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Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.): n. Sunday, December 19, 1909.
Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.): n. Sunday, December 19, 1909. Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.). 400dpi TIFF G4 page images Blade Publishing Co., Lexington, Kentucky 1909 blu1909121901 These pages may be freely searched and displayed. Permission must be received for subsequent distribution in print or electronically. Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.): n. Sunday, December 19, 1909. Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.). Blade Publishing Co., Lexington, Kentucky 1909 $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. d I 1 r J I BLUE GRAS5 BLADE Jr Ivolume xvI11 N I rkc LEXINGTON KENTUCKY SUNDAY DECEMBER 19 1909 Number 4 g and SepQf= GYPSY SMITH IN CINCINNATI DR J B WILSON IN COMMER dlAL TRIBUNE WRITES ABOUT HIM SOME WHOLESOME CRITICISM Correspondent Gives Impressions if Evangelist Gypsy Smith To tho Editor of the Commercia Tribune Gypsy Smith has come and gone Since you have been generous in giv 1 ing him space will you likewiss generous enough to give space to some honest wholesjme criticism The writer has carefully ohspnel Gypsy I vii ccittnn that I vrue 1 tho opinion of the suuurul public ntnl even of many clergymen who were in sympathy with the ivnl ud not inclined to hitch their vagoiu to Mich a starI at a lox lo tut Inc ta id why nny of the sclnnry clergy of thin city should have ti deocnd upon a U Gypsy to grouse psliijious intsnst in Cincinnati Is it not a confession of their own inefficiency In bringing him here have they not publicly ad mitted that the Gypsy is better able to solve the moral and religious problems of this city than all of them combined Have they not thus cheapened their own importance What has Gypsy said that they themselves have not said time and over again What in fact is won derful about II Gypsy Smith If plain Rev Smith unknown and unadvertised should drop into some of the country villages around Cin cinnati it is hardly likely that he would create a stir and some church es would not tolerate his methods WmvTone goolfreasQn a1dII Gypsy give that nn agnostic free thinker or Jew should turn and follow him By what authority is he a special penser of divine favors Since God made all how does it come that llGyp sy Smith should better interpret him than a good free thinker or a good JewLet me ask the educated render whom would you choose to best inter pret for youDarwin Spencer Fm erson and Ingersollor General BoothU Gypsy SmithU Sam Jones anduBillv Sunday Oh tIe exalted ego of some people Gypsy is not a bit backward in talking about himself He never gets far away from Qypsy Just which is most prominently referred to in his sermons the Deity or himself it would be hard to etcrmine Look at the crowds Why does the Gypsy draw such large crowds Let me answer this by asking anoth er question and answering it Why does a scientist dr phil osopllienlessnyist draw only a few Simply because I thinkers are few Emotionalists me many The crowds which attended the Gypsy revivals were no indication of success Certainly out of the en Cineimtt1whom love been soundly converted over and over again What with those and the country tnthn insi who came in and several hundred ut the curious inclined each evening the crowds are accounted for and were in lib way remarkableAt the same i time the theaters were ill crowded with paid listeners and tho streets swarmed with people who never gave Gypsy Smith or the revival a see ond thought Certainly ho didnot bring Cincinnati to his feet as he boastingly declared it hind com- j The fact is that II the skeer does noLaorkas well as it used to cons quently the revival which is a rElic of ignorance superstition and simple mindedness is almost a thing of tho past Most clergymen have come to recognize this fact and have dropped f out of the roofraising habit thingIlzeal they also awaken com IlligiOU8 and inquiryand set the public weighing and compar I its While they revive emotion and jwrmupjthe ofUconverted they in v to the Freothought tPl ir IIi Pl r tanks Most people ask themselves what is the necessity of reviving a re ligion which with the Almighty be hind it lies its own way in the world for 1000 years What floes revival mean hut a desperate effort toward survival In one of his sermons Gypsy snillH If I it in my power I would apply a match to every distil lery and saloon in the country To those conversant with church history this is not i tithe least surprising and certainly nothing new When the clergy had the power they not only burned buildings but burned and tor tured people not by thousands but by hundreds of thousands Every scientist inventor thinker moralist and reformer or man or woman worth while from Tlypntia to Bruno and Servetus they either burned or tor tured as fast as they bobbed one chief reason that the Christian Church will never regain its power is that the people will see to it that the Gypsy Smiths of fanaticism will never again predominate and that they shall never again have the chance to burn people to say no thing about horning buildings II Gipsy likeII Sam II Jones is great on stirring up the emotionsin lifting llmothelII out of her grave and making her talk to youll Gip sy being the medium and you get your affections all stirred up and then you imagine you have gotten religion He is also smart enough to know that his eccentric name attracts dinary people toward him The Ret Rodney Sth the Rev Samuel Jones and William Sunday D D would at tract nobody in particular ButllGip SyL Sasa i npd BiHjii ar the magnets that draw Has it como to pass that the Christian clergymen must dispense with their dignity in order to be successful But whatever else may be said of II he is busiGipsy certainly n good ness man The clerical committee who brought him here will better real izo it since his departure Of the 10000 they had to raise 5000 goes to England A certain per cent of thisno one knows how muchgoes- to II Everytfmo IIGipsy Gipsy dropped a dollar in the basket he was certain to get it back many fold It stimulatedothers to give The committee did all the hard workllOipsy did the talking and got both the money and glory Now this committee while walking the streets of Cincinnati this winter will look into shaved faces ofmen women and children and will not have a dollar togive them The 5 00 theyollght tq have will be in Eng land or in the pockets of Gipsy lAud niter all now that the revival is over and II Gipsy has gone rejoicing what has its amounted tot This no doubt is the quiet nnimpassioned reflection of quite a number of good people Everybody but revivalists know that paroxysmal oiety has not the staying qualities llGips1I said some very good things and many foolish things Take him all in all ho is a credit toH Sam Jones But revivalists all alike make this one common mistake they abuse infidels whose arguments they cannot answer und those of the clergy who refuse to cheapen their serious calling by imi tating them lor by contributing to ieir notoriety To the credit of many ministers they do not measure their usefulness by burlesque notoriety nor do they regard their greatness as measured by the work of press agents and wide advertising Hol men do notmake a holy show of themselves A good preacher like a good doctor is seldom a good busi imaganelggenr all skiniw I1 J B WILSON Cincinnati Ohio 1 IMMORTALITY A toy which people cry for And oa their kncfes apply for Dispute contend rind lie for And allowed W1Btet p1it il L J i Juli I r If 1To Subscribers of the Blade 1 tAs you perceive we have gotten buck into our old t- t clothes It has conic to puss that we have to get lawnj 1to hard rough work in order to exist and this excuset for frocks thet 1t1A statement is due our subscribers for the cause of thisj and here it is in figures that all may read 1STAT li NT j j yProm January 1C09 to December 1901 tyj Expenses j 1FOlt eight WeelsttTo Mr Charlesworth the Editor 48 j ttweeks salary at 24 per week 115200 j To composition paper printing fold tj ing mailing postage at 36 48 j weeks at 36 per week 172800 288000 j j j- j Total expense ALossj j t In the above statement which is absolutely accurate trent lights and other incidentals are not included Betjsides we had donations of over a hundred dollars which t cuts down the subscription receipts We count that our t- t loss for the whole fiftytwo weeks will amount close to t j a thousand dollars 100000 t undergtt t t jsurely be indulgent with us in adopting cheaper methods t jof publication since we have to do this to insure tlwt i existence of the Blade There are many we are suret will like to see the Blade back in its old form with thet + familiar features of its founder in the northwest t cornerAto The paper alone for the Blade t as it has been printed costsT1500t weekly In present form it costs only 900 j j a saving of 600 per week There is a like saving allidown the line t thltiiwas j j quit the Blade j This offer must appear fair to our subscribers as it willjbe seen by the statement that Mr Charlesworth j getting the largest part of the receipts from the wasi Now that we have no editorial writer we must j j j as before upon the enthusiasm and patriotism of our jsubscribers for copy We ask you to supply us with S articles from your pen so we may always have matter on hands with which to fill up j t jIf we conic out even on the Blnde we will be satisfied j j j Remember the price of everything connected with a paper j is high like in nil other things and we cant go on with j such a loss it was either cut down or begin begging j again and this we do not want to do + j Mr Charlesworth contemplates starting a paper of his t- ownj in which effort we wish him success It would b j j Well for the new Liberal Organization to have an organ j of its own and there is room for all We will miss his + able editorials and we have had no quarrel with lmimof j One thing is certain the Old Blade is going to live if j j we have to cut it down to two pages and wait for better j- 4j times The Spirit of Old Brother Moore still hangs over j it and we are sure there are enough of the Old Guard to tgo to tho front for it and defend its existence When tj better tfimes conic again we will improve the paper and j two ask our readers to bear with us until such a time t Your disappointment is not one half that of ourstj Beginning with the new year our price for subscrip j- j tion will bo 125 instead of 150 We want to be fair j j amid come half way with our subscribers A great many Z t subscribers dropped out when Hhe Blade changed to ttho magazine form They seemed to like time newspaper t form tho best We hope now to see them back tVc want to again appeal to our subscribers especially j tthe old ones llrs Henry Mrs Closz Dr Wilson Dr j iBowles Kidder Clark Johnson maid others to fall in line and give us other help Our very existence now t depends upon the enthusiasm of our contributors This J tof course is some work for you We would be glad to tpay for riptides if we could but remember how much tgreater is our work mad we do not get anything out of j t it either We Hope the New Year will start off more j prosperous for all We hope fof your help and encourage t meat Bear with the Blade as it is and stand by it till ibetter times Remember subscriptions to Blade begin jwith January 1 91125 per year In clubs of if 1Q75 each Sincerely yours + I 0 wA11 E IIUG ES PfoIJri I l ++ + t +I r FALL OF ONCE RULING SPAIN INTERESTING ARTICLE ON THE EMANCIPATION OF THE SLAVES IN THE ONE TIME GLORIOUS MONARCHY By Harold Banning All Freethinkers have read with satisfaction the good news from Spain The most intelligent people of that priestridden country have revolted against go1 and king They have taken arms and are fighting in the bloodstained streets of Bnrcelona to establish a godless republic their anger they have committed a few outrages We reII Bret to hear of destruction of property These excesses will be bitterly denounced by the press ofD world and will injure the cause By resorting to such violence they are placing themselves on a level with Christians The churches should have been converted into schools hospitals etc If every church were a school and every priest a teacher Spain would he the most enlightened nation of the world While the mobs of Barcelona are flinging themselves against the bayo nets of the soldiers and struggling to hold their barricades we can only hope that success will crown their ef n fortsHistory has recorded the fall oft many nations ofnone has the cline been so rapid and complete as that of Spain and cause Relig ion To understand this we must take a brief glance at history When Rome fell Spain was invaded by the Visigoths an intelligent and vigor 0nsrMeTJiqiilii3L mn rJ t ig conquerors and they bec Ue pneI people This blend produced a bet ter race From the Goths the Span card inherited his courage from the Romans his active mind Then in 711 came the Moorish invasion which swept Spaniards into the north ern provinces Under Ferdinand nail Isabella the Moorish power was crushed and the Spanish kingdoms twereIsabella established the Inquisition and the screams of the tortured vie timswere heard for the first time in the towns and cities of Spain The Spaniards now began to display a terrible energy Every year found Spain more powerful her highest point under Charles V and Phillip II The world was too controlledEurope In battle her soldiers were invincible world trembled One hundred million subjects obeyed Phillip ITj The Spanish fleets brought millions in gold from South America Spain was prosperous and her future was bright The united armies of Europe could not crush her Up to this time the Spaniards hadI born a comparatively godless IJcopleI They loved their country more than they loved their god They were Chris tiaras but god played second fiddle But in the reign of Philip II god plague swept over Spain and with it came ruin In a few years the church owned or controlled everything The fearless Spaniards soon became whin ing godfearing Christians The priests shout and the clangs of the fleawheel and the rack were in constant operation The screams of the tortur ed were heard in every city of Spain und the blazing stake became a com mon sight Philip II soon became a tool in the hands of priests He laughed heartily when he heard of the Massacre of St Bartholomews Day Then the crash clIme Dutch provinces revolted The priests said herjobeyedjsnidII Conquer and Philip obeyed to the best of his ability TitjNoflownf torture and sailed for England only to meet destruction Thi1S the 2 hr- J last great blow Philips reign can be described bone wordcrime Had Philip II been an atheist tory would not be soiled with the story of his bloody deeds and Spain maybetions Crushed and degraded by re ligion the Spaniards lost their vigoraand even their courage vanished They were taught to fear god anti the germs of fear once planted they soon began to fear their enemies The Inquisition had them brutes ligion now made them cowards Their battles were stories of defeat and shame Their few victories were of massacre and torture Then the foundation of Spains glory vanished t The walls fell and she is now mass of ruins from which comes the priests shout and the yells of the bull fight Behold Religions work This was the work of the Catholic church but the Protestants are no better There is no choice Both are inspired by the same godtheory However the Protestant churches are younger and their history is not so rich with crime But there is hope Let Spain de throne god and expel king Then her courage will return She will again be power Many Spaniards now see the cause of their fall The courage displayed in Barcelona shows that the t 1 old spirit has not diediPoor Spain Her king is almost absolute and the church controls the land Her neighbors are prosperous Their kings and priests have been humbled Let Spain follow their ex ample The slave has been emancipated The serf 1a beefreed and t gallnn r co acrosstl e sea throwrqifr the yoke51Jgbd and king Mt Vernon 0 PUSHING AND PULLING HPush nndIPnll Did you ever face a swing door with the above postedon either sideaThey are extremes and their work ings are exactly in the opposite direc are governed by much the same conditions Those who expect to court success through aII pull have a splendid chance to die disappointed The men who use II push to get there stand a better chance to win and very often reach the desired gonlMJ f wFtPause i x door The word II pull stares at you The door has temporarily arrested your progress Your road lies through itnnd beyond it To pull causes you to halt and so mudof your time has been lost Now take the other side under similar conditions and desires As you approach the door you observe the wordx H push and you put forth the ner essary force to open it and walk rightyon without hesitation or halting Did you ewer go through Stlclian experience If you have von can un derstand what is meant by pro cesses above described Pushing hurts nobody but it iSgn mighty help Pulling is as opt to retard as it is to as sist There are lots of people in this world who expect to get through it on theitlpull The larger and pre ponderant portion of them fail In other words they never get there The man who uses II pushmmd relies upon his own vigor and energy usually makes a mark ail is to a puStinu of importance to his fellows The pushing man is tho strong man to whom the weaker ones will look in times of trouble and emergency Tho pulling man is a mental and physical cripple who is waiting for somebody to do something for him Suppose that swing door represents opportunity Now what are you ing to d07 Stand waiting for a pull No none of think Get busy and push it open and pass through without- halting or hesitation If Freethinkers are ever to win a decisive batfle in their great fight against organized superstition they standedMicawberlike waiting for something to turn up in the shape ofa pull means irretrievable loss and ruin LI a BLUE GRASS BLADE FOUNDED By CHARLES CHILTON MOORE And edited by him until his death February JAMES E HUGHES Proprietor 12612 Uorth Limestone Street Lexington Kentucky P 0 Box SUBSCRIPTION RATES fly mall postpaid J125 pr yr In ndmnce Fire new yearly subscribers at one mittance cents each Foreign subscriptions postpaid 200 per year ADVERTISING RATES One Inch single column Insertion cents one month or four Insertion 100 six months 500 one year 300 Quarter column Insertion 200 one month 400 six months 2000 one year 3000 Half column whole column or largier advertisements at special rates upon ap has the right to reject any and all advertisements offered GENERAL BUSINESS RULES ALL SUBSCRIPTIONS to the Blade will be discontinued nt the expiration of the term for which the subscription hi been paid up In advance The addre slip on tio paper will show subscribers the date or expiration of subscription flack numbers or numbers omitted be sent If asked for upon renewal case of discontinuance SHOULD ANY SUBSCRIBER change hIs or her address advise this omen givIng both old and new address as desires TITS OFFICE of publication of the Blue at 126128 North Limestone Stree Lexington Kentucky to which all Freethinkers will be given a hearty wet come THE BLADE Is entered nt the Post office at Lexington Kentucky as second des mailing matter ADDRESS ALL COMMUNICATIONS TO JAMES E HUGHES Box Lexington Kentucky Mr John R Gharlesworth has tired from the Editorship of the Blade and is not now connected with 1the paper in any capacity Allmail matter intended for the Blade whether communications for the paper advertisements or remit tances for subscriptions should be addressed to James E Hughes or to the Blue Grass Blade To address it otherwise or to any other individual is to incur the risk of loss Referring to a recent publication in the daily press to the effect that tho Blade had mailed its last issue wi wish to say that the paper is stil published at the old stand anti wil continue to be The publication vat inspired by enemies of the Blade ant had no foundation whatever in fact We have simply reduced office ex penscH to put the paper on a paying basis and expect to improve the qual ity of its contents from week to week Thor is no immediate prospect of its death or sale Many Christians accept the gospels as being true not that they can prehend them but because they lack the mental vigor to question or deny them If you wish to unite all Freethink ers as they should be get busy and subscribe for tho Blue Grass Blade Does the Blue Grass Blade please you If it pleases you would it not also please your friends Why not hand them a copy and get them to subscribe soleImeriting again after death could never console for the loss ofa dear friend now We want our friends now We want them with us just as they are and just as we have learned to love them There can be no great joy in the belief that some time in the here after we may meet with only a part of our friends under different condi tions and circumstances If the life to cpmo is unlike the life that is and our friends are not to be same as they are now there is small consolation in the Christian dream of immortality GALLS HEAVENS IDEA A SOP TO FAILURES RABBI HARRISON SAYS PARA DISE WAS INVENTED BY THEOLOGIANS AS AN ANODYNE SUCCESS HIS TOPIC Blessed Are the Unpopular De clares Clergyman in Sermon at the Temple Israel That heaven is a place invented by theologians partly to reword those wise enough to agree with them and partly to comfort failures to keep them from tearing the successful to pieces was the gist of the argument of Rabbi Leon Harrison in his address before Temple Israel yesterday morn ing This paradise of the theologians ho declared is a sop thrown to Cer bcrus an anodyne a pacificator The subject of Doctor Harrisons sermon was The Great God Suc cess He said in part Success means to get what everybody wants The question is Ts what you want that which you need or that which you ought to have Would it not be a fatality to give all men their hearts desire We would kill them with kindness We pay too dearly for our desires It is the story of the magic skin the symbol of life itself that shrank with every hearts desire fulfilled lIrcn bow down to the golden calf oven to a donkey that is golden fhI worship that which is like the wor shipper Especially today is this true We care less for the souls of men less- for the learning of men Most for their material achievements and for their substantial possessions Different Standpoints- We do not often ask lore they got what they want But wo ask Have they what everybody else wants They may deem themselves highly and nobly successful but from our standpoint they may be failures Or we may deem them geniuses of achievement yet they may know the ghastly I know of no better than the of making the best of this world I know of no higher religion than the simple religion of doing the squar the square thing means do your share toward It is not the bosom of Abraham I seek It is the good will of those whom I meet on this II dusty road to death Wo are too often told that we di not take the world to come seriously enough But I say unto you that wi take it too seriously We think too muchof what shall happen to us whet we are dead and not enough of what shall happen to us while we live So far as we have any rational idea the cold sod is the end of all The vague fancies we have of a home be yond this turmoil are born of hope and angels are but creatures of our dreams wanned to life with Love We know that we cannot take from nor add to the destiny that awaits We know that within our bodies is a power whose energies we may direct for good or evil here that in the cul tivation of noble thoughts and tender mercies we arrive at the portals of a heaven that satisfies all the longings of the soul The thing that should concern you is not whether you shall sit with the saints that aro dead but whether you shall be worthy of with the living Life is really but a register of our affections If you shed the light of love upon every germ of good you will meet the full measure of a man Creeds and cults are barbarous restrain the univer sal good Rituals are but links chains that shackle the race To fulfill our to the men and women and children who are laily on tho journey through the wilderness of life is the mly religion There is no higher than the love we owe to our brothers If here be worlds hereafter with whis and golden wings and reen meadows where we shall meet to talk it over when the day of Life is into dusk the road that cads us there lies through Lovenot the cold love of some supernal being but tho same simple earth born love that you have known poverty of their own spirit thin spirit ual of their lives however enormous in outward seeming History is the worship of the marl who did The hero is the doer If he does that which no one else cares to do he is a martyr Some mens summary of the new is Be popular swim with the stream Yet only dead things float always with the current It argues little to be swift in the downward flow Let us create new beatitudes Blessed are the Blessed are they that do not stand in a row Blessed arethey that dare to be them selves to think their own thoughts to live their own life to follow their star Heaven a Sop We need not a of suc cess but a of failure How shall we explain sorrow remorse suf fering poverty sickness sin Do they spell success or failure Deserved or unmerited or wanton cruelty My good is my cess Ought my good to conflict with the common good Ought it not to score for humanity as for me7 II That is the burning question day This line of cleavage splits ciety into and socialists and radicals Heaven is a place that have vented partly to reward those wise enough to agree with them partly to comfort failures to keep them from tearing the successful to the sop thrown to Cerberus an anodyne a Politics is a same of the strong hand and war also But the greatest truths are not decided by popular votenot not aesthetics nor science not oven ethics If we wrote down only the morality that we see and not that which we simply hear it would be a gigantic restrained only by the club and the scourge of ones tongue SPLINTERS FOOM A JACCED PHILOSOPHY philosophy philosophy spreading happiness fellowship growthhinder obligations companions dependable obligation peringangels gathered mysterious bankruptcy commandments unpopular philosophy philosophy heartbreak purposeful individualists conscrvntists theologians pieccsIti- s pacificator philosophy immorality policemans neighbors love with its human tears nnd sniils the love that feels and know how weak we arethe love that un dcrstands forgives and forgets We talk of Gods compassion but diviner far is the tear of sympath that brothers shed one for another here on this old earth where the road is long and weary and the bramble cut deep The only grace that can save you is the grace you have withinthe mere you show unto ethers and the mere that it begets for you Worship is not a riltualistic performance on wind some unseen Deity looks from heav ens battlements on the seventh day Worship is work One nay is as hot as no anthem like n bapp laugh and no prayer so eloquent as a kind act The real reverence is ered by no cowl The man who lends the helping hand to need is devout Men wino have filled tile world with fears and doubtsdogmas that make men cowersare enemies unawares of and your doubt am your fears are expressions of disease of darkness of dwarfed growth We of this ago are victims of mer who fastened upon our forbears trines born in the greed of power the thirst of supremacy Our ideas of God blaspheme If we have a missionif the sparl of immortality inhabit this frame of mortal flesh you cannot better pre serve it than by living free from fears imputing beastliness to God free of entanglements which obscure thin ligations you owe to the only world md the only life of which you know who worries over thin question mark that looms up on the horizon of life knows nothing of the joy of liberty of faith in the Archi net of the Universe His bonds have upped his strength and fear and louht have shut the light from his soulI fear no evil I know that if Intelligence rule upon it there is no blood clot of crime Our religion has only to do with tans relation to this world The gods we should worship are here And I tell you that not in heaven are there more angels than tread this vole nor hath hell half the demons Strong in that faith let us sip tho wine of all creedslet us steal heI hooey from the roses of till religions And when we have done we shnll have lived aright For thin rose of life is Love aeath but a biting frost In eternity it will bloom again if thero is season If not all shall be wellWm Cnrut ers in Gems of Thought IGNORANCE Ignorance has two cons ant allies superstition and jealousy Every new idea every step forwai in thin worlds progress has met thi trio at the threshold Ignorance hili denied superstition has feared jei only has fought every ndvanccmoii The discoveries of new arts u1 sciences says Disrali have hard ever lived to sec them adopted by the progress alone but virtue ito has been persecuted Socrates paid the death penalty for no other offense than his intelligent and virtue It required courage in those da s to thinkIt always required courage It to honest Ignorance is often powerful it is always cruel- Knowledge has had n hard fight fOl the Great the godfather of the phonograph spent thirty ears creating a machine that gave forth vocal sounds which Thomas Aquinas demolished in thirty seconds And the latter thought he had done the more commendable thing Such was the nature of Thirteen century intolerance Trithcmius the grandfather of stenography was branded as n disciple of the devil and his manuscript ofII diabolical mysteries were publicly ime schoolboy experiments of nelius Agrippa so startled the Fifteenth century that he was compelled to flee from tho wrath of those who believed him in league with evil spirits Thin old world has had a hard time establishing its rightful place in the best friends have suffcre the penalties of torture or the grnveI In the church placed the ban upon tho great work of Copernicus For over 200 yeas his truths were discreditedIt than a century since his light was permitted to shine Galileo suffered persecution as a pledge of his sincerity Ignorance bolted his prison doors bigotry burned his manuscripts It is a significant fact that in the century of Galileos death occurred the birth of Newton Ignorance has hat to battle with great minds in every age Roger BaconII the geometricr monk was kept in close confinement ten years as a penalty for telling the truth The truth was painfully unpopula even as late as the close of thin sever tcenth century Error wore thin ermine Truth occupied the dungeons wore the chains- Mankind has always exacted gren sacrifices from its deliverers The reward of truth is its triumpl Machinsts Journal THE BEST BUSINESS He that attends to his interior self Hint has a heart and keeps it hits n mind That hungers and supplies it ana who seeks A social not a dissipated life las business feels himself engager to achieve- o unimportant though r silent task A life all turbulence and noise may seem To him that leads it wise and to be praised But wisdom is a pearl with most sue cess- Sought in still water aril beneath clear skies Cooper NEW CHRONICLES THE TEN YEAR LONG DREAM THAT MADE INGERSOLL FAMOUS By E J Edwards Any standard American cncyclopo din or biographical dictionary wil tell ou that Col Bob Ingcrsoll wn oue of Americas most famous orators Certain it is that in many pents Ingersoll stands out ns thin reatestorator America has yet produced Emotionally this is so and as a Shakespearean orator so called it is generally conceded that none has palled him lie too possessed the rare gift of putting that elusive somo thing into his periods that make them senc1 thrills along ones backbone when they are read as they did when their creator delivered them with the power of his magnificent eloquence nnel personality Few very few tho worlds famous orations eo arouse ThoughtsOn Fear Debases Mankind and Ilsurrs Obedience to Authority By dimming Severance Genuine religion which is belief worship applied to n phantom god is the rankest kind of superstition it is kept alive and perpetuated he cause of its power to subjugate nnd control the masses through fear the most potent influence ever applied tn ignorant minds Fear debases and i1 shies obedience to authority mal ng men the slaves of priestcraft and rannical governments All governments fever religion and the reason is found in the fllct that minds saturated with it arc more easily controlled and have greater spect fur authority than those minds which reject it Religious pct plo are not radical thinkers for he Moving in God mid holding fast to tho idea that the affairs of this world are under his control a spirit of resignation animates them and prevents nr serious disturbance ofsociety matter how rotten and corrupt things become When religions people get restless and discontented because of oppression and injustice they aro quieted by being told that H GoFs ways are not our ways and there is n purpose in their afflictions which while not now understood will be made perfectly clear in thin world to come They are also led to believ that whom God lovoth he chasten eth and that the greater ones sufferings here from any cause the morn certain will be their bliss aua felicity in tho life without end Such people are not apt to do much thinl ing or kicking about governments the way those in authority conduct themselves for regarding this life a temporary affair and something ble to bo ended unexpectedly any dirt they concern themselves moro rbor the next world than this one Because Paul told them in his day to bo obedient to authority the chumps still think they must be so when radical reforms nro started the unbeliever and the Freethinker is tho man that does the business ligion is a soporific to thin mind and sure preventative of rational think ing It is therefore the worst thing that can afflict mortal inn for that which prevents rational thought and keeps the mind dormant insures n host of evils that could bo avoided nod fills his life with groundless fear that generate misery without limit A the blood when they are scanned on the printed page As everybody familiar with Ingci soils career knows he gained na tional fame through hisH Plumed tviiight speech Thin tiny before he delivered it he was unknown the da after his name was on thin lips of th country But not until now has it been told how Ingcrsoll cane to con eive his masterpiece how he built it ip sentence by sentence through period of years and then to pleas his brother clinched his hold on by writing it down in n few minutes Ono Memorial Day two or thro fears after he had begun tho prnctic of law in Ncw York City Col Tiigcr soil stood on a corner watching the rcternns of tIle civil war as they narched past the reviewing stand The Opening Words There were tears in his eyes as In naked upon the old soldiers am turning to me he repented tho opening sentence of his justly celebrates ifcinorial Day address which you can see engravon in bronze in thu tional Cemetery at Arlington 111he past rises before mo like a am He saw almost as vividl as he hind seen in the days of the war itself the soldiers on their march allying to tho attack charging falling dying for their country As he walked away in my company after the procession hind passed asked him if it were true that In wrote his famous Plumed Knight II speech at about midnight one iiisht as had been incidentally reported Seizing my arm and iroving slnwli iromrh Madison Square Col Inger story is partly correct But the real truth is that I was ten years writing that speech hind boon rent admirer of James 0 Blaine from the time he was first n member of Congress I thought he was a typical American and would make n great resident I pictured to myself nlaino in political action Ho often iscinnted me when I saw him sitting in tho chair of tho Speaker of the ITouse of Representatives Every and licit a thought would come in which I expressed to myself Inow ideas and my ideals of Blaine I went to tho Republican nation mans thinker was mado to use and those who do nut exercise it without restraint of fear are losing the must s ntisfactory blessing and privilege that Nature has given to man Tho power and tho pleas ure contained in mental action in the exercise of the mind in perfect freedom on all questions and subjects gives to mankind the highest kind of happiness and thus faculty to think and lo reason which elevates him above brutes can and will if not re strained by religion and superstition raise the race to heights never yet at tained But while religion continues to muddle the brains of any portion of tho race that portion will be kept back and down The most religions nation on the globe is probably Russia and she is the most backward and un developed There it is a crime to teach tho peasants how to rend and write for if her vast hordes cf human ings in n low stage of development are to bo kept under tho iron heel of despotism as they now are religion and ignorance must make it possible The progress of all nations has been dependent on getting away from re ligion and religious influences and no exception can bo found in history United States with all its im perfections in government and unjust laws is the foremost nation in istence and there is less religion among thin people at large than can be found elsewhere Our greatest progress has been made in the last years and we have grown intellectnni- Iy during that time more as n whole people than we did from the very set tlement of the country by the Pun fans Wo are forging ahead withrap id strides because religion is petering ntlt and dries not wield the influence it once did on society But it is yet a widespread and dangerous force and l he fought to prevent as far as possible its evil influence When a nine has once got rid of his religion he feels a relief words cannot express and I never know of a case where a former victim of that mindparalyzing superstition known as Christianity over felt regret at losing his faith in it The world is hungry for new ideas and the stale rot that has been fed so long in the name of God and Jesus is turning the stomachs of untold numbers for which let us be truly thankful and give to reason so long dormant the credit al convention of 187G at Cincinnati in company of my brother We shared a parlor and had two bed rooms at tho hotel My brother knew that I had been asked to place Blaine in nomination Ho became very nervous because I did not sit down and write out my speech TIc was tinually prodding mo to do this but I put him off But I was really writing that speech nil time mentally I composed part of it on tine railway train on the way to Cincinnati All tho ideas that had come to mo from time to time respecting Blaino I men tally gathered and sifted and decid ed upon the expression of my thought Wrote the Thought of Years II On the evening of thin day before the nominating speeches were to bo made my brother said to me Bob you have got to write that speech fore you go to lied II All right I said Ill write it this evening So a little before midnight I took pen and ink and two ir three sheets of paper and wrote out the speech I was simply copying what was in my mindwhat I had been years writing You know this if the way Webster prepared his fa nuts replr to ITnyno After I had lone that I went to bed and was soon iound asleep I simply did it to please ny brother and that is the way what hey call tho Plumed Knight speech vns put down on paper at midnight in Itll iiiimtks Paine did nor for humanity in a week than the god tho Christians wor ship have done since Moses is said to have led thin children of Israel out of Sgypt The bible god inculcated and permitted slavery Paino toiled and wrote for freedom bible god cvnstntcd people with plague and pestilence Paine wrought pence with liberty Every new truth is an obstacle in superstitions path and finding lodg tent in n fertile mind or brain makes stronger for intellectual freedom Thin Undo works for that glorious con ummation It may not accomplish inch hilt it will continuo to do its hest Our suggestion is Hint you strive to get the Blade into the hands of as many of your friends ns possible 7r T Hc r R d I I KNOW YOU fNOT Mandate of Christian Cr Ity Issued Against all Who Refuseto Accept Foolish Fable as ffact Selfishness is the supreme goal of orthodox ChristianitY This fact gains eoCrohorntion every day Wo meet with it on every hand It confront us in public places in the home in church mid in the pulpit Love may bo the dynamics of human society the great cohesive force but it is not tho impelling power of orthodox Christianity A few evenings ago I attended n ligious services and among the erne thinS snip by the preacher Ill give ono When I get to heaven Ill be glad to see those turned away who rejects God here Ill be glad to hear Him say depart from me I know you not This may sound harsh to you but 1 repeat etc The shove is but another proof of the contention of Freethinkers tha the Christian religion is a narrow creed fit only for zealots and bigots No broadminded man can accept it as a comforting or sustaining hope Its littleness crops out more or less by the oneboss preacher or the bishop Its selfishness raises the in dividual above humanity in general The preacher imagines himself the ideal man while all others are but fragments of sinful flesh curious ly compounded He believes in freedom hat it must conform with his own belief II strenuously maintains his inaliennbl right to worship according to the die tates of his own conscience yet gladly anticipates a seething sulphuric satanicdom for him whoso conscience is not in accord with his own He i void of sense that he knows nothing of human mentality We believe today as we are forced to believe Wo cannot believe otherwise But by tomorrow we may bo changed by en vironment to believe differently The man who can back up judgments by proven facts is the really redeemed but lIe who fol lows blind faith or he who professes to believe what he does not believe is the criminal This is tho sin un pardonable Tho ono whose belief is founded up on the results of investigation the one who is n Christian believer now or the ono who has been in the faith hint now is infidel to that belief Which one has been observing reading meditating and reflecting Which is the ono able to form judgments Whoso opinion is of more weight tr a sensible inquirer that of a slobber ing sentimentalist or that of a pro fuse render and profound thinker Who is more apt to roach sane con clusions and happy conditions Paine says It is necessary to tIle happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself when a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe he has prepared hint self fur the commission of every oth er crime Yet here is a man who says if you cannot honestly believe what he believes Ill be glad to srI them turned away from their Clod Mothers where are your hearts TTow ran you clasn the hands of such a man in Christian fellowshin 1 would recoil from that extended hand as from n free salamander or a snake Are your sons doomed to an eternal hell You shako your head no Other mothers sons are as pre dolls as your own 0nimon sense savs if one is worth saving they will all be saved if there is heaven Here is a yonn Girl blossomincr into womanhood the very picture of health with innoponco in her heart cravely in her lauirh huovinov in her stem and crncp in her forms nnssns asc of accountability NOrs on and on yet unit with no church She rends obsmvcs and rc heels v PPPPIIS no Ho who can bohod her mud put fnl a benevolent inlprpst in Tier is ou ohicet with special dolicrht it roust bp that your woman Man ims his respect to her bows to her profpcts her and if need bo gives his lifo for hers poets paint her in crlowinnr colors and hold her in thin swppfpst notes and in the hereafter if there is anything of harm should threaten her all would fall prostrate before their god in agonizing tears in her behalf Yet hero is a preacher because she rejects Ood here who will bo glad to see her turned away from heaven Fathers have yon lost your manhood t TEIit possible that your sen 1 Isibilitics havolMecome so blunted by such ignorant ranting that you do not know when you are insulted 01 forbid that o hould sit like dllmh caHlo and failMircscut another snch onslaught upon JIo ii reason S ent enrts iftink ok your lover thbir lougto esses their tender words7 their qlraptiiring whisper and their faithful devotion to you wives dwell fora moment upon yonr adoring hnsbantPwho chose yon as the fairest of ten thousand who love you for your own true worth who meets all obstacles and overcome them for your sake who laughs with you who weeps with you and then because they do not affiliate them selves with the church here here is a man wholl be glad for then to meet an angry Ood yonder Sweethearts wives can you em brace n religion that gives the sweet assurance of attaining a state ofminel where you will bo glad when misfor tune befalls othctte here or hereafter Shame on you all Blest bo the tic that binds your llCarts in Christian loveLovers die husbands die mothers fathers children and all pass away even our enemies must go but where is there an infidel who is so base m judgmenttothe road that leads to Gehanna This alone is reserved for Chilstian chari ty I believe in no GoJ nor future life I would rather entertain no hopes of future life than to believe that my worst enemy would be con signed to the unquenchable flames of hell I wonder how much longer tin churchcan flourish in a truly civiliz ed country Whenwill people learn that priest craft Wa curse that Christianity is but n bolded fraud that the church itself is a falsity In the language of Remsburg When I survey the dark sad cen tnii s of tbupiIiwhtuu I dwell upon the bloody deds and frightful wrongs committed by this cruel church when I see Liberty in chains Justice a stranger in every court and science wearing the brand of infamy upon her brow when I witness the unre quited toils and sufferings of those who have lived and died for right when I see the beautiful and learned lypatia dragged naked through the streets of Alexandria and foully mur dered by Christian priests when I review the treatment accorded to Bruno Galileo Servetus Voltaire and Paine when I see an indolent and crafty priesthood preying upon human hopes and fears holding in bondage brains of my fellowmen and filling the land with supersti tion fear and crime when all this rises up before the vision of my mind I feel an honest aspiration to contrib ute something toward hastening the time when freedom justice and intelligence shall fill the world and priest craft with its churches be no more And when none will become to der graved as to be glad to see others thrown into a literal seething foaming hell Hard to Digest Im afraid Ill disagree with yon remarked Jonah as the whale swallowed Perhaps replied the whale but it wont be n circumstance to the way- tho theologians will disagree when they conic to discuss this incident From the Mouth of a Babe One morning a Sundayschool was about to be dismissed and the youngsters were already in anticipation of relaxing their cramped little limbs ar tel the hours of confinement on ifraightbacked chairs and benches when tho superintendent arose and instead of usual dismissal nounced And now children let me ntroduco Mr Smith who will give a short talk Mr Smith smilingly arose and af tel gazing impressively around the lassroom began with I hardly know what to say when tho whole school was convulsed to hear a sultan bin a back in tho rear lisp Tliay amen and thit down It is gratifying to learn that heave- a condition but is subsidiary con itions are too hard to be complied with j 19091909 jj I Blue Grass Blade Bound volume i AAY A 1 300 Reduced from last years price 300 j- A Subscribe NOW and get your name on the list in time A Y 1 A STILL BETTER OFFER t- t For Five New Subscribers For Five New Subscribers 4 Volumej t t A FREE OF COST i To any person sending us five new subscribers in one club at the regular rates before Dec 31 1909 4j AA1BLUE GRASS BLADE Lexington Ky 4+ + A SUGGESTION TO THE POPE You are about to confer a candi nal hat upon somo American priest Thought this matter is absorbing much of your time and attention I am go ing to ask a favor of yon I appeal- to you because Spain is one of tin countries of which you are the real ruler By your influence over Al phonso who though king is your obedient servant you control tho tinies of that land Not a sparrow falls to tim ground in Spain without your knowledge and consent My petition is this I pray you to bring about as quickly as possible the publication of all the charges against Ferrer nnd his answer to these charges that the world may know why he was killed Although you cannot bring him back to life you can help to vindicate his memory if ho was innocent or to vindicate tin church if he was guilty Todo this I suggest that you invite a properly constituted Civil Tribunal to hear in public the evidence for and against Ferrer Of course this should have been done before ho was killed but is it too late to give a satisfactory explanation to the hundreds of thous ands who all over the world are asking Why was Ferrer TilledV You may reply that Ferrer has ready been tried by martial law But do you not know that martial law as tho Duke of Wellington has said represents no more than the caprice of officers Was not Drey DreIfusLet me warn you kindly Popo Pins that there is a limit to the patience of the people You are today afraid to appear in the streets of Rome be cause of the hatred of the masses for your office and person Win can von not try to change their hatred to respect and their opposition to de votion to your cans Play fair and the wholo world will honor you But if you continuo to fear progress and imagine that by curses and excom munications you can make the mod urn world look to you as n father oven with the holy 11itoutvou will one of these days bo nidelv awakened out of your dream Al ready there aro many signs that Tfafv is s riouslv thinking of asking von to look for a home elsewhere This will compel you perhaps to seek an asv urn in some Protestant country Will not that he n treat humiliation But if you are compelled to flee from Rome and if the papacv should fnll Yaneiseo Ferrer will bo ono of the pauses of its downfall Isis blind tries from the crronnd for justice HI- s not the only dead whose Lost will haunt papaev and haunt it out nf the world of culturo anti prosrcss lonipmber Giordano Bruno TCemem W TTvpatia Remember Joan of Arc Von have apologised to this last hat it took you five hundred years to do it Do not let another five hundred years elapse before you let the day ieht on the murder of Francisco Ferrer 5F M MANOASAHTAN THE POWER OP THOUGHT Thinking means an abundance of hard work It also implies considera ble leisure There must bo leisure inio in which to think if thinking is to be done Orthodoxy does not J =N N N N NNNNNNNN N N N N N N N N N N N NiNiNiNiNiHi Mi iNiNiNiNiHiNiHiN j On A j e j YA j j- j j i Searchlight4 jm A 20Page Liberal Y tIt Monthly 4 tJ + t 1 Published by J D SHAW Waco JTexas j j AAAAy iWrite for a sample copy which will be sent free A Q+ + think Its advocates do not think They have much leisure time on their hands but it is spent in worship in stead of in thought and the only thinking ever done by the professors of orthodoxy has been forced upon them as a means of selfdefense delity to their creed excludes honest thought To think outside the confine of their creed would be an act of faithfulness A new idea seldom if ever strikes them While defending the old the sacred tho past that is dead the clergy cannot become inven tive Neither can they become origi nal Like a newly made captive bird beating against the bars of its cage struggling to be free tho human mind ever beat against the bars of that prison which orthodoxy has con structed for it In its struggles the mind has bent twisted and broken these bars It has passed beyond them and the priest stands defending but an empty dungeon The inability of tho priesthood to think has caused a lack of inventive and scientific genius among them If we go to any church no matter the denomination or the personality of tho preacher so long as it passes der the name of Christian and is so accepted the teaching is precisely the sane the method of teaching only being slightly different All ortho doxy by whatever name or sect is ono and tho same founded on the same myth built bv the same intolerance and perpetuatet by the sane degree of ignorance power of church is in illiteracy It is in dependent thinking of the masses that lies impelled a semblance to thinking by tho priesthood Selfdefense forced the issue Tho priest not only had to defend his church and its creed against the advancing intelligence but likewise had to defend himself Hero sad there like an oasis in some dreary desert a few think too much and TWO NOTED BOOKS FENNEL In THE ORIENT by Charles Chilton Moore When a young man the author had started out to walk through the Holy Lands on foot Reaching Paris ho gave up the Journey and returned home He made the trip by rail and boat about three years before his death This book gives an account of what he saw and explodes numerous Christian myths It Is especially suitable for a present Cloth Bound Pages Postpaid 125 Address orders to BLUE GRASS BLADE Lexington Ky their candor compels them to ally themselves with the intelligent thought of the day Is your name on the Blade muster Ho who is not master of himself is unworthy to rule others Now is the accepted time to arise hump yourself and do something to keep the Blades head up The Blade is snaking preparations for a strenuous campaign anti urges its friends to give all possible encour agement in spreading tho beneficent light of Freethought over the laud 2l1ots HUl1ta Hopkins Bleaching Gloves telct tear Itla ceaotaw Juu UDlulOJulIIhlamulu1os rCa A TRIP TO ROME by J WILSON The International Congress of Free thinkers was held In the City of Rome Italy September Tim author attended that Congress as the American delegate It Is an account of travel and personal experiences that has received on universal encomium from press and people In It religious dogmas and tales of priestly notion are ruthlessly exposed while the general style Is without com parison In American literature of travel Cloth bound pages Illustrated Address orders to BLUE GRASS BLADE Lexington Ky BILLS flVENUE makes you cheerful and thoughtful It is a department In the personaliOF LIKE that You find yourself waiting with Interest for what mil has to say next fN fMBR10ftN- MflDONf leaserI- al ruI1JnKIn the WHEKL BILL OF LIKE la written by Mary hoes Todd theablest writer ot Liberal action since Grunt Allen aiulls a beautiful presentation of the essentially modern problem of Woman In Business THB WttBBL OF LIFE A monthly periodical It deals with ORIGINS the origin of Marriage of Ethics of Uellglon of Brotherhood of the belief In Immortality It treats broadly of Love of Humnn Instincts and Ideals It takes in the whole Wheel of Life treutlngall subjects In such a clear plain and spicy way that the dust it shaken outand they become as in reissuing as a novel to even the casual reader Send cants for a six months trial subscription or a quarter for a year CONFESSIONS 0 F fV DRONE by Joseph Modlll Patterson author of A LITTLE MROTUB OF THK KIUH sent without extra charge with a months trial subscription to the WHEEL OFLIFK Address LIFE PUll CO Desk A St Louis Mo r lh f ry ItI p y CRIME- OF FRANCISCO FERRER By Dr J B Wilson I Death does nut mnkcthc martyr hnt the cause For the heinous crime of attempting to direct his beloved hit prostrate notion in the paths of a higher education Francisco Ferrer fjlln martyr to tillhate of 1hc church and its allies the aristocracy dfSpoin Never said he will we hoe real men and real women never will we regain our prestige among notions till wo give our chil dren a rational and scientific educa lion With this end in view he gave liis whole soul to the work of the rl generation of his country O Not Wanted The priests did not want that kind of education It made thinkers and men instead of blind Christian lowers The nobility did not want it It made republicans instead of fawn ing slaveserving royalists Ferrer must die Education as it is in Spain For a thousand years the education of the Spanish people has been in the lianas of the clergy with the follow ing present showing The whole county has but few more schools than the state of Ohio There very few school buildings The chil dren are POCk into convenient rooms which ore kept in a shocking conditions with poor light and enti lotion and ore really the abodes of death Each year 50000 children die of maladies contracted in these schools 2oO000 coma out of them broken in health 480000 run the streets without receiving any ethic tion whatever and so acquiring vic jots habits The teachers are ly the Brothers and Sisters and the amount of education received is hut little more than the ritual of the church The result is that Spain day has 10000000 illiterates or about onethirdof her population Fifty thousand conscripts outer the army every year who are unable to read and write The Blight of Parochial Schools Now you have n picture of what clericalism has done for the schools of Spain lint what has it done for Spain as a nation It has disquali fled the Spanish people for states manship diplomacy commerce man ufacture business agriculture and nearly everything else that goes to make up a modern civilization The rasult is that Spain is still medacval The lack of education produced the lack of great minds to conduct her affairs and to compete with the great minds of other nations She was un able to hold her vast territorial sessions and so fell from her high rank among nations to one of the lo- westa decadent country without in vention or initiative without stimu lotion or endeavor without hope as long as the present system of educa lion prevails and excepting Russia he last of the priestruled notions of the civilized world Death to the Reformer Spout has not been without her great ntiuded men who understood her ailments but the old spirit of the Inquisition prevails and it meant death to tho reformer who shout attempt to change the old order of one great soul arose who clearly perceived that the salvation of Spout lay in the change of the ed ucational system and who dared to set in motion a revolution in this di rection Not through war intrigue or byany force did he attempt this regeneration of Spain lint simply by the establishment ofa secular school system such as we have in this country My whole nine said he is to produce an education which shall tease societyon affection and frater pity and direct all classs toward progress and happiness and make them strong healthy and free The name of this great soul was Francisco Ferrer A few wealthy people among them u woman supplied him with the acv cessary funds He founded the first modern school in Barcelona in 1001 He erected modern school buildings with modern equipments and placed a distributing library in each In 1000 when the trouble broke out he had founded one hundred of three modern schools throughout Spain Besides he established coeducation of the sexes which was particularly offensive to the clergy He got up an an entirely new system of school hooks a still greater offense which attracted the attention of educators in other countries and the name of i Francisco Ferrer began at once to take high rank among file educator of the world These modern schools with their libraries were fast spread ing modern ideas far and wide throughout illiterate decadent priest ridden SpainFerrer Must Die TliB clerical wrath at once arous ed when it saw the people taking to r this new system of education based upon science and freed of nil dog matic and supernatural conception The Archbishop of Barcelona in a letter to the head of the goe1l1mentI Senor Maura signed by himself and nil the prelates of the province of Catalonia urged the government to suppress and stamp out the god less schools as well an the radical press and nil the anarchist groups Bo he scientist philosopher or founder of a modern school if ha opposes the priesthood or the throne he is at once classed as nn Anarchist The republicans of Spain who would be content with half of the liberty we have in this country are Anarchists in the clerical eye If they rise np in protest demanding better condi lion so they and their families may livo just a little as human beings ought to live if they demand a voice in public affairs the news is spread over the world that a howling an archistic mob is loose in Barcelona This of course is for the purpose of blinding the world to their own tyr army and retaining the sympathy of the world on their side An Educator Not an Anarchist Ferrer by training and temperament was the last man in the world to ex poet social salvation from barricades and bombs He knew he had every thing to lose ann nothing to gain from spirit of violence and ooh law his barricades were the school desks his bombs were modern demonstrat ed facts his menatarms were only school teachers his field of action not that of violence but of pedagogic innovation nail improvement In he was crested on the trumped up charge of being an accomplice in the attempt to assassinate King fonso at the time of his marriage and was sent to prison This of rouse was for the purpose of break ing up his schools by putting him out of the way The schools and influence were growing This meant the death of the parochial schools in time nut possibly a change from the mon archical to the republican form of government He was in prison thirteen months Still his schools grew His Trial and Release His trial which was the merest farce established no evidence againsl him anti he was released All that saved him however was the mighty protest made all over Europe They could not kill him and conceal their wilt from the wrathful proletariat and they had to let him go This recently established custom of nrotest by press and the people of other countries well illustrates tile fact that kings priests and the money powers can no longer persecute pa triots without hang the sentiments of the world to consider No longer can they massacre in the name of their holy religions No longer cnn they provoke war and expect the working class to walk out and be shot at without giving a just reason why All over the world the toilers are so ingtlf1te toiler of other lands is my hrother Why should I tight him and take his property Why should we be the victims of death when cap italists wish fighting to he done Win kill and be killed Ferer a Danger Upon his release Ferer plunged in to his school work again He knew that one man could not do so very much in his lifetime but he knew the harvest he was sowing would be reaped byandby He was planting for posterity and he knew that vio lent cataclysms would spoil his chances of witnessing in his lifetime a successful start of his schools While his schools and teachings di rectly opposed the clergy and some features of government they were not anarchistic In this country they would be regarded only as democra tic or mildly socialistic Ferer through his modem schools become a greater danger than 10000 anarchists Already he had become favorably known to great educators of the world Ilaeckel Maetterlink Sergi of tho College of Rome Anatole Prance and a host of distinguished men of letters philosophers and politicians of note had become his many admirers and friends He hind be como a danger to ignorance bigotry and greed and they hall but awaited the circumstances which would afford them an apparent good reason to take his lifeThe Opportunity Comes Tho capitalistic war arose between Spain and the Riff tribes of Morocco A few prominent Spanish capitalists and officials were interested in some mines in the Riff country which the Riffs claimed as their own property and proceded to defend Spain sent an army of 0000 regulars to put down the Riffs Upon the departure of these regulars the ladies of the nobility went aboard tie steamers which were to transport the soldiers and made each a present of cheap medals sea pulas and cigarettes But these sol diers who had no heart in this war disgusted with this attempt to meas ure human life by such cheap baubles threw them overboard Many of them had not forgotten the blessing they r r + H +3 S titty- t By Dr A Hausruan Alameda California iTinsis the Greatest Book of modern tim s on tho theory of Evolution applied to Sociologyi It will shortly be issued in book form by tho Blue Gras Blade making u booktof nearly fllO pages Tho author has s t dedicated it to Prof Ernst Ilaeckel und tlm great Jena philosopher huts accept eo the dedication y- t 200 200t t Subscribe Now and Save Money i- y s s All charges of postage will be prepaid upon advance subscriptions iThefirst chapters are now in tho press and publication in book form will immediatelyifollow its serial publication in tho Llade columns i y- y i Sscribe Now Subscribe Now f iJAMES E HUGHES Lexington Ky Q had received from the Pope on their departure for the Anerican war and the cheap trinkets given them at that time nor had they forgotten the result of that war The crowds that assembled men and women fathers and mothers to witness the departure of annoyof their sons who never would return cried down with warThe war soon began to take on big proportions and a call was made for 75000 men which took hi the reserves the laboring men An uprising arose in Barcelona and soon spread all over the province of Catalonia The workingmen protested against ing drafted and made marks for but lots just for private enterprise and that a few noblemen and politicians should retain property rights in mines which rightfully belonged to the Riffs Let the nobility fight their own battles they said Our wives and children need us Why should we die like dogs for nothing An Old Trick There were riots in Barcelona Bombs were thrown workingmen declare that the bombs were thrown by the hirelings of the clergy and capitalists and not by themselves This is an old trick that has often been played by those in power for the purpose of bringing discredit on the protesting classes and to afford an excuse for the arrest and prosecution of their leaders The Spanish workingmen are all Chris tianreader They regard their worst enemies to be the priests The clergy were for the war an1 were willing that the poor toilers of Spain should go to Africa and be shot in order to protect the property claims of a few noblemen They urged the militia to charge upon the people and a local civil war ensued Goaded by revenge the mobs in turn attacked churches and convents Let it not be fogotten this was not a Protestant or rare war These people who attacked the churches were all children of the church It was a family fight A church that pretends to teach love and reflects the very love of God himself should rear the children in such a manner by her own precepts and ample as to command their love and respect and not their hate No one ever opposed the religion in which he was reared without just cause His religion is the last thing a man will give up No doubt the didmany indis things so did their persecutors Cincinnatimany of our best citizens committed nets of the greatest indiscretion Mobs always do but the newspaper reports we get here of the European mobs and riots are always colored to suit their use by the parties in power We nev er get the straight of them The workingman is always an Anarchist and looter and always in the wrong Arrest of Ferrer Here was a good excuse to get rid of Ferrer and his hateful godless schools which had been spreading the gospel of democracy and brotherhood among men Both clergy and officials charged him with instigating uprising and influencing the toilers against the capitalistic war in Moroc co He was arrested and sent to prison His schools were broken up and his libraries scattered Protest poured in from all over the world but the stupid aristocracy and clergyof Spain heeded them not The Cortez J had prepared fur this occasion by passing a law that all such offenders should he tried by courtmartial which trial should be final and for which the military should be wholly responsible This was to relieve the state and crown of any odium that might he cast upon it trial was held in secret ami under courtmartial and has been condemned by the whob legal worM as a mock trial and the merest farce All the evidence they had associating Ferrer in auyway with the Barcelona movement was n letter from Morrel who tried to kill Alfonso requesting the post of librarian in the Modern school Ferrer could not keep any one front writing him asking for a poi tion Morrel did not receive the pointment Ferrer was condemned and sentenced to be shot Here was the opportunity to crush by brute force the movement towards secular education in Spain and they took advantage of it Protests from the highest to the lowest circles continued to pour in but without avail Ferrer must die His lighttlie first real light that has entered Spain for centuries must put out On the morning of October 13th he was led into a courfyard of the prison stood against the wall and shot by a squad of soldiery The shots that pierced his heart were heard around the world and government of Spain today stands shamefaced fore the eyes of all mankind The Worlds Judgment Newspaper criticism throughout the world has been condemnatory of Spain The opinion of the London Telegraph is a fair sample It says Professor Ferrer was one of the noblest and best men in all Europe and was worthy to be called the Toy stoy of Spain His murder after a mock trial brings unspeakable humil iation to the civilized world Sci entists educators and public men and the legal fraternity are universal in their condemnation But it is the old old story over again Mankind has ever advanced through blood butch ery and tears Progress has ever de mantled its martyrs Some one had to die to make old Spain step out of her mediaevnlism and superstition It may as well have peen Ferrer as someone else He did not die in vain The new birth of Spain began with his death As Jefferson said blood of martyrs has even watered the tee of Liberty Spain has kill ed Ferrer lint his schools will live to save Spain Reform will spring for ward with leaps and hounds with the name of Ferrer ever as the watchword of liberty progress and truth oody his name which went down into the dust like a gallant hammer trodden in the mire has risen again glorious in the sightofnationsA There is a lesson in this world tragedy deep and profound It is this General Grants admonition Keep church and state forever sep rate especially in the matter of ideation Keep the schools of America godless which in reality means keep the clergy out of them reason why they now what they ire is because they are godless What lave the god schools of Spain to how for the rod in tiiemnie Clergy What the poor old Spain- f today illiterate degenerate med enl superstitious povertystricken ind generally decadent When god schools can show the results of godless schools it will be time enough for the clergy to demand a division of the school funds or to go to killing thinkers reformers educators and lovers of men Let God the clergy once get possession of the schools in America and it would be only a short time till we would need a thousand Ferrers DEATH OF DR BARNES OF AROOLA ILLINOIS By Harriet M Closz On November 23 1900 occurred the death of Iri C Barnes of Ar cola at the age of 74 years We learned of his death with deep sorrow anti while we know that Na tore needed the transformation we yet regret the method vhen the inex o able edict is pronounced Dr John C Barnes was born in Clark county Ind Sept 27 1833 He was married to Elizabeth Bower Coombe in 1800 and they removed to Illinois in 1800 Three sons were born to them nilof whom survive him for several years Dr Barnes has lieu in delicate health and for weeks pastI has practically borne the advancing dissolution- He planned for his funeral some days before his demise and his sons followed to the letter his wishes The ceremony taking place at the ceme Tory the remarks being made by a longtime friend one Dr J I Gunn of Arcola I count myself as highly favored that just one year ago I wrote a sketchof our friends life which ap petered in the issue of Nov 22 1008 of Blade null the small expression of appreciation for his life and work was conveyed to him in life instead of being delayed until after death and I can only reiterate something of the sentiment I then wrote Dr Barnes was born many years in advance of his time but his vision was prophetic of the halcyon days that must follow age of enlightenment which he heralded His prophecyof peace for people his longing for liberty and light together with the practice of gracious geniality anti jus- iCl must hasten the happy time for which he pelted and waited He has lived loved and labored and n grateful people will finally ap preciate his purpose for his volumi toms writings will he better under stood and their import fulfilled as the years go lie was a creator and a savior of the race Ills sincere idealism was an inspiration his sunny optimism a benediction Our friend sought to eradicate su perstition omit to bring the order of truth and equity out of the disorder of injustice His whole life has been consecrated to the constructive pro cess and his every action has been consistent with his creed He has won a peaceful victory for his weapons have been kind words and good wishes his ammunition nnWIanswerable His logicIcontinue to His precepts dieCould desire for immortality find fuller fruition Webster City Iowa OPEN ON SUNDAYS The priesthood want everything closed on Sundays except their gospel shops and their mouths They wjsh to monopolize oneseventh of our whether we wish it or not They wish to get and have partly succeeded in getting the laws enacted to compel all other trades and occupations to shut up shop on their day and to prosecute anyone who disturbs them in their business in any way They seem to know that they cant even with the help of their God compete with hottest trade but must be protected jin various ways by the strong arm of I the law LOOKING FORWARD The door is closed on past mistakes Not backward will we glance But forward go with firmer faith That will each day enhance Well look with love on all mankind For all to us are kin Well lend a hand to those who need And so have peace within Orthodox Christianity means to make peace with the deity first and failing in that direction to terms with the devil arrangeIYULE TIDE GIFTS The custom of rejoicing shifts on Dec 25th did not with Christianity They stole this late ns they did with Sunday the day of the sun I am special agent for a ten Universal Encyclopedia publish ed in the United States in 8 vols with thousands of ilustrulions Price 1200 On receipt of this amount I will prepay express charges up to 1 It would make a splendid Yule Tide lift to a school boy or girl Norman Murray 240 St James St Montreal Canada WINTER TOURIST TICKETS I TO THE SOUTHand SOUTHEAST ON SALE DAILY VIA QUEEN CRESCENT ROUTE GOOD RETURNING UNTIL MAY 31st 1910 For Particular call or write C KING T A101 St Islington Ky 4