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Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.): n. Sunday, June 21, 1903.

Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.): n. Sunday, June 21, 1903. Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.). 400dpi TIFF G4 page images Blade Publishing Co., Lexington, Kentucky 1903 blu1903062101 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, June 21, 1903. Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.). Blade Publishing Co., Lexington, Kentucky 1903 $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 GRASBLADEIf jni jttit EDITED BY A HElTIIENln P 08OOD MORALS PUBLISHED WEEKLY 100 A YEAR IN 4pr I t VOL XIT NO 18 LEXINGTON KY SUNDAY JUNE 21 E M 303 f100 A YEAR I9- i r r i TERMS OF THE BLADE jl Issue for one year JlOO i In clubs of five or more 60 cents reach a year erms10 per year In advance foreign subscription 150 VS Five copies one year 260 t 4Make all Money Orders Drafts and V Express Orders payable to the Blue Grass Blade Lexington Ky When you change your address ad vise this office giving your old as p well as the new address When you send your subscription say whether you are a new or old sub g scriber The address slip on the paper will bw expiration of subscription and mfeftta a receipt as the date changes ion as the subscriber pays nerltftlonsLu lhlbpi uIlcttlut ue discontinued at expiration unless ordered by the subscriber The arts Invariably hold a subscriber apqnslblo to the publisher for the subscription price of all papers re J celved until the paper Is paid for In full up to date and ordered discontinued Office of publication 161 East Third street near Walnut Entered at the Post Office at Lexing I Matter ton Ky as Second Class Mall Address all comnninlcatlons SLUE GRASS BLADE P BOX 393 Lexington Kentucky Fayette Telephone 619 Cumberland Telephone 307 THE DAMNED STUFF CALLED ALCOHOL believe that alcohol to a certain degree demoralizes those who make It those who sell it and those who drink it believe from the time It Issues from the coiled and poisonous worm of the distillery until It empties Into the hell of crime death and dishonor it demoralizes everybody that touches- it do not believe that anybody can contemplate the subject without be coming prejudiced against this liquid you have to do Is to think of the deathsof the suicides of the insan ity of the poverty of the ignorance of the distress of the little children tug glng at the faded dresses of weeping and despairing wives asking for bread of the men of genius It has wrecked of the millions who have struggled with Imaginary serpents produced by this devilish thing And when you think of the Jails of the almshouses of the prisons and of the scaffolds upon ether bank do not wonder that every thoughtful man Is prejudiced against the damned stuff called alcohol ROBERT INGERSOLL Keep Church and State forever separateGrJlntIn Is this government founded upon the Christian religion Washington The divorce between Church and State should be absoluteGarfleld COLLEGE of MEDICINE do SURGERY Chicago Four years Graded Course Laboratories fully equipped Abundance of Clinical Material PEEP MODERATE Fall term opens In September Write today for Catalog to FLORENCE DRESSLER M Soy 24524T Ashland Ava Chteaa i syE f EDITOR MOORE TELLS ABOUT DOG FENNEL IN THE ORIENT Plain Unvarnished Tale About His Visit to the Far East With a Cook Tourist Party From Lexington Leader Editor C C More was In the city yesterday and called at the office of the Leader as he says both because ho had heard that a Leader reporter wanted to see him about his new book Dog Fennel in the Orient and also to see the new Printery for the first time There is no little Interest garding the heathen editors coming new book of travels In the Orient and the Leader asked him to tell about it in his own style He said- have Just finished my book and brought It in today to begin printing It It will have about 400 pages and will contain some pictures furnished by the Cooks Tours Company of whom the books speaks In very kind and complimentary terms It will con tain the passenger list with their ad dress of the 440 Cookies as we call ed ourselves who made the tour on the HamburgAmerican twinscrew steamer Moltke The book has about 180000 words To give some Idea of how much of a book that will be will say that Behind the Bars 31498 has about 133000 words On compar ing Dog Fennel as they are now con tracting the name with the New Tes tamentIn size merely 0 no not In styleit will contain as much as the Testament to the 13th chapter of the Gospel of John A good many people have read the New Testament who have never read any of my three books and I thought that would be a good way to give an idea of the size of Dog Fennel The book will be ready to issue a little before the middle of August If Lorgtr thru tpeetcdit thlOlnn- lng to make it but it contains what saw and heard and thought about the things I saw and heard in Europe Asia and Africa and of the Island and lands In and on three seas the Atlantic Mediterranean and Black and though have put these into a form as much condensed as I could do to do Justice to the theme there was such an Immense number of things that we saw and of such great Interest and so many strange and In teresting Incidents occurred some sad some ridiculous and some com monplace that remembering brevity Is the soul of wit and desiring as far as practicable to economise time Ink paper and type I could not even with all these conditions make It anything less than a pretty voluminous book Considering the nice style In which it will be gotten up I am going to sell tho book cheaper1OQthan I ought to do but of course hope to overcome that by proportionately increasing the tales I have no doubt that I have said something that will be adversely criticised by my readers Friends and enemies have so long been finding ob jections to things that I write that I am satisfied both would be dlsapoint edgreatly and bitterly disappointed If In reading Dog Fennel they could not pick out various things that they could object to But I have said nothing that did not at the time wrote it think ought to say and noth ing that general Intelligence and a lull and fair showing did not seem to demand that I should say and as soon as I hold back anything for policy I feel that I compromise myself and I say like Pilate What I have written I have written and while some perhaps many of my fellow tourists of whom purely at their own sugges tion subscribed for the book may say that I have said things that I ought not to have said do not believe that any of them will ever say that I have said anything that was not true By the way I saVr Adams grave and felt Indignant as a womans rights man that Eve was not buried by his side It may read a little usual for print but I was In among the 400 of an American cultured society among whom millionaires were plentiful and people want to know how that kind of people do when they get out of the restraint of home society and away from newspaper reporters and Just everlastingly tell about It and they knew I was going to do It and there is nothing unfair about It A Cookie lost 3000 bucking the tlgar at Funchal Just to see how It was done and that was not worth mentioning but when a rich Catholic widow that climbed Vesuvius with me Went up against the Cassino at Monte Carlo and walked off with the swag and bragged about and told us all about it put it In my book name and all I tell about those fellows on the Nile and In the Plains of Sharon too that dont wear any clothesthey dont have to If thats their style of dressor undressIn their own country and their neighbors can stand It 100loopooo r 11L one day when a gang of Cookies are passing through their country- give the name Prof Harrison of the University of Virginia kin to Hon James O Harrison of Lexington the personal friend and executor of Henry Clay and therefore kinsman of the wife of our late Mayor Simrall of Lexington and all the facts about a quarrel between the professor and his wife on one part and myself on the other after we had been close friends by advances made to me by them They were exceedingly pious and am not so much so and they got mad at me because I said when we were sailing Into Joppa the place where the unpleasantness occurred between Jonah and the whale that I did not believe that the whale appointed Jonah Secretary of the Interior and then accepted his resignation three days afterward But goodbyp I am just bound to go home and you must wait for Dog Fennel In the Orient for the rest m story A LexingtonWoman OF A PROMINENT FAMILY DRUNK AND IN THE GUTTER A gentleman of Lexlngt6n has just given me the following Incident Last spring he was going along Broadway about nine oclock at night and saw lying in the gutter of a narrow street that ran into Broadway a woman He went to her and discovered at once from the combined smell dt whisky and dope that the woman was drunk on both of those It had been raining and there was so much water running down the gut ter that she would have drowned the gentleman thinks had the womans body dammed the water In the gutter a little more than It did for she was utterly Incapable of getting up The gentleman lifted her pnto the pavement and stood her up by a fence and left her and on going a little distance from her he saw her fall on her back on the pavement and her head hit the pavement hard Two hours after that she was found by other parties and taken to her home Her husband Is one of tho prominent citizens of Lexington Theinext night my Informant was at the Lexington opera noose and the woman that he had seen drunk came swishing by him In fine silks with her husband and two couples of young people and the six occupied a theater box I do not know the religious predilections of the family but I think they are members of one of our fashiona ble churches and once In a conversa tion with a prominent citizen who Is near kin to the parties in question found him quite a religious bigot- I think that woman has just as much right to get drunk as a man has but I believe that almost any gentleman would rather be found In such a fix than to have his wife so it had been some poor poman white or black It would probably have been In the newspapers I never In tend to tell who It was We had a Congress of Infidels In Lexington last January The news papers and the people were all per fectly kind to us I never heard one of that Congress man or woman taking a drink of liquor while In the city or of any of them doing anything that good and cultivated people ought not to do But I do believe that If any of the Infidel women who came to Lexington to that Congress had been found lying drunk In a gutter there Is not a newspaper In Lexington or a pulpit In Lexington that would not have had something to say about It Some of these days people will learn that Infidels are not as black as they are painted CAPTAIN W F NORTON Who Gave His Money to Christians and Not to Infidels I have received from Cincinnati a newspaper extract containing a plct ore of Captain Norton on which there are written and printed the following Louisvilles millionaire sport and theatrical man who believed In no religion but who left a half million dol lars to the Baptist Orphans home of Louisville In his will Capt Norton said he wanted his body taken to cinnati for cremation and that his friends should drink champagne while his body was burning This picture was taken and piece was taken from the Cincinnati Times Star Tuesday May 26th I believe Captain Norton would have given you any amount of money for your paper If you had asked him I am glad that Captain Norton used his money to do good but I doubt if he did any good for the cause of Infi dellty Its a poor sample of an Infidel who gives hiS money to a Baptist In stitution and never gave any to loft delity and then wants to be cremated while his friends are swigging costly liquor I was tried several times In Louisville and needed friends and never heard of Norton until he was dead Send us your order for Dog Fennel and help us get 2000 subscribers be fore It Is Issued about August 1st HEATHEN i EDITOR WOULD J LIKE A JOINT DEBATE WITH PRESIDENT McGARVEY THROUGH THE COLUMNS OF THE LEADER LeaderQuiakeracre Editor Deader Friends send me occasionally long articles from the pen of Rev JJ W McGarvey In the Chris tian Standard of Cincinnati In which he deals with Rationalism pretty severely Prom a statement that I saw In the Christian Standard probably Impressionthatas many readers as the Standard has and the people who read the Stand ard believe as Rev McGarvey does while the Very large majority of those who read my paper do not believe as purposeIsthinking It would seem to me that your paper or mine would be a better certainlyor some of them that are against fidelity ln my paper and then I could answer them and print them together and If he consented to do so he might print then or only one of them as suited Standard purpose If his is fair Investigation it seems tome that my suggestion Is a good ono He and have had the same literary and the same theologi cal education and have preached in the same and we have both vis ited Palestine and I highly respect his scholarship Rowells Newspaper Directory says that my paper has the largest circula publicationsthat this statement Is true but I do know thatil have In no way encouraged to say it It seemsto me that under these cir cumstan sIt would be worth the time and pains of Rev McGarvey to pay soinejattentlon to my work But if can Ignore Itrli would ecmthin ought tt bo able to stand IL H I would love very much to have a discussion with him In the Leader would certainly print both sides In full In my paper You have been en terprising In yorr paper and certainly seem to have made It the greatest Journalistic success that Lexington ever had and I believe the discussion would be widely read I am a radical of the radicals in my department I am an Atheist and want to go right at the bottom of the matter with the reverend gentleman I do not believe the existence of any God and want to debate this ques tion with Rev McGarvey or anybody that he will select If ho cannot do It himselfI Debate that question with Rev McGarvey or any representative of him orally If he prefers But I think a written discussion would be better and I prefer the Leader as the medium Yours fraternally CHARLES C MOORE I CHRISTIANITY IS DANGEROUS otIhaving marked In It a sermon by Rev Dr John E White pastor of the ond Baptist church about the drown ing by lloodi In Gainesville lately of over a hundred persons And this by tho way occurred at the time we were suffering from drouth In Ken tucky In that sermon the preacher said Gracious revivals of religion had swept the city lately The at mosphere of Gainesville was cleaner religiously than ever known before and then he goes on In the usual preacherlal style to brag oh how good and wise and Just and all that his God Is fHe not say there was an epi demic of good morals and good be havior unprecedented In the history of Gainesville but that there had been great religious revivals and that the people had become more religious than eVer before In the history of the town and when all of this had got ten to bo a recognized fact God sends upon Gainesville the most awful ca lamity that ever happened to the It had happened that In Lexing ton through the Influence of this pa per there had been a remarkable turning of the people of Lexington to Infidelity so that It would have been printed In the papers that a wave of Infidelity had swept over Lexing ton unprecedented by anything of the kind in the history of America and that Influence had been Immedi ately followed by far the greatest lamity that ever befell the town the religious press and the pulpit all over America would have exploited the fact far and near to show that God thus cond Lnned this despising of his Is the Infidels Inning now Gainesville has been very pious The amount of praying and psalm singing and Blblo reading has been unprecedented and God has shown that he despises such Ignorance and hypocri sy and he blasts Gainesville with the f breath of his anger and sweeps It with the besom of destruction- In Lexington God picks out only two houses In the whole town to blast with lightning One Is the Limestone Street Catholic church that Got sets afire by the lightning of his wrath and burns the steeple off of It and knocks the blazing steeple onto thhe top of a prayingtoed apartforwith lightning the Christian church In Lexington the finest In the whole city and kAVes It In such a fix that the newspapers warn the people that there Is danger In walking near It If the people dont stop this thing of praying and preaching and having great religious revivals God will bring some great national calamity on that will everlastingly ruin this whole country BIBLE CALLEDDOWN IN CALIFORNIA BY ATTORNEY GENEkAL WEBB Versailles Ky April 19th 1903 My Dear Mr Moore Let me through this medium extend you a warm welcome home I know the Biade readers oe overjoyed to hear from you through its columns We have all done the best we could In your absence but we have all miss ed you and ue Blade has lacked its chief attraction so buckle down now and let us hear from you Enclosed find decision of Californias Attorney General on the Bible in the public schools It Is firm and as It Is so em phatic and exhaustive thought you might want to comment on It Lots cf things have happened In your sence that needed your attention Ac cept welcome and best wishes for you all Ever your friend- JOSEPHINE K HENRY rAttorney General Webb has render ed opinion declaring use use of the able in the public schools unconstitutional Not only may teach ers not use the scriptures as a text book but even reading from them as is the custom frequentlly at the opening devotional exercises Is bar red The subject Is one which has been dlsucssed with great acrimony for many years and previously to no purpose With General Webbs opin ion as authority an order discontinu ing the use of the Bible in the schools will soon be promulgated Thomas J Kirk Superintendent of Public Instruction wrote to the Attorney General early In March asking for an opinion wch would settle the mooted question for good and all The reply forwar to Sacramento a day or two ago Is In part as follows At the outset I am constrained to take cognizance of the fact that there are a great many versions of the ble in use In the world Honest differ ences prevail as to what books should be included within the meaning of the words Holy Bible Witness the Jew who regards the Old Testament as alone inspired the Catholic who adds the Apocrypha and the Protes tant who repudtates tne Apocrypha There Is the King James version of the Bible which the Protestants ac cept the Douay version which the Catholics accept as alone correct and complete besides the sacred books of other religions which may be called Bibles as bible In its literal sense simply means the book It is impossible to find any version of the Bible which does not represent and promulgate the teachings of some religious sect or society or the opin ions of some founder of a religion There Is no such book in existence as a Universal Bible which would appeal to all people in all climes at all times You will therefore understand that with the truths or efficacy of any of these versions of the Bible this opinion does not deal In endeavoring to determine the law on the subject I have no concern with the truth or error of the doctrines of any sect I am to be guided solely by the consti tution and laws of this State now In forceI am not called upon to decide what religious doctrines If any ought to be taught or where by whom or to whom It would be best they should be taught These are questions which belong to the people and to other de partments of the Government- I have no doubt that the Bible to which you refer In your request for an opinion Is the King James version which Is In very common use In this country My opinion will be confined to a discussion of the question as whether the reading or the use o this version of the Bible In the public schools as a text book would contra vene the constitution and Political StateI then goes on Political Code Supreme Court decisions of other States and legal au thorities The general trend of all DOCFENNEL IN THE ORIENT GOES TO PRESS AND IS EQUALLY THE PROPERTY OF CHARLES MOORE ANDJAMESE HUGHES WILL BE ISSUED ABOUT THE 1ST OF AUGUST beingabbreviated probablystyle about the first of August HughesjustcopyrightedInJames E Hughes and Mr Hughes Is 1tlonroyalty on each copy sold It Is hoped that friends of the Blade thus seeing that Its editor and Its publisher are to be benefited will do more to Increase the circulation of the book than If only one of us was Inter ested In It It will be considerably larger than I originally anticipated and is really not as much as the book will be worth but I have started it at that and we will probably stick to that but we do hope that we will get air the more readers for the low price Please see if you cannot get us at least 2000 subscribers before the bock lo ready these quotations Is to tne effect that It is Illegal to publish In any form In the public schools sectarian partisan cr denominational doctrines Compul sory support by taxation or otherwise cf religious Instruction cannot be yjusMr ledI5tn r tljqr1l1m tf THEODORES CHOICE Our Sportman President Tory Divin ity and Portrait Devil t John Prescott Guild As scon as I was convinced that IndependencyWesleys Miscellaneous works vol p 487 The suppostion that the poeple are the origin of power Is In every way In defensible John Wesley Thoughts concerning the origin of power let us put away our sins the real ground of all our calamity till klngWeslesColonies Yesterday Stepnen R Brodley president of the Senate pro tern gave a dinner to a select number of Senators and the heads of the departments Thomas Paine was a guest and was waited on by Dr Logan Sen titer from Pennsylvania Mr Paine a few days since dined with the British Minister North American News a hundred years ago today Phlladel phia North American Dec 1902 Thomas Paine was a dirty little Atheist Theodore Roosevelt believe In one God and no more the world Is my country and to do good Is my religion Thomas Paine The world the devil and Thomas Paine Have tried to crush us all In vain The reason of their failure Is The Lord protects the Methodists Twas thus this ultra pious clan When seeking grace once loved to ban And shouted with their might and main- Damnation for bold Thomas Paine John Wesley they esteemed a saint A Tory without science taint While Independence Paine first spoke And then the Age of Reason wrote But now our sportman President On winning votes and wealth Intent With hate and superstition vies And against Paine repeats his lies Not thus did those at head of State Grand Thomas Paine once estimate He counseled Franklin Washington Lafayette Adams Jefferson Let politician liars rant And holy fakirs madly cant Both sense and honor join to raise praisef i e 967 IS THE NUMBER OF COPIES OP DOG FENNEL IN THE ORIENT SUBSCRIBED FOR TO THIS DATE t ty cq TiP BLUE GRASS BLADE I V i Mrs Closzs t ColumnJ V vwwwvvvvvwv A FAST DAY PROCLAMATION An Iowa papSr reproduces a part of tho Maine day proclamation for this year which shows which wa the wind blows Infidels have sought to show tho absurdity of Thanksgl Jng day proclamations and will in time succeed having such puerile legislation eraced from tho statute books The fast day proclamation contrary to good sense In spite of my own convictions I now appoint a fast day hoping body will observo It feeling suro that It Is a mockery and a farce and wishing with all my heart that It might be abolished and thus enable me to keep a clean conscience Other Governors should do wise and bring Into disrepute such Puritanical legislation ++TEDDY THE TERRIBLE IN WEBSTER CITY IOWA President Roosevelt passed throng our town last week on his return trip to Washington He stopped only long enough to congratulate the children of the schools who had been asset bled at tho depot to greet him and reminded them that there seemed to be no danger of race suicide In lows He said I have six children of my own and consider myself an expert In that Is well that some people have a good opinion of themselves for In all the laudations than are apt to fall to families of prominence I have never yet heard any one say that Roosevelt had performed the work of an pert In endowing his children and If one Is to be judge from the printed pictures of them they would be class ed as about third rate Had any man In tho great course of people assembled to hear the President speak made that asse tlon the women would have been In suited and properly so for no ono but- a man lacking the sense of propriet or temporarily out of his mind would have said It The P resident In Des Moines low was presented with the pIctures of a number of families ranging In slzo from ten to eighteen children Ot chief executive has six Will he emu lato these Iowans and swell the po nation by eight or ten more The lady of the white house has of course no voice In the matter Reforms have sought to Improve the race b Improving conditions and educatln parents and now that Roosevelt acknowledges himself to be ton expo t In this line ho should seo to It that the opportunities for educatloitaiiorc ed by same be supplied to the con man people in so far as lies in hi power to do so But will he seek such such Improvement No And wh should he The plaudits of the people always ring for tho ruler who rides over them with thb roughes steed who afflicts the ear with the most language and binds the burdens of centuries upon posterltj Verily hero worship seems to be rur nlng a neck and neck race with the worship of God and the participant are headed toward destruction Wha can bo done to check the mad caree Is more than I can tell Let us hear J from others ++ANOTHER ON ATHEISM We have been wont to hear from religionists that the God idea Is inherent In the mind of man Science has declared such claim to be falaclous but it has been reiterated by fanatic until wo have grown tired of refutln t the statement Now listen to what the great mogul of the Methodist church John Wesley whose bi tennial Is just being celebrated says about it in tho second volume of lib all that has been plausibly written concerning the Innate Idea of God after all that has been said ol its belng gammon to all men in all ages and nations It docs not appeal that man has naturally any more Idea of God than any of the beasts of the Held he has no knowledge of God at all no fear of God at all neither Is God In all his thoughts Whatever change may afterward bo wrought whether my grace of God or his own reflection or by education he Is by nature a mere Atheist If Buchner is quoted to a Christian as authority on Atheism his views are not accepted but how can they deny tho written words of the patron saint of Methodism that man Is by nature a mere Atheist And there is abundant evidence In the Holy word to prove that he in reality continues to be an Atheist despite tile pretensions of tho grace of God or his own reflections Eccle Ill For that which be falleth the sons of men befalleth beasts As the one dleth so dleth the other yea they have all one breath so that man hath no preeminence above the beast for all is vanity Again In the ninth capther fifth verse The dead know not anything neither have they any more reward for the memory of them Is forgotten Isaiah xxvi 14 They are dead they shall not live Therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them and made all their memory to perish Twenty eight chapter and 18th verse says For the grave cannot praise thee death cannot celebrate thee they that go down Into the pit cannot hope for thy truth Many similar passages might bo quoted to show that tho logical con clusion of men should be after agree ing with John Wesley that man is by nature a mere Atheist that ho knows no more about God at deaths hour thanhe did at birth or ever will In the sweet by and by However J ti- njlly as this good book of Inspiration tl Bible contradicts Itself 150 times ni declares that the prophets prophei r falsely and according to Paul If tho kingdom aboundeth more by my lie unto thy glory why then should- be censured It would not be clous to pin too much faith to Bib I evidence either pro or con but this expression by John Wesley that man is by nature a mere Atheist should ho quoted to Christians whenever op portunlty offers Wesleys teaching should be accepted or repudiated h r those who claim him as Gods envo HANG MEN BY HANDS Prisoners Say Army Chiefs Are Cruel to Them String Up Those Who Cannot Live on Tainted Meat Victims of omelet Displeasure Arc Tortured at Manila Punished for Inability to Work When EatiRoot Learns Six Are Chained for Day to High Posts One Is Overcome Cut Down Treati by Doctor and Again Tied Fast The above are the headlines of an article from tho Washington D correspondent of the Chicago Chron- Icle and during the recent riiontl s wo have had many just like them the press dispatches A friend In quired the other day whether it were not possible to write matter for the made that would Interest the pUhilc in general Now here is a subject that ought to Interest every man worn and child in the United States rope Asia Africa Australia and the Islands of tho sea and It docs Intere them and many of them are Indignant at such cruel proceedings Invcstig tlons are demanded but the movement Is yet entangled In red tape and official Intrigue that public sentiment grows cold and tho affair is forgotten Ah did I say forgotten Perhaps all except the Immediate families Irthe subjects of these atrocities The families can never forget but what de 11the adverse Opinions or heartache a number of families who have duced the soldiers or these inhuma tortures weigh against the wishes of l powerful political reprobates who clare it necessary to invade their countries that gold may flow int their coffers Nothing at all The headlines refer to cruelties per ft in rcnll fhlR- pines heiruy own omcers an when such things are possible in s own army wo can easily believe the terrors which are related as having befallen the hopeless Filipino prison ersSix of Uncle Sams sons have for warded a letter to Secretary Root which they claim to have been given rations of tainted meat and becaus unable to work were treated In the manner described as follows We were sentenced to be chained to the posts of the barbed wire fence with our hands straight up over ou heads and not to be allowed food water from oclock on the 27th untl reveille on 28th It is imposslbl c for us to give a true description what we suffered at the post All day long we were chained up without food or water and with sever al cans of drliking water in plain iewAt noon and night the rest the prisoners ate their meals a shor distance from us At 1 oclock one prisoner was seized with cramps and his legs were drawn up under him leaving him hanging by the wrist alone It was ten minutes before was cut down and then he tumbled or tho ground It was fully twenty utes before the doctor and prison ficer came When the doctor did arrive he gave him a dose of medicine and af tor waiting for about ten minutes or dered him tied up again Groaning with pain and with a sentry holding him he was chained to the post again All afternoon we wore chained up the moans of tho sick man adding to our torture Our shirts were torn from our backs which were cut and bleeding from being rubbed against the barbed wire At oclock at night u e sick grew worse He was cut down taken to his bunk the prison officer remarking that the prisoner had about all he could stand A short later all of us except two were down The other were left up until oclock They were sore and stiff anti next morning but were work ed The Washington correspondent says Whether the complaints in this letter will be investigated remains seen If we are to judge from past ex perience these complaints will not je Investigated or If they are the sol Hers who made them will be declared to be falsifiers and tho omcers either nnocent or justified In their actions we are always reminded that army discipline must be maintained How long are our sons going to take up arms in defense of plutocracy nd sacrifice their individuality health reason or life Thirteen lars a month and tainted meat is a Ilcor recompense for the health thrown away by six per cent of our soldiers The pride in wearing a un torm sinks Into inslgnlcance when ono Is torn and bleeding on the battle eld The desire for adventure is quelled when one Is returned home In a coffin or the subject for a mad use Oh boys cannot you under stand the terrors of war without ilpatlng in it and especially la warajl w that are wholly unnecessary and inva slyo Is there not sufficient evidence that tho rank and file cannot procure tlco when General Miles reports of Incapacity and cruetly are IgnOred When officers are put under the cal ban how can the voice of the ranI and file be heard They cannotSnb mission and silence Is the only reme dy for to resign Is impossible when ono has enlisted It seems to me that a perusal of the papers which recount 1tho abuse of authority by officers forever rub the blush from tho cheek of patriotism The cfflrlal doc uments at Washington that have been kept in the background would shot tho most austere and melt tho heart of American motherhood to perpetual tears We listen to the account by return cd soldiers of the water cure aim Istered to Filipino prisoners of the killing of all youths over ten years of age of the assaults upon tho aged the Infirm and the young maiden and the burning of their homes and destruction of crops and all either discredited or seems so far away from us that It is not worth while to become excited or enthused about it but here In this report we have our owiv sons mistreated and what are we going to do about It Are calls for Investigation to be unheeded and army discipline become more rigor ous still as In the case of the German officer who stabbed to death the prl vate who failed to salute him proper ly Are we to resign onr sons to the custody of Incompetent Injtidiclou brutal and besotted officers and have no means of redress when they outrage those in their charge This re port shold arouse President Roose IIvelt to a sense of his mistake In ad American women to produce large families While these atrocities are possible American mothers ought to refuse to furnish material for such Inquisitions Young men take a position against militarism It is you who have the- ay what our policy shall be This movement in Washington to take up rifle practice in the public school should be refused consideration for it means that you will soon be called ipoiv to practice such marksmanshi vllltngly or unwillingly against ma lap your best friend Time economic value of a man is very great His possibilities for good are still greate ind one should not train the hands o kill nor the mind to desregard the ight to life which every human being possesses even as you do Refuse to perform military ixcept from Imminent danger of In aslon HARRIET M CLOSZ BLADE PICTURES WORRIED HIS Dodge Ky June i 1903 Mr Charles Moore Dear Sir and BrotherSince I am i member of the National Llbern Party and a paid up subscriber the Blade who having the Interest of them both at heart as well as mat land in take the liberty to tusk you whom good you expecIto a lomplish cartoons de of the pasMhree or four weekJjfWhei was a boy we had in myjfather house no other way of a night but with a tallow candle We lid not abuse and ridicule the candl to teach us that the oil lamp would produce a better light with less cost You may say the candle and the lamp are facts dropped In and out 5f exist once as man advanced I say whether or not it is a fact that God create man it Is a fact that quite a riuinbe of good people believe It These car- loons jar on the feelings of revere nc IrI have for good people and make mo hesitate handing the Blade to m Christian friends My Idea Is this if you or any one else have obettei theory of tho creation of man set It forth and in a way that it trill as much outshine the history of tttfe ores lot as shown in the Bible as yin arc light outshines a tallow Band and you will have no trouble In settlnf people tp believe It without ndlcult and without abuse which is very pb noxious to a great many of thBIacfc readers Yours for truth nt eEG NICH LS CommentThat is the only tann have heard of those pictures yiirrlng on the feelings of anybody They were some old picturtp that Mr Hughes happened to ifoipe and just stuck them In to fill up l thinl they were quite good and arojjegltl mate There was no extra charge for tho picturesrLIKES THE POSTAL CARDS aBelleville Kas May 12tl903 Editor Blue Grass Blade Dear SirThe cards that were sug gested by Mr Moore I like vcr 1as believe it is a very easy jukenew subscribers and wotr to experiment with them hover they are ready for distribution t tWe used to always see thaVWrs and Mrs Closz had written icles for the Blade before we loaned them or mailed them but we need not do that now for tho Blade comes they are therewith their grand proofl r and had some doubt in my mind whether tho express order arrived safely at your office of course I still hold the 3xpress order receipt Mr Moore is welcome We expect to meet you In 3t Louis Yours fraternally W W MARKELL We Cant Tell Your Fortune jut we have publications that Fill lighten you about Texas and possibilities Other Katy publlca Ions tho Golden Square Tho Coming Country Old Mexico etc- will be mailed on appllcatlonjAddress KATY 510 Wainwright Bldg St Lcjuls Mo The Earth and the Man close relations and Farming In Great Southwest Is a nent Write for copy of this another ibllcations bearing on prospects for oneymaking on the line of theM K T Ry Adrress RA Y lnJwrlghtBldgsjuisIo Our Christian Civilization By JOSEPHINE HENRY Justice Brewer of the United Siates Supreme Court has affirmed that thIs Is a Christian country Certainly a U S Supreme Judge should be au thorlty on this question With due respect to Justice Brewer In tho faceI of actual conditions If the States Is a Christian country It is n disgrace to Christianity The Chris lions are certainly welcome to all the honor they can get out of the claim Wo agree with Judge Brewer that this Is a Christian country In its re llglon customs crimes thirst for wealth in Its spirit of conquest butchery of Its own people and those of other nations In Its grasping com merclallsm that trades in over thlng from the commonest necessities of life to the credulity of the Ignorant and the vjrtuo of woman and agreo too It is the best policed nation on the earth for reason that neither life nor property are safe unless guarded by the deadly weapon of the officer of the law The presE publishes rules for the people to tect themselves from thieves Some of them are as follows Dont carry your pocketbook In your hand Dont wear your watch In an onto side pocket Dont forget to keep close watch when you pass through a dark road or conditions are fine cbmmei tarles on our Christian civilization In addition to the thieves who waylay on tho high road this Christian land swarming with official and comm clal robbers whose trade Is to rob ev erythlng from the Infant Christi with its missionary penny to the dead in the cemeterj Tho amount of money It takes to restrain and pun isli criminals would stagger old clid himself to compute Statistics of crime recently present ed to Congress affirm that one deal out of every 112 In the Unlined State Is a murder Every jail in our land has Its colony of murderers men arc hung or lynched every day while otl nr murders are being committed shadow of the scaffold Official rob the government corporation plunder the people Individuals flee their fellows youthful criminals arc Increasing at an alarming rate inen by tho hundreds are murders by their husbands while the preacl ers proclaim that Christianity alon lies protected and elevated woman The press says that organized band of men inveigle and kidnap girls in all our large cities and sell them for moral purposes Ignorant negroes who inaulge In petty thelvlng arc beaten with rods and sold into slav cry more terrible than that of old slave times In the South that cost millions of lives and treasure to de ttO Tiemis tiroreeuubnayrspenE tnl saloons gambling dens and brothel than for the necessities and comfort of the people of the United States Eight hundred thousand women pros tltutes and ten times as many men prostitutes swarm in our boasted Christian civilization and the domestic system Is a jarring battlefield These and a thousand other horror are portrayed by the American press They must be true or they would not dare to thus assail the morals and honesty of the Aemrlcan people Amid all this carnival of crime of every phase the Christian churches line the highways and byways am preachers have charge of till morals of the people who pay lion dreds of millions yearly for spiritual and moral guidance Certainly the people do not get what they pay for yet the cry of Ule church like the leech Is Vglvej ghe and we will make you good and you to pod To the Rationalist thli whole religious system Is a giant hum hug and swindle The church is paid to maintain moral conditions As it toes not do Itlis it not about time for it to confess that it as a signal failure In faco of tho fact that largely majority of criminals are pro CessedChrlstlanS Numbers of church councils are session now In the United States Re ports are being read and applauded ol the wonderful growth of Christianity the number of converts made and churches built and the cry for funds for foreign missions rends tho air It corns to me It would be a good Idea for Christianity to be dumped bodily en Orient It might give the peo ple of Christendom a chance to become truthful honest and humane hut It would be hard on the heathen Tho people of the United States will never be able to be justi nnriKhtyjnd noble until tliey hfotfle gious- etopus that has them by the throat lily to rlllo their pockets If Christian nations under the guidance of the church have to live as they do In order to get to heaven the sooner we liave race suicide the better our bear minting president to the contrary notwithstanding It must take monum lrtllltaudacity to report tho great advance of Chris ianlty in this country unless Christianity means crime In all its phases Tho fact is evident that religious nfiuenco Is powerless to stay the Ido of crime that is sweeping over mr country and Christians are tho criminals as our courts and prisons are filled with them and Rationalists are looking on in awe and wonder at tho crimes committed by the peoplo who profess to worship the Lord the beauty of holiness Theres a satisfied few who like things as they arcThey help send missionaries to China But it seems that their prayers do not mount very far Though they send missionaries to China For they always proclaim that divine is tho plan That will give them a chance to grab all that they can tfS 5tjJIlJIJb IUt Jll Audi that povertys really of value to man And they wild missionaries to China If this Is a Christian country even in Its deplorable condltlpn if the Christians will take a rest and turn It over to Rationalists for a time the expense of supporting churches would bo done away with and moral and material condition of tho people so Improved that crime would decrease as rapidly as It Is Increaf Ing now This weary old world is erned today by superstition avanlcc tyranny and brute force and this con atltutes Christian civilization Bettc a regime of justice and common sens without a church or a priest on the earth than present conditions THE WHALE The whalo with great porosity And small specific gravity Dived down with great velocity Beneath the seas concavity At length weight of water Squeezed In his fat Immensity Which varied as It ought too Intensly as Its density It would have moved to pity An Ogre or a Hessian To see poor Spermaceti Thus suffering compression The whale he lay a roaring- In agonies gigantic The lamp oil out camo pouring And greased the wide Atlantic Would wed been In the navy And crlusing then Imagine us All in a sea of gravy With billows oleaginous At length old mlllon pounder Low In a bed of coral Gave his last dying flounder Where upon I pen this moral MORAL 0 let this tale dramatic And this whale Norwegian And pressure hydrostatic Warn you my young collegian That down compelling forces Increase as you get deeper The lower down your course Is The upper path the steeper DR A E VAN RIPER IMMORTALITY- On the subject the souls Immor tallty thousands of sermons have been reached by the clergy and they have tot made a point yet grounded or facts but simply have stood and oc mIlled the listeners time and the fervent listener forgot all before he ot outside of the church how mor tallty and Immortality were hinged ogetherIt pleasant to hear like a beau iful dream easily forgotten and that all there is to It Is there anyone that remembers something prior to uis or her birth No no one knows anything The first recollection is after the age of two years and many can tot rennember that far baqk = You rlont believe then that you existed ages before your birth I dont be lieve it either will not try to vince you that you will exist after illssolutlon If tell you that your house still exists after burning up for you you would call me an infer liar Why would call me thus ecausG what I have told you has not he smack of solemnity about It This is what tho clergy would have is believe that you have a soul and t lives forever that the fires of hell annot kill it When God turned out souls of men must havo been doing custom vork Ho turned out lasting work hat was Indestructible contrary to he natural laws Can any man be leve these cock and bull stories and emain In we church Suppose you vent to a vehicle dealer to buy a bug y and the dealer tells you after this bUbKr is worn out and gone it will fieX comfort to you You vlll feel to you Tiiiounded fool yhat do yof tattpoc In this Lyle is the believer served his poor train Is germinated with faith and he annot see a hole in a ladder Who desires to live forever Think of tho Idea of working all the time without cessation how weary we would bj5ome at last There lano one but likes to take a rest from their dally toll and labor Even the clergy themselves enjoy a mention The rest and vacation is the sweetest part pf life and why should we long to live forever after having gone lirmigh a life of toll and suffering truggllng for existence No It Is lllte one going through a railroad wreclt lib Is glad he got through but dues not care to try It over again The clergys greatest theme Is to COLDS I My COLD CURB relieves the head nose throat and almost immedia 1preventcertain remedy for all forms of IncllgestionI and stomach trouble- MUNYONS KIDNEY CURE restoresfthe natural functions of the when those organs are seriously involved harp on tho loved ones we have lost in that way they play on our sympa tides and feelings But can any father or mother say that they have themsame degree of love yet of their littleldaugnter they lost twenty years Is it possible that that young widow has as much love for her deceased husband as she has for the one she Is going to marry now Jo no our love grows old with age Our love Is not enduring it changes with time We are all prone to for get wo only think of our wounds as long as they are sore and when they are healed up wo forget them Love grows old and wears out and what Is there left then to yearn for Nothing why should we dread the end eternal rest Our condition will be the same after death as it was be fore birth consciousness developed from the body And with the body it will perish again according to Lao natural law JOHN FAY Culver Kanasas WHY AM AN AGNOSTIC Because the principles set forth by Agnostics Atheists and all scientific thinkers of the world are more logical and reasonable to believe Every fact In nature that we know and every law that has been discover ed by the human brain has been impeachable evidence that the anIplea In which we lellcve are true I Because life is a finite condition and am a finite being with a nervous sysItem and brain In action and a mind is the result So if this be will not know any more when trueIdissolution of the finite mean my one self takes place I did before the elements contained- in my organization came together un der the laws of growth for life is a Irama and we poor mortals by chance ire allowed to take a part in the play and my ambition is to be one of the best actors therefore I am an Agnostic I find under the altar of all rej Iglons a bank of money and the oslteirs being a poor unthinking male ynt thelmiOoneyitrthe RWt ted their souls from fear of their tructlon by fire in tho sweet bye am bye I find the bank officials to t6 me deceitful preachers 7riticalaffirm something they do not know and trust to ignorance for success of the bank therefore in view of theseIacts I do not wonder that every houghtful man would be an Agnostic Then when I see the funds of the of religion exhausted and overburdened with debts of war ed by greed and gain and causjthink of the Christian wars superstition preys on innocence and justice I do not wonder that the world Is growing Agnostic Every war and all the blood that has been shed and the cyclones earthquakes and volcanoes belchingIforth their breath of lava and team and every lion that devours inIhatta idt trymicrobe thai feeds on the 3 optic nerve and every disease that is catching in place of health are evi to my mind that no God exists who is able to bless and help the hu ian race hence some of the many easons why I am an Agnostic Fort Worth Texas J DDAVH3I Making A Country Home Interests evpryonoj The M K d T oesnt claim a clear recepe publlcations treat of the enormousigrowth of fruit culture In East the moneymaking possibilities TexasIlead and zinc IMls60uri and Kansas and the delight of Texas and Old Mexico Aslt for them Address KATY 1514 Wainwright Bl gSt Louis Mo r CHOCTAW OKLAHOMA GULF R R1 Combines the Advantages ofiEastern ServiceWith the of a WESTERNCOUNTRY DIRECT LINEn Memphis to Little Rock Hot Springs Indian and Oklahoma Territories Texas Col orado New Mexico Arizona Old Mexico and the Pacific CoastiWIDE VESTIBULED TRAINS I1 IfPULLMAM fr t iir 4i f I IiBLUEGRASS BLADE LIjIi MRS HI Mi CL08 II ALLUDES TO BRO GREENS MAG iAZINE TO THE SAN FRANCIS MAGAZINE AND TO THE ECO PATRIARCH City Iowa Juno 303 IWehster Moore letter from the quintette of lady editors of the San Francisco Ladles Magazine Is at hand amusementlattachment of my name to your car- We seem to be raising the dust out the West probably through the energetic propaganda work of a John son as I have just received a mark ed copy of thin Patriarch which mentions Mrs Henry In a still more enviable way for her work In the Blue atTordhthough niggers still suffer from their Christian brethren I inclose a clipping from the Des Moines News of May 30 Perhaps Alex Campbell of Lexington can throw some light upon the matter As you are related to the falmly I shall hope that you might be named In said disposition of property and then I am sure The Blade would take a new lease of life With best wishes and tho hope that you may live long to wield the edt r tonal pen I am yours most sincerely HARRIET M CLOSZ P SI presume you have noted the remarks of Brother Green of F T Magazine about your bookand as sistants Dear Mrs Henry she de sores more appreciation than she ggtsH M t I have not seen the San Francisco Ladles Magazine I am sorry it It opposed to these distinguished lady friends of The Blade- I have seen The Patriarch and should hardly think any good ladles 1would want to be associated with It In likes or dislikes The piece about Mrs Henry from The Patriarch Is as follows One of the Shes Who Hates the President Materialistic men and women of the Josephine K Henry standard marry for mutual convenience not for the sacred responsibilities of parenthood This woman of Versailles Ky Is educated and presumptlous Thus she hates President Roosevelt for his moral bravery She is a criminal limit hen one of those who lay all the eggs they please but never in ton uao Bet Site Bnot time tp set she Is out stretching her neck and raises on her tiptoes vainly try Ing to crow like a cock through the columns of the Blue Grass Knave The Patrlarcn Isa Christian Socialist paper Its last Issue of May 30th has just come to the Blade It has In It only 21 advertisements Of these 19 are displayed advertisements of saloonsone is a displayed advertise ment of a pool gambling room and one is a local advertisement ora sa loon It has a notice complimenting the Washington Liquor Dealer an or gan of the liquor interest It has j through it in several places little notices calling upon people to patronize its advertisers One of the Patriarchs articles be gins as follows A Minister Who Reformed Rev Geo K McDonald late IThe of the East Avenue Baptist church Long Island City N Y who preached his farewell sermon Decem IL ber 7th Is now presiding over a well appointed saloon In New York City 1Ithighly compliments Rev McDon aId and prints Rev Ds letter in which the reformed clergyman shows that ho Is doing good in his new calling as a saloon keeper The Patriarch highly compliments Christians and Christianity and its longest article Is from a famous au thor against Atheism IIdo not remember over to have a liquor advertisement In any Infidel publication JThe piece from tho Freethought Is as follows The Book That Ought to Be Published Charles Moore of tho Blue Grass Blade we see has returned from j The Holy Land and we now expect to see appear very soon that wonderful book entitled Dog Fennel Not having seen a copy wo cannot pass Judgment upon it But we are not t expecting very much of it as The Holy Land business has been overworked it is in fact nothing but a barren desert In common parlance In place of being a Holy Land it oniThe best description of It that we ever saw was written by Daniel K Tenney which we published and have for sale price ten cents But we will suggest to Brother Moor that there Is somo matter In his possession that he might put Into a book that would be ten times as valuable to the world as his Dog Fennel and that Is the writings of Josephine K Henry and Harriet M Closz that have appeared In the Blade for tho lust two years in our opinion two of the ablest female writers In this or any other country The church has not In allI their thousands of female writers In America two women of equal ability as writers Now If Brother Moore will publish this book we promise keep a page advertisement of It stand ing in the Free Thought Magazine for a year and do all we can to give It a large circulation for wo believe it would do more in the lino of female emancipation from superstition than- r t t t t7jtip 9l1 t p 1tt0 lg trt 1111 uJ In f any work that has appeared for the last hundred years The title should bo The Woman Emancipator It Is best to be candid and I must say that that editorial Is quite couraging to mo Certainly nobody who knows me will think do not appreciate Mesdames Henry anti Closz and If live a few more year- too hope to see the writings of both of these ladles In book form It had been a desire or my life al most from childhood to go some day to Palestine and my dear wife and family were so willing and anxious to have me do so that they made a great sacrifice to have me go My wife sold a lot of sheep for 261 and gave me that and friends paid me enough In advance for my book to enable me to pay the balance of the that my trip cost mo the least of any passen ger on the cruise Since I came home we have put our home In the hands of a real estate agent Mr John Nay of Lexington for sale because we are so In debt I had hoped to make my book about the Orient tho most inter Sting feature of my life have had a great tour and have had an opportunity for making a book that was even more than expected I had Just finished writing It the day I saw that notice In tho Freethought Magazine Mr L K Washburn of tho Boston Investigator asked his friends to give him 300 Just as a present to go to Europe on I have not seen from any of our Infidel publications any dis couraging allusion to that fact and certainly I do not feel like saying anything of that kind I congratulate hIm and congratulate his friends that they have seen cause to do this and hope he will have a happy time My book is going to be larger than l expected and more expensive than- I expected I shall be fully satisfied- If can make It pay for Its expenses and pay back to my wife what she wants to give mo but which know she cannot afford to give I had not expected to be assisted very much by any of the Infidel publications and had not expected to be encouraged at all by some of them but had not expected that the first notice of my book would come from Bro Green the editor ofallin the world that would have expected to help me in uch disparaging terms as this It may be that Bro Tenny can get up a better book about The Holy Land for ten cents than I can for a dollar but It seems to me that If the conditions had been exactly chang ed I would not have said that about a book that Bro Green had written just as his hook was ready to go to press Daniel K Tenny Is certainly a man of ability but he Is evry sober not to say sombre kind of a writer and his article In the Issue of the Free Thought Magazine In which appears this editorial is a defence of spiritual- Ism Ho has of course his right to that opinion but certainly with all the letters that have been In the Blade lately In which men and women tell why they are theists there must be a good many WHJ do not believe In spiritualism anuwho would like to hear about Palestine the opinion of a man who does not believe in spirItual- Ism even though they had read a book about it by a man who did believe In spiritualismFor my book Is not by any means simply about Palestine I have seen Europe Asia and Africa and Islands of two seas and have written about all of them I have given more space to the Holy Land than to any other land In proportion to its size but tlmt is only about a third of my book have not heralded it as a won derful book and I have not said any thing that I know of to indicate that wanted anybody to expect much of It but still some people have ex pressed a desire to see It both by let lers and orally among my neighbors If Bro Green never saw Palestine as I believe is true how can he tell that any particular book Is the best description of it he ever saw If the Holy Land business has been overworked from the Infidel stand point I do not know It I never saw a book about Palestine in my life by an avowed Infidel and I did not know there was one until heard of this cne by Bro Tenny a spiritualist and while It is true that n spiritualist may be an Infidel think It is gen orally understood that spiritualism Is a very mild form of Infidelity- I expect to send with my compliments to every Infidel editor in the world that I know of a copy of my coming book Dog Fennel in the Or ient If any of them help me to sell It I shall be obliged If they do not shall try not to be disappointed while If they discourage it will try to stand It People who know Mrs Hpnry know that she has borne the sacred respon sibility of motherhoodthat she gave to the world a very brilliant man who lost his life on a railroad train as the result of the liquor drinking of a railroad employee the vice which The Patriarch Is encouraging Mans Inhumanity to woman makes countless thousands mourn You can do nothing by reasoning with such a man Bro Greens Idea about Palestine Is only partly accurate It Is true that the Jerusalem of David and Solomon and Jesus which Is that part of It Inside the ancient walls with its 85000 families say nearly 500000 people is almost cer tainly the most miserable city on earth though It Is a museum of Won ders but tho new part of Jerusalem that the missionaries have built for themselves to live In out of the money that has been sent to that country to convert the heathen Mo hammedans that nctw own all that country Is certainly very beautiful and those people who have taken up the cross and gone to Jerusalem tho place where the Christian religions arted to convert Its people to Christianity do certainly live at home with plenty of money and no poor kin If I ever did see anybody In fixI sixty miles of railway from Jaffa Joppa of the New Testament 1Ifr4 J tttiiftlt y q i i lri t to Jerusalem tho latter half that brings us to Jerusalem Is such a con fusion of volcanic mountains that even olive trees can hardly grow or them though anywhere In the Orient an Olive treo can grow where noth Ing else can But the thirty miles of the country after wo left Jaffa on the way to Je Ist not only produces splendid grain and delicious fruits of which the trees wero hanging full and ripe as we went oranges lemons tangarlnes and mandarines with millions of beautl ful wild flowers Including the lilies of tho field of which Jesus said oven Solomon In all his glory was not arrayed like one of these and men women and children nearly 500 of us gathered these until we got tired of them but that country also produces beautiful women that came In great numbers to meet us and showed us great kindness and were healthy happy looking Mohamme dan heathens that could give you pointers on the pretty Women that all the faithful to Mohammed were going to meet In heaven that you nover dreamed of Bro Green in your Chicago philosophy of feminine charms though you have the honor to be tho husband of a handsome lady Those ladles In that part of Pales tine the Plain of Sharon tattoo their faces but the tattooing so far from being ugly is real cute and H relieves the embarrassment of naturally ferent men like me by giving them a chance to look at the tattooing that of course was put there to be seen You will remember that the Bible says when the Jews came from Egypt to Palestine or Canaan under the special direction of God to oust the Canaanltes the Jews drove the Ca naanltes out of the mountains but could not drive them out of the plains because those in the plains had char- Iots of iron It is is a pretty hard story that God could not drive out a lot of Canaanites even with a big army to help him But the fact Is that the Canaanite had found out that the mountains of Canaan were not fit for anybody to live in so they let tho Jews go there to suf fer as they are doing there to this day while Mr Canaanite drew the line at the Jews coming down Into the plains and these people there are all happy to this day If you could see that country around where Joseph of Arlmathea lived the man who burled Jesus you would not think Palestine all such a desolate country by any means- dont believe old Brother that any roam can do justice to Palestine alone In any ten cent pamphlet to say nothing of all the other wonder ful places that I saw and I believe that even after you have posted your self from Brother Tennys book there will not be a single letter in Dog Fennel from beginning to end that you will not read There may be a good many things In It that you will think I ought not to have sold I have always found that my friends and enemies were equally disappointed whenever I have written anything in which they could not find something to object to and I suppose you will find a fair proportion of that In Dog Fennel but I have not the least hesitancy In saying that you will read It all the same from start to finish and that you will sit up some of nights to do It whatever be your ordinary habits about sleep- Ing THE ITCHING PALM Editor Moore I would supplement Norris Sachs closing peroration Oh Atheism thou art a jewel In yours of June 7th under heading Curse of Christianity with Oh Money thou art the curse of this worlu Can any one not totally blind not see If he can read between the lines that all the troubles he com plains of have their root In money ijiose who first introduced this evil have now to reap the harvest and a sad one it is for them They must not blame Christians or Mohamme dans or Pagans for tile consequences ot tnelr financial genius but only themselves Nemesis Is not overtaking them alone but every Individual and every nation who is handling the vile stuff and Its equivalent proper ty which gives one perron and one corporation and one nation and one religion a chance to jet on top of an other The remedy lies not In massacrelrig those who Invented the root of all evil but to abolish the evil Itself There is no need for it HERMAN WETTSTEIN Fitzgerald Ga Juno Cth 19i CommentYou are right brother money and property snake a lot of unnapplness Send the Blade all of your money and a deed for all of your property and be a happy man Lord send us more of the root GOOD LUCK Newark Valley N Y April 28 303 Dear Brother Moore Through you wish to thank Bro Daniel Blanchard for sending me the Blade and also yourself for saying Blade would have come anyhow It is a grand good paper On account of poor health have neglected to write you my thanks Put me down for your book Dog Fennel Must have It If am alive Glad to hear you are home to your friends again Tows fraternally MISS OLIVE L LUCK INDIAN MEDICINE WANTS THE BLADE Hot Springs Ark May 23 1903 Bro Hughes- send you a paper with Dr Deer FooWs poetry lIe is an Indian and is a subscriber to tho Blade and I send you fifty cents for his paper A col ored lawyer promises to subscribe W T FICKLEN CommentWe have two Doctors in New York each one of whom Is a Dear Footesame name little differ ence in spelling Tho Blade In clubs or rive or more Is now reduced to 60 cents each liiLr fi t ii W h 5 rI11fi J h tv A wvv AAvvvvvysvw ItMrs Josephine K Henry Ver sallies Ky Lucy Waters Phelps West Sutton Esther Van Riper Circle vllle Ohio Mrs A Thompson 436 Oak St Chattanooga Tenn E Davis Houston Heights Tex Mrs Vina Hodges Salado Oregon Mrs Ella Wood Fonddulac Wig Jean Harmon Paris Ky Ada Smith Harrison Okla Mary E Crigler Bartow Fla Mrs A M Krone Cincinnati O Helen Collins 639 E 21st St Los Angeles Calif Emily Jones East Lynne Mo Everett Phelps Epperson Ky Mrs Lyndall 196 S Grant Ave Columbus Ohio Mrs A Lee Blue Earth Minn Elizabeth Henry Sparks Carllse KyMiss Ora L Baughman 540 W ter St Lima Ohio Mrs Nellie Evans 540 W Haller St Lima Ohio Mrs W Royster 426 W Durall St Jacksonville Fla Alice Roby Caplinger Mills Mo Laura Roby Caplinger Mills Mo Lucinda Roby Caplinger Mills Mo Ella Roby Caplinger Mills Mo John F Clark Arlington Md Mrs E Markell Belleville Kan Mary A Emerson Oak Center WIs C Kelsey Bellvue Fla WrD tarp Kathleen Fla Andrew Cook Manatee Fla Essex Mich Mrs Pape 12 Vine St Lexing Miss Elizabeth Wiley 4069 Page Ave St Louis Mo Marllla Ricker Dover J W Rlgglns Diamond Ala Mrs Aline Wright Denton Texas Robt Wright Denton Texas Mrs Eliza Martin Mableton GaJ W Byler Comins Mich Minnie Lowry Woolsey Ind Ter Mrs Jessie Hazelrigg Ryan Iowa Jas Davis 526 Prospect St Lima Ohio SC Musgrove ArnettsvllTe W Va Mary E Collins Cincinnati Ohio Capt Geo W Loyd New Rochelle New oYrk Mrs E Oades OlympIa Wash 420 Third St Thomas F Flood Barrs Mills Clark Corrigan Texas Wm Emmitt Johnson McLeans boro Hans F Hanson Eslef Minn Mrs Isadora Davis 528 Prospect Ave Lima Ohio Alberto C Fisher New Haven Conn George Gibson 112 Post Ay- Elmo TennfMiss LUIa Gibson Post Ave St Elmo Tenn AideStRL Hassler 1849 Mullanphy St St Louis Mo Mrs Rachel Grober 105 W Fourth St Covington Ky Mrs Pefferle Ontario Ore Mrs Sarah E Richards Ashland Richards Ashland Ore John Wulf Exchange St Mil ford Mass Mllllam Jones Mary and Patton St Covington Ky Harriet Closz 537 Bank Sreet Webster Cltylowa- Hortense Malcolmn Phelps OtterI vllle Ont W Simpson Ft Wrangle Alas ka Mrs Jean Pohl and Dr Gustav Pohl 96 Lemon St Buffalo Y Mrs Caroline Rowell 30 Locust StIBuffalo NY Mrs Carrie Becker 27 Harlow St Buffalo YtMrs John Ave Buffalo YtMrs Ausln Connellsvllle Penn Frances Praetz Rochelle Ills Mrs Mary Preatj Rochelle Ii IIIIMargaret Coppock Indlananolls Anthony O Nelson lox 879 Shel ton Wash Wm Martin Mableton GaIB Shoenfleld 118i Birmingham AlaIJ Todd ingham AlaIMrs Eliza Wheeler Logan Utah Mr and Mrs John Welsdorfer Har per Iowa Chas W Hackbart St Ansgar 10I W R Ritchie Bodle Calif Frank Smith Bodle Calif Judge Hakes Bodle Calif Mrs Rose and A Luterman Ackley Iowa NEW SUBSCRIBER HEARD FROMI Ton anoxle Kas June 5th 1903 Blue Grass Blade As you are edited brA heathen In tho Interest of good morals de sire a chat with you at least once a week I find by reading a sample copy that you are loaded with hot shot from thhe foundry of Free thought situated behind the battery of Truth and Reason The time was alien a Thus salth the Lord consti tuted the ne plus ultra of all human progress and to doubt this was to In cur the displeasure of Jehovah through his priests and receive a tick et to hades via purgatory Too long has humanity endured the tyranny of an Institution based upon a theologl cal lie Moses and his peers were very exact In teaching Israel the pur port of Thus salth the Lord while they were as dumb as an Egyptian mummy In regard to the truths of philosophy or the laws of chemistry Moses taught those unfortuate and benighted people therlaw of retaliation he so under the di rect authority and supervision of Je p i WJ r b 1 flY L hovah or God If that law was good enough for the Jews why not good enough for Christ and the Gentiles If Moses and Joshua know the sun moved why did Galileo discover and promulgate the truth and expose the heroic Ignorance cf Jehovah or his servant Joshua If the doctrine or theories of Gods chosen vessels enveloped tho world In the darkness of the middle ages why did tho human mind enter the field of Investigation and being guided by the lamp of Reason finally present the mental world with scientific Truth Why did not those religious ignoramuses who were after Gods own heart roll the awayfromdom and permit humanity to enter and behold the glories of Truth made emlnatlngfroma perception of his Inalienable rights despotismforcedgeon of Ignorance and kept It chain ed there for ages For many long and weary centuries a deadly conflict rag ed between Truth and religious false priceInbytheof superstition and Ignorance begins to wave and the advocates of a bru tal theology cried out In confusion for mercy while being submerged by tho mighty avalanche of Truth and Free thought A lie Is the parent of a mir acle and these are the boulders be hind which rest both Jehovah an- dhII A scientific fact does not rest behind a mirace it shines brighter when tested by the light of Investigation and does not require seas of hu man blood to foster or sustain It An clent mythology flourished for thous adds of years and Its halcyon days were when the mental world was veloped In that darkness for which It alone was responsible humanity did not possess any rights that this murderous and plundering Institution felt constrained to regard save the right to bow In humble submission tc a Thus salth the Lord This theological and greedy robber cries In lie expiring agonies to science Obllter ate your lamp of Reason or perish Jehovah cries out In anguish If you keep that lamp burning my servants kings popes priests and preachers will become enlightened get Insubor dlnate become Independent and mj glory will fade my kingdom crumble and even t1 itself the man prop ol my power will become a veritable wilderness while my skypllots become likened unto ox trains upon the plains of ivansaa things or e past What has liberated humanity from the grasp of this theological monster and plac ed him in the broad and open field oi Investigation where he can pursue hit labors and demonstrate to all man kind that Jehovah and hades are only the dreams of mythological frauds Fear was the weapon that kept the chambers of hI fervid upon which rested an institution that enslaved ant degraded woman as no other institu tlon has done since she was taker from Adams side and yet that in stltutibn has the courage or gain lr rsubsist chiefly upon the exertions ant toll of the element whose degredatlor t strove so studiously to perpetuate We live In a brighter and grander day The venom of the old serpent has been discovered and the proper antidote has been applied and ere long this orthodox lie will be real about as one of the most despisablc frauds that tyrannized over and dis graced humanity J W RENO PRAYER- I think prayer is the most ridlcu thing on earth Though I an ashamed to tell It I must say I have prayed myself but none of mj prayers were ever answered Some say was not In earnest but know nothing at that time of free thought believed some day my prayers would answered- have so often seen people or their knees pleading and praying with tears streaming down their cheekr something I know not what The thank God for the beautiful sunshlnr and flowers and all that Is grand ant then must we thank for the terrible storms that so often sweet over the land taking the lives ant homes of the good as well as the bad heard a man say that ho and r friend of his were attending a vival An old Christian lady came them and was begging them tI come to Jesus They told her thej denied the existence of a God She fell to her knees and prayed unti she was almost exhausted for God ti come and take the life of one of then order htat the other might believe and was her prayer answered Nay they both still live more loyal thei ever to their belief After had qui praying and went to thinking waf attending a revival A young lady came to me and was begging me go to the altar I know she was dear good girl but she would have been so had she never been in t church She talked to me of a lov Ing friend I had lost said my friene was awaiting my arrival in heaven really made mo fell sad I had begat to think myself that was unde conviction The young lady inslstet and pleaded until I finally gave uj and she led me to the altar 0 sh was so happy she said God had an swered her prayer for she had prayed for me so long When she left m side was at the altar I raised m head and looked around I could no help but smile when saw that Insan mob of people Jumping and scream- Ing and shouting and singing Th sad feeling all left me forgot abou my lost friend I felt so ashamed o myself when saw where was pushed my way out and have neve1 been back since Was that younj ladys prayer answered No no never will be believe only what see and know If there is a God I think It Is use less to pray to Him He will do at He pleases any way MISS ORA L BANGHMAN Lima 0 No 540 W Haller St i1 0 JiiJ j TI WHY AM AN ATHEIST I cant believe love or worship a godfather lute our Bible God Why Jtines he want to punish us here on fearth with so much trouble and pains f sickness and defeat and then make us live again for tho pleasure of throw Ing us Into hell to burn and fry for ever and forever Wouldnt that make Itsfatheror a godfather M J CLARK Billings M- ontFrisco System WILL HAVE ON SALE AT St Louis Q Memphis CHEAP ONEWAY and ROUND TRIP Homeseekers Rates FIRST AND THIRD TUESDAYS OF EACH MONTH To ARKANSAS MISSOURI KAN SAS OKLAHOMA TERRITORY IN DIAN TERRITORY and TEXAS For rates and Information address r H I McGUIRE W R POWE Tr Pass Agent General Agent CINCINNATI OHIO KOREA GINSENG NURSERY Doolin Prop SEED FOR PLANTING A SPECIALTY Office and Nursery at s ETNA PulaskI County KY x DRINK HABIT CUREDIName treatment for fi5 cure tranrnh or money refrnded by Nerve struncthenflr blood purJUer miinliotxl restorer nil one make IfIwe It we guarantee it to cure any case ot the drink babic on eartu We send it to any nddiex1 in the United States upon receipt of moneylest COorJpOBOX44SHEtBY LEXINGTON EASTERNfJTime TablezNo2 Dally No p m a m n Lv Lexington 225 745 t Lv Winchester 310 826 y Lv Btvllle Junction 511 1029 Ar Jackson 615 1130 Ar Cannel City NWestbound No1 Dally No3 Ex Sunday Daily t kLvLv Jackson 625 225 jji Lr Btville Junction 726 32krLv Wi nester 923 5t- Ar j tLexington 1020 60t Nos and make close connection I at O K junction for Cannel and points on Ohio Kentucky RailPway l N S1ant cbttnect1ttL + unction with Ohio for Alt Sterling and local pointsfNos and connect ex cept Sunday at Beattyvllle Junctionwzwith A Raiway for Beattyvllle J R BARR Gen Mgr 1HAS SCOTT G P A T R MORGAN S P A I THE WELLKNOWN PHYSICIAN Cures Where Others Fail FOR PROOP READ HIS BOOK t Thollellt ecleMeotaland PhyIenI are deafrousot cent to their pialntaandadcecriptionoflheDoctors ton cents in a Plaineovelo dgivingcausesatdsymptomsofthecom 1JImportant Out IIedyceestAddressDR n Pi FELLOWS where this odver Vluelund Jt thas cured to advanced and difficult cases of a private nature which were looked upon Incurable that he uow considered far and uear as the most reliable and trust ICspecialty of a number of diseases thereby becoming familiar with them and enabling him to treat them suc cessfully He Is wellknown as a pro nounced advocate In all lines of free profession THE LJISETO Chicago InJinnaholisP LOiilie RaiLJay ONLY LINE TOTHE FAMOUSHEALTIfmOQTS desBLuJE GRASS 8I4ADJatNational Liberal Party President MRS OSEPHINE K HENRY First Vice President DJ WILSON M Versailles Ky 206 E Fourth St Cincinnati MRS HARRIET CLOSZ Second Vice President J C BARNES Third Vice Pres Hlndsboro IllsWebster City Iowa WAMSLEY Treasurer- Atlas SecretaryMMORRIS SACHS Cleves Ohio Bank Bldg Cincinnati O Vice Presidents Honorary Vice President OBJECTSHonoray ifarris TuscaloosaThe Complete Separation ofwatson 1IrangdCI1t1rC11 and StateMONTINAIt Ft J lTlio Property 2TIip the obWaltrrennnce liolylay appropriating nb- UcinfundlNE11 picker llIr1OSellfor las Angeleseruiy Slate crt Whittierslltullonsrlotts 4The the theNEWinaugural nil Eric Coonoy CONrCr1CUTallegal thanksgivingfiE1V licnnctt and CitrFrankGordachurch that at SaviorNORTiiIerklns punta th other h ArtLegerWcttitcin Fitzgeraldcle the to the Thi pant Alas IoscoG clasi i pressairsJ J MiracleFrankJas nushvlllORLAllmlAJ City lngdalene111EfHODS Politicalairs JOtI1The Organization into a J Talent BodyJ City Thphfalames CltRHODE0 Jiinellon Terry the bodiesSOUTII llanlyvllleJas Iops upon the Statej1 llutleilcel SterlingPr J Jean SIJTEeretIIr party Iu ParisFort prctslon Lc11eLJthe monopolyCharlesby tilt lalliativeand rights J pallor Gslrg uotan goelO111M Dewattoi aral by all other and Enslrhart r liberty Jt recA mlllr other tii vluli rnWISCONSIX MISSISSIPPI1rrut 1I1t rNt J Why I Am An Atheis In entering the Blades symposium Why am an Atheist let us first dc fine our terms The word Atheist Is + from two Greek words which webIfii disbelieves or denies the existence of n forl or BnnrATneJntellSS nt i am an Atheist in th sense nwI disbelieve In tho existence DnwI preme Intelligent being But while I utterly disbelieve e existence of a God I do not deny theI existence of a God because the God conveys to me no idea and I Icannot deny that which carries to 4 my no distinct affirmation am nothing of which the afflrmer himself has any rational conception I car not deny a nonenity so I do not say there Is no God and cannot therefore Justly be confronted with the scarcely polite rejoinder of the Psalm 1st To say there Is no God is to at guo against a vacuum I have heart the word God used ever since I was a child but have never yet seen a r clear coherent definition of what Is meant thereby Who or what or where God is I have not the faintest conception It appears to me that people who use the word God do so to conceal a their Ignorance rather than to express their knowledge God seems to be at abstract word coined to designate tnt occult forces of nature The God idea Is simply a creation of the imagine tlon a fiction of ones own fancy a figment of the human mind Nobqdy can logically affirm the istence of that which it is Impossibl- er to demonstrate I have not the re ci motest conception of what a God is I have never seen one nor have I fiver seen or heard an Intelligent de scription of one My notions about Gods are so vague and uncertain that should I chance to meet a God and a hoodoo together on the street I could not tell the one from the other I must confess my total inability to comprehend what people mean or think they mean when they speak of God In order to persuade me that a being exists or can exist I must know what this being or I must at least know something about him Who what and where Is God has been asked millions of times but no Intelligent answer has ever been i found There is not today nor ever has been so far as history records any consensus of opinion among theologians as to what is the definition of the term God It Is the most mean ingless of words The orthodox creed says that God Is without body parts or passions Surely this Is not de scriptive of personality Some one has remarked that the above quoted verbiage is a good description of aI said It is easy to believe in a God if you are not asked to de fine him But why say him Is God a person and of the masculine Jgenderr Ralph Waldo Emerson said When I speak of God I prefer to say it dPersonality implies limitation Individuality distinct 1 3 and separate existence Are these conditions consistent with the divine ubiquitytWhat Is by the question Do you believe In God Has the ques t tioner the remotest conception of J Import of this question Not the 1 l f t I slightest Theologians tell us that God Is Infinite If God Is Infinite no finite being can have communication with him or a comprehension of him The Infinity of God therefore and the admith- impossibility of knowing anything about the divine essence occasions Justifies Atheism Theologians andI us that God Is mysterious and prehenslble They prate loud and long about the mysteries of Godliness It seems to me certain that no In telllgent person can honestly say that he or she Is convinced of the exist who is so reIImainedstantly assured that they are prehensible to us incom1 Theologians preach the of their God They claim created and governs this world he Is Infinitely powerful wise mere ful and Just and that the powers of the earth were ordained by him Yet there Is no recorded Instant where the uplifted hand of the assassin has been paralyzedno authentic account In all the literature of the world of the innocent having bees shielded by God Thousands of crimes are being committed ever day Men are this moment lying In watt for their human prey Wives are whipped and crushed driven to in sanity and death Little children an begging for mercy lifting imploring tearfilled eyes to the brutal faces of fathers and mothers Sweet girls an being deceived lured and outraged hut God has no time to defend the good and to protect the pure He too busy numbering hairs and watch Ing sparrows If there be an omni uotent omniscient omnipresent and just deity who presides over the fairs of the world why is It that an Innocent man is led to tho scaffold and executed for a crime that he never committed while the real murderer is allowed to escape Intelligent people know and If can did admit that no one knows whether there is a God or not The existence of such a being is purely a matter of speculation or conjecture No man has brain enough or knowledge enough to say whether there is or is not a sup ernatural being No man has pene trated beyond the horizon of the natural Whether there be a God or not It is safe to say that the orthodox God does not exist The God of the holy Bible is an impossible monster conjured up In the imagination of an Ignorant and barbarous people As to the existence of the supernatural one man knows exactly as much md precisely as little as another So when some one asks Is there a God say I do not know It seems to me that every sane and honest man nust say the same There may or may not be an infi Ute being neither affirm nor deny IIlte Ingersoll I am frank and honest enough to say do not know Real zing the limitations of my mind I candidly admit that the solution of his problem Is beyond my grasp Yet I am not too modest to say that think I know as much as any human icing knows or ever knew on this subject and that Is nothing All our ame Ideas are hut mental Impres Ions or mind pictures of objects presented to our senses What then can the God Idea represent to us since it Is an idea without an object Such an Idea is as absurd as an effect without a cause An idea without a prototype is but an idle fancy a mental abstraction Some theologians assert that the idea of God is Innate This jsertion Is gratuitous and cannot be substantiated All young children are Atheists 11tLkJli They have no idea of God until that Idea has been Inculcated by their parents or teachers Each child recelvi s from its parents guardians orin structors the God which tuey themselves received from theirs The God Idea is Instilled into the minds of children before they are able to reason or distinguish the true from the false or the right hand from the left It would be as difficult to imbue for the first time the mind of a mental grown up man with the extravagant notions about divinity as to banish those vague notions from the brain of a man who had itnblhed them In jjt tende est infancy witch his mother milk Belief in the God idea Isn mechanical habitude of childhood which clings to grown up peopl Very ew if any people in the world would have a God If care had not been exercised to supply them with one when they were very young ancI incapable of reasoning People believe In God only on the word of those who have no more idea of him than they themselves have Nurses talk to children about God as the talk to them of fairies and mere wolfs They teach them from the tenderest age to clasp the hand mechanically Does any one belles that the nurses have any clearer tions of God than the children that they compel to pray to him The Christian God of the Bible Ilk all the other Gods is of barbaric or gin The Gods are antique monument of ignorance fear and superstition God like the devil was created to enrich the priests The theologian create phantoms and then assure us that the safest way Is not to doub tho existence of those phantoms which they have themselves Invented By following out this method of brim credulity there is no absurdity which it would not be safer to believe that to doubt For the generality of ig norant people nothing renders an ar gument so convincing as fear In con sequence of this fact theologians tel us that the safest side must bo taken The alleged existence of a God if the basis of all religions Few ignor ant people seem to doubt this exist ence and this fundamental principle is precisely the one which prevents every devout mind from reasoning For the above reasons I am pleased to be an Atheist J W HODGE M D Niagara Falls New York THE CASE OF ELIJAH Little Perry s Sunday school teacher told her class last Sunday about the ascent of Elijah to heaven When the boy got home he desired to learn further partculars from his father concerning the event Was Elijah an awful awful awful gootI man he asked Yes ho was a very good man The best man that ever lived One of the best I bellove If other people were as good as he was wouldnt they have to die to o heavenI hardly tell you about that erhaps they wouldnt Well how did he get started Did he Just give kind of a Jump and Iteep on going I think he merely raised his hands towards the sky and that he then dated upwardjSposlng there had been a lot of telegraph wires for him to get caught In But they didnt have telegraph wires in those days Maybe thats why God doesnt take people to heaven that way any more because they might get caught in the wires like kites you know Perhaps i tI wonder how long it took him tQ get there I dont know Probably not ery longBut If ho went too fast he might of bumped his head mightnt he It Isnt likely that anything of kind happened thatI Because If he hind and got hod of fallen back again and the d of seen him wouldnt they Oh we cant tell about these things It was a miracle which God performed to make the people believe in up in heaven yet with the same body ho had when he was on the earth- I suppose so But the angels are Just spirits arent they spirits can see one another when they get to heaven cant they Oh yes Is all of them that goes up to heaven from the earth their souls That is what we are taught to lIeve But Elijah all went UpIlls feet and hands legs and all didnt ho So the Bible tell us I wander whero he gets new clothes up In heaven when his old ones wear outChicago RecordHer aldCommentTh above was copied into tho Knoxville Journal and Tribune Its getting to be a common thing for the newspapers to make fun of Bible stories WHY AM AN ATHEIST I can go Brother Heald one better My mother my father and my grandfather were all Atheists or Deists They really did not know what Atheist meant I was never sent to Sund school or forced to attend church neither was I prohibited from going I was left free to decide for myself When I was ten years old we had a very religious school teacher to teach our school He was an old school Presbyterian He punished me by making me learn recite verses in the Bible I was a redheaded child and all who have the misfortune to be redheaded lwow my paths fell not in pleasant places If any of the school wanted a fight all they had to do was to sing out redheaded woodpecker or scor- pIon and they had their wish At first the teacher gave me the Lords Prayer then the Ten Commandmen then some psalms After a while he got tired of hunting up subjects for me and told me to Just open tho Blbe ut rand on and learn six verses One day I learned six of as filthy verses as it had ever been my luck to read After that the pedagogue found the verses for me That was the first filth I ever knew For some weeks after that I would take the Holy Bible and steal off to myself and hunt for more filth I was so ashamed of It that I never ureathed a word of it In the meantime I was comparing tt God of the Bible with the good folks In our settlement much to the deti ment of At the early age of ten I was sUfi that my father who was an honest nana man who lived with and for its family was a better man than rod and I have never had cause to change my opinion Yesterday I was out In the woods md found an old horse bogged In the mud dying The flies were so thlc round him they lopked like a this woke the sun did its best to him and an army of buzzards bakeI waiting In the trees for him to his struggles to begin their ghoulish work I thought what kind of a thing ls it called God who numbers the lairs of our heads and will let this poor horse die in such torments and he Chrls an law will not let anythln bo killed out of its misery without he consent of its owner The negr who owned the horse was at church and so the poor animal must suffer on for a while longer I only wonder how any sane person can be anything ese but an Atheist M E DAVIS Houston Height Texas WHY AM AN ATHEIST Because the fool hath said In hit hoort there is a God A god smiles and frowns a god of unbounded love and undying hate a god of wrath revenge and Jealousy a god who created unlimited space and filled its ei Irety with worlds and systems of worms with nothingness for materia In six days of time when there was no intelligence to mark its flight god who created man after his owr Image as his crowning work and not only pronounced it good but very good and perfect and then placed temptation before him knowing that hewould fall a god who created an itelligence superior to that of mans and places it in the head of a snake a god whose tender mercies extender all his works except thunderbolts cyclones earthquakes and all elementary action a god who planted the love for the beautiful in the child- Ish heart and who painted the rose enchanting colors an then coiled a deadly serpent at Its root to strike Its deadly fangs into the innocent hand that plucks it Fool take your God and go to Hades Why am I an Atheist Why fool I was born The first few years of my life were as free from Bibles gods spooks and devils as Genesis Is of truth or the atonement of consistency Environment heredity and early training came mighty near making a religious fool of me but a grain of commonsense well Invested saved me I pity- the poor howling victims of an orthodox God and his priests I pity the- poor wretch who thinks that the worn shlplng of such a God and pampering his priests will save him from eternal punishment The idiot who thinks will wear wings and plunk golden harp- after he is dead has my sympathy Death is the great benefactor of all animated nature It Is the end pain disease and sorrow Where these- are not heaven isADELBERT KENT Drono Mich t tlgat1 If jr 511 +++ + i + ++to+ + ++ t+ I i + II I I II ++++++ + + v MY PRICES RJ For COMPARISON i o o In 12 a or 4 Ounce SilvorlnoScrow Cases Prepaid 0IDeuberHampden 18 size Special RWay 23 Jls 32 Jls 24 New RWay 23 Jls 26 John Hancock Deuber W Co Jls same Jls Elgin Veritas 23 Jls same or No 149 150 all Jls 25 Father Tlme21 Jls or newliB W Raymond Jls 20 Raymond 17 Jls 1850 Waltham Vanguard 23 Jls 29 same Jls 25 Crescent Str 21 Jls 20 Appleton Tracey Co Premier new 17 Jls 1850 same not Premier 17 Jls nickel The above guaranteed to pass Way Inspectors Waltham liP S Bartlett or Elgin Wheeler 17 Jls nickel aa Dusted same gilt same Hampden nickel Elgin Waltham or Hampden nickel 15 Jls 7 Elgin or Waltham nickel 7 Jls noncatchable hairspring 5 Hampden 7 Jls gilt 450 Standard or Century The above In goldfilled screw cases guaranteed twenty years 350 or In hunting 550 more In 25year screw cases 6 or hunt Ing 850 more than sllverine cases THE IDEAL GENTLEMANS WATCH Small 12 size elegant artistic handchased or en huntlgt+ 17 Jls adjusted 1750 John Hancock 21 Jls extra fine 2850 In open face hinged case 50 cts screw case less All watches guaranteed new perfect cases latest designs hand chased no diework engraving and accompanied by mfrs and my I guarantee pay freight and watches kept In order one year If well used Send for prices of ladles 16 size solid silver and other watches not listed above Diamonds Opals Sliver Plated and Optl cal goods Music Boxes Jewelry Chains Clocks Freethought and other badges Ingersoll Spoons and my tract Theism In the Cru clble fr- eeOTTO WETTSTEIN- La Grange Ill + + + + + ++++ +++ ++ 1111111111111111 tiInoCentral RailroadSUMMER EXCURSION TICKETS NOW ON SALE VIA ST PAUL MINNEAPOLIS and the NORTHWEST COLORADO UTAH GRAYSON SPRINGS DAWSON SPRINGS ySnktl and CERULEAN SPRINGS KY y AT REDUCED RATES THROUGH PERSONALLY CONDUCTED EXCURSION SLEEP ERS TO CALIFORNIA TEXAS NEW MEXICO AND ARIZONAf TWICE A WEEK REDUCED ONEWAY COLONIST AND HOME SEEKERS EX CURSION RATES TO POINTS SOUTH AND WEST FIRSTAND THIRD TUESDAYS IN EACH MONTH WRITE THE UNDER SIGNED FOR CIRCULAR DESCRIPTIVE OF LANDS IN THE SOUTH ASK LOCAL TICKET AGENTS FOR THROUGH TICKETS f AND FURTHER INFORMATION OR AD- DRESSFWHARLOW Division Passenger Agent Louisville Kentucky POSTAL CARDS We desire to call the attention our readers to the postal card tem of subscription which we have adopted as a method of increasing tho circulation of The Blade and causing It to spread the gospel of Free Thought among a large class of people The system is novel and expedient and one that is easy to understand For the simple outlay of 250 you can get five of these cards and insert any name you wish and which wni be received as a certificate of a paid subscription for one year In half of the person whose name Is given on the card Another idea which Is suggested and which seems to be a good one is to send in a name for two months say and at the expiration of that time let the paper be sent to another person who will so receive lt for two months and on By these means more people get an opportunity to see The Blade am read it and many of them may li time become permanent subscribers Several hundred of these cards have been printed and they are nov ready fQr distribution Try It for a season and help us to build up the circulation of The Blade so that will rank secona to none in America This is where The Blade ought to be If our friends will all pull together to help it along Send in your orders for tho cards and see how It works WHY AM AN ATHEIST It will take only a few lines to press my opinions After reading the two last issues of the Bible I cant think of anything that has not been epeated already feel like tho tle end of nothing whittled off to a point in comparison to the writers head of me I am an Atheist because In reading the Bible I used my reason and best Judgment turning on the learchlight of science as best I could The rock on which Atheism builds Is science It needs no creed to pre serve It Asks no laws to protect It fly opinions are oat what tho priests and clergymen have been telling us are false and not to be relied upon and that the only thing that we can depend upon is science and that when the world learns this lesson humanity = lHI 11dr will be wiser and happier History teaches me that instead of religion being Truths ablest champion it Is oftener Its stumbling block The Bible Is at the bottom of all the trouble in the world today The gleam of the sword that Christ was to send is seen in Christian Russia to day and they are degrading them selves in the PEFFERLE Ontario Ore WHY AM AN AGNOSTIC Becauso I cant be otherwise The Bible and science differ so widely There would bo no good sense In my rejecting the truths of science for the vagaries of Christianity Science demonstrates but leaves the mind free while Christianity de mands belief under penaltyeternal pain The Bible is not a revelation but a complication It is evidently the work of men and reflects no credit on Its makers Its miracles Its hell Its Christ who was the son of himself and another mans wife his resurrection and as consIon aro all outside the realm ot Intelligent comprehension and belief hence I refuse to believe and will take my chances with the great herd of hu Inanity of being damned My religion for the world is to do right for all other worldsAgnosti clsm A B BARRETT Lonoke Ark WHY AM AN ATHEIST Because that is good common sense and because this world is my country and to do good is my religion and because it gives me more opportunity to do good to my neighbors andtfriends and brings happiness to my self Please let every one sign his full name SAMUEL A HAYNES LIslln M h CONVENT CRUELTIES Is the title of a plmmphlet by a for mer monk Besides the introduction the pamphlet discusses How Girls Become the Brides of Christ A Peep Into the Convent The Con vent Horror Taking the Veil etc Its tales are thrilling For a sample copy send 10 cents in silver to HENRY A SULLIVAN 209 W Madison St Chicago Ills JIr s IvtLF- UIilIiIpt= r

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