,,the ,,ghosts    ,,and ,,other         
,,lectures4      ,by ,robert ,g4        
,ingersoll4         ,new ,york1 ,n4 ,y4 
,c4       ,p4 ,,farrell1 ,,publisher1   
#ahib4         ,entered according to    
,act of ,congress in the year #ahgh1    
by ,robert ,g4 ,ingersoll               
,,eckler1 ,,printer1  #ce ,,fulton      
,,st41 ,n4 ,y4             ,the idea of 
immortality1 that like a sea has ebbed  
and       flowed in the human heart1    
with its countless waves of hope        
and fear1 beating against the shores and
 rocks of time and       fate1 was not  
born of any book1 nor of any creed1 nor 
of any       religion4 ,it was born of  
human affection1 and it will            
continue to ebb and flow beneath the    
mists and clouds of       doubt and     
darkness as long as love kisses the lips
 of death4          ,,contents3         
,,preface4       ,,the ,,ghosts4        
,,the ,,liberty ,,of ,,man1 ,,woman     
,,and ,,child       ,,liberty ,,of      
,,woman4       ,,the ,,liberty ,,of     

,,children4       ,,conclusion4         
#aggf4 ,,the ,,declaration ,,of         
,,independence4       ,,about ,,farming 
,,in ,,illinois4       ,,speech ,,at    
,,cincinnati       ,,the ,,past ,,rises 
,,before ,,me ,,like ,a ,,dream4        
,,the ,,grant ,,banquet       ,a        
,,tribute ,,to ,,the ,rev4 ,,alexander  
,,clark4       ,a ,,tribute ,,to ,,ebon 
,c4 ,,ingersoll1          ,,preface4    
,these lectures have been so maimed and 
mutilated by orthodox malice2  have been
 made to appear so halt1 crutched and   
decrepit by those who  mistake the      
pleasures of calumny for the duties of  
religion1 that in  simple justice to    
myself ,i concluded to publish them4    
,most of the clergy are1 or seem to be1 
utterly incapable of discussing         
anything in a fair and catholic spirit4 
,they appeal1 not to reason1  but to    
prejudice2 not to facts1 but to passages
 of scripture4 ,they can  conceive of no
 goodness1 of no spiritual exaltation   
beyond the horizon  of their creed4     

,whoever differs with them upon what    
they are pleased to  call fundamental   
truths is1 in their opinion1 a base and 
infamous man4  ,to re-enact the         
tragedies of the ,sixteenth ,century1   
they lack only  the power4 ,bigotry in  
all ages has been the same4             
,christianity simply  transferred the   
brutality of the ,colosseum to the      
,inquisition4 ,for the  murderous combat
 of the gladiators1 the saints          
substituted the auto de  fe4 ,what has  
been called religion is1 after all1 but 
the organization  of the wild beast in  
man4 ,the perfumed blossom of arrogance 
is ,heaven4  ,hell is the consummation  
of revenge4    ,the chief business of   
the clergy has always been to destroy   
the joy of  life1 and multiply and      
magnify the terrors and tortures of     
death and  perdition4 ,they have        
polluted the heart and paralyzed the    
brain2 and  upon the ignorant altars of 
the ,past and the ,dead1 they have      
endeavored  to sacrifice the ,present   

and the ,living4    ,nothing can exceed 
the mendacity of the religious press4 ,i
 have had some  little experience with  
political editors1 and am forced to say1
 that  until ,i read the religious      
papers1 ,i did not know what malicious  
and  slimy falsehoods could be          
constructed from ordinary words4 ,the   
ingenuity  with which the real and      
apparent meaning can be tortured out of 
language1 is simply amazing4 ,the       
average religious editor is intolerant  
and insolent2 he knows nothing of       
affairs2 he has the envy of failure1    
the malice of impotence1 and always     
accounts for the brave and generous     
actions of unbelievers1 by low1 base and
 unworthy motives4    ,by this time1    
even the clergy should know that the    
intellect of the  ,nineteenth ,century  
needs no1 guardian4 ,they should cease  
to regard  themselves as shepherds      
defending flocks of weak1 silly and     
fearful  sheep from the claws and teeth 
of ravening wolves4 ,by this time they  

should know that the religion of the    
ignorant and brutal ,past no  longer    
satisfies the heart and brain2 that the 
miracles have become  contemptible2 that
 the evidences have ceased to convince2 
that the  spirit of investigation cannot
 be stopped nor stayed2 that the ,church
  is losing her power2 that the young   
are holding in a kind of tender         
contempt the sacred follies of the old2 
that the pulpit and pews no  longer     
represent the culture and morality of   
the world1 and that the  brand of       
intellectual inferiority is upon the    
orthodox brain4    ,men should be       
liberated from the aristocracy of the   
air4 ,every chain  of superstition      
should be broken4 ,the rights of men and
 women should  be equal and             
sacred--marriage should be a perfect    
partnership--children  should be        
governed by kindness1--every family     
should be a  republic--every fireside a 
democracy4    ,it seems almost          
impossible for religious people to      

really grasp the idea  of intellectual  
freedom4 ,they seem to think that man is
 responsible for  his honest thoughts2  
that unbelief is a crime2 that          
investigation is  sinful2 that credulity
 is a virtue1 and that reason is a      
dangerous  guide4 ,they cannot divest   
themselves of the idea that in the realm
 of  thought there must be              
government--authority and               
obedience--laws and  penalties--rewards 
and punishments1 and that somewhere in  
the universe  there is a penitentiary   
for the soul4    ,in the republic of    
mind1 one is a majority4 ,there1 all are
 monarchs1  and all are equals4 ,the    
tyranny of a majority even is unknown4  
,each one  is crowned1 sceptered and    
throned4 ,upon every brow is the tiara1 
and  around every form is the imperial  
purple4 ,only those are good citizens   
who express their honest thoughts1 and  
those who persecute for opinion's  sake1
 are the only traitors4 ,there1 nothing 
is considered infamous  except an appeal

 to brute force1 and nothing sacred but 
love1 liberty1  and joy4 ,the church    
contemplates this republic with a sneer4
 ,from the  teeth of hatred she draws   
back the lips of scorn4 ,she is filled  
with the  spite and spleen born of      
intellectual weakness4 ,once she was    
egotistic2  now she is envious4    ,once
 she wore upon her hollow breast false  
gems1 supposing them to be  real4 ,they 
have been shown to be false1 but she    
wears them still4 ,she  has the malice  
of the caught1 the hatred of the        
exposed4    ,we are told to investigate 
the bible for ourselves1 and at the same
 time  informed that if we come to the  
conclusion that it is not the inspired  
word of ,god1 we will most assuredly be 
damned4 ,under such circumstances1  if  
we believe this1 investigation is       
impossible4 ,whoever is held            
responsible for his conclusions cannot  
weigh the evidence with impartial       
scales4 ,fear stands at the balance1 and
 gives to falsehood the weight of  its  

trembling hand4    ,i oppose the ,church
 because she is the enemy of liberty2   
because her  dogmas are infamous and    
cruel2 because she humiliates and       
degrades  woman2 because she teaches the
 doctrines of eternal torment and the   
natural depravity of man2 because she   
insists upon the absurd1 the            
impossible1 and the senseless2 because  
she resorts to falsehood and  slander2  
because she is arrogant and revengeful2 
because she allows men  to sin on a     
credit2 because she discourages         
self-reliance1 and laughs  at good      
works2 because she believes in vicarious
 virtue and vicarious  vice--vicarious  
punishment and vicarious reward2 because
 she regards  repentance of more        
importance than restitution1 and because
 she  sacrifices the world we have to   
one we know not of4    ,the free and    
generous1 the tender and affectionate1  
will understand me4  ,those who have    
escaped from the grated cells of a creed
 will appreciate  my motives4 ,the sad  

and suffering wives1 the trembling and  
loving  children will thank me3 ,this is
 enough4    ,robert ,g4 ,ingersoll4     
,washington1 ,d4 ,c1    ,april #ac1     
#ahgh4            ,,the ,,ghosts4       
,let them cover their ,eyeless ,sockets 
with their       ,fleshless ,hands and  
fade forever from the imagination of    
,men4      ,,there are three theories by
 which men account for all phenomena1   
for everything that happens3 ,first1 the
 ,supernatural2 ,second1 the            
,supernatural and ,natural2 ,third1 the 
,natural4 ,between these theories  there
 has been1 from the dawn of             
civilization1 a continual conflict4 ,in 
this great war1 nearly all the soldiers 
have been in the ranks of the           
supernatural4 ,the believers in the     
supernatural insist that matter  is     
controlled and directed entirely by     
powers from without2 while  naturalists 
maintain that ,nature acts from within2 
that ,nature is not  acted upon2 that   
the universe is all there is2 that      

,nature with infinite  arms embraces    
everything that exists1 and that all    
supposed powers  beyond the limits of   
the material are simply ghosts4 ,you    
say1 ,oh1 this  is materialism6 ,what is
 matter8 ,i take in my hand some        
earth3--in this  dust put seeds4 ,let   
the arrows of light from the quiver of  
the sun smite  upon it2 let the rain    
fall upon it4 ,the seeds will grow and a
 plant will  bud and blossom4 ,do you   
understand this8 ,can you explain it    
better than  you can the production of  
thought8 ,have you the slightest        
conception of  what it really is8 ,and  
yet you speak of matter as though       
acquainted with  its origin1 as though  
you had torn from the clenched hands of 
the rocks  the secrets of material      
existence4 ,do you know what force is8  
,can you  account for molecular action8 
,are you really familiar with chemistry1
  and can you account for the loves and 
hatreds of the atoms8 ,is there not     
something in matter that forever eludes8

 ,after all1 can you get1 beyond1  above
 or below appearances8 ,before you cry  
materialism6 had you not  better        
ascertain what matter really is8 ,can   
you think even of anything  without a   
material basis8 ,is it possible to      
imagine the annihilation of  a single   
atom8 ,is it possible for you to        
conceive of the creation of an  atom8   
,can you have a thought that was not    
suggested to you by what you  call      
matter8    ,our fathers denounced       
materialism1 and accounted for all      
phenomena by  the caprice of gods and   
devils4    ,for thousands of years it   
was believed that ghosts1 good and bad1 
benevolent and malignant1 weak and      
powerful1 in some mysterious way1       
produced all phenomena2 that disease and
 health1 happiness and misery1  fortune 
and misfortune1 peace and war1 life and 
death1 success and  failure1 were but   
arrows from the quivers of these ghosts2
 that shadowy  phantoms rewarded and    
punished mankind2 that they were pleased

 and  displeased by the actions of men2 
that they sent and withheld the snow1   
the light1 and the rain2 that they      
blessed the earth with harvests or      
cursed it with famine2 that they fed or 
starved the children of men2  that they 
crowned and uncrowned kings2 that they  
took sides in war2 that  they controlled
 the winds2 that they gave prosperous   
voyages1 allowing  the brave mariner to 
meet his wife and child inside the      
harbor bar1 or  sent the storms1        
strewing the sad shores with wrecks of  
ships and the  bodies of men4           
,formerly1 these ghosts were believed to
 be almost innumerable4 ,earth1  air1   
and water were filled with these phantom
 hosts4 ,in modern times  they have     
greatly decreased in number1 because the
 second theory1--a  mingling of the     
supernatural and natural1--has generally
 been adopted4  ,the remaining ghosts1  
however1 are supposed to per-form the   
same offices  as the hosts of yore4     
,it has always been believed that these 

ghosts could in some way be  appeased2  
that they could be flattered by         
sacrifices1 by prayer1 by  fasting1 by  
the building of temples and cathedrals1 
by the blood of  men and beasts1 by     
forms and ceremonies1 by chants1 by     
kneelings and  prostrations1 by         
flagellations and maimings1 by          
renouncing the joys of  home1 by living 
alone in the wide desert1 by the        
practice of celibacy1  by inventing     
instruments of torture1 by destroying   
men1 women and  children1 by covering   
the earth with dungeons1 by burning     
unbelievers1  by putting chains upon the
 thoughts and manacles upon the limbs of
  men1 by believing things without      
evidence and against evidence1 by       
disbelieving and denying demonstration1 
by despising facts1 by hating  reason1  
by denouncing liberty1 by maligning     
heretics1 by slandering  the dead1 by   
subscribing to senseless and cruel      
creeds1 by discouraging  investigation1 
by worshiping a book1 by the cultivation

 of credulity1  by observing certain    
times and days1 by counting beads1 by   
gazing at  crosses1 by hiring others to 
repeat verses and prayers1 by burning   
candles and ringing bells1 by enslaving 
each other and putting out the  eyes of 
the soul4 ,all this has been done to    
appease and flatter these  monsters of  
the air4    ,in the history of our poor 
world1 no horror has been omitted1 no   
infamy  has been left undone by the     
believers in ghosts1--by the worshipers 
of  these fleshless phantoms4 ,and yet  
these shadows were born of cowardice    
and malignity4 ,they were painted by the
 pencil of fear upon the canvas  of     
ignorance by that artist called         
superstition4    ,from1 these ghosts1   
our fathers received information4 ,they 
were  the schoolmasters of our          
ancestors4 ,they were the scientists and
  philosophers1 the geologists1         
legislators1 astronomers1 physicians1   
metaphysicians and historians of the    
past4 ,for ages these ghosts were       

supposed to be the only source of real  
knowledge4 ,they inspired men to  write 
books1 and the books were considered    
sacred4 ,if facts were found  to be     
inconsistent with these books1 so much  
the worse for the facts1  and especially
 for their discoverers4 ,it was then1   
and still is1  believed that these books
 are the basis of the idea of           
immortality2 that  to give up these     
volumes1 or rather the idea that they   
are inspired1 is  to renounce the idea  
of immortality4 ,this ,i deny4    ,the  
idea of immortality1 that like a sea has
 ebbed and flowed in the  human heart1  
with its countless waves of hope and    
fear1 beating against  the shores and   
rocks of time and fate1 was not born of 
any book1 nor of  any creed1 nor of any 
religion4 ,it was born of human         
affection1 and it  will continue to ebb 
and flow beneath the mists and clouds of
 doubt  and darkness as long as love    
kisses the lips of death4 ,it is the    
rainbow--,hope shining upon the tears of

 grief4    ,from the books written by   
the ghosts we1 have at last ascertained 
that they knew nothing about the world  
in which we live4 ,did they  know       
anything about the next6 ,upon every    
point where contradiction is  possible1 
they have been contradicted4    ,by     
these ghosts1 by these citizens of the  
air1 the affairs of government  were    
administered2 all authority to govern   
came from them4 ,the emperors1  kings   
and potentates all had commissions from 
these phantoms4 ,man was  not considered
 as the source of any power whatever4   
,to rebel against the  king was to rebel
 against the ghosts1 and nothing less   
than the blood of  the offender could   
appease the invisible phantom or the    
visible tyrant4  ,kneeling was the      
proper position to be assumed by the    
multitude4  ,the prostrate were the     
good4 ,those who stood erect were       
infidels and  traitors4 ,in the name and
 by the authority of the ghosts1 man was
  enslaved1 crushed1 and plundered4 ,the

 many toiled wearily in the storm  and  
sun that the few favorites of the ghosts
 might live in idleness4  ,the many     
lived in huts1 and caves1 and dens1 that
 the few might dwell in  palaces4 ,the  
many covered themselves with rags1 that 
the few might  robe themselves in purple
 and in gold4 ,the many crept1 and      
cringed1 and  crawled1 that the few     
might tread upon their flesh with iron  
feet4    ,from the ghosts men received1 
not only authority1 but information of  
every kind4 ,they told us the form of   
this earth4 ,they informed us that      
eclipses were caused by the sins of man2
 that the universe was made  in six     
days2 that astronomy1 and geology were  
devices of wicked men1  instigated by   
wicked ghosts2 that gazing at the sky   
with a telescope  was a dangerous thing2
 that digging into the earth was sinful 
curiosity2  that trying to be wise above
 what they had written was born of a    
rebellious and irreverent spirit4       
,they told us there was no virtue like  

belief1 and no crime like doubt2  that  
investigation was pure impudence1 and   
the punishment therefor1  eternal       
torment4 ,they not only told us all     
about this world1 but about  two others2
 and if their statements about the other
 worlds are as true  as about this1 no  
one can estimate the value of their     
information4    ,for countless ages the 
world was governed by ghosts1 and they  
spared no  pains to change the eagle of 
the human intellect into a bat of       
darkness4  ,to accomplish this infamous 
purpose2 to drive the love of truth from
 the  human heart2 to prevent the       
advancement of mankind2 to shut out from
  the world every ray of intellectual   
light2 to pollute every mind with       
superstition1 the power of kings1 the   
cunning and cruelty of priests1  and the
 wealth of nations were exhausted4      
,during these years of persecution1     
ignorance1 superstition and slavery1    
nearly all the people1 the kings1       
lawyers1 doctors1 the learned and the   

unlearned1 believed in that frightful   
production of ignorance1 fear1 and      
faith1 called witchcraft4 ,they believed
 that man was the sport and prey  of    
devils4 ,they really thought that the   
very air was thick with these  enemies  
of man4 ,with few exceptions1 this      
hideous and infamous belief  was        
universal4 ,under these conditions1     
progress was almost impossible4    ,fear
 paralyzes the brain4 ,progress is born 
of courage4 ,fear  believes--courage    
doubts4 ,fear falls upon the earth and  
prays--courage  stands erect and thinks4
 ,fear retreats--courage advances4 ,fear
 is  barbarism--courage is civilization4
 ,fear believes in witchcraft1 in       
devils and in ghosts4 ,fear is          
religion--courage is science4    ,the   
facts1 upon which this terrible belief  
rested1 were proved over  and over again
 in every court of ,europe4 ,thousands  
confessed themselves  guilty--admitted  
that they had sold themselves to the    
devil4 ,they gave  the particulars of   

the sale2 told what they said and what  
the devil  replied4 ,they confessed     
this1 when they knew that confession was
 death2  knew that their property would 
be confiscated1 and their children left 
to beg their bread4 ,this is one of the 
miracles of history--one of the         
strangest contradictions of the human   
mind4 ,without doubt1 they really       
believed themselves guilty4 ,in the     
first place1 they believed in           
witchcraft as a fact1 and when charged  
with it1 they probably became  insane4  
,in their insanity they confessed their 
guilt4 ,they found  themselves abhorred 
and deserted--charged with a crime that 
they could  not disprove4 ,like a man in
 quicksand1 every effort only sunk them 
deeper4 ,caught in this frightful web1  
at the mercy of the spiders  of         
superstition1 hope fled1 and nothing    
remained but the insanity of            
confession4 ,the whole world appeared to
 be insane4    ,in the time of ,james   
the ,first1 a man was executed for      

causing a storm  at sea with the        
intention of drowning one of the royal  
family4 ,how could  he disprove it8 ,how
 could he show that he did not cause the
 storm8  ,all storms were at that time  
generally supposed to be caused by  the 
devil--the prince of the power of the   
air--and by those whom he  assisted4    
,i implore you to remember that the     
believers in such impossible things     
were the authors of our creeds and      
confessions of faith4    ,a woman was   
tried and convicted before ,sir ,matthew
 ,hale1 one of the  great judges and    
lawyers of ,england1 for having caused  
children to  vomit crooked pins4 ,she   
was also charged with having nursed     
devils4 ,the  learned judge charged the 
intelligent jury that there was no doubt
 as  to the existence of witches2 that  
it was established by all history1 and  
expressly taught by the bible4    ,the  
woman was hanged and her body burned4   
,sir ,thomas ,moore declared that to    
give up witchcraft was to throw away    

the sacred scriptures4 ,in my judgment1 
he was right4    ,john ,wesley was a    
firm believer in ghosts and witches1 and
 insisted upon  it1 years after all laws
 upon the subject had been repealed in  
,england4  ,i beg of you to remember    
that ,john ,wesley was the founder of   
the  ,methodist ,church4    ,in ,new    
,england1 a woman was charged with being
 a witch1 and with having  changed      
herself into a fox4 ,while in that      
condition she was attacked and  bitten  
by some dogs4 ,a committee of three men1
 by order of the court1  examined this  
woman4 ,they removed her clothing and   
searched for witch  spots4 ,that is to  
say1 spots into which needles could be  
thrust without  giving her pain4 ,they  
reported to the court that such spots   
were found4  ,she denied1 however1 that 
she ever had changed herself into a fox4
 ,upon  the report of the committee she 
was found guilty and actually executed4 
,this was done by our ,puritan fathers1 
by the gentlemen who braved the  dangers

 of the deep for the sake of worshiping 
,god and persecuting their  fellow men4 
,in those days people believed in what  
was known as lycanthropy--that is1  that
 persons1 with the assistance of the    
devil1 could assume the form  of wolves4
 ,an instance is given where a man was  
attacked by a wolf4 ,he  defended       
himself1 and succeeded in cutting off   
one of the animal's paws4  ,the wolf ran
 away4 ,the man picked up the paw1 put  
it in his pocket and  carried it home4  
,there he found his wife with one of her
 hands gone4 ,he  took the paw from his 
pocket4 ,it had changed to a human hand4
 ,he charged  his wife with being a     
witch4 ,she was tried4 ,she confessed   
her guilt1 and  was burned4    ,people  
were burned for causing frosts in       
summer--for destroying crops  with      
hail--for causing storms--for making    
cows go dry1 and even for  souring beer4
 ,there was no impossibility for which  
some one was not  tried and convicted4  
,the life of no one was secure4 ,to be  

charged1  was to be convicted4 ,every   
man was at the mercy of every other4    
,this  infamous belief was so firmly    
seated in the minds of the people1 that 
to  express a doubt as to its truth was 
to be suspected4 ,whoever denied the    
existence of witches and devils was     
denounced as an infidel4    ,they       
believed that animals were often taken  
possession of by devils1 and  that the  
killing of the animal would destroy the 
devil4 ,they absolutely  tried1         
convicted1 and executed dumb beasts4    
,at ,basle1 in #adgj1 a rooster was     
tried upon the charge of having laid  an
 egg4 ,rooster eggs were used only in   
making witch ointment1--this  everybody 
knew4 ,the rooster was convicted and    
with all due solemnity was  burned in   
the public square4 ,so a hog and six    
pigs were tried for having  killed and  
partially eaten a child4 ,the hog was   
convicted1--but the  pigs1 on account   
probably of their extreme youth1 were   
acquitted4 ,as  late as #agdj1 a cow was

 tried and convicted of being possessed 
by a  devil4    ,they used to exorcise  
rats1 locusts1 snakes and vermin4 ,they 
used to go  through the alleys1 streets1
 and fields1 and warn them to leave     
within  a certain number of days4 ,in   
case they disobeyed1 they were          
threatened  with pains and penalties4   
,but let us be careful how we laugh at  
these things4 ,let us not pride         
ourselves too much on the progress of   
our age4 ,we must not forget that  some 
of our people are yet in the same       
intelligent business4 ,only a  little   
while ago1 the governor of ,minnesota   
appointed a day of fasting  and prayer1 
to see if some power could not be       
induced to kill the  grasshoppers1 or   
send them into some other state4        
,about the close of the fifteenth       
century1 so great was the excitement    
with regard to the existence of         
witchcraft that ,pope ,innocent ,,viii  
issued a bull directing the inquisitors 
to be vigilant in searching  out and    

punishing all guilty of this crime4     
,forms for the trial were  regularly    
laid down in a book or a pamphlet called
 the ,malleus  ,maleficorum 7,hammer of 
,witches71 which was issued by the      
,roman ,see4  ,popes ,alexander1 ,leo1  
and ,adrian1 issued like bulls4 ,for two
 hundred  and fifty years the church was
 busy in punishing the impossible crime 
of  witchcraft2 in burning1 hanging and 
torturing men1 women1 and children4     
,protestants were as active as          
,catholics1 and in ,geneva five hundred 
witches were burned at the stake in a   
period of three months4 ,about one      
thousand were executed in one year in   
the diocese of ,como4 ,at least one     
hundred thousand victims suffered in    
,germany alone3 the last execution  7in 
,wurtzburg 7 taking place as late as    
#agdi4 ,witches were burned in          
,switzerland as late as #aghj4    ,in   
,england the same frightful scenes were 
enacted4 ,statutes were passed  from    
,henry ,,vi to ,james ,i1 defining the  

crime and its punishment4 ,the  last act
 passed by the ,british parliament was  
when ,lord ,bacon was a  member of the  
,house of ,commons2 and this act was not
 repealed until  #agcf4    ,sir ,william
 ,blackstone1 in his ,commentaries on   
the ,laws of ,england1  says3 ,to deny  
the possibility1 nay1 actual existence  
of witchcraft  and sorcery1 is at once  
flatly to contradict the word of ,god in
 various  passages both of the old and  
new testament2 and the thing itself is  
a truth to which every nation in the    
world hath in its turn borne  testimony1
 either by examples seemingly well      
attested1 or by prohibitory  laws1 which
 at least suppose the possibility of a  
commerce with evil  spirits4    ,in     
,brown's ,dictionary of the ,bible1     
published at ,edinburgh ,scotland1 in   
#ahjg1 it is said that3 ,a witch is a   
woman that has dealings with ,satan4    
,that such persons are among men is     
abundantly plain from scripture1 and    
that they ought to be put to death4     

,this work was re-published in ,albany1 
,new ,york1 in #ahaf4 ,no wonder the    
clergy of that city are ignorant and    
bigoted even unto this day4    ,in      
#agaf1 ,mrs4 ,hicks and her daughter1   
nine years of age1 were hanged  for     
selling their souls to the devil1 and   
raising a storm by pulling off  their   
stockings and making a lather of soap4  
,in ,england it has been estimated that 
at least thirty thousand were  hanged   
and burned4 ,the last victim executed in
 ,scotland1 perished in  #agbb4 ,she was
 an innocent old woman1 who had so      
little idea of her  situation as to     
rejoice at the sight of the fire which  
was destined  to consume her4 ,she had a
 daughter1 lame both of hands and of    
feet--a  circumstance attributed to the 
witch having been used to transform her 
daughter into a pony and getting her    
shod by the devil4    ,in #afib1        
nineteen persons were executed and one  
pressed to death in  ,salem1            
,massachusetts1 for the crime of        

witchcraft4    ,it was thought in those 
days that men and women made compacts   
with the  devil1 orally and in writing4 
,that they abjured ,god and ,jesus      
,christ1  and dedicated themselves      
wholly to the devil4 ,the contracts were
  confirmed at a general meeting of     
witches and ghosts1 over which the      
devil himself presided2 and the persons 
generally signed the articles of        
agreement with their own blood4 ,these  
contracts were1 in some instances1  for 
a few years2 in others1 for life4       
,general assemblies of the witches  were
 held at least once a year1 at which    
they appeared entirely naked1  besmeared
 with an ointment made from the bodies  
of unbaptized infants4  ,to these       
meetings they rode from great distances 
on broomsticks1  pokers1 goats1 hogs1   
and dogs4 ,here they did homage to the  
prince of  hell1 and offered him        
sacrifices of young children1 and       
practiced all  sorts of license until   
the break of day4    ,as late as #ahae1 

,belgium was disgraced by a witch trial2
 and guilt was  established by the water
 ordeal4 ,in #ahcf1 the populace of     
,hela1 near  ,dantzic1 twice plunged    
into the sea a woman reputed to be a    
sorceress2  and as the miserable        
creature persisted in rising to the     
surface1 she  was pronounced guilty1 and
 beaten to death4    ,it was believed   
that the bodies of devils are not like  
those of men and  animals1 cast in an   
unchangeable mould4 ,it was thought they
 were like  clouds1 refined and subtle  
matter1 capable of assuming any form and
  penetrating into any orifice4 ,the    
horrible tortures they endured  in their
 place of punishment rendered them      
extremely sensitive to  suffering1 and  
they continually sought a temperate and 
somewhat moist  warmth in order to allay
 their pangs4 ,it was for this reason   
they so  frequently entered into men and
 women4    ,the devil could transport   
men1 at his will1 through the air4 ,he  
could  beget children2 and ,martin      

,luther himself had come in contact with
 one  of these children4 ,he recommended
 the mother to throw the child into the 
river1 in order to free their house from
 the presence of a devil4    ,it was    
believed that the devil could transform 
people into any shape he  pleased4      
,whoever denied these things was        
denounced as an infidel4 ,all the       
believers in witchcraft confidently     
appealed to the bible4 ,their mouths    
were filled with passages demonstrating 
the existence of witches and  their     
power over human beings4 ,by the bible  
they proved that innumerable  evil      
spirits were ranging over the world     
endeavoring to ruin mankind2  that these
 spirits possessed a power and wisdom   
far transcending the  limits of human   
faculties2 that they delighted in every 
misfortune that  could befall the world2
 that their malice was superhuman4 ,that
 they  caused tempests was proved by the
 action of the devil toward ,job2 by the
  passage in the book of ,revelation    

describing the four angels who held  the
 four winds1 and to whom it was given to
 afflict the earth4 ,they  believed the 
devil could carry persons hundreds of   
miles1 in a few  seconds1 through the   
air4 ,they believed this1 because they  
knew that  ,christ had been carried by  
the devil in the same manner and placed 
on a  pinnacle of the temple4 ,the      
prophet ,habakkuk had been transported  
by a  spirit from ,judea to ,babylon2   
and ,philip1 the evangelist1 had been   
the  object of a similar miracle2 and in
 the same way ,saint ,paul had been     
carried in the body into the third      
heaven4    ,in those pious days1 they   
believed that ,incubi and ,succubi were 
forever wandering among mankind1        
alluring1 by more than human charms1    
the unwary to their destruction1 and    
laying plots1 which were too often      
successful1 against the virtue of the   
saints4 ,sometimes the witches  kindled 
in the monastic priest a more           
terrestrial fire4 ,people told1  with   

bated breath1 how1 under the spell of a 
vindictive woman1 four  successive      
abbots in a ,german monastery had been  
wasted away by an  unholy flame4    ,an 
instance is given in which the devil not
 only assumed the appearance  of a holy 
man1 in order to pay his addresses to a 
lady1 but when  discovered1 crept under 
the bed1 suffered himself to be dragged 
out1  and was impudent enough to declare
 that he was the veritable bishop4 ,so  
perfectly had he assumed the form and   
features of the prelate that those  who 
knew the bishop best were deceived4     
,one can hardly imagine the frightful   
state of the human mind during  these   
long centuries of darkness and          
superstition4 ,to them1 these things    
were awful and frightful realities4     
,hovering above them in the air1 in     
their houses1 in the bosoms of friends1 
in their very bodies1 in all the        
darkness of night1 everywhere1 around1  
above and below1 were innumerable  hosts
 of unclean and malignant devils4       

,from the malice of those leering and   
vindictive vampires of the air1  the    
church pretended to defend mankind4     
,pursued by these phantoms1 the         
frightened multitudes fell upon their   
faces and implored the aid of  robed    
hypocrisy and sceptered theft4    ,take 
from the orthodox church of to-day the  
threat and fear of hell1 and  it becomes
 an extinct volcano4    ,take from the  
church the miraculous1 the supernatural1
 the  incomprehensible1 the             
unreasonable1 the impossible1 the       
unknowable1 and  the absurd1 and nothing
 but a vacuum remains4                  
,notwithstanding all the infamous things
 justly laid to the charge of the       
church1 we are told that the            
civilization of to-day is the child of  
what  we are pleased to call the        
superstition of the past4    ,religion  
has not civilized man--man has civilized
 religion4 ,god improves  as man        
advances4    ,let me call your attention
 to what we have received from the      

followers  of the ghosts4 ,let me give  
you an outline of the sciences as taught
 by  these philosophers of the clouds4  
,all diseases were produced1 either as a
 punishment by the good ghosts1  or out 
of pure malignity by the bad ones4      
,there were1 properly speaking1  no     
diseases4 ,the sick were possessed by   
ghosts4 ,the science of medicine        
consisted in knowing how to persuade    
these ghosts to vacate the  premises4   
,for thousands of years the diseased    
were treated with  incantations1 with   
hideous noises1 with drums and gongs4   
,everything was  done to make the visit 
of the ghost as unpleasant as possible1 
and they  generally succeeded in making 
things so disagreeable that if the ghost
  did not leave1 the patient did4 ,these
 ghosts were supposed to be of          
different rank1 power and dignity4 ,now 
and then a man pretended to have  won   
the favor of some powerful ghost1 and   
that gave him power over the  little    
ones4 ,such a man became an eminent     

physician4    ,it was found that certain
 kinds of smoke1 such as that produced  
by  burning the liver of a fish1 the    
dried skin of a serpent1 the eyes of  a 
toad1 or the tongue of an adder1 were   
exceedingly offensive to the  nostrils  
of an ordinary ghost4 ,with this smoke1 
the sick room would be  filled until the
 ghost vanished or the patient died4    
,it was also believed that certain      
words1--the names of the most powerful  
ghosts1--when properly pronounced1 were 
very effective weapons4 ,it was  for a  
long time thought that ,latin words were
 the best1--,latin being a  dead        
language1 and known by the clergy4      
,others thought that two sticks  laid   
across each other and held before the   
wicked ghost would cause it  instantly  
to flee in dread away4    ,for thousands
 of years1 the practice of medicine     
consisted in driving  these evil spirits
 out of the bodies of men4    ,in some  
instances1 bargains and compromises were
 made with the ghosts4  ,one case is    

given where a multitude of devils traded
 a man for a herd  of swine4 ,in this   
transaction the devils were the losers1 
as the swine  immediately drowned       
themselves in the sea4 ,this idea of    
disease appears  to have been almost    
universal1 and is by no means yet       
extinct4    ,the contortions of the     
epileptic1 the strange twitchings of    
those  afflicted with chorea1 the       
shakings of palsy1 dreams1 trances1 and 
the  numberless frightful phenomena     
produced by diseases of the nerves1 were
  all seized upon as so many proofs that
 the bodies of men were filled  with    
unclean and malignant ghosts4           
,whoever endeavored to account for these
 things by natural causes1  whoever     
attempted to cure diseases by natural   
means1 was denounced by  the church as  
an infidel4 ,to explain anything was a  
crime4 ,it was to the  interest of the  
priest that all phenomena should be     
accounted for by the  will and power of 
gods and devils4 ,the moment it is      

admitted that all  phenomena are within 
the domain of the natural1 the necessity
 for a  priest has disappeared4         
,religion breathes the air of the       
supernatural4  ,take from the mind of   
man the idea of the supernatural1 and   
religion  ceases to exist4 ,for this    
reason1 the church has always despised  
the  man who explained the wonderful4   
,upon this principle1 nothing was  left 
undone to stay the science of medicine4 
,as long as plagues and  pestilences    
could be stopped by prayer1 the priest  
was useful4 ,the  moment the physician  
found a cure1 the priest became an      
extravagance4  ,the moment it began to  
be apparent that prayer could do nothing
 for the  body1 the priest shifted his  
ground and began praying for the soul4  
,long after the devil idea was          
substantially abandoned in the practice 
of medicine1 and when it was admitted   
that ,god had nothing to do with        
ordinary coughs and colds1 it was still 
believed that all the frightful         

diseases were sent by him as punishments
 for the wickedness of the  people4 ,it 
was thought to be a kind of blasphemy to
 even try1 by any  natural means1 to    
stay the ravages of pestilence4         
,formerly1 during the  prevalence of    
plague and epidemics1 the arrogance of  
the priest was  boundless4 ,he told the 
people that they had slighted the       
clergy1 that  they had refused to pay   
tithes1 that they had doubted some of   
the  doctrines of the church1 and that  
,god was now taking his revenge4 ,the   
people for the most part1 believed this 
infamous tissue of priestcraft4  ,they  
hastened to fall upon their knees2 they 
poured out their wealth  upon the altars
 of hypocrisy2 they abased and debased  
themselves2 from  their minds they      
banished all doubts1 and made haste to  
crawl in the  very dust of humility4    
,the church never wanted disease to be  
under the control of man4  ,timothy     
,dwight1 president of ,yale ,college1   
preached a sermon against  vaccination4 

,his idea was1 that if ,god had decreed 
from all eternity  that a certain man   
should die with the small-pox1 it was a 
frightful sin  to avoid and annul that  
decree by the trick of vaccination4     
,small-pox  being regarded as one of the
 heaviest guns in the arsenal of heaven1
  to spike it was the height of         
presumption4 ,plagues and pestilences   
were  instrumentalities in the hands of 
,god with which to gain the love and    
worship of mankind4 ,to find a cure for 
disease was to take a weapon from  the  
church4 ,no one tries to cure the ague  
with prayer4 ,quinine has been  found   
altogether more reliable4 ,just as soon 
as a specific is found  for a disease1  
that disease will be left out of the    
list of prayer4 ,the  number of diseases
 with which ,god from time to time      
afflicts mankind1  is continually       
decreasing4 ,in a few years all of them 
will be under the  control of man1 the  
gods will be left unarmed1 and the      
threats of their  priests will excite   

only a smile4    ,the science of        
medicine has had but one                
enemy--religion4 ,man was afraid  to    
save his body for fear he might lose his
 soul4    ,is it any wonder that the    
people in those days believed in and    
taught  the infamous doctrine of eternal
 punishment--a doctrine that makes ,god 
a  heartless monster and man a slimy    
hypocrite and slave8    ,the ghosts were
 historians1 and their histories were   
the grossest  absurdities4 ,tales told  
by idiots1 full of sound and fury1      
signifying  no thing4 ,in those days the
 histories were written by the monks1   
who1  as a rule1 were almost as         
superstitious as they were dishonest4   
,they  wrote as though they had been    
witnesses of every occurrence they      
related4 ,they wrote the history of     
every country of importance4 ,they  told
 all the past and predicted all the     
future with an impudence that  amounted 
to sublimity1 ,they traced the order of 
,st4 ,michael1 in ,france1  to the      

archangel himself1 and alleged that he  
was the founder of a  chivalric order in
 heaven itself4 ,they said that ,tartars
 originally came  from hell1 and that   
they were called ,tartars because       
,tartarus was one of  the names of      
perdition4 ,they declared that ,scotland
 was so named after  ,scota1 a daughter 
of ,pharaoh1 who landed in ,ireland1    
invaded ,scotland1  and took it by force
 of arms4 ,this statement was made in a 
letter  addressed to the ,pope in the   
fourteenth century1 and was alluded to  
as  a well-known fact4 ,the letter was  
written by some of the highest          
dignitaries1 and by the direction of the
 ,king himself4    ,these gentlemen     
accounted for the red on the breasts of 
robins1 from the  fact that these birds 
carried water to unbaptized infants in  
hell4    ,matthew1 of ,paris1 an eminent
 historian of the fourteenth century1   
gave  the world the following piece of  
information3 ,it is well known that     
,mohammed was once a cardinal1 and      

became a heretic because he failed in   
his effort to be elected pope2 and that 
having drank to excess1 he fell  by the 
roadside1 and in this condition was     
killed by swine4 ,and for  that reason1 
his followers abhor pork even unto this 
day4    ,another eminent historian      
informs us that ,nero was in the habit  
of  vomiting frogs4 ,when ,i read this1 
,i said to myself3 ,some of the croakers
  of the present day against ,progress  
would be the better for such a  vomit4  
,the history of ,charlemagne was written
 by ,turpin1 of ,rheims4 ,he was a      
bishop4 ,he assures us that the walls of
 a city fell down in answer  to prayer4 
,that there were giants in those days   
who could take fifty  ordinary men under
 their arms and walk away with them4    
,with the  greatest of these1 a direct  
descendant of ,goliath1 one ,orlando had
 a  theological discussion1 and that in 
the heat of the debate1 when the  giant 
was overwhelmed with the argument1      
,orlando rushed forward and  inflicted a

 fatal stab4    ,the history of         
,britain1 written by the arch-4 deacons 
of ,monmouth and  ,oxford1 was          
wonderfully popular4 ,according to them1
 ,brutus conquered  ,england and built  
the city of ,london4 ,during his time1  
it rained pure  blood for three days4   
,at another time1 a monster came from   
the sea1 and1  after having devoured    
great multitudes of people1 swallowed   
the king  and disappeared4 ,they tell us
 that ,king ,arthur was not born like   
other  mortals1 but was the result of a 
magical contrivance2 that he had  great 
luck in killing giants2 that he killed  
one in ,france that had  the cheerful   
habit of eating some thirty men a day4  
,that this giant had  clothes woven of  
the beards of the kings he had devoured4
 ,to cap the  climax1 one of the authors
 of this book was promoted for having   
written  the only reliable history of   
his country4    ,in all the histories of
 those days there is hardly a single    
truth4 ,facts  were considered unworthy 

of preservation4 ,anything that really  
happened  was not of sufficient interest
 or importance to be recorded4 ,the     
great  religious historian1 ,eusebius1  
ingenuously remarks that in his history 
he carefully omitted whatever tended to 
discredit the church1 and that  he      
piously magnified all that conduced to  
her glory4    ,the same glorious        
principle was scrupulously adhered to by
 all the  historians of that time4      
,they wrote1 and the people believed1   
that the tracks of ,pharoah's  chariots 
were still visible on the sands of the  
,red ,sea1 and that they  had been      
miraculously preserved from the winds   
and waves as perpetual  witnesses of the
 great miracle there performed4    ,it  
is safe to say that every truth in the  
histories of those times is  the result 
of accident or mistake4    ,they        
accounted for everything as the work of 
good and evil spirits4 ,with  cause and 
effect they had nothing to do4 ,facts   
were in no way related  to each other4  

,god1 governed by infinite caprice1     
filled the world with  miracles and     
disconnected events4 ,from the quiver of
 his hatred came the  arrows of famine1 
pestilence1 and death4    ,the moment   
that the idea is abandoned that all is  
natural2 that all  phenomena are the    
necessary links in the endless chain of 
being1 the  conception of history       
becomes impossible4 ,with the ghosts1   
the present  is not the child of the    
past1 nor the mother of the future4 ,in 
the  domain of religion all is chance1  
accident1 and caprice4    ,do not       
forget1 ,i pray you1 that our creeds    
were written by the  cotemporaries of   
these historians4    ,the same idea was 
applied to law4 ,it was believed by our 
intelligent  ancestors that all law     
derived its sacredness and its binding  
force from  the fact that it had been   
communicated to man by the ghosts4 ,of  
course  it was not pretended that the   
ghosts told everybody the law2 but they 
told it to a few1 and the few told it to

 the people1 and the people1 as  a rule1
 paid them exceedingly well for their   
trouble4 ,it was thousands  of ages     
before the people commenced making laws 
for themselves1 and  strange as it may  
appear1 most of these laws were vastly  
superior to the  ghost article4 ,through
 the web and woof of human legislation  
began to  run and shine and glitter the 
golden thread of justice4    ,during    
these years of darkness it was believed 
that rather than see an  act of         
injustice done2 rather than see the     
innocent suffer2 rather than  see the   
guilty triumph1 some ghost would        
interfere4 ,this belief1 as a  rule1    
gave great satisfaction to the          
victorious party1 and as the other  man 
was dead1 no complaint was heard from   
him4    ,this doctrine was the          
sanctification of brute force and       
chance4 ,they had  trials by battle1 by 
fire1 by water1 and by lot4 ,persons    
were made  to grasp hot iron1 and if it 
burned them their guilt was established4

  ,others1 with tied hands and feet1    
were cast into the sea1 and if they     
sank1 the verdict of guilty was         
unanimous1--if they did not sink1 they  
were in league with devils4    ,so in   
,england1 persons charged with crime    
could appeal to the corsned4  ,the      
corsned was a piece of the sacramental  
bread4 ,if the defendant could  swallow 
this piece he went acquit4 ,godwin1     
,earl of ,kent1 in the time of  ,edward 
the ,confessor1 appealed to the corsned4
 ,he failed to swallow it  and was      
choked to death4    ,the ghosts and     
their followers always took delight in  
torture1 in cruel  and unusual          
punishments4 ,for the infraction of most
 of their laws1 death  was the          
penalty--death produced by stoning and  
by fire4 ,sometimes1  when man committed
 only murder1 he was allowed to flee to 
some city of  refuge4 ,murder was a     
crime against man4 ,but for saying      
certain words1 or  denying certain      
doctrines1 or for picking up sticks on  

certain days1 or  for worshiping the    
wrong ghost1 or for failing to pray to  
the right one1  or for laughing at a    
priest1 or for saying that wine was not 
blood1  or that bread was not flesh1 or 
for failing to regard ram's horns as    
artillery1 or for insisting that a dry  
bone was scarcely sufficient to  take   
the place of water works1 or that a     
raven1 as a rule1 made a poor           
landlord3--death1 produced by all the   
ways that the ingenuity of hatred  could
 devise1 was the penalty4    ,law is a  
growth--it is a science4 ,right and     
wrong exist in the nature  of things4   
,things are not right because they are  
commanded1 nor wrong  because they are  
prohibited4 ,there are real crimes      
enough without  creating artificial     
ones4 ,all progress in legislation has  
for centuries  consisted in repealing   
the laws of the ghosts4    ,the idea of 
right and wrong is born of man's        
capacity to enjoy and  suffer4 ,if man  
could not suffer1 if he could not       

inflict injury upon his  fellow1 if he  
could neither feel nor inflict pain1 the
 idea of right  and wrong never would   
have entered his brain4 ,but for this1  
the word  conscience never would have   
passed the lips of man4    ,there is one
 good--happiness4 ,there is but one     
sin--selfishness4 ,all  law should be   
for the preservation of the one and the 
destruction of the  other4    ,under the
 regime of the ghosts1 laws were not    
supposed to exist in the  nature of     
things4 ,they were supposed to be simply
 the irresponsible  command of a ghost4 
,these commands were not supposed to    
rest upon  reason1 they were the product
 of arbitrary will4    ,the penalties   
for the violation of these laws were as 
cruel as the laws  were senseless and   
absurd4 ,working on the ,sabbath and    
murder were both  punished with death4  
,the tendency of such laws is to blot   
from the human  heart the sense of      
justice4    ,to show you how perfectly  
every department of knowledge1 or       

ignorance  rather1 was saturated with   
superstition1 ,i will for a moment refer
 to  the science of language4    ,it was
 thought by our fathers1 that ,hebrew   
was the original language2  that it was 
taught to ,adam in the ,garden of ,eden 
by the ,almighty1 and  that consequently
 all languages came from1 and could be  
traced to1 the  ,hebrew4 ,every fact    
inconsistent with that idea was         
discarded4 ,according  to the ghosts1   
the trouble at the tower of ,babel      
accounted for the fact  that all people 
did not speak ,hebrew4 ,the ,babel      
business settled all  questions in the  
science of language4    ,after a time1  
so many facts were found to be          
inconsistent with the  ,hebrew idea that
 it began to fall into disrepute1 and   
other languages  began to compete for   
the honor of being the original4        
,andre ,kempe1 in #aefi1 published a    
work on the language of ,paradise1  in  
which he maintained that ,god spoke to  
,adam in ,swedish2 that ,adam  answered 

in ,danish2 and that the serpent--which 
appears to me quite  probable--spoke to 
,eve in ,french4 ,erro1 in a work       
published at ,madrid1  took the ground  
that ,basque was the language spoken in 
the ,garden of  ,eden2 but in #aehj     
,goropius published his celebrated work 
at ,antwerp1 in  which he put the whole 
matter at rest by showing1 beyond all   
doubt1 that  the language spoken in     
,paradise was neither more nor less than
 plain  ,holland ,dutch4    ,the real   
founder of the science of language was  
,liebnitz1 a cotemporary  of ,sir ,isaac
 ,newton4 ,he discarded the idea that   
all languages could  be traced to one   
language4 ,he maintained that language  
was a natural  growth4 ,experience      
teaches us that this must be so4 ,words 
are  continually dying and continually  
being born4 ,words are naturally and    
necessarily produced4 ,words are the    
garments of thought1 the robes of       
ideas4 ,some are as rude as the skins of
 wild beasts1 and others glisten  and   

glitter like silk and gold4 ,they have  
been born of hatred and  revenge2 of    
love and self-sacrifice2 of hope and    
fear1 of agony and joy4  ,these words   
are born of the terror and beauty of    
nature4 ,the stars  have fashioned them4
 ,in them mingle the darkness and the   
dawn4 ,from  everything they have taken 
something4 ,words are the               
crystalizations  of human history1 of   
all that man has enjoyed and and        
suffered--his  victories and            
defeats--all that he has lost and won4  
,words are the  shadows of all that has 
been--the mirrors of all that is4       
,the ghosts also enlightened our fathers
 in astronomy and geology4  ,according  
to them the earth was made out of       
nothing1 and a little more  nothing     
having been taken than was used in the  
construction of this  world1 the stars  
were made out of what was left over4    
,cosmos1 in the  sixth century1 taught  
that the stars were impelled by angels1 
who either  carried them on their       

shoulders1 rolled them in front of them1
 or drew  them after4 ,he also taught   
that each angel that pushed a star took 
great  pains to observe what the other  
angels were doing1 so that the relative 
distances between the stars might always
 remain the same4 ,he also gave  his    
idea as to the form of the world4    ,he
 stated that the world was a vast       
parallelogram2 that on the outside  was 
a strip of land1 like the frame of a    
common slate2 that then there  was a    
strip of water1 and in the middle a     
great piece of land2 that  ,adam and    
,eve lived on the outer strip2 that     
their descendants1 with  the exception  
of the ,noah family1 were drowned by a  
flood on this outer  strip2 that the ark
 finally rested on the middle piece of  
land where we  now are4 ,he accounted   
for night and day by saying that on the 
outside  strip of land there was a high 
mountain1 around which the sun and moon 
revolved1 and that when the sun was on  
the other side of the mountain1  it was 

night2 and when on this side1 it was    
day4    ,he also declared that the earth
 was flat4 ,this he proved by many      
passages from the bible4 ,among other   
reasons for believing the earth  to be  
flat1 he brought forward the following3 
,we are told in the new  testament that 
,christ shall come again in glory and   
power1 and all the  world shall see him4
 ,now1 if the world is round1 how are   
the people  on the other side going to  
see ,christ when he comes8 ,that settled
 the  question1 and the church not only 
endorsed the book1 but declared that    
whoever believed less or more than      
stated by ,cosmos1 was a heretic4    ,in
 those blessed days1 ,ignorance was a   
king and ,science an outcast4    ,they  
knew the moment this earth ceased to be 
the centre of the universe1  and became 
a mere speck in the starry heaven of    
existence1 that their  religion would   
become a childish fable of the past4    
,in the name and by the authority of the
 ghosts1 men enslaved their  fellow men2

 they trampled upon the rights of women 
and children4 ,in the  name and by the  
authority of ghosts1 they bought and    
sold and destroyed  each other2 they    
filled heaven with tyrants and earth    
with slaves1 the  present with despair  
and the future with horror4 ,in the name
 and by the  authority of the ghosts1   
they imprisoned the human mind1 polluted
 the  conscience1 hardened the heart1   
subverted justice1 crowned robbery1     
sainted hypocrisy1 and extinguished for 
a thousand years the torch of  reason4  
,i have endeavored1 in some faint       
degree1 to show you what has happened1  
and what always will happen when men are
 governed by superstition and  fear2    
when they desert the sublime standard of
 reason2 when they take  the words of   
others and do not investigate for       
themselves4    ,even the great men of   
those days were nearly as weak in this  
matter  as the most ignorant4 ,kepler1  
one of the greatest men of the world1   
an astronomer second to none1 although  

he plucked from the stars the  secrets  
of the universe1 was an astrologer1 and 
really believed that  he could predict  
the career of a man by finding what star
 was in the  ascendant at his birth4    
,this great man breathed1 so to speak1  
the  atmosphere of his time4 ,he        
believed in the music of the spheres1   
and  assigned alto1 bass1 tenor1 and    
treble to certain stars4    ,tycho      
,brahe1 another astronomer1 kept an     
idiot1 whose disconnected and           
meaningless words he carefully set down1
 and then put them together in  such    
manner as to make prophecies1 and then  
waited patiently to see them  fulfilled4
 ,luther believed that he had actually  
seen the devil1 and had  discussed      
points of theology with him4 ,the human 
mind was in chains4  ,every idea almost 
was a monster4 ,thought was deformed4   
,facts were looked  upon as worthless4  
,only the wonderful was worth           
preserving4 ,things that  actually      
happened were not considered worth      

recording2--real occurrences  were too  
common4 ,everybody expected the         
miraculous4    ,the ghosts were supposed
 to be busy2 devils were thought to be  
the  most industrious things in the     
universe1 and with these imps1 every    
occurrence of an unusual character was  
in some way connected4 ,there was  no   
order1 no serenity1 no certainty1 in    
anything4 ,everything depended  upon    
ghosts and phantoms4 ,man was1 for the  
most part1 at the mercy of  malevolent  
spirits4 ,he protected himself as best  
he could with holy  water and tapers and
 wafers and cathedrals4 ,he made noises 
and rung  bells to frighten the ghosts1 
and he made music to charm them4 ,he    
used  smoke to choke them1 and incense  
to please them4 ,he wore beads and      
crosses4 ,he said prayers1 and hired    
others to say them4 ,he fasted when  he 
was hungry1 and feasted when he was not4
 ,he believed everything that  seemed   
unreasonable1 just to appease the       
ghosts4 ,he humbled himself4 ,he        

crawled in the dust4 ,he shut the doors 
and windows1 and excluded every  ray of 
light from the temple of the soul4 ,he  
debauched and polluted  his own mind1   
and toiled night and day to repair the  
walls of his own  prison4 ,from the     
garden of his heart he plucked and      
trampled upon the  holy flowers of pity4
    ,the priests reveled in horrible    
descriptions of hell4 ,concerning  the  
wrath of ,god1 they grew eloquent4 ,they
 denounced man as totally  depraved4    
,they made reason blasphemy1 and pity a 
crime4 ,nothing so  delighted them as   
painting the torments and sufferings of 
the lost4 ,over  the worm that never    
dies they grew poetic2 and the second   
death filled  them with a kind of holy  
delight4 ,according to them1 the smoke  
and cries  ascending from hell were the 
perfume and music of heaven4    ,at the 
risk of being tiresome1 ,i have said    
what ,i have to show you the            
productions of the human mind1 when     
enslaved2 the effects of wide-spread    

ignorance--the results of fear4 ,i want 
to convince you that every form  of     
slavery is a viper1 that1 sooner or     
later1 will strike its poison  fangs    
into the bosoms of men4    ,the first   
great step towards progress1 is1 for man
 to cease to be the  slave of man2 the  
second1 to cease to be the slave of the 
monsters of  his own creation--of the   
ghosts and phantoms of the air4    ,for 
ages the human race was imprisoned4     
,through the bars and grates came a few 
struggling rays of light4 ,against      
these grates and bars ,science pressed  
its pale and thoughtful face1  wooed by 
the holy dawn of human advancement4     
,men found that the real was the useful2
 that what a man knows is better  than  
what a ghost says2 that an event is more
 valuable than a prophecy4  ,they found 
that diseases were not produced by      
spirits1 and could not be  cured by     
frightening them away4 ,they found that 
death was as natural as  life4 ,they    
began to study the anatomy and chemistry

 of the human body1  and found that all 
was natural and within the domain of    
law4    ,the conjurer and sorcerer were 
discarded1 and the physician and surgeon
  employed4 ,they found that the earth  
was not flat2 that the stars were  not  
mere specks4 ,they found that being born
 under a particular planet  had nothing 
to do with the fortunes of men4    ,the 
astrologer was discharged and the       
astronomer took his place4    ,they     
found that the earth had swept through  
the constellations for  millions of     
ages4 ,they found that good and evil    
were produced by natural  causes1 and   
not by ghosts2 that man could not be    
good enough or bad  enough to stop or   
cause a rain2 that diseases were        
produced as naturally  as grass1 and    
were not sent as punishments upon man   
for failing to  believe a certain creed4
 ,they found that man1 through          
intelligence1  could take advantage of  
the forces of nature--that he could make
 the  waves1 the winds1 the flames1 and 

the lightnings of heaven do his  bidding
 and minister to his wants4 ,they found 
that the ghosts  knew nothing of benefit
 to man2 that they were utterly ignorant
  of geology--of astronomy--of          
geography2--that they knew nothing of   
history2--that they were poor doctors   
and worse surgeons2--that they  knew    
nothing of law and less of justice2 that
 they were without brains1  and utterly 
destitute of hearts2 that they knew     
nothing of the rights  of men2 that they
 were despisers of women1 the haters of 
progress1 the  enemies of science1 and  
the destroyers of liberty4    ,the      
condition of the world during the ,dark 
,ages shows exactly the result  of      
enslaving the bodies and souls of men4  
,in those days there was no  freedom4   
,labor was despised1 and a laborer was  
considered but little  above a beast4   
,ignorance1 like a vast cowl1 covered   
the brain of the  world1 and            
superstition ran riot with the          
imagination of man4 ,the air  was filled

 with angels1 with demons and monsters4 
,credulity sat upon  the throne of the  
soul1 and ,reason was an exiled king4 ,a
 man to be  distinguished must be a     
soldier or a monk4 ,war and theology1   
that is  to say1 murder and hypocrisy1  
were the principal employments of man4  
,industry was a slave1 theft was        
commerce2 murder was war1 hypocrisy was 
religion4    ,every christian country   
maintained that it was no robbery to    
take the  property of ,mohammedans by   
force1 and no murder to kill the owners4
 ,lord  ,bacon was the first man of note
 who maintained that a christian country
  was bound to keep its plighted faith  
with an infidel nation4 ,reading and    
writing were considered dangerous arts4 
,every layman who could read and  write 
was suspected of being a heretic4 ,all  
thought was discouraged4  ,they forged  
chains of superstition for the minds1   
and manacles of iron  for the bodies of 
men4 ,the earth was ruled by the cowl   
and sword1--by  the mitre and           

scepter1--by the altar and throne1--by  
,fear and ,force1--by  ,ignorance and   
,faith1--by ghouls and ghosts4    ,in   
the fifteenth century the following law 
was in force in ,england3    ,that      
whosoever reads the scriptures in the   
mother tongue1 shall forfeit  land1     
cattle1 life1 and goods from their heirs
 forever1 and so be  condemned for      
heretics to ,god1 enemies to the crown1 
and most arrant  traitors to the land4  
,during the first year this law was in  
force thirty-nine were hanged for  its  
violation and their bodies burned4      
,in the sixteenth century men were      
burned because they failed to kneel to  
a procession of monks4    ,the slightest
 word uttered against the superstition  
of the time was  punished with death4   
,even the reformers1 so called1 of those
 days1 had no idea of  intellectual     
liberty--no idea even of toleration4    
,luther1 ,knox1 ,calvin1  believed in   
religious liberty only when they were in
 the minority4 ,the  moment they were   

clothed with power they began to        
exterminate with fire  and sword4       
,castellio was the first minister who   
advocated the liberty of the soul4  ,he 
was regarded by the reformers as a      
criminal1 and treated as though he  had 
committed the crime of crimes4          
,bodinus1 a lawyer of ,france1 about the
 same time1 wrote a few words  in favor 
of the freedom of conscience1 but public
 opinion was  overwhelmingly against    
him4 ,the people were ready1 anxious1   
and willing1  with whip1 and chain1 and 
fire1 to drive from the mind of man the 
heresy  that he had a right to think4   
,montaigne1 a man blest with so much    
common sense that he was the most       
uncommon man of his time1 was the first 
to raise a voice against torture  in    
,france4 ,but what was the voice of one 
man against the terrible cry of         
ignorant1 infatuated1 superstitious and 
malevolent millions8 ,it was the  cry of
 a drowning man in the wild roar of the 
cruel sea4    ,in spite of the efforts  

of the brave few the infamous war       
against the  freedom of the soul was    
waged until at least one hundred        
millions of  human beings--fathers1     
mothers1 brothers1 sisters--with hopes1 
loves1  and aspirations like ourselves1 
were sacrificed upon the cruel altar  of
 an ignorant faith4 ,they perished in   
every way by which death can  be        
produced4 ,every nerve of pain was      
sought out and touched by the  believers
 in ghosts4    ,for my part ,i glory in 
the fact1 that here in the new          
world1--in the  ,united                 
,states1--liberty of conscience was     
first guaranteed to man1 and  that the  
,constitution of the ,united ,states was
 the first great decree  entered in the 
high court of human equity forever      
divorcing ,church and  ,state1--the     
first injunction granted against the    
interference of the  ghosts4 ,this was  
one of the grandest steps ever taken by 
the human race  in the direction of     
,progress4    ,you will ask what has    

caused this wonderful change in three   
hundred  years4 ,and ,i answer--the     
inventions and discoveries of the       
few2--the  brave thoughts1 the heroic   
utterances of the few2--the acquisition 
of a  few facts4    ,besides1 you must  
remember that every wrong in some way   
tends to abolish  itself4 ,it is hard to
 make a lie stand always4 ,a lie will   
not fit a  fact4 ,it will only fit      
another lie made for the purpose4 ,the  
life of  a lie is simply a question of  
time4 ,nothing but truth is immortal4   
,the  nobles and kings quarreled2--the  
priests began to dispute2--the ideas of 
government began to change4    ,in #adda
 printing was discovered4 ,at that time 
the past was a vast  cemetery with      
hardly an epitaph4 ,the ideas of men had
 mostly perished  in the brain that     
produced them4 ,the lips of the human   
race had been  sealed4 ,printing gave   
pinions to thought4 ,it preserved ideas4
 ,it made it  possible for man to       
bequeath to the future the riches of his

 brain1 the  wealth of his soul4 ,at    
first1 it was used to flood the world   
with the  mistakes of the ancients1 but 
since that time it has been flooding the
  world with light4    ,when people read
 they begin to reason1 and when they    
reason they  progress4 ,this was another
 grand step in the direction of         
,progress4    ,the discovery of powder1 
that put the peasant almost upon a par  
with  the prince2--that put an end to   
the so-called age of chivalry2--that    
released a vast number of men from the  
armies2--that gave pluck and  nerve a   
chance with brute strength4    ,the     
discovery of ,america1 whose shores were
 trod by the restless feet  of          
adventure2--that brought people holding 
every shade of superstition             
together2--that gave the world an       
opportunity to compare notes1 and to    
laugh at the follies of each other4 ,out
 of this strange mingling of  all       
creeds1 and superstitions1 and facts1   
and theories1 and countless  opinions1  

came the ,great ,republic4    ,every    
fact has pushed a superstition from the 
brain and a ghost from the  clouds4     
,every mechanic art is an educator4     
,every loom1 every reaper and  mower1   
every steamboat1 every locomotive1 every
 engine1 every press1  every telegraph1 
is a missionary of ,science and an      
apostle of ,progress4  ,every mill1     
every furnace1 every building with its  
wheels and levers1  in which something  
is made for the convenience1 for the    
use1 and for the  comfort and elevation 
of man1 is a church1 and every school   
house is a  temple4    ,education is the
 most radical thing in the world    ,to 
teach the alphabet is to inaugurate a   
revolution4    ,to build a school house 
is to construct a fort4    ,every       
library is an arsenal filled with the   
weapons and ammunition of  ,progress1   
and every fact is a monitor with sides  
of iron and a turret of  steel4    ,i   
thank the inventors1 the discoverers1   
the thinkers4 ,i thank ,columbus  and   

,magellan4 ,i thank ,galileo1 and       
,copernicus1 and ,kepler1 and ,des      
,cartes1 and ,newton1 and ,la ,place4 ,i
 thank ,locke1 and ,hume1 and ,bacon1   
and ,shakespeare1 and ,kant1 and        
,fichte1 and ,liebnitz1 and ,goethe4 ,i 
thank  ,fulton1 and ,watts1 and ,volta1 
and ,galvani1 and ,franklin1 and ,morse1
 who  made lightning the messenger of   
man4 ,i thank ,humboldt1 the            
,shakespeare  of science4 ,i thank      
,crompton and ,arkwright1 from whose    
brains leaped the  looms and spindles   
that clothe the world4 ,i thank ,luther 
for protesting  against the abuses of   
the church1 and ,i denounce him because 
he was  the enemy of liberty4 ,i thank  
,calvin for writing a book in favor of  
religious freedom1 and ,i abhor him     
because he burned ,servetus4 ,i thank   
,knox for resisting episcopal           
persecution1 and ,i hate him because he 
persecuted in his turn4 ,i thank the    
,puritans for saying ,resistance to     
tyrants is obedience to ,god1 and yet ,i

 am compelled to say that they  were    
tyrants themselves4 ,i thank ,thomas    
,paine because he was a believer  in    
liberty1 and because he did as much to  
make my country free as any  other human
 being4 ,i thank ,voltaire1 that great  
man who1 for half a  century1 was the   
intellectual emperor of ,europe1 and    
who1 from his  throne at the foot of the
 ,alps1 pointed the finger of scorn at  
every  hypocrite in ,christendom4 ,i    
thank ,darwin1 ,haeckel and ,buchner1   
,spencer1  ,tyndall and ,huxley1        
,draper1 ,leckey and ,buckle4 ,i thank  
the inventors1  the discoverers1 the    
thinkers1 the scientists1 the explorers4
 ,i thank  the honest millions who have 
toiled4    ,i thank the brave men with  
brave thoughts4 ,they are the ,atlases  
upon  whose broad and mighty shoulders  
rests the grand fabric of civilization4 
,they are the men who have broken1 and  
are still breaking1 the chains of       
,superstition4 ,they are the ,titans who
 carried ,olympus by assault1 and  who  

will soon stand victors upon ,sinai's   
crags4    ,we are beginning to learn    
that to exchange a mistake for the      
truth--a  superstition for a fact--to   
ascertain the real--is to progress4     
,happiness is the only possible good1   
and all that tends to the happiness  of 
man is right1 and is of value4 ,all that
 tends to develop the bodies  and minds 
of men2 all that gives us better houses1
 better clothes1  better food1 better   
pictures1 grander music1 better heads1  
better  hearts2 all that renders us more
 intellectual and more loving1 nearer   
just2 that makes us better husbands and 
wives1 better children1 better          
citizens--all these things combined     
produce what ,i call ,progress4    ,man 
advances only as he overcomes the       
obstructions of ,nature1 and this  can  
be done only by labor and by thought4   
,labor is the foundation of  all4       
,without labor1 and without great labor1
 progress is impossible4 ,the  progress 
of the world depends upon the men who   

walk in the fresh furrows  and through  
the rustling corn2 upon those who sow   
and reap2 upon those  whose faces are   
radiant with the glare of furnace fires2
 upon the  delvers in the mines1 and the
 workers in shops2 upon those who give  
to  the winter air the ringing music of 
the axe2 upon those who battle with  the
 boisterous billows of the sea2 upon the
 inventors and discoverers2  upon the   
brave thinkers4    ,from the surplus    
produced by labor1 schools and          
universities are built  and fostered4   
,from this surplus the painter is paid  
for the productions  of the pencil2 the 
sculptor for chiseling shapeless rock   
into forms  divinely beautiful1 and the 
poet for singing the hopes1 the loves1  
the  memories1 and the aspirations of   
the world4 ,this surplus has given us   
the books in which we converse with the 
dead and living kings of the  human     
race4 ,it has given us all there is of  
beauty1 of elegance1 and of  refined    
happiness4    ,i am aware that there is 

a vast difference of opinion as to what 
progress really is2 that many denounce  
the ideas of to-day as  destructive of  
all happiness--of all good4 ,i know that
 there are many  worshipers of the past4
 ,they venerate the ancient because it  
is ancient4  ,they see no beauty in     
anything from which they do not blow the
 dust of  ages with the breath of       
praise4 ,they say1 no masters like the  
old2 no  religion1 no governments like  
the ancient2 no orators1 no poets1 no   
statesmen like those who have been dust 
for two thousand years4 ,others  love   
the modern simply because it is modern4 
,we should have gratitude enough to     
acknowledge the obligations we are      
under to the great and heroic of        
antiquity1 and independence enough not  
to believe what they said simply because
 they said it4    ,with the idea that   
labor is the basis of progress goes the 
truth that  labor must be free4 ,the    
laborer must be a free man4    ,the free
 man1 working for wife and child1 gets  

his head and hands in  partnership4     
,to do the greatest amount of work in   
the shortest space of time1 is the      
problem of free labor4    ,slavery does 
the least work in the longest space of  
time4    ,free labor will give us       
wealth4 ,free thought will give us      
truth4    ,slowly but surely man is     
freeing his imagination of these sexless
  phantoms1 of these cruel ghosts4      
,slowly but surely he is rising above   
the superstitions of the past4 ,he is   
learning to rely upon himself4  ,he is  
beginning to find that labor is the only
 prayer that ought to be  answered1 and 
that hoping1 toiling1 aspiring1         
suffering men and women  are of more    
importance than all the ghosts that ever
 wandered through  the fenceless fields 
of space4    ,the believers in ghosts   
claim still1 that they are the only wise
 and  virtuous people upon the earth2   
claim still1 that there is a difference 
between them and unbelievers so vast1   
that they will be infinitely  rewarded1 

and the others infinitely punished4     
,i ask you to-night1 do the theories and
 doctrines of the theologians  satisfy  
the heart or brain of the ,nineteenth   
,century8    ,have the churches the     
confidence of mankind8    ,does the     
merchant give credit to a man because he
 belongs to a church8    ,does the      
banker loan money to a man because he is
 a ,methodist or  ,baptist8    ,will a  
certificate of good standing in any     
church be taken as collateral  security 
for one dollar8    ,will you take the   
word of a church member1 or his note1 or
 his oath1  simply because he is a      
church member8    ,are the clergy1 as a 
class1 better1 kinder and more generous 
to their  families--to their            
fellow-men--than doctors1 lawyers1      
merchants and  farmers8    ,does a      
belief in ghosts and unreasonable things
 necessarily make people  honest8       
,when a man loses confidence in ,moses1 
must the people lose confidence in  him8
    ,does not the credit system in      

morals breed extravagance in sin8       
,why send missionaries to other lands   
while every penitentiary in ours is     
filled with criminals8--    ,is it      
philosophical to say that they who do   
right carry a cross8    ,is it a source 
of joy to think that perdition is the   
destination of  nearly all of the       
children of men8    ,is it worth while  
to quarrel about original sin--when     
there is so much  copy8    ,does it pay 
to dispute about baptism1 and the       
trinity1 and  predestination1 and       
apostolic succession and the            
infallibility of  churches1 of popes and
 of books8 ,does all this do any good8  
,are the theologians welcomers of new   
truths8 ,are they noted for their       
candor8 ,do they treat an opponent with 
common fairness8 ,are they              
investigators8 ,do they pull forward1 or
 do they hold back8    ,is science      
indebted to the church for a solitary   
fact8    ,what church is an asylum for a
 persecuted truth8    ,what great reform

 has been inaugurated by the church8    
,did the church abolish slavery8    ,has
 the church raised its voice against    
war8    ,i used to think that there was 
in religion no real restraining force4  
,upon this point my mind has changed4   
,religion will prevent man from         
committing artificial crimes and        
offenses4    ,a man committed murder4   
,the evidence was so conclusive that he 
confessed  his guilt4    ,he was asked  
why he killed his fellow-man4    ,he    
replied3 ,for money4    ,did you get    
any8    ,yes4    ,how much8    ,fifteen 
cents4    ,what did you do with this    
money8 ,spent it6 ,what for8 ,liquor4   
,what else did you find upon the dead   
man8 ,he had his dinner in a            
bucket--some meat and bread4    ,what   
did you do with that8    ,i ate the     
bread4    ,what did you do with the     
meat8    ,i threw it away4    ,why8     
,it was ,friday4    ,just to the extent 
that man has freed himself from the     
dominion of  ghosts he has advanced4    

,just to the extent that he has freed   
himself  from the tyrants of his own    
creation he has progressed4 ,just to the
  extent that he has investigated for   
himself he has lost confidence in       
superstition4    ,with knowledge        
obedience becomes intelligent           
acquiescence--it is no  longer          
degrading4 ,acquiescence in the         
understood--in the known--is the  act of
 a sovereign1 not of a slave4 ,it       
ennobles1 it does not degrade4    ,man  
has found that he must give liberty to  
others in order to have it  himself4 ,he
 has found that a master is also a      
slave2--that a tyrant  is himself a     
serf4 ,he has found that governments    
should be founded and  administered by  
man and for man2 that the rights of all 
are equal2 that  the powers that be are 
not ordained by ,god2 that woman is at  
least the  equal of man2 that men       
existed before books2 that religion is  
one of the  phases of thought through   
which the world is passing2 that all    

creeds  were made by man2 that          
everything is natural2 that a miracle is
  an impossibility2 that we know nothing
 of origin and destiny2 that  concerning
 the unknown we are all equally         
ignorant2 that the pew has  the right to
 contradict what the pulpit asserts2    
that man is responsible  only to himself
 and those he injures1 and that all have
 a right to  think4    ,true religion   
must be free4 ,without perfect liberty  
of the mind there  can be no true       
religion4 ,without liberty the brain is 
a dungeon--the  mind a convict4 ,the    
slave may bow and cringe and crawl1 but 
he cannot  adore--he cannot love4       
,true religion is the perfume of a free 
and grateful heart4 ,true religion  is a
 subordination of the passions to the   
perceptions of the intellect4  ,true    
religion is not a theory--it is a       
practice4 ,it is not a creed--it  is a  
life4    ,a theory that is afraid of    
investigation is undeserving a place in 
the  human mind4    ,i do not pretend to

 tell what all the truth is4 ,i do not  
pretend to have  fathomed the abyss1 nor
 to have floated on outstretched wings  
level with  the dim heights of thought4 
,i simply plead for freedom4 ,i denounce
 the  cruelties and horrors of slavery4 
,i ask for light and air for the souls  
of men4 ,i say1 take off those          
chains--break those manacles--free those
  limbs--release that brain6 ,i plead   
for the right to think--to reason--to   
investigate4 ,i ask that the future may 
be enriched with the honest  thoughts of
 men4 ,i implore every human being to be
 a soldier in the army  of progress4    
,i will not invade the rights of others4
 ,you have no right to erect your       
toll-gate upon the highways of thought4 
,you have no right to leap from  the    
hedges of superstition and strike down  
the pioneers of the human  race4 ,you   
have no right to sacrifice the liberties
 of man upon the  altars of ghosts4     
,believe what you may2 preach what you  
desire2 have all  the forms and         

ceremonies you please2 exercise your    
liberty in your own  way but extend to  
all others the same right4    ,i will   
not attack your doctrines nor your      
creeds if they accord liberty  to me4   
,if they hold thought to be             
dangerous--if they aver that doubt is  a
 crime1 then ,i attack them one and all1
 because they enslave the minds  of men4
    ,i attack the monsters1 the phantoms
 of imagination that have ruled the     
world4 ,i attack slavery4 ,i ask for    
room--room for the human mind4    ,why  
should we sacrifice a real world that we
 have1 for one we know not  of8 ,why    
should we enslave ourselves8 ,why should
 we forge fetters for  our own hands8   
,why should we be the slaves of         
phantoms4 ,the darkness of  barbarism   
was the womb of these shadows4 ,in the  
light of science they  cannot cloud the 
sky forever4 ,they have reddened the    
hands of man with  innocent blood4 ,they
 made the cradle a curse1 and the grave 
a place of  torment4    ,they blinded   

the eyes and stopped the ears of the    
human race4 ,they  subverted all ideas  
of justice by promising infinite rewards
 for finite  virtues1 and threatening   
infinite punishment for finite offenses4
    ,they filled the future with heavens
 and with hells1 with the shining  peaks
 of selfish joy and the lurid abysses of
 flame4 ,for ages they kept  the world  
in ignorance and awe1 in want and       
misery1 in fear and chains4    ,i plead 
for light1 for air1 for opportunity4 ,i 
plead for individual  independence4 ,i  
plead for the rights of labor and of    
thought4 ,i plead  for a chainless      
future4 ,let the ghosts go--justice     
remains4 ,let them  disappear--men and  
women and children are left4 ,let the   
monsters fade  away--the world is here  
with its hills and seas and plains1 with
 its  seasons of smiles and frowns1 its 
spring of leaf and bud1 its summer of   
shade and flower and murmuring stream2  
its autumn with the laden boughs1  when 
the withered banners of the corn are    

still1 and gathered fields are  growing 
strangely wan2 while death1 poetic      
death1 with hands that color  what they 
touch1 weaves in the ,autumn wood her   
tapestries of gold and  brown4    ,the  
world remains with its winters and homes
 and firesides1 where grow  and bloom   
the virtues of our race4 ,all these are 
left2 and music1 with  its sad and      
thrilling voice1 and all there is of art
 and song and hope  and love and        
aspiration high4 ,all these remain4 ,let
 the ghosts go--we  will worship them no
 more4    ,man is greater than these    
phantoms4 ,humanity is grander than all 
the  creeds1 than all the books4        
,humanity is the great sea1 and these   
creeds1  and books1 and religions1 are  
but the waves of a day4 ,humanity is the
  sky1 and these religions and dogmas   
and theories are but the mists and      
clouds changing continually1 destined   
finally to melt away4    ,that which is 
founded upon slavery1 and fear1 and     
ignorance1 cannot  endure4 ,in the      

religion of the future there will be men
 and women and  children1 all the       
aspirations of the soul1 and all the    
tender humanities  of the heart4    ,let
 the ghosts go4 ,we will worship them no
 more4 ,let them cover their  eyeless   
sockets with their fleshless hands and  
fade forever from the  imaginations of  
men4            ,,the ,,liberty ,,of    
,,man1 ,,woman ,,and ,,child            
,liberty sustains the same ,relation to 
,mind that ,space does to ,matter4      
,,there is no slavery but ignorance4    
,liberty is the child of intelligence4  
,the history of man is simply the       
history of slavery1 of injustice and    
brutality1 together with the means by   
which he has1 through the dead and      
desolate years1 slowly and painfully    
advanced4 ,he has been the sport  and   
prey of priest and king1 the food of    
superstition and cruel might4  ,crowned 
force has governed ignorance through    
fear4 ,hypocrisy and  tyranny--two      
vultures--have fed upon the liberties of

 man4 ,from all  these there has been1  
and is1 but one means of                
escape--intellectual  development4 ,upon
 the back of industry has been the whip4
 ,upon the brain  have been the fetters 
of superstition4 ,nothing has been left 
undone  by the enemies of freedom4      
,every art and artifice1 every cruelty  
and  outrage has been practiced and     
perpetrated to destroy the rights of    
man4  ,in this great struggle every     
crime has been rewarded and every virtue
  has been punished4 ,reading1 writing1 
thinking and investigating have all     
been crimes4    ,every science has been 
an outcast4    ,all the altars and all  
the thrones united to arrest the forward
 march of  the human race4 ,the king    
said that mankind must not work for     
themselves4  ,the priest said that      
mankind must not think for themselves4  
,one forged  chains for the hands1 the  
other for the soul4 ,under this infamous
  regime the eagle of the human         
intellect was for ages a slimy serpent  

of hypocrisy4    ,the human race was    
imprisoned4 ,through some of the prison 
bars came a  few struggling rays of     
light4 ,against these bars ,science     
pressed its  pale and thoughtful face1  
wooed by the holy dawn of human         
advancement4  ,bar after bar was broken 
away4 ,a few grand men escaped and      
devoted their  lives to the liberation  
of their fellows4    ,only a few years  
ago there was a great awakening of the  
human mind4 ,men  began to inquire by   
what right a crowned robber made them   
work for him8  ,the man who asked this  
question was called a traitor4 ,others  
asked by  what right does a robed       
hypocrite rule my thought8 ,such men    
were called  infidels4 ,the priest said1
 and the king said1 where is this spirit
  of investigation to stop8 ,they said  
then and they say now1 that it is       
dangerous for man to be free4 ,i deny   
it4 ,out on the intellectual sea  there 
is room enough for every sail4 ,in the  
intellectual air there is  space enough 

for every wing4    ,the man who does not
 do his own thinking is a slave1 and is 
a traitor to  himself and to his        
fellow-men4    ,every man should stand  
under the blue and stars1 under the     
infinite  flag of nature1 the peer of   
every other man4    ,standing in the    
presence of the ,unknown1 all have the  
same right to  think1 and all are       
equally interested in the great         
questions of origin  and destiny4 ,all  
,i claim1 all ,i plead for1 is liberty  
thought and  expression4 ,that is all4  
,i do not pretend to tell what is       
absolutely  true1 but what ,i think is  
true4 ,i do not pretend to tell all the 
truth4  ,i do not claim that ,i have    
floated level with the heights of       
thought1 or  that ,i have descended to  
the very depths of things4 ,i simply    
claim that  what ideas ,i have1 ,i have 
a right to express2 and that any man who
  denies that right to me is an         
intellectual thief and robber4 ,that is 
all4    ,take those chains from the     

human soul4 ,break those fetters4 ,if ,i
 have no  right to think1 why have ,i a 
brain8 ,if ,i have no such right1 have  
three  or four men1 or any number1 who  
may get together1 and sign a creed1 and 
build a house1 and put a steeple upon   
it1 and a bell in it--have they  the    
right to think8 ,the good men1 the good 
women are tired of the whip  and lash in
 the realm of thought4 ,they remember   
the chain and fagot  with a shudder4    
,they are free1 and they give liberty to
 others4 ,whoever  claims any right that
 he is unwilling to accord to his       
fellow-men is  dishonest and infamous4  
,in the good old times1 our fathers had 
the idea that they could make  people   
believe to suit them4 ,our ancestors1 in
 the ages that are gone1  really        
believed that by force you could        
convince a man4 ,you cannot  change the 
conclusion of the brain by torture2 nor 
by social ostracism4  ,but ,i will tell 
you what you can do by these1 and what  
you have done4  ,you can make hypocrites

 by the million4 ,you can make a man say
 that  he has changed his mind2 but he  
remains of the same opinion still4 ,put 
fetters all over him2 crush his feet in 
iron boots2 stretch him to the  last    
gasp upon the holy rack2 burn him1 if   
you please1 but his ashes  will be of   
the same opinion still4    ,our fathers 
in the good old times--and the best     
thing ,i can say about  them is1 that   
they have passed away--had an idea that 
they could force  men to think their    
way4 ,that idea is still prevalent in   
many parts1 even  of this country4 ,even
 in our day some extremely religious    
people say1  ,we will not trade with    
that man2 we will not vote for him2 we  
will not  hire him if he is a lawyer2 we
 will die before we will take his       
medicine  if he is a doctor2 we will not
 invite him to dinner2 we will socially 
ostracise him2 he must come to our      
church2 he must believe our  doctrines2 
he must worship our god or we will not  
in any way contribute  to his support4  

,in the old times of which ,i have      
spoken1 they desired to make all men    
think exactly alike4 ,all the mechanical
 ingenuity of the world cannot  make two
 clocks run exactly alike1 and how are  
you going to make  hundreds of millions 
of people1 differing in brain and       
disposition1 in  education and          
aspiration1 in conditions and           
surroundings1 each clad in  a living    
robe of passionate flesh--how are you   
going to make them think  and feel      
alike8 ,if there is an infinite god1 one
 who made us1 and wishes  us to think   
alike1 why did he give a spoonful of    
brains to one1 and a  magnificent       
intellectual development to another8    
,why is it that we  have all degrees of 
intelligence1 from orthodoxy to genius1 
if it was  intended that all should     
think and feel alike8    ,i used to read
 in books how our fathers persecuted    
mankind4 ,but ,i never  appreciated it4 
,i read it1 but it did not burn itself  
into my soul1 ,i  did not really        

appreciate the infamies that have been  
committed in the  name of religion1     
until ,i saw the iron arguments that    
christians used4  ,i saw the            
,thumbscrew--two little pieces of iron1 
armed on the inner  surfaces with       
protuberances1 to prevent their         
slipping2 through each end  a screw     
uniting the two pieces4 ,and when some  
man denied the efficacy of  baptism1 or 
maybe said1 ,i do not believe that a    
fish ever swallowed a  man to keep him  
from drowning1 then they put his thumb  
between these  pieces of iron and in the
 name of love and universal forgiveness1
 began  to screw these pieces together4 
,when this was done most men said1 ,i   
will recant4 ,probably ,i should have   
done the same4 ,probably ,i would  have 
said3 ,stop1 ,i will admit anything that
 you wish2 ,i will admit that  there is 
one god or a million1 one hell or a     
billion2 suit yourselves2  but stop4    
,but there was now and then a man who   
would not swerve the breadth of a  hair4

 ,there was now and then some sublime   
heart1 willing to die for  an           
intellectual conviction4 ,had it not    
been for such men1 we would be  savages 
to-night4 ,had it not been for a few    
brave1 heroic souls in every  age1 we   
would have been cannibals1 with pictures
 of wild beasts tattooed  upon our      
flesh1 dangling around some dried snake 
fetich4    ,let us thank every good and 
noble man who stood so grandly1 so      
proudly1  in spite of opposition1 of    
hatred and death1 for what he believed  
to be  the truth4    ,heroism did not   
excite the respect of our fathers4 ,the 
man who would not  recant was not       
forgiven4 ,they screwed the thumbscrews 
down to the last  pang1 and then threw  
their victim into some dungeon1 where1  
in the  throbbing silence and darkness1 
he might suffer the agonies of the      
fabled damned4 ,this was done in the    
name of love--in the name of  mercy--in 
the name of the compassionate ,christ4  
,i saw1 too1 what they called the       

,collar of ,torture4 ,imagine a circle  
of iron1 and on the inside a hundred    
points almost as sharp as needles4      
,this argument was fastened about the   
throat of the sufferer4 ,then he  could 
not walk1 nor sit down1 nor stir without
 the neck being punctured  by these     
points4 ,in a little while the throat   
would begin to swell1 and  suffocation  
would end the agonies of that man4 ,this
 man1 it may be1 had  committed the     
crime of saying1 with tears upon his    
cheeks1 ,i do not  believe that ,god1   
the father of us all1 will damn to      
eternal perdition  any of the children  
of men4    ,i saw another instrument1   
called the ,scavenger's ,daughter4      
,think of a  pair of shears with        
handles1 not only where they now are1   
but at the  points as well1 and just    
above the pivot that unites the blades1 
a  circle of iron4 ,in the upper handles
 the hands would be placed2 in the      
lower1 the feet2 and through the iron   
ring1 at the centre1 the head of  the   

victim would be forced4 ,in this        
condition1 he would be thrown prone     
upon the earth1 and the strain upon the 
muscles produced such agony that        
insanity would in pity end his pain4    
,this was done by gentlemen who said3   
,whosoever smiteth thee upon one  cheek 
turn to him the other also4    ,i saw   
the ,rack4 ,this was a box like the bed 
of a wagon1 with a windlass  at each    
end1 with levers1 and ratchets to       
prevent slipping2 over each  windlass   
went chains2 some were fastened to the  
ankles of the sufferer2  others to his  
wrists4 ,and then priests1 clergymen1   
divines1 saints1  began turning these   
windlasses1 and kept turning1 until the 
ankles1 the  knees1 the hips1 the       
shoulders1 the elbows1 the wrists of the
 victim  were all dislocated1 and the   
sufferer was wet with the sweat of      
agony4  ,and they had standing by a     
physician to feel his pulse4 ,what for8 
,to  save his life8 ,yes4 ,in mercy8    
,no2 simply that they might rack him    

once  again4    ,this was done1         
remember1 in the name of civilization2  
in the name of law  and order2 in the   
name of mercy2 in the name of religion2 
in the name of  the most merciful       
,christ4    ,sometimes1 when ,i read and
 think about these frightful things1 it 
seems  to me that ,i have suffered all  
these horrors myself4 ,it seems         
sometimes1  as though ,i had stood upon 
the shore of exile and gazed with       
tearful  eyes toward home and native    
land2 as though my nails had been torn  
from  my hands1 and into the bleeding   
quick needles had been thrust2 as though
  my feet had been crushed in iron      
boots2 as though ,i had been chained in 
the cell of the ,inquisition and        
listened with dying ears for the coming 
footsteps of release2 as though ,i had  
stood upon the scaffold and had  seen   
the glittering axe fall upon me2 as     
though ,i had been upon the rack  and   
had seen1 bending above me1 the white   
faces of hypocrite priests2  as though  

,i had been taken from my fireside1 from
 my wife and children1  taken to the    
public square1 chained2 as though fagots
 had been piled  about me2 as though the
 flames had climbed around my limbs and 
scorched  my eyes to blindness1 and as  
though my ashes had been scattered to   
the  four winds1 by all the countless   
hands of hate4 ,and when ,i so feel1 ,i 
swear that while ,i live ,i will do what
 little ,i can to preserve and to       
augment the liberties of man1 woman1 and
 child4    ,it is a question of justice1
 of mercy1 of honesty1 of intellectual  
development4 ,if there is a man in the  
world who is not willing to give  to    
every human being every right he claims 
for himself1 he is just so  much nearer 
a barbarian than ,i am4 ,it is a        
question of honesty4 ,the man  who is   
not willing to give to every other the  
same intellectual rights  he claims for 
himself1 is dishonest1 selfish1 and     
brutal4    ,it is a question of         
intellectual development4 ,whoever holds

 another man  responsible for his honest
 thought1 has a deformed and distorted  
brain4  ,it is a question of            
intellectual development4    ,a little  
while ago ,i saw models of nearly       
everything that man has made4  ,i saw   
models of all the water craft1 from the 
rude dug-out in which  floated a naked  
savage--one of our ancestors--a naked   
savage1 with  teeth two inches in       
length1 with a spoonful of brains in the
 back of  his head--,i saw models of all
 the water craft of the world1 from that
  dug-out up to a man-of-war1 that      
carries a hundred guns and miles of     
canvas--from that dug-out to the        
steamship that turns its brave prow     
from the port of ,new ,york1 with a     
compass like a conscience1 crossing     
three thousand miles of billows without 
missing a throb or beat of its  mighty  
iron heart4    ,i saw at the same time  
the weapons that man has made1 from a   
club1 such  as was grasped by that same 
savage1 when he crawled from his den in 

the ground and hunted a snake for his   
dinner2 from that club to the           
boomerang1 to the sword1 to the         
cross-bow1 to the blunderbuss1 to the   
flint-lock1 to the cap-lock1 to the     
needle-gun1 up to a cannon cast by      
,krupp1 capable of hurling a ball       
weighing two thousand pounds through    
eighteen inches of solid steel4    ,i   
saw1 too1 the armor from the shell of a 
turtle1 that one of our brave  ancestors
 lashed upon his breast when he went to 
fight for his country2  the skin of a   
porcupine1 dried with the quills on1    
which this same  savage pulled over his 
orthodox head1 up to the shirts of mail1
 that  were worn in the ,middle ,ages1  
that laughed at the edge of the sword   
and  defied the point of the spear2 up  
to a monitor clad in complete steel4    
,i saw at the same time1 their musical  
instruments1 from the  tom-tom--that is1
 a hoop with a couple of strings of raw 
hide drawn  across it--from that        
tom-tom1 up to the instruments we have  

to-day1 that  make the common air       
blossom with melody4    ,i saw1 too1    
their paintings1 from a daub of yellow  
mud1 to the great  works which now adorn
 the galleries of the world4 ,i saw also
 their  sculpture1 from the rude god    
with four legs1 a half dozen arms1      
several  noses1 and two or three rows of
 ears1 and one little1 contemptible1    
brainless head1 up to the figures of    
to-day--to the marbles that genius  has 
clad in such a personality that it seems
 almost impudent to touch  them without 
an introduction4    ,i saw their        
books--books written upon skins of wild 
beasts--upon  shoulder-blades of        
sheep--books written upon leaves1 upon  
bark1 up to  the splendid volumes that  
enrich the libraries of our day4 ,when  
,i  speak of libraries1 ,i think of the 
remark of ,plato3 ,a house that has a   
library in it has a soul4    ,i saw     
their implements of agriculture1 from a 
crooked stick that was  attached to the 
horn of an ox by some twisted straw1 to 

the agricultural  implements of this    
generation1 that make it possible for a 
man to  cultivate the soil without being
 an ignoramus4    ,while looking upon   
these things ,i was forced to say that  
man advanced  only as he mingled his    
thought with his labor1--only as he got 
into  partnership with the forces of    
nature1--only as he learned to take     
advantage of his surroundings--only as  
he freed himself from the bondage  of   
fear1--only as he depended upon         
himself--only as he lost confidence  in 
the gods4    ,i saw at the same time a  
row of human skulls1 from the lowest    
skull  that has been found1 the         
,neanderthal skull--skulls from ,central
 ,africa1  skulls from the ,bushmen of  
,australia--skulls from the farthest    
isles of  the ,pacific sea--up to the   
best skulls of the last generation2--and
 ,i  noticed that there was the same    
difference between those skulls that    
there was between the products of those 
skulls1 and ,i said to myself1  ,after  

all1 it is a simple question of         
intellectual development4 ,there  was   
the same difference between those       
skulls1 the lowest and highest  skulls1 
that there was between the dugout and   
the man-of-war and the  steamship1      
between the club and the ,krupp gun1    
between the yellow daub  and the        
landscape1 between the tom-tom and an   
opera by ,verdi4    ,the first and      
lowest skull in this row was the den in 
which crawled the  base and meaner      
instincts of mankind1 and the last was a
 temple in which  dwelt joy1 liberty1   
and love4    ,it is all a question of   
brain1 of intellectual development4     
,if we are nearer free than were our    
fathers1 it is because we have  better  
heads upon the average1 and more brains 
in them4    ,now1 ,i ask you to be      
honest with me4 ,it makes no difference 
to you what  ,i believe1 nor what ,i    
wish to prove4 ,i simply ask you to be  
honest4  ,divest your minds1 for a      
moment at least1 of all religious       

prejudice4  ,act1 for a few moments1 as 
though you were men and women4          
,suppose the king1 if there was one1 and
 the priest1 if there was one1  at the  
time this gentleman floated in the      
dug-out1 and charmed his ears  with the 
music of the tom-tom1 had said3 ,that   
dug-out is the best boat  that ever can 
be built by man2 the pattern of that    
came from on high1  from the great god  
of storm and flood1 and any man who says
 that he can  improve it by putting a   
mast in it1 with a sail upon it1 is an  
infidel1  and shall be burned at the    
stake2 what1 in your judgment--honor    
bright--would have been the effect upon 
the circumnavigation of the  globe8     
,suppose the king1 if there was one1 and
 the priest1 if there was  one--and ,i  
presume there was a priest1 because it  
was a very ignorant  age--suppose this  
king and priest had said3 ,that tom-tom 
is the most  beautiful instrument of    
music of which any man can conceive2    
that is the  kind of music they have in 

heaven2 an angel sitting upon the edge  
of  a fleecy cloud1 golden in the       
setting sun1 playing upon that tom-tom1 
became so enraptured1 so entranced with 
her own music1 that in a kind of        
ecstasy she dropped it--that is how we  
obtained it2 and any man who  says that 
it can be improved by putting a back and
 front to it1 and  four strings1 and a  
bridge1 and getting a bow of hair with  
rosin1 is a  blaspheming wretch1 and    
shall die the death1--,i ask you1 what  
effect  would that have had upon music8 
,if that course had been pursued1 would 
the human ears1 in your judgment1 ever  
have been enriched with the  divine     
symphonies of ,beethoven8 ,suppose the  
king1 if there was one1 and  the priest1
 had said3 ,that crooked stick is the   
best plow that can be  invented3 the    
pattern of that plow was given to a     
pious farmer in a  holy dream1 and that 
twisted straw is the ne plus ultra of   
all twisted  things1 and any man who    
says he can make an improvement upon    

that plow1  is an atheist2 what1 in your
 judgment1 would have been the effect   
upon  the science of agriculture8       
,but the people said1 and the king and  
priest said3 ,we want better  weapons   
with which to kill our fellow           
christians2 we want better plows1       
better music1 better paintings1 and     
whoever will give us better weapons1    
and better music1 better houses to live 
in1 better clothes1 we will robe  him in
 wealth1 and crown him with honor4      
,every incentive was held out  to every 
human being to improve these things4    
,that is the reason the  club has been  
changed to a cannon1 the dug-out to a   
steamship1 the daub  to a painting2 that
 is the reason that the piece of rough  
and broken  stone finally became a      
glorified statue4    ,you must not1     
however1 forget that the gentleman in   
the dug-out1 the  gentleman who was     
enraptured with the music of the        
tom-tom1 and  cultivated his land with a
 crooked stick1 had a religion of his   

own4  ,that gentlemen in the dugout was 
orthodox4 ,he was never troubled with   
doubts4 ,he lived and died settled in   
his mind4 ,he believed in hell2 and  he 
thought he would be far happier in      
heaven1 if he could just lean over  and 
see certain people who expressed doubts 
as to the truth of his  creed1 gently   
but everlastingly broiled and burned4   
,it is a very sad and unhappy fact that 
this man has had a great many           
intellectual descendants4 ,it is also an
 unhappy fact in nature1 that the       
ignorant multiply much faster than the  
intellectual4 ,this fellow in the       
dug-out believed in a personal devil4   
,his devil had a cloven hoof1 a  long   
tail1 armed with a fiery dart2 and his  
devil breathed brimstone4  ,this devil  
was at least the equal of ,god2 not     
quite so stout but  a little shrewder4  
,and do you know there has not been a   
patentable  improvement made upon that  
devil for six thousand years4    ,this  
gentleman in the dug-out believed that  

,god was a tyrant2 that he  would       
eternally damn the man who lived in     
accordance with his highest  and        
grandest ideal4 ,he believed that the   
earth was flat4 ,he believed in  a      
literal1 burning1 seething hell of fire 
and sulphur4 ,he had also his  idea of  
politics2 and his doctrine was1 might   
makes right4 ,and it will  take         
thousands of years before the world will
 reverse this doctrine1 and  believingly
 say1 ,right makes might4    ,all ,i ask
 is the same privilege to improve upon  
that gentleman's  theology as upon his  
musical instrument2 the same right to   
improve upon  his politics as upon his  
dug-out4 ,that is all4 ,i ask for the   
human  soul the same liberty in every   
direction4 ,that is the only crime ,i   
have  committed4 ,i say1 let us think4  
,let each one express his thought4 ,let 
us  become investigators1 not followers1
 not cringers and crawlers4 ,if there   
is in heaven an infinite being1 he never
 will be satisfied with the  worship of 

cowards and hypocrites4 ,honest         
unbelief1 honest infidelity1  honest    
atheism1 will be a perfume in heaven    
when pious hypocrisy1 no  matter how    
religious it may be outwardly1 will be a
 stench4    ,this is my doctrine3 ,give 
every other human being every right you 
claim  for yourself4 ,keep your mind    
open to the influences of nature4       
,receive  new thoughts with hospitality4
 ,let us advance4    ,the religionist of
 to-day wants the ship of his soul to   
lie at the wharf  of orthodoxy and rot  
in the sun4 ,he delights to hear the    
sails of old  opinions flap against the 
masts of old creeds4 ,he loves to see   
the  joints and the sides open and gape 
in the sun1 and it is a kind of bliss   
for him to repeat again and again3 ,do  
not disturb my opinions4 ,do not        
unsettle my mind2 ,i have it all made   
up1 and ,i want no infidelity4 ,let  me 
go backward rather than forward4    ,as 
far as ,i am concerned ,i wish to be out
 on the high seas4 ,i wish to  take my  

chances with wind1 and wave1 and star4  
,and ,i had rather go down  in the glory
 and grandeur of the storm1 than to rot 
in any orthodox  harbor whatever4       
,after all1 we are improving from age to
 age4 ,the most orthodox people in  this
 country two hundred years ago would    
have been burned for the crime  of      
heresy4 ,the ministers who denounce me  
for expressing my thought would  have   
been in the ,inquisition themselves4    
,where once burned and blazed  the      
bivouac fires of the army of progress1  
now glow the altars of the  church4 ,the
 religionists of our time are occupying 
about the same ground  occupied by      
heretics and infidels of one hundred    
years ago4 ,the church  has advanced in 
spite1 as it were1 of itself4 ,it has   
followed the army  of progress          
protesting and denouncing1 and had to   
keep within protesting  and denouncing  
distance4 ,if the church had not made   
great progress ,i  could not express my 
thoughts4    ,man1 however1 has advanced

 just exactly in the proportion with    
which he  has mingled his thought with  
his labor4 ,the sailor1 without control 
of the wind and wave1 knowing nothing or
 very little of the mysterious  currents
 and pulses of the sea1 is              
superstitious4 ,so also is the          
agriculturist1 whose prosperity depends 
upon something he cannot  control4 ,but 
the mechanic1 when a wheel refuses to   
turn1 never thinks of  dropping on his  
knees and asking the assistance of some 
divine power4  ,he knows there is a     
reason4 ,he knows that something is too 
large or too  small2 that there is      
something wrong with his machine2 and he
 goes to  work and he makes it larger or
 smaller1 here or there1 until the wheel
  will turn4 ,now1 just in proportion as
 man gets away from being1 as it  were1 
the slave of his surroundings1 the serf 
of the elements1--of the  heat1 the     
frost1 the snow1 and the                
lightning1--just to the extent that  he 
has gotten control of his own destiny1  

just to the extent that he has          
triumphed over the obstacles of nature1 
he has advanced physically and          
intellectually4 ,as man develops1 he    
places a greater value upon his own     
rights4 ,liberty becomes a grander and  
diviner thing4 ,as he values his  own   
rights1 he begins to value the rights of
 others4 ,and when all men  give to all 
others all the rights they claim for    
themselves1 this world  will be         
civilized4    ,a few years ago the      
people were afraid to question the king1
 afraid to  question the priest1 afraid 
to investigate a creed1 afraid to deny a
  book1 afraid to denounce a dogma1     
afraid to reason1 afraid to think4      
,before wealth they bowed to the very   
earth1 and in the presence of  titles   
they became abject4 ,all this is slowly 
but surely changing4 ,we  no longer bow 
to men simply because they are rich4    
,our fathers worshiped  the golden calf4
 ,the worst you can say of an ,american 
now is1 he  worships the gold of the    

calf4 ,even the calf is beginning to see
 this  distinction4 ,it no longer       
satisfies the ambition of a great man to
 be  king or emperor4 ,the last         
,napoleon was not satisfied with being  
the  emperor of the ,french4 ,he was not
 satisfied with having a circlet of     
gold about his head4 ,he wanted some    
evidence that he had something of  value
 within his head4 ,so he wrote the life 
of ,julius ,caesar1 that he  might      
become a member of the ,french ,academy4
 ,the emperors1 the kings1  the popes1  
no longer tower above their fellows4    
,compare ,king ,william  with the       
philosopher ,haeckel4 ,the king is one  
of the anointed by the  most high1 as   
they claim--one upon whose head has been
 poured the divine  petroleum of        
authority4 ,compare this king with      
,haeckel1 who towers an  intellectual   
colossus above the crowned mediocrity4  
,compare ,george ,eliot  with ,queen    
,victoria4 ,the queen is clothed in     
garments given her by blind  fortune and

 unreasoning chance1 while ,george      
,eliot wears robes of glory  woven in   
the loom of her own genius4    ,the     
world is beginning to pay homage to     
intellect1 to genius1 to heart4    ,we  
have advanced4 ,we have reaped the      
benefit of every sublime and heroic     
self-sacrifice1 of every divine and     
brave act2 and we should endeavor  to   
hand the torch to the next generation1  
having added a little to the  intensity 
and glory of the flame4    ,when ,i     
think of how much this world has        
suffered2 when ,i think of how  long our
 fathers were slaves1 of how they       
cringed and crawled at the  foot of the 
throne1 and in the dust of the altar1 of
 how they abased  themselves1 of how    
abjectly they stood in the presence of  
superstition  robed and crowned1 ,i am  
amazed4    ,this world has not been fit 
for a man to live in fifty years4 ,it   
was not  until the year #ahjh that      
,great ,britain abolished the slave     
trade4 ,up to  that time her judges1    

sitting upon the bench in the name of   
justice1  her priests1 occupying her    
pulpits1 in the name of universal love1 
owned  stock in the slave ships1 and    
luxuriated upon the profits of piracy   
and  murder4 ,it was not until the same 
year that the ,united ,states of        
,america abolished the slave trade      
between this and other countries1 but   
carefully preserved it as between the   
,states4 ,it was not until the #bhth    
day of ,august1 #ahcc1 that ,great      
,britain abolished human slavery in  her
 colonies2 and it was not until the #ast
 day of ,january1 #ahfc1 that  ,abraham 
,lincoln1 sustained by the sublime and  
heroic ,north1 rendered our  flag pure  
as the sky in which it floats4          
,abraham ,lincoln was1 in my judgment1  
in many respects1 the grandest  man ever
 ,president of the ,united ,states4     
,upon his monument these words  should  
be written3 ,here sleeps the only man in
 the history of the  world1 who1 having 
been clothed with almost absolute power1

 never abused  it1 except upon the side 
of mercy4    ,think how long we clung to
 the institution of human slavery1 how  
long  lashes upon the naked back were a 
legal tender for labor performed4       
,think of it4 ,the pulpit of this       
country deliberately and willingly1 for 
a hundred years1 turned the cross of    
,christ into a whipping post4    ,with  
every drop of my blood ,i hate and      
execrate every form of tyranny1  every  
form of slavery4 ,i hate dictation4 ,i  
love liberty4    ,what do ,i mean by    
liberty8 ,by physical liberty ,i mean   
the right to do  anything which does not
 interfere with the happiness of        
another4 ,by  intellectual liberty ,i   
mean the right to think right and the   
right to  think wrong4 ,thought is the  
means by which we endeavor to arrive at 
truth4 ,if we know the truth already1 we
 need not think4 ,all that can  be      
required is honesty of purpose4 ,you ask
 my opinion about anything2  ,i examine 
it honestly1 and when my mind is made   

up1 what should ,i tell  you8 ,should ,i
 tell you my real thought8 ,what should 
,i do8 ,there is a  book put in my      
hands4 ,i am told this is the ,koran2 it
 was written by  inspiration4 ,i read   
it1 and when ,i get through1 suppose    
that ,i think in  my heart and in my    
brain1 that it is utterly untrue1 and   
you then ask  me1 what do you think8    
,now1 admitting that ,i live in ,turkey1
 and have  no chance to get any office  
unless ,i am on the side of the ,koran1 
what  should ,i say8 ,should ,i make a  
clean breast and say1 that upon my honor
  ,i do not believe it8 ,what would you 
think then of my fellow-citizens if     
they said3 ,that man is dangerous1 he is
 dishonest4    ,suppose ,i read the book
 called the bible1 and when ,i get      
through ,i make  up my mind that it was 
written by men4 ,a minister asks me1    
,did you read  the bible8 ,i answer that
 ,i did4 ,do you think it divinely      
inspired8  ,what should ,i reply8       
,should ,i say to myself1 ,if ,i deny   

the inspiration  of the scriptures1 the 
people will never clothe me with power4 
,what  ought ,i to answer8 ,ought ,i not
 to say like a man3 ,i have read it2 ,i 
do  not believe it4 ,should ,i not give 
the real transcript of my mind8 ,or     
should ,i turn hypocrite and pretend    
what ,i do not feel1 and hate myself    
forever after for being a cringing      
coward4 ,for my part ,i would rather  a 
man would tell me what he honestly      
thinks4 ,i would rather he  would       
preserve his manhood4 ,i had a thousand 
times rather be a manly  unbeliever than
 an unmanly believer4 ,and if there is a
 judgment day1  a time when all will    
stand before some supreme being1 ,i     
believe ,i will  stand higher1 and stand
 a better chance of getting my case     
decided in my  favor1 than any man      
sneaking through life pretending to     
believe what he  does not4    ,i have   
made up my mind to say my say4 ,i    ,i 
shall do it kindly1 distinctly2 but ,i  
am going to do it4 ,i know there  are   

thousands of men who substantially agree
 with me1 but who are not  in a         
condition to express their thoughts4    
,they are poor2 they are in  business2  
and they know that should they tell     
their honest thought1  persons will     
refuse to patronize them--to trade with 
them2 they wish  to get bread for their 
little children2 they wish to take care 
of their  wives2 they wish to have homes
 and the comforts of life4 ,every such  
person is a certificate of the meanness 
of the community in which he  resides3  
,and yet ,i do not blame these people   
for not expressing their  thought4 ,i   
say to them3 ,keep your ideas to        
yourselves2 feed and clothe  the ones   
you love2 ,i will do your talking for   
you4 ,the church can not  touch1 can not
 crush1 can not starve1 cannot stop or  
stay me2 ,i will  express your thoughts4
    ,as an excuse for tyranny1 as a     
justification of slavery1 the church has
  taught that man is totally depraved4  
,of the truth of that doctrine1 the     

church has furnished the only evidence  
there is4 ,the truth is1 we are  both   
good and bad4 ,the worst are capable of 
some good deeds1 and the  best are      
capable of bad4 ,the lowest can rise1   
and the highest may fall4  ,that mankind
 can be divided into two great classes1 
sinners and saints1  is an utter        
falsehood4 ,in times of great disaster1 
called it may be1 by  the despairing    
voices of women1 men1 denounced by the  
church as totally  depraved1 rush to    
death as to a festival4 ,by such men1   
deeds are done  so filled with          
self-sacrifice and generous daring1 that
 millions pay  to them the tribute1 not 
only of admiration1 but of tears4 ,above
 all  creeds1-above all religions1 after
 all1 is that divine thing1--,humanity2 
and now and then in shipwreck on the    
wide1 wild sea1 or 'mid the rocks  and  
breakers of some cruel shore1 or where  
the serpents of flame writhe  and hiss1 
some glorious heart1 some chivalric soul
 does a deed  that glitters like a star1

 and gives the lie to all the dogmas of 
superstition4 ,all these frightful      
doctrines have been used to degrade  and
 to enslave mankind4    ,away1 forever  
away with the creeds and books and forms
 and laws and  religions that take from 
the soul liberty and reason4 ,down with 
the idea  that thought is dangerous6    
,perish the infamous doctrine that man  
can  have property in man4 ,let us      
resent with indignation every effort to 
put  a chain upon our minds4 ,if there  
is no ,god1 certainly we should not bow 
and cringe and crawl4 ,if there is a    
,god1 there should be no slaves4        
,,liberty ,,of ,,woman4    ,women have  
been the slaves of slaves2 and in my    
judgment it took  millions of ages for  
woman to come from the condition of     
abject slavery  up to the institution of
 marriage4 ,let me say right here1 that 
,i regard  marriage as the holiest      
institution among men4 ,without the     
fireside  there is no human advancement2
 without the family relation there is no

  life worth living4 ,every good        
government is made up of good families4 
,the unit of good government is the     
family1 and anything that tends to      
destroy the family is perfectly devilish
 and infamous4 ,i believe in  marriage1 
and ,i hold in utter contempt the       
opinions of those long-haired  men and  
short-haired women who denounce the     
institution of marriage4    ,the        
grandest ambition that any man can      
possibly have1 is to so live1 and  so   
improve himself in heart and brain1 as  
to be worthy of the love of  some       
splendid woman2 and the grandest        
ambition of any girl is to make  herself
 worthy of the love and adoration of    
some magnificent man4 ,that  is my idea4
 ,there is no success in life without   
love and marriage4 ,you  had better be  
the emperor of one loving and tender    
heart1 and she the  empress of yours1   
than to be king of the world4 ,the man  
who has really  won the love of one good
 woman in this world1 ,i do not care if 

he dies  in the ditch a beggar1 his life
 has been a success4    ,i say it took  
millions of years to come from the      
condition of abject  slavery up to the  
condition of marriage4 ,ladies1 the     
ornaments you  wear upon your persons   
to-night are but the souvenirs of your  
mother's  bondage4 ,the chains around   
your necks1 and the bracelets clasped   
upon  your white arms by the thrilled   
hand of love1 have been changed by the  
wand of civilization from iron to       
shining1 glittering gold4    ,but nearly
 every religion has accounted for all   
the devilment in this  world by the     
crime of woman4 ,what a gallant thing   
that is6 ,and if it  is true1 ,i had    
rather live with the woman ,i love in a 
world full of  trouble1 than to live in 
heaven with nobody but men4    ,i read  
in a book--and ,i will say now that ,i  
cannot give the exact  language1 as my  
memory does not retain the words1 but ,i
 can give the  substance--,i read in a  
book that the ,supreme ,being concluded 

to make a  world and one man2 that he   
took some nothing and made a world and  
one  man1 and put this man in a garden4 
,in a little while he noticed that  the 
man got lonesome2 that he wandered      
around as if he was waiting for  a      
train4 ,there was nothing to interest   
him2 no news2 no papers2 no  politics2  
no policy2 and1 as the devil had not yet
 made his appearance1  there was no     
chance for reconciliation2 not even for 
civil service  reform4 ,well1 he        
wandered about the garden in this       
condition1 until  finally the ,supreme  
,being made up his mind to make him a   
companion4    ,having used up all the   
nothing he originally took in making the
 world  and one man1 he had to take a   
part of the man to start a woman with4  
,so  he caused a sleep to fall on this  
man--now understand me1 ,i do not say   
this story is true4 ,after the sleep    
fell upon this man1 the ,supreme  ,being
 took a rib1 or as the ,french would    
call it1 a cutlet1 out of this  man1 and

 from that he made a woman4 ,and        
considering the amount of raw  material 
used1 ,i look upon it as the most       
successful job ever performed4  ,well1  
after he got the woman done1 she was    
brought to the man2 not to  see how she 
liked him1 but to see how he liked her4 
,he liked her1 and  they started        
housekeeping2 and they were told of     
certain things they  might do and of one
 thing they could not do--and of course 
they did it4  ,i would have done it in  
fifteen minutes1 and ,i know it4 ,there 
wouldn't  have been an apple on that    
tree half an hour from date1 and the    
limbs  would have been full of clubs4   
,and then they were turned out of the   
park  and extra policemen were put on to
 keep them from getting back4           
,devilment commenced4 ,the mumps1 and   
the measles1 and the whooping-cough1    
and the scarlet fever started in their  
race for man4 ,they began to have  the  
toothache1 roses began to have thorns1  
snakes began to have poisoned  teeth1   

and people began to divide about        
religion and politics1 and the  world   
has been full of trouble from that day  
to this4    ,nearly all of the religions
 of this world account for the existence
 of  evil by such a story as that6    ,i
 read in another book what appeared to  
be an account of the same  transaction4 
,it was written about four thousand     
years before the other4  ,all           
commentators agree that the one that was
 written last was the  original1 and    
that the one that was written first was 
copied from the  one that was written   
last4 ,but ,i would advise you all not  
to allow your  creed to be disturbed by 
a little matter of four or five thousand
 years4  ,in this other story1 ,brahma  
made up his mind to make the world and a
 man  and woman4 ,he made the world1 and
 he made the man and then the woman1    
and put them on the island of ,ceylon4  
,according to the account it was  the   
most beautiful island of which man can  
conceive4 ,such birds1 such  songs1 such

 flowers and such verdure6 ,and the     
branches of the trees  were so arranged 
that when the wind swept through them   
every tree was a  thousand ,a,eolian    
harps4    ,brahma1 when he put them     
there1 said3 ,let them have a period of 
courtship1 for it is my desire and will 
that true love should forever  precede  
marriage4 ,when ,i read that1 it was so 
much more beautiful and  lofty than the 
other1 that ,i said to myself1 ,if      
either one of these  stories ever turns 
out to be true1 ,i hope it will be this 
one4    ,then they had their courtship1 
with the nightingale singing1 and the   
stars shining1 and the flowers blooming1
 and they fell in love4 ,imagine  that  
courtship6 ,no prospective fathers or   
mothers-in-law2 no prying and  gossiping
 neighbors2 nobody to say1 ,young man1  
how do you expect to  support her8      
,nothing of that kind4 ,they were       
married by the ,supreme  ,brahma1 and he
 said to them3 ,remain here2 you must   
never leave this  island4 ,well1 after a

 little while the man--and his name was 
,adami1 and  the woman's name was       
,heva--said to ,heva3 ,i believe ,i'll  
look about a  little4 ,he went to the   
northern extremity of the island where  
there was  a little narrow neck of land 
connecting it with the mainland1 and the
  devil1 who is always playing pranks   
with us1 produced a mirage1 and when  he
 looked over to the mainland1 such hills
 and vales1 such dells and  dales1 such 
mountains crowned with snow1 such       
cataracts clad in bows of  glory did he 
see there1 that he went back and told   
,heva3 ,the country  over there is a    
thousand times better than this2 let us 
migrate4 ,she1  like every other woman  
that ever lived1 said3 ,let well enough 
alone2  we have all we want2 let us stay
 here4 ,but he said ,no1 let us go2  so 
she followed him1 and when they came to 
this narrow neck of land1  he took her  
on his back like a gentleman1 and       
carried her over4 ,but the  moment they 
got over they heard a crash1 and looking

 back1 discovered  that this narrow neck
 of land had fallen into the sea4 ,the  
mirage had  disappeared1 and there were 
naught but rocks and sand2 and then the 
,supreme ,brahma cursed them both to the
 lowest hell4    ,then it was that the  
man spoke1--and ,i have liked him ever  
since for  it--,curse me1 but curse not 
her1 it was not her fault1 it was mine4 
,that's the kind of man to start a world
 with4    ,the ,supreme ,brahma said3 ,i
 will save her1 but not thee4 ,and then 
she  spoke out of her fullness of love1 
out of a heart in which there was  love 
enough to make all her daughters rich in
 holy affection1 and said3  ,if thou    
wilt not spare him1 spare neither me2 ,i
 do not wish to live  without him2 ,i   
love him4 ,then the ,supreme ,brahma    
said--and ,i have liked  him ever since 
,i read it--,i will spare you both and  
watch over you and  your children       
forever4    ,honor bright1 is not that  
the better and grander story8    ,and   
from that same book ,i want to show you 

what ideas some of these  miserable     
heathen had2 the heathen we are trying  
to convert4 ,we send  missionaries over 
yonder to convert heathen there1 and we 
send soldiers  out on the plains to kill
 heathen here4 ,if we can convert the   
heathen1  why not convert those nearest 
home8 ,why not convert those we can get 
at8  ,why not convert those who have the
 immense advantage of the example of    
the average pioneer8 ,but to show you   
the men we are trying to convert3  ,in  
this book it says3 ,man is strength1    
woman is beauty2 man is courage1  woman 
is love4 ,when the one man loves the one
 woman and the one woman  loves the one 
man1 the very angels leave heaven and   
come and sit in that  house and sing for
 joy4    ,they are the men we are       
converting4 ,think of it6 ,i tell you1  
when ,i read  these things1 ,i say that 
love is not of any country2 nobility    
does not  belong exclusively to any     
race1 and through all the ages1 there   
have  been a few great and tender souls 

blossoming in love and pity4    ,in my  
judgment1 the woman is the equal of the 
man4 ,she has all the  rights ,i have   
and one more1 and that is the right to  
be protected4 ,that  is my doctrine4    
,you are married2 try and make the woman
 you love happy4  ,whoever marries      
simply for himself will make a mistake2 
but whoever  loves a woman so well that 
he says ,i will make her happy1 makes no
  mistake4 ,and so with the woman who   
says1 ,i will make him happy4 ,there  is
 only one way to be happy1 and that is  
to make somebody else so1 and  you      
cannot be happy by going cross lots2 you
 have got to go the regular  turnpike   
road4    ,if there is any man ,i detest1
 it is the man who thinks he is the head
  of a family--the man who thinks he is 
boss6 ,the fellow in the dug-out  used  
that word boss2 that was one of his     
favorite expressions4    ,imagine a     
young man and a young woman courting1   
walking out in the  moonlight1 and the  
nightingale singing a song of pain and  

love1 as  though the thorn touched her  
heart--imagine them stopping there in   
the  moonlight and starlight and song1  
and saying1 ,now1 here1 let us settle   
who is 'boss6' ,i tell you it is an     
infamous word and an infamous           
feeling--,i abhor a man who is boss1 who
 is going to govern in his  family1 and 
when he speaks orders all the rest to be
 still as some  mighty idea is about to 
be launched from his mouth4 ,do you know
 ,i  dislike this man unspeakably8    ,i
 hate above all things a cross man4     
,what right has he to murder the        
sunshine of a day8 ,what right has he to
 assassinate the joy of life8    ,when  
you go home you ought to go like a ray  
of light--so that it will1  even in the 
night1 burst out of the doors and       
windows and illuminate  the darkness4   
,some men think their mighty brains have
 been in a turmoil2  they have been     
thinking about who will be alderman from
 the fifth ward2  they have been        
thinking about politics2 great and      

mighty questions have  been engaging    
their minds2 they have bought calico at 
five cents or six1  and want to sell it 
for seven4 ,think of the intellectual   
strain that  must have been upon that   
man1 and when he gets home everybody    
else in  the house must look out for his
 comfort4 ,a woman who has only taken   
care  of five or six children1 and one  
or two of them sick1 has been nursing   
them and singing to them1 and trying to 
make one yard of cloth do the  work of  
two1 she1 of course1 is fresh and fine  
and ready to wait upon  this            
gentleman--the head of the family--the  
boss6    ,do you know another thing8 ,i 
despise a stingy man4 ,i do not see how 
it is possible for a man to die worth   
fifty million of dollars1 or ten        
million of dollars1 in a city full of   
want1 when he meets almost every  day   
the withered hand of beggary and the    
white lips of famine4 ,how a man  can   
withstand all that1 and hold in the     
clutch of his greed twenty or  thirty   

million of dollars1 is past my          
comprehension4 ,i do not see how he  can
 do it4 ,i should not think he could do 
it any more than he could keep  a pile  
of lumber on the beach1 where hundreds  
and thousands of men were  drowning in  
the sea4    ,do you know that ,i have   
known men who would trust their wives   
with their  hearts and their honor but  
not with their pocketbook2 not with a   
dollar4  ,when ,i see a man of that     
kind1 ,i always think he knows which of 
these  articles is the most valuable4   
,think of making your wife a beggar6    
,think  of her having to ask you every  
day for a dollar1 or for two dollars or 
fifty cents6 ,what did you do with that 
dollar ,i gave you last week8  ,think of
 having a wife that is afraid of you6   
,what kind of children do  you expect to
 have with a beggar and a coward for    
their mother8 ,oh1  ,i tell you if you  
have but a dollar in the world1 and you 
have got to  spend it1 spend it like a  
king2 spend it as though it were a dry  

leaf  and you the owner of unbounded    
forests6 ,that's the way to spend it6 ,i
  had rather be a beggar and spend my   
last dollar like a king1 than be a  king
 and spend my money like a beggar6 ,if  
it has got to go1 let it go6    ,get the
 best you can for your family--try to   
look as well as you can  yourself4 ,when
 you used to go courting1 how elegantly 
you looked6 ,ah1  your eye was bright1  
your step was light1 and you looked like
 a prince4  ,do you know that it is     
insufferable egotism in you to suppose a
 woman  is going to love you always     
looking as slovenly as you can6 ,think  
of  it6 ,any good woman on earth will be
 true to you forever when you do your   
level best4    ,some people tell me1    
,your doctrine about loving1 and wives1 
and all  that1 is splendid for the rich1
 but it won't do for the poor4 ,i tell  
you to-night there is more love in the  
homes of the poor than in the  palaces  
of the rich4 ,the meanest hut with love 
in it is a palace fit for  the gods1 and

 a palace without love is a den only fit
 for wild beasts4  ,that is my doctrine6
 ,you cannot be so poor that you cannot 
help  somebody4 ,good nature is the     
cheapest commodity in the world2 and    
love  is the only thing that will pay   
ten per cent1 to borrower and lender    
both4 ,do not tell me that you have got 
to be rich6 ,we have a false  standard  
of greatness in the ,united ,states4 ,we
 think here that a man  must be great1  
that he must be notorious2 that he must 
be extremely  wealthy1 or that his name 
must be upon the putrid lips of rumor4  
,it is  all a mistake4 ,it is not       
necessary to be rich or to be great1 or 
to be  powerful1 to be happy4 ,the      
happy1 man is the successful man4       
,happiness is the legal tender of the   
soul4    ,joy is wealth4    ,a little   
while ago1 ,i stood by the grave of the 
old ,napoleon--a  magnificent tomb of   
gilt and gold1 fit almost for a dead    
deity--and  gazed upon the sarcophagus  
of rare and nameless marble1 where rest 

at  last the ashes of that restless man4
 ,i leaned over the balustrade and      
thought about the career of the greatest
 soldier of the modern world4    ,i saw 
him walking upon the banks of the       
,seine1 contemplating suicide4  ,i saw  
him at ,toulon--,i saw him putting down 
the mob in the streets of  ,paris--,i   
saw him at the head of the army of      
,italy--,i saw him crossing  the bridge 
of ,lodi with the tri-color in his      
hand--,i saw him in ,egypt in  the      
shadows of the pyramids--,i saw him     
conquer the ,alps and mingle the  eagles
 of ,france with the eagles of the      
crags4 ,i saw him at ,marengo--at  ,ulm 
and ,austerlitz4 ,i saw him in ,russia1 
where the infantry of the snow  and the 
cavalry of the wild blast scattered his 
legions like winter's  withered leaves4 
,i saw him at ,leipsic in defeat and    
disaster--driven by  a million bayonets 
back upon ,paris--clutched like a wild  
beast--banished  to ,elba4 ,i saw him   
escape and retake an empire by the force

 of his  genius4 ,i saw him upon the    
frightful field of ,waterloo1 where     
,chance and  ,fate combined to wreck the
 fortunes of their former king4 ,and ,i 
saw him  at ,st4 ,helena1 with his hands
 crossed behind him1 gazing out upon the
  sad and solemn sea4    ,i thought of  
the orphans and widows he had made--of  
the tears that  had been shed for his   
glory1 and of the only woman who ever   
loved him1  pushed from his heart by the
 cold hand of ambition4 ,and ,i said ,i 
would  rather have been a ,french       
peasant and worn wooden shoes4 ,i would 
rather  have lived in a hut with a vine 
growing over the door1 and the grapes   
growing purple in the kisses of the     
autumn sun4 ,i would rather have been   
that poor peasant with my loving wife by
 my side1 knitting as the day  died out 
of the sky--with my children upon my    
knees and their arms about  me--,i would
 rather have been that man and gone down
 to the tongueless  silence of the      
dreamless dust1 than to have been that  

imperial  impersonation of force and    
murder4    ,it is not necessary to be   
great to be happy2 it is not necessary  
to  be rich to be just and generous and 
to have a heart filled with divine      
affection4 ,no matter whether you are   
rich or poor1 treat your wife as  though
 she were a splendid flower1 and she    
will fill your life with  perfume and   
with joy4    ,and do you know1 it is a  
splendid thing to think that the woman  
you  really love will never grow old to 
you4 ,through the wrinkles of time1     
through the mask of years1 if you really
 love her1 you will always see  the face
 you loved and won4 ,and a woman who    
really loves a man does not  see that he
 grows old2 he is not decrepit to her2  
he does not tremble2  he is not old2 she
 always sees the same gallant gentleman 
who won her  hand and heart4 ,i like to 
think of it in that way2 ,i like to     
think that  love is eternal4 ,and to    
love in that way and then go down the   
hill  of life together1 and as you go   

down1 hear1 perhaps1 the laughter of    
grandchildren1 while the birds of joy   
and love sing once more in the  leafless
 branches of the tree of age4    ,i     
believe in the fireside4 ,i believe in  
the democracy of home4 ,i believe  in   
the republicanism of the family4 ,i     
believe in liberty1 equality and  love4 
,,the ,,liberty ,,of ,,children4    ,if 
women have been slaves1 what shall ,i   
say of children2 of the little  children
 in alleys and sub-cellars2 the little  
children who turn pale  when they hear  
their fathers' footsteps2 little        
children who run away  when they only   
hear their names called by the lips of a
 mother2 little  children--the children 
of poverty1 the children of crime1 the  
children  of brutality1 wherever they   
are--flotsam and jetsam upon the wild1  
mad  sea of life--my heart goes out to  
them1 one and all4    ,i tell you the   
children have the same rights that we   
have1 and we ought  to treat them as    
though they were human beings4 ,they    

should be reared  with love1 with       
kindness1 with tenderness1 and not with 
brutality4 ,that  is my idea of         
children4    ,when your little child    
tells a lie1 do not rush at him as      
though the  world were about to go into 
bankruptcy4 ,be honest with him4 ,a     
tyrant  father will have liars for his  
children2 do you know that8    ,a lie is
 born of tyranny upon the one hand and  
weakness upon the other1  and when you  
rush at a poor little boy with a club in
 your hand1 of  course he lies4    ,i   
thank thee1 ,mother ,nature1 that thou  
hast put ingenuity enough in the  brain 
of a child1 when attacked by a brutal   
parent1 to throw up a little  breastwork
 in the shape of a lie4    ,when one of 
your children tells a lie1 be honest    
with him2 tell him that  you have told  
hundreds of them yourself4 ,tell him it 
is not the best  way2 that you have     
tried it4 ,tell him as the man did in   
,maine when his  boy left home3 ,john1  
honesty is the best policy2 ,i have     

tried both4 ,be  honest with him4       
,suppose a man as much larger than you  
as you are larger  than a child five    
years old1 should come at you with a    
liberty pole in  his hand1 and in a     
voice of thunder shout1 ,who broke that 
plate8 ,there  is not a solitary one of 
you who would not swear you never saw   
it1  or that it was cracked when you got
 it4 ,why not be honest with these      
children8 ,just imagine a man who deals 
in stocks whipping his boy for  putting 
false rumors afloat6 ,think of a lawyer 
beating his own flesh and  blood for    
evading the truth when he makes half of 
his own living that  way6 ,think of a   
minister punishing his child for not    
telling all he  thinks6 ,just think of  
it6    ,when your child commits a wrong1
 take it in your arms2 let it feel your 
heart beat against its heart2 let the   
child know that you really and  truly   
and sincerely love it4 ,yet some        
,christians1 good ,christians1 when  a  
child commits a fault1 drive it from the

 door and say3 ,never do you  darken    
this house again4 ,think of that6 ,and  
then these same people  will get down on
 their knees and ask ,god to take care  
of the child they  have driven from     
home4 ,i will never ask ,god to take    
care of my children  unless ,i am doing 
my level best in that same direction4   
,but ,i will tell you what ,i say to my 
children3 ,go where you will2  commit   
what crime you may2 fall to what depth  
of degradation you may2  you can never  
commit any crime that will shut my door1
 my arms1 or my  heart to you4 ,as long 
as ,i live you shall have one sincere   
friend4    ,do you know that ,i have    
seen some people who acted as though    
they  thought that when the ,saviour    
said ,suffer little children to come    
unto  me1 for of such is the kingdom of 
heaven1 he had a raw-hide under his     
mantle1 and made that remark simply to  
get the children within striking        
distance8    ,i do not believe in the   
government of the lash4 ,if any one of  

you ever  expects to whip your children 
again1 ,i want you to have a photograph 
taken of yourself when you are in the   
act1 with your face red with  vulgar    
anger1 and the face of the little child1
 with eyes swimming  in tears and the   
little chin dimpled with fear1 like a   
piece of water  struck by a sudden cold 
wind4 ,have the picture taken4 ,if that 
little  child should die1 ,i cannot     
think of a sweeter way to spend an      
autumn  afternoon than to go out to the 
cemetery1 when the maples are clad  in  
tender gold1 and little scarlet runners 
are coming1 like poems of  regret1 from 
the sad heart of the earth--and sit down
 upon the grave and  look at that       
photograph1 and think of the flesh now  
dust that you beat4  ,i tell you it is  
wrong2 it is no way to raise children6  
,make your home  happy4 ,be honest with 
them4 ,divide fairly with them in       
everything4    ,give them a little      
liberty and love1 and you can not drive 
them out of  your house4 ,they will want

 to stay there4 ,make home pleasant4    
,let them  play any game they wish4 ,do 
not be so foolish as to say3 ,you may   
roll  balls on the ground1 but you must 
not roll them on a green cloth4 ,you    
may knock them with a mallet1 but you   
must not push them with a cue4  ,you may
 play with little pieces of paper which 
have 'authors' written  on them1 but you
 must not have 'cards4' ,think of it6   
,you may go to a  minstrel show where   
people blacken themselves and imitate   
humanity below  them1 but you must not  
go to a theatre and see the characters  
created  by immortal genius put upon the
 stage4 ,why8 ,well1 ,i can't think of  
any  reason in the world except minstrel
 is a word of two syllables1 and        
theatre has three4    ,let children have
 some daylight at home if you want to   
keep them there1  and do not commence at
 the cradle and shout ,don't6 ,don't6   
,stop6  ,that is nearly all that is said
 to a child from the cradle until he is 
twenty-one years old1 and when he comes 

of age other people begin saying        
,don't6 ,and the church says ,don't8 and
 the party he belongs to says  ,don't6  
,i despise that way of going through    
this world4 ,let us have  liberty--just 
a little4 ,call me infidel1 call me     
atheist1 call me what  you will1 ,i     
intend so to treat my children1 that    
they can come to my  grave and          
truthfully say3 ,he who sleeps here     
never gave us a moment of  pain4 ,from  
his lips1 now dust1 never came to us an 
unkind word4    ,people justify all     
kinds of tyranny towards children upon  
the ground  that they are totally       
depraved4 ,at the bottom of ages of     
cruelty lies  this infamous doctrine of 
total depravity4 ,religion contemplates 
a child  as a living crime--heir to an  
infinite curse--doomed to eternal fire4 
,in the olden time1 they thought some   
days were too good for a child to  enjoy
 himself4 ,when ,i was a boy ,sunday was
 considered altogether too  holy to be  
happy in4 ,sunday used to commence then 

when the sun went down  on ,saturday    
night4 ,we commenced at that time for   
the purpose of getting  a good ready1   
and when the sun fell below the horizon 
on ,saturday  evening1 there was a      
darkness fell upon the house ten        
thousand times  deeper than that of     
night4 ,nobody said a pleasant word2    
nobody laughed2  nobody smiled2 the     
child that looked the sickest was       
regarded as the  most pious4 ,that night
 you could not even crack hickory nuts4 
,if you  were caught chewing gum it was 
only another evidence of the total      
depravity of the human heart4 ,it was an
 exceedingly solemn night4    ,dyspepsia
 was in the very air you breathed4      
,everybody looked sad and  mournful4 ,i 
have noticed all my life that many      
people think they have  religion when   
they are troubled with dyspepsia4 ,if   
there could be found  an absolute       
specific for that disease1 it would be  
the hardest blow the  church has ever   
received4    ,on ,sunday morning the    

solemnity had simply increased4 ,then we
 went to  church4 ,the minister was in a
 pulpit about twenty feet high1 with a  
little sounding-board above him1 and he 
commenced at firstly and went  on and on
 and on to about twenty-thirdly4 ,then  
he made a few remarks  by way of        
application2 and then took a general    
view of the subject1 and  in about two  
hours reached the last chapter in       
,revelations4    ,in those days1 no     
matter how cold the weather was1 there  
was no fire in  the church4 ,it was     
thought to be a kind of sin to be       
comfortable while  you were thanking    
,god4 ,the first church that ever had a 
stove in it in  ,new ,england1 divided  
on that account4 ,so the first church in
 which they  sang by note1 was torn in  
fragments4    ,after the sermon we had  
an intermission4 ,then came the         
catechism with  the chief end of man4   
,we went through with that4 ,we sat in a
 row with  our feet coming in about six 
inches of the floor4 ,the minister asked

  us if we knew that we all deserved to 
go to hell1 and we all answered  ,yes4  
,then we were asked if we would be      
willing to go hell if it was  ,god's    
will1 and every little liar shouted     
,yes4 ,then the same sermon  was        
preached once more1 commencing at the   
other end and going back4  ,after that1 
we started for home1 sad and            
solemn--overpowered with the  wisdom    
displayed in the scheme of the          
atonement4 ,when we got home1 if we  had
 been good boys1 and the weather was    
warm1 sometimes they would take  us out 
to the graveyard to cheer us up a       
little4 ,it did cheer me4 ,when  ,i     
looked at the sunken tombs and the      
leaning stones1 and read  the           
half-effaced inscriptions through the   
moss of silence and  forget-fulness1 it 
was a great comfort4 ,the reflection    
came to my mind  that the observance of 
the ,sabbath could not last always4     
,sometimes they  would sing that        
beautiful hymn in which occurs these    

cheerful lines3         ,where          
congregations ne'er break up1           
,and ,sabbaths never end4    ,these     
lines1 ,i think1 prejudiced me a little 
against even heaven4 ,then  we had good 
books that we read on ,sundays by way of
 keeping us happy  and contented4 ,there
 were ,milners' ,history of the         
,waldenses1 ,baxter's  ,call to the     
,unconverted1 ,yahn's ,archaeology of   
the ,jews1 and  ,jenkyns' ,on the       
,atonement4 ,i used to read ,jenkyns'   
,on the ,atonement4  ,i have often      
thought that an atonement would have to 
be exceedingly  broad in its provisions 
to cover the case of a man who would    
write a  book like that for a boy4      
,but at last the ,sunday wore away1 and 
the moment the sun went down we  were   
free4 ,between three and four o'clock we
 would go out to see how the  sun was   
coming on4 ,sometimes it seemed to me   
that it was stopping from  pure         
meanness4 ,but finally it went down4 ,it
 had to4 ,and when the last  rim of     

light sank below the horizon1 off would 
go our caps1 and we would  give three   
cheers for liberty once more4           
,sabbaths used to be prisons4 ,every    
,sunday was a ,bastile4 ,every christian
  was a kind of turnkey1 and every child
 was a prisoner1--a convict4 ,in  that  
dungeon1 a smile was a crime4    ,it was
 thought wrong for a child to laugh upon
 this holy day4 ,think of  that6    ,a  
little child would go out into the      
garden1 and there would be a tree  laden
 with blossoms1 and the little fellow   
would lean against it1 and  there would 
be a bird on one of the boughs1 singing 
and swinging1 and  thinking1 about four 
little speckled eggs1 warmed by the     
breast of its  mate1--singing and       
swinging1 and the music in happy waves  
rippling out  of its tiny throat1 and   
the flowers blossoming1 the air filled  
with  perfume and the great white clouds
 floating in the sky1 and the little    
boy would lean up against that tree and 
think about hell and the worm  that     

never dies4    ,i have heard them       
preach1 when ,i sat in the pew and my   
feet did not  touch the floor1 about the
 final home of the unconverted4 ,in     
order to  impress upon the children the 
length of time they would probably stay 
if  they settled in that country1 the   
preacher would frequently give us the   
following illustration3 ,suppose that   
once in a billion years a bird  should  
come from some far-distant planet1 and  
carry off in its little  bill a grain of
 sand1 a time would finally come when   
the last atom  composing this earth     
would be carried away2 and when this    
last atom was  taken1 it would not even 
be sun up in hell4 ,think of such an    
infamous  doctrine being taught to      
children6    ,the laugh of a child will 
make the holiest day more sacred still4 
,strike  with hand of fire1 ,o weird    
musician1 thy harp strung with ,apollo's
  golden hair2 fill the vast cathedral  
aisles with symphonies sweet and  dim1  
deft toucher of the organ keys2 blow1   

bugler1 blow1 until thy  silver notes do
 touch and kiss the moonlit waves1 and  
charm the  lovers wandering 'mid the    
vine-clad hills4 ,but know1 your        
sweetest  strains are discords all1     
compared with childhood's happy         
laugh--the  laugh that fills the eyes   
with light and every heart with joy4 ,o 
rippling river of laughter1 thou art the
 blessed boundary line between  the     
beasts and men2 and every wayward wave  
of thine doth drown some  fretful fiend 
of care4 ,o ,laughter1 rose-lipped      
daughter of ,joy1 there  are dimples    
enough in thy cheeks to catch and hold  
and glorify all the  tears of grief4    
,and yet the minds of children have been
 polluted by this infamous  doctrine of 
eternal punishment4 ,i denounce it      
to-day as a doctrine1 the  infamy of    
which no language is sufficient to      
express4    ,where did that doctrine of 
eternal punishment for men and women and
  children come from8 ,it came from the 
low and beastly skull of that  wretch in

 the dug-out4 ,where did he get it8 ,it 
was a souvenir from the  animals4 ,the  
doctrine of eternal punishment was born 
in the glittering  eyes of              
snakes--snakes that hung in fearful     
coils watching for their  prey4 ,it was 
born of the howl and bark and growl of  
wild beasts4 ,it  was born of the grin  
of hyenas and of the depraved chatter of
 unclean  baboons4 ,i despise it with   
every drop of my blood4 ,tell me there  
is a  ,god in the serene heavens that   
will damn his children for the          
expression  of an honest belief6 ,more  
men have died in their sins1 judged by  
your  orthodox creeds1 than there are   
leaves on all the forests in the wide   
world ten thousand times over4 ,tell me 
these men are in hell2 that these  men  
are in torment2 that these children are 
in eternal pain1 and that  they are to  
be punished forever and forever6 ,i     
denounce this doctrine as  the most     
infamous of lies4 ,when the great ship  
containing the hopes and  aspirations of

 the world1 when the great ship         
freighted with mankind  goes down in the
 night of death1 chaos and disaster1 ,i 
am willing to go  down with the ship4 ,i
 will not be guilty of the ineffable    
meanness of  paddling away in some      
orthodox canoe4 ,i will go down with the
 ship1 with  those who love me1 and with
 those whom ,i have loved4 ,if there is 
a ,god  who will damn his children      
forever1 ,i would rather go to hell than
 to  go to heaven and keep the society  
of such an infamous tyrant4 ,i make my  
choice now4 ,i despise that doctrine4   
,it has covered the cheeks of this      
world with tears4 ,it has polluted the  
hearts of children1 and poisoned  the   
imaginations of men4 ,it has been a     
constant pain1 a perpetual terror  to   
every good man and woman and child4 ,it 
has filled the good with  horror and    
with fear2 but it has had no effect upon
 the infamous and  base4 ,it has wrung  
the hearts of the tender3 it has        
furrowed the cheeks  of the good4 ,this 

doctrine never should be preached again4
 ,what right  have you1 sir1 ,mr4       
clergyman1 you1 minister of the gospel1 
to stand  at the portals of the tomb1 at
 the vestibule of eternity1 and fill    
the future with horror and with fear8 ,i
 do not believe this doctrine3  neither 
do you4 ,if you did1 you could not sleep
 one moment4 ,any man who  believes it1 
and has within his breast a decent1     
throbbing heart1 will  go insane4 ,a man
 who believes that doctrine and does not
 go insane has  the heart of a snake and
 the conscience of a hyena4    ,jonathan
 ,edwards1 the dear old soul1 who1 if   
his doctrine is true1 is  now in heaven 
rubbing his holy hands with glee1 as he 
hears the cries  of the damned1 preached
 this doctrine2 and he said3 ,can the   
believing  husband in heaven be happy   
with his unbelieving wife in hell8 ,can 
the  believing father in heaven be happy
 with his unbelieving children  in hell8
 ,can the loving wife in heaven be happy
 with her unbelieving  husband in hell8 

,and he replies3 ,i tell you1 yea4 ,such
 will be their  sense of justice1 that  
it will increase rather than diminish   
their  bliss4 ,there is no wild beast in
 the jungles of ,africa whose reputation
  would not be tarnished by the         
expression of such a doctrine4    ,these
 doctrines have been taught in the name 
of religion1 in the name of  universal  
forgiveness1 in the name of infinite    
love and charity4 ,do not1  ,i pray you1
 soil the minds of your children with   
this dogma4 ,let them  read for         
themselves2 let them think for          
themselves4    ,do not treat your       
children like orthodox posts to be set  
in a row4 ,treat  them like trees that  
need light and sun and air4 ,be fair and
 honest  with them2 give them a chance4 
,recollect that their rights are equal  
to  yours4 ,do not have it in your mind 
that you must govern them2 that they    
must obey4 ,throw away forever the idea 
of master and slave4    ,in old times   
they used to make the children go to bed

 when they were not  sleepy1 and get up 
when they were sleepy4 ,i say let them  
go to bed when  they are sleepy1 and get
 up when they are not sleepy4    ,but   
you say1 this doctrine will do for the  
rich but not for the poor4  ,well1 if   
the poor have to waken their children   
early in the morning it  is as easy to  
wake them with a kiss as with a blow4   
,give your children  freedom2 let them  
preserve their individuality4 ,let your 
children eat  what they desire1 and     
commence at the end of a dinner they    
like4 ,that is  their business and not  
yours4 ,they know what they wish to eat4
 ,if they  are given their liberty from 
the first1 they know what they want     
better  than any doctor in the world can
 prescribe4 ,do you know that all the   
improvement that has ever been made in  
the practice of medicine has  been made 
by the recklessness of patients and not 
by the doctors8  ,for thousands and     
thousands of years the doctors would not
 let a man  suffering from fever have a 

drop of water4 ,water they looked upon  
as  poison4 ,but every now and then some
 man got reckless and said1 ,i had      
rather die than not to slake my thirst4 
,then he would drink two or  three      
quarts of water and get well4 ,and when 
the doctor was told of  what the patient
 had done1 he expressed great surprise  
that he was still  alive1 and           
complimented his constitution upon being
 able to bear such a  frightful strain4 
,the reckless men1 however1 kept on     
drinking the water1  and persisted in   
getting well4 ,and finally the doctors  
said3 ,in a  fever1 water is the very   
best thing you can take4 ,so1 ,i have   
more  confidence in the voice of nature 
about such things than ,i have in the   
conclusions of the medical schools4     
,let your children have freedom and they
 will fall into your ways2 they  will do
 substantially as you do2 but if you try
 to make them1 there is  some           
magnificent1 splendid thing in the human
 heart that refuses to be  driven4 ,and 

do you know that it is the luckiest     
thing that ever happened  for this      
world1 that people are that way4 ,what  
would have become of the  people five   
hundred years ago if they had followed  
strictly the advice  of the doctors8    
,they would have all been dead4 ,what   
would the people  have been1 if at any  
age of the world they had followed      
implicitly  the direction of the church8
 ,they would have all been idiots4 ,it  
is a  splendid thing that there is      
always some grand man who will not mind1
  and who will think for himself4    ,i 
believe in allowing the children to     
think for themselves4 ,i believe  in the
 democracy of the family4 ,if in this   
world there is anything  splendid1 it is
 a home where all are equals4    ,you   
will remember that only a few years ago 
parents would tell their  children to   
let their victuals stop their mouths4   
,they used to eat as  though it were a  
religious ceremony--a very solemn thing4
 ,life should  not be treated as a      

solemn matter4 ,i like to see the       
children at table1  and hear each one   
telling of the wonderful things he has  
seen and heard4  ,i like to hear the    
clatter of knives and forks and spoons  
mingling with  their happy voices4 ,i   
had rather hear it than any opera that  
was ever  put upon the boards4 ,let the 
children have liberty4 ,be honest and   
fair  with them2 be just2 be tender1 and
 they will make you rich in love and    
joy4    ,men are oaks1 women are vines1 
children are flowers4    ,the human race
 has been guilty of almost countless    
crimes2 but ,i have  some excuse for    
mankind4 ,this world1 after all1 is not 
very well adapted  to raising good      
people4 ,in the first place1 nearly all 
of it is water4  ,it is much better     
adapted to fish culture than to the     
production of  folks4 ,of that portion  
which is land not one-eighth has        
suitable soil  and climate to produce   
great men and women4 ,you cannot raise  
men and  women of genius1 without the   

proper soil and climate1 any more than  
you  can raise corn and wheat upon the  
ice fields of the ,arctic sea4 ,you must
  have the necessary conditions and     
surroundings4 ,man is a product2 you    
must have the soil and food4 ,the       
obstacles presented by nature must  not 
be so great that man cannot1 by         
reasonable industry and courage1        
overcome them4 ,there is upon this world
 only a narrow belt of land1  circling  
zigzag the globe1 upon which you can    
produce men and women of  talent4 ,in   
the ,southern ,hemisphere the real      
climate that man needs falls  mostly    
upon the sea1 and the result is1 that   
the southern half of our  world has     
never produced a man or woman of great  
genius4 ,in the far  north there is no  
genius--it is too cold4 ,in the far     
south there is no  genius--it is too    
warm4 ,there must be winter1 and there  
must be summer4  ,in a country where man
 needs no coverlet but a cloud1         
revolution is his  normal condition4    

,winter is the mother of industry and   
prudence4 ,above  all1 it is the mother 
of the family relation4 ,winter holds in
 its icy  arms the husband and wife and 
the sweet children4 ,if upon this earth 
we  ever have a glimpse of heaven1 it is
 when we pass a home in winter1 at      
night1 and through the windows1 the     
curtains drawn aside1 we see the  family
 about the pleasant hearth2 the old lady
 knitting2 the cat playing  with the    
yarn2 the children wishing they had as  
many dolls or dollars or  knives or     
somethings1 as there are sparks going   
out to join the roaring  blast2 the     
father reading and smoking1 and the     
clouds rising like  incense from the    
altar of domestic joy4 ,i never passed  
such a house  without feeling that ,i   
had received a benediction4             
,civilization1 liberty1 justice1        
charity1 intellectual advancement1 are  
all flowers that blossom in the drifted 
snow4 ,i do not know that ,i can  better
 illustrate the great truth that only   

part of the world is adapted  to the    
production of great men and women than  
by calling your attention  to the       
difference between vegetation in valleys
 and upon mountains4 ,in  the valley you
 find the oak and elm tossing their     
branches defiantly  to the storm1 and as
 you advance up the mountain side the   
hemlock1 the  pine1 the birch1 the      
spruce1 the fir1 and finally you come to
 little  dwarfed trees1 that look like  
other trees seen through a telescope    
reversed--every limb twisted as though  
in pain--getting a scanty  subsistence  
from the miserly crevices of the rocks4 
,you go on and on1  until at last the   
highest crag is freckled with a kind of 
moss1 and  vegetation ends4 ,you might  
as well try to raise oaks and elms where
  the mosses grow1 as to raise great men
 and great women where their            
surroundings are unfavorable4 ,you must 
have the proper climate and soil4    ,a 
few years ago we were talking about the 
annexation of ,santo ,domingo  to this  

country4 ,i was in ,washington at the   
time4 ,i was opposed to it4  ,i was told
 that it was a most delicious climate2  
that the soil produced  everything4 ,but
 ,i said3 ,we do not want it2 it is not 
the right kind  of country in which to  
raise ,american citizens4 ,such a       
climate would  debauch us4 ,you might go
 there with five thousand               
,congregational  preachers1 five        
thousand ruling elders1 five thousand   
professors in  colleges1 five thousand  
of the solid men of ,boston and their   
wives2  settle them all in ,santo       
,domingo1 and you will see the second   
generation  riding upon a mule1         
bareback1 no shoes1 a grapevine bridle1 
hair  sticking out at the top of their  
sombreros1 with a rooster under each    
arm1 going to a cock fight on ,sunday4  
,such is the influence of climate4      
,science1 however1 is gradually widening
 the area within which men  of genius   
can be produced4 ,we are conquering the 
north with houses1  clothing1 food and  

fuel4 ,we are in many ways overcoming   
the heat of the  south4 ,if we attend to
 this world instead of another1 we may  
in time  cover the land with men and    
women of genius4 ,i have still another  
excuse4 ,i believe that man came up     
from1 the lower animals4 ,i do not  say 
this as a fact4 ,i simply say ,i believe
 it to be a fact4 ,upon  that question  
,i stand about eight to seven1 which1   
for all practical  purposes1 is very    
near a certainty4 ,when ,i first heard  
of that doctrine  ,i did not like it4   
,my heart was filled with sympathy for  
those people  who have nothing to be    
proud of except ancestors4 ,i thought1  
how  terrible this will be upon the     
nobility of the old world4 ,think of    
their  being forced to trace their      
ancestry back to the duke ,orang        
,outang1 or  to the princess            
,chimpanzee4 ,after thinking it all     
over1 ,i came to the  conclusion that ,i
 liked that doctrine4 ,i became         
convinced in spite of  myself4 ,i read  

about rudimentary bones and muscles4 ,i 
was told that  everybody had rudimentary
 muscles extending from the ear into the
 cheek4  ,i asked3 ,what are they8 ,i   
was told3 ,they are the remains of      
muscles2 that they became rudimentary   
from lack of use2 they went into        
bankruptcy4 ,they are the muscles with  
which your ancestors used to flap  their
 ears4 ,i do not now so much wonder that
 we once had them as that  we have      
outgrown them4 ,after all ,i had rather 
belong to a race that  started from the 
skulless vertebrates in the dim         
,laurentian seas1  vertebrates wiggling 
without knowing why they wiggled1       
swimming without  knowing where they    
were going1 but that in some way began  
to develop1  and began to get a little  
higher and a little higher in the scale 
of  existence2 that came up by degrees  
through millions of ages through  all   
the animal world1 through all that      
crawls and swims and floats and  climbs 
and walks1 and finally produced the     

gentleman in the dug-out2 and  then from
 this man1 getting a little grander1 and
 each one below calling  every one above
 him a heretic1 calling every one who   
had made a little  advance an infidel or
 an atheist--for in the history of this 
world the  man who is ahead has always  
been called a heretic--would rather come
  from a race that started from that    
skulless vertebrate1 and came up and  up
 and up and finally produced            
,shakespeare1 the man who found the     
human  intellect dwelling in a hut1     
touched it with the wand of his genius  
and  it became a palace domed and       
pinnacled2 ,shakespeare1 who harvested  
all  the fields of dramatic thought1 and
 from whose day to this1 there have     
been only gleaners of straw and         
chaff--,i would rather belong to that   
race that commenced a skulless          
vertebrate and produced ,shakespeare1 a 
race that has before it an infinite     
future1 with the angel of progress      
leaning from the far horizon1 beckoning 

men forward1 upward and onward          
forever--,i had rather belong to such a 
race1 commencing there1 producing  this1
 and with that hope1 than to have sprung
 from a perfect pair upon  which the    
,lord has lost money every moment from  
that day to this4                       
,,conclusion4    ,i have given you my   
honest thought4 ,surely investigation is
 better than  unthinking faith4 ,surely 
reason is a better guide than fear4     
,this world  should be controlled by the
 living1 not by the dead4 ,the grave is 
not a  throne1 and a corpse is not a    
king4 ,man should not try to live on    
ashes4    ,the theologians dead1 knew no
 more than the theologians now living4  
,more than this cannot be said4 ,about  
this world little is known1--about      
another world1 nothing4    ,our fathers 
were intellectual serfs1 and their      
fathers were slaves4 ,the  makers of our
 creeds were ignorant and brutal4 ,every
 dogma that we have1  has upon it the   
mark of whip1 the rust of chain1 and the

 ashes of fagot4    ,our fathers        
reasoned with instruments of torture4   
,they believed in the  logic of fire and
 sword4 ,they hated reason4 ,they       
despised thought4 ,they  abhorred       
liberty4    ,superstition is the child  
of slavery4 ,free thought will give us  
truth4  ,when all have the right to     
think and to express their thoughts1    
every  brain will give to all the best  
it has4 ,the world will then be filled  
with intellectual wealth4    ,as long as
 men and women are afraid of the church1
 as long as a minister  inspires fear1  
as long as people reverence a thing     
simply because  they do not understand  
it1 as long as it is respectable to lose
 your  self-respect1 as long as the     
church has power1 as long as mankind    
worship a book1 just so long will the   
world be filled with intellectual       
paupers and vagrants1 covered with the  
soiled and faded rags of  superstition4 
,as long as woman regards the bible as  
the charter of her rights1 she  will be 

the slave of man4 ,the bible was not    
written by a woman4 ,within  its lids   
there is nothing but humiliation and    
shame for her4 ,she is  regarded as the 
property of man4 ,she is made to ask    
forgiveness for  becoming a mother4 ,she
 is as much below her husband1 as her   
husband is  below ,christ4 ,she is not  
allowed to speak4 ,the gospel is too    
pure to be  spoken by her polluted lips4
 ,woman should learn in silence4    ,in 
the bible will be found no description  
of a civilized home4 ,the free  mother1 
surrounded by free and loving children1 
adored by a free man1  her husband1 was 
unknown to the inspired writers of the  
bible4 ,they  did not believe in the    
democracy of home--in the republicanism 
of the  fireside4    ,these inspired    
gentlemen knew nothing of the rights of 
children4 ,they  were the advocates of  
brute force--the disciples of the lash4 
,they knew  nothing of human rights4    
,their doctrines have brutalized the    
homes of  millions1 and filled the eyes 

of infancy with tears4    ,let us free  
ourselves from the tyranny of a book1   
from the slavery of  dead ignorance1    
from the aristocracy of the air4        
,there has never been upon the earth a  
generation of free men and  women4 ,it  
is not yet time to write a creed4 ,wait 
until the chains are  broken--until     
dungeons are not regarded as temples4   
,wait until solemnity  is not mistaken  
for wisdom--until mental cowardice      
ceases to be known  as reverence4 ,wait 
until the living are considered the     
equals of the  dead--until the cradle   
takes precedence of the coffin4 ,wait   
until what  we know can be spoken       
without regard to what others may       
believe4 ,wait  until teachers take the 
place of preachers--until followers     
become  investigators4 ,wait until the  
world is free before you write a creed4 
,in this creed there will be but one    
word--,liberty4    ,oh ,liberty1 float  
not forever in the far horizon--remain  
not forever in  the dream of the        

enthusiast1 the philanthropist and poet1
 but come and  make thy home among the  
children of men6    ,i know not what    
discoveries1 what inventions what       
thoughts may leap  from the brain of the
 world4 ,i know not what garments of    
glory may be  woven by the years to     
come4 ,i cannot dream of the victories  
to be won  upon the fields of thought2  
but ,i do know1 that coming from the    
infinite  sea of the future1 there will 
never touch this bank and shoal of time 
a richer gift1 a rarer blessing than    
liberty for man1 for woman1 and for     
child4            #aggf4 ,,the          
,,declaration ,,of ,,independence4      
,one ,hundred ,years ,ago our ,fathers  
retired the ,gods from ,politics4       
,,the ,declaration of ,independence is  
the grandest1 the bravest1 and  the     
profoundest political document that was 
ever signed by the  representatives of a
 people4 ,it is the embodiment of       
physical and moral  courage and of      
political wisdom4    ,i say of physical 

courage1 because it was a declaration of
 war against  the most powerful nation  
then on the globe2 a declaration of war 
by  thirteen weak1 unorganized colonies2
 a declaration of war by a few  people1 
without military stores1 without wealth1
 without strength1  against the most    
powerful kingdom on the earth2 a        
declaration of war  made when the       
,british navy1 at that day the mistress 
of every sea1 was  hovering along the   
coast of ,america1 looking after        
defenseless towns and  villages to      
ravage and destroy4 ,it was made when   
thousands of ,english  soldiers were    
upon our soil1 and when the principal   
cities of ,america  were1 in the        
substantial possession of the enemy4    
,and so1 ,i say1 all  things considered1
 it was the bravest political document  
ever signed by  man4 ,and if it was     
physically brave1 the moral courage of  
the document  is almost infinitely      
beyond the physical4 ,they had the      
courage not only1  but they had the     

almost infinite wisdom1 to declare that 
all men are  created equal4 ,such things
 had occasionally been said by some     
political  enthusiast in the olden time1
 but for the first time in the history  
of  the world1 the representatives of a 
nation1 the representatives of  a real1 
living1 breathing1 hoping people1       
declared that all men are  created      
equal4 ,with one blow1 with one stroke  
of the pen1 they  struck down all the   
cruel1 heartless barriers that          
aristocracy1 that  priestcraft1 that    
kingcraft had raised between man and    
man4 ,they struck  down with one        
immortal blow1 that infamous spirit of  
caste that makes  a god almost a beast1 
and a beast almost a god4 ,with one     
word1 with one  blow1 they wiped away   
and utterly destroyed all that had been 
done by  centuries of war--centuries of 
hypocrisy--centuries of injustice4      
,what more did they do8 ,they then      
declared that each man has a right to   
live4 ,and what does that mean8 ,it     

means that he has the right to make  his
 living4 ,it means that he has the right
 to breathe the air1 to work  the land1 
that he stands the equal of every other 
human being beneath  the shining stars2 
entitled to the product of his          
labor--the labor of  his hand and of his
 brain4    ,what more8 ,that every man  
has the right to pursue his own         
happiness in  his own way4 ,grander     
words than these have never been spoken 
by man4    ,and what more did these men 
say8 ,they laid down the doctrine that  
governments were instituted among men   
for the purpose of preserving the       
rights of the people4 ,the old idea was 
that people existed solely for  the     
benefit of the state--that is to say1   
for kings and nobles4    ,the old idea  
was that the people were the wards of   
king and priest--that  their bodies     
belonged to one and their souls to the  
other4    ,and what more8 ,that the     
people are the source of political      
power4 ,that  was not only a revelation1

 but it was a revolution4 ,it changed   
the ideas  of people with regard to the 
source of political power4 ,for the     
first  time it made human beings men4   
,what was the old idea8 ,the old idea   
was  that no political power came from1 
nor in any manner belonged to1 the      
people4 ,the old idea was that the      
political power came from the clouds2   
that the political power came in some   
miraculous way from heaven2 that  it    
came down to kings1 and queens1 and     
robbers4 ,that was the old idea4  ,the  
nobles lived upon the labor of the      
people2 the people had no rights2  the  
nobles stole what they had and divided  
with the kings1 and the kings  pretended
 to divide what they stole with ,god    
,almighty4 ,the source1 then1  of       
political power was from above4 ,the    
people were responsible to the  nobles1 
the nobles to the king1 and the people  
had no political rights  whatever1 no   
more than the wild beasts of the forest4
 ,the kings were  responsible to ,god2  

not to the people4 ,the kings were      
responsible to the  clouds2 not to the  
toiling millions they robbed and        
plundered4    ,and our forefathers1 in  
this declaration of independence1       
reversed this  thing1 and said3 ,no2 the
 people1 they are the source of         
political power1  and their rulers1     
these presidents1 these kings1 are but  
the agents and  servants of the great1  
sublime people4 ,for the first time1    
really1 in  the history of the world1   
the king was made to get off the throne 
and the people were royally seated      
thereon4 ,the people became the         
sovereigns1 and the old sovereigns      
became the servants and the agents  of  
the people4 ,it is hard for you and me  
now to imagine even the immense  results
 of that change4 ,it is hard for you and
 for me1 at this day1 to  understand how
 thoroughly it had been ingrained in the
 brain of almost  every man1 that the   
king had some wonderful right over him2 
that in  some strange way the king owned

 him2 that in some miraculous manner he 
belonged1 body and soul1 to somebody who
 rode on a horse--to somebody  with     
epaulettes on his shoulders and a tinsel
 crown upon his brainless  head4    ,our
 forefathers had been educated in that  
idea1 and when they first  landed on    
,american shores they believed it4 ,they
 thought they belonged  to somebody1 and
 that they must be loyal to some thief1 
who could trace  his pedigree back to   
antiquity's most successful robber4     
,it took a long time for them to get    
that idea out of their heads and        
hearts4 ,they were three thousand miles 
away from the despotisms of  the old    
world1 and every wave of the sea was an 
assistant to them4 ,the  distance helped
 to disenchant their minds of that      
infamous belief1 and  every mile between
 them and the pomp and glory of monarchy
 helped to put  republican ideas and    
thoughts into their minds4 ,besides     
that1 when  they came to this country1  
when the savage was in the forest and   

three  thousand miles of waves on the   
other side1 menaced by barbarians on    
the one side and famine on the other1   
they learned that a man who had         
courage1 a man who had thought1 was as  
good as any other man in the  world1 and
 they built up1 as it were1 in spite of 
themselves1 little  republics4 ,and the 
man that had the most nerve and heart   
was the best  man1 whether he had any   
noble blood in his veins or not4    ,it 
has been a favorite idea with me that   
our forefathers were educated  by       
,nature2 that they grew grand as the    
continent upon which they landed2  that 
the great rivers--the wide plains--the  
splendid lakes--the lonely  forests--the
 sublime mountains--that all these      
things stole into and  became a part of 
their being1 and they grew great as the 
country in  which they lived4 ,they     
began to hate the narrow1 contracted    
views of  ,europe4 ,they were educated  
by their surroundings1 and every little 
colony had to be1 to a certain extent1 a

 republic4 ,the kings of the old  world 
endeavored to parcel out this land to   
their favorites4 ,but there  were too   
many ,indians4 ,there was too much      
courage required for them to  take and  
keep it1 and so men had to come here who
 were dissatisfied with  the old        
country--who were dissatisfied with     
,england1 dissatisfied with  ,france1   
with ,germany1 with ,ireland and        
,holland4 ,the kings' favorites  stayed 
at home4 ,men came here for liberty1 and
 on account of certain  principles they 
entertained and held dearer than life4  
,and they were  willing to work1 willing
 to fell the forests1 to fight the      
savages1  willing to go through all the 
hardships1 perils and dangers of a new  
country1 of a new land2 and the         
consequence was that our country was    
settled by brave and adventurous        
spirits1 by men who had opinions of     
their own and were willing to live in   
the wild forests for the sake of        
expressing those opinions1 even if they 

expressed them only to trees1  rocks1   
and savage men4 ,the best blood of the  
old world came to the new4    ,when they
 first came over they did not have a    
great deal of political  philosophy1 nor
 the best ideas of liberty4 ,we might as
 well tell the  truth4 ,when the        
,puritans first came1 they were narrow4 
,they did not  understand what liberty  
meant--what religious liberty1 what     
political  liberty1 was2 but they found 
out in a few years4 ,there was one      
feeling  among them that rises to their 
eternal honor like a white shaft to the 
clouds--they were in favor of universal 
education4 ,wherever they went  they    
built school houses1 introduced books1  
and ideas of literature4  ,they believed
 that every man should know how to read 
and how to write1  and should find out  
all that his capacity allowed him to    
comprehend4  ,that is the glory of the  
,puritan fathers4    ,they forgot in a  
little while what they had suffered1 and
 they forgot  to apply the principle of 

universal liberty--of toleration4 ,some 
of  the colonies did not forget it1 and 
,i want to give credit where credit     
should be given4 ,the ,catholics of     
,maryland were the first people on the  
new continent to declare universal      
religious toleration4 ,let this be      
remembered to their eternal honor4 ,let 
it be remembered to the disgrace  of the
 ,protestant government of ,england1    
that it caused this grand law  to be    
repealed4 ,and to the honor and credit  
of the ,catholics of ,maryland  let it  
be remembered1 that the moment they got 
back into power they  re-enacted the old
 law4 ,the ,baptists of ,rhode ,island  
also1 led by ,roger  ,williams1 were in 
favor of universal religious liberty4   
,no ,american should fail to honor      
,roger ,williams4 ,he was the first     
grand  advocate of the liberty of the   
soul4 ,he was in favor of the eternal   
divorce of church and state4 ,so far as 
,i know1 he was the only man at  that   
time in this country who was in favor of

 real religious liberty4  ,while the    
,catholics of ,maryland declared in     
favor of religious  toleration1 they had
 no idea of religious liberty4 ,they    
would not  allow any one to call in     
question the doctrine of the trinity1 or
 the  inspiration of the scriptures4    
,they stood ready with branding iron and
  gallows to burn and choke out of man  
the idea that he had a right to  think  
and to express his thoughts4    ,so many
 religions met in our country--so many  
theories and dogmas came  in contact--so
 many follies1 mistakes and stupidities 
became acquainted  with each other1 that
 religion began to fall somewhat into   
disrepute4  ,besides this1 the question 
of a new nation began to take precedence
 of  all others4    ,the people were too
 much interested in this world to       
quarrel about the  next4 ,the preacher  
was lost in the patriot4 ,the bible was 
read to find  passages against kings4   
,everybody was discussing the rights of 
man4 ,farmers and mechanics  suddenly   

became statesmen1 and in every shop and 
cabin nearly every  question was asked  
and answered4    ,during these years of 
political excitement1 the interest in   
religion  abated to that degree that a  
common purpose animated men of all sects
  and creeds4    ,at last our fathers   
became tired of being colonists--tired  
of writing  and reading and signing     
petitions1 and presenting them on their 
bended  knees to an idiot king4 ,they   
began to have an aspiration to form a   
new  nation1 to be citizens of a new    
republic instead of subjects of an  old 
monarchy4 ,they had the idea--the       
,puritans1 the ,catholics1 the          
,episcopalians1 the ,baptists1 the      
,quakers1 and a few ,free ,thinkers1 all
  had the idea--that they would like to 
form a new nation4    ,now1 do not      
understand that all of our fathers were 
in favor of  independence4 ,do not      
understand that they were all like      
,jefferson2 that  they were all like    
,adams or ,lee2 that they were all like 

,thomas ,paine  or ,john ,hancock4      
,there were thousands and thousands of  
them who were  opposed to ,american     
independence4 ,there were thousands and 
thousands who  said3 ,when you say men  
are created equal1 it is a lie2 when you
 say the  political power resides in the
 great body of the people1 it is false4 
,thousands and thousands of them said3  
,we prefer ,great ,britain4 ,but  the   
men who were in favor of independence1  
the men who knew that a new  nation must
 be born1 went on full of hope and      
courage1 and nothing could  daunt or    
stop or stay the heroic1 fearless few4  
,they met in ,philadelphia2 and the     
resolution was moved by ,lee of         
,virginia1 that the colonies ought to be
 independent states1 and ought to       
dissolve their political connection with
 ,great ,britain4    ,they made up their
 minds that a new nation must be formed4
 ,all nations  had been1 so to speak1   
the wards of some church4 ,the religious
 idea as  to the source of power had    

been at the foundation of all           
governments1  and had been the bane and 
curse of man4    ,happily for us1 there 
was no church strong enough to dictate  
to the  rest4 ,fortunately for us1 the  
colonists not only1 but the colonies    
differed widely in their religious      
views4 ,there were the ,puritans who    
hated the ,episcopalians1 and           
,episcopalians who hated the ,catholics1
  and the ,catholics who hated both1    
while the ,quakers held them all in     
contempt4 ,there they were1 of every    
sort1 and color1 and kind1 and  how was 
it that they came together8 ,they had a 
common aspiration4 ,they  wanted to form
 a new nation4 ,more than that1 most of 
them cordially  hated ,great ,britain2  
and they pledged each other to forget   
these  religious prejudices1 for a time 
at least1 and agreed that there should  
be only one religion until they got     
through1 and that was the religion  of  
patriotism4 ,they solemnly agreed that  
the new nation should not  belong to any

 particular church1 but that it should  
secure the rights of  all4    ,our      
fathers founded the first secular       
government that was ever founded  in    
this world4 ,recollect that4 ,the first 
secular government2 the first           
government that said every church has   
exactly the same rights1 and no  more2  
every religion has the same rights1 and 
no more4 ,in other words1  our fathers  
were the first men who had the sense1   
had the genius1 to  know that no church 
should be allowed to have a sword2 that 
it should be  allowed only to exert its 
moral influence4    ,you might as well  
have a government united by force with  
,art1 or with  ,poetry1 or with         
,oratory1 as with ,religion4 ,religion  
should have the  influence upon mankind 
that its goodness1 that its morality1   
its  justice1 its charity1 its reason1  
and its argument give it1 and no more4  
,religion should have the effect upon   
mankind that it necessarily has1  and no
 more4 ,the religion that has to be     

supported by law is without  value1 not 
only1 but a fraud and curse4 ,the       
religious argument that has  to be      
supported by a musket1 is hardly worth  
making4 ,a prayer that must  have a     
cannon behind it1 better never be       
uttered4 ,forgiveness ought not  to go  
in partnership with shot and shell4     
,love need not carry knives and         
revolvers4    ,so1 our fathers said3 ,we
 will form a secular government1 and    
under the  flag with which we are going 
to enrich the air1 we will allow every  
man  to worship ,god as he thinks best4 
,they said3 ,religion is an individual  
thing between each man and his ,creator1
 and he can worship as he pleases  and  
as he desires4 ,and why did they do     
this8 ,the history of the world  warned 
them that the liberty of man was not    
safe in the clutch and grasp  of any    
church4 ,they had read of and seen the  
thumb-screws1 the racks and  the        
dungeons of the inquisition4 ,they knew 
all about the hypocrisy of  the olden   

time4 ,they knew that the church had    
stood side by side with  the throne2    
that the high priests were hypocrites1  
and that the kings  were robbers4 ,they 
also knew that if they gave to any      
church power1 it  would corrupt the best
 church in the world4 ,and so they said 
that power  must not reside in a church 
nor in a sect1 but power must be        
wherever  humanity is1--in the great    
body of the people4 ,and the officers   
and  servants of the people must be     
responsible to them4 ,and so ,i say     
again1  as ,i said in the commencement1 
this is the wisest1 the profoundest1 the
  bravest political document that ever  
was written and signed by man4    ,they 
turned1 as ,i tell you1 everything      
squarely about4 ,they derived  all their
 authority from the people4 ,they did   
away forever with the  theological idea 
of government4    ,and what more did    
they say8 ,they said that whenever the  
rulers abused  this authority1 this     
power1 incapable of destruction1        

returned to the  people4 ,how did they  
come to say this8 ,i will tell you4     
,they were pushed  into it4 ,how8 ,they 
felt that they were oppressed2 and      
whenever a man  feels that he is the    
subject of injustice1 his perception of 
right and  wrong is wonderfully         
quickened4    ,nobody was ever in prison
 wrongfully who did not believe in the  
writ  of habeas corpus4 ,nobody ever    
suffered wrongfully without instantly   
having ideas of justice4    ,and they   
began to inquire what rights the king of
 ,great ,britain had4  ,they began to   
search for the charter of his authority4
 ,they began to  investigate and dig    
down to the bed-rock upon which society 
must be  founded1 and when they got down
 there1 forced there1 too1 by their     
oppressors1 forced against their own    
prejudices and education1 they  found at
 the bottom of things1 not lords1 not   
nobles1 not pulpits1 not  thrones1 but  
humanity and the rights of men4    ,and 
so they said1 we are men2 we are men4   

,they found out they were  men4 ,and the
 next thing they said1 was1 ,we will be 
free men2 we are  weary of being        
colonists2 we are tired of being        
subjects2 we are men2  and these        
colonies ought to be states2 and these  
states ought to be a  nation2 and that  
nation ought to drive the last ,british 
soldier into the  sea4 ,and so they     
signed that brave declaration of        
independence4    ,i thank every one of  
them from the bottom of my heart for    
signing  that sublime declaration4 ,i   
thank them for their courage--for their 
patriotism--for their wisdom--for the   
splendid confidence in themselves  and  
in the human race4 ,i thank them for    
what they were1 and for what  we        
are--for what they did and for what we  
have received--for what they  suffered1 
and for what we enjoy4    ,what would we
 have been if we had remained colonists 
and subjects8 ,what  would we have been 
to-day8 ,nobodies1--ready to get down on
 our knees  and crawl in the very dust  

at the sight of somebody that was       
supposed to  have in him some drop of   
blood that flowed in the veins of that  
mailed  marauder--that royal robber1    
,william the ,conqueror4    ,they signed
 that declaration of independence1      
although they knew that it  would       
produce a long1 terrible1 and bloody    
war4 ,they looked forward and  saw      
poverty1 deprivation1 gloom and death4  
,but they also saw1 on the wrecked      
clouds of war1 the beautiful bow of     
freedom4    ,these grand men were       
enthusiasts2 and the world has only been
 raised  by enthusiasts4 ,in every      
country there have been a few who have  
given  a national aspiration to the     
people4 ,the enthusiasts of #aggf were  
the  builders and framers of this great 
and splendid government2 and they  were 
the men who saw1 although others did    
not1 the golden fringe of  the mantle of
 glory that will finally cover this     
world4 ,they knew1 they  felt1 they     
believed that they would give a new     

constellation to  the political         
heavens--that they would make the       
,americans a grand  people--grand as the
 continent upon which they lived4       
,the war commenced4 ,there was little   
money1 and less credit4 ,the new  nation
 had but few friends4 ,to a great       
extent1 each soldier of freedom  had to 
clothe and feed himself4 ,he was poor   
and pure--brave and good1  and so he    
went to the fields of death to fight for
 the rights of man4    ,what did the    
soldier leave when he went8    ,he left 
his wife and children4    ,did he leave 
them in a beautiful home1 surrounded by 
civilization1 in  the repose of law1 in 
the security of a great and powerful    
republic8    ,no4 ,he left his wife and 
children on the edge1 on the fringe of  
the  boundless forest1 in which crouched
 and crept the red savage1 who was at   
that time the ally of the still more    
savage ,briton4 ,he left his wife to    
defend herself1 and he left the         
prattling babes to be defended by their 

mother and by nature4 ,the mother made  
the living2 she planted the corn  and   
the potatoes1 and hoed them in the sun1 
raised the children1 and  in the        
darkness of night1 told them about their
 brave father1 and the  sacred cause4   
,she told them that in a little while   
the war would be  over and father would 
come back covered with honor and glory4 
,think of the women1 of the sweet       
children who listened for the footsteps 
of the dead--who waited through the sad 
and desolate years for the dear  ones   
who never came4    ,the soldiers of     
#aggf did not march away with music and 
banners4 ,they  went in silence1 looked 
at and gazed after by eyes filled with  
tears4  ,they went to meet1 not an      
equal1 but a superior--to fight five    
times  their number--to make a desperate
 stand--to stop the advance of the      
enemy1 and then1 when their ammunition  
gave out1 seek the protection of  rocks1
 of rivers and of hills4    ,let me say 
here3 ,the greatest test of courage on  

the earth is to bear  defeat without    
losing heart4 ,that army is the bravest 
that can be  whipped the greatest number
 of times and fight again4    ,over the 
entire territory1 so to speak1 then     
settled by our forefathers1  they were  
driven again and again4 ,now and then   
they would meet the  ,english with      
something like equal numbers1 and then  
the eagle of victory  would proudly     
perch upon the stripes and stars4 ,and  
so they went on as  best they could1    
hoping and fighting until they came to  
the dark and  sombre gloom of ,valley   
,forge4    ,there were very few hearts  
then beneath that flag that did not     
begin to  think that the struggle was   
useless2 that all the blood and treasure
 had  been spent and shed in vain4 ,but 
there were some men gifted with that    
wonderful prophecy that fulfils itself1 
and with that wonderful magnetic  power 
that makes heroes of everybody they come
 in contact with4    ,and so our fathers
 went through the gloom of that terrible

 time1 and  still fought on4 ,brave men 
wrote grand words1 cheering the         
despondent1  brave men did brave deeds1 
the rich man gave his wealth1 the poor  
man  gave his life1 until at last1 by   
the victory of ,yorktown1 the old banner
  won its place in the air1 and became  
glorious forever4    ,seven long years  
of war--fighting for what8 ,for the     
principle that  all men are created     
equal--a truth that nobody ever disputed
 except a  scoundrel2 nobody1 nobody in 
the entire history of this world4 ,no   
man  ever denied that truth who was not 
a rascal1 and at heart a thief2  never1 
never1 and never will4 ,what else were  
they fighting for8 ,simply  that in     
,america every man should have a right  
to life1 liberty1 and the  pursuit of   
happiness4 ,nobody ever denied that     
except a villain2 never1  never4 ,it has
 been denied by kings--they were        
thieves4 ,it has been  denied by        
statesmen--they were liars4 ,it has been
 denied by priests1 by  clergymen1 by   

cardinals1 by bishops and by popes--they
 were hypocrites4    ,what else were    
they fighting for8 ,for the idea that   
all political power  is vested in the   
great body of the people4 ,the great    
body of the people  make all the money2 
do all the work4 ,they plow the land1   
cut down the  forests2 they produce     
everything that is produced4 ,then who  
shall say  what shall be done with what 
is produced except the producer8 ,is it 
the  non-producing thief1 sitting on a  
throne1 surrounded by vermin8    ,those 
were the things they were fighting for2 
and that is all they  were fighting for4
 ,they fought to build up a new1 a great
 nation2 to  establish an asylum for the
 oppressed of the world everywhere4     
,they knew  the history of this world4  
,they knew the history of human slavery4
    ,the history of civilization is the 
history of the slow and painful         
enfranchisement of the human race4 ,in  
the olden times the family was a        
monarchy1 the farther being the monarch4

 ,the mother and children were  the     
veriest slaves4 ,the will of the father 
was the supreme law4 ,he had  the power 
of life and death4 ,it took thousands of
 years to civilize this  father1        
thousands of years to make the condition
 of wife and mother and  child even     
tolerable4 ,a few families constituted a
 tribe2 the tribe  had a chief2 the     
chief was a tyrant2 a few tribes formed 
a nation2 the  nation was governed by a 
king1 who was also a tyrant1 ,a strong  
nation  robbed1 plundered1 and took     
captive the weaker ones4 ,this was the  
commencement of human slavery4    ,it is
 not possible for the human imagination 
to conceive of the horrors  of slavery4 
,it has left no possible crime          
uncommitted1 no possible  cruelty       
unperpetrated4 ,it has been practised   
and defended by all nations  in some    
form4 ,it has been upheld by all        
religions4 ,it has been defended  by    
nearly every pulpit4 ,from the profits  
derived from the slave trade  churches  

have been built1 cathedrals reared and  
priests paid4 ,slavery  has been blessed
 by bishop1 by cardinal1 and by pope4   
,it has received  the sanction of       
statesmen1 of kings1 and of queens4 ,it 
has been defended  by the throne1 the   
pulpit1 and the bench4 ,monarchs have   
shared in the  profits4 ,clergymen have 
taken their part of the spoil1 reciting 
passages  of scripture in its defense at
 the same time1 and judges have taken   
their portion in the name of equity and 
law4    ,only a few years ago our       
ancestors were slaves4 ,only a few years
 ago  they passed with and belonged to  
the soil1 like coal under it and rocks  
on it4 ,only a few years ago they were  
treated like beasts of burden1  worse   
far than we treat our animals at the    
present day4 ,only a few years  ago it  
was a crime in ,england for a man to    
have a bible in his house1  a crime for 
which men were hanged1 and their bodies 
afterwards burned4  ,only a few years   
ago fathers could and did sell their    

children4 ,only  a few years ago our    
ancestors were not allowed to speak or  
write their  thoughts--that being a     
crime4 ,only a few years ago to be      
honest1 at  least in the expression of  
your ideas1 was a felony4 ,to do right  
was a  capital offense2 and in those    
days chains and whips were the          
incentives  to labor1 and the           
preventives of thought4 ,honesty was a  
vagrant1  justice a fugitive1 and       
liberty in chains4 ,only a few years ago
 men were  denounced because they       
doubted the inspiration of the          
bible--because  they denied miracles and
 laughed at the wonders recounted by the
 ancient  ,jews4    ,only a few years   
ago a man had to believe in the total   
depravity of the  human heart in order  
to be respectable4 ,only a few years    
ago1 people  who thought ,god too good  
to punish in eternal flames an          
unbaptized child  were considered       
infamous4    ,as soon as our ancestors  
began to get free they began to enslave 

others4  ,with an inconsistency that    
defies explanation1 they practiced upon 
others the same outrages that had been  
perpetrated upon them4 ,as soon as      
white slavery began to be abolished1    
black slavery commenced4    ,in this    
infamous traffic nearly every nation of 
,europe embarked4  ,fortunes were       
quickly realized2 the avarice and       
cupidity of ,europe were  excited2 all  
ideas of justice were discarded2 pity   
fled from the human  breast2 a few good1
 brave men recited the horrors of the   
trade2 avarice  was deaf2 religion      
refused to hear2 the trade went on2 the 
governments  of ,europe upheld it in the
 name of commerce--in the name of       
civilization  and of religion4    ,our  
fathers knew the history of caste4 ,they
 knew that in the despotisms  of the old
 world it was a disgrace to be useful4  
,they knew that a  mechanic was esteemed
 as hardly the equal of a hound1 and far
 below  a blooded horse4 ,they knew that
 a nobleman held a son of labor in      

contempt--that he had no rights the     
royal loafers were bound to respect4    
,the world has changed4    ,the other   
day there came shoemakers1 potters1     
workers in wood and iron  from ,europe1 
and they were received in the city of   
,new ,york as though  they had been     
princes4 ,they had been sent by the     
great republic of  ,france to examine   
into the arts and manufactures of the   
great republic  of ,america4 ,they      
looked a thousand times better to me    
than the ,edward  ,alberts and ,albert  
,edwards--the royal vermin1 that live on
 the body  politic4 ,and ,i would think 
much more of our government if it would 
fete  and feast them1 instead of wining 
and dining the imbeciles of a royal     
line4    ,our fathers devoted their     
lives and fortunes to the grand work of 
founding a government for the protection
 of the rights of man4 ,the  theological
 idea as to the source of political     
power had poisoned the  web and woof of 
every government in the world1 and our  

fathers banished  it from this continent
 forever4    ,what we want to-day is    
what our fathers wrote down4 ,they did  
not attain  to their ideal2 we approach 
it nearer1 but have not reached it yet4 
,we  want1 not only the independence of 
a state1 not only the independence of  a
 nation1 but something far more         
glorious--the absolute independence of  
the individual4 ,that is what we want4  
,i want it so that ,i1 one of the       
children of ,nature1 can stand on an    
equality with the rest2 that ,i can  say
 this is my air1 my sunshine1 my earth1 
and ,i have a right  to live1 and hope1 
and aspire1 and labor1 and enjoy the    
fruit of that  labor1 as much as any    
individual or any nation on the face of 
the globe4    ,we want every ,american  
to make to-day1 on this hundredth       
anniversary1 a  declaration of          
individual independence4 ,let each man  
enjoy his liberty  to the utmost--enjoy 
all he can2 but be sure it is not at the
 expense  of another4 ,the ,french      

convention gave the best definition of  
liberty  ,i have ever read3 ,the liberty
 of one citizen ceases only where the   
liberty of another citizen commences4 ,i
 know of no better definition4 ,i  ask  
you to-day to make a declaration of     
individual independence4 ,and  if you   
are independent1 be just4 ,allow        
everybody else to make his  declaration 
of individual independence4 ,allow your 
wife1 allow your  husband1 allow your   
children to make theirs4 ,let everybody 
be absolutely  free and independent1    
knowing only the sacred obligation of   
honesty and  affection4 ,let us be      
independent of party1 independent of    
everybody and  everything except our own
 consciences and our own brains4 ,do not
 belong  to any clique4 ,have the clear 
title deeds in fee simple to yourselves1
  without any mortgage on the premises  
to anybody in the world4    ,it is a    
grand thing to be the owner of yourself4
 ,it is a grand thing to  protect the   
rights of others4 ,it is a sublime thing

 to be free and just4    ,only a few    
days ago ,i stood in ,independence      
,hall--in that little room  where was   
signed the immortal paper4 ,a little    
room1 like any other2  and it did not   
seem possible that from that room went  
forth ideas1  like cherubim and         
seraphim1 spreading their wings over a  
continent1 and  touching1 as with holy  
fire1 the hearts of men4    ,in a few   
moments ,i was in the park1 where are   
gathered the  accomplishments of a      
century4 ,our fathers never dreamed of  
the things ,i  saw4 ,there were hundreds
 of locomotives1 with their nerves of   
steel and  breath of flame--every kind  
of machine1 with whirling wheels and    
curious  cogs and cranks1 and the myriad
 thoughts of men that have been wrought 
in iron1 brass and steel4 ,and going out
 from one little building were  wires in
 the air1 stretching to every civilized 
nation1 and they could  send a shining  
messenger in a moment to any part of the
 world1 and it  would go sweeping under 

the waves of the sea with thoughts and  
words  within its glowing heart4 ,i saw 
all that had been achieved by this      
nation1 and ,i wished that the signers  
of the ,declaration--the soldiers  of   
the revolution--could see what a century
 of freedom has produced4  ,i wished    
they could see the fields we            
cultivate--the rivers we  navigate--the 
railroads running over the ,alleghanies1
 far into what was  then the unknown    
forest--on over the broad prairies--on  
over the vast  plains--away over the    
mountains of the ,west1 to the ,golden  
,gate of the  ,pacific4    ,all this is 
the result of a hundred years of        
freedom4    ,are you not more than glad 
that in #aggf was announced the sublime 
principle that political power resides  
with the people8 ,that our fathers  then
 made up their minds nevermore to be    
colonists and subjects1 but  that they  
would be free and independent citizens  
of ,america8    ,i will not name any of 
the grand men who fought for liberty4   

,all should  be named1 or none4 ,i feel 
that the unknown soldier who was shot   
down  without even his name being       
remembered--who was included only in a  
report of a hundred killed1 or a hundred
 missing1 nobody knowing  even the      
number that attached to his august      
corpse--is entitled to as  deep and     
heartfelt thanks as the titled leader   
who fell at the head of  the host4      
,standing here amid the sacred memories 
of the first1 on the golden  threshold  
of the second1 ,i ask1 ,will the second 
century be as grand  as the first8 ,i   
believe it will1 because we are growing 
more and more  humane1 ,i believe there 
is more human kindness1 more real1 sweet
 human  sympathy1 a greater desire to   
help one another1 in the ,united        
,states1  than in all the world besides4
    ,we must progress4 ,we are just at  
the commencement of invention4 ,the     
steam engine--the telegraph--these are  
but the toys with which science  has    
been amused4 ,wait2 there will be       

grander things2 there will be wider  and
 higher culture--a grander standard of  
character1 of literature1 and  art4     
,we have now half as many millions of   
people as we have years1 and many  of us
 will live until a hundred million stand
 beneath the flag4 ,we are  getting more
 real solid sense4 ,the school house is 
the finest building  in the village4 ,we
 are writing and reading more books2 we 
are painting  and buying more pictures2 
we are struggling more and more to get  
at  the philosophy of life1 of          
things--trying more and more to answer  
the questions of the eternal ,sphinx4   
,we are looking in every                
direction--investigating2 in short1 we  
are thinking and working4 ,besides  all 
this1 ,i believe the people are nearer  
honest than ever before4 ,a few  years  
ago we were willing to live upon the    
labor of four million slaves4  ,was that
 honest8 ,at last1 we have a national   
conscience4 ,at last1 we  have carried  
out the ,declaration of ,independence4  

,our fathers wrote  it--we have         
accomplished it4 ,the black man was a   
slave--we made him a  citizen4 ,we found
 four million human beings in manacles1 
and now the  hands of a race are held up
 in the free air without a chain4    ,i 
have had the supreme pleasure of seeing 
a man--once a slave--sitting  in the    
seat of his former master in the        
,congress of the ,united ,states4  ,i   
have had that pleasure1 and when ,i saw 
it my eyes were filled  with tears4 ,i  
felt that we had carried out the        
,declaration of  ,independence1--that we
 had given reality to it1 and breathed  
the breath  of life into its every word4
 ,i felt that our flag would float over 
and  protect the colored man and his    
little children--standing straight in   
the sun1 just the same as though he were
 white and worth a million4  ,i would   
protect him more1 because the rich white
 man could protect  himself4    ,all who
 stand beneath our banner are free4     
,ours is the only flag that  has in     

reality written upon it3 ,liberty1      
,fraternity1 ,equality--the three       
grandest words in all the languages of  
men4    ,liberty3 ,give to every man the
 fruit of his own labor--the labor of   
his  hands and of his brain4            
,fraternity3 ,every man in the right is 
my brother4    ,equality3 ,the rights of
 all are equal3 ,justice1 poised and    
balanced in  eternal calm1 will shake   
from the golden scales1 in which are    
weighed  the acts of men1 the very dust 
of prejudice and caste3 ,no race1 no    
color1 no previous condition1 can change
 the rights of men4    ,the ,declaration
 of ,independence has at last been      
carried out in letter  and in spirit4   
,the second century will be grander than
 the first4    ,fifty millions of people
 are celebrating this day4 ,to-day1 the 
black man  looks upon his child and     
says3 ,the avenues to distinction are   
open to  you--upon your brow may fall   
the civic wreath--this day belongs to   
you4    ,we are celebrating the courage 

and wisdom of our fathers1 and the glad 
shout of a free people1 the anthem of a 
grand nation1 commencing at the         
,atlantic1 is following the sun to the  
,pacific1 across a continent of  happy  
homes4    ,we are a great people4 ,three
 millions have increased to             
fifty--thirteen  states to thirty-eight4
 ,we have better homes1 better clothes1 
better  food and more of it1 and more of
 the conveniencies of life1 than any    
other people upon the globe4    ,the    
farmers of our country live better than 
did the kings and princes  two hundred  
years ago--and they have twice as much  
sense and heart4  ,liberty and labor    
have given us all4 ,i want every person 
here to believe  in the dignity of      
labor--to know that the respectable man 
is the useful  man--the man who produces
 or helps others to produce something of
 value1  whether thought of the brain or
 work of the hand4    ,i want you to go 
away with an eternal hatred in your     
breast of  injustice1 of aristocracy1 of

 caste1 of the idea that one man has    
more  rights than another because he has
 better clothes1 more land1 more  money1
 because he owns a railroad1 or is      
famous and in high position4  ,remember 
that all men have equal rights4         
,remember that the man who acts  best   
his part--who loves his friends the     
best--is most willing to  help          
others--truest to the discharge of      
obligation--who has the best  heart--the
 most feeling--the deepest              
sympathies--and who fiercely gives  to  
others the rights that he claims for    
himself1 is the best man4 ,i am  willing
 to swear to this4    ,what has made    
this country8 ,i say again1 liberty and 
labor4 ,what would  we be without labor8
 ,i want every farmer1 when plowing the 
rustling  corn of ,june--while mowing in
 the perfumed fields--to feel that he   
is adding to the wealth and glory of the
 ,united ,states4 ,i want every         
mechanic--every man of toil1 to know and
 feel that he is keeping the  cars      

running1 the telegraph wires in the air2
 that he is making the  statues and     
painting the pictures3 that he is       
writing and printing the  books2 that he
 is helping to fill the world with      
honor1 with happiness1  with love and   
law4    ,our country is founded upon the
 dignity of labor--upon the equality  of
 man4 ,ours is the first real republic  
in the history of the world4  ,beneath  
our flag the people are free4 ,we have  
retired the gods from  politics4 ,we    
have found that man is the only source  
of political  power1 and that the       
governed should govern4 ,we have        
disfranchised the  aristocrats of the   
air and have given one country to       
mankind4            ,,about ,,farming   
,,in ,,illinois4           ,to ,plow  is
  to  ,pray--to  ,plant is to ,prophecy1
       and the ,harvest ,answers and    
,fulfills4      ,i ,,am not an old and  
experienced farmer1 nor a tiller of the 
soil1 nor  one of the hard-handed sons  
of labor4 ,i imagine1 however1 that ,i  

know  something about cultivating the   
soil1 and getting happiness out of the  
ground4    ,i know enough to know that  
agriculture is the basis of all wealth1 
prosperity and luxury4 ,i know that in a
 country where the tillers of the       
fields are free1 everybody is free and  
ought to be prosperous4 ,happy  is that 
country where those who cultivate the   
land own it ,patriotism is  born in the 
woods and fields--by lakes and          
streams--by crags and plains4    ,the   
old way of farming was a great mistake4 
,everything was done the  wrong way4 ,it
 was all work and waste1 weariness and  
want4 ,they used  to fence a hundred and
 sixty acres of land with a couple of   
dogs4  ,everything was left to the      
protection of the blessed trinity of    
chance1  accident and mistake4    ,when 
,i was a farmer they used to haul wheat 
two hundred miles in wagons  and sell it
 for thirty-five cents a bushel4 ,they  
would bring home about  three hundred   
feet of lumber1 two bunches of shingles1

 a barrel of salt1  and a cook-stove    
that never would draw and never did     
bake4    ,in those blessed days the     
people lived on corn and bacon4 ,cooking
 was  an unknown art4 ,eating was a     
necessity1 not a pleasure4 ,it was hard 
work  for the cook to keep on good terms
 even with hunger4    ,we had poor      
houses4 ,the rain held the roofs in     
perfect contempt1 and  the snow drifted 
joyfully on the floors and beds4 ,they  
had no barns4 ,the  horses were kept in 
rail pens surrounded with straw4 ,long  
before spring  the sides would be-eaten 
away and nothing but roofs would be     
left4 ,food  is fuel4 ,when the cattle  
were exposed to all the blasts of       
winter1 it  took all the corn and oats  
that could be stuffed into them to      
prevent  actual starvation4    ,in those
 times most farmers thought the best    
place for the pig-pen was  immediately  
in front of the house4 ,there is nothing
 like sociability4    ,women were       
supposed to know the art of making fires

 without fuel4 ,the  wood pile          
consisted1 as a general thing1 of one   
log upon which an axe or  two had been  
worn out in vain4 ,there was nothing to 
kindle a fire with4  ,pickets were      
pulled from the garden fence1           
clap-boards taken from the  house1 and  
every stray plank was seized upon for   
kindling4 ,everything  was done in the  
hardest way4 ,everything about the farm 
was disagreeable4  ,nothing was kept in 
order4 ,nothing was preserved4 ,the     
wagons stood  in the sun and rain1 and  
the plows rusted in the fields4 ,there  
was  no leisure1 no feeling that the    
work was done4 ,it was all labor and    
weariness and vexation of spirit4 ,the  
crops were destroyed by wandering       
herds1 or they were put in too late1 or 
too early1 or they were blown  down1 or 
caught by the frost1 or devoured by     
bugs1 or stung by flies1  or eaten by   
worms1 or carried away by birds1 or dug 
up by gophers1 or  washed away by       
floods1 or dried up by the sun1 or      

rotted in the stack1  or heated in the  
crib1 or they all run to vines1 or tops1
 or straw1 or  smut1 or cobs4 ,and when 
in spite of all these accidents that lie
 in wait  between the plow and the      
reaper1 they did succeed in raising a   
good crop  and a high price was offered1
 then the roads would be impassable4    
,and  when the roads got good1 then the 
prices went down4 ,everything worked    
together for evil4    ,nearly every     
farmer's boy took an oath that he never 
would cultivate  the soil4 ,the moment  
they arrived at the age of twenty-one   
they left  the desolate and dreary farms
 and rushed to the towns and cities4    
,they  wanted to be bookkeepers1        
doctors1 merchants1 railroad men1       
insurance  agents1 lawyers1 even        
preachers1 anything to avoid the        
drudgery of the  farm4 ,nearly every boy
 acquainted with the three              
,r's--reading1 writing1  and            
arithmetic--imagined that he had        
altogether more education than  ought to

 be wasted in raising potatoes and corn4
 ,they made haste to get  into some     
other business4 ,those who stayed upon  
the farm envied those  who went away4   
,a few years ago the times were         
prosperous1 and the young men went to   
the  cities to enjoy the fortunes that  
were waiting for them4 ,they wanted to  
engage in something that promised quick 
returns4 ,they built railways1          
established banks and insurance         
companies4 ,they speculated in stocks   
in ,wall ,street1 and gambled in grain  
at ,chicago4 ,they became rich4  ,they  
lived in palaces4 ,they rode in         
carriages4 ,they pitied their poor      
brothers on the farms1 and the poor     
brothers envied them4    ,but time has  
brought its revenge4 ,the farmers have  
seen the railroad  president a bankrupt1
 and the road in the hands of a         
receiver4 ,they have  seen the bank     
president abscond1 and the insurance    
company a wrecked and  ruined fraud4    
,the only solvent people1 as a class1   

the only independent  people1 are the   
tillers of the soil4    ,farming must be
 made more attractive4 ,the comforts of 
the town must be  added to the beauty of
 the fields4 ,the sociability of the    
city must be  rendered possible in the  
country4    ,farming has been made      
repulsive4 ,the farmers have been       
unsociable and  their homes have been   
lonely4 ,they have been wasteful and    
careless4 ,they  have not been proud of 
their business4    ,in the first place1 
farming ought to be reasonably          
profitable4 ,the  farmers have not      
attended to their own interests4 ,they  
have been robbed  and plundered in a    
hundred ways4    ,no farmer can afford  
to raise corn and oats and hay to sell4 
,he should  sell horses1 not oats2      
sheep1 cattle and pork1 not corn4 ,he   
should make  every profit possible out  
of what he produces4 ,so long as the    
farmers of  ,illinois ship their corn   
and oats1 so long they will be          
poor1--just so  long will their farms be

 mortgaged to the insurance companies   
and banks  of the east1--just so long   
will they do the work and others reap   
the  benefit1--just so long will they be
 poor1 and the money lenders grow       
rich1--just so long will cunning avarice
 grasp and hold the net profits  of     
honest toil4 ,when the farmers of the   
west ship beef and pork instead  of     
grain1--when we manufacture here1--when 
we cease paying tribute to  others1 ours
 will be the most prosperous country in 
the world4    ,another thing--,it is    
just as cheap to raise a good as a poor 
breed of  cattle4 ,scrubs will eat just 
as much as thoroughbreds4 ,if you are   
not  able to buy ,durhams and           
,alderneys1 you can raise the corn      
breed4 ,by  corn breed ,i mean the      
cattle that have1 for several           
generations1 had  enough to eat1 and    
have been treated with kindness4 ,every 
farmer who  will treat his cattle       
kindly1 and feed them all they want1    
will1 in a  few years1 have blooded     

stock on his farm4 ,all blooded stock   
has been  produced in this way4 ,you can
 raise good cattle just as you can raise
  good people4 ,if you wish to raise a  
good boy you must give him plenty to    
eat1 and treat him with kindness4 ,in   
this way1 and in this way only1 can     
good cattle or good people be produced4 
,another thing--,you must beautify your 
homes4    ,when ,i was a farmer it was  
not fashionable to set out trees1 nor to
  plant vines4    ,when you visited the 
farm you were not welcomed by flowers1  
and greeted  by trees loaded with fruit4
 ,yellow dogs came bounding over the    
tumbled  fence like wild beasts4 ,there 
is no sense--there is no profit in such 
a  life4 ,it is not living4 ,the farmers
 ought to beautify their homes4 ,there  
should be trees and grass and flowers   
and running vines4 ,everything  should  
be kept in order--gates should be on    
their hinges1 and about all  there      
should be the pleasant air of thrift4   
,in every house there should  be a      

bath-room4 ,the bath is a civilizer1 a  
refiner1 a beautifier4  ,when you come  
from the fields tired1 covered with     
dust1 nothing is so  refreshing4 ,above 
all things1 keep clean4 ,it is not      
necessary to be a  pig in order to raise
 one4 ,in the cool of the evening1 after
 a day in  the field1 put on clean      
clothes1 take a seat under the trees1   
'mid the  perfume of flowers1 surrounded
 by your family1 and you will know what 
it  is to enjoy life like a gentleman4  
,in no part of the globe will farming   
pay better than in ,illinois4 ,you  are 
in the best portion of the earth4 ,from 
the ,atlantic to the ,pacific1  there is
 no such country as yours4 ,the east is 
hard and stony2 the  soil is stingy4    
,the far west is a desert parched and   
barren1 dreary and  desolate as         
perdition would be with the fires out4  
,it is better to dig  wheat and corn    
from the soil than gold4 ,only a few    
days ago ,i was where  they wrench the  
precious metals from the miserly clutch 

of the rocks4  ,when ,i saw the         
mountains1 treeless1 shrub-less1        
flowerless1 without even  a spire of    
grass1 it seemed to me that gold had the
 same effect upon  the country that     
holds it1 as upon the man who lives and 
labors only for  that4 ,it affects the  
land as it does the man4 ,it leaves the 
heart barren  without a flower of       
kindness--without a blossom of pity4    
,the farmer in ,illinois has the best   
soil--the greatest return for the  least
 labor--more leisure--more time for     
enjoyment than any other farmer  in the 
world4 ,his hard work ceases with       
autumn4 ,he has the long winters  in    
which to become acquainted with his     
family--with his neighbors--in  which to
 read and keep abreast with the advanced
 thought of his day4  ,he has the time  
and means for self-culture4 ,he has more
 time than the  mechanic1 the merchant  
or the professional man4 ,if the farmer 
is not  well informed it is his own     
fault4 ,books are cheap1 and every      

farmer can  have enough to give him the 
outline of every science1 and an idea of
 all  that has been accomplished by man4
    ,in many respects the farmer has the
 advantage of the mechanic4 ,in our     
time we have plenty of mechanics but no 
tradesmen4 ,in the sub-division  of     
labor we have a thousand men working    
upon different parts of the same  thing1
 each taught in one particular branch1  
and in only one4 ,we have1  say1 in a   
shoe factory1 hundreds of men1 but not  
one shoemaker4 ,it takes  them all1     
assisted by a great number of machines1 
to make a shoe4 ,each  does a particular
 part1 and not one of them knows the    
entire trade4 ,the  result is that the  
moment the factory shuts down these men 
are out of  employment4 ,out of         
employment means out of bread--out of   
bread means  famine and horror4 ,the    
mechanic of to-day has but little       
independence4  ,his prosperity often    
depends upon the good will of one man4  
,he is liable  to be discharged for a   

look1 for a word4 ,he lays by but little
 for his  declining years4 ,he is1 at   
the best1 the slave of capital4    ,it  
is a thousand times better to be a whole
 farmer than part of a  mechanic4 ,it is
 better to till the ground and work for 
yourself than  to be hired by           
corporations4 ,every man should endeavor
 to belong to  himself4    ,about seven 
hundred years ago1 ,kheyam1 a ,persian1 
said3 ,why should a  man who possesses a
 piece of bread securing life for two   
days1 and who  has a cup of water--why  
should such a man be commanded by       
another1 and  why should such a man     
serve another8    ,young men should not 
be satisfied with a salary4 ,do not     
mortgage the  possibilities of your     
future4 ,have the courage to take life  
as it comes1  feast or famine4 ,think of
 hunting a gold mine for a dollar a day1
 and  think of finding one for another  
man4 ,how would you feel then8    ,we   
are lacking in true courage1 when1 for  
fear of the future1 we take  the crusts 

and scraps and niggardly salaries of the
 present4 ,i had  a thousand times      
rather have a farm and be independent1  
than to be  ,president of the ,united   
,states without independence1 filled    
with doubt  and trembling1 feeling of   
the popular pulse1 resorting to art and 
artifice1 enquiring about the wind of   
opinion1 and succeeding at last in      
losing my self respect without gaining  
the respect of others4    ,man needs    
more manliness1 more real independence4 
,we must take care of  ourselves4 ,this 
we can do by labor1 and in this way we  
can preserve our  independence4 ,we     
should try and choose that business or  
profession the  pursuit of which will   
give us the most happiness4 ,happiness  
is wealth4  ,we can be happy without    
being rich--without holding             
office--without  being famous4 ,i am not
 sure that we can be happy with wealth1 
with  office1 or with fame4    ,there is
 a quiet about the life of a farmer1 and
 the hope of a  serene old age1 that no 

other business or profession can        
promise4 ,a  professional man is doomed 
sometime to feel that his powers are    
waning4  ,he is doomed to see younger   
and stronger men pass him in the race of
  life4 ,he looks forward to an old age 
of intellectual mediocrity4 ,he will  be
 last where once he was the first4 ,but 
the farmer goes1 as it were1  into      
partnership with nature--he lives with  
trees and flowers--he  breathes the     
sweet air of the fields4 ,there is no   
constant and frightful  strain upon his 
mind4 ,his nights are filled with sleep 
and rest4 ,he  watches his flocks and   
herds as they feed upon the green and   
sunny  slopes4 ,he hears the pleasant   
rain falling upon the waving corn1 and  
the  trees he planted in youth rustle   
above him as he plants others for the   
children yet to be4    ,our country is  
filled with the idle and unemployed1 and
 the great  question asking for an      
answer is3 ,what shall be done with     
these men8  ,what shall these men do8   

,to this there is but one answer3 ,they 
must  cultivate the soil4 ,farming must 
be rendered more attractive4 ,those who 
work the land must have an honest pride 
in their business4 ,they must  educate  
their children to cultivate the soil4   
,they must make farming  easier1 so that
 their children will not hate it--so    
that they will not  hate it themselves4 
,the boys must not be taught that       
tilling the ground  is a curse and      
almost a disgrace4 ,they must not       
suppose that education  is thrown away  
upon them unless they become ministers1 
merchants1  lawyers1 doctors1 or        
statesmen4 ,it must be understood that  
education  can be used to advantage on a
 farm4 ,we must get rid of the idea that
 a  little learning unfits one for work4
 ,there is no real conflict between     
,latin and labor4 ,there are hundreds of
 graduates of ,yale and ,harvard  and   
other colleges1 who are agents of sewing
 machines1 solicitors for  insurance1   
clerks1 copyists1 in short1 performing a

 hundred varieties of  menial service4  
,they seem willing to do anything that  
is not regarded as  work--anything that 
can be done in a town1 in the house1 in 
an office1  but they avoid farming as   
they would a leprosy4 ,nearly every     
young man  educated in this way is      
simply ruined4 ,such an education ought 
to be  called ignorance4 ,it is a       
thousand times better to have common    
sense  without education1 than education
 without the sense4 ,boys and girls     
should be educated to help themselves4  
,they should be taught that it is       
disgraceful to be idle1 and dishonorable
 to be useless4    ,i say again1 if you 
want more men and women on the farms1   
something must  be done to make farm    
life pleasant4 ,one great difficulty is 
that the  farm is lonely4 ,people write 
about the pleasures of solitude1 but    
they  are found only in books4 ,he who  
lives long alone becomes insane4 ,a     
hermit is a madman4 ,without friends and
 wife and child1 there is nothing  left 

worth living for4 ,the unsocial are the 
enemies of joy4 ,they are  filled with  
egotism and envy1 with vanity and       
hatred4 ,people who live  much alone    
become narrow and suspicious4 ,they are 
apt to be the property  of one idea4    
,they begin to think there is no use in 
anything4 ,they look  upon the happiness
 of others as a kind of folly4 ,they    
hate joyous folks1  because1 way down in
 their hearts1 they envy them4    ,in   
our country1 farm-life is too lonely4   
,the farms are large1 and  neighbors are
 too far apart4 ,in these days1 when the
 roads are filled  with tramps1 the     
wives and children need protection4     
,when the farmer  leaves home and goes  
to some distant field to work1 a shadow 
of fear is  upon his heart all day1 and 
a like shadow rests upon all at home4   
,in the early settlement of our country 
the pioneer was forced to take  his     
family1 his axe1 his dog and his gun1   
and go into the far wild  forest and    
build his cabin miles and miles from any

 neighbor4 ,he saw the  smoke from his  
hearth go up alone in all the wide and  
lonely sky4    ,but this necessity has  
passed away1 and now1 instead of living 
so far  apart upon the lonely farms1 you
 should live in villages4 ,with the     
improved machinery which you have--with 
your generous soil--with  your markets  
and means of transportation1 you can now
 afford to live  together4    ,it is not
 necessary in this age of the world for 
the farmer to rise in  the middle of the
 night and begin his work4 ,this getting
 up so early in  the morning is a relic 
of barbarism4 ,it has made hundreds and 
thousands  of young men curse the       
business4 ,there is no need of getting  
up at three  or four o'clock in the     
winter morning4 ,the farmer who persists
 in doing  it and persists in dragging  
his wife and children from their beds   
ought  to be visited by a missionary4   
,it is time enough to rise after the sun
  has set the example4 ,for what purpose
 do you get up8 ,to feed the cattle8    

,why not feed them more the night       
before8 ,it is a waste of life4 ,in the 
old times they used to get up about     
three o'clock in the morning1 and go  to
 work long before the sun had risen with
 healing upon his wings1 and  as a just 
punishment they all had the ague2 and   
they ought to have it  now4 ,the man who
 cannot get a living upon ,illinois soil
 without rising  before daylight ought  
to starve4 ,eight hours a day is enough 
for any  farmer to work except in       
harvest time4 ,when you rise at four and
 work  till dark what is life worth8 ,of
 what use are all the improvements in   
farming8 ,of what use is all the        
improved machinery unless it tends to   
give the farmer a little more leisure8  
,what is harvesting now1 compared  with 
what it was in the old time8 ,think of  
the days of reaping1 of  cradling1 of   
raking and binding and mowing4 ,think of
 threshing with  the flail and winnowing
 with the wind4 ,and now think of the   
reapers and  mowers1 the binders and    

threshing machines1 the plows and       
cultivators1  upon which the farmer     
rides protected from the sun4 ,if1 with 
all these  advantages1 you cannot get a 
living without rising in the middle of  
the  night1 go into some other business4
 ,you should not rob your families of   
sleep4 ,sleep is the best medicine in   
the world4 ,it is the best doctor  upon 
the earth4 ,there is no such thing as   
health without plenty of  sleep4 ,sleep 
until you are thoroughly rested and     
restored4 ,when you  work1 work2 and    
when you get through take a good1 long1 
and refreshing  rest4    ,you should    
live in villages1 so that you can have  
the benefits of social  life4 ,you can  
have a reading-room--you can take the   
best papers and  magazines--you can have
 plenty of books1 and each one can have 
the  benefit of them all4 ,some of the  
young men and women can cultivate       
music4 ,you can have social             
gatherings--you can-learn from each     
other--you can discuss all topics of    

interest1 and in this way you can  make 
farming a delightful business4 ,you must
 keep up with the age4  ,the way to make
 farming respectable is for farmers to  
become really  intelligent4 ,they must  
live intelligent and happy lives4 ,they 
must know  something of books and       
something of what is going on in the    
world4  ,they must not be satisfied with
 knowing something of the affairs of a  
neighborhood and nothing about the rest 
of the earth4 ,the business must  be    
made attractive1 and it never can be    
until the farmer has prosperity1        
intelligence and leisure4    ,another   
thing--,i am a believer in fashion4 ,it 
is the duty of every woman  to make     
herself as beautiful and attractive as  
she possibly can4    ,handsome is as    
handsome does1 but she is much handsomer
 if well  dressed4 ,every man should    
look his very best4 ,i am a believer in 
good  clothes4 ,the time never ought to 
come in this country when you can tell  
a farmer's wife or daughter simply by   

the garments she wears4 ,i say to  every
 girl and woman1 no matter what the     
material of your dress may be1  no      
matter how cheap and coarse it is1 cut  
it and make it in the fashion4  ,i      
believe in jewelry4 ,some people look   
upon it as barbaric1 but in my          
judgment1 wearing jewelry is the first  
evidence the barbarian gives of  a wish 
to be civilized4 ,to adorn ourselves    
seems to be a part of our  nature1 and  
this desire seems to be everywhere and  
in everything4 ,i  have sometimes       
thought that the desire for beauty      
covers the earth with  flowers4 ,it is  
this desire that paints the wings of    
moths1 tints the  chamber of the shell1 
and gives the bird its plumage and its  
song4 ,oh  daughters and wives1 if you  
would be loved1 adorn yourselves--if you
  would be adored1 be beautiful6 ,there 
is another fault common with the        
farmers of our country--they want too   
much land4 ,you cannot1 at present1     
when taxes are high1 afford to own land 

that you do not cultivate4 ,sell  it and
 let others make farms and homes4 ,in   
this way what you keep will  be enhanced
 in value4 ,farmers ought to own the    
land they cultivate1 and  cultivate what
 they own4 ,renters can hardly be called
 farmers4 ,there can  be no such thing  
in the highest sense as a home unless   
you own it4  ,there must be an incentive
 to plant trees1 to beautify the        
grounds1  to preserve and improve4 ,it  
elevates a man to own a home4 ,it gives 
a  certain independence1 a force of     
character that is obtained in no other  
way4 ,a man without a home feels like a 
passenger4 ,there is in such a man  a   
little of the vagrant4 ,homes make      
patriots4 ,he who has sat by his own    
fireside with wife and children will    
defend it4 ,when he hears the word      
country pronounced1 he thinks of his    
home4    ,few men have been patriotic   
enough to shoulder a musket in defence  
of a  boarding house4    ,the prosperity
 and glory of our country depend upon   

the number of our  people who are the   
owners of homes4 ,around the fireside   
cluster the  private and the public     
virtues of our race4 ,raise your sons to
 be  independent through labor--to      
pursue some business for themselves  and
 upon their own account--to be          
self-reliant--to act upon their own     
responsibility1 and to take the         
consequences like men4 ,teach them above
  all things to be good1 true and tender
 husbands--winners of love and  builders
 of homes4    ,a great many farmers seem
 to think that they are the only        
laborers  in the world4 ,this is a very 
foolish thing4 ,farmers cannot get along
  without the mechanic4 ,you are not    
independent of the man of genius4  ,your
 prosperity depends upon the inventor4  
,the world advances by the  assistance  
of all laborers2 and all labor is under 
obligations to the  inventions of       
genius4 ,the inventor does as much for  
agriculture as he  who tills the soil4  
,all laboring men should be brothers4   

,you are in  partnership with the       
mechanics who make your reapers1 your   
mowers and  your plows2 and you should  
take into your granges all the men who  
make  their living by honest labor4 ,the
 laboring people should unite and       
should protect themselves against all   
idlers4 ,you can divide mankind  into   
two classes3 the laborers and the       
idlers1 the supporters and the          
supported1 the honest and the dishonest4
 ,every man is dishonest who  lives upon
 the unpaid labor of others1 no matter  
if he occupies a  throne4 ,all laborers 
should be brothers4 ,the laborers should
 have equal  rights before the world and
 before the law4 ,and ,i want every     
farmer to  consider every man who labors
 either with hand or brain as his       
brother4  ,until genius and labor formed
 a partnership there was no such thing  
as prosperity among men4 ,every reaper  
and mower1 every agricultural           
implement1 has elevated the work of the 
farmer1 and his vocation grows  grander 

with every invention4 ,in the olden time
 the agriculturist  was ignorant2 he    
knew nothing of machinery1 he was the   
slave of  superstition4 ,he was always  
trying to appease some imaginary power  
by  fasting and prayer4 ,he supposed    
that some being actuated by malice1 sent
  the untimely frost1 or swept away with
 the wild wind his rude abode4  ,to him 
the seasons were mysteries4 ,the thunder
 told him of an enraged  god--the barren
 fields of the vengeance of heaven4 ,the
 tiller of the  soil lived in perpetual 
and abject fear4 ,he knew nothing of    
mechanics1  nothing of order1 nothing of
 law1 nothing of cause and effect4 ,he  
was  a superstitious savage4 ,he        
invented prayers instead of plows1      
creeds  instead of reapers and mowers4  
,he was unable to devote all his time to
  the gods1 and so he hired others to   
assist him1 and for their influence     
with the gentlemen supposed to control  
the weather1 he gave one-tenth of  all  
he could produce4    ,the farmer has    

been elevated through science and he    
should not forget  the debt he owes to  
the mechanic1 to the inventor1 to the   
thinker4 ,he  should remember that all  
laborers belong to the same grand       
family--that  they are the real kings   
and queens1 the only true nobility4     
,another idea entertained by most       
farmers is that they are in some        
mysterious way oppressed by every other 
kind of business--that they are         
devoured by monopolies1 especially by   
railroads4    ,of course1 the railroads 
are indebted to the farmers for their   
prosperity1 and the farmers are indebted
 to the railroads4 ,without them        
,illinois would be almost worthless4    
,a few years ago you endeavored to      
regulate the charges of railroad        
companies4 ,the principal complaint you 
had was that they charged too  much for 
the transportation of corn and other    
cereals to the ,east4 ,you  should      
remember that all freights are paid by  
the consumer2 and that  it made little  

difference to you what the railroad     
charged for  transportation to the      
,east1 as that transportation had to be 
paid by  the consumers of the grain4    
,you were really interested in          
transportation  from the ,east to the   
,west and in local freights4 ,the result
 is that  while you have put down       
through freights you have not succeeded 
so well  in local freights4 ,the exact  
opposite should be the policy of        
,illinois4  ,put down local freights2   
put them down1 if you can1 to the lowest
  possible figure1 and let through rates
 take care of themselves4 ,if all  the  
corn raised in ,illinois could be       
transported to ,new ,york absolutely    
free1 it would enhance but little the   
price that you would receive4  ,what we 
want is the lowest possible local rate4 
,instead of this you have  simply       
succeeded in helping the ,east at the   
expense of the ,west4 ,the  railroads   
are your friends4 ,they are your        
partners4 ,they can prosper  only where 

the country through which they run      
prospers4 ,all intelligent  railroad men
 know this4 ,they know that present     
robbery is future  bankruptcy4 ,they    
know that the interest of the farmer and
 of the  railroad is the same4 ,we must 
have railroads4 ,what can we do without 
them8    ,when we had no railroads1 we  
drew1 as ,i said before1 our grain two  
hundred miles to market4    ,in those   
days the farmers did not stop at hotels4
 ,they slept under their  wagons--took  
with them their food--fried their own   
bacon1 made their  coffee1 and ate their
 meals in the snow and rain4 ,those were
 the days  when they received ten cents 
a bushel for corn--when they sold four  
bushels of potatoes for a               
quarter--thirty-three dozen eggs for a  
dollar1  and a hundred pounds of pork   
for a dollar and a half4    ,what has   
made the difference8    ,the railroads  
came to your door and they brought with 
them the markets  of the world4 ,they   
brought ,new ,york and ,liverpool and   

,london into  ,illinois1 and the state  
has been clothed with prosperity as with
 a  mantle4 ,it is the interest of the  
farmer to protect every great interest  
in the state4 ,you should feel proud    
that ,illinois has more railroads  than 
any other state in this ,union4 ,her    
main tracks and side tracks  would      
furnish iron enough to belt the globe4  
,in ,illinois there are  ten thousand   
miles of railways4 ,in these iron       
highways more than three  hundred       
million dollars have been invested--a   
sum equal to ten times  the original    
cost of all the land in the state4 ,to  
make war upon the  railroads is a       
short-sighted and suicidal policy4 ,they
 should be treated  fairly and should be
 taxed by the same standard that farms  
are taxed1  and in no other way4 ,if we 
wish to prosper we must act together1   
and we  must see to it that every form  
of labor is protected4    ,there has    
been a long period of depression in all 
business4 ,the farmers  have suffered   

least of all4 ,your land is just as rich
 and productive as  ever4 ,prices have  
been reasonable4 ,the towns and cities  
have suffered4  ,stocks and bonds have  
shrunk from par to worthless paper4     
,princes have  become paupers1 and      
bankers1 merchants and millionaires have
 passed into  the oblivion of           
bankruptcy4 ,the period of depression is
 slowly passing  away1 and we are       
entering upon better times4    ,a great 
many people say that a scarcity of money
 is our only difficulty4  ,in my opinion
 we have money enough1 but we lack      
confidence in each other  and in the    
future4    ,there has been so much      
dishonesty1 there have been so many     
failures1  that the people are afraid to
 trust anybody4 ,there is plenty of     
money1  but there seems to be a scarcity
 of business4 ,if you were to go to the 
owner of a ferry1 and1 upon seeing his  
boat lying high and dry on the  shore1  
should say1 ,there is a superabundance  
of ferryboat1 he would  probably reply1 

,no1 but there is a scarcity of water4  
,so with us  there is not a scarcity of 
money1 but there is a scarcity of       
business4  ,and this scarcity springs   
from lack of confidence in one another4 
,so  many presidents of savings banks1  
even those belonging to the ,young      
,men's ,christian ,association1 run off 
with the funds2 so many railroad  and   
insurance companies are in the hands of 
receivers2 there is so much  bankruptcy 
on every hand1 that all capital is held 
in the nervous clutch  of fear4 ,slowly1
 but surely we are coming back to honest
 methods in  business4 ,confidence will 
return1 and then enterprise will unlock 
the  safe and money will again circulate
 as of yore2 the dollars will leave     
their hiding places and every one will  
be seeking investment4    ,for my part1 
,i do not ask any interference on the   
part of the government  except to undo  
the wrong it has done4 ,i do not ask    
that money be made  out of nothing4 ,i  
do not ask for the prosperity born of   

paper4 ,but ,i do  ask for the          
remonetization of silver4 ,silver was   
demonetized by fraud4  ,it was an       
imposition upon every solvent man2 a    
fraud upon every honest  debtor in the  
,united ,states4 ,it assassinated labor4
 ,it was done in the  interest of       
avarice and greed1 and should be undone 
by honest men4    ,the farmers should   
vote only for such men as are able and  
willing to  guard and advance the       
interests of labor4 ,we should know     
better than  to vote for men who will   
deliberately put a tariff of three      
dollars  a thousand upon ,canada lumber1
 when every farmer in ,illinois is a    
purchaser of lumber4 ,people who live   
upon the prairies ought to vote for     
cheap lumber4 ,we should protect        
ourselves4 ,we ought to have            
intelligence  enough to know what we    
want and how to get it4 ,the real       
laboring men of  this country can       
succeed if they are united4 ,by laboring
 men1 ,i do not  mean only the farmers4 

,i mean all who contribute in some way  
to the  general welfare4 ,they should   
forget prejudices and party names1 and  
remember only the best interests of the 
people4 ,let us see if we cannot1  in   
,illinois1 protect every department of  
industry4 ,let us see if all  property  
cannot be protected alike and taxed     
alike1 whether owned by  individuals or 
corporations4    ,where industry creates
 and justice protects1 prosperity       
dwells4    ,let me tell you something   
more about ,illinois3 ,we have fifty-six
  thousand square miles of land--nearly 
thirty-six million acres4 ,upon  these  
plains we can raise enough to feed and  
clothe twenty million  people4 ,beneath 
these prairies were hidden millions of  
ages ago1 by  that old miser1 the sun1  
thirty-six thousand square miles of     
coal4 ,the  aggregate thickness of these
 veins is at least fifteen feet4 ,think 
of a  column of coal one mile square and
 one hundred miles high6 ,all this  came
 from the sun4 ,what a sunbeam such a   

column would be6 ,think of the  engines 
and machines this coal will run and turn
 and whirl6 ,think of  all this force1  
willed and left to us by the dead       
morning of the world6  ,think of the    
firesides of the future around which    
will sit the fathers1  mothers and      
children of the years to be6 ,think of  
the sweet and happy  faces1 the loving  
and tender eyes that will glow and gleam
 in the sacred  light of all these      
flames6    ,we have the best country in 
the world1 and ,illinois is the best    
state  in that country4 ,is there any   
reason that our farmers should not be   
prosperous and happy men8 ,they have    
every advantage1 and within their  reach
 are all the comforts and conveniences  
of life4    ,do not get the land fever  
and think you must buy all that joins   
you4 ,get  out of debt as soon as you   
possibly can4 ,a mortgage casts a shadow
 on  the sunniest field4 ,there is no   
business under the sun that can pay ten 
per cent4    ,ainsworth ,r4 ,spofford   

gives the following facts about         
interest3 ,one  dollar loaned for one   
hundred years at six per cent41 with the
 interest  collected annually and added 
to the principal1 will amount to three  
hundred and forty dollars4 ,at eight per
 cent1 it amounts to two thousand  two  
hundred and three dollars4 ,at three per
 cent1 it amounts only to  nineteen     
dollars and twenty-five cents4 ,at ten  
per cent1 it is thirteen  thousand eight
 hundred and nine dollars1 or about     
seven hundred times  as much4 ,at twelve
 per cent1 it amounts to eighty-four    
thousand and  seventy-five dollars1 or  
more than four thousand times as much4  
,at  eighteen per cent1 it amounts to   
fifteen million one hundred and         
forty-five thousand and seven dollars4  
,at twenty-four per cent1 7which  we    
sometimes hear talked of7 it reaches the
 enormous sum of two billion  five      
hundred and fifty-one million seven     
hundred and ninety-nine  thousand four  
hundred and four dollars4    ,one dollar

 at compound interest1 at twenty-four   
per cent41 for one  hundred years1 would
 produce a sum equal to our national    
debt4    ,interest eats night and day1  
and the more it eats the hungrier it    
grows4  ,the farmer in debt1 lying awake
 at night1 can1 if he listens1 hear it  
gnaw4 ,if he owes nothing1 he can hear  
his corn grow4 ,get out of debt  as soon
 as you possibly can4 ,you have         
supported idle avarice and lazy  economy
 long enough4    ,above all let every   
farmer treat his wife and children with 
infinite  kindness4 ,give your sons and 
daughters every advantage within your   
power4 ,in the air of kindness they will
 grow about you like flowers4  ,they    
will fill your homes with sunshine and  
all your years with joy4  ,do not try to
 rule by force4 ,a blow from a parent   
leaves a scar on the  soul4 ,i should   
feel ashamed to die surrounded by       
children ,i had whipped4  ,think of     
feeling upon your dying lips the kiss of
 a child you had  struck4    ,see to it 

that your wife has every convenience4   
,make her life worth  living4 ,never    
allow her to become a servant4 ,wives1  
weary and worn1  mothers1 wrinkled and  
bent before their time1 fill homes with 
grief  and shame4 ,if you are not able  
to hire help for your wives1 help them  
yourselves4 ,see that they have the best
 utensils to work with4    ,women cannot
 create things by magic4 ,have plenty of
 wood and coal--good  cellars and plenty
 in them4 ,have cisterns1 so that you   
can have plenty  of rain water for      
washing4' ,do not rely on a barrel and a
 board4 ,when  the rain comes the board 
will be lost or the hoops will be off   
the  barrel4    ,farmers should live    
like princes4 ,eat the best things you  
raise and sell  the rest4 ,have good    
things to cook and good things to cook  
with4 ,of all  people in our country1   
you should live the best4 ,throw your   
miserable  little stoves out of the     
window4 ,get ranges1 and have them so   
built that  your wife need not burn her 

face off to get you a breakfast4 ,do not
 make  her cook in a kitchen hot as the 
orthodox perdition4 ,the beef1 not the  
cook1 should be roasted4 ,it is just as 
easy to have things convenient  and     
right as to have them any other way4    
,cooking is one of the fine arts4 ,give 
your wives and daughters things to      
cook1 and things to cook with1 and they 
will soon become most excellent  cooks4 
,good cooking is the basis of           
civilization4 ,the man whose arteries   
and veins are filled with rich blood    
made of good and well cooked food1  has 
pluck1 courage1 endurance and and noble 
impulses4 ,the inventor of  a good soup 
did more for his race than the maker of 
any creed4 ,the  doctrines of total     
depravity and endless punishment were   
born of bad  cooking and dyspepsia4     
,remember that your wife should have the
 things to  cook with4    ,in the good  
old days there would be eleven children 
in the family and  only one skillet4    
,everything was broken or cracked or    

loaned or lost4    ,there ought to be a 
law making it a crime1 punishable by    
imprisonment1  to fry beefsteak4 ,broil 
it2 it is just as easy1 and when broiled
 it is  delicious4 ,fried beefsteak is  
not fit for a wild beast4 ,you can broil
  even on a stove4 ,shut the front      
damper--open the back one--then takeoff 
a griddle4 ,there will then be a draft  
downwards through this opening4  ,put on
 your steak1 using a wire broiler1 and  
not a particle of smoke  will touch it1 
for the reason that the smoke goes down4
 ,if you try to  broil it with the front
 damper open1 the smoke will rise4 ,for 
broiling1  coal1 even soft coal1 makes a
 better fire than wood4    ,there is no 
reason why farmers should not have fresh
 meat all the year  round4 ,there is    
certainly no sense in stuffing yourself 
full of salt  meat every morning1 and   
making a well or a cistern of your      
stomach for  the rest of the day4 ,every
 farmer should have an ice house4 ,upon 
or near  every farm is some stream from 

which plenty of ice can be obtained1 and
  the long summer days made delightful4 
,dr4 ,draper1 one of the world's        
greatest scientists1 says that ice water
 is healthy1 and that it has  done away 
with many of the low forms of fever in  
the great cities4 ,ice  has become one  
of the necessaries of civilized life1   
and without it  there is very little    
comfort4    ,make your homes pleasant4  
,have your houses warm and comfortable  
for the  winter4 ,do not build a        
story-and-a-half house4 ,the half story 
is simply  an oven in which1 during the 
summer1 you will bake every night1 and  
feel  in the morning as though only the 
rind of yourself was left4    ,decorate 
your rooms1 even if you do so with cheap
 engravings4 ,the  cheapest are far     
better than none4 ,have books--have     
papers1 and read  them4 ,you have more  
leisure than the dwellers in cities4    
,beautify your  grounds with plants and 
flowers and vines4 ,have good gardens4  
,remember  that everything of beauty    

tends to the elevation of man4 ,every   
little  morning-glory whose purple bosom
 is thrilled with the amorous kisses of 
the sun1 tends to put a blossom in your 
heart4 ,do not judge of the  value of   
everything by the market reports4 ,every
 flower about a house  certifies to the 
refinement of somebody4 ,every vine     
climbing and  blossoming1 tells of love 
and joy4    ,make your houses           
comfortable4 ,do not huddle together in 
a little room  around a red-hot stove1  
with every window fastened down4 ,do not
 live in  this poisoned atmosphere1 and 
then1 when one of your children dies2   
put  a piece in the papers commencing   
with1 ,whereas1 it has pleased divine   
,providence to remove from our midst--4 
,have plenty of air1 and plenty  of     
warmth4 ,comfort is health4 ,do not     
imagine anything is unhealthy  simply   
because it is pleasant4 ,that is an old 
and foolish idea4    ,let your children 
sleep4 ,do not drag them from their beds
 in the  darkness of night4 ,do not     

compel them to associate all that is    
tiresome1  irksome and dreadful with    
cultivating the soil4 ,in this way you  
bring  farming into hatred and          
disrepute4 ,treat your children with    
infinite  kindness--treat them as       
equals4 ,there is no happiness in a home
 not  filled with love4 ,where the      
husband hates his wife--where the wife  
hates  the husband2 where children hate 
their parents and each other--there is  
a hell upon earth4    ,there is no      
reason why farmers should not be the    
kindest and most  cultivated of men4    
,there is nothing in plowing the fields 
to make men  cross1 cruel and crabbed4  
,to look upon the sunny slopes covered  
with  daisies does not tend to make men 
unjust4 ,whoever labors for the         
happiness of those he loves1 elevates   
himself1 no matter whether he  works in 
the dark and dreary shops1 or in the    
perfumed fields4 ,to work  for others   
is1 in reality1 the only way in which a 
man can work for  himself4 ,selfishness 

is ignorance4 ,speculators cannot make  
unless  somebody loses4 ,in the realm of
 speculation1 every success has at least
  one victim4 ,the harvest reaped by the
 farmer benefits all and injures  none4 
,for him to succeed1 it is not necessary
 that some one should fail4  ,the same  
is true of all producers--of all        
laborers4    ,i can imagine no condition
 that carries with it it such a promise 
of joy  as that of the farmer in the    
early winter4 ,he has his cellar        
filled--he  has made every preparation  
for the days of snow and storm--he      
looks forward to three months of ease   
and rest2 to three months of            
fireside-content2 three months with wife
 and children2 three months of  long1   
delightful evenings2 three months of    
home2 three months of solid  comfort4   
,when the life of the farmer is such as 
,i have described1 the cities and  towns
 will not be filled with want--the      
streets will not be crowded with        
wrecked rogues1 broken bankers1 and     

bankrupt speculators4 ,the fields  will 
be tilled1 and country villages1 almost 
hidden by trees and vines  and flowers1 
filled with industrious and happy       
people1 will nestle in  every vale and  
gleam like gems on every plain4    ,the 
idea must be done away with that there  
is something intellectually  degrading  
in cultivating the soil4 ,nothing can be
 nobler than to be  useful4 ,idleness   
should not be respectable4    ,if       
farmers will cultivate well1 and without
 waste2 if they will so build  that     
their houses will be warm in winter and 
cool in summer2 if they  will plant     
trees and beautify their homes2 if they 
will occupy their  leisure in reading1  
in thinking1 in improving their minds   
and in  devising ways and means to make 
their business profitable and pleasant2 
if they will live nearer together and   
cultivate sociability2 if they  will    
come together often2 if they will have  
reading rooms and cultivate  music2 if  
they will have bath-rooms1 ice-houses   

and good gardens2 if  their wives can   
have an easy time2 if their sons and    
daughters can have  an opportunity to   
keep in line with the thoughts and      
discoveries of  the world2 if the nights
 can be taken for sleep and the evenings
 for  enjoyment1 everybody will be in   
love with the fields4 ,happiness should 
be the object of life1 and if life on   
the farm can be made really happy1  the 
children will grow up in love with the  
meadows1 the streams1 the  woods and the
 old home4 ,around the farm will cling  
and cluster the happy  memories of the  
delightful years4    ,remember1 ,i pray 
you1 that you are in partnership with   
all labor--that  you should join hands  
with all the sons and daughters of toil1
 and that  all who work belong to the   
same noble family4    ,for my part1 ,i  
envy the man who has lived on the same  
broad acres from  his boyhood1 who      
cultivates the fields where in youth he 
played1 and  lives where his father     
lived and died4    ,i can imagine no    

sweeter way to end one's life than in   
the quiet of the  country1 out of the   
mad race for money1 place and power--far
 from the  demands of business--out of  
the dusty highway where fools struggle  
and  strive for the hollow praise of    
other fools4    ,surrounded by pleasant 
fields and faithful friends1 by those ,i
 have  loved1 ,i hope to end my days4   
,and this ,i hope may be the lot of all 
who  hear my voice4 ,i hope that you1 in
 the country1 in houses covered  with   
vines and clothed with flowers1 looking 
from the open window upon  rustling     
fields of corn and wheat1 over which    
will run the sunshine and  the shadow1  
surrounded by those whose lives you have
 filled with joy1  will pass away       
serenely as the ,autumn dies4           
,,speech ,,at ,,cincinnati              
,,nominating ,,james ,g4 ,,blaine ,,for 
,,the ,,presidency1    ,,june1 #ahgf4   
,,massachusetts may be satisfied with   
the loyalty of ,benjamin ,h4 ,bristow2  
so am ,i2 but if any man nominated by   

this convention can not carry the       
,state of ,massachusetts1 ,i am not     
satisfied with the loyalty of that      
,state4 ,if the nominee of this         
convention can not carry the grand old  
,commonwealth of ,massachusetts by      
seventy-five thousand majority1 ,i would
  advise them to sell out ,faneuil ,hall
 as a ,democratic headquarters4 ,i      
would advise them to take from ,bunker  
,hill that old monument of glory4       
,the ,republicans of the ,united ,states
 demand as their leader in the great    
contest of #ahgf a man of intelligence1 
a man of integrity1 a man of  well-known
 and approved political opinions4 ,they 
demand a statesman2  they demand a      
reformer after as well as before the    
election4 ,they demand  a politician in 
the highest1 broadest and best sense--a 
man of superb  moral courage4 ,they     
demand a man acquainted with public     
affairs--with  the wants of the people2 
with not only the requirements of the   
hour1  but with the demands of the      

future4 ,they demand a man broad enough 
to  comprehend the relations of this    
government to the other nations of  the 
earth4 ,they demand a man well versed in
 the powers1 duties1 and  prerogatives  
of each and every department of this    
government4 ,they  demand a man who will
 sacredly preserve the financial honor  
of the  ,united ,states2 one who knows  
enough to know that the national debt   
must  be paid through the prosperity of 
this people2 one who knows enough to    
know that all the financial theories in 
the world cannot redeem a single        
dollar2 one who knows enough to know    
that all the money must be made1  not by
 law1 but by labor2 one who knows enough
 to know that the people  of the ,united
 ,states have the industry to make the  
money1 and the honor  to pay it over    
just as fast as they make it4    ,the   
,republicans of the ,united ,states     
demand a man who knows that  prosperity 
and resumption1 when they come1 must    
come together2 that  when they come1    

they will come hand in hand through the 
golden harvest  fields2 hand in hand by 
the whirling spindles and the turning   
wheels2  hand in hand past the open     
furnace doors2 hand in hand by the      
flaming  forges2 hand in hand by the    
chimneys filled with eager fire1 greeted
 and  grasped by the countless sons of  
toil4    ,this money has to be dug out  
of the earth4 ,you can not make it by   
passing resolutions in a political      
convention4    ,the ,republicans of the 
,united ,states want a man who knows    
that this  government should protect    
every citizen1 at home and abroad2 who  
knows  that any government that will not
 defend its defenders1 and protect its  
protectors1 is a disgrace to the map of 
the world4 ,they demand a man who       
believes in the eternal separation and  
divorcement of church and school4  ,they
 demand a man whose political reputation
 is spotless as a star2  but they do not
 demand that their candidate shall have 
a certificate of  moral character signed

 by a confederate congress4 ,the man who
 has1 in  full1 heaped and rounded      
measure1 all these splendid             
qualifications1 is  the present grand   
and gallant leader of the ,republican   
party--,james ,g4  ,blaine4    ,our     
country1 crowned with the vast and      
marvelous achievements of its  first    
century1 asks for a man worthy of the   
past1 and prophetic of her  future2 asks
 for a man who has the audacity of      
genius2 asks for a man  who is the      
grandest combination of heart1          
conscience and brain beneath  her       
flag--such a man is ,james ,g4 ,blaine4 
,for the ,republican host1 led by this  
intrepid man1 there can be no  defeat4  
,this is a grand year--a year filled    
with the recollections of the           
,revolution2 filled with proud and      
tender memories of the past2 with  the  
sacred legends of liberty--a year in    
which the sons of freedom will  drink   
from the fountains of enthusiasm2 a year
 in which the people call  for a man who

 has preserved in ,congress what our    
soldiers won upon  the field2 a year in 
which they call for the man who has torn
 from the  throat of treason the tongue 
of slander--for the man who has snatched
  the mask of ,democracy from the       
hideous face of rebellion2 for the man  
who1 like an intellectual athlete1 has  
stood in the arena of debate and        
challenged all comers1 and who is still 
a total stranger to defeat4    ,like an 
armed warrior1 like a plumed knight1    
,james ,g4 ,blaine marched  down the    
halls of the ,american ,congress and    
threw his shining lance full  and fair  
against the brazen foreheads of the     
defamers of his country  and the        
maligners of his honor4 ,for the        
,republican party to desert this        
gallant leader now1 is as though an army
 should desert their general  upon the  
field of battle4    ,james ,g4 ,blaine  
is now and has been for years the bearer
 of the sacred  standard of the         
,republican party4 ,i call it sacred1   

because no human  being can stand       
beneath its folds without becoming and  
without remaining  free4    ,gentlemen  
of the convention1 in the name of the   
great ,republic1 the  only ,republic    
that ever existed upon this earth2 in   
the name of all her  defenders and of   
all her supporters2 in the name of all  
her soldiers  living2 in the name of all
 her soldiers dead upon the field of    
battle1  and in the name of those who   
perished in the skeleton clutch of      
famine  at ,andersonville and ,libby1   
whose sufferings he so vividly          
remembers1  ,illinois--,illinois        
nominates for the next ,president of    
this country1  that prince of           
parliamentarians--that leader of        
leaders--,james ,g4  ,blaine4           
,,the ,,past ,,rises ,,before ,,me      
,,like ,a ,,dream4    ,,extract ,,from  
,a ,,speech ,,delivered ,,at ,,the      
,,soldiers' ,,reunion ,,at              
,,indianapolis1 ,,sept4 #ba1 #ahgf4     
,,the past rises before me like a dream4

 ,again we are in the great  struggle   
for national life4 ,we hear the sounds  
of preparation--the  music of boisterous
 drums--the silver voices of heroic     
bugles4 ,we see  thousands of           
assemblages1 and hear the appeals of    
orators2 we see  the pale cheeks of     
women1 and the flushed faces of men2 and
 in those  assemblages we see all the   
dead whose dust we have covered with    
flowers4  ,we lose sight of them no     
more4 ,we are with them when they enlist
 in the  great army of freedom4 ,we see 
them part with those they love4 ,some   
are  walking for the last time in quiet1
 woody places1 with the maidens they    
adore4 ,we hear the whisperings and the 
sweet vows of eternal love as  they     
lingeringly part forever4 ,others are   
bending over cradles1 kissing  babes    
that are asleep4 ,some are receiving the
 blessings of old men4 ,some  are       
parting with mothers who hold them and  
press them to their  hearts again and   
again1 and say nothing4 ,kisses and     

tears1 tears and  kisses--divine        
mingling of agony and love6 ,and some   
are talking with  wives1 and endeavoring
 with brave words1 spoken in the old    
tones1 to  drive from their hearts the  
awful fear4 ,we see them part4 ,we see  
the  wife standing in the door with the 
babe in her arms--standing in the       
sunlight sobbing---at the turn of the   
road a hand waves--she answers by       
holding high in her loving arms the     
child4 ,he is gone1 and forever4    ,we 
see them all as they march proudly away 
under the flaunting flags1  keeping time
 to the grand1 wild music of            
war--marching down the streets  of the  
great cities--through the towns and     
across the prairies--down to  the fields
 of glory1 to do and to die for the     
eternal right4    ,we go with them1 one 
and all4 ,we are by their side on all   
the gory  fields--in all the hospitals  
of pain--on all the weary marches4 ,we  
stand  guard with them in the wild storm
 and under the quiet stars4 ,we are with

  them in ravines running with blood--in
 the furrows of old fields4 ,we are     
with them between contending hosts1     
unable to move1 wild with thirst1  the  
life ebbing slowly away among the       
withered leaves4 ,we see them  pierced  
by balls and torn with shells1 in the   
trenches1 by forts1 and  in the         
whirlwind of the charge1 where men      
become iron1 with nerves of  steel4     
,we are with them in the prisons of     
hatred and famine2 but human speech  can
 never tell what they endured4    ,we   
are at home when the news comes that    
they are dead4 ,we see the maiden  in   
the shadow of her first sorrow4 ,we see 
the silvered head of the old  man bowed 
with the last grief4    ,the past rises 
before us1 and we see four millions of  
human beings  governed by the lash--we  
see them bound hand and foot--we hear   
the  strokes of cruel whips--we see the 
hounds tracking women through  tangled  
swamps4 ,we see babes sold from the     
breasts of mothers4 ,cruelty            

unspeakable6 ,outrage infinite6    ,four
 million bodies in chains--four million 
souls in fetters4 ,all the  sacred      
relations of wife1 mother1 father and   
child1 trampled beneath  the brutal feet
 or might4 ,and all this was done under 
our own beautiful  banner of the free4  
,the past rises before us4 ,we hear the 
roar and  shriek of the bursting shell4 
,the broken fetters fall4    ,these     
heroes died4 ,we look4 ,instead of      
slaves we see men and women and         
children4 ,the wand of progress touches 
the auction-block1 the slave-pen1  the  
whipping-post1 and we see homes and     
firesides and school-houses and  books1 
and where all was want1 and crime and   
cruelty1 and fear we see  the faces of  
the free4    ,these heroes are dead4    
,they died for liberty they died for us4
 ,they  are at rest4 ,they sleep in the 
land they made free1 under the flag     
they rendered stainless1 under the      
solemn pines1 the sad hemlocks1 the     
tearful willows1 and the embracing      

vines4 ,they sleep beneath the shadows  
of the clouds1 careless1 alike of       
sunshine or of storm1 each in the       
windowless palace of ,rest4 ,earth may  
run red with other wars--they are  at   
peace4 ,in the midst of battle1 in the  
roar of conflict1 they found  the       
serenity of death4 ,i have one sentiment
 for soldiers living and  dead3 ,cheers 
for the living2 tears for the dead4     
,,the ,,grant ,,banquet    ,,at ,,the   
,,palmer ,,house1 ,,chicago1 ,,thursday1
 ,,nov4 #ahth1 #ahgi4    ,,twelfth      
,,toast3           ,the ,volunteer      
,soldiers of the ,union1 whose valor and
       patriotism saved the world a     
government of the people1       by the  
people1 and for the ,,people4           
,,response ,,by ,,robert ,g4            
,,ingersoll4      ,,when the savagery of
 the lash1 the barbarism of the chain1  
and the  insanity of secession          
confronted the civilization of our      
century1 the  question ,will the great  
,republic defend itself8 trembled on the

 lips  of every lover of mankind4       
,the ,north1 filled with intelligence   
and wealth--children of                 
liberty--marshaled her hosts and asked  
only for a leader4 ,from civil  life a  
man1 silent1 thoughtful1 poised and     
calm1 stepped forth1 and  with the lips 
of victory voiced the ,nation's first   
and last demand3  ,unconditional and    
immediate surrender4 ,from that moment  
the end was  known4 ,that utterance was 
the first real declaration of real war1 
and1  in accordance with the dramatic   
unities of mighty events1 the great     
soldier who made it1 received the final 
sword of the rebellion4    ,the soldiers
 of the ,republic were not seekers after
 vulgar glory4 ,they  were not animated 
by the hope of plunder or the love of   
conquest4 ,they  fought to preserve the 
homestead of liberty and that their     
children  might have peace4 ,they were  
the defenders of humanity1 the          
destroyers  of prejudice1 the breakers  
of chains1 and in the name of the future

 they  slew the monster of their time4  
,they finished what the soldiers of the 
,revolution commenced4 ,they re-lighted 
the torch that fell from their  august  
hands and filled the world again with   
light4 ,they blotted  from the          
statute-books laws that had been passed 
by hypocrites at  the instigation of    
robbers1 and tore with indignant hands  
from the  ,constitution that infamous   
clause that made men the catchers of    
their  fellow-men4 ,they made it        
possible for judges to be just1 for     
statesmen  to be humane1 and for        
politicians to be honest4 ,they broke   
the shackles  from the limbs of slaves1 
from the souls of masters1 and from the 
,northern brain4 ,they kept our country 
on the map of the world1 and our  flag  
in heaven4 ,they rolled the stone from  
the sepulchre of progress1  and found   
therein two angels clad in shining      
garments--,nationality and  ,liberty4   
,the soldiers were the saviors of the   
,nation2 they were the liberators of    

men4 ,in writing the ,proclamation of   
,emancipation1 ,lincoln1 greatest  of   
our mighty dead1 whose memory is as     
gentle as the summer air when  reapers  
sing amid the gathered sheaves1 copied  
with the pen what ,grant  and his brave 
comrades wrote with swords4    ,grander 
than the ,greek1 nobler than the ,roman1
 the soldiers of the  ,republic1 with   
patriotism as shoreless as the air1     
battled for the  rights of others1 for  
the nobility of labor1 fought that      
mothers might  own their babes1 that    
arrogant idleness should not scar the   
back of  patient toil1 and that our     
country should not be a many-headed     
monster  made of warring states1 but a  
,nation1 sovereign1 great1 and free4    
,blood was water1 money was leaves1 and 
life was only common air until  one flag
 floated over a ,republic without a     
master and without a slave4    ,and then
 was asked the question3 ,will a free   
people tax themselves to  pay a nation's
 debt8    ,the soldiers went home to    

their waiting wives1 to their glad      
children1  and to the girls they        
loved--they went back to the fields1 the
 shops1  and mines4 ,they had not been  
demoralized4 ,they had been ennobled4   
,they were as honest in peace as they   
had been brave in war4 ,mocking at      
poverty1 laughing at reverses1 they made
 a friend of toil4 ,they  said3 ,we     
saved the ,nation's life1 and what is   
life without honor8  ,they-worked and   
wrought with all of labor's royal sons  
that every pledge  the ,nation gave     
might be redeemed4 ,and their great     
leader1 having put a  shining band of   
friendship--a girdle of clasped and     
happy hands--around  the globe1 comes   
home and finds that every promise made  
in war has now  the ring and gleam of   
gold4    ,there is another question     
still3--,will all the wounds of war be  
healed8  ,i answer1 ,yes4 ,the ,southern
 people must submit1 not to the         
dictation of  the ,north1 but to the    
,nation's will and to the verdict of    

mankind4 ,they  were wrong1 and the time
 will come when they will say that they 
are  victors who have been vanquished by
 the right4 ,freedom conquered them1    
and freedom will cultivate their fields1
 educate their children1 weave  for them
 the robes of wealth1 execute their     
laws1 and fill their land  with happy   
homes4    ,the soldiers of the ,union   
saved the ,south as well as ,north4     
,they made us  a ,nation4 ,their victory
 made us free and rendered tyranny in   
every other  land as insecure as snow   
upon volcanoes' lips4    ,and now let us
 drink to the volunteers--to those who  
sleep in unknown1  sunken graves1 whose 
names are only in the hearts of those   
they loved  and left--of those who only 
hear in happy dreams the footsteps of   
return4 ,let us drink to those who died 
where lipless famine mocked at  want--to
 all the maimed whose scars give modesty
 a tongue--to all who  dared and gave to
 chance the care and keeping of their   
lives3--to all  the living and to all   

the dead--to ,sherman1 to ,sheridan1 and
 to ,grant1  the laureled soldiers of   
the world1 and last1 to ,lincoln1 whose 
loving  life1 like a bow of peace1 spans
 and arches all the clouds of war4      
,a ,,tribute ,,to ,,the ,rev4           
,,alexander ,,clark4      ,,upon the    
grave of the ,reverend ,alexander ,clark
 ,i wish to place one  flower4          
,utterly destitute of cold dogmatic     
pride that often passes for the  love of
 ,god2 without the arrogance of the     
elect--simple1 free1 and  kind--this    
earnest man made me his friend by being 
mine4 ,i forgot that  he was a          
,christian1 and he seemed to forget that
 ,i was not1 while each  remembered that
 the other was a man4    ,frank1 candid1
 and sincere1 he practiced what he      
preached1 and looked  with the holy eyes
 of charity upon the failings and       
mistakes of men4 ,he  believed in the   
power of kindness1 and spanned with     
divine sympathy the  hideous gulf that  
separates the fallen from the pure4     

,giving freely to others the rights that
 he claimed for himself1 it never       
occurred to him that his ,god hated a   
brave and honest unbeliever4 ,he        
remembered that even an infidel has     
rights that love respects2 that  hatred 
has no saving power1 and that in order  
to be a ,christian it is  not necessary 
to become less than a man4 ,he knew that
 no one can be  maligned into kindness2 
that epithets cannot convince2 that     
curses are  not arguments1 and that the 
finger of scorn never points towards    
heaven4  ,with the generosity of an     
honest man1 he accorded to all the      
fullest  liberty of thought1 knowing1 as
 he did1 that in the realm of mind a    
chain is but a curse4    ,for this man  
,i entertained the profoundest respect4 
,in spite of the  taunts and jeers of   
his brethren1 he publicly proclaimed    
that he would  treat infidels with      
fairness and respect2 that he would     
endeavor to  convince them by argument  
and win them with love4 ,he insisted    

that the  ,god he worshipped loved the  
well-being even of an atheist4 ,in this 
grand  position he stood almost alone4  
,tender1 just1 and loving where others  
were harsh1 vindictive1 and cruel1 he   
challenged the respect and  admiration  
of every honest man4    ,a few more such
 clergymen might drive calumny from the 
lips of faith and  render the pulpit    
worthy of respect4    ,the heartiness   
and kindness with which this generous   
man treated me can  never be excelled4  
,he admitted that ,i had not lost1 and  
could not lose  a single right by the   
expression of my honest thought4        
,neither did he  believe that a servant 
could win the respect of a generous     
master by  persecuting and maligning    
those whom the master would willingly   
forgive4    ,while this good man was    
living1 his brethren blamed him for     
having  treated me with fairness4 ,but1 
,i trust1 now that he has left the shore
  touched by the mysterious sea that    
never yet has borne1 on any wave1 the   

image of a homeward sail1 this crime    
will be forgiven him by those who  still
 remain to preach the love of ,god4     
,his sympathies were not confined within
 the prison of a creed1 but ran  out and
 over the walls like vines1 hiding the  
cruel rocks and rusted  bars with leaf  
and flower4 ,he could not echo with his 
heart the fiendish  sentence of eternal 
fire4 ,in spite of book and creed1 he   
read between  the lines the words of    
tenderness and love1 with promises for  
all the  world4 ,above1 beyond the      
dogmas of his church--humane even to the
 verge  of heresy--causing some to doubt
 his love of ,god because he failed to  
hate his unbelieving fellow-men1 he     
labored for the welfare of mankind1  and
 to his work gave up his life with all  
his heart4    ,robert ,g4 ,ingersoll4   
,washington1 ,d4 ,c1    ,july #aa1 #ahgi
            ,a ,,tribute ,,to ,,ebon ,c4
 ,,ingersoll1    ,,by ,,his ,,brother   
,,robert4    ,,may #ca1 #ahgi           
,,the ,,record ,,of ,a ,,generous ,,life

 ,,runs ,,like ,a ,,vine ,,around ,,the 
,,memory ,,of ,,our ,,dead1 ,,and       
,,every ,,sweet1 ,,unselfish ,,act ,,is 
,,now ,a       ,,perfumed ,,flower4     
,dear ,friends3 ,i am going to do that  
which the dead oft promised he would  do
 for me4    ,the loved and loving       
brother1 husband1 father1 friend1 died  
where  manhood's morning almost touches 
noon1 and while the shadows still were  
falling toward the west4    ,he had not 
passed on life's highway the stone that 
marks the highest  point2 but1 being    
weary for a moment1 he lay down by the  
wayside1 and1  using his burden for a   
pillow1 fell into that dreamless sleep  
that  kisses down his eyelids still4    
,while yet in love with life and        
raptured  with the world1 he passed to  
silence and pathetic dust4    ,yet1     
after all1 it may be best1 just in the  
happiest1 sunniest hour  of all the     
voyage1 while eager winds are kissing   
every sail1 to dash  against the unseen 
rock1 and in an instant hear the billows

 roar above a  sunken ship4 ,for whether
 in mid sea or 'mong the breakers of the
 farther  shore1 a wreck at last must   
mark the end of each and all4 ,and every
  life1 no matter if its every hour is  
rich with love and every moment  jeweled
 with a joy1 will1 at its close1 become 
a tragedy as sad and deep  and dark as  
can be woven of the warp and woof of    
mystery and death4    ,this brave and   
tender man in every storm of life was   
oak and rock2 but  in the sunshine he   
was vine and flower4 ,he was the friend 
of all heroic  souls4 ,he climbed the   
heights1 and left all superstitions far 
below1  while on his forehead fell the  
golden dawning of the grander day4      
,he loved the beautiful1 and was with   
color1 form1 and music touched to       
tears4 ,he sided with the weak1 the     
poor1 and wronged1 and lovingly  gave   
alms4 ,with loyal heart and with the    
purest hands he faithfully  discharged  
all public trusts4    ,he was a         
worshipper of liberty1 a friend of the  

oppressed4 ,a thousand  times ,i have   
heard him quote these words3 ,for       
,justice1 all place a  temple1 and all  
season1 summer4 ,he believed that       
happiness was the only  good1 reason the
 only torch1 justice the only worship1  
humanity the only  religion1 and love   
the only priest4 ,he added to the sum of
 human joy2  and were every one to whom 
he did some loving service to bring a   
blossom  to his grave1 he would sleep   
to-night beneath a wilderness of        
flowers4    ,life is a narrow vale      
between the cold and barren peaks of two
  eternities4 ,we strive in vain to look
 beyond the heights4 ,we cry aloud1  and
 the only answer is the echo of our     
wailing cry4 ,from the voiceless  lips  
of the unreplying dead there comes no   
word2 but in the night of  death hope   
sees a star and listening love can hear 
the rustle of a wing4    ,he who sleeps 
here1 when dying1 mistaking the approach
 of death for the  return of health1    
whispered with his latest breath1 ,i am 

better now4  ,let us believe1 in spite  
of doubts and dogmas1 of fears and      
tears1 that  these dear words are true  
of all the countless dead4    ,and now1 
to you1 who have been chosen1 from among
 the many men he loved1  to do the last 
sad office for the dead1 we give his    
sacred dust4    ,speech cannot contain  
our love4 ,there was there is1 no       
gentler1  stronger1 manlier man4