Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-06-13

huge fireplace, and there were andIe
and little smoking chimneyless brass
lamps hat had been brought by diff
ferent families, and these cast their
Pickering and uncertain light. The
programme as scheduled was four
hours in length, but the debate be-
gan early, and the October evenings
were long, and the mountains of Ken
lucky do not demand short sermons
or speeches.
I opened the discussion by stating
the arguments given in the geogra-
phies. I told of tic masts of the
ships which appear before the hull;
of the round shadow which the earth
casts on the moon; of the fact that
certain men, some of whom | had
seen, had actually sailed around the
earth, and so on.
But my opponent secuted the mast
and-hull argument, and declared that
it might De true and yet prove moth
ing. Moreover, it was evident hat
to people living among the hills an
argument based on unobstructed
vision was ineffective; they had no
experience which helped to inter-
pref it.
As to the eclipse, the preacher de-
clared the eclipses varied. He had
seen one of the sun, and the shadow
came off on the same side it went on;
how could that be if my revolution
theory was correct? Eclipses were
freaky things, and nobody knew how
they would act. AS to the story of
mems sailing around the world, who
did not know that men who travelled
were notorious liars? They came
back knowing it was impossible to
disprove their large stories, and peo-
| pie expected them to lie, and they did
lie. Or, if the man who told this story
did not lie, he might have been mis-
| taken. Like as not he sailed round
pretty nigh the ridge of it, and so
came back all right, but he kept on
the top side all the time" said the
minister. He added with gestures
that the world may be round this
away" ii. e., round on top), cor even
round this-a-way" ii. e., cylindrical),
"but hit amt round this-a-way'' (i. E.,
sphericaD.
Then came the positive part of his
argument. He appealed to reason and
observations; he had sat up one night
to see whether the mill pond ceased
at any time to run over the dam, as
with the slightest inclination of the
earth this one level stretch of water
should nave done. He had been some
thing of a traveller himself and had
been twice to Virginia and nee well
down in Tennessee, mol had he found
any place where the earth appeared
to curve. He ridiculed the theory
which would compel us to hold on to
the trees at night to keep from fall
ing off, and squarely denied that
there could be any people on the I'M
der side of the earth walking with
heads down, and foolish enough to
think their heads were up.
Then came my colleague, who re-
minded them of the fly on the apple,
and illustrated by shadows on the
wall the theory of eclipse and the
procession of the seasons.
Then came the other minister. He
had come far-'cl'ar W the aidge
of the yirth in Laurel" as he iron
ically told us in his introduction. He
was not bound by any false notion of
courtesy; he did not live here, he said,
and he proposed to hew to the line
and let the chips fly where they
would. This was an age of new ideas,
and most of them false ones; it was
a time when people were likely to be-
lieve a lie and be damned; it was a
time for the friends of the truth to
stand by the truth, and not let any
false ideas of friendship or hospital
ity keep them from exposing error
and branding it al such.
Having so spoken. he moved around
to where he could confront me and
began his argument. He was a stall
wart man, a giant in stature, and
looked taller in his jeans coat. which
he wore without a vest e his hick-
DRY shirt, and his gray jeans trou-
sers. His name vas the same as hat
Of a Tennessee general in the civil
war, and he was related to him. Ger
tainly he showed no fear that night
as he faced this new and dangerous
error.
He began with the declaration that
the Bible declares that God laid the
corner stone of earth and stretched
liz AlAS uRSA Aa AS oAAS HO' "a
straight line could conform to a
curved surface, or a round earth have
a corner stone. He went on to af-
firm that the of the sun is
from one end of the heavens to the
other, and that if the sun is station
airy the Bible statement must be false.
He showed that the Bible says there
is nothing hid from the heat thereof,
whereas I had told of the poles long
in darkness and in winter. He went
through the Bible and sought out a
long array of quotations. He got as
far as Joshua, and spent the rest of
his time upon him, and promised to
resume next night. The closing adj
dresses summed up matters, but did
not materially change the status of
the argument.
My friend, the teacher and l took
counsel together. 1t was plain that
the audience was divided in its SYM
pathies. A small majority, we judged,
was against US. We had chosen for
our judge the legislator with whom
I boarded. He was an old school
teacher; had been county commits
sioner of schools, and we were sure
of his vote. Our friends had chosen
another preacher, and we were sure
he would vote against US. These two
had chosen one of the local officers