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Contents of this file page
THE IMPROVED MAN. 1
WALL STREET SPEECH. 3
"MEN, WOMEN AND GODS." (PREFACE) 9
A TRIBUTE TO WALT WHITMAN. 14
**** ****
This file, its printout, or copies of either
are to be copied and given away, but NOT sold.
Bank of Wisdom, Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
The Works of ROBERT G. INGERSOLL
**** ****
THE IMPROVED MAN.
THE Improved Man will be in favor of universal liberty -- that
is to say, he will be opposed to all kings and nobles, to all
privileged classes. He will give to all others the rights he claims
for himself. He will neither bow nor cringe, nor accept bowing and
cringing from others. He will be neither master nor slave, neither
prince nor peasant -- simply man.
He will be the enemy of all caste, no matter whether its
foundation be wealth, title or power, and of him it will be said:
"Blessed is that man who is afraid of no man and of whom no man is
afraid."
The Improved Man will be in favor of universal education. He
will believe it the duty of every person to shed all the light he
can, to the end that no child may be reared in darkness. By
education he will mean the gaining of useful knowledge, the
development of the mind along the natural paths that lead to human
happiness.
He will not waste his time in ascertaining the foolish
theories of extinct peoples or in studying the dead languages for
the sake of understanding the theologies of ignorance and fear, but
he will turn his attention to the affairs of life, and will do his
utmost to see to it that every child has an opportunity to learn
the demonstrated facts of science, the true history of the world,
the great principles of right and wrong applicable to human conduct
-- the things necessary to the preservation of the individual and
of the state, and such arts and industries as are essential to the
preservation of all.
He will also endeavor to develop the mind in the direction of
the beautiful -- of the highest art -- so that the palace in which
the mind dwells may be enriched and rendered beautiful, to the end
that these stones, called facts, may be changed into statues.
The Improved Man will believe only in the religion of this
world. He will have nothing to do with the miraculous and
supernatural. He will find that there is no room in the universe
for these things. He will know that happiness is the only good, and
that everything that tends to the happiness of sentient beings is
good, and that to do the things -- and no other -- that add to the
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
1
THE IMPROVED MAN.
happiness of man is to practice the highest possible religion. His
motto will be: "Sufficient unto each world is the evil thereof." He
will know that each man should be his own priest, and that the
brain is the real cathedral. He will know that in the realm of maid
there is no authority -- that majorities in this mental world can
settle nothing -- that each soul is the sovereign of its own world,
and that it cannot abdicate without degrading itself. He will not
bow to numbers or force; to antiquity or custom. He, standing under
the flag of nature, under the blue and stars, will decide for
himself. He will not endeavor by prayers and supplication, by
fastings and genuflections, to change the mind of the "Infinite" or
alter the course of nature, neither will he employ others to do
those things in his place. He will have no confidence in the
religion of idleness, and will give no part of what he earns to
support parson or priest, archbishop or pope. He will know that
honest labor is the highest form of prayer. He will spend no time
in ringing bells of swinging sensers, or in chanting the litanies
of barbarism, but he will appreciate all that is artistic -- that
is beautiful -- that tends to refine and ennoble the human race. He
will not live a life of fear. He will stand in awe neither of man
nor ghosts. He will enjoy not only the sunshine of life, but will
bear with fortitude the darkest days. He will have no fear of
death. About the grave, there will be no terrors, and his life will
end as serenely as the sun rises.
The Improved Man will be satisfied that the supernatural does
not exist -- that behind every fact, every thought and dream is an
efficient cause. He will know that every human action is a
necessary product, and he will also know that men cannot be
reformed by punishment, by degradation or by revenge. He will
regard those who violate the laws of nature and the laws of States
as victims of conditions, of circumstances, and he will do what he
can for the well-being of his fellow-men.
The Improved Man will not give his life to the accumulation of
wealth. He will find no happiness in exciting the envy of his
neighbors. He will not care to live in a palace while others who
are good, industrious and kind are compelled to huddle in huts and
dens. He will know that great wealth is a great burden, and that to
accumulate beyond the actual needs of a reasonable human being is
to increase not wealth, but responsibility and trouble.
The Improved Man will find his greatest joy in the happiness
of others and he will know that the home is the real temple. He
will believe in the democracy of the fire-side, and will reap his
greatest reward in being loved by those whose lives he has
enriched.
The Improved Man will be self-poised, independent, candid and
free. He will be a scientist. He will observe, investigate,
experiment and demonstrate. He will use his sense and his senses.
He will keep his mind open as the day to the hints and suggestions
of nature. He will always be a student, a learner and a listener --
a believer in intellectual hospitality. In the world of his brain
there will be continuous summer, perpetual seed-time and harvest.
Facts will be the foundation of his faith. In one hand he will
carry the torch of truth, and with the other raise the fallen. --
The World, New York, February 23, 1890.
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
2
WALL STREET SPEECH.
1880.
FELLOW-CITIZENS of the Great City of New York: This is the
grandest audience I ever saw. This audience certifies that General
James A. Garfield is to be the next President of the United States.
This audience certifies that a Republican is to be the next mayor
of the city of New York. This audience certifies that the business
men of New York understand their interests, and that the business
men of New York are not going to let this country be controlled by
the rebel South and the rebel North. In 1860 the Democratic party
appealed to force; now it appeals to fraud. In 1860 the Democratic
party appealed to the sword; now it appeals to the pen. It was
treason then, it is forgery now, The Democratic party cannot be
trusted with the property or with the honor of the people of the
United States.
The city of New York owes a great debt to the country. Every
man that has cleared a farm has helped to build New York; every man
that helped to build a railway helped to build up the palaces of
this city. Where I am now speaking are the termini of all the
railways in the United States. They all come here. New York has
been built up by the labor of the country, and New York owes it to
the country to protect the best interests of the country.
The farmers of Illinois depend upon the merchants, the brokers
and the bankers, upon the gentlemen of New York, to beat the rabble
of New York. You owe to yourselves; you owe to the great Republic;
and this city that does the business of a hemisphere -- this city
that will in ten years be the financial center of this world --
owes it to itself, to be true to the great principles that have
allowed it to exist and flourish.
The Republicans of New York ought to say that this shall
forever be a free country. The Republicans of New York ought to say
that free speech shall forever be held sacred in the United States.
The Republicans of New York ought to see that the party that
defended the Nation shall still remain in power. The Republicans of
New York should see that the flag is safely held by the hands that
defended it in war. The Republicans of New York know that the
prosperity of the country depends upon good government, and they
also know that good government means protection to the people --
rich and poor, black and white. The Republicans of New York know
that a black friend is better than a white enemy. They know that a
negro while fighting for the Government, is better than any white
man who will fight against it.
The Republicans of New York know that the colored party in the
South which allows every man to vote as he pleases, is better than
any white man who is opposed to allowing a negro to cast his honest
vote. A black man in favor of liberty is better, than a white man
in favor of slavery. The Republicans of New York must be true to
their friends. This Government means to protect all its citizens,
at home and abroad, or it becomes a byword in the mouths of the
nations of the world.
Now, what do we want to do? We are going to have an election
next Tuesday, and every Republican knows why he is going to vote
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
3
WALL STREET SPEECH.
the Republican ticket; while every Democrat votes his without
knowing why. A Republican is a Republican because he loves
something; a Democrat is a Democrat because he hates something. A
Republican believes in progress; a Democrat in retrogression. A
Democrat is a "has been." He is a "used to be." The Republican
party lives on hope; the Democratic on memory. The Democrat keeps
his back to the sun and imagines himself a great man because he
casts a great shadow. Now, there are certain things. we want to
preserve -- that the business men of New York want to preserve --
and, in the first place, we want an honest ballot. And where the
Democratic party has power there never has been an honest ballot.
You take the worst ward in this city, and there is where you will
find the greatest Democratic majority. You know it, and so do I.
There is not a university in the North, East or West that has not
in it a Republican majority. There is not a penitentiary in the
United States that has not in it a Democratic majority -- and they
know it. Two years ago, about two hundred and eighty-three.
convicts were in the penitentiary of Maine. Out of that whole
number there was one Republican, and only one. [A voice -- "Who was
the man?"] Well, I do not know, but he broke out. He said that he
did not mind being in the penitentiary, but the company was a
little more than he could stand.
You cannot rely upon that party for an honest ballot. Every
law that has been passed in this country in the last twenty years,
to throw a safe-guard around the ballot-box, has been passed by the
Republican party. Every law that has been defeated has been
defeated by the Democratic party. And you know it. Unless we have
an honest ballot the days of the Republic are numbered; and the
only way to get an honest ballot is to beat the Democratic party
forever. And that is what we are going to do. That party can never
carry its record; that party is loaded down with the infamies of
twenty years; yes, that party is loaded down with the infamies of
fifty years. It will never elect a President in this world. I give
notice to the Democratic party to-day that it will have to change
its name before the people of the United States will change the
administration. You will have to change your natures; you will have
to change your personnel, and you will have to get enough
Republicans to join you and tell you how to run a campaign. If you
want an honest ballot -- and every honest man does -- then you will
vote to keep the Republican party in power. What else do you want?
You want honest money, and I say to the merchants and to the
bankers and to the brokers, the only party that will give you
honest money is the party that resumed specie payments. The only
party that will give you honest money is the party that said a
greenback is a broken promise until it is redeemed with gold. You
can only trust the party that has been honest in disaster. From
1863 to 1879 -- sixteen long years -- the Republican party was the
party of honor and principle, and the Republican party saved the
honor of the United States. And you know it.
During that time the Democratic party did what it could to
destroy our credit at home and abroad.
We are not only in favor of free speech, and an honest ballot
and honest money, but we are for law and order. What part of this
country believes in free speech -- the South or the North? The
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
4
WALL STREET SPEECH.
South would never give free speech to the country; there was no
free speech in the city of New York until the Republican party came
into power. The Democratic party has not intelligence enough to
know that free speech is the germ of this Republic. The Democratic
party cares little for free speech because it has no argument to
make -- no reasons to offer. Its entire argument is summed up and
ended in three words -- "Hurrah for Hancock!" The Republican party
believes in free speech because it has something to say; because it
believes in argument; because it believes in moral suasion; because
it believes in education. Any man that does not believe in free
speech is a barbarian. Any State that does not support it is not a
civilized State.
I have a right to express my opinion, in common with every
other human being, and I am willing to give to every other human
being the right that I claim for myself. Republicanism means
justice in politics. Republicanism means progress in civilization.
Republicanism means that every man shall be an educated patriot and
a gentleman. I want to say to you to-day that it is an honor to
belong to the republican party. It is an honor to have belonged to
it for twenty years; it is an honor to belong to the party that
elected Abraham Lincoln President. And let me say to you that
Lincoln was the greatest, the best, the purest, the kindest man
that has ever sat in the presidential chair. It is an honor to
belong to the Republican party that gave four millions of men the
rights of freemen; it is an honor to belong to the party that broke
the shackles from four millions of men, women and children. It is
an honor to belong to the party that declared that bloodhounds were
not the missionaries of civilization. It is an honor to belong to
the party that said it was a crime to steal a babe from its
mother's breast. It is an honor to belong to the party that swore
that this is a Nation forever, one and indivisible. It is an honor
to belong to the party that elected U. S. Grant President of the
United States. It is an honor to belong to the party that issued
thousands and thousands of millions of dollars in promises -- that
issued promises until they became as thick as the withered leaves
of winter; an honor to belong to the party that issued them to put
down a rebellion an honor to belong to the party that put it down
an honor to belong to the party that had the moral courage and
honesty to make every one of the promises made in war, as good as
shining, glittering gold in peace. And I tell you that if there is
another life, and if there is a day of judgment, all you need say
upon that solemn occasion is, "I was in life and in my death a good
square Republican."
I hate the doctrine of State Sovereignty because it fostered
State pride; because it fostered the idea that it is more to be a
citizen of a State than a citizen of this glorious country. I love
the whole country. I like New York because it is a part of the
country, and I like the country because it has New York in it. I am
not standing here to-day because the flag of New York floats over
my head, but because that flag, for which more heroic blood has
been shed than for any other flag that is kissed by the air of
heaven, waves forever over my head. That is the reason I am here.
The doctrine of State Sovereignty was appealed to in defence
of the slave-trade; the next time in defence of the slave trade as
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
5
WALL STREET SPEECH.
between the States; the next time in defence of the Fugitive Slave
Law; and if there is a Democrat in favor of the Fugitive Slave Law
he should be ashamed -- if not of himself -- of the ignorance of
the time in which he lived. That Fugitive Slave Law was a
compromise so that we might be friends of the South. They said in
1850-52: "If you catch the slave we will be your friend;" and they
tell us now "If you let us trample upon the rights of the black man
in the South, we will be your friend." I do not want their
friendship upon such terms. I am a friend of my friend, and an
enemy of my enemy. That is my doctrine. We might as well be honest
about it. Under that doctrine of State Rights, such men as I see
before me -- bankers, brokers, merchants, gentlemen -- were
expected to turn themselves into hounds and chase a poor fugitive
that had been lured by the love of liberty and guided by the
glittering North Star.
The Democratic party wanted you to keep your trade with the
South, no matter to what depths of degradation you had to sink, and
the Democratic party to-day says if you want to sell your goods to
the Southern people, you must throw your honor and manhood into the
streets. The patronage of the splendid North is enough to support
the city of New York.
There is another thing: Why is this city filled with palaces,
covered with wealth? Because American labor has been protected. I
am in favor of protection to American labor, everywhere. I am in
favor of protecting American brain and muscle; I am in favor of
giving scope to American ingenuity and American skill. We want a
market at home, and the only way to have it is to have mechanics at
home; and the only way to have mechanics is to have protection; and
the only way to have protection is to vote the Republican ticket.
You, business men of New York, know that General Garfield
understands the best interests not only of New York, but of the
entire country. And you want to stand by the men who will stand by
you. What does a simple soldier know about the wants of the city of
New York? What does he know about the wants of this great and
splendid country? If he does not know more about it than he knows
about the tariff he does not know much. I do not like to hit the
dead, My hatred stops with the grave, and I tell you we are going
to bury the Democratic party next Tuesday. The pulse is feeble now,
and if that party proposes to take advantage of the last hour, it
is time it should go into the repenting business. Nothing pleases
me better than to see the condition of that party to-day. What do
the Democrats know on the subject of the tariff? They are
frightened; they are rattled.
They swear their plank and platform meant nothing. They say in
effect: "When we put that in we lied; and now having made that
confession we hope you will have perfect confidence in us from this
out." Hancock says that the object of the party is to get the
tariff out of politics. That is the reason, I suppose, why they put
that plank in the platform. I presume he regards the tariff as a
little local issue, but I tell you to-day that the great question
of protecting American labor never will be taken out of politics.
As long as men work, as long as the laboring man has a wife and
family to support, just so long will he vote for the man that will
protect his wages.
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
6
WALL STREET SPEECH.
And you can no more take it out of politics than you can take
the question of Government out of politics. I do not want any
question taken out of politics. I want the people to settle these
questions for themselves, and the people of this country are
capable of doing it. If you do not believe it, read the returns
from Ohio and Indiana. There are other persons who would take the
question of office out of politics. Well, when we get the tariff
and office both out of politics, then, I presume, we will see two
parties on the same side. It will not do.
David A. Wells has come to the rescue of the Democratic party
on the tariff, and shed a few pathetic tears over scrap iron. But
it will not do. You cannot run this country on scraps.
We believe in the tariff because it gives skilled labor good
pay. We believe in the tariff because it allows the laboring man to
have something to eat. We believe in the tariff because it keeps
the hands of the producer close to the mouth of the devourer. We
believe in the tariff because it developed American brain; because
it builds up our towns and cities; because it makes Americans self-
supporting; because it makes us an independent Nation. And we
believe in the tariff because the Democratic party does not.
That plank in the Democratic party was intended for a dagger
to assassinate the prosperity of the North. The Northern people
have become aroused and that is the plank that is broken in the
Democratic platform; and that plank was wide enough when it broke
to let even Hancock through.
Gentlemen, they are gone. They are gone -- honor bright. Look
at the desperate means that have been resorted to by the Democratic
party, driven to the madness of desperation. Not satisfied with
having worn the tongue of slander to the very tonsils, not
satisfied with attacking the private reputation of a splendid man,
not satisfied with that, they have appealed to a crime; a
deliberate and infamous forgery has been committed. That forgery
has been upheld by some of the leaders of the Democratic party;
that forgery has been defended by men calling themselves
respectable. Leaders of the Democratic party have stood by and said
that they were acquainted with the handwriting of James A.
Garfield; and that the handwriting in the forged letter was his,
when they knew that it was absolutely unlike his. They knew it, and
no man has certified that that was the writing of James A. Garfield
who did not know that in his throat of throats he told a falsehood.
Every honest man in the city of New York ought to leave such
a party if he belongs to it. Every honest man ought to refuse to
belong to the party that did such an infamous crime.
Senator Barnum, chairman of the Democratic Committee, has lost
control. He is gone, and I will tell you what he puts me in mind
of. There was an old fellow used to come into town every Saturday
and get drunk. He had a little yoke of oxen, and the boys out of
pity used to throw him into the wagon and start the oxen for home.
just before he got home they had to go down a long hill, and the
oxen, when they got to the brow of it, commenced to run. Now and
then the wagon struck a stone and gave the old fellow an awful
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
7
WALL STREET SPEECH.
jolt, and that would wake him up. After he had looked up and had
one glance at the cattle he would fall helplessly back to the
bottom, and always say, "Gee a little, if anything." And that is
the only order Barnum has been able to give for the last two weeks
-- "Gee a little, if anything." I tell you now that forgery makes
doubly sure the election of James A. Garfield. The people of the
North believe in honest dealing; the people of the North believe in
free speech and an honest ballot. The people of the North believe
that this is a Nation; the people of the North hate treason; the
people of the North hate forgery; the people of the North hate
slander. The people of the North have made up their minds to give
to General Garfield a vindication of which any American may be
forever proud.
James A. Garfield is to-day a poor man, and you know that
there is not money enough in this magnificent street to buy the
honor and manhood of James A. Garfield. Money cannot make such a
man, and I will swear to you that money cannot buy him. James A.
Garfield to-day wears the glorious robe of honest poverty. He is a
poor man; I like to say it here in Wall Street; I like to say it
surrounded by the millions of America; I like to say it in the
midst of banks and bonds and stocks; I love to say it where gold is
piled -- that although a poor man, he is rich in honor; in
integrity he is wealthy, and in brain he is a millionaire. I know
him, and I like him. So do you all, gentlemen. Garfield was a poor
boy, he is a certificate of the splendid form of our Government.
Most of these magnificent buildings have been built by poor boys;
most of the success of New York began almost in poverty. You know
it. The kings of this street were once poor, and they may be poor
again; and if they are fools enough to vote for Hancock they ought
to be. Garfield is a certificate of the splendor of our Government,
that says to every poor boy, "All the avenues of honor are open to
you." I know him, and I like him. He is a scholar; he is a
statesman; he is a soldier; he is a patriot; and above all, he is
a magnificent man; and if every man in New York knew him as well as
I do, Garfield would not lose a hundred votes in this city.
Compare him with Hancock, and then compare General Arthur with
William H. English. If there ever was a pure Republican in this
world, General Arthur is one.
You know in Wall Street, there are some men always prophesying
disaster, there are some men always selling "short." That is what
the Democratic party is doing to-day. You know as well as I do that
if the Democratic party succeeds, every kind of property in the
United States will depreciate. You know it. There is not a man on
the street, who if he knew Hancock was to be elected would not sell
the stocks and bonds of every railroad in the United States
"short." I dare any broker here to deny it. There is not a man in
Wall or Broad Street, or in New York, but what knows the election
of Hancock will depreciate every share of railroad stock, every
railroad bond, every Government bond, in the United States of
America. And if you know that, I say it is a crime to vote for
Hancock and English.
I belong to the party that is prosperous when the country is
prosperous. I belong to the party that believes in good crops; that
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
8
WALL STREET SPEECH.
is glad when a fellow finds a gold mine; that rejoices when there
are forty bushels of wheat to the acre; that laughs when every
railroad declares dividends, that claps both its hands when every
investment pays; when the rain falls for the farmer, when the dew
lies lovingly on the grass. I belong to the party that is happy
when the people are happy; when the laboring man gets three dollars
a day; when he has roast beef on his table; when he has a carpet on
the floor; when he has a picture of Garfield on the wall. I belong
to the party that is happy when everybody smiles, when we have
plenty of money, good horses, good carriages; when our wives are
happy and our children feel glad. I belong to the party whose
banner floats side by side with the great flag of the country; that
does not grow fat on defeat.
The Democratic party is a party of famine; it is a good friend
of an early frost, it believes in the Colorado beetle and the
weevil. When the crops are bad the Democratic mouth opens from ear
to ear with smiles of joy; it is in partnership with bad luck; a
friend of empty pockets; rags help it. I am on the other side. The
Democratic party is the party of darkness. I believe in the party
of sunshine; and in the party that even in darkness believes that
the stars are shining and waiting for us.
Now, gentlemen, I have endeavored to give you a few reasons
for voting the Republican ticket; and I have given enough to
satisfy any reasonable man. And you know it. Do not go with the
Democratic party, young man. You have a character to make. You
cannot make it, as the Democratic party does, by passing a
resolution.
If your father voted the Democratic ticket, that is disgrace
enough for one family. Tell the old man you can stand it no longer.
Tell the old gentleman that you have made up your mind to stand
with the party of human progress; and if he asks you why you cannot
vote the Democratic ticket you tell him:
Every man that tried to destroy the Government, every man that
shot at the holy flag in heaven, every man that starved our
soldiers, every keeper of Libby, Andersonville and Salisbury, every
man that wanted to burn the negro, every one that wanted to scatter
yellow fever in the North, every man that opposed human liberty,
that regarded the auction-block as an altar and the howling of the
bloodhound as the music of the Union, every man who wept over the
corpse of slavery, that thought lashes on the naked back were a
legal tender for labor performed, every one willing to rob a mother
of her child -- every solitary one was a Democrat."
Tell him you cannot stand that party. Tell him you have to go
with the Republican party, and if he asks you why, tell him it
destroyed slavery, it preserved the Union, it paid the national
debt; it made our credit as good as that of any nation on the
earth. Tell him it makes every dollar in a four percent. bond worth
a dollar and ten cents; that it satisfies the demands of the
highest civilization. Tell the old man that the Republican party
preserved the honor of the Nation; that it believes in education;
that it looks upon the schoolhouse as a cathedral. Tell him that
the Republican party believes in absolute intellectual liberty; in
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
9
WALL STREET SPEECH.
absolute religious freedom: in human rights, and that human rights
rise above States. Tell him that the Republican party believes in
humanity, justice, human equality, and that the Republican party
believes this is a Nation and will be forever and ever; that an
honest ballot is the breath of the Republic's life; that honest
money is the blood of the Republic; and that nationality is the
great throbbing beat of the heart of the Republic. Tell him that.
And tell him that you are going to stand by the flag that the
patriots of the North carried upon the battle-field of death. Tell
him you are going to be true to the martyred dead; that you are
going to vote exactly as Lincoln would have voted were he living.
Tell him that if every traitor dead were living now, there would
issue from his lips of dust, "Hurrah for Hancock!" that could every
patriot rise, he would cry for Garfield and liberty; for union and
for human progress everywhere. Tell him that the South seeks to
secure by the ballot what it lost by the bayonet; to whip by the
ballot those who fought it in the field. But we saved the country;
and we have the heart and brains to take care of it. I will tell
you what we are going to do. We are going to treat them, in the
South just as well as we treat the people in the North. Victors
cannot afford to have malice. The North is too magnanimous to have
hatred. We will treat the South precisely as we treat the North.
There are thousands of good people there. Let us give them money to
improve their rivers and harbors; I want to see the sails of their
commerce filled with the breezes of prosperity; their fences
rebuilt; their houses painted. I want to see their towns prosperous
want to see schoolhouses in every town want to see books in the
hands of every child, and papers and magazines in every house; I
want to see all the rays of light, of civilization of the
nineteenth century, enter every home of the South; and in a little
while you will see that country full of good Republicans. We can
afford to be kind; we cannot afford to be unkind.
I will shake hands cordially with every believer in human
liberty; I will shake hands with every believer in Nationality; I
will shake hands with every man who is the friend of the human
race. That is my doctrine. I believe in the great Republic; in this
magnificent country of ours. I believe in the great people of the
United States. I believe in the muscle and brain of America, in the
prairies and forests. I believe in New York. I believe in the
brains of your city. I believe that you know enough to vote the
Republican ticket. I believe that you are grand enough to stand by
the country that has stood by you. But whatever you do, I never
shall cease to thank you for the great honor you have conferred
upon me this day.
NOTE. -- This being a newspaper report it is necessarily
incomplete.
END
**** ****
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
10
"MEN, WOMEN AND GODS."
PREFACE TO HELEN H. GARDENER'S
NOTHING gives me more pleasure, nothing gives greater promise
for the future, than the fact that woman is achieving intellectual
and physical liberty.
It is refreshing to know that here, in our country, there are
thousands of women who think, and express their thoughts -- who are
thoroughly free and thoroughly conscientious -- who have neither
been narrowed nor corrupted by a heartless creed -- who do not
worship a being in heaven whom they would shudderingly loathe on
earth -- women who do not stand before the altar of a cruel faith,
with downcast eyes of timid acquiescence, and pay to impudent
authority the tribute of a thoughtless yes. They are no longer
satisfied with being told. They examine for themselves. They have
ceased to be the prisoners of society -- the satisfied serfs of
husbands, or the echoer of priests. They demand the rights that
naturally belong to intelligent human beings. If wives, they wish
to be the equals of husbands. If mothers, they wish to rear their
children in the atmosphere of love, liberty and philosophy. They
believe that woman can discharge all her duties without the aid of
superstition, and preserve all that is true, pure, and tender,
without sacrificing in the temple of absurdity the convictions of
the soul.
Woman is not the intellectual inferior of man. She has lacked
not mind, but opportunity. In the long night of barbarism, physical
strength and the cruelty to use it, were the badges of superiority.
Muscle was more than mind. In the ignorant age of Faith, the loving
nature of woman was abused. Her conscience was rendered morbid and
diseased. It might almost be said that she was betrayed by her own
virtues. At best she secured, not opportunity, but flattery -- the
preface to degradation. She was deprived of liberty, and without
that, nothing is worth the having. She was taught to obey without
question, and to believe without thought. There were universities
for men before the alphabet had been taught to women. At the
intellectual feast, there we're no places for wives and mothers.
Even now they sit at the second table and eat the crusts and
crumbs. The schools for women, at the present time, are just far
enough behind those for men, to fall heirs to the discarded; on the
same principle that when a doctrine becomes too absurd for the
pulpit, it is given to the Sunday-school.
The ages of muscle and miracle -- of fists and faith -- are
passing away. Minerva occupies at last a higher niche than
Hercules. Now a word is stronger than a blow. At last we see women
who depend upon themselves -- who stand, self poised, the shocks of
this sad world, without leaning for support against a church -- who
do not go to the literature of barbarism for consolation, or use
the falsehoods and mistakes of the past for the foundation of their
hope -- women brave enough and tender enough to meet and bear the
facts and fortunes of this world.
The men who declare that woman is the intellectual inferior of
man, do not, and cannot, by offering themselves in evidence,
substantiate their declaration.
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
11
"MEN, WOMEN AND GODS."
Yet, I must admit that there are thousands of wives who still
have faith in the saving power of superstition -- who still insist
on attending church while husbands prefer the shores, the woods, or
the fields. In this way, families are divided. Parents grow apart,
and unconsciously the pearl of greatest price is thrown away. The
wife ceases to be the intellectual companion of the husband. She
reads The Christian Register, sermons in the Monday papers, and a
little gossip about folks and fashions, while he studies the works
of Darwin, Haeckel, and Humboldt. Their sympathies become
estranged. They are no longer mental friends. The husband smiles at
the follies of the wife, and she weeps for the supposed sins of the
husband. Such wives should read this book. They should not be
satisfied to remain forever in the cradle of thought, amused with
the toys of superstition.
The parasite of woman is the priest.
It must also be admitted that there are thousands of men who
believe that superstition is good for women and children -- who
regard falsehood as the fortress of virtue, and feel indebted to
ignorance for the purity of daughters and the fidelity of wives.
These men think of priests as detectives in disguise, and regard
God as a policeman who prevents elopements. Their opinions about
religion are as correct as their estimate of woman.
The church furnishes but little food for the mind. People of
intelligence are growing tired of the platitudes of the pulpit --
the iterations of the itinerants. The average sermon is "as tedious
as a twice told tale vexing the ears of a drowsy man."
One Sunday a gentleman, who is a great inventor, called at my
house. Only a few words had passed between us, when he arose,
saying that he must go as it was time for church. Wondering that a
man of his mental wealth could enjoy the intellectual poverty of
the pulpit, I asked for an explanation, and he gave me the
following: "You know that I am an inventor. Well, the moment my
mind becomes absorbed in some difficult problem, I am afraid that
something may happen to distract my attention. Now, I know that I
can sit in church for an hour without the slightest danger of
having the current of my thought disturbed."
Most women cling to the Bible because they have been taught
that to give up that book is to give up all hope of another life of
ever meeting again the loved and lost. They have also been taught
that the Bible is their friend, their defender, and the real
civilizer of man.
Now, if they will only read this book -- these three lectures,
without fear, and then read the Bible, they will see that the truth
or falsity of the dogma of inspiration has nothing to do with the
question of immortality. Certainly the Old Testament does not teach
us that there is another life, and upon that question even the New
is obscure and vague. The hunger of the heart finds only a few
small and scattered crumbs. There is nothing definite, solid, and
satisfying. United with the idea of immortality we find the
absurdity of the resurrection. A prophecy that depends for its
fulfillment upon an impossibility, cannot satisfy the brain or
heart.
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
12
"MEN, WOMEN AND GODS."
There are but few who do not long for a dawn beyond the night.
And this longing is born of and nourished by the heart. Love
wrapped in shadow -- bending with tear-filled eyes above its dead,
convulsively clasps the outstretched hand of hope.
I had the pleasure of introducing Miss Gardener to her first
audience, and in that introduction said a few words that I will
repeat.
"We do not know, we cannot say, whether death is a wall or a
door; the beginning or end of a day; the spreading of pinions to
soar, or the folding forever of wings; the rise or the set of a
sun, or an endless life that brings the rapture of love to every
one.
"Under the seven-hued arch of hope let the dead sleep."
They will also discover, as they read the "Sacred Volume,"
that it is not the friend of woman. They will find that the writers
of that book, for the most part, speak of woman as a poor beast of
burden, a serf, a drudge, a kind of necessary evil -- as mere
property. Surely, a book that upholds polygamy is not the friend of
wife and mother.
Even Christ did not place woman on an equality with man. He
said not one word about the sacredness of home, the duties of the
husband to the wife -- nothing calculated to lighten the hearts of
those who bear the saddest burdens of this life.
They will also find that the Bible has not civilized mankind.
A book that establishes and defends slavery and wanton war is not
calculated to soften the hearts of those who believe implicitly
that it is the work of God. A book that not only permits, but
commands, religious persecution, has not, in my judgment, developed
the affectionate nature of man. Its influence has been bad and bad
only. It has filled the world with bitterness, revenge and crime,
and retarded in countless ways the progress of our race.
The writer of this volume has read the Bible with open eyes.
The mist of sentimentality has not clouded her vision. She has had
the courage to tell the result of her investigations. She has been
quick to discover contradictions. She appreciates the humorous side
of the stupidly solemn. Her heart protests against the cruel, and
her brain rejects the childish, the unnatural and absurd. There is
no misunderstanding between her head and heart. She says what she
thinks, and feels what she says.
No human being can answer her arguments. There is no answer.
All the priests in the world cannot explain away her objections.
There is no explanation. They should remain dumb, unless they can
show that the impossible is the probable -- that slavery is better
than freedom -- that polygamy is the friend of woman -- that the
innocent can justly suffer for the guilty, and that to persecute
for opinion's sake is an act of love and worship.
Wives who cease to learn -- who simply forget and believe --
will fill the evening of their lives with barren sighs and bitter
tears.
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
13
"MEN, WOMEN AND GODS."
The mind should outlast youth. If when beauty fades, Thought,
the deft and unseen sculptor, hath not left his subtle lines upon
the face, then all is lost. No charm is left. The light is out.
There is no flame within to glorify the wrinkled clay.
Hoffman House, New York, July, 22, 1885.
END
**** ****
A TRIBUTE TO WALT WHITMAN.
Camden, N.J., March 30, 1892.
MY FRIENDS: Again we, in the mystery of Life, are brought face
to face with the mystery of Death. A great man, a great American,
the most eminent citizen of this Republic, lies dead before us, and
we have met to pay a tribute to his greatness and his worth.
I know he needs no words of mine. His fame is secure. He laid
the foundations of it deep in the human heart and brain. He was,
above all I have known, the poet of humanity, of sympathy. He was
so great that he rose above the greatest that he met without
arrogance, and so great that he stooped to the lowest without
conscious condescension. He never claimed to be lower or greater
than any of the sons of men.
He came into our generation a free, untrammeled spirit, with
sympathy for all. His arm was beneath the form of the sick. He
sympathized with the imprisoned and despised, and even on the brow
of crime he was great enough to place the kiss of human sympathy.
One of the greatest lines in our literature is his, and the
line is great enough to do honor to the greatest genius that has
ever lived. He said, speaking of an outcast: "Not till the sun
excludes you do I exclude you."
His charity was as wide as the sky, and wherever there was
human suffering, human misfortune, the sympathy of Whitman bent
above it as the firmament bends above the earth.
He was built on a broad and splendid plan -- ample, without
appearing to have limitations -- passing easily for a brother of
mountains and seas and constellations; caring nothing for the
little maps and charts with which timid pilots hug the shore, but
giving himself freely with recklessness of genius to winds and
waves and tides; caring for nothing as long as the stars were above
him. He walked among men, among writers, among verbal varnishers
and veneerers, among literary milliners and tailors, with the
unconscious majesty of an antique god.
He was the poet of that divine democracy which gives equal
rights to all the sons and daughters of men. He uttered the great
American voice; uttered a song worthy of the great Republic. No man
ever said more for the rights of humanity, more in favor of real
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
14
A TRIBUTE TO WALT WHITMAN.
democracy, of real justice. He neither scorned nor cringed, was
neither tyrant nor slave. He asked only to stand the equal of his
fellows beneath the great flag of nature, the blue and stars.
He was the poet of Life. It was a joy simply to breathe. He
loved the clouds; he enjoyed the breath of morning, the twilight,
the wind, the winding streams. He loved to look at the sea when the
waves burst into the whitecaps of joy. He loved the fields, the
hills; he was acquainted with the trees, with birds, with all the
beautiful objects of the earth. He not only saw these objects, but
understood their meaning, and he used them that he might exhibit
his heart to his fellow-men.
He was the poet of Love. He was not ashamed of that divine
passion that has built every home in the world; that divine passion
that has painted every picture and given us every real work of art;
that divine passion that has made the world worth living in and has
given some value to human life.
He was the poet of the natural, and taught men not to be
ashamed of that which is natural. He was not only the poet of
democracy, not only the poet of the great Republic, but he was the
Poet of the human race. He was not confined to the limits of this
country, but his sympathy went out over the seas to all the nations
of the earth.
He stretched out his hand and felt himself the equal of all
kings and of all princes, and the brother of all men, no matter how
high, no matter how low.
He has uttered more supreme words than any writer of our
century, possibly of almost any other. He was, above all things, a
man, and above genius, above all the snow-capped peaks of
intelligence, above all art, rises the true man, Greater than all
is the true man, and he walked among his fellow-men as such.
He was the poet of Death. He accepted all life and all death,
and he justified all. He had the courage to meet all, and was great
enough and splendid enough to harmonize all and to accept all there
is of life as a divine melody.
You know better than I what his life has been, but let me say
one thing. Knowing, as he did, what others can know and what they
cannot, he accepted and absorbed all theories, all creeds, all
religions, and believed in none. His philosophy was a sky that
embraced all clouds and accounted for all clouds. He had a
philosophy and a religion of his own, broader, as he believed --
and as I believe -- than others. He accepted all, he understood
all, and he was above all.
He was absolutely true to himself. He had frankness and
courage, and he was as candid as light. He was willing that all the
sons of men should be absolutely acquainted with his heart and
brain. He had nothing to conceal. Frank, candid, pure, serene,
noble, and yet for years he was maligned and slandered, simply
because he had the candor of nature. He will be understood yet, and
that for which he was condemned -- his frankness, his candor --
will add to the glory and greatness of his fame.
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
15
A TRIBUTE TO WALT WHITMAN.
He wrote a liturgy for mankind; he wrote a great and splendid
psalm of life, and he gave to us the gospel of humanity -- the
greatest gospel that can be preached.
He was not afraid to live, not afraid to die. For many years
he and death were near neighbors. He was always willing and ready
to meet and greet this king called death, and for many months he
sat in the deepening twilight waiting for the night, waiting for
the light.
He never lost his hope. When the mists filled the valleys, he
looked upon the mountain tops, and when the mountains in darkness
disappeared, he fixed his gaze upon the stars.
In his brain were the blessed memories of the day, and in his
heart were mingled the dawn and dusk of life.
He was not afraid; he was cheerful every moment. The laughing
nymphs of day did not desert him. They remained that they might
clasp the hands and greet with smiles the veiled and silent sisters
of the night. And when they did come, Walt Whitman stretched his
hand to them. On one side were the nymphs of the day, and on the
other the silent sisters of the night, and so, hand in hand,
between smiles and tears, he reached his journey's end.
From the frontier of life, from the western wave-kissed shore,
he sent us messages of content and hope, and these messages seem
now like strains of music blown by the "Mystic Trumpeter" from
Death's pale realm.
To-day we give back to Mother Nature, to her clasp and kiss,
one of the bravest, sweetest souls that ever lived in human clay.
Charitable as the air and generous as Nature, he was negligent
of all except to do and say what he believed he should do and
should say.
And I to-day thank him, not only for you but for myself, --
for all the brave words he has uttered. I thank him for all the
great and splendid words he has said in favor of liberty, in favor
of man and woman, in favor of motherhood, in favor of fathers, in
favor of children, and I thank him for the brave words that he has
said of death.
He has lived, he has died, and death is less terrible than it
was before. Thousands and millions will walk down into the "dark
valley of the shadow" holding Walt Whitman by the hand. Long after
we are dead the brave words he has spoken will sound like trumpets
to the dying.
And so I lay this little wreath upon this great man's tomb. I
loved him living, and I love him still.
**** ****
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
16
