text:
Page:Face to Face With the Mexicans.djvu/101

 but Don Juan Bautista threw his most determined and unrelenting expression upon me, as if to say: "Well, she has had enough warning; now the responsibility rests on her own shoulders!"

He looked back at Jesusita as he stepped from the door, nodding his head—"Well,—I will go; but she will wish she had not gone!"

In the market Juan Bautista never left me for a moment, inspecting closely everything I bought—now and then throwing in a word when he thought I was paying too much. He counted every cent as fast as I paid it out, and noted every article placed in the basket. I had nearly completed my purchases, and was talking to a woman about the prospect for butter—regretting the difficulty of getting it,— when she leaned across the table, waggling that tireless forefinger at me, saying, "En este tiempo ya no hay, no es costumbre" ("At this time of the year there is none"), Juan Bautista chiming in (with the interminable waggle of his forefinger also), "No! no hay!" ("No, indeed, there is none").

The last purchase was made, and I was about closing my purse, when glancing up, I saw Juan Bautista's great merciless eyes fixed upon me, while he said in a firm voice: "But, mi pilon, Señora!" This is the custom of the country. If you stay at home, I get my pilon from the merchants and market people; if you come—I must have it anyhow. A wrangle was impossible, and handing him dos reales (twenty-five cents), I went home a far wiser woman.

Jesusita looked proudly upon the towering form of Juan Bautista as he entered the portal—basket in one hand, dos reales in the other. Not a word was spoken between them, but looks told volumes. She knew what Juan could do, and he had proved to her his ability to cope with the stranger from any part of the world. To myself I confessed


text:
Page:Face to Face With the Mexicans.djvu/102

96 that in Don Juan Bautista I had found a foeman worthy of my steel.

I asked him to light the fire in the stove and I would make another effort to instruct Jesusita in its management. He went about it, while I withdrew for a few moments to my room. Very soon I noticed that the house was full of smoke. Supposing it to be on fire, I ran to the kitchen, which was in a dense fog, but no fire visible. Nor was Jesusita or Don Juan Bautista to be found. The cause of the smoke was soon discovered. He had built the fire in the oven, and closed the doors!

I clapped my hands for them, according to custom; but they came not. I then found them sitting in the shady court; Jesusita's right arm lay confidingly on Juan Bautista's big left shoulder, as she looked up entreatingly at the harsh countenance of the arbiter of her fate.

I gleaned from their conversation that she wished to remain, but her marido was evidently bent on going. On my approach they rose politely, and Juan Bautista delivered the valedictory, assuring me in pleasant terms of their good-will; and it was not the pilon business—that had been settled—but the certainty that Jesusita's health would be injured by using the cooking-stove decided him.

He said they would go to their "pobre casa"—I knew they had none; then gathering up their goods and chattels, with the unvarying politeness of the country, Hasta otro vista" ("Until I see you again"), Vaya V. con Dios!''" ("May God be with you!"), they stepped lightly over the threshold—looked up and down the street, uncertain which way to go—then out they went into the great busy world. Thus disappeared forever from my sight Pancho's comadrita.

In every new servant we employed new characteristics were developed. All agreed in their leading costumbres, yet differed in the manner of carrying them into effect, while their quaintness and individuality afforded me constant entertainment. Some came humbly, giving only one name, while others used much formality, never failing to give the prefix Don or Doña.

Their names were as puzzling as their hereditary customs. I found

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Page:Face to Face With the Mexicans.djvu/103

Rh

that while the Southern negro had been shrewd in appropriating the names of such great men as George Washington, Henry Clay, and Thomas Jefferson, the Mexican servants had likewise availed themselves of the names of their own great men. I hired Miguel Hidalgo twice, Porfirio Diaz once, Manuel Gonzales three times, as also numerous others. But when a little, old, weazened, solemn-looking man, with a face as sanctimonious as an Aztec deity, wanted employment, and gave his name as "Pio Quinto" (Pius v.), assuring me he would guard well my front door, he quite took my breath away.

Among the many who came immediately under my observation was a newly married pair who had walked a hundred miles, seeking employment. They had neither beds nor bedding; nor, in fact, anything save the soiled, tattered clothing they wore.

The wife's name was Juanita, and knowing that Juan meant John, I then supposed that the addition of the ita, signifying little, made it Little John; but a further knowledge of names and idioms revealed the fact that Juana was Jane, and Juanita little Jane. But I began by calling her Little John, and so continued as long as she was in my employ. The diminutive was peculiarly appropriate. I see her now —this patient, docile, helpful child-woman. Her wealth of shining black hair hung in a long plait; her eyes, soft, yet glowing with a strange, peculiar, half-human, half-animal fire.

When the rebozo fell from her shoulders, a dainty figure was revealed—the contour exquisitely rounded. Her hand and arm would have delighted an artist for a model. Her step on the stone floor was light and free—noiseless as that of a kitten. Her voice was plaintive, sweet, and low, accompanied by a manner so gentle, so humble


text:
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Blind, Mathilde

BLIND, MATHILDE, a German-English poet, born in Mannheim, March 21, 1847; went to England in 1849, and won fame by her writings, “The Prophecy of St. Oran, and Other Poems” (London, 1881); “Life of George Eliot” (1883);

“Madame Roland” (1886); “The Heather on Fire,” a tale (1886); “Ascent of Man” (1889); “Dramas in Miniature” (1892); “Songs and Sonnets” (1893), and “Birds of Passage” (1895). She died in London, Nov. 26, 1896.


text:
Page:Face to Face With the Mexicans.djvu/104

 without saying, "May I do something for you?" If I were sick, Little John would take her place on the floor by the bedside, hold my hands, stroking them tenderly, bathe my brow and feet, murmuring in pathetic tones, "Mi pobre Señora!" ("My poor lady or madame"), which finally died away on half-parted lips, with "Pobrecita!" ("Poor little thing!")

I was curious about her family ties, and asked her of her people, a hundred miles away. "Have you a father and mother?" said I one day. The little form swayed back and forth. She made a low wail—the most pitiful heart-cry—a smothered pent-up sob, laden with

all the griefs of Little John's orphaned life. With tearful eyes and bowed head, clasping my hands, she wailed out again and again, "Muertos!" ("Dead!") "No tengo mas que mi marido!" ("I have only my husband"). The poor little creature's story was told.

In consideration of my many difficulties in this line, I was glad to give them employment, when, according to custom, they solicited a portion of their wages in advance. Having received it, the wife, ignoring her own great needs, bought material for clothing for her husband. She borrowed my scissors; and I, curious to see how she would manage the cutting, went to her room to note the process.

As thought Pancho about "fingers having been made before knives


text:
Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/12

 Articles bear the initials of their writers save in a very few cases where material has been furnished to the Editor on an ampler scale than the purpose of the undertaking permitted him to use. In such instances the Editor and his staff are solely responsible for the shape which the article has taken, and no signature is appended.

In preparing this Supplement the Editor has enjoyed the advantage of the assistance of Mr. W. B. Owen, M.A., formerly scholar of St. Catharine's College, Cambridge, and of Mr. G. S. Woods, M.A., formerly exhibitioner of Exeter College, Oxford.


text:
Page:Face to Face With the Mexicans.djvu/105

Rh and forks," so thought this young pobre about seats, as she sat, tailor fashion, on the dirt floor.

Such measuring and calculating as she had, in order to get two shirts out of three yards and a half! I laughed until I cried over her dilemma, as well as over the solicitude of her spouse about the result. He was evidently deeply interested.

She was only fourteen years of age, which gave an additional interest and a touching pathos to her anxious devotion. I thought to myself: "Woman-like, you will give your last farthing, take sleep from your eyes, even die, for the man you love!"

She finally cut out the shirts, the material being heavy brown domestic, and with the same untiring earnestness drew threads, made tiny tucks in the bosom, and when they were completed, brought them to me for inspection. More exquisite stitching or more perfectly made garments I never saw; but, as might be imagined, they would have been a close fit on a mere boy. This, however, was no impediment to the enthusiastic zeal of this interesting pair, and the shirts were duly worn by his lordship.

All the money which they earned jointly, with commendable unselfishness on her part went for his adornment, she continuing, with the aid of a calico dress which I gave her, the possessor of one suit and a half. With the same ever predominating feminine instinct, shoes were purchased for the husband; and very soon he was strutting about the premises as if monarch of all he surveyed.

In every possible way he made pretexts for errands that he might show off his clothes. His peacock strut was inimitably funny, and caused me unending amusement, though the smile was often checked by the thought of the poor little wife's unselfishness. The heart of woman is, after all, everywhere the same, and too frequently her devotion must be its own and sole reward.

One of his edicts was, that his wife should not dress fowls. The custom of skinning instead of plucking fowls exists in Mexico. But I was leaving nothing untried to have everything done according to my notions. One day, when he was detained away for several hours,


text:
Page:Face to Face With the Mexicans.djvu/106

 I ordered a pair of chickens for dinner, and directed poor Little Johnny how to prepare them. Without remonstrance she went willingly at the task; but before the chickens were ready for cooking, señor, the husband, returned.

I was watching with bated breath, feeling sure there would be a tempest. He did not intend I should witness the dénoûment, but I was determined to see the fun.

Without speaking audibly, he passed by where she was standing, wrenched from her hands the partly dressed fowls, and in a moment more disappeared in the corral.

I took another route to find my chickens, and instinct led me to the spot. On going to the carriage-house, I found them with strong cords tied around their necks, suspended from the old vehicle. By hanging the poor dead chickens, he retaliated for my presumption in directing his wife to prepare them without his consent and in his absence.

My curiosity next led me to see whether he had hanged his wife, or was erecting a gallows for me. Searching about the garden and out-houses, I found the couple in an unfrequented walk. She was wringing her hands and crying, while he stood bolt upright, bestowing upon her every severe expression and word of chastisement at his command. His jetty, straight hair stood up all over his head, his eyes glittered with rage, his brown lips were white, and his teeth champed viciously! All this was accompanied by the popping of his fists together, in the most effective manner. Every time this tragic part of the


text:
Page:Face to Face With the Mexicans.djvu/107

 was executed, she would jump, and give a fresh howl of agony over the disobedience she had so innocently practiced, saying: "Perdóname, no lo vuelvo á hacer" ("Oh, forgive me, I won't do it again").

The end of all this was that they took up their pallets of maguey and walked, leaving me to a pious meditation on the frailties and foibles of human nature in general, and on the peculiarities of Mexican servants in particular; and also to the disagreeable necessity of cutting the chickens down, and preparing my dinner single-handed.

The meek little wife, guarded by her grim liege, looked back at me askant, slyly kissed her hand, and smiled. This was the last I saw of Juanita.

The mozo, of all the various servants, was daily becoming more and more a vexatious problem. Indispensable, but to the last degree puzzling, I was anxious to know at what point in my experience the tolerated or " customary '" labors of this individual would be introduced.

The time had now come when, as I feared, his entire vocabulary would narrow down to this one familiar sentence, "No es costumbre," and he would assume the immovable and useless position of a mere figurehead. My imagination was wrought to an exalted state of anticipation, and I knew not what a day would bring forth. Every day carried me nearer to the time of Mother Noah, and to a world of chance. Wood, when not in small pieces and sold from the backs of burros, brought root, branch, and top, on ancient carts with wooden wheels, larger than the Aztec calendar; dogs called "Sal" regardless of sex; the yellow of the egg white; corn husks sold by the hundred; vinegar from France; and the tomato, our delicious vegetable, here assuming the masculine prefix he-tomato (spelled jitomati); all these things formed a grotesque panorama of curious contradictions all safely fortified behind the cast-iron "Costumbres."


text:
Page:Face to Face With the Mexicans.djvu/108

THOUGHT I had heard of every loan known to man, even of the dire necessity of borrowing a broom, but to have reached the climax of borrowing a man-servant was a supreme pinnacle of glory, to which even the loftiest flights of my vanity had never hoped to soar.

No high words nor outspoken disagreement ever occurred between the departing servants and myself, but the fact began to dawn upon me that they did not intend that their Mexican customs should ever be engrafted upon my American tree of knowledge.

Without a murmur of complaint, in almost every instance, these meek-voiced, studiously polite hombres would inform me that sickness in their families required their immediate presence. If I ventured to ask where their families resided, their replies varied according to the state of the weather or their good will to me. Frequently the answer would be, in Guadalajara, Zacatecas, or San Luis Potosi, neither of which places was nearer than three hundred miles.

In time I came to observe every mood and gesture, and could generally detect, some days ahead, the indications of a contemplated departure. I remember Don Miguel Rodriguez, as he called himself, who was determined to go away so silently that I should not suspect his heartless intention.

He had given me the gratifying information that he had no family, but, as the event proved, my hold on him was no stronger for this circumstance. He now looked at me as if to say: "Well, now, Señora, you need not suppose that I do not understand your ways as


text:
Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 1.djvu/150

36 the Rudras, the third Savana (evening-libation) to the Âdityas and the Visve Devas,

2. Where then is the world of the sacrificer? He who does not know this, how can he perform the sacrifice? He only who knows, should perform it.

3. Before the beginning of the Prâtaranuvâka (matin-chant), the sacrificer, sitting down behind the household altar (gârhapatya), and looking towards the north, sings the Sâman, addressed to the Vasus:

4. 'Open the door of the world (the earth), let us see thee, that we may rule (on earth).'

5. Then he sacrifices, saying: 'Adoration to Agni, who dwells on the earth, who dwells in the world! Obtain that world for me, the sacrificer! That is the world for the sacrificer!'

6. 'I (the sacrificer) shall go thither, when this life is over. Take this! (he says, in offering the libation.) Cast back the bolt!' Having said this, he rises. For him the Vasus fulfil the morning-oblation.

7. Before the beginning of the Mâdhyandinasavana, the noon-oblation, the sacrificer, sitting down behind the Âgnidhrîya altar, and looking towards the north, sings the Sâman, addressed to the Rudras:

8. 'Open the door of the world (the sky), let us see thee, that we may rule wide (in the sky).'

9. Then he sacrifices, saying: 'Adoration to


text:
Page:Face to Face With the Mexicans.djvu/109

 well as our own customs. You have had no fewer than twenty mozos, and while they have all left you without the least disagreement, I, Don Miguel Rodriguez, could explain all. I know why they have gone, but you don't. I am far ahead of you, poor ignorant gringo! Some day you'll know more than you do now!"

Each one in turn seemed to regret going, but at the same time showed plainly that my ideas of life and of the management of a household were far removed from his own. But without a note of warning, or an intimation of his purpose, Don Miguel took his hat in hand, turned his head across his shoulder, while the most cynical expression that could have been depicted on the face of a human being, or of a mozo, played about his eyes and mouth as I anticipated his movements, and awoke to the certainty that another faithful one had gone to join the band of invincibles.

The word pues is thrown in between sentences so generally, and has so many significations, such as, "well," "then," "therefore," "since," "surely," and many others, that it is not always easy for a stranger to settle the point. The servants, however, in pronouncing this word make an amusing abbreviation of it into "pos. " And so it was that Miguel only said, Pos entonces yo me voy''"

("Well, now, I am going"), but his face and figure spoke volumes. I learned from each one of them in a different way, the hopelessness and folly of any attempt to


text:
Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 1.djvu/151

Rh Vâyu (air), who dwells in the sky, who dwells in the world. Obtain that world for me, the sacrificer! That is the world Tor the sacrificer!'

10. 'I (the sacrificer) shall go thither, when this life is over. Take this! Cast back the bolt!' Having said this, he rises. For him the Rudras fulfil the noon-oblation.

11. Before the beginning of the third oblation, the sacrificer, sitting down behind the Âhavanîya altar, and looking towards the north, sings the Sâman, addressed to the Âdityas and Visve Devas:

12. 'Open the door of the world (the heaven), let us see thee, that we may rule supreme (in heaven).' This is addressed to the Âdityas.

13. Next the Sâman addressed to the Visve Devas: 'Open the door of the world (heaven), let us see thee, that we may rule supreme (in heaven).'

14. Then he sacrifices, saying: 'Adoration to the Âdityas and to the Visve Devas, who dwell in heaven, who dwell in the world. Obtain that world for me, the sacrificer!'

15. 'That is the world for the sacrificer! I (the sacrificer) shall go thither, when this life is over. Take this! Cast back the bolt!' Having said this, he rises.

16. For him the Âdityas and the Visve Devas fulfil the third oblation. He who knows this, knows the full measure of the sacrifice, t.


text:
Wikisource:WikiProject Proofreading/Plain text proofreading

Proofreading involves two activities: the first is ensuring that the text of the page corresponds to the original; the second is to achieve an approximation to the layout of the original in the resultant format, including italics, page headings, footnotes, tables, etc. Because the second activity can involve a detailed knowledge of wiki layout, you are allowed do the first part of the proofreading process without getting into these details.

This is an excellent way to start your proofreading in Wikisource: you concentrate on the content of the piece without having to understand all the technicalities and so get used to the process of editing before starting on layout.

(Note: the following is a summary of the text for discussion purposes, which will be expanded in the real thing, with examples.)

Tips
The aim is to correct the text so that it represents accurately the text in the image on the opposite page.

 * 1) Paragraphs: Leave a blank line between them
 * 2) Spaces at the start of a line: Remove them
 * 3) Quotation marks: Use  or   as indicated in the text
 * 4) Extra spaces: Remove any spaces before colons and semicolons, and between quotation marks and their content. Use single spaces at the end of phrases
 * 5) Hyphens and dashes: Distinguish hyphens (-), en dashes (–), and em dashes (—). Use spaces around them only if they are spaced in the text
 * 6) Remove any page numbers and running headers or other printer's marks
 * 7) Any word in should be converted to the equivalent upper and lower case.
 * 8) Place square brackets [ ] round any superscript or subscript characters including footnote markers.
 * 9) Any footnotes at the bottom of the page should start with the number (or other character) and be separated by blank lines
 * 10) If there is a hyphenated word at the end of a line, join it up with the rest of the word on the next line, and insert a new line so that the following word starts on the new line.
 * 11) If a hyphenated word occurs at the end of a page, leave it in position.
 * 12) Ensure that accented and foreign characters are inserted correctly using the drop-down boxes
 * 13) Replace fractions such as 1/4 by the appropriate symbol from the special characters (symbols) menu.
 * 14) For the first letter of a chapter which is ornate or a 'drop cap' use the ordinary letter.
 * 15) If an illustration occurs on the page, insert the text image and mark the page "problematic" instead of proofread. But proofread any caption text leaving it as a separate paragraph.
 * 16) Insert any sidenotes (printed notes in the margin) before the paragraph in which they occur, leaving the line breaks as they are.
 * 17) Proofread text in multiple columns as a single long column.
 * 18) Tables: Proofread each line of the table as a separate paragraph (leaving a blank line). Leave at least two spaces between each column of a row but don't leave any extra spaces for blank columns and, in particular, ignore an initial blank column. If the text in a particular column overflows into several lines, run these together on the first line.
 * 19) Poetry. Keep each line separate and put the text on a line by iteself before the poem and afterwards.
 * 20) Blank page: Mark this with the indication "No text" rather than "Proofread".
 * 21) Centred text: treat each logical line as a separate paragraph, with no leading spaces.
 * 22) Contents lists and indexes. Skip these.


text:
1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Massenet, Jules Emile Frédéric

MASSENET, JULES EMILE FRÉDÉRIC (1842-1912), French composer (see ), died in Paris Aug. 13 1912, having completed an opera, Panurge, just before his death.


text:
1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Massey, William Ferguson

MASSEY, WILLIAM FERGUSON (1856-), New Zealand statesman, was born at Limavady, co. Deny, Ireland, on March 26 1856, the son of John and Marian (née Ferguson) Massey. He was educated at the national school and secondary school at Londonderry, and went to New Zealand in 1870 to join his parents who were among the Nonconformist settlers of 1862. Settling at Mangere, near Auckland, he became a farmer, and after serving an apprenticeship in local government entered Parliament as member for Waitemata in 1894. At the general election of 1896 he was elected for Franklin, and he has held that seat ever since. From 1895 to 1903 he served as Chief Opposition Whip in the House of Representatives. During those eight years Seddon was at the height of his power and the fortunes of the Opposition were at their lowest ebb. For about half this period the party was without a leader, but the courage and faith of the Chief Whip held the party together, and in 1903 he was elected leader. Mr. Massey's chance came after the general election of 1911, which gave the Reform party, as it was now called, a small majority. After serving for 18 years in the Opposition, and without holding any intermediate office, Mr. Massey became Prime Minister on July 10 1912.

His first Cabinet held office for three years, the last of which was the first year of the World War. In Aug. 1915, the general

election held in Dec. 1914 having resulted in almost a dead heat between the parties, a Reform-Liberal coalition was effected for the purposes of the war, with Mr. Massey as Prime Minister and Sir Joseph Ward, the Liberal leader, as Finance Minister. The national Government thus formed lasted throughout the war, and on its dissolution by the Liberals in Aug. 1919 Mr. Massey formed a new Reform party Cabinet. At the general election in the following Dec. he scored a decisive victory, due in a large measure to the very difficult position forced upon him at short notice by the dissolution of the Coalition. He was still in power at the close of 1921.

The portfolios held by Mr. Massey in his first two administrations as Prime Minister included those of Lands, Agriculture, Labour, Industries and Commerce, and Imperial Government Supplies. On Sir James Allen's retirement in 1920 he became Minister of Finance, holding also the portfolio of Mines and Railways. Besides enabling and encouraging the country to throw its whole weight into the war, Mr. Massey rendered important service by representing it at the Imperial War Cabinet and War Conference meetings of 1917 and 1918, at the Peace Conference in 1919, and at the Imperial Conference of 1921. At the Peace Conference he faithfully represented the sentiment of New Zealand in pleading for the retention of German Samoa in British hands, and in his uncompromising attitude on the indemnities and reparations to be exacted from Germany. The energy which he displayed in securing the Dominion a share in the valuable phosphates of Nauru I. was also much appreciated. Mr. Massey did valuable work as the second British representative on the Commission on Responsibilities for War and the Enforcement of Penalties, and as president of the sub-committee on Facts and chairman of the Drafting Committee.

He married in 1882 Christina (C.B.E. 1919), daughter of Walter Paul of Auckland, and had three sons (of whom Maj. F. G. Massey served in the war and won the M.C. and D.S.O.) and two daughters. He became a Privy Councillor in 1913, a freeman of London, Edinburgh and five other British cities, and hon. LL.D. of Cambridge and Edinburgh universities.

 * (A. R. A.)


text: Author:Arthur Richmond Atkinson

title: Author:Arthur Richmond Atkinson


text:
1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Masters, Edgar Lee

MASTERS, EDGAR LEE (1868-), American writer, was born at Garnett, Kan., Aug. 23 1868. At the age of 21 he entered Knox College, Ill., but left after one year to read law in his father's office. He was admitted to the bar in 1891 and practised thereafter in Chicago. For several years he was associated with Clarence S. Darrow, known as counsel for labour leaders. He was a member of the National Institute of Art and Letters. The book that first brought him public notice was Spoon River Anthology, published in 1915, an extraordinary collection of epitaphs on members, in all walks of life, of a mid-western town. Within three years 50,000 copies were sold. Like much of the modern “realistic” literature it over-emphasizes pathological accidents and ignores the sane and permanent essence of life.


text: Index:Tales of the Dead.djvu

title: Index:Tales of the Dead.djvu


text: Page:Edgar Allan Poe - a centenary tribute.pdf/18


text: Page:Edgar Allan Poe - a centenary tribute.pdf/26


text: 1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Obregón, Alvaro


text: Page:Edgar Allan Poe - a centenary tribute.pdf/30


text: Page:Edgar Allan Poe - a centenary tribute.pdf/48


text: Page:Edgar Allan Poe - a centenary tribute.pdf/58


text: Page:Edgar Allan Poe - a centenary tribute.pdf/68


text: Page:Edgar Allan Poe - a centenary tribute.pdf/76


text: Page:Edgar Allan Poe - a centenary tribute.pdf/92


text: Page:Edgar Allan Poe - a centenary tribute.pdf/98


text: Page:Edgar Allan Poe - a centenary tribute.pdf/108


text: Page:Edgar Allan Poe - a centenary tribute.pdf/118


text: Page:Edgar Allan Poe - a centenary tribute.pdf/128


text: Page:Edgar Allan Poe - a centenary tribute.pdf/134


text: Page:Tales of the Dead.djvu/5

title: Page:Tales of the Dead.djvu/5


text: Page:Tales of the Dead.djvu/6

title: Page:Tales of the Dead.djvu/6


text:
Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 1.djvu/104

 quoted several times as Mahidâsa Aitareya in the Aranyaka itself, though not in the Brâhmana. We also meet his name in the Khândogya-upanishad (III, 16, 7), where we are told that he lived to an age of 116 years. All this, however, would only prove that, at the time of the composition or collection of these Âranyakas and Upanishads, a sage was known of the name of Mahidâsa Aitareya, descended possibly from Itara or Itarâ, and that one text of the Brâhmanas and the Âranyakas of the Bahvrikas was handed down in the family of the Aitareyins. Not content with this apparently very obvious explanation, later theologians tried to discover their own reasons for the name of Aitareya. Thus Sâyana, in his introduction to the Aitareya-brâhmana, tells us that there was once a Rishi who had many wives. One of them was called Itarâ, and she had a son called Mahidâsa. His father preferred the sons of his other wives to Mahidâsa, and once he insulted him in the sacrificial hall, by placing his other sons on his lap, but not Mahidâsa. Mahidâsa's mother, seeing her son with tears in his eyes, prayed to her tutelary goddess, the Earth (svîyakuladevatâ Bhûmih), and the goddess in her heavenly form appeared in the midst of the assembly, placed Mahidâsa on a throne, and on account of his learning, gave him the gift of knowing the Brâhmana, consisting of forty adhyâyas, and, as Sâyana calls it, another Brâhmana, "treating of the Âranyaka duties" (âranyakavratarûpam brâhmanam). Without attaching much value to the legend of Itarâ, we see at all events that Sâyana considered what we call the Aitareyâranyaka as a kind of Brâhmana, not however the whole of it, but only the first, second, and third Âranyakas (atha mahâvratam îtyâdikam âkâryâ âkâryâ ityantam). How easy it was for Hindu theologians to invent such legends we see from another account of Mahidâsa, given by Ânandatîrtha in his notes on the Aitareya-upanishad.


text:
Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 1.djvu/61

Rh


text:
Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 1.djvu/62

lii


text:
Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 1.djvu/63

Rh


text:
Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 1.djvu/64

liv


text:
Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 1.djvu/65

Rh

Proper names have frequently been left in their ordinary spelling, e.g. Râjendra, instead of Râgendra. In words which have almost become English, the diacritical marks have often been omitted, e.g. Rig-veda, instead of Rig-veda; Brahman, instead of Brâhmana; Confucius, Zoroaster, Koran, &c.


text:
Page:Tales of the Dead.djvu/7

“Graves, at my command,

1813.

title: Page:Tales of the Dead.djvu/7


text: Page:Tales of the Dead.djvu/8

title: Page:Tales of the Dead.djvu/8


text:
Page:The European Concert in the Eastern Question.djvu/98

 Nous avons enfin revêtu de notre sanction les règlements dont la teneur suit, et qui reposent sur les bases indiquées dans le Règlement Organique ; ils concernent l'organisation judiciaire et administrative et les finances de l'île.

Conformément aux Articles 9, 10, et 11 du Règlement Organique de l'Ile de Crète sanctionné par Sa Majesté le Sultan, les Tribunaux de la loi Musulmane demeurant exclusivement chargés du jugement de certaines contestations spéciales entre Musulmans, les procès au sujet d'intérêts particuliers commerciaux, la poursuite des délits et des crimes, ainsi que toutes les contestations entre Musulmans et Chrétiens, seront dévolus à la compétence des Tribunaux Mixtes établis hiérarchiquement dans les Districts, les Gouvernements et au siège du Gouvernement Général, ainsi que des Tribunaux de Commerce. En conséquence, le présent Règlement concernant la composition, le mode d'élection, la compétence, le mode d'appel des Tribunaux Mixtes des Districts, des Gouvernements, et du Gouvernement Général, les règles applicables aux Tribunaux de Commerce, aux Conseils des Anciens ou Démogéronties des Villages ou des Gouvernements, a été approuvé par Sa Majesté le Sultan.

[Here follow fourteen Chapters, entitled as follows:—

. I. De la Composition des Tribunaux Mixtes.

. II. De la Composition des Tribunaux Mixtes de Gouvernements.

. III. De la Composition du Tribunal Mixte du Gouvernement Général.

. IV. De la Compétence des Tribunaux Mixtes des divers ordres.

. V. De la Compétence des Tribunaux Mixtes de Gouvernements.

. VI. De la Compétence du Tribunal Mixte du Gouvernement Général.

. VII. De la Compétence Spéciale des Tribunaux Mixtes.


text:
1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Odling, William

ODLING, WILLIAM (1829-1921), English chemist, was born in Southwark Sept. 5 1829, the son of George Odling, surgeon. He became a medical student at Guy's Hospital, and graduated M.B. of London University in 1851. He next went to Paris, where he studied chemistry under Gerhardt, and on his return to London he was appointed director of the chemical laboratory at Guy's Hospital. In 1859 he became F.R.C.P., and in 1863 lecturer on chemistry at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. In 1868 he succeeded Faraday as Fullerian professor of chemistry at the Royal Institution, and in 1872 he was elected, in succession to Sir Benjamin Brodie, Waynflete professor of chemistry at Oxford, a chair he occupied for 40 years. He was successively fellow, secretary and president of the Chemical Society and was elected F.R.S. in 1859. His published works include a Manual of

Chemistry (1861); Lectures on Animal Chemistry (1866); Outlines of Chemistry (1869); Chemistry (1884), etc. He died at Oxford Feb. 17 1921.


text:
Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 2 (1897).djvu/551

OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 525 The friends of Julian had confidently announced the success of his expedition. They entertained a fond persuasion that the temples of the gods would be enriched with the spoils of the East; that Persia would be reduced to the humble state of a tributary province, governed by the laws and magistrates of Rome; that the Barbarians would adopt the dress, and manners, and language, of their conquerors; and that the youth of Ecbatana and Susa would study the art of rhetoric under Grecian masters.^124 The progress of the arms of Julian interrupted his communication with the empire; and, from the moment that he passed the Tigris, his affectionate subjects were ignorant of the fate and fortunes of their prince. Their contemplation of fancied triumphs was disturbed by the melancholy rumour of his death; and they persisted to doubt, after they could no longer deny, the truth of that fatal event.^125 The messengers of Jovian promulgated the specious tale of a prudent and necessary peace: the voice of fame, louder and more sincere, revealed the disgrace of the emperor and the conditions of the ignominious treaty. The mind of the people were filled with astonishment and grief, with indignation and terror, when they were informed that the unworthy successor of Julian relinquished the five provinces which had been acquired by the victory of Galerius; and that he shamefully surrendered to the Barbarians the important city of Nisibis, the firmest bulwark of the provinces of the East.^126 The deep and dangerous question, how far the public faith should be observed, when it becomes incompatible with the public safety, was freely agitated in popular conversations; and some hopes were entertained that the emperor would redeem his pusillanimous behaviour by a splendid act of patriotic perfidy. The inflexible spirit of the Roman senate had always disclaimed the unequal conditions which were extorted from the distress of her captive armies; and, if it were necessary to satisfy the national honour by delivering the guilty general into the hands of the Barbarians, the greatest part of the subjects of Jovian

^124 Libanius, Orat. Parent. C. 145, p. 366. Such were the natural hopes and wishes of a rhetorician. ^125 The people of Carrhæ, a city devoted to Paganism, buried the inauspicious messenger under a pile of stones. Zosimus, l. iii. p. 196 [c. 34]. Libanius, when he received the fatal intelligence, cast his eye on his sword, but he recollected that Plato had condemned suicide, and that he must live to compose the panegyric of Julian (Libanius de Vitâ suâ, tom. ii. p. 45, 46). ^126 Ammianus and Eutropius may be admitted as fair and credible witnesses of the public language and opinions. The people of Antioch reviled an ignominious peace, which exposed them to the Persians on a naked and defenceless frontier. (Excerpt. Valesiana, p. 845, ex Johanne Antiocheno.)


text:
1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Madero, Francisco Indalegio

MADERO, FRANCISCO INDALEGIO (1873-1913), Mexican president, was the son of Evaristo Madero, governor of Coahuila under Díaz and a large property owner of Jewish extraction. He was born on the family estate, Rosario, at Parras, Coahuila, Oct. 18 1873. His youth was employed in managing the family properties. During part of 1893 he attended the university of California. By 1903 he was known for independent political views, and in 1905 opposed the Díaz candidate for state governor. In 1908 he began his opposition to the reëlection of Díaz in 1910, writing La sucesión presidential en 1910, which went to three editions. In 1909 he headed the anti-reëlectionist party as candidate for the presidency. His vigorous campaign was ignored by Díaz until June 1910, when he was arrested at Monterrey for seditious utterances at San Luís Potosí and incarcerated until after the election of Díaz. Being released on bail July 20, he escaped Oct. 7 to San Antonio, Texas, where he issued the Plan de San Luís Potosí, dated Oct. 5. It was then evident that the Díaz election had been legally affirmed. The revolutionists in San Antonio voted Nov. 6 to begin armed revolts simultaneously throughout Mexico. Disturbances began prematurely, and Madero, threatened with arrest for violation of neutrality, crossed into Chihuahua and headed the movement begun by Pascual Orozco and others. The revolutionists took Ciudad Juárez early in May, ending the prestige of Díaz, who resigned under pressure May 25. Madero entered Mexico City in triumph June 7. During the ad-interim presidency of Francisco de la Barra he was elected President in Oct. and inaugurated Nov. 6 for a term to end Nov. 30 1916. His rule was marked by visionary schemes which provoked party dissensions. Revolts caused strained relations with the United States. The revolutionary programme did not become law. Felix Díaz, nephew of Porfirio Díaz, revolted, but was captured in Oct. 1912. General Bernardo Reyes, ex-governor of Nuevo León, had previously been captured in the United States and given over to Mexico. Both were confined in the capital, but they were released Feb. 9 1913 by a rising of military cadets. Government troops joined them, besieging the national palace for 10 days. Then Huerta, commanding Madero's troops, deserted him, and forced the President and vice-president, José Pino Suárez, to resign Feb. 18. Although promised personal safety, they were killed on the night of Feb. 22 while being removed from the national palace to the Penitenciaría. In Nov. 1920 Francisco Cárdenas, the alleged assassin, committed suicide in Guatemala while under arrest for extradition demanded by the Mexican Government for the crime.


text:
Page:Tales of the Dead.djvu/9

the passion for books of amusement founded on the marvellous relative to ghosts and spirits may be considered as having very much subsided; yet I cannot but think that the tales which form the bulk of this little volume, may still afford gratification in the perusal. From the period when the late Lord Orford first published The Castle of Otranto, till the production of Mrs. Ratcliffe’s romances, the appetite for the species of reading in question gradually increased; and perhaps it would not have been now surfeited, but for the multitude of contemptible imitations which the popularity of the latter writer called forth, and which continually issued from the press, until the want of readers at length checked the inundation.

The Northern nations have generally discovered more of imagination in this description of writing than their neighbours in the South or West; and in proportion as they have been more the victims of credulity with respect to spirits, they have indulged in the wanderings of fancy on subjects of this kind, and have eagerly employed their invention in forming narrations founded on the supposed communication between the spiritual world and mankind. The productions of Schiller, and others of the modern German literati, of this nature, are well known in England. Rh

title: Page:Tales of the Dead.djvu/9


text:
Page:The European Concert in the Eastern Question.djvu/99

. VIII. Dispositions Communes aux Tribunaux Mixtes des divers ordres.

. IX. De la Composition des Tribunaux de Commerce.

. X. De la Compétence des Tribunaux de Commerce.

. XI. De l'Organisation des Conseils des Anciens ou Démogeronties.

. XII. De la Compétence des Conseils des Anciens.

. XIII. Règles concernant les Conflits d'Attributions et de Compétence Positifs ou Negatifs.

. XIV. Statistique Judiciaire.]

[Here follow four Chapters entitled as follows:—

. I. Administration Général du Gouvernement Général de l'Ile de Crète.

. II. Attributions et Mode d'Election du Conseil d'Administration du Gouvernement Général.

. III. Attributions et Mode d'Election des Conseils d'Administration des Gouvernements et des Districts.

. IV. Conseils des Anciens.]

[Here follow three Chapters entitled as follows:—

. I. Des Elections au Conseil-Général.

. II. De la Tenue et des Délibérations du Conseil-Général.

. III. Des Attributions du Conseil-Général.]

''Firman modifying the Organic Law for Crete, in pursuance of Article 23 of the Treaty of Berlin. November, 1878.''

(Après les titres d'usage.)

A mon Vizir Costaki Pacha, Gouverneur-Général du Vilayet de Crète, décoré de l'Ordre Impérial du Médjidié de première classe. Rh


text:
Page:Tales of the Dead.djvu/10

 The first four tales in this collection, and the last, are imitated from a small French work, which professes to be translated from the German. It contains several other stories of a similar cast; but which did not appear equally interesting, and they have therefore been omitted. The last tale has been considerably curtailed, as it contained much matter relative to the loves of the hero and heroine, which in a compilation of this kind appeared rather misplaced. The fifth tale, (or rather fragment,) is founded on an incident similar in its features, which was some years since communicated to me, by a female friend of very deserved literary celebrity, as having actually occurred in this country; and I have therefore no other claim in respect to it, than that of having a little amplified the detail. The termination is abrupt, and necessarily so, as I must candidly confess a want of imagination to fulfil the expectations which may have been excited by the early part of the tale.

The translation was the amusement of an idle hour; and if it afford an equal portion of gratification to the reader, the time has not been altogether misemployed.

title: Page:Tales of the Dead.djvu/10


text:
Page:The Necessity of Atheism (Brooks).djvu/195

 ''The current religion is indirectly adverse to morals, because it is adverse to the freedom of the intellect. But it is also directly adverse to morals by inventing spurious and bastard virtues.'' Author:William Winwood Reade, "Martyrdom of Man."

had been formerly asserted by theologians that our moral laws were given to man by a supernatural intuitive process. However, Professor E. A. Westermarck's "Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas," and similar researches, give a comprehensive survey of the moral ideas and practices of all the backward fragments of the human race and conclusively prove the social nature of moral law. The moral laws have evolved much the same as physical man has evolved. There is no indication whatsoever that the moral laws came from any revelation since the sense of moral law was just as strong amongst civilized peoples beyond the range of Christianity, or before the Christian era. Joseph McCabe, commenting on Professor Westermarck's work states, "All the fine theories of the philosophers break down before this vast collection of facts. There is no intuition whatever of an august and eternal law, and the less God is brought into connection with these pitiful blunders and often monstrous perversions of the moral sense, the better. What we see is just man's mind in possession of the idea that his conduct must be regulated by law, and clumsily working out the correct application of that idea


text:
Page:The Necessity of Atheism (Brooks).djvu/196

194 as his intelligence grows and his social life becomes more complex. It is not a question of the mind of the savage imperfectly seeing the law. It is a plain case of the ideas of the savage reflecting and changing with his environment and the interest of his priests."

Justice is a fundamental and essential moral law because it is a vital regulation of social life and murder is the greatest crime because it is the greatest social delinquency; and these are inherent in the social nature of moral law. "Moral law slowly dawns in the mind of the human race as a regulation of a man's relation with his fellows in the interest of social life. It is quite independent of religion, since it has entirely different roots in human psychology." (Joseph McCabe: "Human Origin of Morals."]

In the mind of primitive man there is no connection between morality and the belief in a God. "Society is the school in which men learn to distinguish between right and wrong. The headmaster is custom and the lessons are the same for all. The first moral judgments were pronounced by public opinion; public indignation and public approval are the prototypes of the moral emotions." (Edward Westermarck: "Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas")

Moral ideas and moral energy have their source in social life. It is only in a more advanced society that moral qualities are assumed for the gods. And indeed, it is known that in some primitive tribes, the gods are not necessarily conceived as good,they may have evil qualities also. "If they are, to his mind, good, that is so much the better. But whether they are good or bad they have to be faced as facts. The Gods, in short belong to the region of belief, while morality belongs to that of practice. It is in the nature of morality that it should be implicit in practice long before it is explicit in theory.


text:
Category:Presidential radio addresses of William Jefferson Clinton in 2000

Category:Presidential radio addresses of William Jefferson Clinton in 2000


text:
Category:Presidential radio addresses of William Jefferson Clinton in 2001

Category:Presidential radio addresses of William Jefferson Clinton in 2001


text:
Page:The Necessity of Atheism (Brooks).djvu/197

Rh Morality belongs to the group and is rooted in certain impulses that are a product of the essential conditions of group life. It is as reflection awakens that men are led to speculate upon the nature and origin of the moral feelings. Morality, whether in practice or theory, is thus based upon what is. On the other hand, religion, whether it be true or false, is in the nature of a discovery one cannot conceive man actually ascribing ethical qualities to his Gods before he becomes sufficiently enveloped to formulate moral rules for his own guidance, and to create moral laws for his fellowmen. The moralization of the Gods will follow as a matter of course. Man really modifies his Gods in terms of the ideal human being. It is not the Gods who moralize man, it is man who moralizes the Gods." (Chapman Cohen: "Theism or Atheism.")

In the formation of -the Old Testament, the moralization of Yahveh led to the creation of a god who coincided more with the morality of the later writers, the God Elohim.

"Rather must we say that morality begins in human social relations and passes from them to the relations maintained with the other life and with the Gods. Or, if one prefers to consider ghosts and gods as inseparable elements of the primary organism, then we should say that morality is born in that all-embracing psychical atmosphere. But it does not follow from that fact that the rise and development of morality are conditioned by belief in Gods and in immortality. Merely human relations are sufficient to the production of ethical appreciations. The invisible ghosts and Gods would never have been thought interested in the morality of the tribe, had not the leaders realized the importance of courage, of loyalty, of respect for neighbors' possessions, and the other elementary virtues. It is when the disastrous consequences of their absence became evident that the Gods


text:
Page:Amazing Stories Volume 01 Number 02.djvu/82

Rh However great was the desire to find a retreat for every living thing in the deep hollow of the crater, it was found necessary to slaughter almost all the domestic animals before the removal of the community from Nina's Hive. To have stabled them all in the cavern below would have been quite impossible, whilst to have left them in the upper galleries would only have been to abandon them to a cruel death; and since meat could be preserved for an indefinite time in the original store-places, now colder than ever, the expedient of killing the animals seemed to recommend itself as equally prudent and humane.

Naturally the captain and Ben Zoof were most anxious that their favorite horses should be saved, and accordingly by dint of the greatest care, all difficulties in the way were overcome, and Zephyr and Galette were conducted down the crater, where they were installed in a large hole and provided with forage, which was still abundant.

Birds, subsisting only on scraps thrown out to them did not cease to follow the population in its migration, and so numerous did they become that multitudes of them had repeatedly to be destroyed.

The general re-arrangement of the new residence was no easy business, and occupied so much time that the end of January arrived before they could be said to be fairly settled. And then began a life of dreary monotony. There seemed to creep over everyone a kind of moral torpor as well as physical lassitude, which Servadac, the count, and the lieutenant did their best not only to combat in themselves, but to counteract in the general community. They provided a variety of intellectual pursuits; they instituted debates in which everybody was encouraged to take part; they read aloud, and explained extracts from the elementary manuals of science, or from the books of adventurous travel which their library supplied; and Russians and Spaniards, day after day, might be seen gathered round the large table, giving their best attention to instruction which should send them back to Mother Earth less ignorant than they had left her.

Selfish and morose, Hakkabut could never be induced to be present at these social gatherings. He was far too much occupied in his own appropriated corner, either in conning his accounts, or in counting his money. Altogether, with what he had before, he now possessed the round sum of 150,000 francs, half of which was in sterling gold; but nothing could give him any satisfaction while he knew that the days were passing, and that he was denied the opportunity of putting out his capital in advantageous investments, or securing a proper interest.

Neither did Palmyrin Rosette find leisure to take any share in the mutual intercourse. His occupation was far too absorbing for him to suffer it to be interrupted, and to him, living as he did perpetually in a world of figures, the winter days seemed neither long nor wearisome. Having ascertained every possible particular about his comet, he was now devoting himself with equal ardor to the analysis of all the properties of the satellite Nerina, to which he appeared to assert the same claim of proprietorship. In order to investigate Nerina it was indispensable that he should make several actual observations at various points of the orbit; and for this purpose he repeatedly made his way up to the grotto above, where, in spite of the extreme severity of the cold, he would persevere in the use of his telescope till he was all but paralyzed. But what he felt more than anything was the want of some retired apartment, where he could pursue his studies without hindrance or intrusion.

It was about the beginning of February, when the professor brought his complaint to Captain Servadac, and begged him to assign him a chamber, no matter how small, in which he should be free to carry on his task in silence and without molestation. So readily did Servadac promise to do everything in his power to provide him with the accommodation for which he asked, that the professor was put into such a manifest good temper that the captain ventured to speak upon the matter that was ever uppermost in his mind.

"I do not mean," he began timidly, "to cast the least imputation of inaccuracy upon any of your calculations, but would you allow me, my dear professor, to suggest that you should revise your estimate of the duration of Gallia's period of revolution. It is so important, you know, so all important; the difference of one half minute, you know, would so certainly mar the expectation of reunion with the earth"

And seeing a cloud gathering on Rosette's face, added:

"I am sure Lieutenant Procope would be only too happy to render you any assistance in the revision."

"Sir," said the professor, bridling up, "I want no assistant; my calculations want no revision. I never make an error. I have made my reckoning as far as Gallia is concerned. I am now making a like estimate of the elements of Nerina."

Conscious how impolitic it would be to press this matter further, the captain casually remarked that he should have supposed that all the elements of Nerina had been calculated long since by astronomers on the earth. It was about as unlucky a speech as he could possibly have made. The professor glared at him fiercely.

"Astounding, sir!" he exclaimed. "Yes! Nerina was a planet then; everything that appertained to the planet was determined; but Nerina is a moon now. And do you not think, sir, that we have a right to know as much about our moon as those terrestrials"—and he curled his lip as he spoke with a contemptuous emphasis—"know of theirs?"

"I beg pardon," said the corrected captain.

"Well then, never mind," replied the professor, quickly appeased; "only will you have the goodness to get me a proper place for study?"

"I will, as I promised, do all I can," answered Servadac.

"Very good," said the professor. "No immediate hurry; an hour hence will do."

But in spite of this condescension on the part of the man of science, some hours had to elapse before any place of retreat could be discovered likely to suit his requirements; but at length a little nook was found in the side of the cavern just large enough to hold an armchair and a table, and in this the astronomer was soon ensconced to his entire satisfaction.

Buried thus, nearly 900 feet below ground, the Gallians ought to have had unbounded mental energy to furnish an adequate reaction to the depressing monotony of their existence; but many days would often elapse without any one of them ascending to


text:
Page:The Necessity of Atheism (Brooks).djvu/198

196 were made to sanction these "virtues. God or no God, immortality or no immortality, the essential morality of man would have been what it is." (J. H. Leuba: "Belief in God and Immortality")

The best that is in man is generated in the experiences of his daily life. The attributing of moral qualities to the gods was a much later development in the evolution of the moral ideas. At this stage of our development man is fortified by a sense of human fellowship, and in practice, as well as in theory, has long since given up the assumption that he needed superhuman beliefs. He has fully recognized the independence of morality from superhuman beliefs.

James Mill and J. S. Mill taught the greatest happiness of the greatest number as the supreme object of action and the basis of .morality. And it was this conception that introduced the new ethical principles of duty to posterity. This conception is a much nobler one than the religious interpretation of morality to consist in mainly defining what man's duty to God is; a morality whose chief selfish inspiration is not the helping of one's fellowmen but the saving of one's own soul. A secular morality teaches that what man thinks, says, and does lives after him and influences for good or ill future generations. This is a higher, nobler, and greater, incentive to righteousness than any life of personal reward or fear of punishment in a future life. There are today a rapidly growing number of eminent moral teachers who condemn the clinging to the belief of personal existence after death as a hindrance to the best life on earth. Professor J. H. Leuba, in his work, "The Belief in God and Immortality" concludes that, "These facts and considerations indicate. that the reality of the belief in immortality to civilized nations is much more limited than is commonly supposed; and that, if we bring into calculation


text:
Page:The Necessity of Atheism (Brooks).djvu/199

Rh all the consequences of the belief, and not merely its gratifying effects, we may even be brought to conclude that its disappearance from among the most civilized nations would be, on the whole, a gain."

There are few educated men nowadays who would claim that morality cannot exist apart from religion. Theists are desperately attempting to harmonize a primitive theory of things, with a larger knowledge and a more developed moral sense. Morality is fundamentally the expression of those conditions under which associated life is found possible and profitable, and that so far as any quality is declared to be moral its justification and meaning must be found in that direction. "Our alleged essential dependence upon transcendental beliefs is belied by the most common experiences of daily life. Who does not feel the absurdity of the opinion that the lavish care for a sick child by a mother is given because of a belief in God and immortality? Are love of father and mother on the part of children, affection and serviceableness between brothers and sisters, straightforwardness and truthfulness between business men, essentially dependent upon these beliefs? What sort of person would be the father who would announce divine punishment or reward in order to obtain the love and respect of his children? And if there are business men preserved from unrighteousness by the fear of future punishment, they are far more numerous who are deterred by the threat of human law. Most of them would take their chances with heaven a hundred times before they would once with society, or perchance with the imperative voice of humanity heard in the conscience." (Leuba.)

The primary motive of moral standards and practices is man's desire to seek happiness and avoid pain. And so it is not strange that morality has become


text:
Page:Weird Tales volume 31 number 03.djvu/24

 {|
 * }
 * }
 * }

By THORP McCLUSKY

A strange story of an unscrupulous hypnotist and the frightful thing that he called Stepan, who was immune to destruction while his master lived

''1. Charlatan or Miracle-Man? ''

ARLING," Mary Roberts told her fiancé, "I'm sorry, but I won't be able to go to the Lily Pons recital Thursday night. Helen Stacey-Forbes insists that I go with her to Dmitri's."

Across the spotless linen and gleaming silver that graced their luncheon table Charles Ethredge's gray eyes questioned.

"It's a subscription concert, Mary. I've had the tickets for months."

Her slender right hand reached across the table to him. "I'm terribly sorry, Charles. But Helen has been after me for weeks to go, and Dmitri's evenings are always Thursdays——"

Ethredge grimaced. "I think it's rather silly of you two—this thrill visit to an obvious charlatan."

Mary shook her head. "Helen Stacey-Forbes doesn't think Dmitri a charlatan. She swears by the man—claims he's done wonders for Ronny."

Ethredge laughed. "Dmitri not a charlatan? With his half-baked parlor magic and that moving-picture brand of mysticism he exudes? I've heard all about him. Doc Hanlon says that if he isn't exposed pretty soon there'll be a major rabies epidemic among'our local psychiatry."

For a moment Mary Roberts did not reply, but sat quietly, her delicately oval face profiled, her wide-set, limpid eyes thoughtful as she gazed musingly through the iron-grilled window at the row of dwarf evergreens in their stone window-box beneath the sill. Discreetly, from its palm-hidden sound shell on the mezzanine, the hotel's string quintet began to play a Strauss waltz. Abruptly Mary turned back to her nance, a strange little smile trembling on her lips.

"Oh, Charles, I wish that I could be so sure. Yes, you're probably right about Dmitri, darling. He's certainly theatrical enough—even Helen admits that. But you wouldn't want me to disappoint her, would you? And she does say he's saved Ronny's life."

"Lord," Ethredge grumbled, "I wish to heaven Dmitri didn't have that Vienna degree; we'd stop him so fast his teeth'd rattle. And by the way, where did Helen Stacey-Forbes get the crazy notion that he's helped Ronny? Good grief, that fellow's healthier than I am."

"Ronny's really been ill, Charles. It's not generally known, but he's a hemophiliac; he's had several severe hemorrhages within the past year. Dmitri's the only man who's been able to do anything for him."

Ethredge looked startled. "Why, I'd always thought hemophilia was hereditary; I've never heard of it in Ronny's family before. Two years ago, at the Wilmot's hunt, he was thrown, and pretty badly bruised and cut, but he was up and limping around the same evening. He even danced." 280


text:
Page:The Necessity of Atheism (Brooks).djvu/200

198 stronger as the power of religion has weakened. "Right through history it has been the social instincts that have acted as a corrective to religious extravagances. And it is worth noting that with the exception of a little gain from the practice of casuistry, religions have contributed nothing towards .the building up of a science of ethics. On the contrary, it has been a very potent cause of confusion and obstruction. Fictitious vices and virtues have been created and the real moral problems lost sight of. It gave the world the morality of the prison cell, instead of the tonic of the rational life. And it was indeed fortunate for the race that conduct was not ultimately dependent upon a mass of teachings that had their origin in the brains of savages, and were brought to maturity during the darkest period of European civilization.... And we know that the period during which the influence of Christian theism was strongest, was the period when the intellectual life of civilized man was at its lowest, morality at its weakest, and the general outlook hopeless. Religious control gave us heresy hunts, Jew hunts, burning for witchcraft, and magic in place of medicine. It gave us the Inquisition and the auto da fe, the fires of Smithfield, and the night of St. Bartholomew. It gave us the war of sects, and it helped powerfully to establish the sect of war. It gave us life without happiness, and death cloaked with terror. The Christian record is before us, and it is such that every Church blames the others for its existence. Quite as certainly we cannot point to a society that has been dominated by Freethinking ideals, but we can point to their existence in all ages, and can show that all progress is due to their presence. We can show that progressive ideals have originated with the least, and have been opposed by the most religious sections of society." (Cohen.)


text:
Page:The Necessity of Atheism (Brooks).djvu/201

Rh The puerile conception of heaven and the savage conception of hell are still, in modified form, deemed necessary for a religious morality. Why it should be necessary for a supreme intelligence to make all things straight in another world, that he could more convincingly rectify in this one, is a conception which has escaped the reason of a freethinker, but has been very profitable to those on earth that lead their adherents to believe that they hold the keys to our future abodes. Winwood Reade in his "Martyrdom of Man," discussing the moral value of the, fears of hell-fire, states, "a metaphysical theory cannot restrain the fury of the passions; as well attempt to bind a lion with a cobweb. Prevention of crime, it is well known, depends not on the severity, but on the certainty of retribution. The supposition that the terrors of hell-fire are essential or even conducive to good morals is contradicted by the facts of history., In the Dark Ages there was not a man or woman from Scotland to Naples, who doubted that sinners were sent to hell. The religion which they had was the same as ours, with this exception, that everyone believed in it. The state of Europe in that pious epoch need not be described. Society is not maintained by the conjectures of theology, but by those moral sentiments, those gregarious virtues which elevated men above the animals, which are now instinctive in our natures and to which intellectual culture is propitious. For, as we become more and more clearly enlightened, we perceive more and more clearly that it was with the whole human population as it was with the primeval clan; the welfare of every individual is dependent on the welfare of the community, and the welfare of the community depends on the welfare of every individual."

The teachings of Christianity towards marriage furnishes a well known example of a reactionary


text:
Page:Amazing Stories Volume 01 Number 02.djvu/83

178 the surface of the soil, and had it not been for the necessity of obtaining fresh water, it seemed almost probable that no one would ever have made an effort to leave the cavern at all.

A few excursions were made in the downward direction. The three leaders, with Ben Zoof, made their way to the lower depths of the crater, not with the design of making any further examination as to the nature of the rock—for although it might be true enough that it contained thirty per cent. of gold, it was as valueless to them as granite—but with the intention of ascertaining whether the subterranean fire still retained its activity. Satisfied upon this point, they came to the conclusion that the eruption which had so suddenly ceased in one spot had certainly broken out in another.

February, March, April, May, passed wearily by; but day succeeded to day with such gloomy sameness that it was little wonder that no notice was taken of the lapse of time. The people seemed rather to vegetate than to live, and their want of vigor became at times almost alarming. The readings around the long table ceased to be attractive, and the debates, sustained by few, became utterly wanting in animation. The Spaniards could hardly be roused to quit their beds, and seemed to have scarcely energy enough to eat. The Russians, constitutionally of more enduring temperament, did not give way to the same extent, but the long and drear confinement was beginning to tell upon them all. Servadac, the count, and the lieutenant all knew well enough that it was the want of air and exercise that was the cause of much of this mental depression; but what could they do? The most serious remonstrances on their part were entirely in vain. In fact, they themselves occasionally fell a prey to the same lassitude both of body and mind. Long fits of drowsiness, combined with an utter aversion to food, would come over them. It almost seemed as if their entire nature had become degenerate, and that, like tortoises, they could sleep and fast till the return of summer.

Strange to say, little Nina bore her hardships more bravely than any of them. Flitting about, coaxing one to eat, another to drink, rousing Pablo as often as he seemed yielding to the common languor, the child became the life of the party. Her merry prattle enlivened the gloom of the grim cavern like the sweet notes of a bird; her gay Italian songs broke the monotony of the depressing silence; and almost unconscious as the half-dormant population of Gallia were of her influence, they would have missed her bright presence sorely. The months glided on; how, it seemed impossible for the inhabitants of the living tomb to say. There was a dead level of dullness.

At the beginning of June the general torpor appeared slightly to relax its hold upon its victims. This partial revival was probably due to the somewhat increased influence of the sun, still far, far away. During the first half of the Gallian year, Lieutenant Procope had taken careful note of Rosette's monthly announcements of the comet's progress, and he was able now, without reference to the professor, to calculate the rate of advance on its way back towards the sun. He found that Gallia had recrossed the orbit of Jupiter, but was still at the enormous distance of 197,000,000 leagues from the sun, and he reckoned that in about four months it would have entered the zone of the telescopic planets.

Gradually, but uninterruptedly, life and spirits continued to revive, and by the end of the month Servadac and his little colony had regained most of their ordinary physical and mental energies. Ben Zoof, in particular, roused himself with redoubled vigor, like a giant refreshed from his slumbers. The visits, consequently, to the long-neglected galleries of Nina's Hive became more and more frequent.

One day an excursion was made to the shore. It was still bitterly cold, but the atmosphere had lost nothing of its former stillness, and not a cloud was visible from horizon to zenith. The old footmarks were all as distinct as on the day in which they had been imprinted, and the only portion of the shore where any change was apparent was in the little creek. Here the elevation of the ice had gone on increasing, until the schooner and the tartan had been uplifted to a height of 150 feet, not only rendering them quite inaccessible, but exposing them to all but certain destruction in the event of a thaw.

Isaac Hakkabut, immovable from the personal oversight of his property in the cavern, had not accompanied the party, and consequently was in blissful ignorance of the fate that threatened his vessel. "A good thing the old fellow wasn't there to see," observed Ben Zoof; "he would have screamed like a peacock. What a misfortune it is," he added, speaking to himself, "to have a peacock's voice, without its plumage!"

During the months of July and August, Gallia advanced 164,000,000 leagues along her orbit. At night the cold was still intense, but in the daytime the sun, here full upon the equator, caused an appreciable difference of 20° in the temperature. Like birds, the population spent whole days exposed to its grateful warmth, rarely returning till nightfall to the shade of their gloomy home.

This spring-time, if such it may be called, had a most enlivening influence upon all. Hope and courage revived as day by day the sun's disc expanded in the sky, and every evening the earth assumed a greater magnitude among the fixed stars. It was distant yet, but the goal was cheeringly in view.

"I can't believe that yonder little speck of light contains my mountain of Montmartre," said Ben Zoof, one night, after he had been gazing long and steadily at the far-off world.

"You will, I hope, some day find out that it does," answered his master.

"I hope so," said the orderly, without moving his eye from the distant sphere. After meditating a while, he spoke again. "I suppose Professor Rosette couldn't make his comet go straight back, could he?"

"Hush!" cried Servadac.

Ben Zoof understood the correction.

"No," continued the captain; "it is not for man to disturb the order of the universe. That belongs to a Higher Power than ours!"

NOTHER month passed away, and it was now September, but it was still impossible to leave the warmth of the subterranean retreat for the more airy and commodious quarters of the Hive, where "the bees" would certainly have been frozen to death in their cells. It was altogether quite as much a matter of congratulation as of regret that


text:
Page:The Necessity of Atheism (Brooks).djvu/202

200 of morals. The views of St. Paul on marriage are set forth in I Corinthians VII 1-9:
 * 1. Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.
 * 2. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
 * 3. Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence; and likewise also the wife unto the husband.
 * 4. The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband; and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.
 * 5. Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
 * 6. But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment.
 * 7. For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man has his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.
 * 8. I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them to abide even as I.
 * 9. But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.

These precepts furnish an example of the harm that can be done when man follows the absurd and unsocial decrees of an ascetic individual written in a barbaric age and maintained as law in a more advanced period. The enlightened physician holds that it is not good for a man not to touch a woman; and one wonders what would have become of, our race if all women had carried St. Paul's teaching, "It is good for them if they abide even as I," into practice. Bertrand Russell, in his "Marriage and Morals," has gone to the root of the


text:
Page:The Necessity of Atheism (Brooks).djvu/203

Rh matter when he states, "He does not suggest for a moment that, there may be any positive good in marriage, or that affection between husband and wife may be a beautiful and desirable thing, nor does he take the slightest interest in the family; fornication holds the center of the stage in his thoughts, and the whole of his sexual ethics is arranged with reference to it. It is just as if one were to maintain that the sole reason for baking bread is to prevent people from stealing cake." But then it is too much to expect of a man living nearly two thousand years ago to have known the psychology of the emotions, but we do know the great harm that his ascetic principles have done. St. Paul took the standpoint that sexual intercourse, even in marriage, is regrettable. This view is utterly contrary to biological facts, and has caused in its adherents a great deal of mental disorder. St. Paul's views were emphasized and exaggerated by the early Church and celibacy was considered holy. Men retired into the desert to wrestle with Satan, and when their abnormal manner of living fired their imagination with erotic visions, mutilated their bodies to cleanse their souls. "There is no place in the moral history of mankind of a deeper or more painful interest than this ascetic epidemic. A hideous, sordid, and emaciated maniac, without knowledge, without patriotism, without natural affections, . passing his life in a long routine of useless and atrocious self-torture, and quailing before the ghastly phantoms of his delirious brain, had become the ideal of the nations which had known the writings of Plato and Cicero, and the lives of Socrates and Cato." (Lecky: "History of European Morals.")

This concept that the closest of association between man and wife is an obnoxious deed, has strewn its evil influence down through the ages to the present day.


text:
Page:The Necessity of Atheism (Brooks).djvu/204

202 The stealth and obscurity placed upon sexual matters has had its roots so firmly fixed in our manner of dealing with this purely normal function, that at this late date medical science is just beginning to eradicate the evils. It is now well recognized by educators and physicians and all clear-thinking individuals that it is extremely harmful for men, women, and children to be kept in artificial ingnorance of the facts relating to sexual affairs. The obscurantism placed upon sexual matters has caused more physical and mental distress than most of our organic diseases. The physician is constantly correcting the abnormal conceptions that exist. The sex act had become something in the nature of a crime which could not be avoided, instead of assuming the manifestation of the consummation of the greatest love and tenderness that can exist between two individuals keenly attuned to the natural desires of a natural act. "The love of man and woman at its best is free and fearless, compounded of body and mind in equal proportions, not dreading to idealize because there is a physical basis, not dreading the physical basis lest it should interfere with the idealization. To fear love is to fear life and those who fear life are already three parts 'dead." (Bertrand Russell: "Marriage and Morals")

Religion has brutalized the marital relations, and Lecky, dealing with this subject, states, "The tender love which it elicits, the holy and beautiful domestic qualities that follow in its train, were almost absolutely omitted from consideration. The object of the ascetic was to attract men to a life of virginity, and as a necessary consequence marriage was treated as an inferior state. It was regarded as being necessary, indeed, and therefore justifiable, for the propagation of the species, and to free men from great evils; but still as a condition of


text:
Page:Amazing Stories Volume 01 Number 02.djvu/84

Rh the volcano showed no symptoms of resuming its activity; for although a return of the eruption might have rendered their former resort again habitable, any sudden outbreak would have been disastrous to them where they were, the crater being the sole outlet by which the burning lava could escape.

"A wretched time we have had for the last seven months," said the orderly one day to his master; "but what a comfort little Nina has been to us all!"

"Yes, indeed," replied Servadac; "she is a charming little creature. I hardly know how we should have got on without her."

"What is to become of her when we arrive back at the earth?"

"Not much fear, Ben Zoof, but that she will be well taken care of. Perhaps you and I had better adopt her."

"Ay, yes," assented the orderly. "You can be her father, and I can be her mother."

Servadac laughed. "Then you and I shall be man and wife."

"We have been as good as that for a long time," observed Ben Zoof, gravely.

By the beginning of October, the temperature had so far moderated that it could scarcely be said to be intolerable. The comet's distance was scarcely three times as great from the sun as the earth from the sun, so that the thermometer rarely sunk beyond 35° below zero. The whole party began to make almost daily visits to the Hive, and frequently proceeded to the shore, where they resumed their skating exercise, rejoicing in their recovered freedom like prisoners liberated from a dungeon. Whilst the rest were enjoying their recreation, Servadac and the count would hold long conversations with Lieutenant Procope about their present position and future prospects, discussing all manner of speculations as to the results of the anticipated collision with the earth, and wondering whether any measures could be devised for mitigating the violence of a shock which might be terrible in its consequences, even if it did not entail a total annihilation of themselves.

There was no visitor to the Hive more regular than Rosette. He had already directed his telescope to be moved back to his former observatory, where, as much as the cold would permit him, he persisted in making his all-absorbing studies of the heavens.

The result of these studies no one ventured to inquire; but it became generally noticed that something was very seriously disturbing the professor's equanimity. Not only would he be seen toiling more frequently up the arduous way that lay between his nook below and his telescope above, but he would be heard muttering in an angry tone that indicated considerable agitation.

One day, as he was hurrying down to his study, he met Ben Zoof, who, secretly entertaining a feeling of delight at the professor's manifest discomfiture, made some casual remark about things not being very straight. The way in which his advance was received the good orderly never divulged, but henceforward he maintained the firm conviction that there was something very much amiss up in the sky.

To Servadac and his friends this continual disquietude and ill-humor on the part of the professor occasioned no little anxiety. From what, they asked, could his dissatisfaction arise? They could only conjecture that he had discovered some flaw in his reckonings; and if this were so, might there not be reason to apprehend that their anticipations of coming into contact with the earth, at the settled time, might all be falsified?

Day followed day, and still there was no cessation of the professor's discomposure. He was the most miserable of mortals. If really his calculations and his observations were at variance, this, in a man of his irritable temperament, would account for his perpetual perturbation. But he entered into no explanation; he only climbed up to his telescope, looking haggard and distressed, and when compelled by the frost to retire, he would make his way back to his study more furious than ever. At times he was heard giving vent to his vexation. "Confound it! what does it mean? what is she doing? All behind! Is Newton a fool? Is the law of universal gravitation the law of universal nonsense?" And the little man would seize his head in both hands, and tear away at the scanty locks which he could ill afford to lose.

Enough was overheard to confirm the suspicion that there was some irreconcilable discrepancy between the results of his computation and what he had actually observed; and yet, if he had been called upon to say, he would have sooner insisted that there was derangement in the laws of celestial mechanism, than have owned there was the least probability of error in any of his own calculations. Assuredly, if the poor professor had had any flesh to lose he would have withered away to a shadow.

But this state of things was before long to come to an end. On the 12th, Ben Zoof, who was hanging about outside the great hall of the cavern, heard the professor inside utter a loud cry. Hurrying in to ascertain the cause, he found Rosette in a state of perfect frenzy, in which ecstasy and rage seemed to be struggling for the predominance.

"Eureka! Eureka!" yelled the excited astronomer.

"What, in the name of peace, do you mean?" bawled Ben Zoof, in open-mouthed amazement.

"Eureka!" again shrieked the little man.

"How? What? Where?" roared the bewildered orderly.

"Eureka! I say," repeated Rosette; "and if you don't understand me, you may go to the devil!"

Without availing himself of this polite invitation, Ben Zoof betook himself to his master. "Something has happened to the professor," he said; "he is rushing about like a madman, screeching and yelling 'Eureka!'"

"Eureka?" exclaimed Servadac. "That means he has made a discovery;" and, full of anxiety, he hurried off to meet the professor.

But, however great was his desire to ascertain what this discovery implied, his curiosity was not yet destined to be gratified. The professor kept muttering in incoherent phrases: "Rascal! he shall pay for it yet. I will be even with him! Cheat! Thrown me out!" But he did not vouchsafe any reply to Servadac's inquiries, and withdrew to his study.

From that day Rosette, for some reason at present incomprehensible, quite altered his behavior to Isaac Hakkabut, a man for whom he had always hitherto evinced the greatest repugnance and contempt. All at once he began to show a remarkable interest in the Jew and his affairs, paying several visits to the dark little storehouse, making inquiries


text:
Page:The Necessity of Atheism (Brooks).djvu/205

Rh from which all who aspired to real sanctity could fly. To 'cut down by the axe of Virginity the wood of Marriage' was, in the energetic language of St. Jerome, the end of the saint; and if he consented to praise marriage it was merely because it produced virgins."

Indeed, the entire ascetic attitude was well summed up by St. Jerome when exhorting Heliodorus to desert his family and become a hermit; he expatiated with foul minuteness on every form of natural affection he desired him to violate: "Though your little nephew twine his arms around your neck, though your mother, with dishevelled hair and tearing her robe, asunder, point to the breast with which she suckled you, though your father fall down on the threshold before you, pass over your father's body ... You say that Scripture orders you to obey parents, but he who loves them more than Christ loses his soul."

It has only been with the advance of secular literature that the degrading, assumption of St. Paul that marriage is to be regarded solely as a more or less legitimate outlet for lust has been discarded, and the act of love as applied to marriage has come to have any meaning. And in this modern day the conception of the relationship of the sex act to marriage is far from being on the high plane where it rightly belongs. Bertrand Russell comments, "Marriage in the orthodox Christian doctrine has two purposes: one, that recognized by St. Paul, the other, the procreation of children. The consequence has been to make sexual morality even more difficult than it was made by St. Paul. Not only is sexual intercourse only legitimate within marriage, but even between husband and wife it becomes a sin unless it is hoped that it will lead to pregnancy. The desire for legitimate offspring is, in fact, according to the Catholic Church, the only motive which can justify sexual intercourse. But this motive


text:
Page:The Necessity of Atheism (Brooks).djvu/206

204 always justifies it, no matter what cruelty may accompany it. If the wife hates sexual intercourse, if she is likely to die of another pregnancy, if the child is likely to be diseased or insane, if there is not enough money to prevent the utmost extreme of misery, that does not prevent the man from being justified in insistirig on his conjugal rights, provided only that he hopes to beget a child."

What effect has Christianity had upon oiir moral life, upon crime, drug-addiction, sexual immorality, prostitution, and perversion? These blights upon our moral character existed long before Christianity, and after Christianity. But what effectual check has Christianity contributed?

The agitation concerning increased crime after the recent world conflict has brought this subject to the fore, and aroused a great deal of discussion and consideration of this problem. In its relation to religion, we have but one undeniable fact to bring before the thinking public. An examination of the statistics of penal institutions reveals that practically all criminals are religious. Absolutely and proportionately smaller numbers of criminals are freethinkers. Although church members nowhere constitute even half the population outside the prisons, they constitute from eighty to ninety-five per cent of the population inside the prison. This can be verified by reference to any census of any penal institution. As strangely as this may strike a great many readers, just so strange did it appear at one time to the multitude that the earth was round. (It is 500 years since the earth was proven to be round, yet there is a large colony of Christians near Chicago officially maintaining that the earth is as flat and four-cornered as the Bible states.) Neither Christianity nor any religious creed has proved an effectual check on civil crime.


text:
Page:Amazing Stories Volume 01 Number 02.djvu/85

180 as to the state of business and expressing some solicitude about the state of the exchequer.

The wily Jew was taken somewhat by surprise, but came to an immediate conclusion that the professor was contemplating borrowing some money; he was consequently very cautious in all his replies.

It was not Hakkabut's habit ever to advance a loan except at an extravagant rate of interest, or without demanding far more than an adequate security. Count Timascheff, a Russian nobleman, was evidently rich; to him perhaps, for a proper consideration, a loan might be made: Captain Servadac was a Gascon, and Gascons are proverbially poor; it would never do to lend any money to him; but here was a professor, a mere man of science, with circumscribed means; did he expect to borrow? Certainly Isaac would as soon think of flying, as of lending money to him. Such were the thoughts that made him receive all Rosette's approaches with a careful reservation.

It was not long, however, before Hakkabut was to be called upon to apply his money to a purpose for which he had not reckoned. In his eagerness to effect sales, he had parted with all the alimentary articles of his cargo without having the precautionary prudence to reserve enough for his own consumption. Amongst other things that failed him was his stock of coffee, and as coffee was a beverage without which he deemed it impossible to exist, he found himself in considerable perplexity.

He pondered the matter over for a long time, and ultimately persuaded himself that, after all, the stores were the common property of all, and that he had as much right to share as anyone else. Accordingly, he made his way to Ben Zoof, and, in the most amiable tone he could assume, begged as a favor that he would let him have a pound of coffee.

The orderly shook his head dubiously.

"A pound of coffee, old Nathan? I can't say."

"Why not? You have some?" said Isaac.

"Oh yes! plenty—a hundred kilograms."

"Then let me have one pound. I shall be grateful."

"Hang your gratitude!"

"Only one pound! You would not refuse anybody else."

"That's just the very point, old Samuel; if you were anybody else, I should know very well what to do. I must refer the matter to his Excellency."

"Oh, his Excellency will do me justice."

"Perhaps you will find his justice rather too much for you." And with this consoling remark, the orderly went to seek his master.

Rosette meanwhile had been listening to the conversation, and secretly rejoicing that an opportunity for which he had been watching had arrived. "What's the matter, Master Isaac? Have you parted with all your coffee?" he asked, in a sympathizing voice, when Ben Zoof was gone.

"Ah! yes, indeed," groaned Hakkabut, "and now I require some for my own use. In my little black hole I cannot live without my coffee."

"Of course you cannot," agreed the professor.

"And don't you think the governor ought to let me have it?"

"No doubt."

"Oh, I must have coffee," said the Jew again.

"Certainly," the professor assented. "Coffee is nutritious; it warms the blood. How much do you want?"

"A pound. A pound will last me for a long time."

"And who will weigh it for you?" asked Rosette, scarcely able to conceal the eagerness that prompted the question.

"Why, they will weigh it with my scale, of course. There is no other balance here." And as the Jew spoke, the professor fancied he could detect the faintest of sighs.

"Good, Master Isaac; all the better for you! You will get your seven pounds instead of one!"

"Yes; well, seven, or thereabouts—thereabouts," stammered the Jew with considerable hesitation.

Rosette scanned his countenance narrowly, and was about to probe him with further questions, when Ben Zoof returned. "And what does his Excellency say?" inquired Hakkabut.

"Why, Nehemiah, he says he shan't give you any."

"Merciful heavens!" began the Jew.

"He says he doesn't mind selling you a little."

"But, by the holy city, why does he make me pay for what anybody else could have for nothing?"

"As I told you before, you are not anybody else; so, come along. You can afford to buy what you want. We should like to see the color of your money."

"Merciful heavens!" the old man whined once more.

"Now, none of that! Yes or no? If you are going to buy, say so at once, if not, I shall shut up shop."

Hakkabut knew well enough that the orderly was not a man to be trifled with, and said, in a tremulous voice, "Yes, I will buy."

The professor, who had been looking on with much interest, betrayed manifest symptoms of satisfaction.

"How much do you want? What will you charge for it?" asked Isaac mournfully, putting his hand into his pocket and clinking his money.

"Oh, we will deal gently with you. We will not make any profit. You shall have it for the same price that we paid for it. Ten francs a pound, you know."

The Jew hesitated.

"Come now, what is the use of your hesitating? Your gold will have no value when you go back to the world."

"What do you mean?" asked Hakkabut, startled.

"You will find out some day," answered Ben Zoof, significantly.

Hakkabut drew out a small piece of gold from his pocket, took it close under the lamp, rolled it over in his hand, and pressed it to his lips. "Shall you weigh me the coffee with my scale?" he asked, in a quavering voice that confirmed the professor's suspicions.

"There is nothing else to weigh it with; you know that well enough, old Shechem," said Ben Zoof. The spring balance was then produced; a tray was suspended to the hook, and upon this coffee was thrown until the needle registered the weight of one pound. Of course, it took seven pounds of coffee to do this.

"There you are! There's your coffee, man!" Ben Zoof said.

"Are you sure?" inquired Hakkabut, peering


text:
Page:The Necessity of Atheism (Brooks).djvu/207

Rh The prostitute has been hounded and abused by ecclesiastics since Biblical times, yet, it is only true to say that the religionist is not vitally interested in prostitution. Outwardly, he may pour forth a verbal barrage of condemnation, but if he believes he can save her immortal soul, ahunting he goes. He does not attempt to ameliorate the social welfare of this poor, degraded individual, as he thinks; her pitiful condition in the "everlasting present" on this earth interests him not at all, although it is this existence about which he raves, his only interest is in redeeming her soul not her body. If when the religionist tells the prostitute that only those who believe in Christ as God, in His Virgin Birth, and in His Resurrection in the Body, will go to heaven, and she agrees and repents—all is well; the religionist has saved a soul, and the prostitute goes about her business of spreading hideous venereal disease to others whose souls are saved by believing in Christ as a God. Her soul is saved and safe, but the scholar, the poet, the scientist, the benefactor to mankind, all those who make this life bearable and livable, their souls must roast in hell forever if they do not believe in the creed. Divine Justice?

The greatest number of prostitutes are religious, yet prostitution continues to flourish. The ecclesiastic condemns the prostitute as the cause, never stopping to think that the cause must have an effect, and that prostitution is but the effect. The cause is our economic conditions. Prostitution is purely a medico-social problem, and the more the ecclesiastic keeps his hands off the problem the sooner will the condition be remedied to its best. Attempts to repress prostitution without changing the economic organization will always result in failure. Prostitution has always existed and will continue to exist until our economic system has undergone a radical change. So long as girls have to fight with starvation or


text:
Page:The Necessity of Atheism (Brooks).djvu/208

206 with beggarly wages, so long as men are deterred from early marriage by inability to support a family, and so long as many married men remain polygamous in their tastes, just so long will prostitution exist. But we have seen that the clergy is never anxious to interfere with the "rights of the few to tyrannize the many," and since prostitution is an economic problem, religion never has, and never will be, of any help in this case. (Aside from the fact that there are many instances of a few centuries ago where the Church in a period of temporary financial distress has owned well paying brothels.)

When we think of morality we are apt to concentrate more on sexual morality than on the more obtuse moral duties. Religion has from time immemorial been held up to our minds as a great force in the production of this morality. That is another myth. In our own country it is a trite phrase that a man has a "Puritan code of ethics," or as "straight laced as a Puritan."

When the Puritan Fathers landed in this country, they began an existence that has revealed to the world for all time the value of a "burning religious zeal." In a sense they showed this zeal in regard to the Witchcraft Delusion.

Coming as they did, to avoid religious persecution in their own native country, they should have established a colony which for meekness and beneficence would have shown the value of a true religious, fervor. Instead, the persecuted immediately became the persecutors—again proving. the worth of a mind that is imbued with a dominating religious zeal.

Secondly, the principal vocation and recreation of these Fathers was their religion. It is only reasonable to suppose that in such a truly religious atmosphere morality should have reached its zenith of perfection. What actually happened is well illustrated in a very