, 1876-12-03
Triple.Bolted Dungeon..-Lawrcnse Barrett az an
ldmirer Of john Keiss' ''Fool in Lear"

Weiss being the essayist, gave added interest il
the certainty Of no weak or imperfect handling
To those who had doubt in Mr.. Weiss fait
in the immortality Of the soul, this essay was :
grateful relief, though in the opening his COO
presentation Of the arguments and theories O
the skeptic had q misleading effect, which only
! made his final statements more welcome. II
this opening be said that, since the doctrine
Of
| THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEsT Rad TAKEN HOL1
OF THE MODERN MIND
SO that the probability is strong that some form
OF it will eventually prove suitable to the facts,
he had been waiting to hear some one apply
it one step farther; and that step, namely
which the idea Of pers onal continuance takes
from one world to another. Whether the ef-
ficiency OF natural selection be strictly limited
to this sphere, summed up and stopped in the
I physical man, OF if it continued to operate By
the death of the unfit, and The survival Of the
! fit, to establish another type of heing--a fresh
race-higher in tile scale, just as we see here the
iai nisbegottcn n' ef the u zosee 'esu ercaturesM
| drop out in order that the luckier
ones may thrive and become the
slow proscnitors Of the next in order, In max
| ing rapid summary Of the evolution theory,
| Mr.. Weiss declared that it did not seem to him
Irrational to suppose that million two years.
worth of inperiectly developed beings struggling
all along from the ape to the man lived through
no more in any part Of the universe. But, asks
A1r. Weiss, after this showing, "When did
perishing stop and surviving begin! In what
year Of the world was a society Of creatures col
lected III whom the premonltion OF harmony
BEGAN TO BREED THE HEARTACHE,
and put new salt into the tear!
''Whcn did our feet begin to discneage them
sclves-are they all eyen now ,disengaged: No
crime seems too atrocious to be invented by a
creature in the form Of a nlan, aud no ingenuity
too great to lavish upon its commission. So
many people cultivate bestjaliEy with such
whole-boaied energy that if they could be tu7n-
ed into their appropriate animals We should pitg
all the other beasts. Yet here they are wearing
claiming to have paid poll-tax, voting early
and often, putting the breath Of life into
brothels and bells, aud sponsing up
with their bodies all the hidcous liquors
the Commonwealth, they are all ready, thorough
y primed and educated, reduced BY the Law Of
degradation
TO THE LEVEL OF SOME pEv1L1sH MOMENT
On which, as on hearth, the fires Of an extinct
feroeity are rclighted."
In this manner, with ali the fire Of his most
fiery eloquence, Mr., Weiss proceeded to elabor-
ate and exhaust all the argument OF the sur
gival Of the fittest doctrine, and then from this
evolved the statement, - must confess to do
something, to be something, which selects us
from the body, turns the brain into filter
to deposit person within, prevent an
utilization, and make it impossible for
nature to drop US out, make it worth
GOD while to save us, is powerful motive,
and it prevails In the lives OF many men who
would not be willing to talk about it. | con
Tess to an a(l-pcryading instinct OF personal
continuance, coupled with latent haunting
feeling that there is point somewhere in hui
man existence, as there has been in the past.
where anliabifity controls the fate Of men. /
Where is that points You recoll from every
ettort to draw TIE line; you shrink from the in
threatens you with disinheritance in this sur
yival of the ittest.' |
From this consideration the essayist proceed !
ed to also consider the fact that the brain with |
III the body has originated the instinct of i'm |
and the doubts that assail that in |
stinct. His conclusion on this point was that. !
It IS plain that some intelligence has been con
Spring with the evolution Of animal structure |
tinct from structure. No propagation that is |
merely physical could be competent to perform |
that feat.'
When he heard man deny his personal con-
AR. Weiss said he was freshly con-
Vinced OF his own.
THE rRoSouN /, He DECLARED, INVENTED M
MORTALITY
But it might be said how many peoplc there
we're IN the human form who could saw I but
very iniperfe2tly, and good many not at ali I
And through, tic ranks Of the feeble and foolish
10 tue night Of the idiot the question ran What
can Deity ind for such rs these to dos And then |
s;[e. ZANE tne swltt When you say
xiiy save such specimens for hereafter. re-
hem for the present."
And from this point the essay and the essay
st grew earnest and eloquent in depicting the
:are that atm more fortunate humanity bestowed
,he lame, the halt. and the blind
mentally and physically. Why is il.
'sked Mr.. Weiss, that mankind has determined
% make all those who have been unfortunately
'orn orr. ti.e M objects Of Il special care: Why ex-
'aust the capacity Of science to sap the obsti-
iate restrictions, reach the interior aud nut the
PERSONAL pronoun thcrea To loose tile tongue
ether OF the mute; to teach the tngcr-:ips to
sa the privileges OF eye and ear 10 put the
ency, to gropc clear through his twilight till
'ou touch the nerve OF self respect; to break
pen the manlacs cage and storm his mind with |
ystenat'c gentleness, till in his own face yon !
ee your smile; to lavish appropriations Of
Money, method, long g-breathcd skill, and costly
|fetffiles Of the noblcst and most heroic souls |
pom creatures who make the home . place or !
aelancholy and modification, who were born to
o the State ill service, and who die to re)jcre
8 Of despair, surely there is something Divine
this, some instinct that q spiritual QUALITY il
lrklng everywhere il matter, some hearcr-
Or orn suspicion thatthe lump Of an idiot may be
r. ttt's Waiss os 81 Ge ana in this consideration
1ul and long-suffering than God: Then is it
lerctul IN you to suppose that God is deprived
HIS cAanGe to Initiate your action and do some- |
nnE ior Als depraved and stunted souls" ="
as that OF
~, DR.. HOWE AND LAURA BRrpaMA,.
= " nal was Laura Bridgman, Lc asked, in her |
lpie-nolted dungeon until Dr.. Howe Withdrew
le n,r uo.ts. anu III this work he compared Dr..
ne instinct OF salvation (>nntipr fron, -. !