, 1875-03-28

narrow. filthy streets. without sewers, dfsln-
a9e or lamps. wero filed with garbage anu
uicht-soil. Showers OF sloPs leu W
the wayfarer who walked through these aAeyS
after night.
M1ouE1Er has said, with French e1asgera~
ton of an unclean truth: "There was mol "
bath for Thousand years" King coufuer'
and slave We'd with each other in dlrt1ness.
When T4oxAs 4 BEcEG was murdered, his
c,othes were found to be full Of vern1ln.
The sodor of sanctity" at that age would
demand disinfectants and Boards OF Health
now.
The good old times, thus rich in war, pesti-
lenoe, famiue, misery, and dirt, were poor in
the resources of healing art 4 sick man
sought shrine cure, not physician. Ihe
first were everywhere, the latter almost no
where. Some crusaders brought back to
Europe two sovereign cures for all the ills
flesh is heir to,-a bottle Of the pretended
milk of the Virgin, and finger OF the Hoiy
Ghost!
The good old times, again, were times OF
utter insecurity. WILLIAM OF Ma1mesbury,
speaking of the Anglo -Saxons, says: "Ihe
common people were prey to the more pow
erful; their property was seized, their bodies
dragged away to distant countries; their
maidens were either thrown into brothel or
sold for slaves; drinking, day and night, Was
the general pursuit; vices, the companions OF
inebriety, followed" Every castle was the
stronghold OF a thief. The ruins of robbe1
towers still crowd the banks Of the Rhine.
Law, in the good old lines, was the science
of torture. The bed Of justice WIS rack.
Thumbscrews tore truth and falsehood, more
often the Inter, out by the roots Of the nails.
The shuddering visitor still sees IN the sub
terranean cells of Nuremberg the F" Iron
Virgin" a CHASTITY compound Of knives
and spear-heads, and iron bars, which pierced
and squeezed its victim in its iron embrnce
until lust enough life was left to let him feel
the sharp b1ades which cut him to pieces as
he fell into the bloody stream 80 feet below
q stream which seems to shrink away from
the earth's surface, as if ashamed of the part
it plays in this sickening drama OF mans H.
humanity to man.
The good old times, once more, were IN
era Of utter sel6shness. There were no hos
t pitals, no charitable organizations, unless the
monastio nurseries of vice and hot-beds OF
lechery are entitled to that name, no brother
hood, no humanity, no philanthropy,
It is needless to add TINT tho good old
| times we're times of the darkest Ignorance
| and the grossest superstition In proportion
| as education advanced, the condition OF the
world became better. The lamp that burns
| in the human brain is the Light which guides
| nations to civilization The key to material
| growth is mental growth 1t is by waging
relentless war against ignorance; by prere1t
| I'M crime, attacking it with the school-house
| instend Of the jail; by compelling parents tt
cease to deny their offspring the natural, in
alienable right Of instruction. is BY suct
means that modern society will finally react
! the vicinity Of the Millennium In proportion
as it has used these weapons, it has prospere'
in the struggle Of life. When it uses then
oil, it will finally win the fight and usher Il
| the good new times.