Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-02-23
I'LL
LITERATURE AND LIFE
A. j. N.

! AN. !
!
DR.. Minot ]. Savage. of New YORK.
1.-THE noted Unitarian divine, is one OF
the most prolific writers in the MINIS
lItry. He turns out books faster than
the modern novelist: and like the lat
ter, some of his books also make
strange tumble of fiction and fact.
/ DIR. Savage is all right in the pulpit.
| With fine thought, copsous lllustrauon
and easy, simple, tluen. style, he mas
the art of presenting his sclentihc eA-
positions in an attractive form NO
man in the modern pulpit has so per-
sistently and successfully simplified
and popularized the doctrines of OAR
win and Spenser as has NJ. j. Savage.
| Nor has any preacher III the LIBERAL
church been so widely rehe. or done the
missionary work that hc has done al!
over the west, by means OF the little
pulpit brochures issued weekly from
his former Unity Pulpit of Boston
and present "All Souls Pulpit of New
York. These pamphlets penetrate to
|;eyery corner of the remotestwest where
| reither his voice nor that of any Uni
tartan clergyman has ever been heard.
Churches have been organized in COM
munities where the sole missionary
work was done was the distribution OF
Dr. Savage's sermons.
1 This little preamble in justice to the
man. But we draw the line at his spir-
litualism. His thirty-fifth and latest
book, Can Telepathy Explain" (Put-
nam Sons), is an Improbable study of
alleged spirit phenomena-raps. mes
sages voices, apparitions. telekinesis
spirit photography, music. etc. For the
bulk of this phenomena the author gives
| to his title q negative answer-as We
expected.
| He believes in the presence Of spirits
| to explain certain "wel;-attested" phe-
romena for which. he says, no hypothe-
sis based on the idiosyncrasies of the
brain furnish q satisfactory solution
And in support of his theory he cites
| evidence that not only w3uld not carry
conviction in a court Of justice. but
would be secuted by the ordinary
schoolboy.
Let this article be not construed as
an attack on the belief SO dear to many.
that the dead may reappear to mortal
! eye. We are not arguing here, either
| the truth or falsity of such doctrine. II
| is the class of phenomenon that DR..
| Savage cites and his spirit" solution
! that arouses our skepticism.
| There Is no scientist today OF any
repute who is ready to say just how far
telepathy, hypnotsm and kindred pow
ers can go toward explaining this class
| Of phenomena of which Mr.. Savage
treats; and when the latter makes bold
to classify his phenomena and say, this
is due to telepathy and that is due to
spirits, he assumes to know more than
any man, living or dead.
| Mr.. Savages assertion that he saw a
squore piano with six men sitting on
top of it, floating around the ceiling
| Gone of the we'll attested cases) is not
sufficient to convince another that he
actually saw it in his normal state of
mind. or, admitting 1t, that spirits had
any connection with 1t whatever. His
! argument is the old one of the moon
| ana green cheese; if it isn't spirits,
what is it? And there he has us.
| We are sorry for DR.. Savage. He is
brilliant thinker and reasonable
man when he lets spiritualism alone. 1t
is only when he touches this subject
| that he appears to lose his sanity and
descend to the ridiculous. But we
pose he is built that way and can't
! help 1t.
The Macmillan Company sends out a
statement of the sales of its six leading
novels:
| Cecilia" Crawford has sold $4,000
copies.
The Conqueror" (Atherton) 10000
copies.
Dorothy Vernon" (Major), 100000
copies.
.DThe virginian" CWister), $4,000
copies, netting it's author snug sum in
royalties.
Choir Invisible (Allen). 100000
copies.
The Crisis" (ChurchilD leads the
cake run with 100000 copies. 1t is said
the only book that has surpassed this
| is David Harum.'' of which 671,000
copies have been sold. Who says we are
not reading nation?
l
| 1t is said that Nine. Humbert is writ
| ing her story for publication. OF course
the Partisan publishers are greatly ex-
| cited and If true there will probably be
enough competition to enable the ma
dam to pay off all those creditors.
| The divine Sarah Bernhardt is al
so writing her memoirs. And what
lis more, she believes in building up
nome industry. She has refused a
'prodigious' offer from an American
house, and accepted French pub
Usher.
DR.. Parkhurst is planning an ideal
daily newspaper to be published in
New York. He says it will not be
religious daily, but that he believes in
religion, and religion in daily life; and
the news of the day offers suggestions
for the practical use of religion. He
says: 1.-THE people want news, clean
wholesome news. that will educate and
elevate, not degrade them. My idea
| is to print the facts without elabora-
ton or establishment, and to print
them for just what they are WORTH"
VI Ys,