The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-12-19
A GREAT PAPER.
TBill Nye, ia Boston Globe.I

| '''~ 0~o0SAy VI S\tGuSG 9u0 PUKutStM U E in prairie last month, and as have been SO continually and earnestly impor. q. ed to print it that life was no longer desirable, bmit 1t to you for that pur. pose, hoping that yoa will print my name in large caps, with aston,shers at the head of the articles. and also in good display type at the close:
 SOME FEATURES OF EVOLUTION.
 No one could possibly, in a brief pa. per, do the subject of evolution full jus. tice. It IS a matter of great importance to our lost and undone race. It lies ue IT to every human heart, and exercises a wonderful influence over our impulses and our ultimate success or failure Wh'n we pause to consider the opaque and fAthomless ignorance of the grea, m asses of our fellow man on the subj ec, of evolution, it is not surprising that crime is rather on the increase, and tha, thousands of our race are annually filling drunkards' graves, with no other visible means of support, while mulhtudes of en frightened human beings are at the s,me time obtaining livelihood by meeting with felons' dooms.
 1 These would ask in all seriousness and in tone of voice that would melt the stoniest heart: Why in cveatio on do you do it?' The time is rapidly ap proachins z when there will be two or three ielons for each doom. am sure that within the next fifty years, and perhaps sooner even than that, instead of handing out these dooms to Tom, Dick and Harry as for merly, every applicant for felon's doom will have to pass competitive examina- tion, as he should do.
 It will be the same with those who de- sire to all drunkards' graves. The time is almost here when all positions of profit and trust will be carefully and judiciously handed out, and those who do not 6 themselves for those positions will be lef. l in the Iurch, ~ha,ever that may be.
 It is with this fact glaring me in the face that have consented to appear be- fore yos to-day and lay bare the whole hypothesis, history, rise and fall, med,fi cations. anatomy, physiology and geol- | ogy of evolution. It is for this that l have bored over such works as those of Huxley, Herbert Spencer, Moses in the bulrushes, Anaxagoras, Lucretius and Hoyle. It is for the purpose of advanc- ing the cause of common humanity and to jerk the rising generation out of bar. barism into the dazx ing eHulgence of clashing intellects and iel menting brains that have sought the works of Pythago ras, Democritus and Eplurebus Wherev- CT could ind any book tn at bore upon the subj ect Of evolution, and could borrow 1t, l have done so while others slept.
 That is matter which rarely enters into the minds of those who go easily and carelessly through life. Even the gen. eral superintendent of the academy of science and pusilism here in Erin prairie, the hot bed of free and untrammelled, robust Democracy, does not stop to think Of the midnight and other kinds of oil that have consumed in order to fill my self full of inform alton, and to soak my porous miad with thought. Even the O Reilly college of this place, with it's strong mental faculty, has not informed itself fully relative to the great saort necessary before a lecturer may speak clearly, accurately and exhaustingly of evolution.
 Aud yet, here h this place, where edu. cation is rampant, and the idea is patted on tue back, as may say, here in Erin prairie, where progress and some other sentiments are written on everything here where am addressing you to.nigh, for two dollars and feed for my horse, met little cnild with bright and cheer ful smile, who dld not kao~ that evolu- ton consisted in . progress from the homogeneous to the Heterogeneous.
 So you see that you never know where ignorance turks. The hydra.headed upas tree and bete noir of self acting progress, is such ignorance as that, turk. ing in the very shadow of magnificent educational institu ions and hard words of great cast. Nothing can be more dis. agreeable to the scientist than . bete noir. Nothing gives him greater satis- faction than to chase 1t up . tree or masa it between two shingles.
 For this reason, as said, 1t gives me great pleasure to address you on the sub. ject of evolution. and to 20 into details in speaking of 1t. could go on for hours as have been doing, deligh you witb the intricacies and pee lliarities of evolution, but must desist. It woulo please mo to do SO, and you would no doubt remain patiently and listen, bu, your business might suffer while you were away, and SO l will close, but hope that any one now within the sound of my voice, and iu whose breast a sudden hun. ger for more light on this great su oject has sprung up, will feel perfectly free to call on me and ask me abort it or inn merse himself in the numerous tones that have collected from friends, and which relate to this matter.
 In closing wish to say that have made no st .temeats in this paper rela. tive to evolution which | am not pre- pared to prove; and if anything, 1 have been over-conservative. For that reason say now, that the person who doubts single fact as I have given it tonight bearing upon the great subject of evolu. tiou, will have to do so over my dumb remains.
 And man who will do that is no gen. tleman. presume that many of these statements win be snapped up and sharp ly criticised by other theologians and
 H r.