The Complete Works of Brann, the Iconoclast — Volume 01Brann, William Cowper
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The Complete Works of Brann, the Iconoclast — Volume 01
Brann, William Cowper
Brann, William Cowper, 1855-1898; Essays; Reformers
assiduously for baccili, instead of appealing to preachers
who may themselves be veritable breeding grounds for the
most destructive of all bacteria. It may be necessary, in
order to compel success, for the Rescuers to sacrifice
themselves upon the altar of science, to become martyrs to
the cause. In striving to save others from the pestilence
that walketh in darkness, they may be themselves
destroyed; but the true reformer draws back from no
danger. Let them take their lives in their hands, if need be,
boldly seize the bicycle bacillus by the ears and bump his
head.
The crisis is indeed acute; still we may rely on science to
save us. It is possible that the first step in that direction
has been already taken, for is not the insanity germ
discovered by the New York doctor responsible for the
"bicycle craze" as well as the reform frenzy? And if a
"free-silver lunatic" or "goldbug crank" can be permanently
cured by the simple expedient of boring a hole in his
lumbar region and drawing off the cerebro-spinal fluid, and
in it the microbes that build wheels in his head, is there not
hope that the bicycle habit may be altogether abolished by
the return of the "fiends" to mental normality? Now that
Dr. Babcock has learned to cast out devils, will not the
world be redeemed? Cert! Let the Women's Rescue
League take courage, and bask in the sunny optimism of
the ICONOCLAST. We'll soon have all the various brands
of bacteria in the bouillon; then there'll be nobody to rescue,
nothing to reform, and the Leaguers and the public can
take a much needed rest.
In all seriousness, I opine that the bike is a harmless
instrument when properly handled. The trouble is not so
much with the evasive machine as with the woman who
straddles it. It will carry its rider to church as rapidly as to
the Reservation. Doubtless many women employ it to seek
opportunities for evil--as a means of attracting the attention
of libidinous men; but had the bike never been built, they
would find some other way into the path of sin--would get
there just the same. There were courtesans before it
came; there will be demimondaines ages after its
departure. Mary Magdalen either walked or rode a mule
Aspasia was a "scorcher," but she couldn't "coast." Helen
of Troy never saw a pneumatic tire. Semiramis preferred a
side-saddle. Cleopatra didn't attract Col Antony's attention
by mounting a machine in the market place. The bike is no
more an incentive to bawdry than is a wheelbarrow. It
doesn't make a woman depraved; it only renders her
ridiculous.
EVIDENCES OF MAN'S IMMORTALITY.
Unless you accept the testimony of the Bible as
conclusive, what evidence have you of God's existence and
man's immortality?--GLADSTONE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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