The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1899-01-19
COL. BOB INGERSOLL.
THE ELOQUENT UNBELIEVER TELLS
KENOSHA. PEOPLE
WHY HE rs AN AGNosTIC
Rhode opera House is Nearly Filled by
These Anxious to Hear the Brilliant
skeptic and Orator-An Eloquent
and Witty Address.

A fair audience greeted Bob Ingersoll
at the Rhode opera house Thursday
evening. The body of the house was
we'll filed, but the balcony was nearly
empty. This is accounted for by the
fact that at the last minute many of
the Racine people were prevented from
attending and time was not given to
resell the. seats to others, although it
was understood that many were anxi-
Gus to hear Mr.. Ingersoll who believed
that seats were unattainable. How
ever, those who were present listened
very attentively and respectfully not
infreQuently applauding some particu
larly eloquent passage or timely re-
mark by the speaker. The address
continued throughout two hours OF
more, but there was no sign of weari-
ness evinced by the auditors at the close
nor any abatement of the interest
manifest throughout the entire dis
course.
Col. Ingersoll devoted his time to
telling why he is an agnostic. He be-
gan by laying down two laws, namely,
LIST. That man is more or less the
victim environment; I'd. That he can
not believe what he wishes, but what
he must. He dwelt upon his early
surroundings, the rigid religious
teachings of his parents and the char
acter of the literature which constitut-
ed his reading and comprised such
books as the works of the Commentators
Bunyon's Pilgrims Progress, The Lives
of the Martyrs and Buffers Analogy.
From the study of these things.he went,
in the course of events, to Milton and
Cowper and from them to Burns,
Schelly, Keats and Byron. He showed
a great affection for the Scotch bard,
Burns, and said that tho Burns had
his frailties, he, himself, would rather
stand before the throne of God, drunk,
the author of " A Mans Man for
That" than stand there perfectly sober
and confess to being Scotch Presby
terrain. From Burns and the rest the
speaker said he went to Shakespeare,
where he found more wisdom tina" in
Solomon and more beautiful characters
than the Bible anywhere portrays. He
studied astronomy and found that the
author of Genisis was a savage; he
studied biology and discovered that
man existed thousands of years before
Adam and Eva we're manufactured;"
he studied geology and learned that
the earth was not made on Monday
morning 5000 years ago, but had been
whirling through shine and shadow
for millions of decades. He turned to
the scientists, studied Volney, Darwin,
Spencer and Huxley, learned that life
was not created one Thursday after
noon as the Bible says, but had evolved
from protoplasm, that substance is
indestructable therefore, never created
and consequently never had creator.
From the Scientists he went to the
Ancients, read Zero, Epicuras, So
crates and Diogenes and found in
them a purer, nObler, and kinder
philosophy than is taught in the
Christian religion. He studied the
other religions and discovered that
there was nothing new in the Christian
religion; that forty gods, before Christ,
born of virgin mothers, died viOlont
death, were resurrected, worked mira
cles. taught in parallels and in all
respects correspond in their history to
the son of the Christian God. All of
these had in their turn fourished and
faded, until they are now either lost in
oblivion, or retained only in the myths
and legends. The Christian religion is
merely perpetuation of the supersti-
ton which has characterized the people
of all ages and chimes and will in its
turn, some time, pass into the obscurity
which belongs to the others.
Col. Ingersoll said that the single
circumstance which had finally turned
his mind against the orthodox faith
was sermon he once heard preached
by Free Will Baptist. The old min
lister was eloquent. He knew how to
appeal to the imagination and emo
tions. He used for the theme the story
of Lazarus and Dives. At the end of
the sermon the preacher, putting his
hand to his ear and assuming listen
ing attitude said he could still hear the
voice of Dives in the bottomless pit of
perdition crying, Abraham, Father
Abraham, send Lazarus that he may
dip his finger in cold water and cool
my parched tongue" That cry, "said
the speaker. =" has been heard for 1900
years and will be heard throughout
eternitJ." Since this sermon Mr..
Ingersoll says he has hated the
christians god and all orthodox ereeds.
The speech has been the topic of
conversation on the streets throughout |
the day. The people of KenOsha are
indebted to Fl. W. Marden for the 0p
portunity of hearing Mr.. Ingersoll. who
is undoubtedly one of the most brilliant
orators of his day.