The Helena independent., 1894-11-29

witches will always remain a dark
spot on the Puritan record What
shall we say of those who dragged
old, bed-ridden women from their
couches and hung them as witches on
the evidence of little children? They
took Giles Corey, an old man Of so.
laid door on his breast. piled stones
upon 1t and pressed him To death.
They stripped young Quakercsses to
the waist and whipped them at the
carts tail, from Boston 10 Roxbury.
one victim of their hanging was the
mother OF six little children. From the
limbs of the afterward celebrated Lib
erty tree. on Boston common, they
hung four Quakers at one time, one of
them a woman. II Is idle for the apollo
gists Of these acts To say that IL was
only natural that this terror, which had
long infested Europe. must spread TO
this country and run It's course here.
II IL idle, we say, and why? Because
the Pilgrims prOfessed To have cut
loose from the deluslons and super
stitions OF the past They hoasted
that they were better than the masses
of Europe (Which boast was truel, but
one would think that their strength
| of character and sense OF right would
have restrained them from the commis-
sion of these crimes They had six
teen centuries of Christian precept and
example behind them and there was
nothing in the teachings OF the Prince
of Peace which warranted such con-
duct. Furthermore, they had no right
whatever To murder King Charles sub
jCcts. IL was murder and murder liz
no less a murder because committed by
a church council They actually pub
lished n book entitled "How to Detect
Witches" and n was usod as manual
by professional witch hunters. This,
and this only can be said In eNtenu-
alton, viz, that when the wave Of
fanatiCism rolled away they provided
by law for the maintenance OF the funl-
HES of those whom they had executed.
But not country Of Europe did any
thing Of the kind
And vet. Notwithstanding these great
faults. theirs was the best blood that
ever cOloni2ed any country, They were
the salt OF the earth. They were
Obliged to pass a law compelling men To
accept public Office, The Puritan
wished not 10 be raised by any arti-
ncIal distinction above his neighbors.
OH Americans OF the nineteenth ceu-
| try. Contrast this exalted conduct
with the present unseemly scramble for
"oh, We Who bonst. in your free veins,
The blood Of sires Ike these,
Lose not their ligumonts."
The principles Of freedom for which
the Puritans c0ntended carried their
descendants successfully and honor
| ably through the American revolution,
the struggle Of 1912 and the war for
| the union 10 is only fair To- pay due
tribute to those American patriots who
are not descended from the PilgrlmH.
Their name Is legion. But the pfinci-
pies for which the Pilgrims Fought
| frozc and starved. have permehted the
whole mass OF American patriots.
Perhaps, on this THANKSGIVING day
| A Is vouchsafcd 10 the souls Of the
| Plymouth colony To- look down and
| survey the progress of the western
| world II so, they see the land Of their
| ndoptlon-a teeming stretching
from the ST. Lawrence 10 the Rio
| Grande, from ocean 90 ocean, ana the
| flag of their descendants hoating even
over st. elias, ,..-
| "Comc. then, great bhadch OF siorlouS
| men.
From your stll glorious grave,
| Look on your own proud land again
| oh. bruvost Of the brave,
We cain you from each mouldcrlng tomb.
| And each blue wave below
| TO bless the world yc snhtchcd from doom
Three hundred years ago"
H II, Boynton.
Miles city Mont November. lSoL
Chnnge Of cars aud whiting Mt junction
points for through trains constitute one
] Of tho chief annoynuccs of passenger
travel hence the popularity Of the North
oru Pacific which runs through cars and
/ through trains, direct to st. Paul Minne-
npols, spokane, Tacoma and Portland.
without change.