Schiller Shoppenhauer Stephens S uurz Shafsbury St Hillaire Spence oiltus Schlelrnmcher Shelling Somervllle de Stael Shakespeare Tolland Tyndall t Tennyson oreau Toplnard Underwood i Volney Vogt Vaughn Vignoll Vlrchow Wright Wolstoncraf allace Ward WIl cox Waite Wakeman Youmans and many Stewart Mill one of the most bril liant writers of tho last century said The world would be astonished if It knew how great a proportion of its brightest or naments of those most distinguished even in popular estimation for wisdom and vir tue are complete skeptics in religion Henry Ward Beecher confessed that It Is discouraging to see so many men religious without being moral and so many moral without being religious Morals Without Religion Schiller said A robust nature Elne Gcnundo Natur needs no God and immor tality There must be moral laws which suffice even without this belief And Froude What has ecclesiasticism to do with the moral laws It puts them all aside and puts Its own creed in their an editorial in a late Popular Science Monthly I quote The word has gone forth Morality must stand on a basis of natural law or It cannot stand at all There is no uncertainty as to f the fundamental principles of mojals but iwe lave weakly allowed ourselves to think that the authority of all our moral teaching Is bound up with certain traditional doc trines That Is the cardinal error which earnest men should strive with all their power to banish The church has labored persistently toFimpress upon its subjects that morals are Intimately associated with theology and dependent upon religion that It has been generally taken for granted that there no motives for morality In the existIreligion one of the libelous methods Continued on Page 14 J 8 BLUE GRASS BLADE BLUE GRASS BLADE Published weekly at Lexington Ky JjSJjSJE f Founded by Charles Chilton Moore In and edited by him tint his death February SSVr t JAMES E HUGHES Publisher andManagerJ- OHN ITi Editor CHARLESWORTH i 1268 N Limestone Street Lexington Ky ip o 393wTi s SUBSCRIPTION RATES rgiJt By mall postpaid 160 per year in advance Five new yearl subscribers at one remittance 100 each Five trial subscriptions sent In with one remittance tor SIs month cents each 1iKsS subscriptions cents per month Svjwv iFtTria- Foreign subscriptions postpaid 200 per year v t ADVERTISING RATES One Inch single column Insertion 60 cents one monthiorfour- rInsertions 100 six months 606 one year 800 Quarter column single insertion 200 one month 400Qslx months 2000 nl tat peclal Half or larger advertisements i rates The upon publisher application has the right to reject any and all advertisements- xr 1GENERAL 7 offered BUSINESS RULES ALL SUBSCRIPTIONS to the Blade will be discontinued at the expiration of the term for which the subscription has been paid up In advance The address slip on the paper will show sub scribers the date of expiration of subscription Back numbers t or numbers omitted will be sent elf asked for upon renewal in r case of discontinuance l K SHOULD ANY SUBSCRIBER change his or her address advise thla office giving both old and new address as desired t THE OFFICE of publication of the Blade Is at 126118 North Lltne stone Street Lexington Kentucky to which all Freethinker will be given a hearty welcome THE BLADE is enterd at the Postofflce at Lexington Kentucky aa h secondclass mailing matter if ALL TO THE BLUE GRASS BLADE JfP Box Lexington KYS0OURPREMIUM OFFER T In an effort to encourage our friends to aid us ihincreas ing the circulation of the Blade thqreby building itup andadvancing the cause of Freethought along with itjj call attention to the premium offer we announce on jthe back ol this issue So many of 01 fnciiit liavo written us frrrv time to ctime of the value they find in the Blade and that theyare- saving their copies each week for the purpose of having them bound From this came the suggestion that wo could advantageously bind some copies ourselves in cloth and give them to our friends who shall truly and consistently deserve them according to the amount of work done for us and the interest they manifest in our welfare The cost of binding up this volume the lettering ito be put on with the name of the person intending to own the same and considering the value of one years issuei will be at least three dollars and fifty cents To Fell them at this price would not yield any profit but we would rather give them away to friends who succeed in obtaining fifteen yearly subscriptions to the Blade at the regular price for in this we just about break even and we have increased our subscription list at the same timefThe bound volume when completed will contain every copy that has been issued in its present form from anuary 19th last up to and including December 27th of Vttfoje8ent fIitlt fi year This will give 50 pictures rind biographies of Free thinkers ld will be worthy a place in any library Would you not like a copy of this bound volume Then will you not make an effort to get the number of subscribers wo ask for and earn it Wo have fixed the time limit at December 1 1908 in or der to get the next four weeks within which to getour lists and book orders made up in time for the now year The subscriptions secured can begin at any time theyare sent in and they will be counted in the final total Such a premium would make a splendid Now Years present and if any friend wishes to purchase copy with out securing the necessary subscribers we will take orders for them now at the price of 350 each When ordering be sure to give the full name of the person for whom it is intendedISuccess demands constant work and persistent effort No business no concern over achieved success by per mitting things to drift along with thetide The Blade is ambitious to succeed So many plans so many avenues of labor so many mat ters pertaining to the advancement of Frcethought crowd in upon us that with but one to do and work some must bo neglected Cooperation offers the best remedy the best solution of the problem and if we could impart some of our own en thusiasm to others the battle would be easily won The world needs workers Suppose wo construe that to mean the world of Free thought Then Freethought needs workers It needs men and women who have the courage and arc willing to dare and do The season of the year is now upon us when the most effective work can be done for our cause and the Blade beseeches the hearty cooperation ofall its friends Its cir culation must be increased if it is kept up to its present high standard Get your news agents to handle the Blade Talk to them and we will allow liberal commissions for selling it Do not lot the autumn months pass by without doing something for the cause Many little helps when done together will accomplish mast wonderful results You would bo surprised to find out what those little helps would do See that your own tab is uptodate- Do not wait for someone else to begin the work but put your own shoulder to the wheel Tile Blade now needs all the assistance it can got and to this extent it is altogether dependent upon its friends JEWISH WOMEN AND RELIGION Some orthodox Tew carrying the name of Guisseppe Cameo writing in the Zionist organ Modena insists that not only are the Jews as a race ashamed of their religion and their nationality but ho accuses the Jewish women of being responsible for this utter disregard of religion ifw i jidI l t t BLUE GRASS BLADE l t If it be true that a rule the Jewish women are soH indifferent as to their oWn religion as to be made the subs a ject of such a comment it would reasonably follow that they are also indifferenet concerning any and all religion and therefore independent of priests preachers rabbis and such writers as the one above mentioned Now consid Bring the further fact that so few Jewish women can boa found in any country who are willing to barter their 1womanly virtues for gold or bread as the caso may be it speaks well for them as a class and affords a strong argument t t against religious influences upon women Is it not a known fact that the inhabitants of what are termed the redlight districts in all large cities are believers in diety andchurch worship if not attendants upon the latter Then compare Jewish women with Christian women andi then contrast the influences of religion upon the latter and the influences of no religion upon the former The result must bd apparent Continuing this same writer draws a contrast between the devotion of Christian women towards their clergy with the utter indifference and partial contempt of the Jewish women for their religious leaders and urges that Jewish women must follow the example of their Christian sisters llheros the rub This writer perceives that the women regretsiwomen same tion of mentaland menial slavery that some preachers may odotheelill flue raiment and keep a welllined stomach J It is a case of bread and butter not regard for Vho orthodox faith It usually happens that when a preacher or pro fessor of orthodoxy opens his mouth ho manages to get his number ten foot in it and wo see that this is precisely what has happened in this instance Thinking earnest and serious people those who have a high regard for the race will express regret that Christian women have not yet the moral and virtuous excellence at tained by Jewishwomen and like them cut the theological leading strings and undertake to manage their own religious affairs without the aid of a paidor hired preacher The foot hurts when the shoo pinches May the time soon como when the Christian advocates will find themselves in the same predicament and shorn of the foolishattention and flattery of the women FREETHOUGHT PROPAGANDA Following the announcement of Mrs Eliza Mowry Bliven secretary of the Materialist Association for a more energetic propaganda come the communication from Miss Lou Lawrence secretary of the Buckeye Secular Union calling for a combined effort whereby the purpose of the Union calling for a combined effort whereby the purpose Pl the Union may be enhanced and the cause aided to a r wmore systematic campaign for greater growth With two such women at work for the uplift of human itygivingof their time and talents to secure thee permanent happiness of others without one selfish thought or desire t if i they should bo given that hearty support worthy of the cause they represent and everything possible should be done f j to place both organizations upon a more secure footing if gofurtherthrough a leaflet or a pamphlet The personal contact of the Frcothought advocate the opportunity of seeing and knowing the manner of man or woman ho or she may be the magnetism of the voice the meeting and talking are calculated to do more real good than all the literature over distributed and in this respect Miss Lawrence has hit upon a real and solidargument But tho real issue is to bring such forces into active operation Miss Lawrence makes known her plans in this issue of tho Blade and invites a general discussion among tho friends of the cause as to its Hitility and practicability The Blade offers its columns for such a discussion and the Freethinkers of America are invited to take part therein as a means of discovering tho best methods of propaganda JFrom what is taking place it is evident that tho officers workbroughtwant of attention This shows the correct idea of pro t paganda Resolutions and speeches may point out a way 1 puthitothinkers an opportunity of meeting with each other unless tan effort is made to effectually carry out the work suggested thereby Once these organizations will show the Freethink ers of the country that they mean actual business the Blade believes the proper support and patronage will bo forthcoming Qrrcadors are asked to peruse what these ladies have written Mrs Blivens letter appeared two weeks ago Tho communication from Miss Lawrence is given in this issue Read them both over Write to the Blade what you think of the plans suggested and it may be that from all such sources some more expedient method may be drawn In any event wp need a more effective more systematic method of propaganda than wo have today The Blade is ready willing and anxious to do all that lays within its power to secure such propaganda but it can do very little ifit has to playa lone hand fjbet us all get together and work together for the good of the common cause No better way to advance tho cause of mental freedom than by public lectures Tho Editor is contemplating short trip into Indiana and Illinois the latter part of No omerand the beginning of December If you want lee tares in those States write him at once for terms dates and subjects All who are willing to participate in the symposium on tNo future life as suggested by Secretary Bliven of the Materialist Association aro requested to communicate with lier on the subject Box 70 Brooklyn Conn aJ ft q te4q M l i i i 1ir j fftt t Ir r 41k 10 BLUE GRASS BLADE iAN OKTIIOJJOX LIAR 2 If by my lie I abound to the glory of GodwIfilamI to be adjudged a sinner v4 Sowrote the Apostle Paul at least it is so recorded by questionable authority but it also seems to be the perspnal opinion ofa remote Texas editor of an unknown Texas paper residing at Denton or thereabouts t From the days of Constantino it has never been deemed a sin to lie about the unbeliever and the more apt disciples of the Nazareneappear to be in no great haste to abandon such a policy If god is truth he must love truth wherever it be found whether On heathen Christian or Atheist ground but his followers in these days as of old cannot grasp such a lofty ideal and they enjoy with relish the malicious spad time of deliberately inventing falsehoods concerning theIr intellectualsuperiors and resort to the further crime jf giving them publication in organs of questionable veracity S ome friend has sent a marked copy ofa small paper to our office containing a scurrilous editorial from some backwoods writer who evidently loveth a lie and entitled Why Do Infidels Recant j The very title is a mere un provable assertion while the subject matter under it is composedof the most glaring falsehoods and inaccuracies that ever found their way into type Here are a few examples Why is it so few really intellectual men are infidels Why did Ingersoll join the church before his death seemingly as a palliation for his blindness to truth JThe writer recalls that the most despised man iria regiment of 1200 soldiers to which he belonged during the SpanishAmerican war was an infidel parading under the guise ofa Freethinker Freethinkers cringe and trimble like frightened puppies under the broad ambiguous term infidel Ninetynine per cent of the population of the United States are believers in the Christian religion Just how such a worthless ray could devise so many inconsistencies in so small a space is almost beyond concep tion and it is lucky for him that the god in which he be lieves has abandoned the policy of striking liars dead otherwise he might not be living now As a literary ragout it is consoling to know that few can be found who will place any belief or credence in such a compilation And so Ingersoll joined a church But what church Where did it occur and when Some authority should be given The statement is not that the writer believes Ingersoll joined church but that Ingersoll actually did so Then it follows that the writer knows this to bo a fact It It cannot be mere hearsay and the best evidence would be to give date place name jmd denomination of church and some names of the persons who were present at the time Such an event could not go without notice and hadit really occurred there would be abundant evidence concerning it As a matter of fact Ingersoll never did join anychurch and this creature who may call himself a man knew that ho wrote and printed what was an untruth when he made use ofsuch a statement When expressing his ouinion upon the religious beliefs of the people of this natipn it would appear that a slight inaccuracy of description has been made Had he said penitentiary instead of the United States every well informedman and woman would give ready assent thereto Before attempting any reiteration ofsuch a statement its author is advised to seek genuine information Selfglorification had to creep into an article of this kindtfor it isa case of suspected vanity in foisting information upon a disinterested public to try and let them know that the author was actually in a regiment of 1200 mon during the SpanishAmerican war There may have been an infidel among its membership and if the regiment could boast that number of men it is certain that more than one infidelwere among them And yet it is dollars to doughnuts that this very writer were he actually there never got into action against the enemy and were his regiment ordered to any point where danger lurked ho could have been found hiding in the tall grass catching cold thereby and then asking Uncle Sam for a pension for injuries so received It a safe assumption that any man who could even think suchan article much less to pen one is both a moral and physical coward and the truth is not in him In this day and age infidelity and intellect comparedand contrasted with orthodox conceptions are made necessary corollaries Like a mighty flood the tide of infidelity has set in and the churches are swamped therewith to such an extent that every preacher must struggle might and main to keep his congregation up to tlio sectarian shibboleth Heresy trials are rapidly becoming a fad and this sets a mark of infidelity in churchranks as a result ofeducation Before education became general the people were almost uni versally believers in orthodoxy With education came heterodoxy and its concomitant infidelity The real wonder is that any man claiming to be intellectual can longer remain in the church and all such cases ate regarded as monstrosities the result of abnormal thought Every great intellect has been on the outside of the church and all great intellects today refuse the orthodox stamp But why do infidels recant Who says that infidels do recant Nobody but a small editorial fico living at Dento ton ToxasWhat infidel ever recanted to his personal knowledge No hearsay None of what somebody else has said Facts are demanded and in this instance names places and dates would prove valuable aids in any inves tigation that might want to bo made L After all it may be a waste of space to offer this dis cussion but if by calling the ltandof such a fellow as this we can elicit genuine information some good might accomplished If ho fails or refuses so to do he must stand branded as a coward as well as a liar s zr toy 3LTTE GRASS BIIADE 11 SCIENTIFIC THEOLOGYr aridscientificAll science is progressive over moving onward and up themTheology re main stationary and inactive Theology does not and can not contain the elements of progress If god be perfection godBeyond thetfromthogoes on the down grade Their paths separate and as each continues divergentTo task broughtaboutarray of indisputable facts as argument and the advocates an of theology arrayed themselves against it to a man Little anddegradingit stood triumphantsupreme Then followed an era of conciliation Efforts were made to show that science did not disagree with revealed religion This failed An claimisan actual and positive ally of religion BiblicalWorldonly an aid to religion but assorts that the assimilation religionunifiesBut aretJroentific investigation has invaded all our colleges and universities and the clergy can readily foresee tho drift of the popular mind as a resultant thereof Tho more true sci soonbroughtmindduringfatal to theology It is impossible to think scientifically theologicalprogress both hesitating and ineffective This conclusion trulygreatscientificinvestigationproposition that what is true is goodfor truth must bo good mindandtruth new or old and thus acquires astate of intellectual manhood Confront a firm theologian with a scientific fact that con ti7i t1 j J L moo rejectsthescientifictheology J Our ustoyear goes out If we can accomplish this much wo propose to increase the r departmentsfort Ra num ber of splendid articles which we cannot publish for lack Toenablecompelled to omit the Current Comment from week to week We need more pages to the Blade to keep up with our contributors but we cannot afford tho additional ex with astogunranteeto secure one of these handsome premiums We do not ask you to work for the Blade for nothing Fifteen new andbesidescause it represents fromtheexaminedthoroughly willrealizeMrs Henry is now at work upon the preparation of an Inthecanlot i youvalueourfriends i backpage i ofBladeber of these can bo made up and none will be bound without liaVing been previously ordered This will include all tho numbers since tho change was made in its form Tho name of the purchaser will bo printed on tho cover and if any of our friends wish a volume either for themselves or to mako a suitable New Years present to another bo sure to get your order in the Blade office in time Tho cost will be 350 Ii ilh n j 12 BliUETGEASS BLADE HNHNNNNNNNNNNNMHHN NHHNHNNNNN Cbe Blades Correspondence 4 r N N N N N N N N N N N N H N rN H H NyH N N H N N H N lSees a Need for the Blade c TUCKERTON NJ Sept 29 Dear Sir After reading your editorial several weeks ago hubby and agreed to spare par it not ail of the subscription for the Blade but nad the misfortune to fall and twist my foot badly The doctor said it was worse than a break and ten times more painful and I can agree with him I am getting around on crutches but the medicine has made quite a hole in the pocket book so I must postpone my subscription for awhile It is worse for me as one leg was already shorter than it really ought to be on account of a former accident Every day I see more and more of the need of such papers as the Blade but cannot commend H J Slocum in last issue My father used to say when two were In an argument and one commenced to call names or throw mud at the other ho knew his case was lost Now I dont think Slo cums side lost bu such language will convince no one I should have asked that preacher as I have others if Genesis is to bo taken literally how he explains Gods command to replenish the earth One can not refill a thing until it has been filled once I have often asked this but have never been answered In fact the preach ers fight shy of me The last one that tried io convert mo coiudut say anything but Dont you want to go to heaven 1 replied that If the Bible is true I stood just as good a chance as he for by our deeds we shall bo judged He agreed that it taught such When be was taking his departure ho lingered on the porch and listened to our remarks about him I saw him all the time through an open window I wrote to the Peoples Press several years ago my opinion on the origin of the Hell theory and asked others to give theirs No one did Here is mine As we never read about an earthquake or volcanic erup tion but that we read also about the gas or sulphur smell which always accompanies it it looks plausible that to the minds of the early ignorant and superstitions in habitants of this globe some such disturb ace gave rise to the belief In Hell This was made use of by the unprincipled men to subject the masses and get an easy ing then as now The preacher I refer to did not oven claim to believe this but said What can Ida Its my business I told him to go to work like others I am giving the extra number to one who Is fr i S a h seeing the light quite clear has several sons but Isan invalid She told me she used to attend church meetings and tremble in fear of hell Her folks were all red hot Methodists and she used to be so afraid of death What a life to live I told them I would rather spend eternity in a Christ ians hell With a Devil I can respect than in their heaven with a God t should de splseAnd Jda despise such a Godas they represent Why he is not half as good or as powerful as the Devilhe made for he this allwise allpowerful allloving God made the Devil to tempt and get 99 out of every 100 according to their own belief What a God Dr Adam Clark in his Commentaries on the Bible said Jesus family i e his father mother brothers and sis terswereaf such illrepute that their neighbors would have nothing to do with them Thus his remark about the prophet having honor In his own town But if you have made this out or spent your time on Ityau must be tired So I will thank you for papers sent both the ones I keep and the extras Yours MRS M FISKE Liked Healda Article GALT CALIF After a long delay I send you P O order for as back dues and future balance if any My physical and financial condition during the past year has been the cause of my delay to pay I hope tobe able to meet all my obligations for the Blade and several other papers soon The discontinuance of Higher Science is a great blow to the liberal cause but we hone and believe Brother Heald will be of gfeat benefit to the readers of the Blade His article under the head of Cause end Cure of Intemperance Is the ablest and best and the only solution ot the problem of intemperance that I ever read And I hope Bro Heald will roast the Dog Lovers of California I believe that there are enough dogs In California If tributed properly to supply one dog for every family in the United States Cali fornia Is the grandest country with the best climate in America or probably on earth but the Innumerable saloons and worthless dogs are a curse that more than offsets all the good qualities of the grand country If there was one dollar tax put on the head of every saloon and dog in the state we believe the amount of revenue would edu cate every poor orphan In Us boundaries LDd ifailthe money that Is spent for strong f jiiir JAIIiT drink and dog food was converted to the benefit the widows and orphans it would would feed and clothe every one of them Then there would be a big surplus too Hurrah for Bro Heald I am behind with obligations to him which I hope to meet with soon Then there is Brother Ghanning Severancea Liberal of Liberals and one of our greatest Freethought writers I noticed his letter in the Blade several weeks ago sating that he is nearly blind suppose he is a laboring man and lives by work If so he may need help to fight the battles of life He Is a Freethought veteran of the highest rank and is worthy the at His letters in the Blade are read and preciated and we hope to read them again Then there is Dr Wilson who Is not contributing as often as he did some years ago We supposed he was busy composing that book of poems he promised us We are waiting anxiously for a copy and would like to hear something more about It from him JOHN D FARRIS Freethought BarBecue LORENA TEXASAs you will see In The Searchlight we had a Liberal Bar becue and Speaking at Sloans Tank on the 16th Inst which is 12 miles east of the city of Waco We had a big crowd and all seemed to be happy Some five or six lib erals spoke on various subjets but the principle lecture was by our old editor and expreacher D Shaw His subject was Why I Left the Church and was a treat which we old infidels dont often gets chance to enjoy and one which will take a long time to forget Your humble scribe tried to talk on Some Absurdities of the Christian Church The following are some of the points mentioned Beginning with the greatest absurdity of all viz that a few thousand years ago a being called the Lord God came Into existence from nowhere and created a universe from nothing made a man out of the dust and a woman from a part of the man This Lord God foreknew all things was agoG of wisdom of love of mercy of justice yet f created a devil to thwart his will and pur poses let that devil get away with his best efforts That god planted a tree in the midst of his garden whose fruit would make one wise but forbid his children to partake of Itj knew from the beginning they would eat of it and he would havkto raise up a son to be sacrificed to save a few of his children from a hell he must eeda make He kicked that devil nLof heaven onto the earth knowing too he would cause all this trouble unless he put him in hell and kept him there Another absurdity among many others is the Judas case Christ know from the beginning who would betray him John 664 And 5 ti s o J A e n f ji i fw J c f 17 t lV1 BLUE GRASS BLADE 13 too Jesus promised these twelve apostles that When he came Into his kingdom they should sit on twelve thrones Judging the twelve tribes of Israel Luke 2230 That God so loved the world he sent his son to die to shed his blood for an atonement for our sins Had to die had to shed his blood tofill that Fountain filled with blood that Sinners mleht plunge be neath Ks flood and loose all their guilty Btalnsetc etcAI In all we had a nice meeting everybody seemed to enjoy the occasion and there was talk of having our next at Hallsburg nearby which would be more convenient also to build a substan tial harbor and pavilion Dr Hall from whom Iho burg takes Its name Is a whole souled liberal as well as his good wife They certainly know how to make one feel welcome D F MARKS Renews Subscription PETROLEUM CENTER PAEnclosed subscriptiontoswer the following question The Bible tells us 2 Peter 310 Behold the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night In the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt away wl h fervent heat the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up Eccles 14 reads One generation passeth away and another cometh but the earth abideth forever Widest of them Is right Matt 239 And call no man your father upon the earth for one your father whIch is in heaven St John 844 Ye are of your father the devil arid the lusts of your father ye will do Can you tell me which One has the largest family I was reading In a news paper some time ago about a wealthy church member who died and left some forty thousand dollars for the use of the church until the second coming of Christ after which time It was to bo divided among his lawful heirs Dont you be lieve his heirs would get It just as soon If he had left It to the church until Hll froze overJOSEPH FILWELL WRONG NOTIONS OF FREEDOM FARGO OKLAt hero inclose 150 to pay my subscription up to Jan 1907 Sorry I have delayed It long but hope It will be accepted now aul a and havent had time to read one Blade out of three It is all work arid no pleasure for a farmer and all labor- Ing people that at night after our days work is done we are so near woreout that when we sit down to rest or read for a Jew minutes we fall to sleep before we get started to reading and as for under r et1 f i r H 11r-tty r standing what we readmit is out of the question So dear James it comes to me that there is no use in trying toTrbe the minds of the people from superstition in the way that a good many Freethinkersyare trying to lt seems to mesthatwe must have In dusrlal freedom before we can have full mental liberty forhe majority of the people for what goqd isill our argument tnrough papers arid periodicals if the labor Ing people which constitute the majority of the population have not the opportunity to investigate Socialism alone can give us full oppor tunity to read and Investigate as we would not have to work 10 to 18 hours a day to earn the ne tisltles ofllfe I produce to 10 times as much as my family and myself can consume each yeat but after I have converted it into money which I am obliged to to pay taxes interest and for machinery clothing and ceries which I cannot make I can just about strike a balance at the end of the year or a little short if either way If this doesnt prove that in some way some one or people are robbing me what will The price I pay for the finished aricles that I must have are aa far In excess ot the labor cost of producing them that It absorbs the extra surplus that I raise to buy what I need of them How can any ore pretend to stand for Justice the slogan of Freethinkers and not iitanlIr Indus trial Liberty or Soclallsm1Ofvo us in dustrial liberty and mental liberty Is wind to follow You now understand my position IRVIN HIAfT Another Contrltfutjon Sent BENNINGTON TCANSAS I was moved by the pathetic letter of the needy com rade you published In the Blade of Aug 23rd 1908 and enclose P O money order for 100 to help start the Emergency Fund in the interest of the aged and wornout comrades in the glorious cause of Free thought Your suggestion to create such a fund is timely and I trust that the com radjs will awake to the exigencies of the case and relieve the Blade of the pressing pecuniary responsibility of meeting this nvnt jurt and agreeable burden HENRY C ROBERTS To Aid the Good Work LQCKPORT NYEnclosed I hand you check for six dollars Emergency Fund Subscription to the Blade Mater ialist Association Very sorry that could not attend the Association Hope to do so at some future meeting With many good wishes for the success of every en f j UIkr t= aeavor In the line of advanced thought + C R WOODWARD j EMERGENCY FUND AGAIN r LOS ANGELES Enclosed please find money order for one dollar for the emergenJ cy fund or for helping to send the Blade to them that are not able to pay for It Is certahny a great pleasure tot jose to read 7 the Blade who believe In Common SeriseT and ReasonI H Fowler WANTS LIST OF BOOKSz fJj MARTING w VAW1l1 you kindly Inqform me where I can purchase Keelers His TDIbleoughs Origin of Supernatural Conceptions i and approximately their costJOHN e OBRIEN r VALUE OF LOCALITY 8 j zrIngallsSouth Taking a walk one morning he met t a boy coming up from the river with a fine lstring of fish 4X What will you take for your fish asked a the General Thirty cents was the reply Thirty cents repeated the General In Vii astonishment Why If you were In New 41York you could get three dollarsfor them The boy looked critically at the officer for rF a moment and then said scornfully Yes suh en I reckon if I had a bucket of water in hell I could get a million for ItLIDOLLYS BAPTISMiA little girl once atended a Baptist im mersion with her mother She was much impressed by seeing the minister lower i people Into the water and on the way homeEwas unusually silent An hour later her tmother saw tie child take her whole family of dolls and make for a ditch in the farm yard Curious to know what the youngster Ya was going to do she followed cautiously and farrived just In time to hear the child say iS Father Son and in the hole you goes as v she ducked the doll into a puddle SHEARING THE SHEEP j J EAties was catechizing a Sunday school When comparing to sheep he put the fol lowing question to the children What does the shepherd do for the sheep To the amusement of those present a smalltboy in the front pew piped out Shears them 11 ONNot poll 14 BLUE GRASS BLADE THE AX TO THE ROOT Continued from Page priest and preacher to blacken the charac ter of the scientist and philosopher The true the good and the beautiful taught In our churches are not religion but moral ethical and aesthetical forces exist ing among all nations in greater or lesser degree independent of prior to and which will outlive any special religion The latter are transient the former eternal as the unIverse- Does the church favor goodness virtue mercy charity righteousness honesty purl ity benevolence good habits and charac ter music art poetry science and all that tends to health and happiness In life All these good things will remain and be taught and fostered in our homes schools and lecture halls with greatly increased facilities and energy when religion with its grotesque myths and fables shall have vanish d from the face of the earth Before these desirable reforms can be con summated It is necessary that we place all our educational instlutlons upon a basis of facts When deists devote the time talent and wealth now squandered on superstition to We useful and beautiful In life we will soon have a happier humanity butNO THEISTS All will unite In the grand Order of Modern Materialists To Give Up Errors is no Loss but a Gain In reply to the question What will you give us In place of our religion I will quote the beautiful words of DrPaul Carus Inquire Into truth and the truth will guide you Accept the truth and live It for the truth Is always good If the truth appears evil to you or saddening know that you have either misunderstood It or that you have not as yet fully made It your own The truth must become the very essence of your being it must be your own soul and your Inmos self Errors are a comfort to the erring only not to the truthlovlngr and to him alone whose mind hankers after error does truth appear stern Surrender the errors that seem a comfort to you To give up errors Is no loss but a gain To learn the truth even though It seems sad to you at first that Is real gain There is no consolation in errors genuine consolation can be found In truth only Trust In the truth for there Is no other saviour Ernest Renan the renowned historian philosopher relates the happiness he found in the church and later out of It ca follows In childhood and early youth I tasted the purest Joys of the believer and from the bottom of my soul I say those Joys were naught compared wth those I feel in the pure contemplation of the beautiful and the impassioned pursuit of the true I wish for all rofbrethren who have remained In or thodoxy a peace comparable to that In tlf r I H16 which I livesincemy struggles came to an end and the lulled tempest left In the midst of a great still ocean a sea without bil lows and without shoals where there is no other star than reason and no other com pass than ones own heart Where Will You Spend Eternity Voltaire wrote When I am asked rlf after death these faculties personal at Tributes mind sensation etc will exist I am almost tempted to ask if the warbling ot the nightingale will exist when the bird has been devoured by an eagle So I ask Can tie form and functions of a human being continue to exist after the body is cremated and exists no more Let spiritists orBplrits themselves now explain what they are mad of or forbear telling ur what they can do Herbert Spencer In his last great work after 50 years of most profound research gives the result of his labors as follows After contemplating the Inscrutable lations between brain and consciousness and finding that we can get no evidence of the existence of the last without the ac tivity of the first we seem obliged to re linquish the thought that consciousness continues after physical organization has become Inactive Will you die like a brute asks the priest scornfully We are created and born like a brute Where will you s end eternity Where we were a hundred years ago Mere we will be a hundred years henceno yawning seething Christian Hell for a vast majority of the human race From Col Ingersoll I quote Let the ghosts gojustice remains Let them disappearmen and women and chil dren are left Let the monsters fade away the world Is here with Its hills and seas and plains with its seasons of smiles and frowns its spring of leaf and bud its summer of shade and flower and murmuring streams The world remains with its winters and homes and friends where grow end bloom the virtues of our race All these are left and music with its sad and thrilling voice and all there is of art and song and hope and love and aspirations high Man is greater than all phantoms Hu inanity is greater than all creeds than all books Humanity is the great sea and these creeds and books are but the waves of a day Humanity is the sky and these dogmas and theories are but the mists and rjouds changing continually destined to finally melt away That wht1 Is founded upon slavery and fear and ignorance can not endure In the religion of the future there will be men and women and children all the aspirations of the soul and all the tender humanities of Io w eheart Let the ghosts go we will wor ship them no more La Grange Ill JUST A DELAYED LETTER Sent In Greeting to the Recent Conventions but Failed to Get There In Time By Josephine K Henry Versailles Ky Sept 4 308 To the Buckeye Secular Union and Mater ialist Association in Convention assembled at Canal Dover Ohio Greeting and Greeting to the Work ers for Mental Freedom which alone can lead the human race to the Heights The battle between knowledge and be lief is on in earnest The Torch of Reason challenges the Banner of the Cross and day by day the Banner of the Cross is retreating The Rights of Man by the Immortal Thomas Paine is now the political consti tution of Christendom and the Age of Reason by the immortal Thomas Paine is the growIng constitution of Christianity Human society Is now more than In any agerejectlng the codes creeds and canons of selfappointed censors Orthodoxy Is today hanging Its head in shame because it burnt a Bruno and persecuted and ma ligned a Voltaire a Paine and an Ingersoll Freethought Is leading humanity from the bogs and fens of superstition to the heights of Reason Freethought has no priests or prophets it has thinkers and its temple is the universe Freethought is that philosophy of nature that Is not a doctrine but a destiny The grandeur of this cause should in spire every lover of Truth and Liberty with courage and hope Clasping hands with the workers now assembled at Canal Dover let us renew our allegiance to the principle that human conduct sfould be based upon natural and not upon super natural belief and that human welfare in this world Is the proper end of all thought and action Extending fraternal greetings I remain Sincerely yours JOSEPHINE K HENRY AUNT ALLIES PROVERBS Think FEARLESSLY and you will Tiew SOCIALISM as a step in the RIGHT DI PROVEN A help to make it popular this la HELPING ONE OTHER There is no time so good as NOW for a SUGQESTIVEWISETHOT SFkw X f lope f tJ BLUE GRASS BLADE Bt Sure and Subtcrlto far Secular Thoughi A Fortnightly Journal of Rational Criti clam In Politics Science and Religion Organ of the CANADIAN SECULAR UNION AND TfiE TORONTO SECULAR SOCIETY Editor J Spencer Ellis Published at 185 Queen St West To ronto Canada Terms 1 per annum In advance single copies 10 cents All communications for the Editorial de partment should be addressed J Spencer Ellis Secular Thought Queen St West Toronto Can All Business communications orders for books printing etc should be addressed 0 M ELLis Proprietor and Publisher Secular Thought 185 Queen St West Toronto Can 16 MEDIUM SIZE Mens New Thin Model Watches HAMPDENNo 104 23 Jewels 30 Wm McKlnloy 21 Jewels 22 same 17 Jewels 12 General Stark 17 Jewels 10 15 Jewels 7 Jewels S550 WALTHAM Riverside Maxlmus 23 Jewels 50 Riverside 19 Jewels 21- P S Bartlett 17 Jewels 1250 15 Jewels 7 Jewels ELOINWo 166 or 162 21 Jewels 49 Verltas 21 Jewels 27 243 17 Jewels 22 242 17 Jewels 241 17 Jewels 12 340 17 Jewels 410 15 Jewels 87 Jewels OASES All the above In the new Thin Model Silverlne Screw Cases In Fahys Crown or Deuber filled gold case guaran teed by the manufacturers for 20 years artistic hand chased or plain or hunt ing case more In 25 year case more than in 20 year case In cases guaranteed for all time screw or hunting 10 more than in Silverlne case Prices of solid gold cases on application Every Watch Guaranteed Fresh and New from Factory no shopk OJrs an accu rate time keeper and If well used good for fifty years or longer Will be kept In order foi one year Beware of Special movements and cases made nobody knows where and which you cannot price intelligently and buy everywhere Also beware of die work engrived casesthey are a fraud Those listed above are known to be the best watches made and if watch is new and perfect you are safe to buy them where the price is lowest I pay freight Describe closely what you want and let me send you cuts and pricesalso of my Freethought Badges and Ingersoll Spoons Ring Gauge and my great little tract Theism In The Crucible free OTTO WETTSTEIN LaGrange Cook Co tile j L Give Em Fits Thats what THE SCARLET SHADOW Walter Hurts great rad ical novel dons to the forces of bigotry and su perstition And the sec ular press of the country goaded by the church element Is throwing a over It too No other novel of this decade has been so widely and so bitterly denounced by orthodox critics which Is sufficient proof that It Is all right It has ated a sensation In servative circles and aused consternation among the clergy it Is enthusiastically endorsed by leading Freelthlnkers through out the world You all know how Hurt can write and In this book he Is at his best It Is ah elegant volume fit to ornament the finest library containing pages printed on heavy eggshell paper and bound In oxblood cloth Price 150 postpaid BLUE GRASS BLADE Lexington Ky Fine Farm for Sale SPLENDID CHANCE TO OWN PAYING SOIL IN BUCKEYE STATE Do you want a 218 acre farm Do you want it In Athens County Ohio Do you want the best of soil Twostory double barn almost new Also sixroom farm house good condition Abundance of best water farm Two wells one cistern good outbulldlngs Entire farm under cultivation Small woodland beautiful pasturage apples and peaches In center of coal field Two shafts mile east another going down shafts2Ys miles north and northwest and 2 more going down Coal feet to 14 feet never less than 8 feet Onequarter mile to pike now miles to county seat Athens 8000 inhabitants Junction K ft M B O and H V R R in Hocking Valley Heirs are going to sell at once Bring check book you cant keep from buy ing Sell as low as 50 per acre Athens O H S LARCH M D The Wage Slave A Socialist Weekly that advocates Industrial Unionism Revolutionary to the core EDITED BY A FREETHINKER The enemy of everything that supports the existing social order Send for sample copy Address The Wage Slave Box NT Hancock Web = It JTXRTON Mltoi the Peoples PUSt Fearless in its advocacy of Freethought and Reform Published weekly at Blue Island Ave Chicago Ill J B Lenau Publisher Official paper of the Materialist AssoclatioxRIn Canada or Foreign Countries lioo a Year Subscription 50 Cents a Year y Tomorrow Magazine Is the only publication In the world that deals with all human problems from the Impersonal Viewpoint It Is published expressly f those whi wish to see how their own cherished beliefs and sacred notions appear In the nude stripped of all racial blaa and preju dicerBy reading this magazine you will learn to draw ail your conclusions from funda mental principles t e you will learn to think correctl- ybPECIALWe will send three month trial subscription for fifteen cents If you are not already a subscriber The regular price of ToMorrow Is ten cents per copy or 100 per year This office may b withdrawn at any time so you had better write NOW TOMORROW PUBLISHING CO 1 Hyde Park Chicago III SEEDSsBuckbees Full Life Northern Grown Pedigreed have a of years seed growing behind them It pays to the Specialties BEANS Earliest Valentine Extra Early Strlngless pod Wardwells Imp Kidney Wax Davis White Wax Curries Rust Wax PEAS Extra Early Alaska Early Herefords Market Garden Buckbees Lightning Express Jjoo Lettuce Radish Tomato and a line of Seeds Plants and at growing prices Send catalo a your requirements quote the growerSave Write today this paper H W BUCKBEE Fwmtf ki I 0 j ct l BLUE 4RASS BLADE v f Bound Volume of The Bladed tIi11 r J r NNURY lofCfMBfR2tili 9 8ie i jdrn i j Jtf W rthy a Placer Americarir LibraryJT t 2 tv be fg tYs limitednumber canoe had and such orders as are first rejceivedwiU made Order nowrSPLENDID PREMIUM OFFER1 If i iFFfffft1 are scriptions must be new paid in Q remittance arid reach this office by Becem p tber 1908 The full name of the person to whom it is to be sent will be printed on outside of cover The volume be handsomely bound 3 + f r Fifteen New Subscribers Sixty Days t fWokl n k ctn Single Volumes on Special Order 35O is I This bound volume will include all issues since the JJf io- v change in form iijpfto the last issue of the present year T f r pictures and biographical fetches of the Freethinkers givensvolume are worth the price askedtiv p PREMIUM OffER GOOIi UNTIL DECEMBER 1 1 1- ffJ v t fk fJi1

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