Blue-grass blade. [volume] (Lexington, Ky.) 188?-19??, 1897-10-03

nave naue money by telling some
and keeping back some.
The New York Voice Is the
greatest Prohibition paper in the
world, but there is nothing in IL OF
any interest to me except an occa-
sional editorial that shows 1t Is
drifting toward infdehty.
You may break down the BLADE
II you want to, by withholding
your patronage, because | dare 10
say what think, and will be sat
isiied, though ] would regret that
such man as our Connecticut
brother, who recently gave the
hundred dollars TO the BLADE should
SO soon see its failure.
Let the BLADE sink INTO perpet
ual oblivion and | am willing to 20
down with IL so long as ] can real
lie that have had the courage OF
my convictions; but IL ] let others,
whether friend or foe, back me
down by telling me that this and
that that | say are not good policy,
and are calculated TO offend, then II
| 90 down | would do IL feeling that
| was a coward, while IL succeeded
| would do il feeling that | had sold
my honor and conscience for money,
just as am continually rebuking
the preachers and the editors who
uphold them, for doing.
Take first the letter OF Mrs. Henry
to me, against my saying damn. Her
whole argument is based on that re-
ligious superstition that was taught
nearly all OF us in our childhood, tina,
made US believe that we ought to say
damn and devil and hell, only when
1t became religiously necessary 70
do so, and that then IL must be said
with q reverential awe.
II cost me no little mental strug
gle TO get over that superstition,
and even now have to strive against
that superstition OF my childhood
just as nearly all OF US, OF maturer
years, have 10 make special sum
mons Of our reason when we pass q
gravs gard, ~ night. 70 convIucs
ourselves that there really are nc
such things as ghosts, as we were
taught from the Bible in our child.
hood. l have seen cause, for the
purpose OF showing you, by my use
OF devil and hell and damned, that
superstition still sticks in the brains
OF Infidels, aud willingness TO pan
der to Christian dogma, for policy s
sake, still sticks In the hearts Of In
fidels.
Your argument is that my saying
damn is offensive to many and that
they will not patronize my paper II
| say so.
TIE same thing exactly may be
said about my ridiculiug the Holy
Ghost. There are great many
good and intelligent people who do
not believe in ordinary ghosts, who
claim TO believe in the Holy Ghost,
and you may say that II do not be-
lieve 10 the Holy Ghost | should,
through regard TO these good people,
speak respectfully of the Holy Ghost.
The same kind of argument would
require that j should not ridicule
any kind OF ghosts because there are
Negroes around me who more earn
estly believe in graveyard ghosts
than anybody does in the Holy
Ghost. The conclusion is that / can
not afford to speak deferentially OF
any kind OF superstition, and the
sentiment against my saying damn,
that is based on the belief that there
is place where all people who do
not believe the Christian religion
are burning in hell, is just as purely
a superstition as the Negroes belief
in graveyard ghosts, and the intel
ligent Christians belief in the Holy
Ghost, and damn me il | am going
to nave any more respect or one
than | am for the other, and all OF
you who intend TO cut the acquaiat-
ance OF the BLADE because l say
damn and devil and hell just as soon
as would any other words express
sive of Christian superstition may
just as we'll send in your orders to
stop your papers now.
But a bigger thing than my pro-
family is what | am saying, and at
any time likely to say, about free
love" or the "sexual relation or
the "social evil" or "matrimony, "
or whatever you may see cause to
call the various arrangements ex-
isting among men aud women for
INDUCING their appetites for each