The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-12-04
How TO Treat 7n-crsOli.

The following question having been sub
mitted to college Professor, he replies as fol-
lows in the Albany Journal:
Dear Professor: Are not Ingersoll's argu-
ments unanswerable? What are you going
to do about it?
SEVERAL STUDENTS.
so you are out half a dollar apiece, are you?
No, no; l cannot answer him. Boys l recall
the incident in my eager and impetuouS
youth OF wasting pound and Il half OF bird
shot on small owl. l followed him from
tree TO Tree, and shot away hatful of fcath-
ers, and when he died OF fatigue found that
bis body was about as large as robins and
put it to no earthly use. He WAS decep-
tive target. If 1 understand the gentleman
from Peoria, he wishes to liberatc youth from
the incubus and thraldom OF superstition.
That devastating influence Of the country
clergyman's on 500 per annum and Il doniI-
ton is what worries Robert and he proposes
To cure 1t and eradicate IT for the triHing pit
tunce OF $50 per lecture. For fifty cenis he
proposes 10 liDerate your mind from .haL i'll
iluence which filtered into it from the trem-
bling lips of your mother, and free from the
cham OF superstition loaded upon your soul
by the rough but loving hand Of your father.
or course he worries about you more than
those old iogics did-for fifty cents.
You look around you in the city here and
you discover several millions Of dollars in
vested IN hospitals, ScminareS, aSylums, forc-
ed on the suffering community by the same
mythical, miraculous and superstitious incu-
bus OF religion. You ask the gentleman
from Peoria where his little public institu-
tions are. founded by his peculiar teaching,
"Fify contS ut the door"
Boys, you see sometimes 4 poor mans fu-
neral procession, with democrat wagon, and
II little coffin in 1t so small you can carry il
under your arm. \ poor couple walk bchin,t
IT, with breaking hearts. Their baby is in the
little coffin. IL was their all. Their hearts
are broken. OH, II We only had liOh there to
tell them about liberty and myths and mira
ppnIS-lnW WIN al oh int
But you say there arc so many infidclS
Boys you are mistaken. An inlidcl is an abb
normal growth, aud Nature feels funny once
In Il while and creates Il freak, e. T., the living
skelctul, thn lat woman. the two. headed .irl
SO there is about one iniidel to II million sane
S!en The most OF these fellows are amateur
intidels. They talk lngrrSoil in Iair weather.,
and pray themselves hOarS0 every timO il
thundcrs. y wclI-dcvclopeh case OF cholera
morbus will knock their inlidclity ont OF
them and leave thoIG i 4 cold sweat like -
china dog in al icc.house. | know them.
The mnst of them are like the boy who runs
away rrom home and comes back to Stay with
ilihcr nights.
Then, again. boys, take Il look around you
when you invest another fifty cents in libcr-
Is, and compare the crowd with the Kind Of
people you lind in almost any church. Is 1t
The uuur of sanctiiy you smell? Hardly
boys, hardly. But you can eat peanuts there
and choke ON the shells while you applaud
the iunny jokes ABOUT ll'' hcil'eh NhcTo you
know in your heart you hope mother is, or
hear the humble NaZlrcnc riuiculrd, who,
you think, aud always will think. gave II
home to your weary old .Alhor when lie LETT
TIE earth.
Ie>, boys, lis arguments are unanswcra-
bic, and think the season vii! come alOnI,
and the churches will continue to bloom, and
all nature will most eXasi,cratingly yanL calm
IS perform her functions If Robert is not an
swrrrtl. You know when the first steamer
crossed the Atlantic great philosopher was
delivering II mUst conclusive argument To
prove that by no possibility could Il Slcaiu
vessel cross tliG ocean, and that provoI;in
steamer ctiiiu snortIng and sizzling and
splur.Iug right into the harb0r. Boys sO will
Gods foolish children go right on praying
anu preaching and dying and going 10 hcav-
ell in spite Of argument,