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8 THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1906. OUTCOME OF AGNOSTICISM 11 By REV. JAMES W. LEE, PASTOR TRINITY METHODIST CHURCH There I* .not In modem'-time* a completer Illustration of the outcome of a wrong fttlkisophlc.basU than l« fur nished In the life and writings of Her bert Spencor. .. His system of phlloao'phy Is the moat comprehensive In the English'language, and It Is remarkable that, while Jt has been the fashion to laugh at the only system in modern times that can be compared with It, that of Hegel, Eng lish-speaking peoples have swallowed the doctrines of Spencer, and by them have been Influenced as by.the teach ings of no other thinker of the past fif ty years. Hegel and Spencer are as unlike as two thinkers ever were. The foundation of Hegel's system Is know- able mind; the foundation of Spen cer's Is unknowable force. They both, however, worked In accordance with the principle of evolution. Hegel's evo lution was a logical process, a pure dialectic movement of thought, from premise to conclusion. He started with the thought of the absolute Ood, and found In nature and history the work ing out, the gradual externallzatlon, of the mind of God. Spencer's evolution Is a process of becomlng* .too, but he starts with ulti mate, Inscrutable, persistent force, and sees In all variety of life and mind the manifestations of this unknowable, per sistent energy. Hegel begins with a knowledge of God and ends with a knowable man, and sees In the material universe the literature of God's mind, which man. made In the Image of God, has a mind to read and Interpret. Spencer begins with Inscrutable ener gy and throw's the universe, with life and mind and religion. Into terms of matter, motion and force. At the bot tom of Hegel's universe there Is an Idea of the Almighty God; at the bot tom of Spencer’s there Is the boiling fire mist of the unknowable. Hegel Insures the mental sanity of man by I mowing him • that the world • In which he Urea la guided by a mind he can'iin~ derstand and adjust himself; to. Spencer opehs the way for mental chaos and confusion by propounding a doctrine of the world which looks upon all that Is or that he loves as so much transformed heat or inscrutable ener gy, which, If accepted, would destroy all moral distinctions. Jf all we see Is so much transformed force or energy or heat, then there can be no funda mental difference between right and wrong. Love In the hearts of men is transformed force, but so Is poison In the fangs of snakes. •Mr. Spencer's whole system of phil osophy Is utterly contradictory. His theory of being Is as transcendental as Hegel’s, while his theory of knowl edge is as sensational as John Lock's. The truth is. Mr. Spencer's unknow able bad nearly all* the attributes us ually ascribed to the God of the Bible, except It did not have any sense. It Is a real, omnipotent, casual, omni present, unconditioned, persistent, in scrutable Idiot. With such a being at \ the head of the universe, what security has man beneath or above or beyond him? The whole material and moral and spiritual order Is left without a re sponsible head and guide. All things are reduced to the meaningless level of Indifference. On pages 31-38 of "First Principles,’’ he says: ‘.‘Self-existenfce, therefore, necessarily means existence without a beginning; and to form a conception of self-existence is to form a con ception of existence without a begin ning. Now, by no mental efTort can we do this. To conceive existence through infinite past time, implies the conception of Infinite past time, which is an Impossibility." Hence, belief In a self-existent God would seem, In Mr. Spencer's opinion, to be absurd. Here Mr. Spencer makes the mistake of confusing the nature of a thing with the quantity of a thing. We can not picture to our mind all past time, but w'e can hold before the mind a mo ment, an hour or a day of that time. We thus gat at the nature of it, as well As if we could run back through all’past tlrpe and get an image of It. But on page 173 of the second part of "First Principles’’ Mr. Spencer treats of the indestructibility of matter and says: "The doctrine that matter is Indestructible has now become a com monplace. Matter never either comes Into existence or ceases to exist. Then matter has existed throughout all past time and will continue to exist, through all future time. It had no beginning, it will have no end.’’ But to think of matter as thus eternally exist ent Is It not necessary to conceive existence through Infinite past time, which implies the conception of Infinite past time, which Mr. Spencer says is an impossoblllty? To rule out a self- exlstent God, because belief In such a God implies the conception of Infinite past time, and then make it a mere commonplace to believe in the inde structibility of matter, to do which Im plies the conception of Infinite past time, is contradictory and absurd. It Is just as rational to believe In a self- existent God, and puts the faith faculty to no greater strain, than to believe In self-existent matter. On page 182 of "First Principles’’ it Is said: "The very nature of intelli gence negatives the supposition that motion can be conceived (much less known) either to commence or to cease.’’ If motion Is thought of as never beginning and never .ceasing, are not Infinite past time and infinite fu ture both conceived? And If the mind can believe In motion without begin ning and without ending, why not in a God without beginning and without ending? Why rule out God and keep In motion If the same thought condi tions are necessary to accept the one as the other? On page 19. sixth chapter, of the second part of "First Principles,” Mr. Spencer treats of the persistence of force, and claims that matter and mo tion are known through force. To be lieve In the persistence of force It Is necessary to accept a scientific doc- REV. JAMES W. LEE. trine that Implies the conception of all future time. This Mr. Spencer claims, when treating the matter of Self-ex istence or a self-existent God, Is an Impossibility. Now, the indestructibility of matter, the continuity of motion, the persist ence of force, constitute the fundamen- al elements of Mr. Spencer’s philoso phy. The acceptance of these princi ples makes the same claims upon the human mind and faith that acceptance of the God of the Bible and the God of our fathers does’ Yet belief In the one he would claim to be rational, while belief in the other Is absurd. This Is certainly a contradiction. Now,* take Mr. Spencer’s "Unknow able." He seeks to show from the athe istic, pantheistic arid thelstlc explana tion of the universe that the power which the universe manifests to us is utterly Inscrutable, that “space and time are wholly Incomprehensible," that “matterin Its Ultimate nature Is as absolutely Incomprehensible as space and time," that "all efforts to under stand the essential nature of motion do but bring us to alternative impossibili ties, of thought," and so forth. Thus all things are lauded by him In the "Unknowable"—matter, motion, force, time, space, persoriillty and conscious, ness. *A man jvho could construct the uni verse out of boundless, boiling, uncon? dltloned, Inscrutable energy and out of this seething, illimitable, persistent force get life and mind and art and church and state, ii capable of accom plishing other marvelous undertakings. Religion, Mr. Spencfer said, was a won derful and stupendous something, and as he had set about accounting for all that, is, or ever had been, he felt It to be proper to show how religion came to be. And though In the beginning of his synthetic system Ife declared re ligion to be as normal and as much a part of man’s nature as any other fac ulty, yet when he came to treat the subject more fully In his sociology he showed that It had its origin in un real dreams, brought about In the sav age by eating too much fresh meat. The doctrine that we do not know things In themselves can not stand the test of the practical life. It never had more thorough application to life than was given it by Mr. Spencer. He became an ascetic through devotion to It. Old Simon Styletes, on his pil lar by Antioch, standing for thirty years through heat and cold, was never more consecrated to his conception of the godly life than was Mr. Spencer given up to his view of the universe as so much inscrutable force. Bpt the Spencerian system when as sumed to be true does not act In prac tice as though It were true. Mr. Spen cer himself lived long enou?h to see his philosophy In ruins. He became a pessimist, for he saw the life of his time, domestic, political, social, Insti tutional, taking other forms than such as he had mapped out. for It He saw it rising and taking other directions than those Indicated by his philosophy. The conclusion, therefore, to which he came, was that as life did not advance according to the lines of his synthetic program. It was In a state of decadencer Thus nothing was left him, as he con* tempiated the distance between the shores of his thinking and Such as the current of human Interests was cut ting for Itself to flow through, but a wall. The persistent force Issulng.torih from the dark, unfathomable unknown had broken over.the boundaries of the mental dykes Mr. Spencer had built to surroupd It, and regulate It, He was optimistic enough at the beginning to suppose that the universe of life and mind would move In accordance with the program he sketched for It, but they did not, and so nothing was left him but disappointment and despair. Instead of concluding that he was wrong, that he had .failed to. see the drift of the nature of things—he held firmly to the view that lie was right, and therefore the nature of things wrong. As he left the poor old world, which he saw refusing to remain In the synthetic trap, he, with, so much pains, built and sej for It, he saw nothing ahead but collapse and ruin. What a contrast with the pessimism of Mr. Spencer as he left the world, Is pre sented to us In the optimism of St. Paul as he left It! St. Paul saw things as they were—far from what they ought to be, but he saw back of them and be neath them, not inscrutable force, but the Almighty God, and he saw them gradually through the ages coming into line with the Increasing and slowly ; culminating purpose of God, so he left the world happy, buoyant, victorious What a contrast between Herbert Spencer and Augustine! * He saw the Roman empire falling into ruin around him. but he saw also the city of God coming to take Its place, as well as that of all other earthly empires, be cause back of all things, and overrul ing all things, he saw the Almighty God working to.bring a new heaven and a new earth In place of such as were perishing and passing. When the universe Is reduced to terms of matter and force It becomes cheap, human life on Its surface be comes common and Omar Khayyam voices the sentiment of all who think when he says, "The .end of life \n a skull and a few- fallen rose leaves." Our highest worldly hopes are but snow on the desert's dusty face. Beauty is a robe to be cast oft as we pass into the dark, cold tomb, stilling our senses with poppies. All intellectual endeavor is at last so many molderlng brains and so many fine-spun theories, on the face of every child one may hope, but In the face of every grown man he can read despair. "We are no other than a moving row Of magic show-shapes that come and go Round with this sun-illumined lantern held In midnight by the Master of the show. Impotent pieces of the game he plav* Upon this checker board of nights and days. Hither and thither moves, and checks and slays, And one by one back In the closet lays.” And then the true philosophy of life Is the old Epicurean conclusion, other wise expressed: "Some for the glories of this world, and some Sigh for the prophet’s paradise to come. Ah! take the cash, and let the credit go, Nor heed the rumble of a distant drum.” MY OLD CONFEDERATE "I, thine hurt right ae my hurt i* with thy heart? If it be, give me thine hand." —II KINGS 10; 15. By REV. JOHN E. WHITE, PASTOR SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH '•••••••••••••••••I !••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••I T HERE Is an old Confederate sol dier now passing 70, with, whom I have been* communing of late as one would with a rare visitor from Another world, whose departure was near at -hand. He represents in the Judgment of his old comrades about as good ns there was, and you know what that means.- He differs In two slight respects from some of them. He didn’t surrender at Appomattox. I once asked him why. "I didn't fee! like It. I ex pect I felt about like Bill Arp's Geor gian; who was stopped on his return. Southward In ’65 and asked 'where he was going and what he was going to do.’ He said, ‘I am going back to San- dersvllle, kiss my wife and children. jalae a crop and If the Yankees bother ms any mofe Til whip ’em again/ When things got "to a point at Appo mattox It occurred to me that I hadn't done anything to surrender for. Be sides, I had a wound that needed a bet ter climate than Fort Delaware, so 1 told Bob, my mess mate. If he would lug the saddle I’d carry the blanket and we’d go home." My old Confederate brought back from Virginia Intact what he carried over there—an honest heart, a high moral purpose, a dean Southern soul, of which no disasters robbed him. The war did not sour him. He hasn't been a failure In life either. Another pecu liarity of hls Is a pet conceit, that compels assent when he explains him self, that for the true Confederate sol dier who realised the deep things of that war there Is no such thing and never was, as "The lost cause." To put It In hls phrase, "The Confederate sol dier Is the cosmopolitan of the moral universe, alike a comrade of all the world’s poor and all the world’s rich/* If there are any poor he can say to them, "I am your equal, for 1 have lived desolate amidst a great desola tion." If there are any rich and proud he can say, "I, too, am your equal, for 1 have a heritage of valor and human glory purchased with more than millions." I never knew him to lower hls flag of Aversion to the phrase, “The lost cause" but once. I saw him throw down a newspaper not long ago in a biasing wrath. He was greatly stirred up. My Inquiry calmed him Immediately. "Oh, well,*’ he said, “the South did not have a "lost cause" in 1865, but if some of these politicians and newspapers keep on the way they are going we will have one yet, and there won’t be a place In the moral regard of mankind big enough for the Southern people to put one foot on.” 1 didn't ask him what he meant. #I can not begin to tell you how this grand old man has Interested me and helped me. But, frankly. 1 stand In awe of him when I realize what he actually signifies. Sometimes when I have come from my books of history on the war between the states I have to rub my eyes to appreciate that he Is what I have been reading about. We young men do not grasp the his torical. dramatic fact of the Confeder ate soldier. We are letting our South ern herology slip through our fingers. Why, over in Europe you can see at any time great companies of people who have made pilgrimages from all over the world Just to look at the spot w’here some’old knight of Insignificant wars stood or Is burled. Do you realise when you are In the presence of an old Confederate soldier that you are there in eye reach and hand touch of a real flesh and blood of man who not only lived In the most terrific hours and minutes the American republic ever bad or ever will have, but who was at the hissing center of the vortex of It all, an actual actor.In scenes of su preme tragedy„ that commanded the breathless audience of nil Christendom? That man*yba pass on the street with out a second look is the incarnate sur vivor of an experience that almost broke the nineteenth century In twain. My old Confederate Is unconscious of the Impression ho makes on me. He hns wounds he can not hide, but he never wears them for ornament. He speaks of Manassas and Gettysburg in the calmest sort of way. /There Is one Impression, however, the chance to make he never allows to go by. He loves the Southland. Old Mortality in Walter Scott's book went about chip ping names off the tombstones. I think my old Confederate would like to go about cutting hls faith and creed of the South on the heart of every youngster he could find. One day since our riot In Atlanta I called on him very much In earnest about seeing him. I wnnted him, if he could, to give me out of his chastened life and hls memory of the South’s troubles some w’ord that might be light, something that might guide us all who did not live then, but who do live now and have a man's part to bear in the South. I found him at hls book case. That Is In Itself a quaint afTalr. It Is filled with books tunny of which we younger men do not know very well. They are volumes w'hioh relate to tho period when the South was the zenith star of all the constellations, when the South ern states were the largest moral and political assets humanity had on the orld's map, the hundred years of Washington, Hancock, Jefferson, Mar shall, Lee. Monroe, Madison, Henry, Macon, Crawford, Preston and Mc Duffie, when the Southerners were a people regarding Democracy and lib erty what the Palestinians had been regarding religion and the Athenians had been regarding art and culture. When I Interrupted him he swept hls hand along their serried titles with a senatorial dignity he has. "Here are some springs, my son," he said, "that your cotton lint and coal smoke ought never to choke. I am thinking," he added facetiously, of let ting them go to found a Southern cir culating library to save your tribe from some of your flimsy foundations. But come, you have something. What is It?" When we were seated I said: "Cgptaln, I want to talk to you about myself.” “Ah, a very grand subject, you think!" “No, I don’t mean that. I want seri ously to ask you some things that do concern me personally and a great many others like me. I have the idea that I suppose we all have that Southern man If In some sense differ ent from others, that to be born In the South Is a distinction of character, a peculiar pre-eminence. And I want to know what It is and If it in any way exempts me from the standards by which men are generally justly to be Judged?’’ His pause Indicated that he was en couraging me to get entirely through my speech. "I want to know that, and what I mean is I really want to know what is a true Southerner?” "I was about to be amused at you," lie began. “You appeared to be a bit over conscious. But I appreciate that you have some good reasons for per plexity. I do not care to discuss these recent nnd local events that I take are at the back of your trouble, except to say this, that the inen who are in posi tions of leadership now nnd the people who think among us, ought to read very carefully the history of the South’s council fires from 1840 to 1860. I was here. I know the conflict of tempers and types. The same tempers and types, only less naturally conservative nnd more Irresponsible in the mass, than then, are here now. "But you have come to a real point, with your question. The Southerner Is different. Hls ancestry, history and environment have made him so. Still you arc very wrong In your suggestion that he Is not subject to the same judg ments to which other men nnd other people are finally submitted. There Is but one God nnd therefore but one Right. There Is but one Supreme Code and therefore hut one Justice. There Is neither geography, ethnology caste nor color in morals. "Well, then," I put in eagerly, "what am I hound to that is peculiar to Southerners? What ideals, or obliga tions are my criterion? The point with me to know If I can Just how' I may he the truest, most loyal Southerner and man I can." Hls speech had been with such gravl- REV. JOHN E. WHITE. ty and slow'ncss that I was watching narrowly everything he did as well as listening keenly, it Is curious how mUch little things Impress us some* times. He unconsciously had laid hls hand with the mangling wotind on the book he had taken down as I came in. That W'ound was symbolic—the link between the past nnd the present. When he began again hls emphasis was sobering. "The truest, .most loyal Southerner, you want to be? Then I will tell you what I know nnd It will be very simple. There Is v no hard and fnst type, but there are certain Ideals of Southern character of an Intrinsic quality to which every true Southerner will own allegiance. I speak. of that which is fundamental. The historical Ideal of Southerners Is the love of fair play. At the bottom that Is Justice. This Is the romantic basis of our civilization, the philosophy of much that characterizes our life. It explains the strong leaning to the Democratic party—’Equal privilege and no special favor.’ A Republican presi dent wins the South to hls champion ship of *a square deal.’ The old antl- royullst spirit Is the later anti-monopo ly spirit In a new dress. Our over- exerclzed sensitiveness is, I think, a survival in the South of an ancient re sentment against Injustice., It was our people, you know, who made the ear liest and most vehement protests against the mother country’s unfair ness to the colonies. At Mecklenberg and Philadelphia it w*as our cry to the world against imposition and In behalf of simple justice. We are the fathers of that passion on this continent. To be a true Southerner is to stand on that rock always. He must follow that prin ciple wherever it leads him. He must be first of all, Just. He will not impose upon the w'cak or allow others to. Re member this when Southern people see a human being wronged and do not champion hls cause or when they can be misled Into any course of injustice and w'rong against a human being, in short, when we fall In fair play we de part from what Is Intrinsic and true in Southern character. This Is the basis of Southern knighthood. When that goes the bottom falls out of our dls tinctive civilization. "Now,” he said, as he stood up for-a moment, “that is one Southern Ideal, but there is another that we have even more consistently cherished. "The son of the South has an un common Instinct of. the claim hls home has on him and this ideal has extended Itself to cover hls home-land. This Is, of course, no monopoly In the South, but It does m'ark us more definitely than other sections and people. I have just been reading one of our critics, who says: ‘Provincialism Is the vice of the Southern character/ My son, we have to abide that soft Impeach ment. If it Is a vice It Is one of those vices that is on exaggeration of a great virtue. We are Americans, Indeed the most typical Americans homogeneous ly on this continent, but bur Ameri canism will never be of the kind that can say, without a reservation, ’No North, no South, no East, no West.’ There is for us a South. Ood created It. History has confirmed It. Expe rience has sanctified it. It Is bound on the north by a broad river, on the east by a great ocean, on the south by a gulf and on the west by the two great est continental' streams. About this South the lines of on irrevocable decree which is written Into our heart nnd Im agination are drawn. It has entered Into our blood. It will remain—the South. As Scotland Is dearer to th& Scotchman and Ireland to the Irishman and Wales to the Welchman, these 8outhem states are a grand division of this earth’s surface that will always be dearer to the Southerner than any other section on the globe. It is our home, our heritage? You must never get away from that If you want to be a true Southerner." My old Confederate paused and seemed to be recalling something that was not quite clear. “I recall a picture," he at once went on, “an old painting I used to see when a boy. It is the picture of one of our earliest Southern settlements. The for est in front of the small clearing in the woods Is lined with savage Indians. The settler is standing in the door of hls cabin with a smoking rifle in his hand and a dauntless death-defying light is In hls face. Hls right hand is extended backward In a gesture of protection to hls wife and children, who are trembling in fright Ijy the room behind him. I suppose," he smiled, "this Southern home love began back there. We have in the course of our sorrows Blmply enlarged the borders of our passion." He paused again reflectively. "I am recalling an experience of mine nnd trying to separate It distinctly frorti later thoughts. Ono night in Virginia, after Stonewall Jackson was killed at I happened to lift my eyes up to the stars and unconsciously glanced down the array of clustering constellations which fell away and away down the heavenly concave to the South, and my eyes rested therfc. Then my heart gave a leap; I stood on my feet. I had found the spring of my Joy In the bat tle. ’My back Is to my home,’ I said. ’The enemy Is here on the border. I am In defense of Dixie land.’ "My boy," he said, “I have told you the secret of every wound I bear. It Is the secret of my comrades, who went with Lee. It was our white chieftain's secret, too. So I tell you that the true Southerner will love hls homeland and suffer for her good nnd for her glory if need be, no matter in w'hat form the danger comes. With us it was our own American brothers who • came against us. And though you do not have"— “But," I cried trembling, with my heart shaken to its depths and not comprehending the import of his last Chancellorsvllle, I was making an .in- ; words. ”1 do love my home. I was spection of our picket lines, and some born here. My fathers and my people distance from our camp sat down. It are burled about me/ I have scarcely was a beautiful night and the depres- | been elsewhere. I know no other lov slon general at that time of loss came like this land. What Is there for me over me strongly. I began to analyze my zeal as a Confederate soldier. Aid to myself, 'Are you fighting to de fend the institution of slavery?’ My heart yielded an Instant honest answer, 'No, God know’s there Is no satisfaction in that idea to me. If the slave proper ty was worth as many billions ns It Is millions and that was all I would not move my little finger to go to war for It.’ Then the idea of secession as a constitutional right occurred to me. Ts that your Inspiration?* ’No,’ I said, ‘that doesn’t fire my heart, for though it was a right conserved by the consti tution In the understanding of those w'ho formed It, n right more boisterous ly threatened and more agitated by Joslah Quincy, of Massachusetts, and the Eastern statesmen. Including the whole party of Sew England Federal ists, than by any one else in 1S45.’ But It was a right never Intended to be exercised. It tvas a provision such as should bo put Into any contract, for the statesmanlike purpose of guaran teeing the balance of mutual Inter state respect nnd not for the purpose of contemplated disunion. I recalled the message Alexander Hamilton sent from hls death bed, ‘Tell the people of Boston thnt I say for God’s sake to quit trying to disrupt the Union. It they break this Union tney will break my heart/ That was as far back ns 1804, and I remembered that my father used to quote It to me In hls own love for this republic. Secession was a right, a guaranteed privilege under the con stitution. But I knew that this was not the Inspiration of my soldiering In Vir ginia. "At that moment of my introspection and for us? We can not now bear arms for the South. There Is no foe at our borders, no threat, no peril from without!" “But there are perils from within." he gently sold. "The shock and dire strait are for you as they were for us. Our South’s sorrows are too great for one generation only. Your fathers nt* sour grapes, your teeth are on edge. I will not be here to see the great moral struggle of Southern civilization to tri umph over temptation and besetmenf. But get you ready for It. It Is at hand. You will have to find your own way/ He saw my depression, for hls own manner and speech were gloomy. Com ing nearer, he spoke a bit more cheeri ly: "One thing more I can say to you. When I Yim gone nnd you come to whnt I foresee, a time of doubt nnd confusion and low human counsels are at the front and false voices are clam oring, I bJd you seek the sheltering manhood of a man who will never die In this land. In other days hls presents made us all better from the heart out. I sometimes think he may yet mean more to the South than ever. Seek the counsel of hls spirit, the sweet per suasion of hls voice. He was copied after Jesus Christ the Son of Gml and he was a Southerner, tried nnd true, the best shnpe of mortal hero-man any people ever had to mark by. Follow him and you will not go wrong.'' My old Confederate had grow n quit® •aim and there was worship In Ids Voice. He had spoken no name. MY n heart was stilled. It was the calm ness of a great Presence he bnd sum moned to stand beside me—the groat w hite soul of the South—Robert E. L*®- •••••••••••••ft***! "KEEP SMILING” I.;-... | By REV. EVERETT DEAN ELLENWOOD, j PASTOR UNIVERSALIST CHURCH 0 O UT at Piedmont park this week, in the exhibition hall of the Carriage Builders’ National Association, were to be seen hundreds of persons wearing as badges or as hatbands smalt slips of cardboard bearing two very suggestive and sig nificant words, “Keep Smiling." It was noticeable, too, that In nearly every In stance the wearers of these badges were faithfully obeying the Injunction which they so prominently displayed. The wealth of beautiful and powerful philosophy contained In this abbrevi ated sentence must appeal at once to any one who studies life from men more than from books. A very Im portant feature of this national gath ering of carriage builders is the display of the products of the different mem bers for commercial purposes. It is axiomatic In the business world that the smiling face and the cheerful man ner are absolutely essential to success. The salesman most valuable to HIb employer Is the one who always seems to have an inexhaustible supply of good humor and optimism, the one who be lieves in the success of hls own right eous efforts, which manifests itself, constantly. In hls countenance. The world loves cheerfulness. The busi ness world demands it. The man with the perpetual "grouch" Is hopelessly handicapped. If you wish to succeed! a vigorous growth of weeds which con- you must “keep smiling.” tested the right of existence with a What a pity It la thnt we should oc- ' sickly. Indifferent looking crop of corn. caslonally forget that this law is aper- In response to/ the traveler’s call the atlve In all of life and in all of Its! boy pushed' back from hls face the relations. Too many people cultivate j flapping rim of an Immense straw hat, a habit of cheerfulness "for business : and, wiping the sweat from hls fore- purposes only," and while apparently head with the sleeve of'hls shirt, he optimism Itself In the shop or store or j came toward the fence with rapid, factory’, seem either unable or India- > awkward strides. posed to carry that cheerfulness be- | The traveler was a lover of men. and yond the threshold of their own homes. I was, withal, somewhat of a phiioso- And yet they sometimes wonder why pher. Also, it was not so long since their society is not eugerly sought by he had himself been r boy. Therefore, normal men. It was not at all surprising that hav- t’heerfulncss does not depend upon Ing secured satisfactory answers to hls circumstances. It is a condition of practical questions, and desiring to mind possible of development any- know something of the boy's custom- w here and under all circumstances, i ary habit of thought, hls method was Optimism Is nothing more or less than that which would have made most suc- a habit of thought. Born of humility»cessful Appeal to hls own heart In boy- and strong faith in God, and constant- j hood’s days. It was a typical mldsum- ly fed by unselfishness. It grows rap- 1 nfer day. The same late afternoon sun idly into a power strong enough to 1 which wah the Joy of him who rode make a happy and successful life In any environment. The morose and unhappy disposition rtearly always Indicates the self-cen tered life. 8ome people are predis posed to be disappointed. Here Is a homely little story which illustrates the splendid possibilities of the cheerful habit of thought: A solitary horsemup, traveling an unfrequented country road, and desir ing to learn the direction and distance to the town of hls destination, reigned In Ills horse beside a field In which a through alternate stretches of sunlit meadow ami cool and shaded wood beat down relentlessly upon the back which was bept in unromatlc toll. From the trees along the creek which bordered the field on Its farther side there came the clear, strident challenge of the cat bird, strangely mingled with the low, soothing love notes of the turtle dove. The branches of the trees beckoned their welcome to their cool retreats. The little stream murmur ing at the stones which lay In Its bed whispered of shining trout waiting tfte half-grown boy waged sturdy war with angler’s craft. And the man. who, not REV. E. D. ELLENWOOD. long since had been a ‘ boy, knew full well the fierce tumult that raged ’neath that sweat-streaked "hickory’" shirt. He, too, felt strongly the wild yearning which possessed Che boy to fling that hoe, the symbol of hls serfdom. Into the fence corner, and forthwith Join hls companions of the wood and the stream, the wild free things which reeked not of code or convention. In an outpouring of the heart In adoration to Him who “glveth us richly all things to enjoy.” With retrospective glance he swept field and wood and sky and then turned to tho boy who still stood won- deringly In the field below him. "This would be a mighty fine day to go fish ing, now wouldn't It?” he asked, tenta tively. The boy gave a quick Indrawn breath and hls glance which had In stinctively sought the direction of the creek swept back across the field, rest ing for a moment upon the weeds hls hoe had uprooted, dying quickly In the sun’s Insistent heat. "Yes,” he said. It sure would, but it’s a mighty good day to hoe corn, too." With wondering admiration the stranger changed hls point of attack to that of this new Item of interest. “The cut-worms seem to have taken a good deal of your corn?” he remarked. "Yes,” said the boy, •so they’ hove, but, what there is left will have more room and will make all the better crop because of it." Thoroughly Interested and amused, the man replied: "But a!! of your corn Is looking pretty yellow. It seems to me.” “Sura/* said tlie boy, “it Is bound to: we planted the Jailer kind.” “Well.” said the stranger, laughingly, "It does not look as though you would get more than half a crop from this field." "We never caliated to get any more than that, stranger," cheerfully rejoined the boy, "’cause, you see, dad’s a-farmin' this here land on shares." The man shook hands with the boy, offering silent tribute of admiration and gratitude for hls abundance of that faith which Is powerful enough to re move mountains, and as he continued hls trip he thus reflected In hls mind: "Hera Indeed Is a wonderful thing. I stopped by the way for a few moments, to have sport with an ignorant farm er’s lad, and !o! I have held helpful converse with a philosopher.” And the boy, with one more lingering, long ing glance in the direction of the en ticing trout brook, settled firmly upon hls head once more hls immense hat of straw, and. merrily whistling an an swer to the cat-bird’s call, broke off from a near-by stujnp a splinter of wood with which he began to clean bis hoe for a fresh onslaught upon that kingdom which, for the time, was his alone to conquer. And the man was right. Not always Is it true that the men and women whom the world with remarkable In discrimination declares to be sages and philosophers, are the ones who have patiently sifted the chaff and wheat of life's^ emotions nnd experiences, and have unerringly arrived at the "con clusion of the whole matter." The Prophets of hope and cheer are not al-L ways those whose snowy locks would! Indicate the possibility of the compl®*/! Justification of their faith by thelrj wealth of experience. The smiling goddess of cheerfulness| knows no distinctions of rank or sta-i Mon among those who worship eagerly] at her shrine. Nor does she show th«| slightest partiality In the distribution! of her favors to the hap py* hearts-1J The individual who, through natural choice and not from politic neees«dtSJ Is able to "keep smiling," is alwari sure of a hearty welcome among nil fellows, regardless of the cut of u't clothes and the extent of hls acquaint*! anre with the schools. But let it be remembered that opj timlsrn and buffoonery are by n means synonymous terms. Many man who prides himself upon cheerfulness and hls optimism is reality only a fool. The rattle of empty wagon Is not nearly so pleasing to the normal ear as the subdued huijJJ mlng of the honey-laden pirate tR I meadow and the hedgerow. The who laughs the loudest at hls neignj bor’s coarse Joke Is not usually »he nn l to be depended upon when some grwj moral crisis threatens the bulwarks j civilization. The woman whose stu cackle responds most readily *•» pitiful inanities of so-called ”H K | Continued on Opposite P*fl c -