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ECHOES FROM WINONA CITIZENSHIP CONFERENCE
HE hearts of workers are still athrill
with echoes from the recent Christian
Citizenship Conference at Winona
Lake. The speakers were all mustered
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from the ranks of those who addressed the
recent World-Conference at Portland. Oregon.
But the meeting at Winona was something
vastly more than a mere echo-meeting or af
termath. The program for this year, whether
we speak of the scope and vision of the sub
jects introduced or of the responsive interest
awakened in the public mind as evidenced by
the increased attendance, was the most suc
cessful ever offered bv the National Reform
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Association on these assembly grounds.
Dr. Charles Merle d’Aubigne favored his
ever-increasing audiences with a vivid and
comprehensive description of the social and re
ligious conditions in France. A son of the fa
mous historian of the Reformation, and himself
a noted pastor, scholar and man of letters, Dr.
d’Aubigne is a man whose coming to America
is a genuine advent and his every message at
Winona was a veritable deliverance. The sin
gular warmth and purity of his English is a
charm to Anglo-Saxon ears; and the sympa
thetic analysis with which he goes to the
depths of' every subject he assays, makes his
utterance a ready and thorough medium of
rare instruction. Indeed, it is not too much
to say that as Dr. d’Aubigne crosses the con
tinent from Portland to Winona and from Win
ona to Pittsburg and New York, his every au
dience, attracted at once by his greatness of
heart and his richness of learning, regards him
with affectionate admiration.
Magnetic Chinese Orator.
If the outlook in Paris and throughout the
French Republic was made clear by the com
ing of d’Aubigne, what shall we say of the ini
mitable Ng Poon Chew, who was the Chinese
BEAUTIES AND WONDERS OF “ANCIENT
AMERICA.”
(Continuned from page 1.)
Rita Valley, the Mesa and the Santa Cruz Val
ley, and we seem to be looking down on a vast
amphitheatre. The mountains and the foot
hills are the terraced seats on which the gods
sit and amuse themselves by watching the
struggle of the insect, man, as he battles to re
claim the deserts from barrenness. Often their
thumbs, like imperious Roman emperors, indi
cate condemnation, and oftentimes approba
tion. He who fights a good fight always wins
their favor, but he who fights a coward's bat
tle they condemn to be overrun with the sage
brush, grease-wood and cactus. They still fa
vor the “god-like.”
There is a story told of one of these gods.
There he is now! Do you see his profile along
the spine of the Tuscon Range? He is lying
prone along the ridge with his face upturned
to the skies as if pleading with the gods to
rescue him back among them. The Indians say
that one day while watching mortals play the
game of life down in the valley, he saw an In
dian maiden and her lover as they walked
arm in arm across the desert. The maiden was
STIRRING PEN PICTURES 0F mountain peak figures in world betterment.
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THE GOLDEN AGE FOR WEEK OF OCT. 9
orator both at Portland and at Winona? It
may almost be said of Ng Poon Chew that
he is even more American than Americans
themselves! In any event, he is something
more than a mere oracle of the New Chinese
Republic; something more than the herald of
new-born liberty in the Orient. Ng Poon Chew
is the Chinese Republic! That is to say, he
is so athrob with the spirit of the present age
and with the hope and prophecy of the future
of the far east, that he embodies to America
the very spirit of the Chinese republic and
the very genius of the Chinese character Ch
inese character as awakened and interpreted by
the love of liberty and progress. All this was
made very plain in the four addresses of this
noted Oriental at Winona; in every one of
which he grasped the meaning and sounded
the message of Christian citizenship.
Another event of national importance was
the coming to America of Rev. Robert J. Pat
terson of Ireland ,who is now better known by
the sobriquet of “Catchany-Pal” Patterson.
He also knows how to catch his audiences.
That was proven both at Portland and at Win
ona; and the message he brought, enforced as
it is by the phenomenal success which has at
tended his temperance movement, will certain
ly contribute very greatly to temperance en
thusiasm in America.
Dr. James S. Martin of Pittsburg, the general
superintendent of the National Reform Asso
ciation, introduced this year a new series of
lectures on the subject of the Bible in the
public schools. He made very clear and forci
ble the argument for Christian education as
a preparation for American citizenship; and
that the moral content of Christianity, as re
vealed in the Bible, is the one ethical standard
recognized by the American conscience. He
analyzed the forces opposed to Christian teach-
' passing fair” and the god fell in love with
her. Thinking that he could win her if the
youth were out of the way, he caused the
death of the young brave. For this the “gods
of the mountains” humiliated him by making
him live among men where he should always
be despised.
Birthday Cakes Covered With Green Candles.
Now, we are descending from the Mountain
Road and going along the edge of the desert.
To our right are miles and miles of cacti cover
ed desert lands, and on our left is the fertile
valley of the Santa Cruz. The cacti covered
mountains above a mile to the right of us look
like huge birthday cakes covered with green
candles —some of them branching so that they
look like the seven candle-sticks of the altar.
However, judging from the number of cacti,
we could hardly think of anyone save possi
bly Methuselah, who would be old enough to
warrant so many candles on his birthday cake.
All along our left the farmers are gradually
clearing all the land along the Santa Cruz and
getting it “under water.” Although this is a
trip to “Ancient America.’-’ you are modern
enough to appreciate the up-to-date methods
employed by these western farmers in reclaim-
ing in the schools, enumerated the evils which
would result from surrender to these forces,
and finally developed a plan of moral welfare
against these organized influences. He also
explained the attitude of the National Reform
Association, declaring that the association does
not attack any race, nor any creed, nor any
organization; but that this assocition is sim
ply the defender of the Christian institutions
of America, and that, as a consequence, it is
at war with whatsoever race or creed pre
sumes to attack these sacred institutions of
liberty. The general line of argument pur
sued by Dr. Martin found instant verification
iti the testimony of Dr. d’Aubigne as to the
national results of the purely secular education
in France.
Editor of the Christian Statesman.
Dr. Lyman Edwyn Davis, managing. editor
of the Christian Statesman, introduced a new
series of lectures this year unde rthe general
title of “Literary Forces in Social Progress,”
the specific subjects including “The Ethical
Mission of the Drama. ’ “The Moral Opportu
nity of the Daily Newspaper,” “The Bible
as the Oracle of the Great Books. He also
delivered in the assembly auditorium his well
known lectures on “ The Kingdom of Common
Sense,” and “The City and the Man.”
A new speaker was introduced to Winona
this year in the person of Rev. Grant W. Sower,
Ohio state secretary, who gave an instructive
series of lectures on the subject of Social
Uplift,” delivering also his popular lectures
entitled “Abraham Lincoln, . the Liberator,”
and “The March of the Centuries.”
The attendance at the meetings thi syear ex
ceeded that of any of the eight previous suc
cessive institutes held at this popular summer
assembly.
ing this soil from barrenness. Whenever they
wish to have a good rain on their crops of
alfalfa, they just turn on the electricity and
pump from their wells thousands of gallons of
water per minute, giving it a good soaking.
It is well that we have seen something of the
modern wa yof living just at this juncture,
because it is such a contrast to what we are
about to see and which is altogether mediaeval.
(Continued next week.)
“A SOUL-THRILLING ISSUE—THE
PREACHER’S HELPER.”
I have just read The Golden Age of Sept.
11th—a soul-thrilling issue indeed. In fact,
every issue is thrilling and uplifting to me.
In your last issue you carry us to Atlanta
and to Macon and let us sit under the drip
pings of the pulpits of Len G. Broughton and
Lincoln McConnell, two of God’s greatest men.
The Golden Age is indeed a preacher’s helper.
My! how you do love to tell the truth and
fight the forces of evil. May God bless you
and spare you many years to battle against
every form of the devil’s work.
Prentiss, Miss. J. B. QUIN.
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