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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
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 >.■-
 
 FREE THOUGHT 
 
 LBCTURKS ! 
 
 -AND- 
 
 OE]3^v^S I 
 
 -BY- 
 
 DR. JAS. L. YORK, 
 
 AutJior and Co))ipilcr 
 
 SAX JOSE, CAI.. 
 A. S. YORK, ROOK AND JOB PRINTKR. 
 
 iSS8.
 
 THIS LITTLE VOLUME OF 
 
 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS AND LECTURES 
 
 IS DEDICATED TO MY WIFE, 
 
 PERMELIA ANN YORK, 
 
 A WOMAN FREE FROM THE SLAVERY 
 
 OF RELIGION, AND A WORKER 
 
 IN THE CAUSE OF 
 
 Universal mental liberty. 
 The watch-word of the free, 
 The hope of sages in the past. 
 The good time yet to be. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR AND COMPILER, 
 
 DR. J. L. YORK, 
 
 SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA.
 
 NO ROYAL ROAD. 
 
 There is no royal road in life 
 
 To freedom of the mind; 
 No rojal road to wealth of thought — 
 
 One path for all mankind. 
 Man's highest good no more conserved 
 
 B}^ myths, though honored in their day, 
 Now simply asks for reason's light 
 
 To guide and point the way. 
 
 Our pathway here on every side 
 
 Is hedged with cares and tears — 
 One constant struggle to be free 
 
 From darkness, doubt and fears. 
 No light but that of reason comes, 
 
 Man's pathway to illume; 
 The day-star of his hope to be 
 
 From the cradle to the tomb. 
 
 The cry of faith by priests of old 
 
 Grows feebler in our day. 
 And creeds and dogmas of belief 
 
 Are soon to pass away. 
 To break the bonds of priest and king, 
 
 And lift the burdened out. 
 Some one must lead the way 
 
 And to the masses shout. 
 
 611112
 
 lO FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 No royal road is there 
 
 To riches of the mind; 
 The rich and poor alike may know 
 
 The joys of truth sublime. 
 True manhood does not come 
 
 Through titled name or might, 
 By wealth, or kingly power bestowed, 
 
 But grows by love of truth and right. 
 
 In all the ages of the past 
 
 Some souls with inspiration's flame 
 Have lighted up the world of thought, 
 
 Though doomed to fellon's name. 
 And thus the thought of our time 
 
 Needs stirring to profoundest depth; 
 The darkness of the past so drear 
 
 Were ours to-day had L,uther silent kept. 
 
 Had Bruno quailed at firey stake, 
 
 And Servetus held his peace. 
 Perhaps we still in bonds might be, 
 
 To Pope, and church, and priest. 
 Had priestly rule held sway. 
 
 No science had been born 
 To scatter blessings in our path 
 
 And shed the beams of morn. 
 
 We hail the day of knowledge near, 
 
 When faith no more shall claim 
 A blind obedience to her will 
 
 In truth's ennobling name. 
 How much we owe our gratitude 
 
 To sage and thinker of the past. 
 Whose lives w^ent out in fire and flame 
 
 That we might reap at last.
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURKS. II 
 
 The dearest boon we hold to-day; 
 
 The freedom to think and speak, 
 We owe to those who've gone before — 
 
 Whose names our memory gladly keep. 
 Of all the names we hold most dear, 
 
 Who fought for reason's reign. 
 Lets join and give three rousing cheers 
 
 For truth and Thomas Paine. 
 
 yS 
 
 -t-^ 
 
 WHAT I LIVE FOR. 
 
 I live for those that love me, 
 For those I know are true, 
 For the heaven that smiles above me. 
 
 And awaits my spirit, too; 
 For the human ties that bind me, 
 For the task that God assigned me. 
 For the bright hopes left behind me. 
 And the good that I can do. 
 
 &^ 
 
 I live to learn their story, 
 
 Who've suffered for ray sake, 
 
 To emulate their glor>', 
 And follow in their wake; 
 
 Bards, martyrs, patriots, sages, 
 
 The noblest of all ages, 
 
 Whose deeds crown history- 's pages, 
 And time's great volume make.
 
 12 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 I live to hail the season 
 
 By gifted minds foretold, 
 When men shall live by reason, 
 
 And not alone for gold; 
 When man to man united, 
 And every wrong thing righted, 
 The whole world shall be lighted 
 As Eden was of old. 
 
 I live to hold communion 
 With all there is divine: 
 
 To feel there is a union 
 "Twixt Nature's heart and mine; 
 
 To profit by affliction. 
 
 Reap truths from fields of fiction. 
 
 Grow wiser from conviction. 
 And fulfill each grand design. 
 
 I live for those who love me. 
 
 For those who know me true. 
 For the heaven that smiles above me 
 
 And awaits my spirit too; 
 For the wrong that needs resistance. 
 For the cause that lacks assistance, 
 For the dawning in the distance. 
 And the good that I can do.
 
 AND LIBERAL LKCTURES. 13 
 
 ETERNAL JUSTICE. 
 
 The man is thought a knave or fool, 
 
 Or bigot, plotting crime, 
 Who, for the advancement of his kind, 
 
 Is wiser than his time. 
 For him the hemlock shall distill; 
 
 For him the axe be bared; 
 For him the gibbet shall be built; 
 
 For him the stake prepared. 
 Him shall the scorn and wrath of men 
 
 Pursue with deadly aim; 
 And malice, envy, spite and lies 
 
 Shall desecrate his name. 
 But truth shall conquer at the last. 
 
 For round and round we run, 
 And ever the right comes uppermost, 
 
 And ever is justice done. 
 
 Pace through thy cell, old Socrates, 
 
 Cheerily to and fro; 
 Tnist to the impulse of thy soul. 
 
 And let the poison flow. 
 They may shatter to earth the lump of clay 
 
 That holds a light divine. 
 But they cannot quench the fire of thought 
 
 Bv anv such deadlv wine.
 
 14 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 The}' cannot blot thy spoken words 
 
 From the memorj^ of man, 
 By all the poison ever brewed 
 
 Since time its course began. 
 To-day abhored, to-morrow adored, 
 
 So round and round we run. 
 And ever the truth comes uppermost, 
 
 And ever is justice done. 
 
 Plod in thy cave, gray Anchorite, 
 
 Be wiser than thj^ peers; 
 Augment the range of human power, 
 "» And trust to coming years. 
 They may call the wizard and monk accursed, 
 
 And load thee with dispraise; 
 Thou wert born five hundred years too soon 
 
 For the comfort of th}- days. 
 But not too soon for human kind: 
 
 Time hath reward in store; 
 And the demons of our sires became 
 
 The saints that we adore. 
 The blind can see, the slave is lord, 
 
 So round and round we run. 
 And ever the wrong is proved to be wrong. 
 
 And ever is justice done. 
 
 Keep, Galileo, to thy thought. 
 
 And nerve thy soul to bear; wring 
 
 They may gloat o'er the senseless words they 
 
 From the pangs of thy despair; 
 They may veil their eyes, but cannot hide 
 
 The sun's meridian glow; 
 The heel of a priest may tread the down.
 
 AND LIBERAL LFXTURES. 1 5 
 
 And a tyrant may work thee woe; 
 But never a truth has been destroyed; 
 
 They may curse it and call it crime; 
 Pervert and betray, or slander and slay 
 
 Its teachers for a time. 
 But the sunshine aye shall light the sky, 
 
 As round and round we run, 
 And truth shall ever come uppermost. 
 
 And justice shall be done. 
 
 And live there now such men as these — 
 
 With thoughts like the great of old? ^ 
 Many have died in their misery- 
 
 And left their thoughts untold; 
 And many live, and are ranked as mad. 
 
 And are placed in the cold world's ban. 
 For sending bright, far-seeing souls 
 
 Three centuries in the van. 
 The}- toil in penury and grief, 
 
 Unknown, if not maligned; 
 Forlorn, forlorn, bearing the scorn 
 
 Of the meanest of mankind. 
 But yet the world goes round and round, 
 
 And the genial seasons run. 
 And the truth ever comes uppermost. 
 
 And ever is justice done.
 
 1 6 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 T^E C^EIIJIST^Y OB G^JI^l^CTE^. 
 
 John, and Peter, and Robert, and Paul, 
 God, in his wisdom, created them all. 
 John was a statesman, and Peter a slave, 
 Robert a preacher, and Paul — was a knave. 
 Evil or good as the case might be, 
 Wnite, or colored, or bond, or free — 
 John, and Peter, and Robert, and Paul, 
 God, in his wisdom, created them all. 
 
 Out of earth's elements, mingled with flame, 
 Out of life's compounds of glory and shame, 
 Fashioned and shaped by no will of their own. 
 And helplessly into life's histor}^ thrown; 
 Born by the law that compels men to be. 
 Born to conditions they could not foresee; 
 John, and Peter, and Robert, and Paul, 
 God, in his wisdom, created them all. 
 
 John was the head and the heart of his State, 
 Was trusted and honored, was noble and great. 
 Peter was made 'neath life's burdens to groan, 
 And never once dreamed that his soul was his own. 
 Robert great glory and honor received. 
 For zealously preaching what no one believed: 
 While Paul of the pleasure of sin took his fill. 
 And gave up his life to the ser\'ice of ill. 
 
 I
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURFS. I 
 
 It chanced that these men, in their passing away 
 From earth and its confines, all died the same day, 
 John was mourned thro' the length and breadth of 
 
 the land — 
 Peter fell 'neath the lash in a merciless hand — 
 Robert died with the praise of the Lord on his 
 
 tongue — 
 While Paul was convicted of murder, and hung. 
 John, and Peter, and Robert, and Paul, 
 The purpose of life was fulfilled in them all. 
 
 Men said of the statesman, "How noble and brave !' ' 
 But Peter, alas! — "he was only a slave." 
 Of Robert— " 'Tis well with his soul— it is well:" 
 While Paul they consigned to the torments of hell. 
 Born by one law through all Nature the same. 
 What made them differ? and who was to blame? 
 John, and Peter, and Robert, and Paul, 
 God, in his wisdom, created them all. 
 
 Out of that region of infinite light, 
 
 Where the soul of the black man is pure as the 
 
 white; 
 Out where the spirit, through sorrow made wise. 
 No longer resorts to deception and lies — 
 Out where the flesh can no longer control 
 The freedom and faith of the God-given soul — 
 Who shall determine what change may befall 
 John, and Peter, and Robert, and Paul? 
 
 John may in wisdom and goodness increase- 
 Peter rejoice in an infinite peace —
 
 1 8 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 Robert may learn that the truths of the Lord 
 Are more in the spirit and less in the word; 
 And Paul may be blessed with a holier birth 
 Than the passions of man had allowed him on 
 
 earth. 
 John, and Peter, and Robert, and Paul, 
 God, in his wisdom, will care for them all.
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURES. 1 9 
 
 EVOLUTION, 
 
 -OR- 
 
 Txi^: ttt'oi^Ijx: tt^e: XjI"^e iisr. 
 
 Man is an incarnate question, and in all ages of the 
 world has been asking questions about this planet and 
 devising theories of origin for this globe and the many 
 forms of life which live upon its surface. Men have 
 alwaj-s been world builders, and always will build 
 worlds, and endeavor to account for the various phe- 
 nomina taking place on every hand. And, if the 
 thought of our age can furnish a more reasonable solu- 
 tion for the origin of things than the thought which 
 produced the Genesis of the Bible, it is because of the 
 expansion of intellect and development of natural 
 science, upon which all forms of knowledge depend. 
 
 The consideration of such questions as "How did 
 this planet come to be?" and "What is life?" and 
 "How did it first appear?" "How did man originate, 
 and is he but one of the links in an endless chain of 
 life, stretching out from the darkness and crudeness of 
 the past and on to a higher and a brighter home be- 
 the .stars?" These are not idle questions, but quicken 
 the pulse of the world, prevent .stagnation, and make 
 higher forms of truth possible to the mind. 
 
 There are two kinds of history in the world: Writ- 
 ten histor>- of men and things, traced backward, is 
 lost in the mists and fogs of tradition, and of necessity
 
 20 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 full of errors. For it is an ordinance of nature that 
 mankind should blunder while learning, and, best of 
 all, should learn by his blunders. 
 
 Then there is a history or divine revelation in nature, 
 which is not susceptible of counterfeit or interpolation, 
 and has never been the subject of translation or re- 
 vision from time to time by designing creed-makers in 
 religion. But is stamped upon and wrought into everj-- 
 thing nature has produced. In the inanimate as well 
 as the living, the earth, with its rocks, mountains and 
 oceans, all bear the impress of natural divinitj- and 
 true history. 
 
 The pebble which rolls beneath your feet has its his- 
 tory to tell to the studious mind, but not one word to 
 the blockhead. It saj^s that it was once a part of the 
 mother rock and detached by force, and has reached 
 its rounded, beauteous form through the natural 
 agencies of water and motion. 
 
 The volcano and spouting hot spring have their tale 
 to tell of igneous action and primal heat of mother 
 earth. The ice drift, as it has moved at snail pace 
 across the continent, has written in deep and corru 
 gated lines its history on the granite rock. 
 
 The vegetation which springs from the earth in the 
 form of flower, shrub or tree. Animal life of every 
 grade, from the insect which floats in the sunbeam, on 
 up to man himself, each and all contain within them- 
 selves something of their history, purpose and destin}'. 
 This history science teaches — its growth is slow but 
 sure, and so far as it has reached demonstration, which 
 is absolute truth — its page is clear; running not back to 
 tradition, but to the fountain head of life and being. 
 
 True science then means reading from the book of
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURES. 2 I 
 
 matter and mind, the lonj^, slow process of ages, from 
 which nature is developing from the crude and low all 
 things up to higher forms of life and beauty. 
 
 Saint Paul said: "That is firstwhich is natural, after- 
 wards that which is spirirual." Paul would have been 
 better understood to-day if he had said: That is crude 
 which is first, afterwards that which is more refined. 
 His statement of the natural and .spiritual only serv'es 
 to confuse the mind, as it seems to me that a condition 
 called .spiritual, must be quite as natusal as any other 
 or opposite condition; for if .spirituality means anything 
 more than refinement I am not able to see it. 
 
 Evolution, as defined by scientists, is the transforma- 
 tion ot the homogeneous through successive changes of 
 form and texture, and in direct ratio as the fonu 
 changes so also does the type and character of the life 
 inhabiting such form, change and improve. 
 
 Evolution implies that the planet and its entire pro- 
 duct of grass, grain, plants, trees, and animals are not 
 to-day what they were in the far-off past , but have 
 grown from crude, .small beginnings, and that to-da}- is 
 a day of creation as much so as any period of the past. 
 
 Evolution does not imply Athei.sm nor yet Material- 
 isni in the common acceptance of these terms, and is a 
 law or sequence. Many suppose that to believe in 
 Evolution is to deny the existence of Deity. This is a 
 bug-bear set up b\' ignorant preachers who know more 
 of idle words and church creeds than they do about the 
 gospel of nature, and when Tyndall, Huxley and Car- 
 penter speak of the unthinkable and unknowable they 
 call it force, but when Christian scientists such as 
 Winchel, Dana and Porter speak of the same power 
 call it God. I prefer the word force, as words and
 
 22 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 definitions help to keep the world in bondage to relig- 
 ious superstitions; for men and women are not so likely 
 to go on their knees when they come to understand 
 that nothing can be gained by praying to the forces 
 which operate throughout this universe of law. Evolu- 
 tion is not a force, but the methods through which 
 nature works, and is that orderly progress in nature 
 through which the planet and its entire product has 
 been developed. Evolution is not the why or cause of 
 anything, but the how or manner and order of the un- 
 foldment of all life upon our planet, and relates to the 
 growth of physical, mental and moral life — to language, 
 literature, society and law — to government, science and 
 religion, and one can hardly imagine a study of greater 
 importance to the well being of our race. 
 
 The old and scriptural notion is that the world was 
 spoken into existence — made out of nothing. We are 
 not informed how much nothing is required to make 
 something, or whether there was any of that wonderful 
 stuff left after the job was completed, and with Inger- 
 soll we must say that such a raw material is by far too 
 thin for human comprehension. 
 
 Evolution or unfoldment implies an eternity of time, 
 matter and space, and all that we may know of creation 
 is the changes going on in the material universe, show- 
 ing an unfinished condition of all things. 
 
 Creation implies completeness, something finished. 
 Here is a lamp, the creation of human skill, except the 
 material from which it was made, which in some form 
 always existed. But the lamp is a finished thing, it 
 can never be larger or more beautiful, it is finished, 
 created, and can only go back to the primary elements. 
 
 You can see at a glance that this planet and its pro-
 
 AND I.II'.ICKAI, I.KCTURES. 23 
 
 duct was not so made. The best things we know ot 
 are unfinished; hardly would any of this audience claim 
 to be more than half done. 
 
 Evolution implies the co-existence of matter and 
 force, and the co-eternity of time and .space, and that 
 matter is not dead as some suppo.se, and that force and 
 motion are inherent in matter — and that force or spirit 
 vitalizing matter has brought forth all things from the 
 primary crudene.ss of the past. 
 
 Modern .science begins with the atom to build a 
 world, an atom so small as the odor of the rose which 
 fills the air with rich perfume, or the .scent by which 
 the dog follows his master or game over the bare rock, 
 and yet every atom contains the positive and negative 
 force called the polarity of the atom, and is as complete 
 in its self as this globe, which is simply an aggrega- 
 tion of atoms. Each atom is true to the law inherent 
 in itself, and is that divine impulse which produced the 
 worlds which swing in space. 
 
 Science says the world grew, as language and books 
 grew, from sounds to letters from letters to words, 
 from words to sentences, from sentences to chapters, 
 and from chapters to books. So the world grew by 
 chemical affinity or gravitation in the atom. 
 
 But what is gravitation — no one can tell, and I think 
 that it is another proper name for God. We only know 
 how it acts. I see its operation before me now. There 
 are two young people who sit very close to each other. 
 Why is it .so? We .say the rea.son is gravitation or love 
 in the atom. 
 
 In the gross material we call that force gravitation. 
 In human social relations we call it love — it is one and 
 the same thing. Atoms cling to each other through
 
 24 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 chemical affinity, or the love one atom has for another. 
 We are composed of atoms caught upon the wheel of 
 life and spun into human form, and, whether con- 
 stituting the gases, rocks, soil, flowers, birds or human 
 beings, the atom is true to a changeless law. Nature 
 is all made out of the same stuff. Some atoms are at- 
 tracted to each other and some repel each other, and 
 they behave in the same manner when they are made 
 up into human form. That is what ails the boy and 
 girl. Chemical magnetic attraction or love in the 
 atoms which draw them together. 
 
 The old iiniversal churches used to have written in 
 large letters over the pulpit, "God is love." I think 
 they are about right, for it is through this principle 
 that the worlds are swung in space and every aggrega- 
 tion of matter is formed. 
 
 By affinit}^ in the atom they were drawn together and 
 formed the gasses — the gasses by the same law formed 
 the minerals— the minerals constitute the rocks, and 
 the rocks laid down form the crust of our globe, and 
 this rock ground to powder by the elements forms the 
 soil which some people call dirt, our common mother, 
 from which every living thing has been developed. 
 
 Science accounts for this planet on the nebular 
 theory — that once in the far-off past all of the matter 
 constituting the sun and planets of our solar system 
 were gaseous mist or a sea of atoms. By chemical affi- 
 nity these atoms flowed to a common center. By this 
 flow, motion was produced and this great central sun 
 became a rotating, fiery mass, rolling slowly from west 
 to east. By cooling at the surface a crust was formed 
 and contraction in size took place, and thus increasing 
 the motion or momentum. By the accelerated motion
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURES. 25 
 
 the plastic matter within the globe was heaped up 
 about the equator, producing a bulging at the equator 
 and a corresponding depression at the poles. These 
 bulging masses from time to time were separated from 
 the main body and were spun into globes by the same 
 law that rounds the rain drop or tear falling from the 
 eye. 
 
 Thus it is said that the planets of our solar system 
 were born of the sun and in turn have become the 
 parents of other heavenly bodies. Science offers many 
 reasons known to the student for the correctness of this 
 theory. Of course we are not absolutel}' certain of its 
 truth, and ^-et it accounts for these bodies in a grand 
 and rational manner, not onl\- possible but highly 
 probable. Men of brains will build worlds, and that 
 theory which is the most reasonable and in keeping 
 with natural law is far better than a belief in the 
 spasmodic action of a so-called divine energ}^ as set 
 forth in the Hebrew Bible book. Thus science gives 
 us the bare bed-rock of the globe, which in its apparent 
 state of perfection is the result of the crudeness of the 
 past, refined and beautified by natural development 
 through long ages and indefinite periods of time. 
 
 Millions of years no doubt were occupied in grinding 
 up the rocks into soil, and millions more in which the 
 earth brought forth only the lowest forms of vegetation, 
 and the character of what was produced was the best 
 permissable under the conditions. Nature always does 
 her best, and if you and I can say the same we are on 
 the high road to happiness. 
 
 The order of all life on the planet seems to have been 
 first the simple, then the complex, then the monstrous, 
 and afterwards the s\inmetrical and refined. From
 
 26 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 feeble forms of vegetation there followed a monstrous 
 growth of ferns sixty or seventy feet in height, thrust 
 up like magic during the carboniferous period, from 
 which our coal beds were laid down, thus storing awa}^ 
 in the earth the light and heat of the sun in a carbon- 
 ized form for future use, and thus by regular stages 
 and long periods of time the earth was prepared for 
 animal life, the same law holding good in the animal 
 as in the vegetable kingdom . At first low, crude forms 
 of animal life, and then monstrous forms appear. How 
 do we know that this was the order of life and the 
 crust of the earth was thus laid down? We know it 
 by geological proofs and the fossil remains of vegeta- 
 tion and animal life imbedded here and there like 
 plums in an English pudding in the crust of our earth. 
 Think you, did God create this planet in six days of 
 time, and place these fossil remains in the order in 
 which we^find them to deceive us, that we might be- 
 lieve a lie and be damned. Not so, the light of nature 
 is divine. 
 
 Why did not nature, when she essayed to make a 
 tree, bring forth at first the majestic oak or lofty pine, 
 the richly^laden iruit tree or crimson clustered vine? 
 The best that she could do was to try her hand at 
 feeble moss and ferns. Wh)^ not at first have made 
 the animals vSymmetrical and beautiful instead of 
 hideous monster forms of life? This is not our busi- 
 ness to enquire why. The question with us is, what 
 were the methods and order of life; and we are led to 
 suppose that things have been what they were and 
 what they are to-day from necessity, as all things were 
 produced in keeping with the conditions in ever}- 
 period of the earth's hi.story.
 
 AND LIBERAL LKCTl'RKS. 27 
 
 How could the earth bring forth first-class life of 
 tree, animal, bird or man enveloped in poisonous jj^ases. 
 with millions of volcanoes pouring forth their deadly 
 flood, rocking and reeling from earthquakes, shaken 
 and torn by the pent up forces which were lifting the 
 crust of the mother earth high up in mountain ranges, 
 midst the din and roar of elemental strife, and naught 
 but childish fancy could ask why that which is last 
 could not have been first, and none could have been 
 so simple but for the foolish Ijible stories of the various 
 religions of the world. 
 
 In due time our race appeared as we believe in the 
 regular order of animal life. Not as Christains teach, 
 complete in physical beaut}' and moral excellence, but 
 the wild animal man. But for a moment imagine the 
 bible stor}- to be true. Look at Adam, what a grand 
 man, what a broad head, what logic and wisdom were 
 wrapped up in that primeval man, and yet according 
 to the stor}- his knowledge was not equal to the task 
 of clothing his own nakedness. Look at mother E\-e 
 in all her pristine beauty. What a form divine, what 
 a wealth of golden hair, what eyes, how they gleam 
 like stars in the diadem of heaven, what a neck, like 
 alabaster, what .1 wrist and ankle — as though turned 
 in a lathe. Well, indeed, so .she ought to be complete, 
 for God had ju.st got her finished. And then imagine 
 how she was made, and .see as only a Christain can .see 
 with the eye of faith. 
 
 The great and eternal God turned butcher, standing 
 with the knife and bloody rib torn from Adam's .side 
 in his hand, puzzled, no doubt, as to whether he 
 should make a brunette or blonde or upon which end of 
 the rib he .should put the head — and we drop the cur-
 
 28 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 tain upon this Christain tableau of superstitious folly. 
 Now look at this prehistoric pair created perfect about 
 six thousand years ago, and then look at their progeny 
 in all colors and all conditions — rag, tag, fag-end and 
 bob- tail — some so low as to live in trees like apes, 
 whose reason is so dim that they cannot be taught 
 principles at all, and by far lower than the bug-eating 
 Indian of California, and all of this great diversity 
 brought about in so short a time. 
 
 They tell me that I must believe this silly story or 
 be damned. Well, I think that I would rather take 
 my chances of salvation with Voltaire, Paine and 
 IngersoU than to submit to a stultification of reason 
 and true manhood. Such a salvation costs too much. 
 
 It is far more reasonable to believe that as the earth 
 has brought forth in its various geographical portions 
 a wide diversity of flora and fauna — plants and ani- 
 mals — so also has nature through evolution sprouted, 
 diferentiated and produced its wild man — a low type, 
 a mere animal, savage, naked, and covered with hair, 
 without speech or language, and no doubt long periods 
 of time elapsed in which low, gutteral sounds serv^ed 
 the purpose of language, and then from these grunting 
 sounds the lowest type of language appeared, in which 
 are found the roots of all of the languages of the present 
 day, so perfect as compared with the past. All of this 
 came by slow degrees, and yet our mode of expression 
 is not complete or perfect. As all things else have 
 grown so our language is growing, words are constantly 
 being coined, our vocabulary will never be complete, 
 and slang words soon take their places in the dictionary 
 as proper words. This must be so as man is a pro- 
 gressive animal. Now with the growth of reason
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURES. 29 
 
 comes also the growth of ideas; not perfect at first — 
 as mental and physical life are near neighbors — right 
 physical conditions preceding improved mental life. 
 The growth of ideas, from the crnde to the more re- 
 fined, nuist have been the work of ages. See how 
 slowly we give up old ideas. Generations are re- 
 quired for the embodiment of a new idea. Man in the 
 childhood of our race was governed b>- fear — as the 
 horse is governed by whip and spur, and for the same 
 reason ignorance, fear and faith being twins, religion 
 is as old as man. What governed man at first? Not 
 God or Devil, but the laws of nature, just what .should 
 govern liini now. Fear was the prime factor in the 
 government of prehistoric man. Some of the forces of 
 nature seemed evil, the sun burned them, the cold 
 froze them, disease killed them. While on the other 
 hand the genial forces blessed them with life and plenty 
 — to one they sacrificed as to the good God, and to the 
 other as the bad God. Here, then, we find the root of 
 the God and Devil idea which forms the staple of all 
 religious worship. 
 
 Then came vague theories about God; then a faint 
 idea of responsibility to a higher power. How did 
 these early people know right from wrong? They 
 learned it as most of us have done — they did both and 
 felt the consequences, and thus struck the balance be- 
 tween right and wrong. Some people talk as if man- 
 kind did not know evil from good until Sinai burned 
 and smoked and Moses received the law. I tell 30U 
 not so. Before Moses, books, or written law. man ex- 
 isted, and ever>- human soul in all the pa.st has been a 
 Mount Sinai upon who.se conscious reason has beat and 
 throbbed the forces of nature, and every force of nature
 
 o 
 
 O FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 has been a comniandment to men, and there has been 
 no guiding power for man superior to or above nature. 
 
 One would suppose that if there existed an infinitely 
 wise and good God that he would have had a care for 
 the weak and ignorant children of his love. 
 
 The bright red and luscious appearing berries which 
 grew in the early time had to l^e eaten by somebody to 
 test their deadly nature. Somebod}- had to suffer. 
 Think you that when God made the deadly snake he 
 tied a flag to its tail to warn men of the fatal bite. 
 No, no; some poor soul had to suffer to gain that 
 knowledge. Thus has it ever been, knowledge and 
 moral life has grown in our race from the cruel grips 
 and peltings of natural law. At first there could have 
 been only the most horrid religions. Want of lan- 
 guage led to S3'mbolism; a long and careless use of 
 symbols led to fetishism and a multitude of charms, 
 idols and gods settled down upon the people like a 
 horrid nightmare. And we are living yet amid the 
 fragments of pagan rites — on ever}- hand, dark and 
 dismal errors linger near us, and in man}' a nook of 
 our minds time-honored superstitions still robs our 
 reason of its manhood. This outlook helps us to see 
 that we are the result of the crudeness of the past and 
 thus finding our true place in nature we will respect 
 the poor, low^ and mean in the scale of life below us, 
 and even the whole animal kingdom ma}- l)e consid- 
 ered our poor relations, and like milestones they mark 
 tlie road over which we have traveled. 
 
 I know there are many who scout at the idea of an 
 animal origin for man. All must admit that he is an 
 animal to-day, and the chances are that he was never 
 an angel: and I am sure that Darwin's theory of man's
 
 AM) I.IIUCKAI, I,KCTUK1-:.S. 3I 
 
 origin is far more reasonable than that a God made a 
 man of clay and then blew in his nose the breath of 
 life, and having thns made an angel, through the ser- 
 vice of the woman and that wonderful snake, he has 
 been going to the Devil ever since. 
 
 We are asked: But is Darwini.sm correct, and did 
 man come from the monkey, and if so, why don't we 
 see monkeys turning into men to-day. Well, we know 
 of many men, and women too, who are more than half 
 horse, dog and monkey to-day, and hence I strongly- 
 suspect that we are of the earth earthy and must own 
 our kinship to all of the life which preceded us. But 
 there is a word of comfort to the human being who is 
 lower in his impulses and habits than the brute crea- 
 ture. It is this: it took nature a long time to bring 
 man where he is to-day, and she has all time to perfect 
 her work, of working out the animal and working in 
 the angel, and thus evolution is a gospel of hope to 
 this world because it reverses the old theory and places 
 angelhood at the end and not at the beginning of the 
 race. Be patient, your time will come yet, and if we 
 are not able to find the mi.ssing link or see monkeys 
 turning into men, it is because as, science says, "Life 
 is an ascending series of steps, far apart." 
 
 Ages were occupied in the branching off or differenti- 
 ating of the various forms of life. Generations cannot 
 mark the steps, so slow has been the processes of evolu- 
 tion. Ages are between the steps, hence ages are re- 
 quired to make a result, besides the stages or steps of 
 life are blended together or into each other, and yet 
 enough facts are known relating to the enfoldment of 
 life to make the theory highly probable that all knowl- 
 edge grew from small beginnings and that experience
 
 o 
 
 2 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 and the law of necessity has pushed our race forward 
 to its present attainment, opening the door from the 
 age of helplessness to the ages of wood, stone, bronze, 
 iron, silver and gold, while suffering, sorrow, pain and 
 death has followed close beside man's pathway all 
 along the line of life. 
 
 We have heard a great deal said about the goodness 
 of God in saving the world. From what and to what 
 has it been saved. To my mind human suffering has 
 been the savior of our race. It is almo.st idle to ask 
 why did not that infinitely wise and good God long 
 ages ago give us the .steam engine, steel plow and the 
 sewing machine to save the poor backs and sides which 
 ached. He did not seem to mind our woes but let the 
 man plow on with his wooden plow, and the woman 
 suffer on with her aching back, and never once thought 
 to send her a cooking stove or a sewing machine. 
 
 But then God is so good you know. God the father, 
 son and ghost, might have given the world ages ago 
 the steamship and steam power to open commerce, turn 
 the wheels of industry and civilize the world, but the 
 nearest approach to the steamboat and clipper .ship was 
 the dug-out, and that he permitted him to dig out for 
 himself while God looked on and did not even furnish 
 a .saw with which to cut the log and fire was used in- 
 stead, and then he had to make his own fire by rubbing 
 two pieces of wood together. But while he worked 
 and suffered his skull grew and his intellect expanded 
 until inventive genius was born, which has scattered 
 blessings in his path. 
 
 But then God is .so good to save us after we are dead, 
 in another world. But I should think more favorabl}^ 
 of the Christian God if he had lifted the burdens of
 
 AND LIHERAL LECTURFS. 33 
 
 our race in tliis world and let the other world take care 
 of itself. In conclusion, let me say that evolution is 
 nature's plan of salvation and tells of better conditions 
 on the way to save man from animalism and lift him 
 into the sunlia:ht ot a full rounded manhood.
 
 34 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 MY RELIGIOH 
 
 That friendship is the deepest 
 
 Which counts its years in growth, 
 
 That knowledge is most precious 
 Which hath cost me most. 
 
 That goodness is most worthy 
 Which, like the light of heaven, 
 
 Seeks out the poor and fallen. 
 And visits those in prison. 
 
 That love is best and sweetest 
 Which seeks another's gain, 
 
 That charity the broadest 
 
 W^hich hides a brother's .stain. 
 
 That faith is best and truest 
 
 Which is world-wide in its span, 
 
 That church and creed the highest 
 Which brings most good to man. 
 
 That hope is best for me 
 
 Which most inspires my life. 
 
 That reaches out beyond the grave 
 And saves from earthly strife.
 
 AND LIBERAL LKCTURES. 35 
 
 That world is best just now 
 
 Which offers most of duty, 
 That soul feels most of heaven 
 
 Who drinks in most of beauty. 
 
 That truth is best and highest 
 
 Which helps me on my way, 
 That lifts the soul from darkness 
 
 And points to endless day. 
 
 That heaven is best for me 
 
 That brings me to my own, 
 Where dear and loved ones gone before 
 
 Will greet us welcome home. 
 
 A Heaven of higher life and love 
 
 Which knows no sect or clan. 
 But opens wide the Heavenly gate 
 
 To the divine in man. 
 
 All are the children of the Father, 
 
 Sparks from that central sun, 
 Not a soul, though feeble in goodness 
 
 Can be lost to the Infinite One.
 
 o 
 
 6 FREE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 BACKBOHE. 
 
 When 3^ou see a fellow mortal 
 Without fixed and fearless views, 
 Hanging on the skirts of others, 
 Walking in their cast-off shoes, 
 Bowing low to wealth and favor, 
 With abject, uncovered head, 
 Ready to retract and waver, 
 Willing to be drove and led; 
 Walk yourself with firmer bearing, 
 Throw your moral shoulders back, 
 Show 3"our spine has nerve and marrow 
 Just the things which his most lack. 
 
 A stronger word 
 Was never heard 
 In sense and tone 
 Than this — backbone. 
 
 When you see a theologian 
 Hugging close some ugl}^ creed, 
 Fearing to reject or question 
 Dogmas which his priest may read; 
 Holding back all noble feeling, 
 Choking down each manly view, 
 Caring more for forms and symbols
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURES. 37 
 
 Tlian to know the good and true; 
 Walk yourself with firmer bearing, 
 Throw your moral shoulders back; 
 Show }our spine has nen'e and marrow — 
 Just the things which his most lack. 
 
 A stronger word 
 Was never heard 
 In sense and tone 
 Than thi.s — backbone. 
 
 When you see a politician 
 Crawling through contracted holes. 
 Begging for some fat position. 
 In the ring or at the poles; 
 With no sterling manhood in him, 
 Nothing stable, broad or .sound, 
 Destitute of pluck or ballast, 
 Double-sided all around; 
 Walk yourself with firmer bearing, 
 Throw 3-our moral shoulders back. 
 Show yQur spine has nerve and marrow — 
 Just the things which his mo.st lack. 
 
 A stronger word 
 Was never heard 
 In sense or tone 
 Than this — backbone. 
 
 A modest .song and plainly told — 
 The text is worth a mine of gold, 
 For many men most sadly lack 
 A noble stiffness in the back.
 
 o 
 
 S FREE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 BE THYSELF. 
 
 Be thyself; a nobler gospel 
 
 Never preached the Nazarene; 
 
 Be thyself; 'tis Holy Scripture, 
 Though no Bible lids between. 
 
 Dare to shape the thought in language 
 
 That is lying in thy brain; 
 Dare to launch it, banners flying. 
 
 On the bosom of the main. 
 
 What, though pirate knaves surround thee, 
 
 Nail thy colors to the mast; 
 Flinch not, flee not — boldly sailing, 
 
 Thou shalt gain the port at last. 
 
 Be no parrot, idly prating, 
 
 Thoughts the spirit never knew; 
 
 Be a prophet of the God-sent, 
 Telling all thy message true. 
 
 Then the coward world will scorn thee: 
 Friends maj^ fail and fiends may fi;own; 
 
 Heaven itself grow dark above thee, 
 Gods in anger thence look down.
 
 AND I.IBERAI, I.l-XTURES. 39 
 
 Heed not; there's a world more jwtent 
 
 Carried in thy manly heart; 
 Be thyself, and do thy duty, 
 
 It will always take thy part. 
 
 If the God within says "Well done," 
 
 What are other Gods to thee? 
 Hell's his frown, but where his smile is. 
 
 There is Heaven for the free. - 
 
 ■^•(■(Ka K-— < ^m^ 
 
 EVOLUTION. 
 
 This world of nature and of force, 
 
 In Nature's book eternal and sublime. 
 
 The records of our planet's growth. 
 With all its forms divine. 
 
 And yet, in past 'twas counted sin 
 
 To read its pages clear; 
 By priest and saint it was ignored 
 
 Through ignorance and fear. 
 
 Evolution is the unfoldment of life. 
 
 And tells of growth by gravitation; 
 I'nfolded from early conditions, 
 
 Not made as declared bv divine revelation.
 
 40 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 It relates to all things in existence; 
 
 The earth and product of every kind; 
 Of life and being great and small 
 
 In the world of matter and of mind. 
 
 « 
 
 At first a sea of atoms vast, 
 
 And then a central sun, 
 From which the planets have been born, 
 
 And in their orbits spun. 
 
 As our solar sj-stems thus were born 
 So other systems found their place; 
 
 By Nature's law in matter found 
 Throughout a universe of space. 
 
 No word or sound or voice profound 
 
 Was heard to speak in all this realm of space; 
 
 Only the silent work of Nature's law 
 Brought worlds and being into place. 
 
 Millions of years both fire and flood, 
 
 With chemic action wrought in this great plan, 
 
 To lay foundations broad and deep, , 
 And build this home for man. 
 
 Not onl}' did the elements conspire, 
 And with new forms of being blend, 
 
 But sentient life joined in the plan 
 Of Nature's work a hand to lend. 
 
 Thus all forms of life were born 
 
 From Nature's vital force; 
 In mail}' moulds its essence fell 
 
 As life pursued its course. 
 
 M
 
 AND UBKKAI, LECTURES. 41 
 
 Still on, yet on life's current flowed, 
 And left its trace in channels as it ran: 
 
 In plant and tree, in fish and bird and beast. 
 But found its highest type in man. 
 
 The niarytrdoni of man 
 
 Is Nature's broad highway 
 Through which the race is trav'ling up 
 
 To wisdom's endless day. 
 
 So evolution tells the storj- 
 
 How all things have come to be 
 In this universe of law, 
 
 On earth, in air and sea. 
 
 And of all the plans to save the soul 
 
 In sacred books by revelation, 
 There's none so clear as Nature gives 
 
 In her great book of evolution.
 
 42 . FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 INFIDELITY-OUR RELIGIOH. 
 
 -the;- 
 
 no^E oi^ THE t7;7-o:rXj^. 
 
 What one believes may be termed his religion, and 
 what one absolutely knows must be science, and to the 
 thinking mind the realm of belief grows less as knowl- 
 edge increases. What I thought I knew when I was a 
 shouting Methodist is not now even a belief, and what 
 I believed then has faded clean out. About God I 
 know nothing, and where there are no facts there ought 
 to be no belief, hence about God I believe nothing. 
 About the future state of being I have no absolute 
 knowledge, but from convictions forced upon me by the 
 phenomena I have witnessed in my own family and 
 elsewhere pointing in that direction, I am compelled 
 to believe in conscious existence after death. But as 
 my Methodism took wings and flew away, so also ma}- 
 this belief give way before a wider knowledge, but J 
 hope not, as the hope which this belief inspires is be- 
 yond price.
 
 AND LIBERAL LKCTURIvS. 43 
 
 Faith ill the truthfuhiess of the Bible as evidence 
 made nie a Methodist, so also faith in the import of 
 mental and physical phenomena makes me a believer 
 in continued life. Destro}- my faith in what stands for 
 evidence to-day and I am simpl}- an Infidel or unbe- 
 lie\'er. Some liberals run from this word as the>' 
 would from a mad bull, but to me the word infidel has 
 a significance of which no true man or woman need be 
 ashamed. We are told by some that liberalism or in- 
 fidelity is a bundle of negations, and that Infidels 
 don't believe anything, teach anything, or build any- 
 thing, and all their efforts tend to destro}- and leave 
 ever\thing in ruins. 
 
 Now this is a great mistake made l)y ignorant and 
 prejudiced people. It is not true that liberalism or 
 infidelity don't teach anything, and for every old and 
 decayed plank in the creeds which she destroys she 
 puts a better one in its place, and as a mighty l)uilder 
 has a positive side. In place of fable and fiction she 
 gives facts; in place of supernaturalism she gives us 
 natural religion backed up l)y every natural science: 
 in place of creation in six periods of time she gives the 
 evolution of all things in an eternity of time, and 
 teaches that this world of matter and mind is governed 
 by eternal and inexecrable law and that unfoldment 
 and progression is the law of the universe. lyiberalism 
 teaches universal salvation in the indix'idual through 
 natural development — a .self salvation which holds 
 good in this world or any other, and that nature is 
 complete in herself to do all things, and that this 
 world is running on, not under the blasting mildew of 
 a curse, but under the blessing of heaven. Liberalism 
 and infidelitv teaches that true religion is goodness.
 
 44 free; thought poems 
 
 and is not Hebrew or Christian, but is as natural to 
 man as mechanism, music, or anything else to which 
 nature has adapted him to attain; not based upon be- 
 lief but inherent in the nature of things, and a more 
 rational and glorious doctrine has never been taught to 
 man than the doctrine that man's intellectual and 
 moral nature as certainly unfolds under natural law as 
 does the fragrant flower or field of grain. 
 
 I have had many good and well meaning people tell 
 me that if they believed as I do they would not stop at 
 any degree of crime. Such people seem to be ignorant 
 of the fact that all the truth and moral life the world 
 has ever received has come from nature, and that natu- 
 ral religion teaches human moral responsibility; that 
 whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap; if he 
 sow to the wind he shall reap the whirlwind; if he sow 
 to the flesh he shall reap animalism and corruption, 
 and that pain or punishment in the economy of nature 
 is for the purpose of reform; and to-day infidelity, to 
 the thinking mind, furnishes a thousand fold stronger 
 motives to be good, to do good, to buy the truth and 
 sell it not, than all other religions upon the earth, for 
 while the motives of eternal hell and eternal glory are 
 fast fading out, natural law remains the same and for- 
 ever teaches us that true religion is not an effort on 
 God's part to save man, as all efforts imply failure and 
 are human, but an effort on man's part to bring him- 
 self into harmony with nature, of which he is a part. 
 Harmony is heaven in this world, or any other. 
 
 Now I know that infidelit}- don't teach much about 
 God, heaven, hell, or angels. Well, it don't know 
 much about what will happen in another life, and, 
 as for deity, it is unthinkable to an intelligent mind.
 
 AM> I.IBKRAL LIXTURKS. 45 
 
 and to say the least it can afford to be modest and mA 
 ciuarrel with any one about things of Avhich we can 
 know so little, and with a kindly spirit for all, leaving 
 many questions open, and yet rest securely in the so\-- 
 ereignit\' of natural law. 
 
 It is true that infidelity don't l)uild churches and 
 lay upon human hearts the burdens of religious wor- 
 ship, as she has no use for churches, and honestly be- 
 lieves that every church spire pointing to the sky is a 
 remnant of paganism and emblem of superstition. 
 Rather let us build school houses and teach natural 
 science to the children, their relation to nature and to 
 each other; and it will be a glad day to this world 
 when the priest shall fall to the rear and the school 
 master come to the front, and the church give way to 
 the college of learning, and the temple of .science lift 
 her smiling face above the clouds of bigotry and relig- 
 ious fanaticism. 
 
 For centuries the word infidel has been u.sed as an 
 epithet to stigmatize tho.se who dare step aside from 
 time-worn paths of religious thought with some such 
 significance as the words: mad dog, small pox, or yel- 
 low fever, and from early boyhood I was taught to re- 
 gard Infidels as bad people — not that they did not pay 
 their debts as well as other people, nor because they 
 were not as good husbands, wives, sons and daughters 
 as those of the Christain faith, but because they did 
 not believe what I was taught to believe about God 
 and the devil. And not until late in life did I di.scover 
 the fallacy of measuring human character by the 
 standard ot any religious belief, as goodness or bad- 
 ness does not consist in what men believe about God 
 or heaven, but in what thev are and what they do. for
 
 46 FREE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 there are plenty of people who believe the entire 
 schednle of religious clap-trap and are chuck full of 
 religion, and yet to their families are as mean as dirt, 
 devoid of honesty and true manhood. There is not a 
 religion on earth which does not hold all to be infidels 
 who do not embrace their faith, see the truth as thej' 
 see it, and worship God in the same wa}^ they worship 
 him. The Protestants are infidels to the Catholics, 
 and both are infidels to the Jews. This is infidelity 
 the world over, and from the beginning of the Chris- 
 tian era every effort has been made by the Christian 
 Church to force all people to believe the same things 
 about God and salvation. No doubt this effort grew 
 out of an honest belief that God wrote the Bible, and 
 in that book commanded that all should believe certain 
 things or be damned. But honest}- and sincerity with- 
 out reason has filled this world with cruelty and blood. 
 Hence unbelief or infidelity, which is simply a struggle 
 for mental freedom, has grown up as the result of 
 religious evolution. 
 
 In every period of the world's history a few brave 
 men have spoken their honest convictions, and for the 
 extermination of these men the church has used the 
 utmost limit of her power. She has sown the seeds of 
 contention and bitterness everywhere and among all 
 peoples, and the sacred ties of family and kinship have 
 given way before the flood tides of religious deviltry. 
 Fire and sword has reaped the harvest of innocence 
 who.se only crime was honest unbelief, and the cruel 
 waves of red-handed war like a rising tide has .swept 
 over the world in the name of religion, and ever has 
 floated the bloody banner of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Religion, like everything else, is the subject of evolu-
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTl'RKs. 47 
 
 tion. Change and progress is the law of the universe. 
 The philosophy- and science of five thousand years ago 
 does not contain the sum total of knowledge to-day. 
 No, the world moves, and men are everywhere, Samp- 
 son-like, feeling after the pillars of fraud, sham and 
 superstition, and this effort to know the truth is called 
 heres}- and infidelit}-. 
 
 The religions of the past have been the clothing of 
 the childhood of our race, and adapted to the people 
 who originated them — the eyesight of an age when the 
 eye was dim. The creeds of the world have been the 
 crutches on which the race have hobbled in their ignor- 
 ance and superstition. But it does not follow that 
 men and women need always to wear goggles or walk 
 on crutches. vSo far as we may know, the religions of 
 the world have grown from one parent stalk, as by his- 
 tory we find that ancient India is the birth-place and 
 mother of the religions, morals, language and litera- 
 ture of the world, and our best scholars inform us that 
 this early religion inspired the Kjyptian, Hebrew, 
 Greek and Roman civilization, and still pervades the 
 economy of our laws and usage to-day. Cousin says 
 that the history of this early Hindu religion is the 
 abridged history of the philosophy of the whole world, 
 and thus did the wise men of India precede the wisdom 
 of Mo.ses of the Jews and give her laws, religion and 
 customs to Egypt, Persia, Greece and Rome.' Thus it 
 happens that the story of Chrisna precedes the story 
 of Christ, and the .silly storj- of the virgin mother in 
 the Bramin religion is many centuries older than the 
 story of the virgin mother ot Bethlehem. 
 
 We .see then that the infidelity of our age consists in 
 not believing that Jesus of Nazareth was the only
 
 48 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 crucified savior of men. How could that which was 
 written first been copied from that which was written 
 last. If I could say that Brahminism and Buddhism 
 were copied from Christianity, and that the beautiful 
 vedas and scriptures of the Hindus were copied from 
 the Hebrew, and that all of the moral life of the world 
 had eminated from Christianity, I could be a Chris- 
 tian instead of an Infidel, but in the light of history I 
 can't say this, hence I am compelled to take the place 
 and name of Infidel. 
 
 To my mind infidelity is an inspiration . All in- 
 spiration is an inbreathing from the infinite universe, 
 and has not been confined to any country or people, 
 and the infidelity of the world is the result of inspira- 
 tion quite as much as the religious thought of the 
 world. From the dust covered centuries of the 
 twilight ages, from the mart5^red dead of the far-off 
 past among all peoples, inspired thoughts like shocks 
 from the battery of truth have blessed humanity and 
 stirred the pulse of the world. From the dim distance 
 of more than five thousand years ago comes the voice 
 of the Hi n'!u law-giver and protot3'pe of Moses, and 
 from Buddlia, the divine man and prototype of Jesus — 
 quite as moral and divine as anj'thi ng found in the 
 Bible of the Jews. 
 
 More than twenty-five centuries ago from Zoroaster, 
 Pythagoras and Confucius, has poured forth a stream 
 of inspiration, which in point of wisdom and moral 
 beauty is at least equal to an5^thing in the four gospels 
 attributed to Jesus, the modern savior man. More 
 than two thousand years ago from Socrates, Plato, 
 Aristotle and Lucretius, and on down to Apilonius and 
 Jesus, there has been a constant stream of knowledge.
 
 AND I.IHKRAL LECTUKKS. 49 
 
 moral life and goodness shed forth to enlighten the 
 world, and there has been no age destitute of inspired 
 men in science, morals and religion. 
 
 Let me give a few brief quotations from Huddha. who, 
 as a moral teacher, has no superior among men: 
 
 "A man who does me wrong I will return to him the 
 protection of my love; the more evil that goes from 
 him the more good shall go from me." 
 
 "Let a man overcome anger with love, evil l)v good, 
 the Harby truth." 
 
 "The evil doer mourns in this world and he shall 
 mourn in the next." 
 
 "He who casts aside his appetites, who keeps armed 
 with the virtue and endowed with temperance and 
 integrity, he indeed is worthy of the yellow garment." 
 
 "Forsake all evil, bring forth good; master thj- pas- 
 sions and thoughts." Such is Buddha's faith to the 
 end of all pain. 
 
 What did Jesus or his apostles ever say that excels 
 these passages, and yet we are asked to shut our eyes 
 to the claims of other saviors and thus rob others of 
 justice that Jesus may be crowned lord of all. To be 
 an Infidel is to regard Jesus as a reflector of borrowed 
 light and a reflex of the inspiration of his da\'. 
 
 Infidelity is as old as man, for as long as men ha\e 
 worshiped Gods so long has there been people who did 
 not believe in Gods, and were the Infidels of ancient 
 times. The old Greek poet, Diagoras, who lived 
 twentj'-three hundred years ago, was an Infidel. He 
 said that his Gods were the atoms and that he would 
 sooner worship no Gods and believe in none, than to 
 worship Gods who tolerated cruelty and wickedness or 
 were powerless to prevent it. Religious people put a
 
 50 FREE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 price upon his head and he had to flee to save his life. 
 This was ancient infidelity, and this is the doctrine of 
 Tyndall and the leading scientists of our day, that the 
 atom, and the law inherent in it, stands between us 
 and a supposed God. And like Diagoras of old we 
 can't get behind the atom to see whether there be a 
 God or not. 
 
 There may be a thousand Gods for aught we know 
 instead of three. But if there is they are figments of 
 the imagination, and powerless to help or harm us. 
 Don't talk to me about a good and overruling provi- 
 dence who created nature — a machine — and then can't 
 control its forces to save innocent life from wholesale 
 death by fire, water, earthquakes, tornadoes, and other 
 fearful calamities which fill whole countries with agony 
 and death in its most frightful forms. And above all 
 don't ask me to bend the knee in worship of such an 
 infinite monster of cruelty. To say that God in his 
 mercy sees fit to make such use of infinite power, is to 
 insult reason and common sense. 
 
 This is infidelity, but let me follow where reason 
 lead,s — to do less i.s fdiocy and mental death — and I 
 am sure we will not be ashamed of the company' we 
 are keeping. I am glad to join hands in spirit to- 
 night with the Infidels of the past who have made it 
 possible for us to be free. I love to think of old 
 Socrates, that grand old deist who held such an ex- 
 alted belief and led such a pure life when the world 
 was cursed and polluted with false religion. Who 
 can but admire the life of Mahomet, fighting for the 
 doctrine of one God— no more. A brighter light has 
 no one shed on the darkness of his age; or Campanella, 
 who was kept in prison twenty-seven years and put to
 
 AND LIBKRAL LECTURKS. 5 1 
 
 the torture seven times for the sake of science; or 
 Vanini, who had his tongue torn out, and was burned 
 by followers of Jesus — who said, love one another; or 
 poor old Roger Bacon, who laid in prison ten years 
 that our children might have text books in the schools. 
 
 And not only have brave men stood up for truth, 
 but the page of history gleams like a diamond's light 
 with the name of Hypatia. that mistress of logic, 
 eloquence and philosophy, who was torn trom her 
 carriage and butchered in cold blood by Christian 
 monks and yielded up her sweet life as one of the 
 fruits of Paul's doctrine — let a woman keep silence. 
 I .should be ungrateful to men who died for me should 
 I pass over in .silence the names of Bruno and Ser\'etus, 
 whose ghosts should haunt the Church of Christ to 
 her dying da}-; and it makes the hot blood of indigna- 
 tion come and go when I think how the lives of these 
 grand men went out in fire and smoke at the hands of 
 Christian devils. What for? Oh, simply that one 
 was a Unitarian and could not see how the son could 
 be as old as the father. The other — the .splendid 
 Bruno — because he held to the doctrine which Tyndall 
 and Huxley teaches to-da}' — the potency of matter and 
 completeness of nature. 
 
 How can an\- true man or woman be a.shamed of 
 such company? I am proud to claim a kin.shi]) in 
 sentiment, spirit and purpose with such a noble man 
 as Voltaire, that blazing light of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury; he who had the backbone to defy and point the 
 finger of scorn and contempt at all the living kings 
 and priests of the old world, whose lips turned white 
 with rage at the livid lightning shocks which fell from 
 his pen. He it was who said the only go.spel we should
 
 52 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 read is the book of nature, written with God's own 
 hand and stamped with his own seal. The only relig- 
 ion w^e ought to profess is to reverence God and act 
 like honest men. It would be as impossible for this 
 simple and eternal religion to produce evil, as it would 
 be impo.ssible for the Christian superstition not to pro- 
 duce it. 
 
 Who can but feel a sense of honest pride to be 
 counted in sympathy with the spirit and life work of 
 such noble men: D. Holback, Hugo, Humboldt, 
 Franklin, Jefferson, Buckle, Comte, Kant, Draper, 
 Garison, Lincoln, and a host of others whose lives 
 have shed light into the darkness of the past, and 
 have lived, loved and suffered in the cause of mental 
 freedom. And of such lives one name more I bring, 
 and as I approach that name I feel a deep sense of 
 gratitude for such a life as that of Thomas Paine — 
 name ever dear to every justice and liberty-loving 
 man and woman. Born in poverty as he was and yet 
 how rich in true wealth; born as he was amid the 
 cruel, surging breakers of political and religious 
 despotism, and j'et how true to the spirit which, like 
 the pole star, guided his life, rising like a Sampson 
 in his might he carried away the gates of king craft 
 and priest craft, the enemies of human freedom. He 
 had no reverence for sacred and time-honored lies; and 
 his great heart throbbed for the down-trodden, suffer- 
 ing poor. He gave up all as a sacrifice upon the altar 
 of liberty and truth. He lost everything but the love 
 of truth and self-respect. Some of his friends forsook 
 him when in prison because he was true to him.self 
 Who but the immortal Paine could have said: Where 
 liberty is not, there is my country. There is not in all
 
 AND I.IBERAI, I.KCTURKS. 5^ 
 
 the Bibles of the world a sentiment more grand — glow- 
 ing as it does with self-abnegation and devotion to 
 liberty. And may heaven forget me and mine if I 
 forget]to pay my poor tribute of love and gratitude to 
 these saviors of men, not in a sense of hero worship or 
 man worship, but in a sense made mellow and tender 
 by the memory of injustice, ingratitude and persecu- 
 tion, which, like a dark cloud, has followed in the 
 pathway of these great infidels of the past. 
 
 A few more 3'ears of infidelity and free thought: a 
 few more Benuetts in prison for the sake of principle: 
 a few more men like IngersoU to carry the torch 
 handed down from the Infidels of the past, and super- 
 stition will flee away like fog before the morning sun. 
 I am glad that the day-star of hope is ri.sing on high, 
 and what the church calls infidelity has become the 
 hope of this world. 
 
 Infidelity and unbelief in senseless creeds and dog- 
 mas has saved this world from the night of barbarism, 
 opened wide the doors for science, and scattered its 
 blessings in the pathway of our race. 
 
 Liberalism, unbelief and infidelity is not unfaithful- 
 ness to truth and duty. Let no man pride himself on 
 being an Infidel unless he be .a seeker and lover of 
 truth and justice. 
 
 Free thinking is not loose thinking. True religion 
 is simply goodness, and infidelity, the crowning glory 
 of a full rounded manhood, is freedom to think, and 
 liberty to utter ones best thought for truth and liberty
 
 ^ 
 
 54 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 I WAMT TO BE AN INFIDEL. 
 
 I want to be an infidel; 
 
 And with infidels to stand; 
 No crown upon my forhead; 
 
 Nor harp within my hand. 
 
 I'd rather be an infidel 
 
 To every book and creed 
 That binds the soul in galling chains, 
 
 And fails to meet its need. 
 
 I want to be an infidel, 
 From superstition free; 
 
 My God and heaven within the soul 
 
 My church and priest to be. 
 
 I'd rather be an infidel, 
 
 And champion human rights. 
 
 Than wear the garb of priest or king, 
 With all their lordh^ might. 
 
 I'd rather be an infidel, 
 
 My church within my mind, 
 
 Than lend a hand to sect or clan, 
 My brother man to bind.
 
 AND I.IBKRAI, I.KCTURKS. 55 
 
 I love the name of infidel, 
 
 Tis sweet music to my ear; 
 A synonym of liberty, 
 
 A charm for childish fear. 
 
 I want to be an infidel, 
 
 Like Ingersoll, the brave, 
 And help to lift the masses up, 
 
 Though it lead to martyr's grave. 
 
 I would that all were infidels, 
 
 It is superstitions tomb; 
 It brings the day of science near, 
 
 'Tis manhood's richest bloom. 
 
 Who would not be an infidel. 
 And the ranks of freedom swell; 
 
 To fight the wrongs of church and state. 
 And quench the fires of hell? 
 
 I'm proud to be an infidel, 
 
 Tho' of gold it brings small gain; 
 
 'Tis wealth enough, the power of tho't — 
 The Common Sense of Paine.
 
 56 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 MATURE AHD GRACE. 
 
 It has always been thought a most critical case, 
 When a man was possessed of more Nature than Grace; 
 For Theology teaches that man from the first 
 Was a sinner by Nature, and justly accurst; 
 And "Salvation by Grace" was the wonderful plan. 
 Which God had invented to save erring man. 
 'Twas the only atonement He knew how to make 
 To annul the effects of His own sad mistake. 
 
 Now this was the doctrine of good Parson Brown, 
 Who preached, not long since, in a small country town. 
 He was zealous and earnest, and could so excel 
 In describing the tortures of sinners in hell, 
 That a famous revival commenced in the place, 
 And hundreds of souls found salvation bj' grace; 
 But he felt that he had not attained his desire 
 Till he had converted one Peter McGuire. 
 
 This man was a blacksmith, frank, fearless and bold, 
 With great brawny sinews, like Vulcan of old; 
 He had little respect for what ministers preach, 
 And sometimes was very profane in his speech. 
 His opinions were founded on clear common sense, 
 And he spoke as he thought, though he oft gave offense; 
 But however wanting, in whole or in part. 
 He was sound, and all right, when you came to his 
 heart.
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURES. 57 
 
 One day the good parson, witli pious intent, 
 
 To the smithy of Peter most hopefully went; 
 
 And there, while the hammer industriously swung, 
 
 He preached and he prayed, exhorted and sung. 
 
 And warned, and entreated poor Peter to fly 
 
 From the pit of destruction before he should die; 
 
 And to wash himself clean from the world's sinful 
 
 strife 
 In the Blood of the Lamb, and the River of Life. 
 
 Well, and what would you now be inclined to expect 
 Was the probable issue and likely effect? 
 Why, he swore "like a pirate," and what do you think? 
 From a little black bottle took something to drink! 
 And he said "I'll not mention the Blood of the Lamb, 
 
 But as for the River it aren't worth a ;" 
 
 Then pausing, as if to restrain his rude force. 
 He quietly added, "a mill-dam. of course." 
 
 Quick out of the smithy the minister fled. 
 
 As if a big bomb-shell had burst near his head; 
 
 And as he continued to haste on his way. 
 
 He was too much excited to sing or to pray; 
 
 But he thought how that some were elected b}- Grace, 
 
 As heirs of the kingdom — made sure of their place — 
 
 While others were doomed to the pains of hell-fire. 
 
 And if e'er there was one such 'twas Peter McGuire. 
 
 That night, when the Storm King was riding on high, 
 And the red shafts of lightning gleamed bright in the 
 
 sky, 
 The church of the village, "the Temple of God,"
 
 58 FREK-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 Was struck, for the want of a good lightning rod, 
 And swiftly descending, the elements dire 
 Set the minister's house, close beside it, on fire, 
 While he peacefully slumbered, with never a fear 
 Of the terrible work of destruction so near. 
 
 There was Mary, and Hannah, and Tommy, and Joe, 
 All sweetly asleep in the bedroom below, 
 While their father was near, with their mother at rest, 
 (Like the wife of John Rogers "with one at the 
 
 breast") 
 But Alice, the eldest, a gentle young dove. 
 Was asleep all alone in the room just above; 
 And when the wild cry of the rescurer came 
 She only was left to the pitiless flame. 
 
 The fond mother counted her treasures of love, 
 When lo! one was missing — "O Father above!" 
 How madly she shrieked in her agony wild — 
 "My Alice! my Alice! O, save my dear child!" 
 Then down on his knees fell the Parson, and prayed 
 That the terrible wrath of the Lord might be stayed. 
 Said Peter McGuire: "Prayer is good its place, 
 But then it don't suit this particular case." 
 
 He turned down the sleeves of his red flannel shirt, 
 To shield his great arms, all besmutted with dirt; 
 Then into the billows of smoke and of fire. 
 Not pausing an instant dashed Peter McGuire. 
 O, that terrible moment of anxious suspense! 
 How breathless their watching! their fear how intense! 
 And then their great joy! which was freely expressed 
 When Peter appeared with the child on his breast. 
 
 I
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURES. 59 
 
 A shout rent the air when the darling he laid 
 In the arms of her mother, so pale and dismayed; 
 And as Alice looked up and most gratefully smiled, 
 He bowed down his head and he wept like a child. 
 O, the.se tears ot brave manhood that rained o'er his 
 
 face. 
 Showed the true Grace of Nature, and the Nature of 
 
 Grace ; 
 "Twas a manifest token, a visible sign 
 Of he indwelling life of the Spirit Divine. 
 
 Consider such natures, and then, if you can. 
 Preach of "total depravity" innate in man. 
 Talk of bla.sphemyl why, 'tis profanity wild 
 To say that the Father thus cursed his own child. 
 Go learn of the stars, and tlie dew-spangled .sod, 
 TJiat all things rejoice in the goodness of God; 
 That each thing created is good in its place. 
 And Nature is but the expression of Grace.
 
 6o FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 WILL IT PAY? 
 
 Men say what the}^ will 
 
 Of the author of ill, 
 And the wiles of the devil that tempt them astray, 
 
 But there's something far worse — 
 
 A more terrible curse — 
 It is selling the truth for the sake of the pay. 
 
 Like Judas of old, 
 
 For silver and gold, 
 Man often has bartered his conscience away, 
 
 Has walked in disguise, 
 
 And has trafficked in lies, 
 If the prospect was good that the business would pa}^ 
 
 If a fortune is made 
 
 By cheating in trade. 
 It is seldom, if ever, men question the way; 
 
 But they make it a rule 
 
 That a man is a fool 
 Who strives to make justice and honesty pay. 
 
 An instance more clear 
 
 Could never appear, 
 Than was seen in the life of old Nicholas Gray; 
 
 Who ne'er made a move 
 
 In religion or love. 
 Unless he was sure that the venture would pay.
 
 AXn I.IRERAI. LKCTURES. 6l 
 
 He built him a house 
 
 That would scarce hold a mouse, 
 Where he managed to live in a miserly way, 
 
 Till he said: "On my life, 
 
 I will take me a wife; 
 It is running a risk — but think it will pay." 
 
 Then he opened a store, 
 
 Whose fair, tempting door, 
 Led sure and direct to destruction's broad way; 
 
 For liquor he sold 
 
 To the young and the old, 
 To the poor and the wretched, and all who could pay. 
 
 A woman once came 
 
 And in God's holy name. 
 She prayed him his terrible traffic to stay, 
 
 That her husband might not 
 
 Be a poor, drunken sot, 
 And spend all his money for what would not pay. 
 
 Old Nicholas laughed, 
 
 As his whisky he quaffed, 
 And he said, "If your husband comes hither to-day, 
 
 I will sell him his dram, 
 
 And I don't care a — clam 
 How you are supported if I get my pay." 
 
 So he prospered in sin, 
 
 And continued to win 
 
 The wages of death in this terrible way, 
 
 Till a constable's raid 
 Put an end to his trade. 
 And closed up the business as well as the pay.
 
 62 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 To church he then went, 
 
 With a pious intent 
 Of "getting religion," as some people say — 
 
 For he said, "It comes cheap, 
 
 And costs nothing to keep, 
 And from close observation I think it will pay." 
 
 But the tax and the tithe 
 
 Made old Nicholas writhe. 
 And he thought that the plate came too often his way; 
 
 So he soon fell from grace. 
 
 And made vacant his place, 
 For he said, "I perceive that religion don't pay." 
 
 Still striving to thrive, 
 
 And thriving to strive. 
 His attention was turned a political way; 
 
 But he could not decide 
 
 Which party or side 
 Would be the most likel}' to prosper or pay. 
 
 He was puzzled, and hence 
 
 He sat on the fence. 
 Prepared in an instant to jump either way; 
 
 But it fell to his fate 
 
 To jump just too late. 
 And he said in disgust, "This of all things don't pay." 
 
 Year passed after year. 
 And there did not appear 
 A spark of improvement in Nicholas Gray, 
 For his morala grew worse
 
 AND I. IBKRAI. I.KCTUKKS. 63 
 
 With the weight of his purse, 
 As he managed to make his rascality pay. 
 
 At length he fell ill. 
 
 So he drew up his will, 
 Just in time to depart from his mansion of clay; 
 
 And he said to old Death, 
 
 With his last gasp of breath, 
 "Don't hunt for my soul, for I know it won't pay." 
 
 O, 'tis sad to rehearse, 
 
 In prose or in verse. 
 The faults and the follies that lead men astray; 
 
 For gold is but dross, 
 
 And a terrible loss, 
 When conscience and manhood are given in pay. 
 
 Then be not deceived, 
 
 Though men have believed 
 That 'tis lawful to sin in a general way; 
 
 But stick to the right 
 
 With all of your might. 
 For truth is eternal, and always will pay.
 
 64 FREE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 THE MONEYLESS MAN. 
 
 Is there no secret place on the face of the earth 
 Where charity dwelleth, where virtue has birth, 
 Where bosoms in mercy and kindness will heave, 
 When the poor and the wretched shall ask and receive? 
 Is there no place at all, where a knock from the poor 
 Will bring a kind angel to open the door? 
 Oh ! search the wide world, wherever you can, 
 There is no open door for a moneyless man. 
 
 Go, look in j^our hall where the chandelier's light 
 Drives off with its splendor the darkness of night; 
 Where the rich hanging velvet, in shadowy fold, 
 Sweeps gracefully down with its trimmings of gold; 
 And the mirrors of silver take up and renew, 
 In long-lighted vistas, the wildering view, 
 Go there at the banquet, and find, if you can, 
 A welcoming smile for a moneyless man. 
 
 Go, look in your church of the cloud-reaching spire. 
 Which gives to the sun his same look of red fire; 
 Where the arches and columns are gorgeous within, 
 And the walls seem as pure as a soul without sin; 
 Walk down the long aisles; see the rich and the great 
 In the pomp and the pride of their worldly estate ; 
 Walk down in your patches and find, if you can, 
 Who opens the pew for the moneyless man.
 
 AND LIBERAL LKCTURES. 65 
 
 Go, look ill the banks, where Mammon has told 
 His hundreds and thousands of silver and gold; 
 Where, safe from the hands of the starving and poor 
 Lie piles upon piles of the glittering ore; 
 Walk up to their counters — ah! there you may stay, 
 Till your limbs shall grow old and your hair shall 
 
 grow gray, 
 And you'll find at the bank not one of the clan 
 With mone}' to lend to a moneyless man. 
 
 Go, look to your judge, in his dark, flowing gown, 
 With the scales wherein law weigheth equity down; 
 Where he frowns on the weak and smiles on the strong. 
 And punishes right whilst he justifies wrong; 
 Where juries their limbs on the Bible have laid 
 To render a verdict they've already made; 
 Go there in the court-room and find, if you can. 
 Any law for the cause of a moneyless man. 
 
 Then go to your hovel — no raven has fed 
 
 The wife that has suffered too long for her bread; 
 
 Kneel down by her pallet and kiss the death-frost 
 
 From the lips of the angel your poverty lost; 
 
 Then turn in your agony upward to God 
 
 And bless, while it smites you, the chastening rod; 
 
 And you'll find at the end of your life's little span, 
 
 There's a "welcome" above for a monevless man.
 
 66 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 HOW TO BE HAPPY; 
 
 -AND- 
 
 TZ3:E OSTSCTS .^^l^JD "CrSES O^ XjIIE'S:. 
 
 When we ask ourselves "what are the objects and 
 uses of life?" we find no solution of the problem only 
 as we find it wrapped up in the nature of things. And, 
 believing, as I do, in the infinite adaptation of means 
 to ends in the natural world, I must infer that life is 
 meant for happiness. 
 
 This grand and beautiful world is full of life, and in 
 whatever form life manifests itself, whether in plant, 
 tree or animal, to reach the best results implies condi- 
 tions of culture. This is as true of man as any other 
 animal, and is as true of the mind as of the physical 
 being; and to promote healthful, and consequently 
 happy life, is a science of the highest importance. For 
 as every phase of life is dependent on conditions for its 
 manifestations, so also is our happiness or misery' the 
 result of law and the conditions surrounding us. For 
 while it is true that we did not make ourselves and the 
 defective organisms, which are ours by inheritance, and 
 are in large part the creatures of circumstances, yet 
 there is a margin for us wherein we may do much 
 towards furnishing conditions and in some sense be-
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURES, 67 
 
 come the creatures of circumstance and yet remain but 
 parts of one stupendous whole, whose body nature is, 
 and God the soul. 
 
 To be happy then, the first and great command of 
 nature is, be healthy. This command is stamped 
 upon animate nature in all her parts. Be healthy in 
 body by obedience to the law of our physical being, 
 not by taking drugs, but by natural sanitary condi- 
 tions. Be healthy in mind, tor there are quite as many 
 diseased minds as there are diseased bodies — physical 
 and mental life are near neighbors and act and rest 
 upon each other. Be healthy in mind, not by drug- 
 ing the mind with schemes of atonement or trying to 
 dodge the effects of natural law, but by obedience to 
 the law of the mind and breathing the pure air of 
 mental freedom. Cultivate all the faculties of the in- 
 tellect, let creeds and dogmas go to the bats and owls 
 of the past, for these obscure the mental vision and 
 prejudice the mind against new forms of truth. And 
 thus being natural, grow wiser and better, and with 
 the pure fresh inspiration of to-day, be happy — for a 
 healthy body and mind is happiness, if not there must 
 be a sad defect in the divine economy of this world. 
 
 The wide world over mankind are struggling to be 
 happy; and riches or to be wealthy is the great hobby 
 of this world in both civilized and barbarous life. And 
 so it is, the world rushes on pell-mell after this phan- 
 tom which eludes the grasp at every tuni, leaving its 
 weary victim far in the rear, soured and saddened in 
 the race after this igtiics/aius, or fal.se light to human 
 happiness. To my mind the old proverb which .says: 
 "He that makes ha.ste to be rich brings a snare upon 
 his soul," is true to nature, and simply the enunciation
 
 68 FREE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 of natural law, the operation of which ma}" be seen in 
 society on every hand. 
 
 For an illustration take the poor laboring man in 
 the shop or in the field. He has health, and his sleep 
 is made sweet by daily toil. He is content with his 
 lot and enjoys in a high degree the blessings of family 
 and home. His wife is all the world to him, and 
 their mutual love and affection makes their little home 
 a heaven — rosy-cheeked and bright-eyed children, 
 chips from two loving hearts, like olive plants grow 
 up about their table to make their bond of union more 
 complete. They are poor as the world counts riches, 
 and yet they are happy, but now comes the demon of 
 unrest and anxious disquietude. While hard at work, 
 his arm strong and his heart light by the thought of 
 home and those dependent upon him, he lifts his eyes 
 and sees approaching a magnificent carriage with Mr. 
 Shoddy and Mrs. Shoddy, and all the little Shoddies, 
 rolling along in gorgeous splendor. He stops his 
 work and gazes after the gay equippage until out of 
 sight. Then heaves a sigh and says to himself: 
 Money bu3^s ever5^thing, and money will buy all these; 
 and in this unhappiest moment of his whole life he 
 makes a vow to be rich, come what will. 
 
 Now then begins a strain upon his honesty and af- 
 fections to which he was before a stranger. He makes 
 everything bend to his passion to be rich, and this is 
 the snare set for the soul who makes haste to be rich. 
 He loses his frankness and becomes sly and cautious, 
 and learns the tricks of trade, which politeness calls 
 business tact. He is so absorbed in money-making 
 that he loses all the pleasure he had in wife, children 
 and home, and becomes penurious and ill-natured.
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURKS. 69 
 
 The wife of his young heart is starving for the love 
 which has become a shipwreck, grows sad and care- 
 worn, or seeks that love elsewhere to which her home 
 has become a stranger; and even the children grow 
 serious at the sound of his footstep, as though some 
 dread shadow had fallen on their path. He joins the 
 church to extend his business relations, and thus by 
 one move becomes a bigot and a hypocrite that he ma)- 
 become rich. He gains ten thousand dollars but is 
 not happy yet; he gains one hundred thousand dollars 
 and is not happy yet; he gains five hundred thousand 
 dollars and yet happiness recedes from him. He coins 
 his bod}- and all the aspirations of his soul into dollars 
 and lies down in premature death a rich man, Init how 
 poor in those ([ualities of mind which are the true 
 riches which outltve the ravages of time. 
 
 Oh, hoAv a morbid desire to be rich paralizes the 
 higher faculties of the mind and closes the windows of 
 the soul to the better influences of higher life. But 
 thus it is, meanness is a part of the price it costs to be 
 rich, and I don't wonder that the prophet said, 
 "Hardly shall a rich man enter into heaven;" simply 
 because there is no heaven in wealth alone, but rather 
 in a contented mind. 
 
 Next to getting rich comes getting religion as a 
 means of happiness. Now to many people religion is 
 a means to develop a higher and better manhood, and 
 the Bible, Jesus, rites and ceremonies, or religious 
 notions, are helps or means, not masters, to aid in 
 developing human nature and lift it to higher levels of 
 life and experience, To many, religion is a ladder or 
 a crutch, and that is the best religion which helps one 
 most.
 
 70 FKKE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 With this view of religion I have no fault to find. 
 But it does not follow that because a ladder is a need 
 to a short man and a crutch to a lame man that every- 
 body should carry a ladder or hobble about on a crutch. 
 But to the vast mass of mankind false views of religion 
 have obtained, and it stands to them, not as a means, 
 but a finality and the end to be attained, the forgive- 
 ness of sin. To me this is dangerous doctrine. God 
 is law and sin is a violation of law, and God can' t for- 
 give sin no more than water can run up hill. The)^ 
 speak of religion as though it could be taken on by 
 exposure like measles or other contagious maladies, 
 and I have always noticed that women take it a great 
 deal harder and more readily than men. 
 
 I was exposed to it when I was very young and had 
 it so hard that it lasted me about twenty-five years. I 
 should have been relieved of this complaint much 
 sooner but for the gospel medicine which was con- 
 stantly given to keep the disease alive. With this view 
 of religion I have no sympathy, and will do all I can 
 to relieve men from this nightmare and phantom which 
 so many pursue in search of happiness. 
 
 When you see physical life manifesting itself in 
 spasms the doctor tells you that it is abnormal and 
 dangerous. Most mothers are frightened out of their 
 wits when the baby goes into fits. And yet they will 
 vSend the child to Sunday school for years to bring it 
 into a chronic state of mental disorder — religious fits, a 
 malady which can only be cured by free thought and 
 common sense, and may take years of time to effect a 
 cure; and as a rule such as believe in this kind of 
 religion are the most unhapp}^ people in the world. 
 
 Whoever goes into a bar-room where the inmates
 
 AND I.IHKKAI, LKCTUKKS. 7 I 
 
 are all fuddled, and remains sober himself, will soon 
 be disgusted with the wretched business. But just 
 let him take a few nips himself and he soon becomes 
 part and parcel, and everything is right and lovely. 
 Just so it is at a revival meeting for saving souls. A 
 sober, sensible spectator is disgusted at what he sees 
 and hears until he gets the jim jams himself. 
 
 Now it matters not what you debauch the mind 
 with, whether it be rum or religion, you have unbal- 
 anced and disqualified the man or woman for the 
 proper and healthy exercise of reason — nature's light 
 and voice in the human soul. 
 
 I attended a camp meeting not long since and it 
 happened to be the last Sunday after a three weeks' 
 run, and I must say such a banged-up, fagged-out 
 crowd of people I never saw^ before, with eyes blood- 
 shot, red and swollen almost out of their heads, shout- 
 ing, singing crying, snivelling, in all degrees of 
 fanatical idiocy, because they were so happy. One old 
 lady with streaming eyes related how good God had 
 been to her daughter, Sally Ann, as she had found 
 Jesus. And then she sang through her nose in shrill 
 snuffy accent: 
 
 "Religion makes me happy, 
 Ye followers of the lamb." 
 
 And I said to myself, can it be pos.sible that I ever was 
 such a goo.se, and I had to acknowledge the corn that 
 I had .slopped over just like that. How in the nature 
 of things can such a religion make any one happy; 
 how can the belief in total depravity and eternal damna- 
 tion produce happiness; how can the belief that the All 
 Father made the most of mankind to be lost and this
 
 72 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 world a seething maelstrom, with an eternal hell for 
 its vortex, make people happy. 
 
 Can men and women of thought and feeling be truly 
 happy in the belief that Jesus died to save a world, 
 and then after all this outlay — the death of a God — 
 only a little handful are to be saved? Can it 3'ield me 
 any happiness to feel that my father and the dear old 
 mother who bore me, and brothers and sisters who 
 loved me, are in hell, while I, by some hook or crook, 
 am to have a white apron and crown in heaven? How 
 can I have an exalted conception of an infinite deity 
 that would permit an almost infinite devil, and mill- 
 ions of little devils, to trip my feet and leadmedowm to 
 eternal perdition? To worship such a God, is to me 
 the worst form of blasphemy. 
 
 To my mind getting religion is an excitation or 
 spasm, produced by magnetic and psychological power 
 through the law of sympathy. A great big, full- 
 chested, red-hot, magnetic Methodist medicine man, 
 when the conditions are favorable, can whip up the 
 emotions into a foam — this is psychology — and in this 
 condition of helplessness their poor victims are tortured 
 into a state of temporary insanity. You have no doubt 
 seen exhibitions of this power, in which the operator 
 will cause the subject to taste sweet, sour, bitter and 
 salt, all out of the same glass, and cause them to feel 
 what he feels and see what he professes to see. 
 
 Thus the seeker after religion or change of heart, as 
 they call it, tries to see the fall of man and a sin-cursed 
 world, a virgin mother, a bleeding Jesus, the atoning 
 lamb. Then they try to see themselves, morall}^ cov- 
 ered with sores from top to toe — this is called con- 
 viction for sin. After this terrible self-abasement.
 
 AND UBERAI, LKCTUKES. 73 
 
 human nature reacts and tlie tides of teelinj^ are turned 
 by music, prayer and songs into another channel ami 
 extreme called conversion or being born again. 
 
 But it is lar ])etter to be well born the first time, 
 because with returning reason and mature thought a 
 large percentage of religious victims l)egin to doubt 
 this sacred clap-trap. Then they are told by the in- 
 curably pious that to doubt is to be damned, and thus 
 they are kept on the rack, like a toad under a harrow, 
 for years, or made utter hypocrites by professing what 
 they do not believe, and what is not susceptable of 
 any proof in nature, science or reason. 
 
 How can such a religion, with its anxious cares and 
 imaginary duties, bring happiness to the human heart? 
 But the religion of nature which is not a belief but a 
 growth and development, promoted by facts, not 
 fancies, and a faith in the good order of this universe b>- 
 hope in the possibilities of human nature, and love for 
 the good, beautiful and true. These golden links 
 make progress possible, bind man to man, and man to 
 the eternal God. 
 
 How the people of this planet have suffered from 
 phantoms — the Gods, the comets and the Devil. The 
 Gods, as science advances, are growing less trouble- 
 some to the human family. The comets, through 
 astronomical science, have lost their terror. The peo- 
 ple no longer fear to be wiped out of existence b}" the 
 comet's tail. So, also, the Devil is fast fading out, and 
 soon the people will be free, and Gods left to look 
 after things which are for Gods to know, while men 
 and women shall mind their own business and care for 
 themselves. 
 
 To be happy — be temperate. By temperance we
 
 74 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 mean a moderate use of all good things, and total 
 abstinence from all things hurtful in themselves. In 
 eating, study the needs of nature and not the appetites 
 and passions, as these become morbid and vitiated. 
 But, says one, I don't eat any more than I want. 
 Well, the hog does the same thing; he eats as long as 
 he can stand and then one end of him sits down, and 
 finally lies down altogether and yet keeps on eating 
 ijtill. The reason shall control our appetites and pas- 
 sions. This is the morality of nature. 
 
 To be happy, avoid stimulants, because they cloud 
 the intellect, spoil the temper, increase the action of 
 the heart, vitiate the blood, inflame the passions, and 
 are a constant source of evil — for excess is the only 
 Devil in all the universe of nature, and to avoid all 
 excess in the functions of body and mind is to be on 
 the high road to health, long life and true happiness. 
 To be happy — be kindly and love something, or 
 somebody, besides yourself. Ifyouhaveno children, 
 love somebody else's children; if you have no wife or 
 husband get one as soon as 3'ou can; for one of the 
 saddest sights in this world is to see the love nature in 
 ruins — a wreck, a waste. 'Tis love, not hate nor selfish- 
 ness, must save this world from evil. lyOve something, 
 if nothing else than a red-eyed poodle dog; and when 
 I have seen a lady carrying along one of those sore- 
 eyed poodles I have thought, poor soul, she has 
 nothing else to love. 
 
 Be kindly. Kind words don't cost much and are 
 like music to the soul, and if you have no money, or 
 food, or any other gift to bestow upon the poor wonder- 
 ing tramp, give him a kind word as in the exercise of 
 your higher nature sunshine will come to you. Nature
 
 AND LIBERAL LLCTURKS. 75 
 
 is full of goodness which may find expression by the 
 human tongue in kind words. But I call to mind one 
 of /Esop's fables, of a master who bade his servant to 
 get for dinner the best thing he could think of. So 
 he got tongues, and the next day he bade him get the 
 worst thing he could think of; so he prepared another 
 dish of tongues. And so it is, the human tongue is 
 the best thing in the world when it .sends forth good 
 words to comfort and bless, and the worst thing when 
 .set on fire of evil passions, and stabs and bites the 
 neighbor behind his back. And if one-half of the 
 world only knew what the other half were saying 
 about them, there would be hell upon earth. 
 
 Free speech, do you say? Might as well say free 
 knives, free pistols, and free poison, as a free 
 speech not controlled by the law of kindness and 
 justice. Don't use cruel or unkind words. Oh, how 
 they hurt the spirit, and like a gash cut in the young 
 tree it heals over, but in long after years you will find 
 the scar near the heart. How many of us are full 
 of gashes and scars from thoughtless and cruel words. 
 
 To be happy, be social. There are some people who 
 move through the world and, like a bouquet of flowers, 
 impart fragrance and beauty all along their path and 
 make you happy in their presence. There are other 
 people who are the porcupines of society, and their 
 quills, like fish hooks, stick out on every side and you 
 are supremely miserable in their company and atmos- 
 phere. To have friends, one must be courteous. For 
 true courtes}- freely offers that which our friends can- 
 not ask, and is not only politeness but goodness. 
 Ordinar}' politeness may bow and scrape when you 
 come in and bow and smile when you go out, and then
 
 76 FKKE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 slam the door and wish that old mother Smith would 
 stay at home. But genuine courtesy is both politeness 
 and kindness. To have friends one must be friendly, 
 and the social side of our nature is the bright side 
 which turns towards heaven and reflects the sunlight 
 of love, and if I could have my way I would have a 
 wing built on every church for a dance hall and social 
 intercourse, and thus pull religion out to a broad 
 guage, wide enough to educate the heels as well as 
 the heart, for to be social is to open up a fountain of 
 enduring happiness. Solitude has no charms in earth 
 or heaven, and my observation is that earl 5^ marriage 
 is the broad road to useful and happy life and is pro-« 
 ductive of regular habits — moral purity, and saves 
 from many social evils; and then how grand and beauti- 
 ful to see two 3'oung people starting out in that bright- 
 est and holiest of all human relations with pure hearts 
 and clean hands and a life unspotted by promiscuity, 
 with high and good purposes filling each heart — on 
 such a .sight the angels may well look down and smile. 
 
 Strike out, 3'oung man, and take a wife, but don't 
 bring her home to live with j^our folks. Not that I 
 have any horror for mothers-in-law; I have not. My 
 sympathy is with the mother who has given all her 
 life to the thankless task of raising a wife for some 
 thankless man. But it is a difficult undertaking to 
 marry a whole family. Too many cooks spoil the 
 porridge. Better go west, young man, as Greeley 
 .said. Better live in a shanty without carpet or bay 
 window; old heads don't grow on young shoulders, 
 and then old folks seem to forget how soft and green 
 they were when they were young. 
 
 To be happy, do good to others. No selfish person
 
 AND LIBERAL I.KCTUKKS. 77 
 
 can be truly happy, for selfishness, like a cancer, eats 
 out and sucks up the rich juices of human nature. 
 How precious the experiences of a Howard, a Jesus, 
 a Nightingale, whose lives have been a stream of glad- 
 ness from doing good to others. And what in these 
 persons was a mighty impulse, may in some degree 
 inspire all our lives. Some people, like the sponge, 
 take everything in and give nothing out, and if they 
 do, it mu^t be proclaimed from the house-top. Young 
 men and women don't be selfish and stingy. I^et the 
 heart go out in acts of kindness to others. It will be 
 golden coin in the bank of your old age. Not the 
 amount of service so much as the spirit which prompts 
 the act; not the great gifts like that of James Lick and 
 others, wrung from them by the icy hand of death; 
 the widow's mite or the housewife who gives to the 
 hungry dog a bone outweighs them all, and as the 
 little stone and brick, layer upon layer, form the 
 stately mansion, so the little acts of life build up 
 human character. 
 
 To be happy, cultivate a love of home. Sometimes 
 I have thought that domestic life in the old w'orld pre- 
 sented a finer appreciation of home life than in our own 
 American life. We are so nervous and fidgety, and 
 withal so migrator}', constantly on the move that we 
 hardly take the time to build a home and gather about 
 it those little charms which makes home desirable. 
 And then our society and social usage is .so full of fric- 
 tion as to waste away in dress parade, show going and 
 sight seeing, the energies which should go to build up 
 home and family life. There is a common idea croping- 
 out in American life that home is a good place to stay, 
 when there is nowhere else to go. And there are
 
 78 FREE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 some men who think that home is a good place to '- eat 
 and sleep when the saloons are all closed and there is 
 is no place else to be. And another class who have 
 lodge on the brain and join everything except their 
 wives and family at home. To such people home is a 
 capital place for the care-worn wife to stay and wear 
 out her life struggling against poverty and the 
 numerous cares in raising a familv of children, with 
 hardl}' ever a cheering word, a pet name, or a kiss to 
 lighten the load of family life. I suppose there are 
 thousands of homes where the wife would be frightened 
 not a little should the husband come home earh^ and 
 walk right up to her and salute her with a good square 
 hug and kiss. And I don't wonder that so many 
 wives lose the elastic step and bloom of health from 
 the cheek and are utterly broken down in earl}- life. 
 They make married life a mart^-rdom instead of a 
 mutual blessing. To be happy in married life there 
 must be love and affection in the home. 
 
 There are many people who have lands and land- 
 scape gardens of rare beauty and a place to live in, 
 and yet no home; while the little house or humble 
 vine-clad cottage where mutual love abides is home 
 and heaven. I^et us make the home a sacred place 
 of retreat from the rude blasts of life and make the 
 -children happy at home, that in the coming ^-ears the 
 old roof-tree and hearth-stone may be a green spot in 
 their memory, and, like a .star of Bethlehem, shall 
 shed its light and beauty all along their path in life. 
 How the thought of such a home follows the wayward 
 boy and girl and points to virtue and heaven, and how 
 these tender memories of early life hang about the 
 heart, like the gentle dews of heaven thej- quicken our
 
 AND LIRERAL I.ECTrRES. 79 
 
 aspirations and make our declining life a stream of 
 gladness. 
 
 In conclusion, let me say to be happy, l)e honest. 
 It is not enough to be a Methodist, Baptist, Presby- 
 terian, or even a Christian — one needs to be honest. 
 It is no doubt hard for some people in the church and 
 out of it to be strictly -honest, for much depends upon 
 parentage and organism. And yet to be fully honest 
 is the triumph of a glorious manhood and an attribute 
 of character which is the foundation of all virtue and 
 the soul of all beauty. How true this is to nature's 
 law — the better we become acquainted with honest 
 people the better they look to us, even in spite of 
 physical deformity. We soon lose sight of a birth 
 mark on the face or wart on the nose of an honest pef- 
 SDn, The beauty of an hone.st soul shines through 
 and illuminates the homely face like as the sun .shines 
 through the rift of clouds, gilds all with gold and 
 crimson beauty. Think ot this, young friends, you 
 who prink and prim before the glass and swallow 
 drugs for the complexion, and don't forget that honesty 
 is the best cosmetic for the human face. What wc 
 need is a deeper moral life in the individual. Wc 
 want common honesty in the family and school, for 
 these underlie both church and state. We need an 
 honest government in the interest of the people. We 
 need an honest press as an exponent of truth and 
 justice — the friend of the people, the champion of the 
 weak against the strong, and not the abject slave of 
 of capital and monopoh- in money and religion. For 
 what the world needs to-dav is not religion so much 
 as common honesty. We want an honest, fearless 
 pulpit and rostrum, and I am glad the platform is to
 
 8o FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 supersede the pulpit, which has been a barricade for 
 sacred lies, which have lived centuries longer than 
 would have been possible on an open platform. I am 
 glad the lecture system is growing in favor with the 
 people.   It implies open questious and new questions 
 and an honest, two-sided search after truth. Give us 
 more bold, brave men like Paine, Parker, Channing 
 and Ingersoll who dare speak the truth. For a fear- 
 less, honest man or woman is the highest type of 
 beauty and nature's noblest work.
 
 AND LIBERAI. LKCTURES. Si 
 
 A RESPECTABLE LIE 
 
 A respectable lie, sir ! Pray what do you mean ? 
 
 Why the term in itself is a plain contradiction. 
 A lie is a lie, and deserves no respect, 
 
 But merciless judgment and speedy conviction. 
 It springs from corruption, is servile and mean. 
 
 An evil conception, a cowards invention, 
 And whether direct, or simply implied, 
 
 Has naueht but deceit for its end and intention. 
 
 't3* 
 
 Ah, yes ! very well ! So good morals would teach; 
 
 But facts are the most stubborn things in existence. 
 And they tend to show that great lies win respect. 
 
 And hold their position with wondrous persistence. 
 The small lies, the white lies, the lies feebly told. 
 
 The world will condemn both in spirit and letter. 
 But the great, bloated lies will be held in respect, 
 
 And the larger and older a lie is the better. 
 
 '»' 
 
 A respectable lie, from a popular man. 
 
 On a popular theme, never taxes endurance; 
 And the pure, golden coin of unpopular truth, 
 
 Is often refused for the brass of assurance. 
 You may dare all the laws of the land to defy, 
 
 And bear to the truth the most shameless relation. 
 But never attack a respectable lie. 
 
 If you value a name and good reputation.
 
 82 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 A lie v/ell established, and hoary with age, 
 
 Resists the assaults of the boldest seceder ; 
 While he is accounted the greatest of saints 
 
 Who silences reason and and follows the leader. 
 Whenever a mortal has dared to be wise, 
 
 And seized upon truth as the soul's "Magna Charta," 
 He always has won from the lovers of lies, 
 
 The name of a fool or the fate of a mart3-r. 
 
 There are popular lies, and political lies. 
 
 And lies that stick fast between buying and selling, 
 And lies of politeness — conventional lies — 
 
 Which scarcely are reckoned as such in the telling. 
 There are lies of sheer malice, and slanderous lies, 
 
 F'or those who delight to peck filth like a pigeon; 
 But the oldest and far most respectable lies 
 
 Are those that are told in the name of religion. 
 
 o 
 
 Theologj' sits like a tj-rant enthroned, 
 
 A system /<!?r se with a fixed nomenclature, 
 Derived fromstrange doctrines, and dogmas, and creeds, 
 
 At war with man's reason, with God and with 
 Nature ; 
 And he who subscribes to the popular faith. 
 
 Never questions the fact of Divine inspiration, 
 But holds to the Bible as absolute truth. 
 
 From Genesis through to St. John's Revelation. 
 
 We mock at the Catholic bigots at Rome, 
 
 Who strive with their dogmas man's reason to fetter, 
 
 But we turn to the Protestant bigots at home, 
 
 And we find that their dogmas are scarce a whit better.
 
 AND I.IHKKAI. I.KCTUKKS. 83 
 
 We are called to believe in the wrath of the Lord. 
 
 In endless damnation, and torments infernal, 
 While around and above us the infinite truth, 
 
 Scarce heeded or heard, speaks sublime and eternal. 
 
 It is sad — but the day-star is shining on high. 
 
 And science comes in with her conquering legions, 
 And every respectable time-honored lie, 
 
 Will fly from her face to the mythical regions. 
 The soul shall no longer with terror behold 
 
 The red waves of wrath that leap up to engulf her, 
 For science ignores the existence of hell, 
 
 And chemistry finds better use for her sulphur. 
 
 We may dare to repose in the beautiful faith, 
 
 That an Infinite Life is the .source of all being. 
 And tho' we must strive with delusion and death. 
 
 We can tru.st to a love and a wisdom far-seeing; 
 We may dare in the strength of a soul to ari.se, 
 
 And walk where our feet shall not stumble or falter; 
 And, freed from the bondage of time-honored lies, 
 
 To lav all we have on Truth's sacred altar.
 
 84 FREE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 PAT AND THE PIG. 
 
 We have heard of a Pat so financial!}^ flat 
 
 That he had neither money or meat, 
 And when hungry and thin, 'twas whispered by sin 
 
 That he ought to steal something to eat. 
 
 So he went to the sty of a widow near by, 
 And he gazed on the tenant — poor soul! 
 
 "Arrah now," said he, "what a trate that'll be," 
 And the pig of the widow he stole. 
 
 In a feast he joined; then he went to the judge; 
 
 For, in spite of the pork and the lard. 
 There was something within that was sharp as a pin, 
 
 For his conscience was pricking him hard. 
 
 And he said with a tear, "Will yer reverence hear 
 
 What I have in sorrow to say?" 
 Then the story he told, and the tale did unfold 
 
 Of the pig he had taken away. 
 
 And the judge to him said, "Ere you go to bed, 
 You must pa}' for the pig }'0U have taken; 
 
 For 'tis thus, by my soul, ^^ou'll be saving your soul, 
 And will also be saving j-our bacon. ' '
 
 AND i.ibi;kai. i.kctukes. 85 
 
 "Oh, bejabers," said Pat, "I can niver do that — 
 
 Not the ghost of a hap'orth have I — 
 And I'm wretched indade if a penny it nade 
 
 Any pace for my conscience to l)uy." 
 
 Then in sorrow he cried, as the judge replied, 
 "Only think how you'll tremble with fear. 
 
 When the Judge you shall meet at the great judgment 
 seat. 
 And the widow you plundered while here." 
 
 "Will the widow be there?" whi.spered Pat with astaie, 
 "And the pig? by my .sowl, is it thru?/ 
 
 "They will surely be there," said thejudge, "I declare, 
 And, oh Paddy! what then will you do?" 
 
 "Many thanks," answered Pat, "for your tellin" me 
 that; 
 
 Ma}- the blessings upon you be big! 
 On that settlement day to the widow I'll say, 
 
 'Mrs. Flannegan, here is your pig!' '" 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^^
 
 86 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 I HAVE DRAHK MY LAST GLASS. 
 
 No, comrades, I thank you — not an}' for me; 
 My last chain is riven, henceforward I'm free! 
 I will go to my home and my children to-night 
 With no fumes of liquor their spirits to blight; 
 And, with tears in my eyes, I'll beg my poor wife 
 To forgive me the wreck I have made of her life. 
 I have never refused you before? Let that pass. 
 
 For I've drank my last glass, boys, 
 
 I have drank my last glass. 
 
 Just look at me now, boys, in rags and disgrace. 
 With mj' bleared, haggard eyes, and my red, bloated 
 
 face ; 
 Mark my faltering step, and my weak, palsied hand. 
 And the mark on my brow that is worse than Cain's 
 
 brand; 
 See the crownless old hat, and my elbows and kness. 
 Alike, warmed by the sun, or chilled by the breeze. 
 Why, even the children will hoot as I pass; 
 But I've drank my last glass, boys, 
 I have drank my last glass. 
 
 You would hardly believe, boys, to look at me now 
 That a mother's soft hand was pressed on my brow; 
 When she kissed me, and bles.sed me, her darling, her 
 pride, —
 
 AND LIBKRAL I.ECTURKS. 87 
 
 ICre she laid clown to rest by my dead father's side; 
 But with love in her eyes, she looked up to the sky, 
 Biddini? me meet her there, and whispered, "Good 
 
 bye." 
 And ril do it, God helping! Your smile I let pass. 
 
 For I've drank my last glass, boys, 
 
 I have drank my last glass. 
 
 Ah! I reeled home last night — it was not very late, 
 For rd spent my last sixpence, and landlords won't 
 
 wait 
 On a fellow, who's left every cent in their till. 
 And has pawned his last bed, their coffers to fill. 
 Oh, the torments I felt, and the pangs I endured! 
 And I begged for one glass — just one would have cured; 
 But they kicked me out doors! I let that, too, pass, 
 For I've drank my last glass, boys, 
 I have drank my last glass. 
 
 At home, my pet Susie, with her rich golden hair, 
 I saw through the window, just kneeling in prayer; 
 From her pale, bony hands, her torn sleeves were 
 
 strung down. 
 While her feet, cold and bare, .shrank beneath her 
 
 .scant gown; 
 And she prayed — prayed for bread, just a poor crust 
 
 of bread, — 
 For one crust, on her knees, my pet darling plead ! 
 And I heard, with no penny to buy one, alas ! 
 But I've drank.my last glass, boys, 
 I have drank my last glass. 6
 
 S8 F'RlSE-'r'HOUGHT POEMS 
 
 For Susie, my darling, my wee six-year old, 
 Though fainting with hunger and shivering with cold, 
 There on the bare floor asked God to bless ME ! 
 And she said, "Don't cry, mamma ! He will, for you 
 
 see, 
 I believe what I ask for !" Then sobered I crept 
 Away from the house; and that night, when I slept, 
 Next my heart lay the Pledge ! You smile; let it 
 
 pass. 
 
 For I've drank my last glass, boys, 
 I have drank ni}- last glass. 
 
 My darling child saved me ! Her faith and her love 
 
 Are akin to my dear sainted mother's above ! 
 
 I will make my words true, or I'll die in the race. 
 
 And sober I'll go to my last resting place; 
 
 And she shall kneel there, and, weeping, thank God 
 
 No drunkard lies under the daisy-strewn sod ! 
 
 Not a drop more of poison my lips shall e'er pass. 
 
 For I've drank my last glass, boys, 
 
 I have drank my last glass.. 

 
 AND LIBERAL LKCTrRES. S9 
 
 COMPEMSATIOK. 
 
 There is a deeper sense of seeing 
 Into the mysteries of being 
 
 Than appears upon the surface of our life; 
 And a greater depth of meaning 
 For those who life's fields are gleaning 
 
 Mid scenes of sorrow and of strife. 
 
 There are minds with power gifted. 
 And as with inspiration lifted 
 
 Above the common level of perception, 
 Have grasped the secret of compensation, 
 A new and better revelation 
 
 Of which the world had no conception. 
 
 There are those who live in sadness. 
 
 Whose hearts are never touched with gladness, 
 
 And yet their life is not in vain; 
 For while they wait, with patience keeping 
 All the energies of soul from sleeping, 
 
 Are gath'ring treasure of immortal gain. 
 
 For we build our spirit mansion 
 By our soul and mind's expansion, 
 
 Through all the lessons earth can give; 
 No vicarious atonement can displace
 
 go FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 A law of being, or one act erase 
 From the record of the life we live. 
 
 We have been taught in song and story 
 Of a land of life and glory, 
 
 Where saints immortal reign; 
 And with joyful hearts they sing, 
 Making Heaven's high arches ring 
 
 With the praises of His name. 
 
 And that Jesus saves the sinner, 
 Who by faith in him as winner 
 
 Of peace and happiness above; 
 And that the light of reason 
 Is nothing less than treason. 
 
 To the God of life and love. 
 
 Is it true or is it fiction, 
 
 That Heaven is gained by our restriction 
 
 Of the highest boon to mortals here below? 
 Or was the torch to mankind given 
 To light his path from earth to Heaven, 
 
 And that good from evil he might know? 
 
 Did God inspire this plan for our salvation, 
 From utter darkness and damnation? 
 
 Then want of brains must be a favor; 
 And knowledge gained almost a crime. 
 And culture but a waste of time. 
 
 If blind faith and ignorance is savior. 
 
 And is Heaven a sepulchre of the mind 
 In which dwarfed intellects will find
 
 AND I.IBKKAL LKCTURP:S. 9I 
 
 A place of endless rest and inanition; 
 Without an impulse of the soul 
 To reach a higher, better goal? 
 
 This then is orthodox salvation. 
 
 How \astly different is Nature's plan. 
 Providing endless growth for man 
 
 In all the attributes of mind; 
 And every impulse of the soul, 
 Thro' Nature's law finds full control 
 
 In higher life by love divine. 
 
 There's a golden thread of compen.sation just 
 In which a universe of souls can tnist. 
 
 As none have lived utterly depraved in mind; 
 None with perfection which the preachers teach, 
 Which to mortals is far beyond their reach. 
 
 Why not some saving grace for all mankind. 
 
 This then shall life's harvest }ield, 
 To the bus}- reapers in the field. 
 
 One law for all both great and small; 
 There's good for the saint and sinner. 
 There's good for the loser and winner, 
 
 And a just compensation for all.
 
 92 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 THE SCARLET WOMAH. 
 
 There are those no doubt who do not feel and see 
 the full significance of this subject. But there are 
 many to-day all over the land who can read the signs of 
 the times and can see the importance of vigilence in 
 preserving the free institutions which make our own 
 dear country the pride and glory of all the nations, 
 and to my mind all tendencies which run counter to 
 free government should be corrected in their incipient 
 stages lest they culminate and bear the bitter fruits of 
 anarchy and bloodshed. 
 
 The enfranchisement of our race has been a life lona: 
 struggle. lyiberty has always had bitter enemies and 
 has always struggled to maintain its existence. The 
 people of this Republic have had some bitter experi- 
 ences in preserving our liberty against the blood-red 
 hand of religious superstition and political despotism. 
 There are three classes of people in the world — fore- 
 seers, after-seers and no-seers. Fore-seers are intui- 
 tive people and see things in advance; after-seers are 
 clever people who take the bull by the horns when he 
 arrives; no-seers, a large class, who can't see and won't 
 near, but like the pig under the gate, are good feelers 
 when the calamity falls upon them. 
 
 Romanism is an outgrowth and perversion of ancient 
 Christianity or the religion of Jesus, with whose reli-
 
 AND UBKKAL IJCCTrKKS. C)T, 
 
 gioii I have no fault to find. Karly Christianity was 
 a simple religion of goodness, enjoining three things — 
 veneration to God. in personal life purity, and in 
 social life benevolence. Within these three points 
 early Christianity found its full limit. Tertulian sets 
 forth in an able and concise manner what Christianity 
 was two hundred }ears after Christ — a religion of 
 goodness, a simple and natural religion, without any 
 claim to infallibility, supposed to be an improvement 
 upon Judaism, as being relieved from the burdens of 
 rites and ceremonial usages — just as the religion of 
 Wesley was supposed to be ati improvement upon the 
 Church of England — a return to a greater simplicit>' 
 and purity of life; as you will rememl^er that this 
 church u.sed to hold sei-vice in the morning, and race 
 horses and fight roosters in the afternoon. So Jesus 
 sought to tear down priest-craft and lift the people 
 into the sunlight of a natural religion, a veneration for 
 deity and a love for humanity. 
 
 While Christianity was a religion of goodness and 
 1)enevolence, it was persecuted. Gaining in numliers 
 and strength it spread rapidly, as any religion will 
 under persecution. Just as Mohamedanism was at 
 the first a simple religion, a struggle for the unity of 
 God, under persecution lost its temper and gra.sped the 
 sword. From this small beginning we may .see what 
 Christianity became when in possession of imperial 
 power under that intriguing bad man Constantine, the 
 first Christian ICmperor — who became a convert to 
 Christianity, but not a convert to virtue and goodness. 
 Being a pagan at heart, says the historian, he made 
 constant concessions to paganism, and thus adding 
 many new doctrines to Christianity in order to make
 
 94 FREE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 himself popular with the people of his empire. Thus 
 an amalgamation of Christianity with paganism took 
 place, and as the years passed on the simple religion 
 of Jesus and Tertulian became merged with and cor- 
 rupted b}' the paganism in which it grew up. This 
 great change in Christianity under Constantine and 
 his family presented it to the world as a political and 
 civil power, and instead of a simple religion of per- 
 suasion it became a religion of brute force— an eccle- 
 siastical despotism backed up b}^ the State. 
 
 With Constantine ended the religion of Jesus, and 
 Romanism began with its councils, controversies, and 
 anathamas, while war and bloodshed held high qarni' 
 val over the once simple and beautiful religion of the 
 early Christians. Thus this paganized Christian 
 church set herself forth as the depository of all knowl- 
 edge — secular and religious, and thus became a scourge 
 and stumbling block to the intellectual progress of all 
 Europe. 
 
 And thus we find Romanism to-day the sworn 
 enemy of free government, free schools and human 
 liberty, and one almost needs to offer an apology for 
 presenting this subject. But for the extreme arro- 
 gance of her claims in the dogma of the Pope's infalli- 
 bility and her attitude to our school system, it were 
 almost a burlesque in the light of the nineteenth 
 centur}'. 
 
 Romanism says that she is not understood, and is 
 misrepresented as to the Pope's power and the scope 
 of his infallibility. She says that when the Pope 
 speaks in excathedra, then is he an infallible teacher 
 in faith and morals. That is to sa}', he is not God all 
 the time. When he takes his little dog and walks out
 
 AND IJBEKAI, LPXTrRKS. 95 
 
 to smoke his pipe in the garden, then he is not God. 
 but when he is clotlied in his scarlet and purple robe 
 and three-cocked hat and sits in his big chair, then is 
 he the eternal God. What a God to be sure, in s])ots 
 and spasms. This term excathedra. says the church, 
 is not inspiration in the ordinary- sense. l)ut is assist- 
 ance from God of a higher order than that which pro- 
 duced the Bible, so as to be able to interpret this will 
 of God to a dying world, and that the church uses 
 chrystalized terms to express her doctrines, and we 
 simph- need to bow to this mystery of Godliness. 
 
 These terms are capable of a variety of definitions, 
 as you will see by reading Glad.stone's tract on the 
 Vatican decrees. The purjiose of this tract was to 
 show that the Church of Rome in the \'atican council 
 had resorted to all sorts of religious tricker>- and had 
 committed gross offenses against the civil authority 
 and civil freedom, because the claims of infallibility 
 asserted by the Pope and council are such as to place 
 civil allegiance at his mercy, and that the oath of alle- 
 giance by a Catholic to any civil government, is not 
 worth the buttons on the back of his coat when in con- 
 flict with Rome. Mr. Gladstone .shows clearly that 
 the dogma of infallibility is virtually the divine title 
 to command and the absolute dut\' to obey, not onl\- 
 in faith and morals, but covers every act in a man's 
 life, secular and religious, and establishes at once an 
 ecclesiastical despotism over soul and bod\-. He fur- 
 ther shows that within twenty years j^ast there has 
 been .six clearly defined ca.ses of interference by the 
 Pope, wherein the Pope of Rome declared the properly 
 constituted civil law of the land null and void. These 
 laws referred to freedom of the press, freedom of opinion
 
 96 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 and Speech, of conscience and belief, of science and 
 education, and. laws relating to the marriage relations. 
 All of these laws, the Pope declared, were abominable 
 laws and are null and void in their effect, and may be 
 trampled upon by good Catholics everywhei'c. Thus 
 none but the most obtuse will fail to see that the scope 
 of Papal power includes the entire range of human 
 action. 
 
 We listened to a lecture not long since b}- a promi- 
 nent Catholic Bishop, in which he exhibited the most 
 bitter hatred of Draper and his book entitled science 
 and religion, denovuicing him as a great liar. But you 
 will find if you will read this book a clear statement of ' 
 facts, showing the conflict between science and relig- 
 gion during the entire career of the Catholic Church. 
 He called attention also to Mariah Monks' book, which 
 he pronounced a tissue of lies. I have read this book 
 and believe that it sets forth truthfully her sufferings 
 as a nun, and the foul corruption incident to this un- 
 natural condition of the sexes, abusing themselves for 
 Christ's sake, shut up in a cloister, a kind of religious 
 prison, away from the green fields and sunlight of 
 heaven, under the plea of sanctification to God and 
 the church. 
 
 I know it is claimed thr.t a criterion of truth in 
 morals and religion is a need in the world. If so that 
 need has been poorly supplied by the Church ot Rome, 
 as history shows a cruel assumption of arbitrary power, 
 and Beecher well says that the condut ot her Popes, 
 Bishops and councils in the administration of the 
 Church of Christ for twelve hundred years was more 
 befitting that of devils than of honest men. 
 
 Can a church at enmity with human freedom, and
 
 AM) i,ihi:kai, lectures. 97 
 
 which hurls its curses at every form of unbelief, be a 
 j^uicle to heaven. Look at the sylabus. what a fearful 
 string of Chri.stian curses against all who dare to doubt 
 her dogmas. Let him be anathama-maranatha who 
 shall deny the one true God — that is to say the Catholic 
 God. Why should any one be cursed for not holding 
 their conception of deit\-. What does the Pope know 
 of God more than others? Can the finite grasp the in- 
 finite, life of our life and .soul of our soul? What a 
 base hypocrisy and blasphemy is this. Let him be 
 accur.sed who affirms that nothing besides matter exists. 
 Why .should any one be cunsed for denying anything 
 and everything beyond his senses of hearing, seeing, 
 smelling, feeling and tasting. Any and all things be- 
 vond the reach of my .senses is the realm of fancy. If 
 there is anything besides matter we don t know it. 
 There may be one God or a thousand Gods. There 
 may be angels and devils but we don't know it. Let 
 us mind our own business and let God take care of 
 his business. Let him be accursed wdio shall say that 
 human reason is independent of faith. Why should 
 one be cursed for the use of his reason, the onh- light 
 given to man whereby he can discover truth, and which 
 lifts him above the brute creation. 
 
 Now a religion that can sling its curses about in 
 such a fearful way must be a dangerous element in 
 any country, and it does .seem to me if I were the 
 almighty God, and had a never dying grudge against 
 the peace, pro.sperity and moral life on this planet, I 
 would pour out upon it a full bapti.sm of such a relig- 
 ion as the Roman Catholic religion. I don't wonder 
 that fourteen hundred years ago Hypathia, the lady 
 philosopher and literary belle of Alexadria. was torn
 
 98 fre;e thought poems 
 
 from her carriage, her flesh scraped from her bones 
 and cast into the fire. I don't wonder that poor Bruno 
 and Vanini died at the stake at the hands of those 
 Catholic devils. I was not surprised when I heard of 
 the recent massacre at San Miguel and San Salvador, 
 as this hellish outrage was urged on by priests and 
 bishop. Each fiend was armed with a document, found 
 on their bodies, which read thus: Peter, open the 
 gates of heaven to the bearer. Signed George, Bishop 
 of San Salvador, and sealed with the seal of this 
 Episcopal See. Thus armed, these fiends of religious 
 hate left no outrage undone which such a cursed 
 religion could suggest, even to the cutting in pieces 
 the dead bodies of their victims and throwing them at 
 each other. So it is all over South America and 
 Mexico to-daj' where political Romanism lifts its bloody 
 head. 
 
 Religious superstition is the same in spirit every- 
 where and in all periods of time, using its deadly fangs 
 whenever in possession of sufficient power. Even in 
 our own fair land we have the bloody record of the 
 Mountain Meadow Massacre at the hands of the Mor- 
 mon Church, where defenseless men, women and babes 
 were slaughtered in cold blood for God's sake. And 
 when lyCe, the religious devil who led this band of cut 
 throats, sat upon his coffin waiting for the bullets which 
 were to send him to glory, a sickly smile overspread 
 his face while he declared that he was going home to 
 Jesus and was so glad that he did not die an infidel. 
 Great God, so am I glad that no foul stain rests upon 
 the head of infidelity or unbelief. 
 
 Now I have no need to quote from anti-Catholic 
 sources to .show the animas which pervades Romanism,
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTl'RKS. 99 
 
 and will refer yoii to Bronson's Catholic review, an 
 able exponent of the Catholic Church, which declares 
 that any system of education based upon the popular 
 idea that man is naturally perfect, and may by cul- 
 ture develop himself into right relations with the good 
 and true, is a hateful lie, and then adds a quotation 
 from Carlyle, that the first of all gospels is — that no 
 lie shall live. Now then when a church numbering 
 millions, and by far the most effective system of one 
 man power the world has ever seen — a power amount- 
 ing to an absolute despotism over soul and body — tells 
 us that our govenmient is a lie and that our schools 
 and colleges are hot-beds of vice and corruption, and 
 that our marritige is legal adultery, we are not slow to 
 see the deadly blow aimed at the free institutions of 
 our country. And only a few months since a promi- 
 nent Catholic priest over one of the largest churches 
 on this coast, threatened to refuse absolution to any 
 Catholics sending their children to Protestant schools, 
 showing clearlv the attitude of this holv church to our 
 schools to be that of a bitter enemy, and no one need 
 doubt for a moment the intention of the Papal power 
 to crush our schools and thus destroy human freedom 
 at its citadel. If any are in doubt of this let them re- 
 view our school history for thirty-five years past, be- 
 ginning with the bitter fight made by Bishop Hughes, 
 thirty-five years ago, for a division of the school 
 money. Our people became alarmed, and in 1842 a 
 law was passed against the division of our school 
 money for sectarian schools, and with a dogged per- 
 sistence known only to Romanism they have waged a 
 constant war upon our schools from that time to the 
 present day.
 
 lOO FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 111 spite of law aud constitutional amednment Catho- 
 lics have drawn from the city of New York alone mil- 
 lions of dollars for sectarian purposes within the past 
 few years. We speak of Catholic inroads in New 
 York as a pointer to ever}' other vState in the Union, 
 for this Papal deviltry means a clean sweep of all free 
 institutions. Failing in open and direct effort to break 
 down our schools, she is not conquered, but resorts b}' 
 corrupting our legislation and by a more stealthy cam- 
 paign to accomplish her life-long object. 
 
 In view of these facts, President Grant's suggestions 
 a few years ago in regard to taxing church property 
 and a constitutional amendment which should forever 
 lift our school system beyond the reach of religious 
 fanaticism, was not a moment too soon. Why not tax 
 all church property. Why should infidels indirectly 
 pay taxes to support a religion with which they have 
 no sympathy. Look at Trinity Church property in 
 New York, worth more than forty millions of dollars, 
 untaxed. Now if this class of property belongs to 
 God, and they say he is rich and owns the cattle and 
 sheep on a thousand hills, let him pay his own taxes 
 and not shift the burden upon those who have far more 
 use for the school-master than the priest. 
 
 Now if it were true, as Catholics claim, that our 
 school system is a hot-bed of vice and crime, we should 
 find in Catholic countries greater pro.sperity and a 
 higher moral life. But on the contrary, where the 
 Catholic religion has ruled supreme in all the past, we 
 find the greatest physical destitution and moral degra- 
 dation. Look at Italy and Spain, see South America 
 aud Mexico; what a comment is their moral status upon 
 Roman Catholic virtue.
 
 AND MHICKAI, LI^CTrKK.S. lOI 
 
 Where to-clay is life and propert>' most secure, in 
 South America and Mexico or wliere schools and relig- 
 ion are free. In Italy and Spain, Catholic villians will 
 cut a throat for two dollars and fifty cents, in Mexico 
 and South America for one-half the money. Take it 
 if you please in this country, where government and 
 schools aie secular, and how does the moral status ot 
 Protestants and Catholics compare? Ever}' fair 
 minded person must admit that the Catholic masses 
 bear no comparison with Protestants, nor will they 
 bear favorable comparison with free thinkers, atheists 
 or infidels. And to-day this Catholic religion furnishes 
 more drunkards and criminals than all other sects com- 
 bined. Go the to police courts in all the cities of our 
 land on Monday morning and see the long array of 
 men with blood-shot eyes and bunged-up noses. Who 
 are all these rag-tags? God's wrecks to be sure. Not 
 Jews, but they should be, as they are supposed to be 
 bad — they killed Christ. They should be atheists, as 
 they are worse than Jews, and deny both God and 
 Christ. But they are not atheists or infidels, nor yet 
 Spiritualists or Protestant Christians, but are nearly all 
 of them believers in God, Christ and the Holy \'irgin. 
 And this class hold the balance of power in all our 
 great cities, which are fast losing every feature of 
 Americanism. And yet in the light of these facts, this 
 Catholic mother of abominations — this old beast of 
 seven heads and ten horns, with the blood of millions 
 on her hands, persistently denounces Protestant insti- 
 tutions as corrupt and immoral. 
 
 Now we make no fight against foreigners as such, 
 and only against the Roman Catholic Church which 
 says that all power is from God handed down through
 
 I02 FREE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 the Pope, bishops and priests, for the government of 
 men and nations. There is in this statement the es- 
 sence of supreme deviltry. This class who owe alle- 
 giance to the Pope of Rome are not true Americans 
 and cannot be. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. 
 I would not cast a vote for one of this class. I would 
 place onl}^ Americans in spirit on guard to protect our 
 liberty. This was the doctrine ot Washington and is 
 the true watchword of American liberty to-da}'. 
 
 This holy church claims the divine right to rule our 
 State and schools and professes a high Christian moral- 
 ity. But there is a broad difference between Christian 
 morality and the morality of nature. Are Catholic 
 priests more moral than other people? To my mind 
 their vow of celibac}' is a crime against God and 
 human nature, or a sham and hypocrisy; take either 
 form you please. It is commonly supposed that a good 
 wife helps a man to be morally clean, and if there is 
 any class of men who need the watch and care of a 
 true wife, priests and preachers are that class. Catholic 
 priests are healthy people. Big, rosj^-cheeked men, 
 full of life; they don't live on brown bread and skim- 
 milk. If they were lean, lank, abstemious, or sickl}' 
 men, I might think there was some truth in their vows 
 of celibacy. But they are high livers and good drink- 
 ers of wine and strong drink, and yet they tell us 
 they are holy celibates for Christ's sake. What a high 
 state of morality is this. Look at these sisters and 
 nuns draped in black. Poor miserable creatures, eaten 
 and dried up by morbid mental disease — sinning 
 against maternity, the highest gift of God to woman, 
 suppressing nature for the sake of Jesus. This the)- 
 call morality. Look at these holy red-faced priests
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTrRKS. I03 
 
 abusing nature that they may get nearer to the God of 
 nature, claiming the divine right to confess my wife 
 and daughter, coming in between husband and wife 
 and grasping the children with an iron hand, jurying 
 into the inner life and secrets of every family. These 
 morbid, mihealthy people demanding the control of 
 our schools and charging them with moral depravity, 
 denouncing our teachers as education mongers, cor- 
 rupters of youth and slaughterers of innocence. Worse, 
 said a Catholic bishop, than Herod of old, for he killed 
 only their bodies, but these Protestant teachers kill 
 body and soul. I feel like saying to every Catholic 
 priest: physician heal thyself and flock; look to your 
 confessional; has the fire or passion never over-leaped 
 its boundary? Look to your convents and niumeries; 
 does the black veil cover up in its cess-pools no slaugh- 
 ter of helpless innocents — victims of priestly sensuality 
 and wickedness; and are all of the priests and nuns not 
 to be believed who have escaped from the toils of this 
 unnatural religion? 
 
 This same holy church tells us that mixed schools 
 are an unmixed evil and should be denounced l)y every 
 priest on the walls of Zion. What a pity God should 
 have made woman at all, as she tempted man to sin 
 and thus brought death and hell. What a pity the 
 experiment of creation had not ended with Adam. I 
 have been led to suppose that the company of good 
 women elevated and sweetened the life of men. and if 
 so in the family and church, why not in the .school. 
 There should be a co-education of the sexes from the 
 cradle to the grave. To hold and fence the sexes 
 apart until grown up, and then turned loo.se, ignorant 
 of themselves and each other, is a sure cause of vice
 
 I04 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 and disorder in societ}'. If m_v son and daughter are 
 a benefit to each other under the same roof and by the 
 same fire-side, why not in the school and every depart- 
 ment of Wfe. So they will bless each other when the}' 
 are taught early in life the right and wrong use of 
 every function of body and mind. The Catholic 
 Church saws the education of the j-oung belongs to the 
 church. Let the vState abstain from the control of the 
 schools, let the State encourage the church ; in fact let 
 the vState play second fiddle to the church and all will 
 l)e merr}' as a marriage bell. 
 
 The .spirit and genius of our government is to pro- 
 tect the people from childhood to old age. The 
 children in a broad sense belong to the State, and the 
 natural right of the child is to be developed physically, 
 mentally and moralh', and the plain dut}' of the State 
 is to furnish such conditions as will tend to the good 
 order of societ}'. The hi.story of the world .shows that 
 ignorance is the prolific mother of vice and crime. To 
 give over the schools to the church is suicide to the 
 nation. To teach knowledge is to teach science, and 
 science de.stroys creeds and dogmas. Hence the super- 
 ficial character of a Catholic education and the clamor 
 to control the schools. I am surprised that any Pro- 
 testant, and much more that any liberal, will .send 
 their children to Catholic schools, where the eye can't 
 turn but it rests upon religious emblems and mumer}-, 
 and the ear is constantly greeted with hoi}- songs and 
 prayers, and every motion of body and mind innocu- 
 lated with the virus of false religion. And it is a well- 
 known fact that about seventy-five per cent of the girls 
 sent to those schools become Catholics, and in our 
 travels we have met manv a fond mother who has told
 
 AM) i.iBKKAi. i.i;cTrKi:s. 105 
 
 us with tearful rej^rets the story of Jesuitical craft, 
 and how their childreu had been alienated from the 
 ]iarental heart and home. 
 
 And many tell us that Catholic schools are so safe, 
 such a high fence and every knot hole stopped that a 
 girl can't see the boys, and not even a crack left open 
 through which she might communicate with the oppo- 
 site sex. Yes, I know it is a safe place. So is a pri.son 
 safe to hold criminals, but when innocent people are 
 incarcerated it breeds criminality. So safe is it I 
 would by far a girl of mine should be exposed to 
 almost any disease than Romanism, for most diseases 
 are curable, but this malady lasts a life time. And 
 as for contamination by the opposite .sex I would much 
 rather trust my girl with an average American boy 
 than with those holy celibate priests of God. 
 
 Our hope for the future of the civilized world is in 
 the diffusion of knowledge, not faith. The perpetuity 
 of free government, free .speech, free schools and moral 
 virtue is wrapped up in our system of education. Let 
 the government be secular and the schools be secular, 
 and intact from sectarian bigotr>- and religious super- 
 stition. 
 
 265>
 
 IC6 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 THE OLD MAM GOES TO SCHOOL. 
 
 I know I'm too old to learii, wife, my lessons and tasks 
 
 are done, 
 The dews of life's evenin' glisten in the light of life's 
 
 setting sun. 
 To the grave by the^side of my father's, they'll carry 
 
 me soon away; 
 But I wanted to see how the world had grown, so I 
 
 hobbled to school to-day. 
 I couldn't a told 'twas a school house; it towered up to 
 
 the skies; 
 I gazed on the structure till dimmer grew these old 
 
 eyes. 
 My thoughts went back to the log house — the school 
 
 house of years ago — 
 Where I studied and romped with the merry bo}\s, 
 
 who sleep where the daisies grow. 
 
 I was started out ot my dreamin' by the tones of the 
 
 monster bell, 
 On these ears that are grovvin" deaf, the sweet notes 
 
 rose and fell. 
 I entered the massive door, and sat in the proffered 
 
 chair — 
 An old man wrinkled and gray in the midst of the 
 
 young and fair.
 
 AM) I.IBICKAf, LFXTURKS. I07 
 
 Like a garden of l)loomin' roses, the school-room ap- 
 peared to nie — 
 
 The children were all so tid}-, their faces so fnllofglee; 
 
 They stared at nie when I entered, then broke o'er the 
 whisperin' rule, 
 
 And said, with a smile to each other, the old man's 
 comin' to school. 
 
 When the countr}- here was new wife — when I was a 
 scholar lad — 
 
 Ourreadin', writin' and spellin' were 'bout all the 
 studies we had; 
 
 We cleared up the farm thro' the summer, then trav- 
 el' d thro' woods and snow, 
 
 T<> the log house in the openin' — the school house o^ 
 years ago. 
 
 Now, boys go to school in a palace, and stud>' hard 
 Latin and Greek; 
 
 They are taught to write scholarh" essays — they are 
 drilled on the stage to speak; 
 
 They go in at the district hopper, but come out thro' 
 college spout; 
 
 And this is the way the schools of our land are grind- 
 ing our great men out. 
 
 Let 'em grind! let 'em grind, dear wife! the world 
 
 needs the good and true, 
 Let the children out of the old house and trot em into 
 
 the new; 
 r 11 cheerfully pay my taxes, and say to this age of 
 
 mind; 
 All aboard! go ahead! if 3-ou leave the old man behind.
 
 I08 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 Our system of common schools is the nation's glory 
 
 and crown, 
 May the arm be palsied ever that is lifted to tear it 
 
 down ; 
 If bigots cannot endure the light of our glowin' skies, 
 L,et them go to oppressions shores where liberty bleeds 
 
 and dies. 
 
 I'm glad I have been to-day in the new house large 
 
 and grand; 
 With pride I think of my toils in this liberty-lovin' 
 
 land ; 
 I've seen a palace arise where the old log school house 
 
 stood, 
 And gardens of beauty bloom where the shadow fell 
 
 in the wood. 
 To the grave by the side of ni}- father's, they'll carr\' 
 
 me soon away, 
 Then I'll go to a higher school than the one I have 
 
 .seen to-day; 
 Where the Master of Masters teacheth — where scholars 
 
 never grow^ old, 
 From glory to glory I'll climb, in the beautiful college 
 
 of gold. 
 
 -1
 
 AND I,IHi:kAl, I.MCTIKI'S. 
 
 •\i 
 
 THE SPIRIT 01^^ NATURE. 
 
 I have come from the heart of all natural things 
 Whose life from the soul of the beautiful springs; 
 You shall hear the sweet waving of corn in my voice. 
 And the musical whisper of the leaves that rejoice. 
 For my lips have been touched by the spirit of pra\cr. 
 Which lingers unseen in the soft summer air; 
 And the smile of the sunshine that brightens the skies, 
 Hath left a glad ray of its light in my eyes. 
 
 On the sea-beaten shore, mid the dwellings of men. 
 
 In the field, or the forest, or wild mountain glen; 
 
 Wherever the grass or a daisy could spring. 
 
 Or the musical laughter of childhood could ring; 
 
 Wherever a swallow could l)uild neath the eaves. 
 
 Or a s(iuirrel could hide in his covert of leaves, 
 
 I have felt the sweet presence, and heard the low call 
 
 Of the .Spirit of Nature, which ([uickens us all. 
 
 Grown weary and worn with the conflict of creeds, 
 I have sought a new faith for the soul with its needs. 
 When the love of the beautiful guided my feet 
 Through a leafv arcade to a svlvan retreat, 
 
 o - 
 
 Where the oriole sung in the branches abo\e 
 And the wild ro.ses burned with their blushes «if love, 
 And the purple-fringed aster and bright golden rod, 
 Like jewels of beauty adorned the green sod.
 
 m 
 
 no FREE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 O, how blessed to feel from the care-laden heart 
 All the sorrows and woes that oppressed it, depart, 
 And to lay the tired head, with its achings, to rest 
 On the heart of all others that loves it the best; 
 O, thus it is ever, when wearied, we yearn 
 To the bosom of Nature and truth to return, 
 And life blossoms forth in beauty anew 
 As we learn to repose in the simple and true. 
 
 No longer with self or with Nature at strife, 
 The soul feels the presence of infinite life; 
 And the voice of a child, or the hum of a bee — 
 The somnolent roll of the deep-heaving sea — 
 The mountains uprising in grandeur and might — 
 The stars that look forth from the depth of the night, 
 All speaks in one language, persuasive and clear. 
 To him who in spirit is waiting to hear. 
 
 There is something in Nature beyond our control, 
 That is tenderly winning the love of each soul ; 
 We shall linger no longer in darkness and doubt. 
 When the beauty within meets the beaut}- without. 
 Sweet vSpirit of Nature! wherever thou art, 
 O, fold us like children, close, close to thy heart; 
 Till w^e learn that thy bosom is truth's hallowed shrine, 
 And the soul of the beautiful is — the divine.
 
 AND I.IBKRAL LliCTlKKS. Ill 
 
 THE PARSON'S SCHOO: 
 
 The auluimi winds sighed gloomily without, l»ul the fire of 
 maple logs burned brightly within, and the polished andirons 
 reflected back the insinuation on their not being as old as the 
 logs which rested upon their bars. 
 
 "Don't imagine for one moment," said the andirons, "that 
 your pedigree is older than ours, for we were old settlers long 
 before the Mayflower sailed from England, and we came over 
 with the first families and have enjoyed high privileges ever 
 siTice." 
 
 "Ha. ha," sizzleil the maple logs, "our ancestors were oM 
 trees long before Columljus reached our shores, aud we have 
 enjoyed higher privileges than you, for we have always held 
 our heads very high, and never till now, that adverse circum- 
 stances have overtaken us, have we stooped to associate witli 
 those beneath us." 
 
 "Well," said the andirons, "we will talk this matter over 
 to-morrow. My friends, the shovel aud tongs, know that we 
 liave ahvays held our heads high, and have only mingled in 
 good society." 
 
 Just then the tongs, in the hands of a fair lady, gave the 
 logs a punch, which sent a thousand sparks flying up the 
 chimney aud the conversation was dropped. 
 
 By the side of the fire-plaoe sat a minister of a fashionable 
 church. Upon his knee was a popular literary magazine. He 
 had read aud pondered long upon an article which had ap- 
 peared upon its pages. The article in question was an analysis 
 of the Christian religion, showing the steps by which it had 
 come down through the various religions of the past, by slow 
 gradations, lopping ofl" a rite or ceremony here and adding a 
 new one there, or giving it a uew name, until the name of 
 Christian had been given it, and the child had been baptized 
 in blood, usurped the control of the world, and its reign hnd
 
 112 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 been marked by fagj^ot, rack and torture. It had only become, 
 as it now claimed to be, a religion of peace, because science 
 had shed its rays upon it, showing what a deformed child it 
 was, and commanding it to behave itself. 
 
 Long he pondered; he knew that the article was true, but it 
 pained him to see its true character exposed in this manner. 
 He, as before said, was pastor of a fashionable church, and his 
 love for ease and good living made him a hypocrite. It would 
 never do to allow such statements to pass unnoticed. 
 
 He felt that it was required of him to reply to the article 
 and show the fallacy of such statements as were contained in 
 it. He could easily doit, for but few of the many were read- 
 ers of ancient history, and there were Christian authorities 
 in abundance to quote from, to prove the position of the author 
 in question untenable. He resolved to rush into the arena as 
 a defender of the faith. Filled with this new idea he retired 
 to his study, but his mind was ill at ease. He fully realized 
 that that which he was about to do, was an effort to deceive 
 the masses. He knew, for he was a close student of ancient 
 hi.story, that the arguments and statements put forth in that 
 article could not be honestly refuted. But what had honest}- 
 to do with the case. He had his reputation as a Christian 
 minister to sustain; and not only his reputation, his position, 
 his living. As to the teaching of the Church as conducted to- 
 day, that was quite another matter — good music, a good deal 
 of show and a nice talk to pie i.se his fashionable audience — 
 the church was only a placv' n;" amusement, under the name of 
 sanctity. Hut was it making the world any better? Did it 
 draw to them those who were hungry and ragged, those who 
 needed friends? No. Those would hardly l)e admitted within 
 their doors, or if admitted, the genteel ushers would seat them 
 in the most retired corner. What good to the world, he hon- 
 estly asked himself, are we doing? Instead of writing a reply 
 to the periodical, he wrote a sermon from the text — "What 
 good are we doing?" The next vSunday morning his congrega- 
 tion were aroused from their half drowsy indifference by the 
 text. He did not take it from the Bible, but he said the book 
 from which he quoted his text was the world. He asked, 
 what good are we doing to those whom our Master came to 
 save; he who would have all men come unto him. What are
 
 AND I.IBKKAI, I.KCTURKS. I I .> 
 
 \vc (loiii;^ U) induct.' lliciii lu roiiic Uj liiiii. 'JViit-, <>ui rhiuih 
 doors arc thrown optii, our bell is rnny invitin.ij all who will 
 to come, hut it really means nothing more than that we expect 
 to repeat the forms and ceremonies of the previous Sundays. 
 What are we doinj^ to raise the fallen, to assist the jjoor and 
 needy? True, we have our Magdalen asylums, our houses of 
 refuge for orphans, we have our jails and houses of correction, 
 our prisons, our reformatories, etc., etc., but they are in a 
 large part supported by our government. True, they make 
 places where worn out and superannuated preachers can make 
 a good living. 
 
 But what good are we doing, rung out once again from the 
 sacred desk. We, individually, and I include myself in the 
 interrogatory. This beautiful edifice, costing over half a 
 million, dedicated to him who was poor and lowly, not having 
 wheie to lay his head. Supposing the money used in the 
 erection of and sustaining this magnificent church, had been 
 ilevoted to manufacturing purposes, employing large numbers 
 of those who are in need of employment, erected cottages for 
 them, built schoolhouses where their children could receive 
 eilucation. Would it not, I ask, be living nearer to the teach- 
 ings of him we claim to serve? Let US take the text home 
 with us and ask what good are we doing. 
 
 The congregation were wide awake, and the question went 
 from lip to lip, what is tlie matter with our pastor. 
 
 The earnestness manifested by the Rev. Jason Marvin, in 
 his Sabbath morning sermon, was not lost upon his congrega- 
 tion. Many a wealthy pew holder asked himself the question 
 — what good am I doing; atid resolved to be more watchful for 
 opportunities to benefit others. 
 
 But the efforts of the parson did not stop here. He deter- 
 mined to inaugurate under the auspices of his own church 
 (well satisfied that there was wealth enough at his command » 
 a school for the education of boys and girls; children of the 
 outcast class, who infest the slums of all large cities; and he 
 immediately laid his plans before his official board and asked 
 their co-operation. It was not long ere arrangements were 
 readv for the successful inauguration of the school. Com- 
 modious buildings had been engaged and pleasantly fitted i\p 
 for the purpose. Several teachers had been engaged an<l can-
 
 114 FREE THOUGHT POEMvS 
 
 vassers had visited large numbers of families, soliciting the at- 
 tendance of their children, generally with encouraging results, 
 although many of the children had to be clothed before they 
 conld appear at the school. A dinner was provided daily, and 
 such a dinner as the children were not in the habit of seeing. 
 
 Reports of the school soon circulated, and large numbers 
 solicited permission to attend the school. Soon more exten- 
 sive accommodations had to be provided for the largely in- 
 creased numbers who daily attended. 
 
 In time it was thought advisable to make additions to the 
 school— a carpenter shop for boys and a sewing school for 
 girls. Each of these additions found especial favor among the 
 larger pupils. It was not very long ere a change began to be 
 observable in the neighborhood where these children lived. 
 A desire was manifested for better surroundings; industrious 
 habits w-ere formed; the dram shop was avoided by most of 
 those who came within the influence of the school: and as time 
 passed, many were the streams for good which poured from 
 that one effort to do good.
 
 AND LIBERAL I.HCTVRKS. II, 
 
 WHAT I ONCE THOUGHT. 
 
 I once tho't that Heaven was made for the few; 
 That God was as vengeful as Moses, the Jew; 
 That niilHons were doomed at his bidding to dwell 
 Within the dark bounds of a terrible hell, 
 Where hope never enters, but ring on the air 
 The weepings and wailings of endless despair. 
 
 I once thought the Bible was God's holy word; 
 That reason opposing should never be heard; 
 I made it my study, my every-day care; 
 Its falsehoods were truths, its curses were prayers; 
 To doubt was a crime that could ne'er be forgiven; 
 And faith was the lever that raised us to Heaven. 
 
 I once thought Jehovah Creator and Lord, 
 And, bowed at his footstool, I feared and adored; 
 The deeds that a devil might blush to commit 
 Believed he had done, for the Lord thought it fit. 
 The law of right-doing I never dreamed then 
 Applied unto gods even more than to men. 
 
 I once thought that death was a mon.ster accurst, 
 Of evils the greatest, the last, and the worst; 
 His maw, so insatiate, swallowed our race. 
 And left of their beauty and glory no trace;
 
 ir6 FRKE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 The grave was a shadow-land, cheered by no spring, 
 Where sat on his ice-throne a skeleton king. 
 
 I once thought that earth was a valley of tears,— 
 A wilderness- world, full of sorrow and fears; 
 That God's curse had blasted its beauty and grace, 
 And poisoned the fairest and best of the race. 
 I wept as I thought of his horrible ban. 
 And sorrowed that God should have made nie a man. 
 Fond fables of childhood! my faith in j-ou fled; 
 You lie in the tomb with the dust covered dead.
 
 AND I.M!1".KAI. I.IXTIK ]•;.-.. II7 
 
 THE DEYIL IS DEAD. 
 
 Sigh, priests, en' aloud, hang your pulpits with black; 
 
 Let sorrow bow down every head: 
 The good friend who bore all your sins on his back. 
 
 Your best friend, the Devil, is dead. 
 
 Your church is a corpse: you are guarding its tonil>: 
 
 The soul of your system has fled: 
 That death-knell is tolling your terrible doom: 
 
 It tells- us the Devil is dead. 
 
 Twas knowledge ga\-e Satan a terrible blow: 
 
 Poor fellow ! he took to his l)ed. 
 Alas I idle priest, that such things should be ;>o; 
 Your master, the Devil, is dead. 
 
 You're bid to the funeral, ministers all: 
 
 We've dug the old gentleman's lied; 
 Your black coats will make a most excellent pall 
 
 To cover \our friend who is dead. 
 
 Ay, lower him mournfully into the grave: 
 
 Let showers of tear-drops be shed : 
 Your business is gone; there are no souls t<> save: 
 
 Their tempter, the Devil, is dead.
 
 Il8 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 Woe comes upon woe; you can ne'er get your dues; 
 
 Hell's open, the damned souls have fled; 
 They took to their heels when they heard the good 
 news, — 
 
 Their jailor, the Devil, is dead. 
 
 Camp-meetings henceforth will be needed no more; 
 
 Revivals are knocked on the head; 
 The orthodox vessel lies stranded on shore. 
 
 Her captain, the Devil, is dead.
 
 AND I.IBKRAI, LICCTIKKS. Iiy 
 
 THE OLD MAN GOES TO 'FRISCO. 
 
 Well, wife, I've been to "Frisco, and calleil to see the 
 
 boys; 
 I'm worn out and half deafened with the travel and 
 
 the noise, 
 vSo I'll sit down by the chimney and rest my wear_\- 
 
 bones. 
 And tell you how I was treated by our aristocratic sons. 
 
 As soon as I reached the city I hunted up our Dan: 
 
 You know he's now a celebrated wholesale business 
 man; 
 
 I walked (Unvn from the depot, 1)Ut Dan keeps a coun- 
 try seat. 
 
 And I thought to go home with him and rest m\- weary 
 feet. 
 
 All the way I kept a thinking how famous it would be 
 To go round the town together — my grown up boy 
 
 and me. 
 And rememljer the old times, when his little curly head 
 Used to cry out, "Good night, pa])a," from his little 
 
 trundle bed. 
 
 Dan was sitting by a table and writing in a book; 
 He knowed me in a minute, and lie gave me such a 
 look ;
 
 I20 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 He never said a word of you, but asked about the grain. 
 And if I thought the valle}- didn't need a little rain. 
 
 I did not stay a great while, but inquired after Bob; 
 Dan said he lived upon a hill, I think he called it Nob; 
 And when I left, Dan, in a tone that almost broke me 
 
 down , 
 Said: "Call and see me, won't you, whenever 3-ou're 
 
 in town." 
 
 It was late that evening when I found our Robbie's 
 
 house; 
 There was music, light and dancing, and a mighty 
 
 great carouse. 
 At the door a blackman met me, and he grinned from 
 
 ear to ear. 
 Saying, " Keerds of invitation, or you nebber get in 
 
 here. 
 
 I said I was Rob's father, and with another grin 
 
 The blackman left me standing and disappeared 
 
 within. 
 Rob came out on the porch — he did not order me away, 
 But said he hoped to see me at his office the next day. 
 
 Then I started for the tavern, for I knowed there any- 
 way 
 
 They would not turn me out so long's I'd money for 
 to pay. 
 
 And Rob and Dan had left me about the streets to 
 roam , 
 
 And neither of them a.sked if I'd money to get home.
 
 AND LIBKRAL LECTURES. 121 
 
 It may be the way of rich folks, I don't say it is not. 
 But we remember some tliine^s Rt)b and Dan have 
 
 quite forgot. 
 We did not quite expect this, wife, wlicn twenty years 
 
 ago. 
 We mortgaged our old homestead to give Rob and Dan 
 
 a show. 
 
 I didn't look for Charley, but I happened just to meet 
 Him with a lot of friends of his, a coming down the 
 
 street. 
 I thought I'd pass on by liim for fear our youngest 
 
 son 
 Would .show he was ashamed of me, as Rob and Dan 
 
 had done. 
 
 But soon as Charley saw me, right before them all. 
 Said. "God bless me, there's my father," as loud as he 
 
 could bawl. 
 Then he introduced me to his friends and sent them 
 
 all away, 
 Telling 'em he'd see 'em later, but was busy for that 
 
 day. 
 
 Then he took me out to dinner, and axed about the 
 
 house; 
 About you and vSally's baby, and the chickens and the 
 
 cows; 
 He axed me about his brothers, addin' 'twas rather 
 
 queer, 
 But he had not seen one of them for mighty nigh a 
 
 year.
 
 122 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 Then he took me to his lodging, in an attic four stairs 
 
 high; 
 He said he liked it better cause 'twas nearer to the sky. 
 He said he'd only one room but his bed was pretty 
 
 wide ; 
 And so we slept together — me and Charley side by 
 
 side. 
 
 Next day we went together to the great Mechanics' 
 
 Fair, 
 And some of Charlej-'s pictures were on exhibition 
 
 there. 
 He said if he could sell them, which he hoped to pretty 
 
 soon, 
 He'd make us all a visit and be richer than Muldoon. 
 
 And so two days and nights we passed, and when I 
 
 came away 
 Poor Charley said the time was short, and begged for 
 
 me to stay; 
 Then he took me in a buggy and drove me to the 
 
 train, 
 And said in just a little while he'd see us all again. 
 
 You know we thought our Charley would never come 
 
 to much. 
 He was alwa^-s reading novels, and poetry and such; 
 There was nothing on the farm he seemed to want to 
 
 do, 
 And when he took to painting he disgusted me clear 
 
 through.
 
 AM) I.IHICKAI. I.l-.C'ITKICS. 12", 
 
 - So we gave to Rol) and Dan all we had to call our own, 
 And left poor Charley penniless to make his way 
 
 alone. 
 He's only a poor ]\ainter — Rob and Dan arc rich as 
 
 sin, 
 But Charley's worth the pair of 'cm with all their i^old 
 
 thrown in. 
 
 Tho.se two grand men, dear wife, were once our babes 
 
 — and 3'et 
 It .seems a mighty gidf 'Iwixt them and us is set: 
 And they'll never know the old folks till life's troubled 
 
 journey's past. 
 And rich and poor are equal underneath the sod at 
 
 last. 
 
 And ma\- lie when we all meet on the resurrection 
 ^ morn, 
 
 With our earthly glories fallen like husks from the 
 
 ripe corn; 
 When the righteous son of man the awful sentence 
 
 .shall have said, 
 The brightest crown that shines there mav l>e on 
 
 Charlev's head.
 
 124 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 ONLY WAITING. 
 
 Only waiting till the shadows 
 
 Are a little longer grown; 
 Only waiting till the glimmer 
 
 Of the day's last beam is flown; 
 Till the night of earth is faded 
 
 From the heart once full of day; 
 Till the stars of heaven are breaking 
 
 Through the twilight soft and gray. 
 
 Only waiting till the reapers 
 
 Have the last sheaf gathered home; 
 For the summer time is faded, 
 
 And the autumn winds have come. 
 Quickly, reapers, gather quickly 
 
 The last ripe hours of my heart, 
 For the bloom of life is withered. 
 
 And I hasten to depart. 
 
 Only waiting till the angels 
 
 Open wide the mystic gate, 
 At whose feet I long have lingered, 
 
 Weary, poor and desolate. 
 Even now I hear the footsteps. 
 
 And their voices, far away; 
 If they call me I am waiting, 
 
 Only waiting to obey.
 
 AND LIRKRAL LKCTIRKS. 125 
 
 Only waiting till the shadows 
 
 Are a little longer grown; 
 Only waiting till the glimmer 
 
 Of the clay's last beam is flown; 
 Then from out the gathered darkness. 
 
 Hoi}', deathless stars shall rise, 
 By whose light my soul shall gladly 
 
 Tread its pathway to the skies.
 
 126 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF LIFE. 
 
 I^eaves have their glad recall, 
 
 And blossoms open to the south wind's breath, 
 And stars that set shall rise again, for all, 
 
 All things shall triumph o'er the spoiler, death. 
 
 Day was not made for care — 
 
 Kve brings bright angels to the joj'ous hearth — 
 Night comes with dreams of peace and visions fair 
 
 Ot those whom death could conquer not on earth. 
 
 When in the festive hour, 
 
 Death mingles poison with the rub}- wine, 
 Ivife also comes with overwhelming power, 
 
 Changing the deadly draught to life devine. 
 
 Youth and the opening rose 
 
 May vanish from the outward sight away, 
 But life their inward beautj' shall disclose. 
 
 And rob the haughty spoiler of his prey. 
 
 Leaves have their glad recall, 
 
 And blossoms open to the south wind's breath, 
 And stars that set shall rise again, for all, 
 
 All things shall triumph o'er the spoiler — death.
 
 ANIJ I.IHKKAI, l.KCTUKKS. I 27 
 
 We know that yet again 
 
 Our loved and lost shall cross the sunnner sea. 
 Bearing with them the sheaves of golden grain, 
 
 Whicli they have harvested, O life I with thee. 
 
 Thy breath is in the gale 
 
 Whose kiss unseals the violet's a/.ure eye; 
 And though the roses in our path grow pale. 
 
 We know that all things change, they do not die. 
 
 Wherever man may roam. 
 
 Thy presence, viewless as the summer air, 
 Meets him abroad, or in his peaceful home. 
 
 And when death calls him forth you. too, art there. 
 
 Thou art where soul meets soul. 
 
 Or where earth's noblest fall in battle strife; 
 But death, the spoiler, yields to thy control; 
 
 Forevermore thou art the conqueror, life. 
 
 Leaves have their glad recall. 
 
 And blos.soms open to the south wind's breath. 
 And stars that set shall ri.se again, for all. 
 
 All things shall triumph o'er the spoiler — death.
 
 128 FREE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 DAISY DEAM. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Ill the shade of an overhanging tree in a quiet 
 suburban village, sat an aged man. The snows of 
 many winters had bleached his locks, till they vied 
 with that frozen element in whiteness. At his side 
 was seated a young girl. Her sweet blue eyes were 
 turned on him as she patiently listened to the oft told 
 tale of the crucifiction. The Bible on the old man's 
 knees was open to the records as given bj^ Matthew, 
 and as he dilated upon the story his old eyes grew 
 dim; and tears coursed each other down his furrowed 
 cheeks. 
 
 "Grandpa," said the girl, "why did God require 
 such a sacrifice from his own son? Would you desire 
 me to die to please you?" 
 
 "Ah, no, my child. But God's ways are not our 
 ways. His love for us was so great that he gave his 
 only son for our salvation. 
 
 The young girl gazed thoughtfully away. "Grand- 
 pa," she exclaimed, "I cannot understand it. We 
 read that God made man and pronounced him 
 good; that he blessed all the works of his hands. 
 How then, could there have been any evil in the 
 world?" 
 
 "Don't you know, my child, that the serpent 
 tempted the woman to sin?"
 
 AND I^IBKKAI, l.lCCTl'KKS. I 29 
 
 "Well, grandpa, did not God make the serpent and 
 pronounce him good, only a short time before? How- 
 then, could he have done evil?" 
 
 Ah, my child, we have no right to ([uestion. Vou 
 know our pastor tells us it is sin." 
 
 "Well, grandpa, I can't help thinking, and many 
 times I ask myself what God made sin for anyway." 
 
 "My child, God did not make sin: he is only the 
 author of good." 
 
 "Then w^ho did make sin?" 
 
 "Why Satan, of course." 
 
 "Well, where did Satan come from, if God did not 
 make him?" 
 
 "That is a question I cannot answer. Our good 
 minister tells us that sin entered into the world and 
 death by sin, and that God so loved the world that he 
 gave his only son to die for us that we might live." 
 
 "Yes, I have often heard him say that; but it does 
 not satisfy me. It does not look rea.sonable, grandpa, 
 The minister says God is better to us than our earthl>- 
 parents. Now could you become so «ngr\- towards me 
 and my brothers and sisters, that you would require 
 my father to die so you could become reconciled to us?" 
 
 "Why no, my child, what fooli.sh questions you ask." 
 
 "Well, grandpa, they don't .seem foolish to me, be- 
 cau.se I want to know the truth, and I cannot think 
 that God could be .so cruel as to allow his son to be 
 crucified." 
 
 "My dear child, what has put such .strange notions 
 
 into your head? You must ask God to forgive you." 
 
 "No, grandpa; he has given us reason, and how can 
 
 we help thinking. Every time I hear our minister
 
 130 FREE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 preach, it just raises my doubts, and I wonder if he 
 believes it himself." 
 
 "Oh, Uncle Ned, how glad we are to see 5'ou. 
 Come and sit down on this cosy seat." 
 
 "Well, father, how do you do to-day?" said the 
 young man, seating himself on the grass, "and how is 
 our Daisy? I think I overheard some infidel doctrine 
 from our little preacher as I stopped to listen. How 
 is it father, is she trying to convert you?" 
 
 "Well Ned, I don't know where the child gets her 
 strange ideas. She is always arguing against our 
 minister. Sometimes she asks questions that he can- 
 not answer, and she is sure to get the best of him in 
 an argument, but I think it is very wrong in her and 
 very wicked too." 
 
 "Father, Dais}- has got a mind of her own, and she 
 means to do her own thinking, and I think you had 
 better not interfere with her. Young as she is, she is a 
 great reader and understands what she reads. ' ' 
 
 "Uncle Ned," said Daisy, "have you read the new 
 work on "Evolution." 
 
 "Evolution I skould think was pretty dry reading 
 for a young lady. Yes, I have seen the work, and to 
 me it is exceedingly interesting. But where did you 
 see it?" 
 
 "I bought it with the mone}' 3^ou gave me for bon- 
 bons last week." 
 
 "Well, Daisy, you are a strange girl." 
 
 "Uncle Ned, I have heard that until I am tired of 
 it. Why can't a woman be supposed to think, and 
 reason, and form her own conclusions? I have heard 
 nothing preached all mj- life but those doctrines which 
 I consider an insult to woman. Only last week the
 
 AND LIBEKAI. I.ECTrRKS. I3I 
 
 iniiiistt-T reiniiuk-d me that 1 had better pay a little 
 more heed to St. Paul's teaching, just because he could 
 not reply to my argument. He said it would be more 
 becoming to learn to be a good liousekeeper, than to 
 have my head filled with such sill\- n(jtions; that a 
 girl of my age might even be better employed with her 
 dolls than reading such wicked books as I was reading. 
 And he teared the church would have to deal with my 
 father for allowing it." 
 
 The young lady in question was the daughter of one 
 the leading members in the church. Consequently, 
 the minister often visited the family; but young Dais}- 
 vvas a source of annoyance to him. Her views were 
 so very unorthodox, and often he found himself unable 
 to argue with her: and as she said, took refuge in im- 
 pertinent remarks upon her unlady-like conduct. But 
 Uncle Ned, her father's youngest brother, was her 
 friend and held the .same views that she did. 
 
 While engaged in the foregoing conversation, the 
 mini.ster appeared upon the .scene. 
 
 "And how are my good friends to-day?" asked the 
 minister. "And my little Daisy, I trust she has 
 heeded the advice I gave her last week, for I saw her 
 at meeting on Sunday." 
 
 "Yes, sir, I attended the meeting with m>- Father." 
 
 "And were you not pleased with the sermon?" 
 
 "I have no wish to argue Avith you, sir, but as 
 you have a.sked me I must say that I was not. 
 
 "What part of it was not in accordance with \<)ur 
 views?" 
 
 "Sir, you said Ood made man in his own image: 
 that he gave him power over everything, and that 
 woman was made for a help-meet for man. In your
 
 132 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 argument }-ou carried the idea that woman was an 
 after-thought with God; that it was unnecessar>' that 
 her education should extend farther than to be good 
 housewives, and that the reading of books, especially 
 of a character to induce thought, was not only a use- 
 less waste of time, but absolutely sinful. You also 
 said that the Bible was the only book it was necessary 
 or advisable for them to read. ' ' 
 
 "True, my dear young lady, I said that, and if you 
 would study St. Paul, as I have before advised you, 
 you would find that I was perfectl}^ correct; that the 
 Bible teaches young women to be sober and discreet, 
 lovers of home and their families. When they do all 
 that they have no time to waste on the worse than 
 useless literature that is now becoming so prevalent, 
 in which is taught that there are other ways of reach- 
 ing the truth than by the study of God's word." 
 
 "Do 3^ou claim, sir, that the Bible is the only word 
 of God." 
 
 "Most assuredly I do. In it we read how God 
 .spoke to man; that he talked to Moses face to face, and 
 gave to him the commandments, written upon tables 
 of stone; that he gave his son to die for our sins; that 
 after his resurrection he ascended again into heaven, 
 his disciples saw him go, and that since that time no 
 one has conversed with him. The Bible says that he 
 sitteth on the right hand of the Father making inter- 
 cession for us. Oh, my dear child, I fear that you are 
 in the toils of the evil one." 
 
 "I was just asking grandpa who the evil one is. 
 When God had made everything and pronounced it 
 good, where did Satan come from? For the Bible says 
 there was nothing made that he did not make."
 
 AND LIBKKAI. I.KCTrRKS. I 33 
 
 "Why Satan, my child, was a rcl)clli<)us spirit and 
 God cast him out of heaven." 
 
 "Where do you read that, sir?" 
 
 "Why, in Milton's Paradise Lost we read a full ac- 
 count of it. How Satan rebelled and made war in 
 Heaven, and God cast Iiini out and he was forty days 
 talliui^ and his angels with him." 
 
 "Why, sir, does not the Bible tell something of that? 
 If ever)-thing was good, how could there be any evil? 
 If God had all power, why did he not prevent evfl 
 from entering into the world? And how could there 
 have been any evil if he did not make it?" 
 
 "My dear young ladw this conversation is very 
 unprofitable. I called to see the Deacon, your father, 
 about some church matters. Where shall I find him?" 
 
 "I think he is in the house, sir," replied the maiden. 
 And the preacher, bidding them good afternoon, left 
 them. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Not long after the events of the foregoing chapter 
 a revival began in the church, and while many found 
 peace in believing, our good friend Dais}- still re- 
 mained out of the fold. Great were the efforts put 
 forth and the prayers offered in her behalf. It seemed, 
 so said our worthy deacon, that the doors of heaven 
 were clo.sed against her because of her unbelief. But 
 she did not seem at all troubled, and took the matter 
 calmly. 
 
 When the school opened, it was found that the new 
 teacher, who had come from the city, held the same 
 views that she did. Great consternation was felt and
 
 134 FREE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 a discussion was held by the minister and some of the 
 active members, about the advisability of dismissing 
 him; but as he was well liked and the school was in a 
 flourishing condition, the subject was dropped. 
 
 He introduced several new features into the society 
 of the little village. One was a debating class, in 
 which both ladies and gentlemen took sides. 
 
 During the winter the subject of "Evolution" was 
 chosen as a topic for discussion. On one side was the 
 teacher, Mr. James Stewart, and Daisy Dean, the dea- 
 con's daughter. On the opposition was the minister 
 and lawyer Black, who always sided with the biggest 
 party. 
 
 The school house was crowded, and surprise and 
 curiosity was manifested, that Daisy should take sides 
 in opposition to such great men. The meeting was 
 called to order by the chairman, the subject was an- 
 nounced and the question was read. 
 
 Resolved, That the doctrine of evolution is true. 
 Affirmative, James Stewart and Daisy Dean. Negative, 
 Rev. Mr. Praiseworth}' and Asa Black, Esq. 
 
 James Stewart opened the debate by laying down 
 three propositions. First, that matter and force were 
 eternal. Second, that evolution is but growth, pro- 
 gression. Third, that growth and progression was 
 nature's law and that evolution was the carrying out 
 of the law. He showed from geology that the earth 
 had been passing through progressive changes; that 
 from the ball of molten lava that was thrown from the 
 sun, as all scientists claim, it has been the subject of 
 change; from the cooling process forming a crust upon 
 which, in the process of time, little lichens and mosses 
 appeared; they, resolving back became earth, and .so
 
 AND LIBHRAL LECTURKS. 135 
 
 through successive ages, one growth after another, 
 larger forms of trees, shrubs, plants. The heated con- 
 dition of the atnios])here caused them to grow rapidly, 
 and to enormous dimensions, then rapidly decay, form- 
 ing soil on the earth's surface, and in the process "of 
 time life appeared. The smallest forms, and through 
 conditions condusive, other forms of life appeared, and 
 through successive ages again, change after change, 
 until man, the culminating glory of nature's work " 
 
 "Time," rapped the chairman. 
 
 The speaker sat down with faint murmurs of ap- 
 plause. The sul)ject was new. The average mind 
 had not grasped it. When the Rev. Mr. Prai.seworthy 
 rose to his feet it was in a storm of applause. All 
 were sati.sfied that the little David who had spoken 
 would be annihilated by their Goliah. 
 
 "Friends" said the reverend gentleman, "it looks 
 to me like child's play to rise here, just to knock over 
 the little cob-house our young friend has builded with 
 so much care. Let me sum up all these propositions 
 in one. In six days, God made the heavens and the 
 earth and pronounced them good; that he did not wait 
 for ages and ages of time, but he did it in six days. 
 [Great applau.se.] He placed man on the earth, and 
 in his wi.sdom, he, pitying his lonely condition made 
 woman. The earth was already covered with trees 
 and plants, every tree bringing seed after its kind. 
 He did not wait for ages on ages to do it, he did it in 
 six days. Now, friends, it has not taken my half hour 
 to do that little job, and I will not use the balance of 
 my time, for there is no argument." The preacher .sat 
 down amid roars of applause. The next speaker was 
 Daisy Dean. Most people thought that .she would
 
 136 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 not dare take the floor after the terrible blow the 
 teacher had received, but she came calml}^ forward to 
 the desk. 
 
 "Friends," she said, "it may be considered pre- 
 sumptuous for me to say it, but the last speaker has 
 made no argument against the question. He says God 
 made the world in six days. Many of the Christian 
 scholars claim, as said in holy writ, that one da}^ 
 with the Almighty is as a thousand years, and that 
 the days spoken of in the text were long periods of 
 time, and the six days or long periods of time, must 
 have amounted to ages and ages in which to consum- 
 mate the work. He has given us nothing to reply to, 
 so I will show to the best of my ability how^ matter 
 and force are the great elements through which nature 
 works; that cause and effect are the operators in the 
 great plan, and that evolution is the web woven in the 
 great loom of time, carrying forward the work. It' 
 works through human endeavors, the love of life, of 
 lease, of comfort, for motive powers. The nurseryman 
 in the propogation of fruits, by budding and grafting 
 and culture, produces finer varieties of fruit, than the 
 kind that w^as made in six days; and so, not only in 
 fruits but in every avenue of life the analogy holds 
 good. From the dim past where our forefathers lived 
 in huts or even dens of the earth. Their clothins: 
 was rude, made from the skins of animals, with no 
 knowledge, no books, no fire. Compare all this with 
 the thousand comforts we have to-day, and deny the 
 truth of evolution. Who can?" While she spoke the 
 audience sat spell-bound. Her self-posses.sion and the 
 ease with which she handled her subject carried con- 
 \action to every listener; and the burst of applause that
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURES. 1 37 
 
 followed her to her seat showed that the tide had 
 turned in the opinions of the audience. 
 
 The next speaker, Asa Black, Esq., said that he 
 would not be so ungallant as to attempt to reply to a 
 lady, and took his seat amid groans from the audience. 
 
 As no one cho.se to make any remarks, James Stew- 
 art took the floor for the closing argument. He 
 showed conclusivelj' that the doctrine of evolution was 
 true in the rise and fall of empires and governments; 
 that at last, the simple form of government for the 
 people and by the people was the star in the West, 
 leading the nations of the old world to it; that the arts 
 and sciences were making constant advancement, all 
 working for the well-being of humanity. He clo.sed 
 amid roars of applause, and the verdict was unanimous- 
 ly given to the affirmative. Daisy Dean was the 
 recipient of man}- compliments and the teacher be- 
 came very popular. 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 The arguments advanced by the teacher and Daisy 
 Dean made a great impression on the little community, 
 and was the subject of conversation whenever neigh- 
 bors met. Great astonishment was manifested that 
 the deacon's daughter should so well understand the 
 subject. After his signal defeat at the debate and the 
 absence of an argument, the Rev. Mr. Praiseworthy 
 did not stand as high in the estimation of the com- 
 munity as formerly, and it did not add to the kindly 
 feelings he held towards his opponents; neither did it 
 add to the numbers of his audience. Although large 
 numbers had recently been added to his church, he 
 noticed with chagrin that the numbers who remained
 
 138 fre;e thought poems 
 
 faithful were growing less and less, until nearly all 
 of those who had joined in the last revival had fallen 
 from grace and their names had been removed from the 
 church book. 
 
 About this time a new accession was made to the 
 business element of the town. A Mr. Wilson moved 
 into the village and took charge of the only hotel. He 
 made many improvements, and being a genial, agree- 
 able companion, he soon became very popular. It 
 was soon understood that he was a disciple of the 
 doctrine that was so abl}^ handled at the debate, and 
 many were the knots of men and boys who gathered 
 on his broad porch to discuss the subject. It was sur- 
 prising to see what a hold these new ideas had upon 
 the minds of the people, and as time passed a society 
 was organized, and stated meetings were held. Some- 
 times a lecturer from abroad occupied their platform; 
 at other times an article was read by the teacher, or a 
 discussion was entered into by the members. Their 
 numbers rapidly increased and they were soon enabled 
 to build a hall of their own, and Daisy Dean was one 
 of a list of speakers who occupied the pulpit at regular 
 intervals . 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Praiseworthy was obliged to resign 
 his charge and seek another field of labor; and as the 
 new society grew and flourished there was not paying 
 members enough left in the church to insure a preach- 
 er's salary, consequently the church was without a 
 pastor, and Deacon Dean became so impressed with the 
 truth of the doctrine of evolution, he left the church 
 and became an ardent adherent ot the new societ5^ 
 Shortly after Mr. Dean left the church, his aged father 
 feeling that evil would surely come to that house, left
 
 AND I.IHKKAL I.IX'TrRKS. I39 
 
 ■to reside with his daughter, hoping he had found a 
 refuge where the trail of the serpent could not enter: 
 but here he was doomed to disappointment, for soon a 
 visit from Daisy was planned by her cousins. 
 
 Upon her arrival her grandfather drew her to his 
 knee and prayed her to abandon her wicked belief be- 
 fore it was too late, and .seek for mercy. 
 
 "No, grandpa," said the gentle girl, "I would be 
 sorry to cause you an}- unhappiness, but feel that I 
 am right and consequenth' cannot retract." 
 
 Her teachings had the same effect here as in her own 
 immediate neighborhood. She was invited to deliver 
 a lecture, which she did, and awakened an interest 
 which grew until a .society was organized and regular 
 speaking was the result of her efforts.
 
 140 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 THE HINDOO SKEPTIC. 
 
 I think till I weary with thinking, 
 Said the sad-e\'ed Hindoo King, 
 
 And I see but shadows around me — 
 Illusion in everything. 
 
 How knowest thou aught of God, 
 
 Of His favor or His wrath? 
 Can the little fish tell what the lion thinks, 
 
 Or map out the eagle's path? 
 
 Can the finite the infinite search? 
 
 Did the blind discover the stars? 
 Is the thought that I think a thought? 
 
 Or a throb of the brain in its bars? 
 
 For aught that my eye can discern, 
 Your God is what you think good; 
 
 Yourself flashed back from the glass 
 When the light pours on it in flood. 
 
 You preach to me to be just; 
 
 And this is His realm you say; 
 And the good are dying of hunger. 
 
 And the bad gorge every day.
 
 AND LIBERAL I.l.dTRES. 14I 
 
 You say that He lovetli mercy; 
 
 And the famine is not yet gone; 
 That He hateth the shedder of blood. 
 
 And He slayeth us every one. 
 
 You say that my soul shall live; 
 
 That the spirit can never die — 
 If He were contented when I was not. 
 
 Why not when I have passed by? 
 
 You say I must have a meaning; 
 
 So must soil, and its meaning is flowers. 
 What if our souls are but nurture 
 
 For lives that are greater than ours. 
 
 When the fish swims out of the water. 
 
 When the birds soar out of the blue, 
 Man's thought may transcend man's knowledge. 
 
 And your God be no reflex of you.
 
 1 
 
 142 FREE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 SAVE YOUR SOUL 
 
 I am sick of the preacher's only strain, 
 
 Save your soul, save your soul, save your soul, 
 
 I am tired of hearing forever and aye 
 The same old song from the pulpit roll. 
 
 It seems to me like a selfish cry. 
 
 This telling a man that the only thing 
 
 Of any importance here below 
 
 Is saving himself iroxa a future sting. 
 
 * 
 
 Far nobler far, far better, it seems to me, 
 
 To tell a man to save some other, 
 To send him up and down through the world 
 
 Seeking and saving his fallen brother. 
 
 To put him off from the beaten track. 
 Out into the hedges of .sin and shame; 
 
 To teach and to tell to the captives bound. 
 The beauty and glory of virtue's name. 
 
 To rescue the starving from sin and death, 
 To rescue the sinning one from crime, 
 
 To preach the gospel of present helps 
 To the weary ones on the shores of time.
 
 AND I.IBKKAL I.KCTrKES. 143 
 
 To seek out those whom the world forgets, 
 To plant a flower on a nameless grave, 
 
 To hide the erring one in the heart. 
 And strengthen it with a purpose brave. 
 
 To do to the little ones of God 
 
 The things which he does to the great, 
 
 To walk the world with a purpose grand, 
 And with eye on the final good, to wait. 
 
 If a man does this, I dare affirm 
 
 That he can afford to forego all care 
 
 About going to heaven, and give his whole time 
 To the work of getting his neighbor there.
 
 144 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 We Meet Upoq tshe LeVel \ part Upon t^e ^quai^e. 
 
 We meet upon the level, and we part upon the square — 
 What words of precious meaning these words Masonic 
 
 are! 
 Come, let us contemplate them, they are worthy of a 
 
 thought — 
 In the very soul of Masonry these precious words are 
 
 wrought. 
 
 We meet upon the level though from every station 
 come. 
 
 The rich man from his mansion, and the poor man 
 from his home; 
 
 For the one must leave his heritage outside the Masons 
 door. 
 
 While the other finds his best respect upon the check- 
 ered floor. 
 
 We part upon the square, for the world must have its 
 
 due; 
 We mingle with the multitude — a faithful band, and 
 
 true; 
 But the influence of our gatherings in memory is green; 
 And we long upon the level to renew the happy scene.
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURES. I45 
 
 "There's a world were all are equal — we arc journeying 
 
 toward it fast, 
 We shall meet upon the level there, when the gates of 
 
 death are past; 
 We shall stand before the Orient, and our master will 
 
 be there, 
 To tr>' the blocks we offer with his own unerring 
 
 square. 
 
 We shall meet upon the level, but never thence depart. 
 There's a mansion — 'tis all ready for each faithful, 
 
 trusting heart — 
 There's a man.sion, and a welcome, and a nuiltitude is 
 
 there 
 Who have met upon the level, and been tried upon the 
 
 square. 
 
 Let us meet upon the level, then, while laboring 
 
 patient here, 
 Let us meet and let us labor, though the labor is severe; 
 Already, in the Western sky, the signs bid us prepare 
 To gather up our working tools, and part upon the 
 
 square. 
 
 Hands round, ye faithful Masons, in the bright frater- 
 nal chain! 
 
 We part upon the square below to meet in heaven 
 again. 
 
 Oh ! what words of precious meaning these words 
 Masonic are; 
 
 We meet upon the level, and part upon the .square.
 
 146 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 THE YOICE OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 Swing inward, O gates of the Future ! 
 
 Swing outw^ard, ye doors of the Past ! 
 For the soul of the People is moving, 
 
 And rising from slumber at last; 
 The black forms of night are retreating. 
 
 The white peaks have signalled the day, 
 And Freedom her long roll is beating. 
 
 And calling her sons to the fray. 
 
 Swing inward, O gates ! till the morning 
 
 Shall paint the brown mountains in gold. 
 Till the life and the love of the New Time 
 
 Shall conquer the hate of the Old; 
 lyCt the face and the hand of the Master 
 
 No longer be hidden from view, 
 Nor the lands he prepared for the many 
 
 Be trampled and robbed by the few. 
 
 The soil tells the same fruitful story. 
 
 The seasons their bounties display, 
 And the flowers lift their faces in glor}^ 
 
 To catch the warm kisses of day; 
 While our fellows are treated as cattle 
 
 That are muzzled when treading the corn, 
 And millions sink down in Life's battle 
 
 With a sigh for the day they were born.
 
 AND LIBKRAI, LECTURES. I 47 
 
 Must the sea plead in vain that the river, 
 
 May return to its mother for rest, 
 And the earth beg the rain-clouds to give her 
 
 Of dews they have drawn from her breast? 
 lyO ! the answer comes back in a mutter 
 
 From domes where the quick lightnings glow, 
 And from heights where the mad waters utter 
 
 Their warning to dwellers below. 
 
 And woe to the robbers who gather 
 
 In fields where they never have sown; 
 Who have stolen the jewels from Labor. 
 
 And builded to Mammon a throne; 
 For the Snow King, asleep by the fountains, 
 
 Shall wake in the Summer's ha| breath. 
 And descend in hot rage from the mountains, 
 
 Bearing terror, destruction and death. 
 
 And the throne of their god shall be crumbled. 
 
 And the scepter be swept from his hand; 
 And the heart of the haughty be liuml)led, 
 
 And a servant be chief in the land. 
 And the truth and the Power united 
 
 Shall rise from the graves of the true. 
 And the wrongs of the Old Time be righted 
 
 In the might and the light of the New. 
 
 For the Lord of the harvest hath said it. 
 
 Whose lips never uttered a lie; 
 And his prophets and poets have read it 
 
 In symbols of earth and of sky — 
 That to him who hath reveled in plunder
 
 148 FRKE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 Till the angel of conscience is dumb, 
 The shock of the earthquake and thunder 
 And tempest and torrent shall come. 
 
 Swing inward, O gates of the Future ! 
 
 Swing outward, ye doors of the Past ! 
 A giant is waking from slumber. 
 
 And rending his fetters at last. 
 
 *o 
 
 From the dust, where his proud tyrants found him, 
 Unhonored and scorned and betrayed. 
 
 He shall rise with the sunlight around him. 
 And rule in the realm he has made. 
 
 •
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURES. 1 49 
 
 LIYING STONES. 
 
 My friend, are you getting discouraged 
 
 In fighting the battle of life ? 
 Does it seem in your weakness and darkness 
 
 A hopelessly desperate strife ? 
 Do you feel that your study and labor 
 
 Are destined to bring no reward ? 
 Is the goal of your ardent ambition 
 
 By numberless accidents barred* 
 Despair not ! true, thorough self culture 
 
 Is never unwisely bestowed; 
 The stone that is fit for the builder 
 
 Will not alwaj's be left in the road. 
 
 Does it seem an injustice that others 
 
 Whose merits and fitness are less, 
 Through chances of fortune or favor, 
 
 Rush fonvard to easy success ? 
 Remember that fortune is fickle. 
 
 And friends will not always endure. 
 So to those who depend upon either. 
 
 The future is never secure. 
 The tide that is now in their favor 
 
 At some time may ebb as it flowed. 
 And the stone that's unfit for the builder 
 
 Will be ruthlessh" flung in the road.
 
 150 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 Be patient ! life's loftiest prizes 
 
 Are not to be hastily won; 
 Expect not to gather the harvest 
 
 The moment the seed has been sown; 
 A ravenous horde of pretenders — 
 
 A pushing and clamorous crew — 
 Will have to be tried and found wanting 
 
 Ere you can be tried and found true. 
 The best by the side of the worthless, 
 
 Together may lie in the load, 
 But the stone that is fit for the builder 
 
 Will not always be left in the road. 
 
 Go read the encouraging story 
 
 Of eminent men of the past, 
 Who, long in obscurity toiling. 
 
 Compelled recognition at last; 
 Of men, who in art, or in science. 
 
 Or letters, have conquered a place, 
 Or in the wide realm of invention. 
 
 Have left a rich boon to their race; 
 Their names upon history's pages, 
 
 Eike stars in the darkness have glowed; 
 Eike stones that were fit for the builder, 
 
 They were not to be left in the road.
 
 AND I.II5I;KAI. IJlCTrUKS. I SI 
 
 CALL HIM MAD. 
 
 Yes, call him mad who dares to climb 
 
 The rock-strewn path of truth, 
 You who would never dare to peer 
 
 Beyond the ken of youth : 
 You who never see the seed 
 
 Till the bursting of the grain. 
 And can never feel the sunshine 
 
 Glowing just beyond the rain ! 
 
 Call him mad, who, pushing forward. 
 
 Full a centur\- in the wan, 
 Plants his banner on the hill-toi)s. 
 
 Claims man's leader is a man ! 
 And if 5'ou nuist stop and linger. 
 
 Afraid to breast the hill. 
 Stand back in lower darkness. 
 
 Make room for him who will I 
 
 Float in your idle vessels, 
 
 Close within the harbor bar; 
 Make it dance among the ripples. 
 
 Though you may not venture far: 
 Lie and wonder at the waters. 
 
 vStretching out so wild and free. 
 Somewhere there's a better sailor. 
 
 Who will dare to put to sea. lo
 
 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 Sleep you then in perfect safety, 
 
 Close within the guarded fort; 
 Make the war of Earth a pastime, 
 
 And the fight of Life a sport; 
 Linger, if you will, in pleasure. 
 
 While the weary hours lag, 
 Somewhere there's a bolder soldier. 
 
 Who will carry on the flag. 
 
 Call him mad ! And yet forever 
 
 Some grand leader will be there, 
 Pushing upward to the summit, 
 
 Pushing up toward clear air. 
 You may staj' in closer darkness, 
 
 Clasping close your clanking chain. 
 Some one yet will strike it from }-ou. 
 
 Making free the heart and brain ! 
 
 1 
 
 '23
 
 AND I.IBKRAI, I.KCTl'RKS. I 53 
 
 HEAYEN CANNOT SAYE. 
 
 "Oh ! God, have niercyl" a mother cried. 
 As she humbly knelt at the cradle side ; 
 
 "Oh ! God. have merc)'. and hear my prayer, 
 And take my babe in Thy tender care. 
 The angel of Death is in the room, 
 And is calling loud for nu- babe to come ; 
 Thou, Thou alone hast power to save — 
 Oh ! God, have mercy ! 'tis all I crave." 
 
 A tiny grave, 'neath a willow's shade, 
 Told what answer The Merciful made. 
 
 The night was dark on Ocean's breast, 
 
 And the waves rolled high in wild unrest, 
 
 Where a stately bark was dashing on 
 
 Toward a breaker's crest, with her rudder gone; 
 
 Around the capstan, in wild despair, 
 
 The crew have gathered, and joined in prayer 
 
 To him, who only had power to save. 
 
 To deliver them now from a water}- grave. 
 
 ^i :i: iji ^,: 
 
 A crash, and a 'gulphing wave alone, 
 Were the answers of the Omnipotent One. 
 
 At noon of night in the citN-'s heart, 
 When slumber reigned o'er home and mart,
 
 154 FREE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 The fire-fiend burst from his secret place, 
 
 And wrapped all things in his fierce embrace. 
 
 Oh ! then, how 'many a frenzied prayer 
 
 To Heaven, for safety rent the air ! 
 
 For homes ! for lives ! for loves !-— and then 
 
 The flames that crisped them sneered — Amen ! 
 
 ;•: ;[; ^ ;|; 
 
 Homes, friends and loved ones crisped and charre d 
 Told how Heaven the prayers had heard. 
 
 From the earliest dawn of Nature's birth, 
 
 Since sorrow and sin first darkened the earth. 
 
 From sun to sun, from pole to pole. 
 
 Wherever the waves of Humanity roll, 
 
 The breezy robe this planet wears 
 
 Has quivered and echoed with countless prayers. 
 
 Each hour a million knees are bent; 
 
 A million prayers to Heaven are sent. 
 
 There's not a summer beam but sees 
 
 Some humble suppliant on his knees; 
 
 There's not a breeze that murmurs by 
 
 But wafts some pitiful prayer on high; 
 
 There's not a woe afflicts our race 
 
 But some one bears to the Throne of Grace. 
 
 And for every temptation our souls may meet, 
 
 Is grace besought at the Mercy Seat. 
 
 <i '!< -li ^~ 
 
 The beams smile on, and Heaven, serene. 
 Still bends as though no prayers had been; 
 And the breezes moan, as still they wave — 
 ]l /icn Man is poiverlcss, Heaven cannot save !
 
 AND i,ihi;kai. lkctckks. 155 
 
 SOMEBODY'S MOTHER. 
 
 The woman was old, and ragged, and gray, 
 And bent with the chill of a winter's day: 
 The streets were white with a recent snow. 
 And the woniati's feet with age were slow. 
 
 At the crowded crossing she waited long. 
 Jostled aside by the careless throng 
 Of human beings who passed her by, 
 l^nheeding the glance of hei- anxious eye. 
 
 Down the street with laughter and shout, 
 Glad in the freedom of "school let out," 
 Come happ\- boys, like a flock of sheep, 
 Hailing the snow piled white and deep. 
 Past the woman so old and gray, 
 Hastened the cliildren on their way. 
 
 None offered a helping hand to her. 
 
 So weak and timid, afraid to stir. 
 
 Lest the carriage wheels or the horses' feet 
 
 Should trample her down in the slippery street. 
 
 At last came out of the merry troop 
 The gayest boy of all the group; 
 He paused beside her and whispered low; 
 "I'll help j'ou across if you wish to go."
 
 156 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 Her aged hand on his strong young arm 
 She placed, and so, without hurt or harm. 
 He guided the trembling feet along, 
 Proud that his own were 3'oung and strong; 
 Then back again to his friends he went, 
 His young heart happy and well content. 
 
 "She's somebody's mother, boys, you know, 
 For all she's aged and poor and slow; 
 And some one, sometime, may lend a hand 
 To help my mother, you understand? 
 If ever she's poor and old and gray. 
 And her own dear boy so far away," 
 
 "vSomebody's mother" bowed low her head 
 
 In her home that night, and the prayer she said 
 
 Was: "God be kind to that noble boy 
 
 Who is somebody's son and pride and joy," 
 
 Faint was the voice, and worn and weak. 
 But Heaven li.sts when its chosen speak; 
 Angels caught the faltering words. 
 And "somebody's mother's" prayer was heard.
 
 AND LIHKKAL I.ICCTIRKS. I 
 
 .^/ 
 
 THE DYING INFIDEL. 
 
 I am dying, Christian, dying, 
 
 And my life light fades away, 
 To the tint of chilling shadows 
 
 With which night entomlis the da>-. 
 Let me ask of you a favor. 
 
 As I go the way of earth — 
 Go to pay the debt of Nature 
 
 That each one incurs at birth. 
 
 With nie still are my convictions, 
 
 As in life I held them dear, 
 And I would be worse than coward ! 
 
 If I cringe or falter here. 
 Thus in life's expiring streamlet. 
 
 As it wastes adown the hill, 
 I will perish — (Ha! you tremble;) 
 
 Die an unbeliever still. 
 
 Let no preacher's voice upbraid me. 
 
 I despise his cant and scorn. 
 Though I bend to Mother Nature, 
 
 Like the ripe and golden corn. 
 For he wields no scepter o'er me. — 
 
 Knows not whence I go or came, 
 Nor the fate of those before me 
 
 Since warm life has quenched its flame.
 
 I SS FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 Should thy priests to awe their minions 
 
 Swear my life was closed in fear, 
 And I went a whining coward ! 
 
 To the ghastly hungiy bier, 
 Tell them that I never faltered, 
 
 Never from my dnt)^ ran, 
 Never bowed the knee to Baal, 
 
 Bujt died every inch a man. 
 
 What is all th}- boasted glory, 
 
 Boasted peace and love divine 
 When dark hate, and lust and murder 
 
 Round the cross like ivy twine ? 
 Faith breeds strife; and each religion 
 
 Nursed by Christian, Greek or Jew, 
 Tramples on a neighbor's feelhigs 
 
 Never pays "the Devil's due." 
 
 I am dying. Christian, dj-ing, 
 
 Soon the clouds will o'er me rest. 
 And the grass above me growing — 
 
 I will sleep on Mother's breast. 
 Sweeth' sleep — no doubt forever — 
 
 With no fear of smoking hell 
 That beclouds the mental vision. 
 
 Christian, once again, farewell.
 
 AND I.IHICKAI. LKCTURHS. I 59 
 
 \l^. J0^II\[1 Vl/lLLli\M^. 
 
 "Ah," soliloquized the minister, "I must make my 
 sermons more impressive. There seems to be a tailing 
 off in my audience; too many of my people are attend- 
 ing the lectures given by that infidel, who is drawing 
 such crowds to listen to his strong arguments against 
 Christianity. I will preach next Sunday upon the sin 
 of being led awa>- !>>• false teaching.s — anti-Chri.st — 
 who by fair sounding words would dccei\e the vt-r\- 
 elect." Thus saying the minister selected for his text 
 the words of Je-sus: "Go not after them, my people," 
 and .set him.self to his task. 
 
 The cause of his anxiety was a series of lectures up- 
 on evolution and kindred subjects, which were being 
 delivered in the town, and large crowds were attracted 
 to listen to the speaker, wlio was an expert; who by 
 long study of the Bible and biblical works had grown 
 out of his old beliefs, which were a truth to him at ont- 
 time, and he left the pulpit becau.se he could no longer 
 preach Chri.st and him crucified as a saviour of men. 
 
 There were man\- church members who went at first 
 out of curiosity to listen to the lectures, but becoming 
 interested in the subjects, had cbntiiuied to attend, as 
 we have .seen, to the annoyance ot their pastor. Rev. 
 Theodore Beauchamp. On the following Sunday hi^
 
 l6o FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 audience were surprised at the earnestness with which 
 he treated the subject. His text, as we have seen, was: 
 "Go not after them, oh my people." He apphed the 
 text to the present occasion, explaining the sin and 
 folly of going after false teachings. Go not after them, 
 oh my brethern, rang out again and again from the 
 sacred desk. 
 
 The lectures continued and the audience increased, 
 and the vacant seats in the church of the Rev. Beau- 
 champ were conspicuous for their numbers. Among 
 those who had been led away was a gentleman b}- the 
 name of Cornell. He w^as a wealthy man and very 
 liberal to the church, consequently he was a great loss, 
 and the pastor set himself to work to induce him to 
 return. L,ong and earnestly he labored with the 
 brother, to persuade him that he was going wrong; 
 that the teachings he was listening to were false; but 
 Cornell had become too much interested in the new 
 philosophy to have any desire to turn back, con- 
 sequently the pastor had but very little influence over 
 him. Among others for whom the pastor professed 
 extreme solicitude, was an estimable lady who was the 
 owner of a large property, and whose donations were 
 always liberal. He paid her frequent visits and en- 
 deavored to convince her that the teachings she was 
 listening to were untenable. He quoted from Jesus 
 to beware of false teachers, who would appear at the 
 last days and deceive many, and his great desire was 
 to hold her as by the arms of faith from foil. 'wing after 
 strange gods and being led by delusions. Several of 
 his flock who were in moderate circumstatices, and who 
 were necessarily compelled to donate sparingl)- to the 
 church, he paid no particular attention to, farther
 
 AND UBKRAI. I.IXTURKS. if) I 
 
 than to give them a sharp repriniaiid when he chanced 
 to meet them. 
 
 Let lis listen to the untenal^le doctrines, as llit: Rev. 
 Theodore Keanchamp called them. The lecturer, a 
 tall man with gray hair and l)enevolent features, stood 
 before an audience of many hundreds of people, and as 
 he grasped the subject of evolution and painted it as 
 on a canvass — the changes through which the earth 
 has passed, from its primeval condition, when, accord- 
 ing to geology, the globe was a molten mass of lava; 
 that the cooling process occupied ages of time; that 
 the laws of attraction and gravitation operating through 
 that liquid mass drew together the rocks and minerals 
 and metals, which form the frame work and founda- 
 tions of the earth; that the commingling of the gasses 
 formed the waters, which not only occupy two-thirds 
 of the surface of the globe, but whose .streams circulate 
 through all the under-ground system, like the blood 
 which fills the arteries in the human form; that when 
 the earth's .surface had become a crust that vegetable 
 life gradually made its appearance, small and weak 
 and governed by existing conditions; but every growth 
 was the promise of a Ijetter, for all went to produce 
 soil. That in the cooling proce.ss the earth's surface 
 took on the uneven conditions; the mountains were 
 caused through upheavals and contractions of the sur- 
 face; from the force of escaping gasses, volcanoes were 
 produced, great chimneys, which were the outlet of 
 heat and steam, thereby relieving the pre.ssure from 
 within. He showed how through changes of condi- 
 tion, animal life had differentiated; that necessity had 
 been the propelling influence which had governed life, 
 both animal and human: that the needs of the body 
 
 s 
 
 s
 
 1 62 FREE THOUGHT TOEMS 
 
 impelled to exertion; that hunger led to the seeking 
 of food; that the elements compelled -them to seek for 
 shelter, and that the wants and needs oflife has caused 
 the development of the human brain; also as brain 
 power expanded, the mind was able to grasp other sub- 
 jects and civilization is the result. Still farther, and 
 the arts and sciences have assumed their places, and 
 with every step in the advancement of scientific knowl- 
 edge, mj'ths have given way and the schoolmaster 
 takes the place of the priest; that the education of the 
 masses was the open sesame to progression; that 
 through education came recognition of the rights of 
 others; that through oppression man had everstruggled 
 for liberty; that our fathers left the shores of the old 
 world for love of liberty, but the yoke of the oppressor 
 followed them here and rested heavily upon their 
 necks; that it was only by the force of arms that they 
 threw off the galling chains of the tyrant, and in the 
 din of war this great republic was born. Its baptism 
 was blood, and what was the result, a free people ? 
 No; only free white men. Again the sound to arms 
 was heard and again there was a baptism of blood. 
 The chains were stricken off from four millions of 
 human beings; and was this a free people? No; onl}^ 
 the black was freed. 
 
 Another struggle is abroad in the land; the same con- 
 ditions exist to-day that cau.sed our fathers to rush 
 into the fra}'. Taxation without representation was a 
 burden too grievous to be borne by them, but they 
 have placed the yoke they once wore upon the necks 
 of the women of the republic — those who in their 
 great magnanimity they claim to love, to wor- 
 ship and adore, but still will not ren;ove the load from
 
 AND LIBERAL LKCTUKKS. 163 
 
 Iheir frail shoulders, which was too heavy for tlicir 
 own. Oh, consistency, thou jewel, where shall we 
 find thee? But the struggle will go on, not with war, 
 rapine and murder, but with argument. Woman stand- 
 ing nobly by the side of her brother man, and in all 
 things sharing his burdens. Education of the masses 
 will bring about the desired result. The excu.se that 
 woman cannot carry the musket will not then be made, 
 for with her advent into our legislative bodies, new 
 laws will be made, and arbitration, instead of blood- 
 shed, will be the manner by which national differences 
 will be settled. When woman as.sumes her proper 
 position in the government of the people, a new order 
 of things will be inaugurated. The old institutions 
 will be renovated; house-cleaning will be in order; 
 equal rights will be established, and that will mean 
 equal pay for equal work for woman as well as man. 
 This is an age of progression. Evolution is carrying 
 the world forward; each generation takes a step a little 
 higher than did the last. Upward and onward has ever 
 been the destiny of man. Who can wonder that the 
 people were charmed with the thoughts that were so 
 new to them. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 The Rev. Beauchamp decided to study up the sub- 
 ject of evolution in order to be more fully able to re- 
 fute the arguments which he considered so untenable. 
 Con.sequently he procured the neces.sary works and 
 and started in upon his task. The more he read the 
 more interested he became. Gradually his eyes opened 
 to the grandeur of the subject, and ere he was aware 
 he was embodying the principles of evolution into his
 
 164 frke; thought posms 
 
 sermons. The subject was full of beauty, and his 
 whole soul was absorbed in the study of nature. 
 
 Great excitement was caused b}' the recent depart- 
 ure of the Rev. Theodore Beauchamp, and large crowds 
 flocked to hear him, but the synod was near its session 
 and charges were prefered against the reverend brothei 
 for preaching heresy, and as he would not retract he 
 was deposed from the ministry and expelled from the 
 church. Being now free, he resolved to establish an 
 independent church, and with the assistance of many 
 who had been his former parishioners, a hall was pro- 
 vided and a regular course of lectures entered upon. 
 His success on the platform was even greater than in 
 the pulpit, and crowds flocked to hear him and a large 
 society was built up. 
 
 Soon after the Rev. Beauchamp was expelled from 
 church a heavy failure occurred. A member of the 
 church of which he had been pastor, one who had been 
 very severe in his denunciations of the minister and 
 his course of action, failed for a large amount. He 
 compromised with his creditors, allowing them only 
 twenty cents on the dollar. Many were the losers by 
 his transaction, but the law upheld him and he still 
 retained membership in the church. Very soon he 
 was able to enter into business again as though nothing 
 had happened, 
 
 Among the heaviest losers by the failure was a man 
 who had left the church through the teachings of the 
 pastor, whose all was involved in the business, and 
 the small percentage he received in the final settlement 
 left him in a condition in which he was unable to 
 again go into business. He applied to Smith & Co.
 
 AND I.IIii:KAI. I.i;CTl'KKS. 1 65 
 
 for work and was refused on account of his relii^iou^ 
 views. 
 
 The new pastor \vh<j had taken the pUice of the Rev. 
 Beauchanip was strong in the faith and labored hard 
 to buikl up the walls of Zion which had been .so badl>- 
 damaged. He visited man\- of the members who had 
 wandered, and endeavored to prevail upon them to re- 
 turn, as4t sorely grieved him to be compelled to re- 
 move their names from the church book, but without 
 success, and a church meeting was called and a large 
 number of names were crossed from the fellowship of 
 the church. 
 
 Soon after a new accession was made to the church. 
 A wealthy maiden lady, becoming deeply impre.s.sed 
 with the necessity of a change of heart, was suddenly 
 converted and joined the church, much to the satis- 
 faction of the pastor, who was a widower. He im- 
 mediately began paying marked attention to si.ster 
 Jones, and soon he had secured the large estate with 
 no encumbrance upon it except a wife. 
 
 Little Nellie Williams, the pastor's daughter, was 
 deeply grieved that her mother's place should .so soon 
 have been filled in her father's heart and home, as her 
 mother had been dead only a few months; and .she 
 coiild readily see that each had been actuated by differ- 
 ent motives; with the one, wealth and affluance was 
 the governing motive, with the other a husband and 
 position. She soon found that she was an unwelcome 
 iiunate of her father's house, and arrangements were 
 made for her to go to a distant city to reside with an 
 aiuit, a sister of her mother. While there she formed 
 the acquaintance of a young man, who occupied the 
 position of teacher in a large .school. His peculiar
 
 1 66 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 view.s interested her very much, and he invited her to 
 attend a course of lectures upon evolution and kindred 
 subjects with him. Her horns life andaccute observa- 
 tion had removed from her mind all respect for religion 
 and her mind was ripe for the reception of reason. She 
 soon became a convert to the new faith and an earnest 
 advocate to its principles. 
 
 Upon her father's learning these facts he pre-emptor- 
 ily ordered her home, but her views were now too firmly 
 established to be affected by any influence he could 
 bring to bear upon her. Of course this brought about 
 an unpleasant state of affairs between herself and her 
 father and she resolved to leave home. But what 
 could she do? Acting upon the advice of her friends 
 she sought and obtained a situation as teacher in a 
 small village a few miles from her home. Her father 
 strongly objected to this measure, for he had become a 
 'man of wealth, and consequently occupied a more com- 
 manding position, both in church and societN^ and he 
 felt that it reflected upon his position to have his 
 daughter teaching a village school, and worse than all, 
 avowing her -belief in the principles which were gain- 
 ing ground so rapidly, so he brought not only advice, 
 but parental authority to bear upon her; but his. 
 daughter being of age, and possessing a good deal of 
 independence of character, decided to leave home, as 
 it would be more conducive to her happiness; she 
 would earn her own living independent of his recenth' 
 acquired wealth. This step closed her father's doors 
 against her, but full of a determination to be self-sus- 
 taining and enjoy her belief she accepted the situation. 
 
 In the village where she was located as a school 
 teacher, was a young man who had also become a con-
 
 AND LIBKKAI. LECTURES. 167 
 
 vert to the new faith. A friendship grew up between 
 them and through their combined exertions a little 
 knot of liberals, as they called themselves, met often 
 for the exchange of ideas and mutual improvement. 
 The young man, whose name was Charles Saunders, 
 was engaged in manufacturing agricultural imple- 
 ments, and had built up quite an extensive trade. 
 His pro.spects were good, and after a short acquaintance 
 with Nellie he proposed marriage. His offer was ac- 
 cepted and they were married. However, before the 
 ceremony, she wrote to her father, acquainting him 
 with the fact and inviting him to be present and offi- 
 ciate. But time passed and no word came from the 
 Rev. Josiah Williams and they were married without 
 his consent or presence. Mr. and Mrs. Saunders com- 
 menced housekeeping with every prospect of happiness. 
 The Rev. Mr. Williams received the invitation which 
 his daughter so kindly and thoughtfully sent him, 
 made inquiries about the young man, and upon learn- 
 ing his religious views refused to accept the invitation, 
 and so all connnunication was cut off between the two 
 families. Time passed and the minister was again left 
 a widower. His wife dying suddenly, left no will, 
 consequently the husband fell heir to a large amount 
 of property. 
 
 Upon hearing of the death of his wife, Nellie again 
 wrote to her father, expressing sympathy for his lo.ss 
 and inviting him to visit them. Her husband also 
 sent his sympathy and joined with his wife in an in- 
 vitation to make them a visit. As Mr. Saunders had 
 become quite an influential man and had also acquired 
 considerable property, the minister accepted their in- 
 vitation, hoping thereby to induce them to become
 
 1 68 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 members of his church. Their meeting was cordial, 
 and the father was much pleased with his son-in-law, 
 and brought to bear upon him every argument or 
 motive to induce him to make a public profession of 
 religion and unite with the church, but all in vain. 
 Charles Saunders was an honest, upright man, and no 
 amount of persuasion could induce him to swerve from 
 what he believed to be right, and so the minister had 
 to return without accomplishing his most desired ob- 
 ject. But the Rev. Josiah Williams w^as now a rising 
 man, with accession of property his influence was 
 much greater than when he was a poor man, and his 
 name began to be talked of for Bishop. He soon 
 married again — a widow with property, and this time 
 there was an encumbrance in the shape of two daugh- 
 ters. The will of the father left the property to the 
 mother, supposing at her death it would be equallj^ 
 divided between the children. Soon after her marriage 
 with the Rev. Josiah Williams; he had a call to a 
 distant city, and feeling that the Lord had called, and 
 as a much larger salary was offered, he accepted and 
 went. Of course his wife had to leave her home and 
 as her daughters were under age the minister advised 
 that they be placed in a boarding school to complete 
 their education. Much against her will the mother 
 consented and arrangements were made for putting 
 them in a seminary near where they were going to re- 
 move, so that the mother could often visit them. Thus 
 passed two years and the daughters graduated. The 
 minister objected to their coming home as the holy 
 quiet of his home would be disturbed by the advent of 
 two young ladies, and advised their mother to send 
 them to reside with a widowed sister of hers, in a
 
 AND LIBERAL LKCTL'RES. iCij 
 
 country town near the sea-coast. He assured his wife that the 
 sea' air wouUI be far more conducive to their health than a 
 residence in the city. Aj^ain their mother complied under pro- 
 test. As agent for his wife in the administration of her prop- 
 erty, he had managed to control the income so that she had 
 very small means at her command, and in making arrange- 
 ments for the support of her daughters she requested him to 
 furnish a stipulated sum for their maintenance. This he ob- 
 jected to, claiming that the girls were well educated and quite 
 capable of sustaining themselves. At this she remonstrated, 
 feeling that with the large property she possessed that her 
 girls should have a proper maintenance; but he coolly in- 
 formed her that the property she possessed became his by his 
 marriage with her and she had no further control of it; and as 
 no part of it had been willed to her girls, they had no legal 
 claim to it, consequently the sooner they obtained situations 
 the better, for he should not hold himself responsible for their 
 maintenance. Things were in this position when the mother, 
 worn down by anxiety and regret for the step she had taken, 
 thereby depriving her daughters of the comforts of a happy 
 home and generous maintenance as contemplated and pro- 
 vided by their father, fell an easy prey to fever and in a few 
 days the Rev. Josiah Williams received the sympathy of his 
 church and the community for his irreparable loss. 
 
 The girls thus left without mother or home, by the advice of 
 friends, sought the interference of the law. But what could be 
 done? According to law the property of the wife reverted to 
 her husband at marriage. The subject became the cause of 
 much scandal, and the girls were left homeless while the 
 minister had full possession of their father's wealth. 
 
 Through his wealth the minister stood very high in the 
 church, and few were brave enough among his members to 
 censure him. It is hard to imagine a man and a father, and 
 much more a minister and follower of the meek and lowly 
 Jesus, to be guilty of meanness like that, but it shows how 
 little power the cleansing blood of Jesus has. 
 
 Soon after the death of his wife, the Rev. Josiah Williams 
 was called to a new field. He was established in a large city 
 and his new society- was wealthy. He was far removed from 
 the late scandal and his prospects were bright. He soon placed
 
 170 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 his affections upou a beautiful youug girl, who had recently 
 been left an orphan with a quarter of a million in her own 
 right. The lady was outside of the pale of the church and 
 rather giddy, but this did not deter our reverend wife-hunter. 
 He was a well-preserved man, of pleasing address and personal, 
 and wealthy withal. He soon persuaded the young lady to 
 become a member of his church and in course of time to ac- 
 cept his hand and assist him in his arduous duties. 
 
 Near the city where resided our motherless girls, lived a 
 benevolent gentlemen whose home had recently been made 
 desolate by the death of a beloved daughter. Upou hearing 
 the facts of the case, he sought an introduction to the girls, 
 and invited them to make his house their home, as his wife 
 mourned for her lost child. His offer was so cordial and their 
 necessities so great they accepted it, and were soon pleasantly 
 established in the home of [ames Martin, Esq. The girls were 
 cordially welcomed, and by their lady-like, unassuming man- 
 ners and their evident desire to make themselves useful the}' 
 soon became favorites of Mr. Martin and his wife. Near them 
 lived a family by the of Burns, consisting of mother and three 
 daughters. Mr. Burns was a traveling agent for an extensive 
 manufacturing establishment and was seldom at home, and 
 was absent when Miss Jennie and Nellie Stevens became mem- 
 bers of the Martin family. During his travels he visited the 
 town where the Rev. Josiah Williams formerly lived, and 
 learning some of the facts of the case, and that the property 
 formerly belonging to Mrs. Stevens was to be sold, he ad- 
 vised Mr. Martin of the fact and together they visited the town 
 and took legal advice to see if something could not be done 
 to secure a part of it for the rightful heirs. Great indignation 
 was expressed against the minister, who, under the cloak of 
 religion, could so wrong two innocent girls; but as far as the 
 law was concerned the Rev. Josiah Williams was heir to all 
 of the property of Alexander vSteveus, deceased, and the estate 
 was .sold and the money went into his pocket. So failed the 
 efforts to secure the rights of the orphan girls and they con- 
 tinued to make their home at the Martins. Jennie secured a 
 position as teacher in one of the schools of the town, but Mrs. 
 Martin feeling that she could not spare them both, Nellie was 
 induced to remain at home. Thus passed two years, when
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURES. I71 
 
 one sad day the doors of the beyond opened and Mr. Martin 
 passed throuj^h and was seen no more. Mrs. Martin clunj^ to 
 Jennie and Nellie as her own children, and refused to have 
 them leave her. When Mr. Martin's will was read it was 
 found that he had provided abundantly for his wife and also 
 for the girls. For this they were grateful, but Jennie continued 
 to teach while Nellie remained with Mother Martin, feeling 
 almost the same affection for her that she had felt for her own 
 mother. Here they remained, a comfort to her who had so be- 
 friended them in adversity, until the death of Mrs. Martin, 
 when it was found she divided her propert}" between them and 
 they were well provided for. 
 
 The Rev. Josiah Williams decided soon after his marriage 
 that he would retire from the pulpit, and be free from its labors, 
 as the salary was not now a necessity, and his large property 
 required his attention. He accordingly resigned his pastorate of 
 the church and retired to private life. He had invested large 
 sums in railroad stocks which were proving ver\' remunerative, 
 and the quarter million which his young wife had brought him 
 added largely to his income. But in the midst of his pros- 
 perity came the call which all must hear, and he was compelled 
 to pass beyond the veil. There we will not follow him.
 
 172 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 THERE'S ROOM FOR ALL. 
 
 Men build up their worlds like poor, blinded moles, 
 With just room enough for their own narrow souls, 
 'Tis plain to their minds that black is not white, 
 And there's only one line 'twixt the wrong and the 
 
 right. 
 Firmly believing their creeds to be true. 
 They wonder that others don't think as they do. 
 In the ages agone, they tortured each other. 
 And forced down their creeds in the throat of a brother. 
 
 They forgot, in mechanics, no two clocks will strike 
 
 Throughout all the hours precisely alike; 
 
 That our species, like clocks, are of different kinds. 
 
 And mankind are fashioned with various minds. 
 
 Ah ! 'tis a great truth to learn — a prize, if you win it, — 
 
 "There's room in the world for all that is in it." 
 
 This life is a play, where each human heart. 
 
 To make out the denouement, must act out its part. 
 
 If all men, like sheep, should follow one way. 
 Then life would, indeed, be a very poor play. 
 'Tis the law of our being most pointedly shown, 
 That each man must live out a life of his own. 
 Ah ! be not too rash to judge of another. 
 But ever remember that man is vour brother.
 
 AND LIBERAL LICCTURES. 173 
 
 God made the owl see, where inau's sight is dim, 
 And the Hght that guides you may be darkness to 
 hinu 
 
 'Tis a great truth to learn — a prize, if you win it. 
 "There's room in the world for all that is in it." 
 Our mission on earth is well understood 
 To root out the evil and cultivate good. 
 Down, deep in the innermost depths of the soul, 
 A voice ever .sings of the far distant goal; 
 And it whi.spers so soft, like a faint, muffled breath. 
 There's something within us that's stronger than 
 death ! 
 
 That souls are but sown in this hard, earthy clod. 
 
 To blossom and bloom in the garden of God. 
 
 Oh, brothers ! there's only one God for us all. 
 
 But his voice unto each makes a different call. 
 
 Some see him in rags, as Jesus of old; 
 
 Some mitred, and blazing in purple and gold. 
 
 Ah ! let us not proudly monopolize right, 
 
 Nor demand of a brother to see with our sight. 
 
 'Tis a great truth to learn — a prize if you win it, — 
 
 "There's room in this world for all that is in it."
 
 174 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 WHO SHALL JUDGE? 
 
 Who shall judge man b}' his manner? 
 
 Who shall know him by his dress ? 
 Paupers may be fit for princes, 
 
 Princes fit for something less. 
 Crumpled shirt and dirty jacket 
 
 Ma)^ beclothe the golden ore 
 Of the deepest thoughts and feelings; 
 
 Satin vests can do no more. 
 
 There are streams of crystal nectar 
 
 Kver flowing out of stone; 
 There are purple beds and golden, 
 
 Hidden, crushed and overthrown. 
 God, who counts by souls, not dresses, 
 
 Loves and prospers j^ou and me, 
 While he values thrones the highest 
 
 But as pebbles in the sea. 
 
 Man upraised above his fellows 
 
 Oft forgets his fellows then; 
 Masters — rulers — lords, remember 
 
 That your meanest hinds are men ! 
 Men of labor, men of feelins-. 
 
 Men of thought and men of fame, 
 Claiming equal rights to sunshine 
 
 In a man's ennobling name.
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURES. 1 75 
 
 There are foam-embroidered oceans, 
 
 There are little wood-clad rills; 
 There are feeble inch-high sappling?^ 
 
 There are cedars on the hills; 
 God, who counts bj' souls, not stations, 
 
 Loves and prospers 3'ou and me; 
 For to him all vain distinctions 
 
 Are as pebbles in the sea. 
 
 Toiling hands alone are builders 
 
 Of a nations wealth and fame. 
 Titled laziness is pensioned, 
 
 Fed and fattened on the .same; 
 By the sweat of others' foreheads. 
 
 Living onh' to rejoice. 
 While the poor man's outraged freedom 
 
 Vainly lifts its feeble voice. 
 
 Truth and justice are eternal. 
 
 Born with loveliness and light; 
 Secret wrongs shall never piosper 
 
 While there is a sunny right. 
 God, whose world-wide voice is singing 
 
 Boundless love to you and me: 
 Links oppression with its titles 
 
 But as pebbles in the sea.
 
 176 FREE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 THE PEOPLE'S ADVENT. 
 
 'Tis coming up the steep of time, 
 
 And this old world is growing brighter; 
 We may not see its dawn sublime, 
 
 Yet high hope makes the heart throb lighter. 
 Our dust may slumber in the ground 
 
 When it awakes the world in wonder; 
 But we have felt it gathering round — 
 
 We have heard its voice of living thunder! 
 'Tis coming ! yes, 'tis coming ! 
 
 'Tis coming now, the glorious time 
 
 Foretold by seers and sung in stor>% 
 For which, when thinking was a crime. 
 
 Souls leaped to Heaven from scaffolds' gory. 
 They passed; but see the work they wrought; 
 
 Now the crowded hopes of centuries blossom; 
 How the live lightning of their thought 
 
 Is flashing through us, brain and bosom ! 
 'Tis coming ! yes, 'tis coming ! 
 
 Creeds, empires, systems, rot with age. 
 But the great people's ever youthful. 
 
 And it shall write the Future's page, 
 To our humanity more truthful; 
 
 The gnarliest heart hath tender cords 
 To awaken to the name of "Brother !"
 
 AND LIBERAL LKCTURES. I 77 
 
 'Tis coming when the scorpion words 
 We shall not speak to sting each other ! 
 'Tis coming, yes, 'tis coming ! 
 
 Out of tlie light, }'e priests, nor fling 
 
 Your dark, cold shadows on us longer ! 
 Aside, thou world-wide curse, called king ! 
 
 The people's step is quicker, stronger. 
 There's a divinity within 
 
 That makes men greater when'er they will it: 
 God works with all who dare to win, 
 
 And the time cometh to reveal it. 
 "Tis coming, yes, 'tis coming! 
 
 Freedom ! the tyrants kill thy braves. 
 
 Yet in our memories live the sleepers; 
 And, though doomed millions feed the graves 
 
 Dug by Death's fierce red-handed reapers. 
 The world will not forever bow 
 
 To things that mock God's own endeavor ! 
 'Tis nearer than we wot of now, 
 
 When flowers shall wreathe the sword forever. 
 'Tis coming, yes, 'tis coming ! 
 
 Fraternity, Love's other name, 
 
 Dear, heaven-connecting link of being; 
 Then shall we grasp thy golden dream. 
 
 As souls, full statured, grow far-seeing; 
 Thou shalt unfold our better part. 
 
 And in our life-cup yield more honey — 
 Light up with joy the poor man's heart, 
 
 And Love's own world with smile's more sunny. 
 "Tis coming ! yes. 'tis coming !
 
 178 FREE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 Ay, it must come ! The Tyrant's throne 
 
 Is crumbling, with our hot tears rusted; 
 The sword earth's mighty have leant on 
 
 Is cankered, with our best blood crusted ! 
 Room for the men of mind ! Make way, 
 
 Ye robber rulers ! pause no longer ! 
 Ye cannot s*tay the opening day ! 
 
 The world rolls on — the light grows stronger, 
 The People's Advent's coming ! 
 
 t^' — >^^ ^< " < ^ 
 
 THE Sm OF OMISSIOH. 
 
 It isn't the things you do, dear, 
 
 It's the things you leave undone. 
 Which gives you a bit of heartache 
 
 At the setting of the sun. 
 The tender word forgotten, 
 
 The letter you did not write, 
 The flower you might have sent, dear, 
 
 Are your haunting ghosts to-night. 
 
 The stone you might have lifted 
 
 Out of a brother's way, 
 The bit of heartsome counsel 
 
 You are hurried too much to say. 
 The loving touch of the hand, dear,
 
 AND LIBERAL LKCTURES. 1 79 
 
 The gentle and winsome tone, 
 That you had no time nor thought for, 
 With troubles enough of your own. 
 
 These little acts of kindness, 
 
 So easily out of mind, 
 These chances to be angels, 
 
 Which even mortals find — 
 They come in night and silence, 
 
 Each chill, reproachful wraith. 
 When hope is faint and flagging. 
 
 And a blight has dropped on faith. 
 
 For life is all too short, dear. 
 
 And sorrow is all too great, 
 To suffer our slow compassion 
 
 That tarries until too late. 
 And it's not the things you do, dear. 
 
 It's the things you leave undone. 
 Which gives you the bitter heartache 
 
 At the setting of the sun.
 
 iSo FREE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 WHAT RULES THE WORLD? 
 
 They say that man is mighty, 
 
 He governs land and sea, 
 He wields a mighty sceptre 
 
 O'er lesser powers that be; 
 But a power mightier, stronger, 
 
 Man from his throne has hurled. 
 For the hand that rocks the cradle 
 
 Is the hand that rules the world." 
 
 In deep, m3'sterious conclave, 
 
 'Mid philosophic minds. 
 Unravelling knotty problems. 
 
 His native forte man finds: 
 Yet all his " ics " and "isms " 
 
 To heaven's four winds are hurled, 
 ' For the hand that rocks the cradle 
 
 Is the hand that rules the world. ' ' 
 
 Behold the brave commander, 
 
 Stanch 'mid the carnage stand. 
 Behold the guidon dying, 
 
 With the colors in his hand. 
 Brave men they be, yet craven 
 
 When this banner is unfurled, 
 ' The hand that rocks the cradle 
 
 Is the hand that rules the world."
 
 AN'D IJHICRAL I.lXTrRl'S. iSl 
 
 Great statesmen govern nations. 
 
 Kings mould a people's fate, 
 But the unseen hand of velvet 
 
 These giants regulate. 
 The iron arm of tortune 
 
 With woman's charm is purled, 
 ' ' For the hand that rocks the cradle 
 
 Is the hand that rules the world." 
 
 
 WE SHALL KHOW. 
 
 When the mists have rolled in splendor, 
 
 From the beauty of the hills, 
 And the sunshine, wanii and tender, 
 
 Falls in kisses on the rills, 
 We ma}' read love's shining letter. 
 
 In the rainbow of the spra}-; 
 We shall know each other better 
 
 When the mists have cleared away. 
 We shall know as we are known. 
 Nevermore to walk alone 
 In the dawning of the morning, 
 
 When the mists have cleared away. 
 
 If we err in human blindness, 
 And forget that we are dust, 
 
 If we miss the law of kindness, 
 When we struggle to be just.
 
 1 82 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 Snowy wings of peace shall cover 
 
 All the pain that clouds our day, 
 When the weary watch is over; 
 And the mists have cleared away, 
 We shall know as we are known, 
 Nevermore to walk alone, 
 In the dawning of the morning, 
 When the mists have cleared away. 
 
 When the silvery mists have veiled us 
 
 From the faces of our own, 
 Oft we deem their love has failed us, 
 
 And we tread our path alone; 
 We should see them near and truly. 
 
 We should trust them day by day, 
 Netiher love nor blame undul}^. 
 
 Till the mists have rolled away. 
 We shall know as we are known, 
 Nevermore to walk alone, 
 In the dawning of the morning, 
 
 When the mists have cleared away.
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURES. 1 83 
 
 WHAT IS INFIDELITY? 
 
 An Infidel ! how easy said, 
 
 But wherefore comes Hie name ? 
 
 What is "an infidel ?" I ask, 
 And is it cause fpr shame ? 
 
 Is it to take for truth and right, 
 What reason has weighed well ? 
 
 To "prove all things, hold fast the good?" 
 Then am I infidel. 
 
 Is it to trust with fearless faith 
 
 The God within the soul; 
 Heeding the voice that speaks therein. 
 
 Spurning all false control ? 
 
 Trusting in inspiration pjist, 
 
 In inspiration now — 
 Selecting wheat from out the chaff, 
 
 Where'er it comes or how? 
 
 Believing that Heaven oft lifts the soul. 
 
 With promptings pure and high ? 
 If this, all this, be infidel, 
 
 Then infidel am I. 12
 
 1 84 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 Unflinchingly I face the scorn, 
 Freely. accept the shame; 
 
 For, if "an infidel" means this 
 I glory in the name. 
 
 With angels breathing round me oft, 
 With hopes most high tQ cheer. 
 
 With earnest, striving after truth, 
 I cannot stoop to fear. 
 
 • 
 
 Tho' oft I meet with those I deem 
 Fast bound in error's thrall, 
 
 I pray that charity be mine, 
 For we are erring all. 
 
 With love to God and love to man. 
 To justice, truth and right. 
 
 Heaven grant I ne'er be infidel 
 To past or present light. 
 
 To creed-bound dogmas, false tho' old, 
 
 I've bid a last adieu; 
 Your fetters ne'er can bind my soul — 
 
 I'm infidel to you. 

 
 AND I.IHHKAI. I.KCTL'KES. 185 
 
 MEMORY OF THOMAS PAINE. 
 
 Oh, Memon-, ancient guest to-night, unclasp thy pages 
 
 clear, 
 And let us read, in lines of light, the name that we 
 
 revere ; 
 Like some great panorama wrought, the pictures thou 
 
 shalt bring, 9 
 
 By glowing, daring deeds were bought, and patriots 
 
 round them cling. 
 Joined by humanitarian ties, we celebrate this hour — 
 The birthday of the soul we prize, who left us wealth 
 
 and power, 
 The wealth of thought, the power of truth the "Age of 
 
 Reason" reign. 
 That joins to-night the sire and youth in blessing 
 
 Thomas Paine. 
 
 The Quaker element within throbbed faster in his 
 
 breast. 
 It wore no fetter, sang no hymn that bore a servile 
 
 part. 
 What tho' old England's sea-girt shore can claim his 
 
 natal time, 
 Above the great Atlantic's roar still speak his words 
 
 sublime;
 
 1 86 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 That thro' a century have stood, grand as when first 
 
 unfurled — 
 "Religion is but doing good, my country is the world." 
 Thus by his words, his acts, his life, our freedom and 
 
 our gain. 
 We hail him Brother thro' all strife, the Patriot, 
 
 Thomas Paine. 
 
 Humane, consistent, just and kind, what wonder that 
 he saw 
 
 No truth within a God whose mind outraged each 
 sense and law; 
 
 A God who tortured, murdered, lied, revenged and 
 cursed and changed. 
 
 Could not be revererffced with pride, from love must be 
 estranged. 
 
 But Nature's voice in shining sk}', the law in grassy 
 sod. 
 
 With principles that never die, revealed to him a God. 
 
 Whose unchanged wisdom was divine, creative with- 
 out strain. 
 
 And so when science reared her shrine, there wor- 
 shiped Thomas Paine. 
 
 While manly hearts to-day may beat more free for 
 what he's done, 
 
 It rests with ages to complete the work that he be- 
 gun. 
 
 The same old spirit of the past, that placed him in a 
 cell. 
 
 Flames with a persecution vast as theologic hell; 
 
 "The Crisis" coming just at hand, proclaim the old 
 pollution,
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURES. I87 
 
 For bigots strive to place with hands, "God in the 
 Constitution." 
 
 Our Fathers fought against this plea, this shameful, 
 deadly bane — 
 
 Up freemen! claim "The Rights of Man," like fear- 
 less Thomas Paine. 
 
 Hail thou to him whose thrilling words moved nations 
 on their way; 
 
 His '"Common Sense" will yet be held o'er super- 
 stition's sway. 
 
 The patriot, martvr, teacher, man, lives here in heart> 
 of all, 
 
 And yet no eyes his face shall scan in Independence 
 
 Hall. =^ 
 
 > 
 
 Then underneath red, white and blue this motto fast 
 we'll bind: 
 
 "Our Bible in the truth we view, our God within man- 
 kind." 
 
 Each year this day to us endeared, for centuries may 
 it reign, 
 
 While freedom's children give three cheers for truth 
 and Thomas Paine. . 
 
 •'■' Tlie pioturo of Paine lias boon roinovpti from Indopendenr-o Hall, 
 where it was fornurly pli'.c-ed with others who served Ameriea In her 
 time of need.
 
 1 88 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 LOVE ME B.OW. 
 
 If you're ever going to love me 
 
 Love me now, while I can know 
 All the sweet and tender feelings 
 
 Which from real affection flow, 
 lyove me now while I am living, 
 
 Do not wait till I am gone, 
 And then chissel it in marble — 
 
 Warm love-words on ice-cold stone. 
 
 If you've dear, sweet thoughts about me. 
 
 Why not whisper them to me ? 
 Don't you know 'twould make me happy. 
 
 And as glad as glad can be ? 
 If you wait till I am sleeping, 
 
 Ne'er to waken here again. 
 There'll be walls of earth between us. 
 
 And I couldn't hear you then. 
 
 If you knew some one was thirsting 
 
 For a drop of water sweet. 
 Would you be so slow to bring it ? 
 
 Would you step with laggard feet ? 
 There are tender hearts all round us 
 
 Who are thirsting for our love; 
 Shall we begrudge to them what heaven 
 
 Has kindly sent us from above ?
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURES. 1 89 
 
 I won't need your kind caresses 
 
 When the grass grows o'er my face; 
 I won't crave your love or kisses 
 
 In my last, low resting place. 
 So if you do love me any, 
 
 If it's but a little bit, 
 I'd rather know it now, while I 
 
 Can, living, own and treasure it. 
 
 THERE IS KO DEATH. 
 
 There is no death ! The stars go down 
 
 To rise upon some fairer shore. 
 And bright in heaven's jeweled crown 
 
 They shine for evermore. 
 
 There is no death ! The dust we tread 
 Shall change beneath the summer showers 
 
 To golden grain, or mellow fruit. 
 Or rainbow-tinted flowers. 
 
 The granite rocks disorganize 
 
 To feed the hungry- moss they bear; 
 
 The fairest leaves drink daily life 
 From out the viewless air. 
 
 There is no death ! The leaves may fall. 
 The flowers may fade and pass away: 
 
 They only wait through wintry hours 
 The coming of the May.
 
 I go FREE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 There is no death ! An angel form 
 Walks o'er the earth with silent tread; 
 
 He bears our best loved things away, 
 And then we call them "dead." 
 
 He leaves our hearts all desolate; 
 
 He plucks our fairest, sweetest flowers; 
 Transplanted jnto bliss, they now 
 
 Adorn immortal bowers. 
 
 The birdlike voice, whose joyous tones 
 Made glad this scene of sin and strife. 
 
 Sings now in evei lasting song 
 Amid the tree of life. 
 
 And when he sees a smile too bright, 
 Or heart too pure for taint and vice, 
 
 He bears it to that world of light. 
 To dwell in paradise. 
 
 Born into that undying life. 
 
 They leave us but to come again: 
 
 With joy we welcome them, the same 
 Except in sin and pain. 
 
 And ever near us, though unseen, 
 The dear immortal spirits tread, 
 
 For all the boundless universe 
 Is life; there are no dead.
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURES. I9I 
 
 Keep Your Faces to the Light. 
 
 There's a ringing, glorious measure 
 In the march of hfe, my brothers; 
 
 If we listen, we may hear it all day long. 
 With an undertone of triumph 
 No discordance wholly smotliers, 
 
 And this is the cheerful burden of the song: 
 
 " Forward I keep the column moving ! 
 Perfect rest shall be our guerdon 
 
 When our missions are fulfilled — our labors done ; 
 Duty's path lies plain before us. 
 Whatsoe'er our task and burden, 
 
 If we bravely set our faces to the sun. 
 
 "Disappointments may o'ertake us, 
 Losses, griefs, and grim surprises 
 
 May assault us in the weary wa}- we go; 
 Look not back; but onward, ever, 
 Lo ! the goal before us rises, 
 
 And the valley of the shadow lies below ! 
 
 With a hand to help the fallen. 
 Where the rugged steeps delay us. 
 
 Though the reddening .summits warn us of the night. 
 We shall conquer all the evils 
 That assault us and betray us, 
 While we keep our faces bravely to the light !
 
 192 FRKE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 ' ' Steady ! keep the ranks in motion ! 
 Though we be only retrieving 
 
 The disasters and mistakes of yesterday. 
 There is shame in dull inaction, 
 There is glory in achieving 
 
 If we take one step on the upward way ! 
 
 Day by day the distance dwindles, 
 Foot by foot the steeps surrender, 
 
 And we dread no more the barriers overpast; 
 While we breathe the air serene. 
 And our eyes behold the splendor 
 , Of the gates where we shall enter in at last. 
 
 Roadside thorns may rend and goad us, 
 Driving mist and clouds may blind us, 
 
 As we struggle up the last stupendous height; 
 But remember, and take courage, 
 All life's shadows lie behind us. 
 
 If we keep our faces bravely to the light."
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURES. 193 
 
 THE MORTGAGE ON THE FARM. 
 
 We worked through Spring and Winter, through 
 
 Summer and through Fall; 
 But the mortgage worked the hardest and the steadiest 
 
 of us all; 
 It worked on nights and Sundays; it worked each 
 
 holiday; 
 It settled down among us and never went away. 
 Whatever we kept from it seemed a'most as bad as 
 
 theft; 
 It watched us every minute, and it ruled us right and 
 
 lett. 
 The rust and blight were with us sometimes, and 
 
 .sometimes not; 
 The dark-browed, scowling mortgage was forever on 
 
 the spot. 
 
 The weevil and the cut-worm, they went as well as 
 
 came; 
 The mortgage staid on forever, eating hearty all the 
 
 .same. 
 It nailed up every window, stood guard at every door. 
 And happiness and .sun.shine made their home with us 
 
 no more, 
 Till with failing crops and sickness we got stalled 
 
 upon the grade. 
 And there came a dark day on us when the interest 
 
 wasn't paid;
 
 194 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 And there came a sharp foreclosure, and I kind o' lost 
 
 my hold 
 And grew weary and discouraged, and the farm was 
 
 cheaply sold. 
 
 The children left and scattered when they hardly yet 
 
 was grown; 
 My wife she pined and perished, and I found myself 
 
 alone. 
 What she died of was "a mystery," and the doctors 
 
 never knew; 
 But I knew she died of mortgage— just as well as I 
 
 wanted to. 
 If to trace a hidden sorrow were within the doctor's 
 
 art. 
 They'd ha' found a mortgage lying on that woman's 
 
 broken heart. 
 Worm or beetle, drouth or tempest, on a farmer's land 
 
 may fall; 
 But for first-class ruination, trust a mortgage 'gainst 
 
 them all. 
 
 -^ — ^^^=q* — ^ 
 
 <S.J
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURES. 195 
 
 ON CREATION. 
 
 Prior to the great beginning, 
 
 When there was no heaven or earth, 
 When there was no starlight— sunhght- 
 
 When creation had no birth; 
 When a black and boundless nothing 
 
 Breathless, Ufeless, round Him fell. 
 What occurred to wake His slumber? 
 
 Wliat was there to break His spell ? 
 
 Breathless, cheerless, all-per\ ading. 
 Starless, worthless, boundless night, 
 
 Was the nothing at beginning, 
 
 Out of which sprang worlds of light, 
 
 Out of which were made the heavens- 
 Countless worlds, remote and near. 
 
 And all living, moving creatures 
 In the depths of sea or air. 
 
 Yet we know not what aroused Him 
 
 To begin the mighty plan 
 Of creation in its vastness. 
 
 Forming lastly sinful man. 
 Why did he not leave great nothing 
 
 In its harmless silent space. 
 Rather than make man so sinful 
 
 As to damn the human race ? 
 
 But 'tis said that man was sinless 
 Until tempted, when he fell-
 
 196 FREE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 Tempted by a slimy serpent 
 
 Crawling from the depths of hell; 
 
 Pure and spotless as the lily 
 In its early opening bloom, 
 
 Until tempted by the devil 
 
 To the shade of sin and gloom. 
 
 When that black and boundless nothing 
 
 Harmless, lifeless, round Him fell, 
 Why did God create the devil 
 
 Or conceive an endless hell ? 
 If creation sent forth evil. 
 
 Or an evil comes of good. 
 Then where is the point dividing 
 
 Satan's works from works of God ? 
 
 When there was no sunlight — moonlight, 
 
 When there was no heaven or hell; 
 When there was no place for sinning, 
 
 Or for sinful man to dwell, 
 Whjr was silence ever broken ? 
 
 Why was man to weakness born ? 
 Why were devils made to tempt him 
 
 And then leave him here to mourn? 
 
 Vast and searching are these questions, 
 
 Piercing, probing to the core. 
 Peering back beyond creation 
 
 To great nothing — nothing more. 
 Vast, though simple, is the question 
 
 Piercing, probing to the core; 
 Is it true there once was nothing, 
 
 Nothing, nothing, nothing more ?
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURES. 197 
 
 WHY IS THIS? 
 
 When the land is lull of workers. 
 
 Busy hands and active brains, 
 When the craftsmen and the thinkers 
 
 Feel about them binding chains, 
 When the laborers are cheated 
 
 Of the work their hands have wro't, 
 And the thinker, vain of logic. 
 
 Sees that reason comes to naught. 
 
 When the forces men have harnessed, 
 
 And have trained to do their will, 
 Ought to leave no homeless people. 
 
 And no hungry mouths to fill, 
 But have prov'd to be the servants 
 
 Of the shrewd and selfish few. 
 And the many get but little 
 
 For the work thev find to do. 
 
 When the labor of a million 
 
 Goes to swell the gains of one. 
 As the serfs of ancient Egypt 
 
 Slaved beneath a burning sun: 
 When the .schemer and the sharper 
 
 Hold the wealth and rule the land, 
 Using up the thinker's brain force. 
 
 Mortgaging the craftman's hand.
 
 198 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 When the many shear the sheep, 
 
 And the few secure the wool; 
 When the gallows claims its victims 
 
 And your costly jails are full; 
 Then the men who dreamed of progress, 
 
 And the hopes of peace and bliss. 
 While they weep and wonder vainly, 
 
 Ask each other: "Why is this?" 
 
 Then the thinker, while confessing 
 
 That his vision yet is dim, 
 Says that one thing, very clearly, 
 
 Is apparent unto him — 
 That the people, blind and heedless. 
 
 Place themselves beneath the rule 
 Either of the knavish schemer. 
 
 Or, still worse, the sodden fool.
 
 AND LIBKKAL LECTURES. 1 99 
 
 MR. DE SPLAE. 
 
 It may seem a strange question, good people, but say. 
 Did you never hear tell of our Mr. De Splae? 
 A man who made up for the lack of good sense 
 By a wondrous amount of mere show and pretense: 
 Puffed up with conceit like an airy balloon, 
 He was hard to approach as the "man in the moon," 
 Save when for some purpose it came in his way, 
 And then, O how gracious was Mr. Dc Splae ! 
 
 A sly politician, a popular man, 
 
 When all things went .smoothly he marshaled the van: 
 
 But when there was aught like a failure to fear. 
 
 He quickly deserted or fell to the rear. 
 
 His speech for the people went "gayly and glib," 
 
 While he drew his .support from the National crib; 
 
 But when an assessment or tax was to pay, 
 
 O, how outraged and angry was Mr. De Splae ! 
 
 He smoked, and he cliewed, and he drank, and he 
 
 swore ; 
 But then every man whom the ladies adore, 
 Is prone to these faiiing.s — some more and .some less. 
 Which are all overlooked in a man of address. 
 It also was whispered that he had betrayed 
 The too trusting faith ot an innocent maid; 
 But the ladies all blamed her for going astray, 
 While they pardoned and petted — "dear Mr. De Splae."
 
 200 FliEE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 There was good Mr. Honest, who lived but next door, 
 He was true, and substantial, and sound to the core; 
 He had made it the rule of his life, from his youth, 
 To shun all evasions and speak the plain truth; 
 But the ladies — who always are judges, you know, 
 Declared him to be a detestable beau — 
 Not worthy to be mentioned within the same day, 
 With M\?Xpink of perfection — "dear Mr. De Splae." 
 
 And yet he was pious — perhaps you will smile, 
 And ask how he happened the church to beguile; 
 Why, the churches accept men for better or worse. 
 If there's only a plenty of cash in the purse. 
 Gold still buys remission as freely and fast, 
 As it did in the Catholic Church in the past. 
 'Tis the same thing right over, and that was the way. 
 That the church   swallowed smoothly ''good Mr. De 
 Splae." 
 
 O, you ought to have heard him when leading in 
 
 prayer ! 
 How he flattered the Father of All for His care. 
 And confessed he was sinful a thousand times o'er, 
 Which 'twas morally certain the Lord knew before. 
 The ladies responded in sweet litttle sighs. 
 With their elegant handkerchiefs pressed to their eyes. 
 But the pure, unseen spirits turned sadly away 
 From the loud-mouthed devotions of Mr. De Splae. 
 
 O, short-sighted mortal ! Poor Mr. De Splae ! 
 
 His mask of deception was molded in clay, 
 
 And when his external in death was let fall. 
 
 What he was, without seeming, was known unto all.
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURES. 20I 
 
 His garment of patches — his flimsy disguise — 
 Which had won him distinction in other men's eyes, 
 Was "changed in a twinkling" — ay, vanished away, 
 Leaving nothing to boast of to Mr. De Splae. 
 
 Ah, a great reputation, a tiltle, or name, 
 
 Oft brings its possessor to sorrow and shame; 
 
 But a character, founded in goodness and worth, 
 
 Outlasts all the perishing glories of earth. 
 
 O'er the frailties of nature, and changes ot time, 
 
 It rises majestic, in beauty sublime, 
 
 Till the weak and faint-hearted are cheered by its ray. 
 
 Far above all mere seeming and empty display.
 
 202 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 DAYE'S HOLLYHOCKS, 
 
 "Those holh-hocks down by the creek, Mrs. Wixom, how 
 (lid they come there?" 
 
 "Now lay off your bonnet, Miss Johns, and I'll tell you the 
 how and the why. Don't wonder you ask; 'taint often they're 
 found in the woods. 'Taint their way, such handsome ones 
 and so double. Do lay off your bonnet and stay. 
 
 "I always set store by them posies, them and pineys and 
 lilacs, don't have to put your specks on to see them. Well, I 
 sent for the seed of them hollyhocks down into Jersey to Mrs. 
 Morris, and she wrote me what color they were and how many 
 and sent them down by mail. Dave, he brought home the 
 letter bnt never a package, and said he hadn't seed none, and 
 directly he traveled up chamber to bed. Next morning I went 
 to the office, but never said boo, 'bout the facts of the case. 
 The mail man referred me to Dave, then I knew Dave lied. 
 I argued the case in my mind whether to let on to the Deacon, 
 that's father, but father's inclined to be rather hard on trans-, 
 gressors, and Dave was a limb, so I decided to settle the 
 matter independent with him. But I found him curled up ir\ 
 the kitchen, a shivering and shaking, and straight I went to 
 boiling up boneset, and my lecture I 'lowed it could wait. 
 
 "It was proper sickly that April, the sun kept shining and 
 shining, and the wind it hung in the north and would not 
 shift ary way, and the farmers all round were behind with 
 their work, but the}' spaded heaps and heaps in the burying 
 ground. 
 
 "Well, Dave, he sickened for certain, and one week from 
 that sunshiny day, when I found him liumped up in the 
 kitchen, the doctor said on going away, 'I've done all I can 
 Mrs. Wixom, 'tis the will of the Lord, let us bow to His will,' 
 then he whistled and chirruped to his horse and drove away. 
 It seemed all dark as though there vvas nq sun in the heavenS|
 
 AND LIBP:RAL LKCTrRES. 203 
 
 and I stood and held on to the door jambs with both hands 
 and fit off a faint. When I could, I crept back shaky-like and 
 found Dave asleep and he looked that white and that strange — 
 ah. thfc doctor was right. 
 
 "I was brou}j;ht up ])roper strict, and the Deacon was stronj; 
 on original sin, and election, and wrath, and the judgment, 
 and man's tetotal badness within, and the terrible fate of the 
 sinner. It went through my brain like a flame, that Dave 
 must go into the valley with that lie on his soul, and that 
 solemn moment he woke; then I nursed him a little, and said, 
 'My dear boy, 'twould be well to tell mother Avhat you did 
 with them hollyhock seed.' I waited. Dave laid there, his 
 eyes like two stars, and I knew he understood all and he said: 
 " Don't bother me askin, for. Miss Mother, I never will tell.'' 
 "And he wouldn't, and didn't. He slept through the night 
 off and on, and father and I we watched. At sunrise he smiled 
 happy like and was gone. 
 
 "Most stories end here. Heaped and covered with sod, 
 every grave has the look of that one little Latin word Jiuis, 
 that is placed at the end of a book. 
 
 " Now the rest you must take for what it is worth. I was 
 dovvn at the mouth and distressed; could it be, with that smile 
 on, that Dave had gone into torments ? But what else could I 
 hope or expect ? The scriptures spoke sharp on that subject 
 and plain. I was wretched, and father rebuked me for doubt- 
 ing. Never in my life had I doubted; alas, 'twas believin' that 
 struck to my heart like knife. 
 
 "Well, that year passed, and the next, and last spring we 
 determined to go down to Boston to see sister Hannah, and 
 Boston, you probably know, is just crowded with people be- 
 lievin' in spirits; and Hannah was one, unbeknown to the 
 Deacon or me, and she never let on, not one word on that pint. 
 But one evening they had a caller, a little chinned man, with 
 his hair parted straight down the middle, and when he was 
 seated he began, lofty like, talking spirits to Hannah. I was 
 shocked, but the Deacon bore up strong and steady, like the 
 face of a meetin' house clock, and glanced down the street, 
 unconcerned like, a readiu' the signs, when the man took a 
 fit, seized a pencil, ami scratched off these queer lookiu' lines,
 
 204 FREE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 and tossed them to Hannah and pointed to me; and her hus- 
 band sat with open mouth and eyes takin' it in; 'twas as good 
 as a show. Well, I decided I would not open that paper in a 
 hurry, and I held it shut tight in my hand while that medium 
 went on talkin' spirits; and I didn't that night, but next morn- 
 ing it ene'amost took my breath; for the writin' was Dave's — 
 his crooked-backed 'Ds' I remembered — and the queer little 
 pot-hooks said: ' Go dowd the path to the creek, Miss Mother, 
 and you'll find what you want to know.' Signed 'your Dave.' 
 Just like him, the darlin'. Well, I cried some, but I was beat 
 when I found my name, Mrs. Susan Wixom, on the opposite 
 side of the sheet. 
 
 " When we returned home it was summer, and only last Sun- 
 day I went dow the path to the creek, as he told me, just to 
 see what the little chap meant. And there where the boys 
 went in swimmin', all round on the bank in full blow, tall, 
 and straight, and handsome, and double, stood those holly- 
 hocks, 3'ou know. 
 
 " Then I rememberd Dave was bid not togo in swimmin' that 
 April, but it 'pears, spite of all, that he did; and comin' across 
 the wood that day he went in and lost the seed, and never 
 would own it, knowin' that 'twould betray him in the deed. 
 
 " Well, I sat down there and kept thinking, and somehow I 
 kinder believe it was Dave who wrote me that message, seein' 
 how I had worried and grieved. But I have not lost my faith, 
 and my standing is good in the church, and I have decided to 
 lift some of them posies just to show my forgiveness of Dave, 
 and plant them, the fairest and brightest, all round on my 
 darling boy's grave."
 
 AND i,ii'.i:r,\i. T.r.cTi'ur.s. 205 
 
 THE LITTLE GRAVE. 
 
 "It's only a little grave," they said — 
 
 "Only just a child that's dead;" 
 And so they carelessly turned away 
 From the mound the spade had made that day; 
 Ah, they did not know how deep a shade 
 That little grave in our home has made ! 
 
 I know the coffin was narrow and small — 
 One yard would have ser\-ed for an ample pall, 
 And one man in his arms could have borne away 
 The oakwood and its freight of clay; 
 But I know that darling hopes were hid 
 Beneath that little coffin-lid. 
 
 I know that a mother stood that day, 
 With folded arms, by that form of clay; 
 I know that burning tears were hid 
 'Neath the drooping lash and aching lid; 
 And I know that her lips and cheek and brow 
 Were almost as white as her baby's now. 
 
 I know some things were hid away — 
 The crimson frock and wrappings gay; 
 The little sock and half-worn shoe. 
 The ne'er worn muff and ribbons blue; 
 And an empty crib, with its covers spread. 
 As white as the face of her guileless dead.
 
 206 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 'Tis a little grave; but oh, have a care, 
 For many hopes are buried there; 
 And ye, perhaps, in coming years. 
 Will understand our sighs, our tears. 
 How much of light, how much of pleasure, 
 Is buried with our only treasure ! 
 
 ■^c—^^P^r^ 
 
 COWARDICE. 
 
 The veriest coward upon earth 
 
 Is he who fears the world's opinion, 
 
 Who acts with reference to its will. 
 
 His conscience swayed by its dominion. 
 
 Mind is not worth a feather's weight, 
 That must by other minds be measured; 
 
 Self must direct and self control. 
 
 And the account with conscience treasured. 
 
 Fear never swa3'S a manly soul, 
 
 For honest hearts 'twas ne'er intended. 
 
 They — only they have cause to fear, 
 Whose motives have the truth offended. 
 
 What will my neighbors say if I 
 
 Should this attempt, or that, or t'other? 
 
 A neighbor is most sure a foe 
 
 If he not prove a helping brother. 

 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURES. 207 
 
 That man is brave who braves the world. 
 
 When o'er life's sea his bark he steereth; 
 Who keeps that guiding star in view, 
 
 A conscience clear which never veereth. 
 
 
 RIGHT OMWARD. 
 
 Right onward I right onward ! behind the work's fin- 
 ished, 
 A lew tired toilers have lain down to rest, 
 But forward the work seems untouched, undeminished, 
 There are waters to wade, there are big waves to 
 breast; 
 There is fighting to do, there are foes to o'ercome: 
 
 But fight on in concord and always remember 
 Kach blow snaps a fetter from nations to come. 
 
 Right onward ! right onward ! stay not for fond partings ; 
 
 Lose not the fair hours by the graves of the dead; 
 Waste not your best nerve in fond sighings and start- 
 ings; 
 
 March on in the track where brave thinkers have led. 
 Up ! up ! with your arms and march on to the battle — 
 
 The day will be hot and the contest be long; 
 But while the darts drop and the dark missiles rattle, 
 
 Go on to the conquest with music and song.
 
 208 FRKE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 Right onward ! right onward ! your foes fill the passes; 
 
 Untruth and Injustice, Crime, Ignorance, Vice; 
 They lurk on the edge of the losughs and morasses, 
 
 Dressed out in deluding and sombre device. 
 Turn not from the path to the past dead or dying. 
 There are flowers in the track Progress makes for her 
 feet; 
 We may cull them and strew them as winged hours are 
 flying 
 But still be ' ' Right onward ' ' your song loud and 
 sweet. 
 
 Right onward ! right onward ! the time is advancing — 
 
 The night shades are low' ring, the sun has gone down; 
 But still on the white road your armor be glancing. 
 
 And still throng recruits from each hamlet and town; 
 Oh ! woe to the foe who would bar us from freedom; 
 
 Away with the tongue that forbids us to speak; 
 They who will not move on, hurl aside never heed 
 them — 
 
 While we battle on and fight for the weak.
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURES. 209 
 
 THE TRANSFIGURATION. 
 
 A youthful painter found one day 
 
 In the streets of Rome a child at play; 
 
 And moved by the beauty that it bore, 
 
 The heavenly look its features wore, 
 
 On a canvas radiant and grand 
 
 He painted its face with a master hand. 
 
 Year after year on his wall it hung; 
 'Twas ever joyful and always young, 
 Driving away all thought of gloom 
 As the painter toiled in his lonely room 
 
 But the painter's locks grew thin and gray; 
 
 His young ambition had passed away; 
 
 He looked for years, in many a place. 
 
 To find a contrast to that sweet face. 
 
 Through haunts of vice in the night he strayed 
 
 To find some ruin that crime had made; 
 
 And at last, in a prison cell, he caught, 
 
 A glimpse of the hideous face he .sought. 
 
 On a canvas, weird and wild, but grand, 
 
 He painted the features with a master hand. 
 
 That loathsome wretch in the dungeon low. 
 With the face of a fiend and the look of woe. 
 Ruined by revels and stained by sin. 
 A pitiful wreck of what once he had been, 
 Hated and shunned and without a home — 
 Was the child that played in the streets of Rome !
 
 2IO FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 THE TWO GLASSES. 
 
 There sat two glasses, filled to the brim, 
 On a rich man's table, rim to rim; 
 One was ruddy and red as blood, 
 And one was clear as the crystal flood. 
 
 Said the glass of wnne to the paler brother, 
 
 " Let us tell the tales of the past to each other: 
 
 I can tell of banquet and revel and mirth, 
 
 And the proudest and grandest souls on earth 
 
 Fell under my touch as though struck bj- blight, 
 
 Where I was a king, for I ruled in might; 
 
 From the heads of kings I have torn the crown. 
 
 From the heights of fame I have hurled them down. 
 
 I have blasted many an honored name; 
 
 I have taken virtue and given shame; 
 
 I have tempted the youth with a sip, a taste. 
 
 That has made his future a barren waste. 
 
 Far greater than a king am I, 
 
 Or than any army beneath the sky; 
 
 I have made the arm of the driver fail. 
 
 And sent the train from the iron rail; 
 
 I have made the good ships go down at sea. 
 
 And the shrieks of the lost were sweet to me. 
 
 For they said, 'Behold how great you be, 
 
 Fame, strength, wealth, genius, before you fall, 
 
 For your might and power are over all !' 
 
 Ho ! ho ! pale brother, ' ' laughed the wine, 
 
 "Can you boast of deeds as great as mine?"
 
 AND LIBKKAL LKCTURES. 2 1 1 
 
 Said the crystal glass, "I cannot boast 
 
 Of a king dethroned or a nuirdered host, 
 
 But I can tell of a heart, once sad, 
 
 By my crystal drops made light and glad — 
 
 Of thrists I've quenched, of brows I've laved, 
 
 Of hands I've cooled, and souls I have saved; 
 
 I have leaped through the valley, dashed down the 
 
 mountain, 
 Flowed in the river, and played in the fountain, 
 Slept in the sunshine, and dropped from the sky, 
 And everywhere gladdened the landscape and eye: 
 I have eased the hot forehead of fever and pain, 
 I have made the parched meadow grow fertile with 
 
 grain; 
 I can tell of the powerful wheel of the mill 
 That ground out flour and turned at my will: 
 I can tell of manhood debased by you 
 That I lifted up and crowned anew; 
 I cheer, I help, I strengthen, I aid; 
 I gladden the heart of man and maid; 
 I set the wine-chaind captive free. 
 And all are better for knowing me." 
 
 These are the tales they told each other — 
 The glass of wine and its paler brother — 
 As they sat together, filled to the brim. 
 On the rich man's table, rim to rim.
 
 212 FREE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 THE PARSOH'S VACATIOK. 
 
 The old man -went to meetin', for the day was bright 
 and fair, 
 
 Though his limbs were very totterin' and 'twas hard 
 
 to travel there; 
 But he hungered for the gospel, so he trudged the weary 
 
 way, 
 On the road so rough and dusty, 'neath the summer's 
 
 burning ray ! 
 
 By and bj' he reached the buildin', to his soul a holy 
 
 place; I 
 
 Then he paused and wiped the sweat drops off his thin 
 
 and wrinkled face; 
 But he looked around bewildered, for the old bell did 
 
 not toll, 
 All the doors were shut and bolted, and he didn't see 
 
 a soul. 
 
 So he leaned upon his crutches, and he said, "what 
 
 does it mean ?" 
 And he looked this way and that, till it seemed almost 
 
 a dream; 
 He had walked the dusty highway, and he breathed a 
 
 heavy sigh — 
 Just to go once more to meetin' ere the summons comes 
 
 to die.
 
 AND LIHEKAL I.KCTl'RES. 213 
 
 But he saw a little notice tacked upon the meetin' door. 
 So he limped along to read it, and he read it o'er and 
 
 o'er; 
 Then he wiped his dusty glasses, and he read it o'er 
 
 again, 
 Till his limbs began to tremble, and his eyes began to 
 
 pain. 
 
 As the old man read the notice, how it made his spirit 
 
 burn, 
 "Pastor absent on a vacation, church closed until hi.^ 
 
 return;" 
 Then he staggered slowly backward, and he sat him 
 
 down to think. 
 For his soul was stirred within him, till he thought 
 
 his heart would sink. 
 
 So he mused aloud and wondered to himself soliloquized 
 
 I have lived to almost eighty, and was never so sur- 
 prised, 
 
 As I read the oddest notice, stickin' on the meetin' 
 door: 
 
 "Pastor off on a vacation," never heard the like before. 
 
 Why, when I first joint the meetin'. ver>- many years 
 
 ago, 
 Preachers traveled on the circuit, in the heat and 
 
 through the snow, 
 If they got their clothes and victuals, ('twas but little 
 
 cash they got,) 
 They said nothin' 'bout vacation, but were happy in 
 
 their lot.
 
 214 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 Would the farmer leave his cattle, or the shepherd 
 
 leave his sheep? 
 Who would give them care and shelter, or provide 
 
 them food to eat ? 
 So it strikes me very sing'ler, when a man of holy 
 
 bands, 
 Thinks he needs to have vacation, and forsake the 
 
 tender lambs. 
 
 Did St. Paul get such a notion ? Did a Weslej- or a 
 Knox? 
 
 Did they in the heat ot summer, turn away the need}'- 
 
 flocks ? 
 Did they shut their meetin' houses, just to go and 
 
 lounge about? 
 Why they knew if they did, Satan certainl}- would 
 
 shout. 
 
 Do the taverns close their bar-rooms, just to take a 
 
 little rest? 
 Why, 'twould be the height of nonsense, for their trade 
 
 would be distressed; 
 Did you ever know it happened, or hear anybody tell, 
 Satan takin' a vacation, shutten' up the doors of hell ? 
 
 And shall preachers of the gospel, pack their trunks 
 
 and go away, 
 Leavin' saints and sinners, get along the best they may; 
 Are the souls of saints and sinners valued less than 
 
 selling beer ? 
 Or do preachers tire quicker than the rest of people 
 
 here.
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURKS. 215 
 
 Why it is I cannot answer, l)ut my feclins' Ihey are 
 
 stirred. 
 Here I've dragged my totterin' footsteps, for to hear 
 
 tlie gospel word. 
 But the preacher is a travelin', and the meetin' house 
 
 is closed. 
 I confess it's very tryin' hard indeed to keep composed. 
 
 Tell me, when I tread the valley and go to the shining 
 height, 
 
 Will I hear no angel singing — will I see no gleaming 
 light, 
 
 Will the golden harps be silent — will I meet no wel- 
 come there ? 
 
 Why, the thought would be most distractin', 'twould 
 be more than I could bear. 
 
 Tell me ! when I reach the city, over on the other 
 
 shore, 
 Will I find a little notice tacked upon the golden door. 
 Telling me, 'mid dreadful silence, writ in words that 
 
 cut and burn, 
 "Jesus absent on vacation — Heaven closed until His 
 
 return." 
 
 14
 
 2l6 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 PLUCK AMD PRAYER 
 
 "There wa'n't any use o' fretting 
 
 An' I told Obadiah so, 
 ^For ef we couldn't hold on to things, 
 
 We'd jest got to let 'em go. 
 Thar were lots of folks that 'd suffer 
 
 Along with the rest of us, 
 ,And it didn't seem to be wurth our while 
 
 To make such a dreffle fuss. 
 
 "To be sure the barn was 'most empty, 
 
 An' corn an' pertaters sca'ce, 
 .An' not much of anything plenty an' cheap 
 
 But water — an' apple-sass. 
 But then — as I told Obadiah — 
 
 It wa'n't any use to groan. 
 For flesh an' blood couldn't stan' it; an he 
 
 Was nothing but skin an' bone. ^ 
 
 "^ut, laws ! ef you only heerd him, 
 
 At any hour of the night, 
 A-prayin' out in that closet there, 
 
 'Twould have set you crazy quite. 
 J patched the knees of those trousers 
 
 With cloth that was nowa3'S thin, 
 
 *
 
 AND IJBERAL I.IXTURES. 217 
 
 But it seemed as ef the places wore out 
 As fast as I set 'em in. 
 
 To me he said mighty little 
 
 Of the thorny way we trod, 
 But at least a dozen times a day 
 
 He talked it over with God. 
 Down on his knees in that closet 
 
 The most of his time was passed; 
 For Obadiah knew how to pray 
 
 Much better than how to fast. 
 
 But I am that way contriary 
 
 That ef things don't go jest right 
 I feel like rolling my sleeves up high 
 
 An' gittin' ready to fight. 
 An' the giants I slew that winter 
 
 I ain't goin' to talk about; 
 An' I didn't even complain to God, 
 
 Though I think he found it out. 
 
 With the point of a cambric needle 
 
 I druv the wolf from the door. 
 For I knew that -^j-e needn't starx^e to death 
 
 Or be lazy because we were poor. 
 An' Obadiah he wondered. 
 
 An' kept me patchin' his knees. 
 An' thought it strange how the meal held out, 
 
 An' stranger we didn't freeze. 
 
 But I said to myself in whispers, 
 
 "God knows where His gift descends:
 
 2l8 FRKE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 An' 'tisn't always that faith gits down 
 
 As far as the finger-ends. ' ' 
 An' I, wouldn't have no one reckon 
 
 My Obadiah a shirk, 
 For some, you know, have the gift tojpray, 
 
 And others the gift to work. 
 
 <«« >— — "i^i — '-^ »»> 
 
 IF WE KHEW. 
 
 If we knew the woe and heartache 
 
 Waiting for us down the road. 
 If our lips could taste the wormwood, 
 
 If our backs could feel the load; 
 Would we waste the day in; wishing 
 
 For a time that ne'er can be? 
 Would we wait wdth such impatience 
 
 F'or our ship to come from sea ? 
 
 a 
 
 If we knew the baby fingers. 
 
 Pressed against the windowlpane. 
 Would be cold and stiff to-morrow — 
 
 Never trouble us again; 
 Would the bright eyes of our darling 
 
 Catch the frown upon our brow ? 
 Would the print of rosy fingers 
 
 Vex us then as they do now ? 
 
 Ah, these little ice-cold fingers ! 
 How they point our memories back
 
 AND LIBERAL LKCTT'RES. 2I9 
 
 To the hasty words and actions 
 Strewn along our backward track ! 
 
 How these little hands remind us, 
 As in snowy grace they lie, 
 
 Not to scatter thorns, but roses, 
 For our reaping by and by. 
 
 Strange we never prize the music 
 
 Till the sweet-voiced bird has flown; 
 Strange that we should slight the violets 
 
 Till the lovely flowers are gone; 
 Strange that summer skies and sunshine 
 
 Never seem one-half so fair 
 As when winter's snowy pinions 
 
 Shake their white down in the air. 
 
 Lips from which the seal of silence 
 
 None but God can roll away, 
 Never blossomed in such beauty 
 
 As adorns the mouth to-day; 
 And sweet words that freight our memor\- 
 
 With their beautiful perfume, 
 Come to us in sweeter accents 
 
 Through the pgrtals of the tomb. 
 
 Let us gather up the sunbeams. 
 
 Lying all around our path; 
 Let us keep the wheat and roses, 
 
 Casting out the thorns and chaff; 
 Let us find our sweetest comfort 
 
 In the blessings of to-day, 
 With the patient hand removing 
 
 .A.11 the briars from our wav.
 
 220 FREE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 KO SECTS IK HEAVEM. 
 
 Talking of sects till late one eve, 
 Of the various doctrines the saints believe, 
 That night I stood in a troubled dream, 
 By the side of a darkly flowing stream. 
 
 And a "Churchman" down to the river came. 
 When I heard a strange voice call his name, 
 "Good father, stop; when you cross the tide. 
 You must leave your robes on the other side.'* 
 
 But the aged father did not mind. 
 And his long gown floated out behind, 
 As down the stream his way he took. 
 His pale hands clasping a gilt-edged book. 
 
 "I'm bound for Heaven, and when I'm there 
 Shall want my Book of Common Prayer: 
 And, though I put on a starry crown, 
 I should feel quite lost without my gown." 
 
 Then he fixed his eyes on the shining track. 
 But his gown was heavy and held him back, 
 And the poor old father tried in vain, 
 A single step in the flood to gain. 
 
 I saw him again on the other side, 
 But his silk gown floated on the tide;
 
 AND 1,1 UK RAT. I.KCTURKIS. 221 
 
 And no one asked, in that blissful spot, 
 Whether he Ijelonged to the "Church" or not. 
 
 Then down to the river a Quaker strayed; 
 His dress of sober hue was made: 
 "My coat and hat must all be gray — 
 I cannot go any other way." 
 
 Then he buttoned his coat straight up to his chin. 
 And staidly, solemnly, waided in, 
 And his broad-brimmed hat he pulled down tight. 
 Over his forehead so cold and white. 
 
 But a strong wind carried away his hat; 
 A moment he silently sighed over that; 
 And then, as he gazed on the further shore, 
 The coat slipped off, and was seen no more. 
 
 As he entered Heaven his suit of gray 
 Went quietly sailing, away, away; 
 And none of the angels questioned him 
 About the width of his beaver's brim. 
 
 Next came Dr. Watts, with his bundle of psalms 
 
 Tied nicely up in his aged arms; 
 
 And hymns as many, a very wise thing, 
 
 That the people in Heaven, "all around," might sing. 
 
 But I thought that he heaved an anxious sigh 
 As he saw that the river ran broad and high, 
 And looked rather surprised, as one by one 
 The psalms and hymns with the wave went down.
 
 2 22 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 And after him, with his MSS., 
 
 Came Wesley, the pattern of godliness; 
 
 But he cried, "Dear me ! what shall I do? 
 
 The water has soaked them through and through. 
 
 A voice arose from the brethren then, 
 "Let no one speak but the 'holy men'; 
 For have ye not heard the words of Paul, 
 'Oh, let the women keep silence all?' " 
 
 I watched them long in my curious dream, 
 Till they stood by the borders of the stream; 
 Then, just as I thought, the two ways met; 
 But all the brethren were talking yet. 
 
 And would talk on till the heaving tide 
 Carried them over side by side — 
 Side by side, for the way was one. 
 The toilsome journey of life was done. 
 
 No forms or crosses or books had they; 
 No gowns of silk or suits of gray ; 
 No creeds to guide them, or MSS., 
 For all had put on true righteousness.
 
 AND LIUKKAL LKCTURES. 22^ 
 
 WE REAP WHAT WE SOW. 
 
 For pleasure or pain, for weal or for woe — 
 'Tis the law of our being, we reap what we sow; 
 We may tr>- to evade them, do what we will. 
 Our acts, like our sdadows, will follow us till. 
 
 The world is a wonderful chemist, be sure. 
 And detects in a moment the base or the pure; 
 We may boast of our claims to genius or birth. 
 But the world takes a man for just what he's worth. 
 
 We start in the race of our fortune or fame. 
 And then, when we fail, the world bears the blame; 
 But nine times out often 'tis plain to be .seen. 
 There is a ".screw loose" in the human machine. 
 
 Are you wearied and worn in the hard, earthly stirfc ? 
 Do you yearn for affection to sweeten your life ? 
 Remember this truth has often been proved: 
 We must make ourselves lovable, would we be loved. 
 
 Though life may appear as a desolate track. 
 
 Yet the bread that we cast on the water comes back. 
 
 This law was enacted by Heaven above. 
 
 That like attracts like, and love begets love.
 
 \ 
 
 224 FREE THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 We are proud of our mansions of mortar and stone, 
 In our gardens are flowers from every zone; 
 But the beautiful graces that blossom within 
 Grow shriveled and die in the Upas of sin. 
 
 We may make ourselves heroes or martyrs for gold. 
 Till health becomes broken and youth becomes old, 
 Ah ! did we the same for beautiful love, 
 Our lives might be music for angels above. 
 
 We reap what we sow — oh, wonderful truth ! 
 A truth hard to learn in the days of our youth; 
 But shines out at last, as the hand on the wall, 
 For the world has its debit and credit for all.
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURES. 225 
 
 THE PRIESTS OF GOD. 
 
 Who are the priests whom God appoints? 
 Whose heads with wisdom He aniioinLs 
 
 To spread His truths abroad. 
 Not those who mumble o'er the creeds, 
 But those who plant truth's living seeds, 
 
 Are the true priests of God. 
 
 Humanit}' ! what hast thou gained 
 From those the churches have ordained ? 
 
 They've but increased thy load; 
 Apologists in every clime 
 Of outrage, tyranny, and crime — 
 
 They're not the priests of God. 
 
 Ah ! 'tis to the uucanonized, 
 The persecuted and despised, 
 
 That God reveals the light: 
 And they're the fearless ones that rise 
 Against earth's concentrated lies. 
 
 And battle for the right. 
 
 They are the poets, bards and seers 
 Whose words draw sympathetic tears 
 
 E'en from the stubborn clod; 
 And bear us on the wings of song. 
 Above defilement, blight and wrong, 
 
 They are the priests of God.
 
 2 26 FREE-THOUGHT POEMS 
 
 The heralds of a hope sublime, 
 Forerunners of a better time, 
 
 The leaders of the van; 
 And fearlessly they are marching forth, 
 Proclaiming over all the earth 
 
 The brotherhood of man. 
 
 They wear no sacerdotal weeds, 
 
 They know no churches, sects, nor creeds. 
 
 But in the truth are strong; 
 They are the priests whom God ordains 
 To break men's spiritual chains. 
 
 And overthrow the wrong. 
 
 Yes, they are the priests of the Most High, 
 Whose temples are the earth and sky. 
 
 The sea and running brook; 
 Interpreters of Nature's lines, 
 And of the symbols and the signs 
 
 In her eternal book. 
 
 They read God's scriptures everywhere, 
 In stellar worlds, in sea and air. 
 
 And in the flowery sod; 
 They only are the true divines. 
 Through whom the light of Nature shines 
 
 The great High Priests of God, 
 
 Communion with the saints above. 
 Relying on Almighty love. 
 The universal plan—
 
 AND LIBERAL LECTURES. 227 
 
 They feel their own divinity, 
 And find the glorious Trinity 
 In Nature. God, and Man. 
 
 Poets or bards ! what'cr ye are ! 
 Who bring us tidings from afar, 
 
 To brighten our abode — 
 Through whom the heavens communicate 
 The glories of our future state, 
 
 Ve're the High Priests ot God.
 
 9 — No Royal Road York 
 
 II — What I Live For 
 
 13— Eternal Justice. ...Chas. Mackay 
 
 16 — The Chemistry of Character Lizzie Doteu 
 
 1 9 — E vol ution f 1 ec ture) York 
 
 34 — My Religion York 
 
 36 — Backbone 
 
 38— Be Thyself Denton 
 
 39— Evolution York 
 
 42— Infidelity — Our Religion (lecture) York 
 
 54— I Want to Be an Infidel York 
 
 56 — Nature and Grace Lizzie Doten 
 
 60— Will It Pay? Lizzie Doten 
 
 64 — The Moneyless Man Stanton 
 
 66 — How to Be Happy (lecture) Y'ork 
 
 Sr— A Respectable Lie 
 
 84— Pat and the Pig 
 
 86 — I Have Drank my Last Glass. 
 
 89 — Compensation York 
 
 92— The Scarlet Woman (lecture) -.York 
 
 106 -The Old Man Goes to School Jno. H. Yates 
 
 109 — The Spirit of Nature Lizzie Doten 
 
 III— The Parson's School Mrs. J. L. York 
 
 115 — What I Once Thought Denton 
 
 1 17 — The Devil is Dead Deutou 
 
 119— The Old Man Goes to 'Frisco 
 
 124 — Only Waiting 
 
 126 — The Triumph of Life Lizzie Doten 
 
 12S— Daisy Dean Mrs. J. L. York 
 
 140 — The Hindoo Skeptic Loudon Spectator 
 
 142 — Save Your Soul ^^ 
 
 144 — We Meet Upon the Level, etc 
 
 146 — The Voice of the People Jas. G. Clark 
 
 149 — Living Stones
 
 151— Call Him Mad 3 
 
 153 — Heaven Cannot Save 
 
 155 — Somebody's Mother Boston Globe 
 
 157 — The Dying Infidel 
 
 159 — Rev. Josiah Williams Mrs. j. L. York 
 
 172 — There's Room for All H. C. Preuss 
 
 174 — Who Shall Judge 
 
 176— The People's Advent Gerald Massey 
 
 17S— The Sin of Omission Margaret E. Sangster 
 
 iSo— What Rules the World 
 
 i.Si— We Shall Know 
 
 1S3— What Is Infidelity 
 
 1S5 — Memory of Thomas Paine C. Fannie Allyn 
 
 iSS— Love Me Now 
 
 1S9— There is No Death 
 
 191 — Keep Your Faces to the Light 
 
 193— The Mortgage on the Farm Will Carleton 
 
 195— On Creation 
 
 197— Why Is This 
 
 199 — Mr. De Splae 
 
 202 — Dave's Holl3'hocks 
 
 205— The Little Grave S. Wheeler 
 
 206 — Cowardice 
 
 207 — Right Onward John Rowell Waller 
 
 209 — The Transfiguration 
 
 210 — The Two Glasses Pittsburgh Post 
 
 212 — The Parson's Vacation 
 
 216— Pluck and Prayer 
 
 218— If We Knew 
 
 220 — No Sects In Heaven 
 
 223— We Reap What We Sow 
 
 225— The Priests of God Alex. M'Lachlan. 
 
 i
 
 1
 
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