Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1901-07-12

sumo three-quarters of an hour apiece
in opening, and the leaders a half
hour each in closing. The plan was
the same for both evenings, except
that the two sides were to alternate
in opening and closing; the teachers
had to close; the preachers began
and ended the discussion on the Sec
ond night. Each side was to choose
judge, and the two were to choose
third, who were to render decision
at the close of the second evening
The discussion took place in the log
schoolhouse. There was a fire in the
huge fireplace, and there were candles
and little smoking chimneyless brass
lamps that 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.
| | opened the discussion by stating
the arguments given in the geogra-
phies. / told of the 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 l 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 be true and yet prove moth
ing. Moreover, it was evident that
to people living among the hills an
argument based on unobstructed
vision was Ineffective; they had no
experience which helped to inter-
pret 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-.
tn1r IL ,at IA lA1 f,.nt Il
pretty nigh the ridge of it, and SC
came back all right, but he kept on
the top side all the time" said the
: minister. He added with gestures
that "thc world may be round this.
, away" Ii. e., round on top, "or even
} round this-a-way" ii. G., cylindricaD
"but hit aint round this-a-way" ii. e..
sphericaD.
t Then came the positive part of his
e argument. He appealed to reason and
+, observation; he had sat up one night
I to see whether the mill pond ceas9t
$ at any time to run over the dam, as
: with the slightest inclination of the
; earth this one level stretch of water
( should have done. He had been some
Y thing of traveller himself and hat
: been twice to Virginia and once wei
down in Tennessee, nor had he fount
e any place where the earth appeared
$ TO curve. He ridiculcd the theory
which would compel us TO hold on tc
the trees at night to keep from fall
e ing off, and squarely denied that
4 there could be any people on the un
Il der side of the earth walking will
heads down, and foolish enough t.
= think their heads were up.
e Then came my colleague, who re
e minded them of the fly on the apple
and illustrated by shadows on TIL,
e wall the theory of eclipse and th'
n procession of the seasons.
+ Then came the other minister. III
had come far--"cl'ar over the aidg,
n of the yirth in Laurel" as he iron
e ically told us in his introduction. III
s was not bound by any false notion o
g courtesy; he did not live here, he said
d and he proposed to hew to the lin
), and let the chips fly where the.
y would. This was an age of new ideas
v and most of them false ones; it wa
= time when people were likely to be
c lieve a lie and be damned; it was
r time for the friends of the truth t.
l. stand by the truth, and not let an.
e false ideas of friendship or hospital
ity keep them from exposing crro
S and branding it as such.
l. Having so spoken, he moved aroun
l to where he could confront me an
r, began his argument. He was q sta
It wart man, a giant in stature, an
It looked taller in his jeans coat, whic
= he wore without vest over his hicl
t. ory shirt, and his gray jeans trou
d sers. His name was the same as tina
of q Tennessee general in the civ
e war, and he was related to him. Cel
d tainly he showed no fear that nigh
e as he faced this new and dangcrou
i error.
a lie began with the declaration tha
ID the Bible declares that God laid th
corner stone of earth and stretche
r. the line upon it, He asked how
n straight line could conform to
m curved surface, or round earth hay
q corner stone. He went on to a
,c firm that the course of the sun
ii from one end of the heavens to tn
" other, and that il the sun is station
ID airy the Bible statement must be falls
re He showed that the Bible says thel
#. is nothing hid from the heat thereo
o. whereas / had told of the poles lor
v in darkness and in winter. He wei
81 through the Bible and sought out
Of long array of quotations. He got
k far as Joshua, and spent the rest
le his time upon him, and promised
resume next night. The closing a
I'd dresses summed up matters, but d
he not materially change the status