The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll Volume VIII Part 58

Let us hope.

--_The Journal_, New York, July 26, 1896.

A LITTLE OF EVERYTHING.

_Question_. What is your opinion of the position taken by the United States in the Venezuelan dispute? How should the dispute be settled?

_Answer_. I do not think that we have any interest in the dispute between Venezuela and England. It was and is none of our business.

The Monroe doctrine was not and is not in any way involved. Mr.

Cleveland made a mistake and so did Congress.

_Question_. What should be the att.i.tude of the church toward the stage?

_Answer_. It should be, what it always has been, against it. If the orthodox churches are right, then the stage is wrong. The stage makes people forget h.e.l.l; and this puts their souls in peril.

There will be forever a conflict between Shakespeare and the Bible.

_Question_. What do you think of the new woman?

_Answer_. I like her.

_Question_. Where rests the responsibility for the Armenian atrocities?

_Answer_. Religion is the cause of the hatred and bloodshed.

_Question_. What do you think of international marriages, as between t.i.tled foreigners and American heiresses?

_Answer_. My opinion is the same as is entertained by the American girl after the marriages. It is a great mistake.

_Question_. What do you think of England's Poet Laureate, Alfred Austin?

_Answer_. I have only read a few of his lines and they were not poetic. The office of Poet Laureate should be abolished. Men cannot write poems to order as they could deliver cabbages or beer.

By poems I do not mean jingles of words. I mean great thoughts clothed in splendor.

_Question_. What is your estimate of Susan B. Anthony?

_Answer_. Miss Anthony is one of the most remarkable women in the world. She has the enthusiasm of youth and spring, the courage and sincerity of a martyr. She is as reliable as the attraction of gravitation. She is absolutely true to her conviction, intellectually honest, logical, candid and infinitely persistent.

No human being has done more for women than Miss Anthony. She has won the respect and admiration of the best people on the earth.

And so I say: Good luck and long life to Susan B. Anthony.

_Question_. Which did more for his country, George Was.h.i.+ngton or Abraham Lincoln?

_Answer_. In my judgment, Lincoln was the greatest man ever President. I put him above Was.h.i.+ngton and Jefferson. He had the genius of goodness; and he was one of the wisest and shrewdest of men. Lincoln towers above them all.

_Question_. What gave rise to the report that you had been converted --did you go to church somewhere?

_Answer_. I visited the "People's Church" in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

This church has no creed. The object is to make people happy in this world. Miss Bartlett is the pastor. She is a remarkable woman and is devoting her life to good work. I liked her church and said so. This is all.

_Question_. Are there not some human natures so morally weak or diseased that they cannot keep from sin without the aid of some sort of religion?

_Answer_. I do not believe that the orthodox religion helps anybody to be just, generous or honest. Superst.i.tion is not the soil in which goodness grows. Falsehood is poor medicine.

_Question_. Would you consent to live in any but a Christian community? If you would, please name one.

_Answer_. I would not live in a community where all were orthodox Christians. I would rather dwell in Central Africa. If I could have my choice I would rather live among people who were free, who sought for truth and lived according to reason. Sometime there will be such a community.

_Question_. Is the noun "United States" singular or plural, as you use English?

_Answer_. I use it in the singular.

_Question_. Have you read Nordau's "Degeneracy"? If so, what do you think of it?

_Answer_. I think it is substantially insane.

_Question_. What do you think of Bishop Doane's advocacy of free rum as a solution of the liquor problem?

_Answer_. I am a believer in liberty. All the temperance legislation, all the temperance societies, all the agitation, all these things have done no good.

_Question_. Do you agree with Mr. Carnegie that a college education is of little or no practical value to a man?

_Answer_. A man must have education. It makes no difference where or how he gets it. To study the dead languages is time wasted so far as success in business is concerned. Most of the colleges in this country are poor because controlled by theologians.

_Question_. What suggestion would you make for the improvement of the newspapers of this country?

_Answer_. Every article in a newspaper should be signed by the writer. And all writers should do their best to tell the exact facts.

_Question_. What do you think of Niagara Falls?

_Answer_. It is a dangerous place. Those great rus.h.i.+ng waters-- there is nothing attractive to me in them. There is so much noise; so much tumult. It is simply a mighty force of nature--one of those tremendous powers that is to be feared for its danger. What I like in nature is a cultivated field, where men can work in the free open air, where there is quiet and repose--no turmoil, no strife, no tumult, no fearful roar or struggle for mastery. I do not like the crowded, stuffy workshop, where life is slavery and drudgery. Give me the calm, cultivated land of waving grain, of flowers, of happiness.

_Question_. What is worse than death?

_Answer_. Oh, a great many things. To be dishonored. To be worthless. To feel that you are a failure. To be insane. To be constantly afraid of the future. To lose the ones you love.

--_The Herald_, Rochester, New York, February 25, 1896.

IS LIFE WORTH LIVING--CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND POLITICS.

_Question_. With all your experiences, the trials, the responsibilities, the disappointments, the heartburnings, Colonel, is life worth living?

_Answer_. Well, I can only answer for myself. I like to be alive, to breathe the air, to look at the landscape, the clouds and stars, to repeat old poems, to look at pictures and statues, to hear music, the voices of the ones I love. I like to talk with my wife, my girls, my grandchildren. I like to sleep and to dream. Yes, you can say that life, to me, is worth living.