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Subject: Heroism.
Brooklyn, N. Y.—Preaching at the
Irving Square Presbyterian Church,
Hamburg avenue and Weirfield
street, on the above them, the Rev.
Ira Wemmell Henderson, pastor, took
as his text, Daniel, 3:18. He said:
The courage of these men was
sublime. Their heroism was remark
able. The story of their strength
of character is not an ordinary one.
They might easily have played the
king false by bowing down to his
idols while still serving their God in
their hearts. In all likelihood Nebu
chadnezzar would have been satisfied
had they simply bent the knee to his
gods. And how could a mere man,
even though he were a king, divine
the devotions of their inmost hearts?
Here was a place where most men
would have considered discretion the
better part of valor. Here was a
chance for compromise in externals
for the sake of saving one’s life.
Here was the supreme test of their
characters. They might have made
excuses for themselves to their own
minds and to God, and have wor
shiped the golden image. They did
neither. They were true Jews. They
served the God of Israel, who had
said unto His people by the mouth
of Moses the deliverer and law-giver,
‘‘Thou shalt not botv down unto them
nor serve them.” Therefore, they
stood erect when the sound of “all
kinds of made the multitude
fall down. And standing, they are
monuments to moral herolßtn.
Heroism has great value in life and
Is varied. Without it we could not,
make much, if any progress. A man
may be as a prophet in his percep
tion and comprehension of divine
truth, but if lie lack heroism his pow
ers are largely unavailable to society.
•Conviction needs courage to become
a living force. It is one thing to have
a vision, and another to declare it.
It is one thing to have knowledge,
and another to expound it. It is one
thing to have a valid and substantiat
ed opinion, and another to state it.
It is one thing to detect s!*am and sin,
and quite another to unmask them.
The world is full of men who could
-do evil to the death in many a. place
-did they only dare. But it is so mani
festly one thing to know the truth
and another to stand up for it and to
proclaim it.
The value of heroism cannot be de
nied. With it Moses faced the terrors
and the torments of the desert and
the threatenings of the wandering
people of God. With it Isaiah and
the prophets assailed mighty sin in
the name of Almighty God. With it
Columbus sailed the wide, uncharted
seas, and discovered America to a
ready world. With it Luther hurled
defiance to the machinations of Ro
man ecclesiasticism and marked an
epoch in the majestic march of man
hood toward our present liberty of
thought. With it the heroes of Val
ley Forge kept the faith for civil lib
erty and under the impulse of its
spirit the slave was freed. Without
It Jesus would never have become our
Saviour.
Valuable as heroism is, it is not
Ip- =» varied. For heroism is individ
ual and social, physical and moral,
lustrous and humble.
The men of Lexington and Santi
ago. of Trafalgar and of Waterloo,
the heroes of Hebrew history and of
the Crusades, the hosts who followed
Napoleon or Wellington or Washing
ton or Stonewall Jackson or any of
the famous captains of armies, an
cient or modern, ar£ examples of
what we may term physical social
heroism. Many were the instances of
humble, individual moral courage dis
played by soldiers serving under all
these military geniuses. And yet, in
the last analysis, their heroism was
that of brute strength let loose and
dependent, as much as upon anything,
upon the flags, and the fanfare, and
the smell and sight of blood, and the
crowd moving together to the battle
for its inspiration and its sustenta
tion. It is not my purpose to insin
uate that even under these conditions
It is an easy thing to fare forth to
try conclusions with fate. But in
comparison with the pluck needed to
do many another deed it is easy.
There is, too, an individualistic,
lustrous heroism which is even less
trying and exacting. He is a hero, I
care not who he may be, who will
lead a willing army on to a fight
where victory is sure, or who will
poiut the way to a moral victory to
men who are with him and who sight
the same truth that he sees. For
many a man has lacked the heroism
to lead even though the skies were
full of portents of success. It is so
much easier to relinquish the respon
sibility of leadership to another.
Officers are marked men. '
We must admit a great measure
of physical heroism in the action of
the man who will test his strength
•against the wild animal that would
■take his life. It takes nerve as well
as mfiscle to meet a bully who richly
and deserves a thrashing, and
matte him eat the dust. But in the
category of heroic virtues these are
the least.
At this time I would call your at
tention to the heroisms which we
have and need in our daily life, the
heroisms of the humble, moral host
who constitute the mainstay of this
land and who are the backbone of
America, the men and women and
children who in an inconspicuous, but
none the less efficient, fashion, give
themselves as living sacrifices upon
the altar of devotion to God and home
and country. I would have you again
remember if you have been so uh
gracious as to forget the offerings of
i that countless host of simple, homely
i people who dally live for the common
good and the public weal. I would
call to your attention the leaders of
our day who, in the face of sin and of
opposition and of militant and im
perious self-satisfaction, are effecting
the salvation of America and teaching
her people how to help themselves.
For we have much heroism of this
sort in this land. And we need more.
It is easy in a way to fall into line
and to march down to the war w’hen
the summons comes and the music
plays and the people cheer and we
know that death will earn us death
' less, though perhaps not individual,
fame. But what is the courage of the
leader or the soldier in the front line
of the fierce fight to that of the toiler
Who, day by day, works and plans and
slaves and lives that children may be
reared and prepared for life and the
home be kept intact? That father
yonder who, from sunrise to sunset,
day in and day out, in health and
sickness, when sad or glad, toils for
wife and family; is he not heroic?
That mother, with her cleanly brood
of six, the sole manager and dispenser 1
of a princeiy, gross salary of $lO a
week, up with, or. before, the first:
streaks of the earliest day, resting
only when all are sleeping, cooking,
washing, nursing, caring for them,
with smiles for each and tenderness
for all, staggering beneath a burden
more than man has dared to bear,
who shall deny her praise? That
widowed mother, with a flock and a
pittance; that child who alone sup
ports a home; that maiden who is
pure and sweet upon wages that are
criminal before the living God, who
shall deny the sublimity of their
humble heroism?
To my mind the heroism of the
plain people, who have little but who
serve so much.Uo whom life offers
such a meager portion but who make
It go so far, is a most sublime, as it is
a most compelling, fact of human life.
I can conceive of nothing harder, day
by day, to arise to face the impenetra
ble wall of hardship and of approxi
mate poverty which dominates the
horizon of so many liyes. I can pic
ture nothing more unutterably un
bearable than, day by day, to be com
pelled to undergo the refined slavery
that is unquestionably characteristic
of so much of our modern life. To |
desire to live in the face of it, to de
cide to struggle against it, to hope
even against hope, to live and to love, j
to get a little and to give a little, to I
retain and to augment the diviner j
characteristics that alone differentiate
humanity from the beast, to plan for
posterity and to have faith in God in
the midst of the relative riches that
constitute the poverty of our times,
is heroic. We should thank God for
the heroism of those among us w r ho 1
have so little and who live so largely, !
in proportion as they have capacity
and opportunity, for the common
weal. We should thank God that
they are faithful, that they know
how to live simply, that they are
moral. For if ever the men and
women who are the burden-bearers
in the world’s w'ork become saturated
with the vices, the follies and the
fallacies concerning life that infest
the minds of those who constitute the
topmost and the nethermost strata of
society, the world will have short
shrift.
Another sort of heroism that we
must never fail to remember and con
sider and to which we owe much, is
that moral heroism among the polit
ical and religious leaders of the coun
try that is increasingly obvious and
actively at work. For that heroism is
real. The forces of unrighteousness
are intrenched. The army of greed at
any price is already in the field. The
plunderers of the public are as busy
as the vultures that prey upon the
dead. The camp followers who are
out for petty graft are busily at work.
The sleek, self-satisfied captains of
political and commercial piracy at
; the front. They are all the more
dangerous because they have per
suaded themselves that they are sin
| cere, that the benefits they have un
doubtedly been instrumental in bring
| ing to society excuse and justify the
rapacity of which they have been and
to-day are guilty. They scorn gov
i ernment, they laugh at law r , they
at the rising tide 'of popular disap
proval. Their special pleaders are
hired, their subsidized papers are
already bought, many of their books
are burnt. They invite the test and
even dare to threaten. In pulpit and
in pew, on the forum and in halls of
learning, wherever there is an itching
palm or a callous heart there their
champions may be found. It is need
less for me to expand the story by
telling you of the governments, mu
nicipal and state, that they may al
most be said to own, the legislatures
that they have bought or have tried
to buy, of the defiance that they
throw into the very teeth of adminis
trative officers who with honesty and
singleness of purpose attempt to
bring them to account.
We are face to face with no theory.
We are confronted with the most un
palatable facts, when everything is
considered, with which any nation
has ever had to deal. There is no use
in waiting for a declaration of hostil
ities. The war is already on. The
enemy is in the field. Heroism
is required to go up against him
for “the sake of our cities and for the
people of our God.” Heroism has al
ready been shown. It has already
cost some men dear.
The dictum is to pulpit and press,
to politician and statesman, to the
financial and the business world, to
labor and to capital, to the world at
large: \\ e have erected our golden,
image, it suit us, bow down ir be con
sumed. And woe betide the man with
the information and the heroism
essary to refuse to bow. Men have re
fused. They have been consumed.
The threat to-day is bow down or
he ruined. Touch us not lest the
country die. Forsooth we shall re
frain to eradicate the vermiform ap
pendix of financial and commercial
and political indecency and disease
because of the shock to the patient.
Thank God we have men of heroism
at hand, men who have wisdom, who
have the hand and the nerve and the
experience and the wisdom to disobey
our modern Nebuchadnezzars and to
operate. And they will not be burnt.
Their heroism will not spell their
death. It will not invite disaster. It
will save the patient from uglier ills
and worse torments.
The sort of heroism that can live
humbly in the contemplation of such
evil with trust in God and confidence
In the heroism of the leaders that are
called is the sort that has made
America a power. The heroism that
remains steadfast and faithful in the
face of regnant wrong is the heroism
that illuminates her history. She has
much of it. She needs more of it.
It should be rewarded. It should
have our support. We should have It.
For it is the heroism of the Christ.
STATE FAIR NOTES.
Honorable William Jennings Bryan
will make an address at the Georgia
state fair, Atlanta, Saturday, October
19th. He will be introduced by Gov
ernor Hoke Smith. This will be one
of the big days at the fair.
All the secret orders in Georgia have
been invited to take part in Fraternal
day exercises at the fair, Thursday,
October 17th.
Nearly all railroads in Georgia will
give reduced rates from October 10th
to 26th.
Oamden, Cobb, Cherokee, Carroll,
Hall, Habersham, Rabun, DeKalb,
Twiggs, Bulloch, and Worth counties
have applied for space for farm exhib
its at the state fair.
The far-famed Passion Play shown
in moving pictures, will be seen at the
fair. This play, representing the life
of Christ, is presented once every ten
years at Oberamergau in * Europe,
and draws people from all the world.
Baby Incubators with real live in
incubator is the best mother in the
world for tiny, weak babies as the
temperature is always the same, and
a doctor and trained nurse are always
on hand.
The fair management has engaged
Ranch 101, the great wild west show,
to come direct from the Jamestown
exposition to Atlanta. This show has
been the leading attraction at James
town ever since the exposition opened.
It is the largest aggregation of genu
ine Indians and cowboys traveling.
The Indians are Sioux and some of
them were in the Custer battle. One
old duck carries two bullets which he
received in that fight. This show will
be a free attraction at the fair.
INVESTIGATING CENTRAL’S BOOKS-
Accountant is Employed by Trustees of
Income Bondholders.
Authentic information has been re
ceived in Savannah that an account
ant has been named to thoroughly in
vestigate the accounts of tho Central
Railway and Ocean Steamship compa
nies.
The accountant was appointed by
the trustees of the income bondhold
ers who recently placed their holdings
in the hands of the Central Trust com
pany of New York.
THREAT OF JUDGE EFFECTIVE.
Chattanooga Business Man Forced to Tes
tify Before Grand Jury.
W. Ivl. Lasley, president of the
Southern Clay company, and one of the
leading business men of Chattanooga,
was earned before Judge Mcßeynolds,
in the criminal court Thursday, and
given the option of going to jail for
contempt or of going before the grand
jury and testifying in the investiga
tion of numerous charges of bribery
and graft made against prominent
business men and city officials. Las
ley took the latter course.
CUBAN COLONY APPEALS TO ROOT.
Those in Mexico City Anxious to Know
Exactly Where They Are At.
A committee of forty Cubans, rep
resenting the Cuban colony in Mexico
City, presented a petition to Secretary
Root, asking him to make a statement
on the status of Cuba and appealing to
him to dispel the distrust that will
be felt by Latin-America should the
United States adopt one policy for
Cuba and another for the stronger na
i tioas.
VERY LOW RATES
TO
NORFOLK, VA., AND RETURN
Account Jamestown Ter=CentenniaJ Exposition
VIA
Southern Railway
Season, 6o day and 15 day tickets on sale daily commen
cing April 19th, to and including November 30th, 1907.
Stop Overs will be allowed on Season, Sixty-day and
ftfteen-day tickets, same as on Summer Tourist Tickets.
For full and complete information call on Ticket Agents Southern
Railway, or write:
For rates, routes and schedules or any infor
mation, address,
C. R. PETIT, Trav. Pass. Agent
Macon. Ca.
J6HN B. WATKINS,
VETERNARY SURGEON,
Office at flack Goodwin’s stables below county jail.
Office hours: 1.30 to 2.30 p. m., Friday, Saturday and
Sunday. All calls promptly attended to. Office Phone 44;
Residence Phone 131, Jackson, Ga.
FOR SALE-LOTS IN LOCUST
GROVE, GA.
1 Acre, $l5O. Dicken Street 165 ft lront, 500 leet trom
Southern Railway depot.
I*4 Acres, SSOO. Clevelrnd Street 100 ft front, facing
Railway Crossing. 400 feet from Southern Railway depot.
JOHN S. GLEATON, 408-9 Peters Bldg, Atlant a
j§ FIRST AND LAST If
P SHOD BMW SUES V
r Mean $ $ made to all who 1
buy or wear them. In styled
ease and durability, ‘ ‘ Shield Brand Shoes ” 1
toe the mark of perfection.
SOLD BY RELIABLE MERCHANTS ONLY j
. M. C. KISER CO., Manufacturers. J
ATLANTA, CA. Jjg
Atlanta, Oct . lOtk to26ih inclusive t ||j
if “The Sport of Kings” t|
iIL Each day there will be five intensely thrilling running races. Thr-i e~- 111
hiMtion of -peed end courage of horse flesh will bring together many of ill
fthe most noied running horses of America. iSi I
$lO, GOO in Prizes — lS County Exhibits jPil
Wednesday. Oct. lfith. will be FARMERS' UNION DAY. This will be a Vm
anner day—magnificent displays of every conceivable piece of agricultural
lachinery ; prize-winning iive stock, poultry and farm products’ will be at pB
The Midway cj
Grand and gorgeous side shows: bewildering, entertaining and instructive L/llia
shibiting the queer people of the Orient and Occident, the reproduction of a ’ USII
jld mine in "iteration; these, and many more, will create unlimited mer- V l *’
ment for old and young alike.
Reduced Rates on all Railroads
>r further infernmtion,address s \. \
FRANK WELDON, Scc'y & Gen’l Mgr. [ \ \jl
ATLANTA. GEORGIA «S
NEAT PRINTING
Creates a good impression among your corres
pondents and helps to give your business pres
tige . We do neat pri n ting at reasonable prices.
