Newspaper Page Text
i j, Serious Books vs. Fiction * «•
e> By E. S. Martin. A
v~m*****+*flrXi I
0 HE habit of reading the more substantial books seems to have
taken hold of a much larger proportion of the people of the
British Isles than of us Americans. And even that is not all.
We seem not to be gaining the habit, tor the proportion of
light reading in the current mass of new literature seems to
be increasing.
Why that is, and whether it is a temporary condition or
something more serious, is matter for discussion. I suspect
it is one of the habitual complaints of literate mankind that
the readers of the generation just passed read better books than those of the
generations in being, it, is no fault of the publishers, for there are plenty of
publishers who : ire eager to print the best hooks they can hope to sell. They
wont print many books that-no one will buy, because such a practice as that,
if it became habitual, would be incompatible with continuance in the publish¬
ing business. But they have au interest, which is more than a mere pecuni¬
ary interest, in what they publish, and would much rather find their necessary
profit in a book tliat they can be proud of than in one which never do
credil to their name, however much it may help their pocket.
To be sure, the more substantial books are in competition wtih all the
great books that ever were printed. If readers neglected the good new books
in order to read the good old ones, we might regret it as something detri
mental to the book publishing business and the interests of living authors,
but we would not find in it a sign of decaying culture or degenerating taste.
But it is not the competition of the old books that limits attention to new
ones, for whoever has learned to read the one is by so much the likelier to
read the other. Who has the habit of good reading and the appetite for it
will read what suits his appetite if he can get it. The trouble is th*at the
appetite is not oftener formed.
If you are to make a silk purse, you must have the silk. You qannot
make a reader of good books out of any human material that comes along.
You must catch a mind proper for the job. Not all good minds are adapted to
much reading. You find very able people who read few books, mostly trash,
and people of less ability who read more, and much better ones. You find
also interesting differences in the facility with which different people take in
the sense of printed words. Some people from childhood read very much fas¬
ter and with less effort than others. Their eyes seem to connect quicker with
their brains, and their perception of words and rows of words is almost instan¬
taneous. Other people never entirely get past the need of pronouncing, men¬
tally, each word.—Harper’s Magazine.
* * *
The 400 is Now
u The 1100 99
By F. Townsend Martin.
HAVE been interested in society ever since I was eighteen
u £ years old. New York society has gone .through its forma¬
tive stage. Its society now resembles that of London, the
oldest and most absorbing society in the world.
People say, casually, “The great balls of the past have
been discontinued because the city is too large.” That is
♦ not the point. Society is too large—not the city. Society
* grows with the city. I should say there are 1,100 persons
,
in society. I daresay this figure is staggering, revolution¬
ary, but. I believe this number is accurate. Yet I know some women who
would say that 100 covers completely the number of persons they would care
to know.
New York society is beset by a new idea, which is as unsatisfactory as
it is perilous. It develops a narrowness of thought and t^ie most extrqme
boredom. Society is set-ridden. There are the Meadowbrook set, the Tuxedo
set, the Southhampton set, the Winchester set, the Lenox set, the Aiken set,
the set that meets in Palm Beach, in Aiken, and in Paris.
Mrs. William Astor’s retirement as the leader of society marked a new
epoch. There has been chaos since her influence and her annual entertain¬
ment have been discontinued. There is no social leader in New York today.
Perhaps there will never be another, because the requisite qualifications are
rare. Each little set has its leader, who rules arbitrarily and is looked up to,
even idolized. But it is manifestly difficult to think of a woman who can
unite the little sets. Leadership, like monarchy, carries with it. endless work
and endless responsibility. All of the important women in society would na¬
turally like to succeed to the popularity and prestige of Mrs. Astor, yet there
are limitations to each, which cannot be denied.
& & &
/J/W
There's a Good Time n*
Coming k '
By United States Senator Lodge, of Massachusetts. y
0 HE of a country ergy stitution march independence, business small Republic of along the are things of or government people, of greater the the in the to old any the road United if than roads present it other of for is they individual States battle which not individual way. days ever paraylzed of is it of followed in The life—will were enterprise, greatness—the effort, no resources by danger before. too from if it of much of Is the determi¬ The of ruin road left days sub¬ the en¬ of to in
nation to succeed in the assert itself.
Let those old American habits continue to dominate in the United States and
tread the doctrines of socialism under foot. The wealth of the world is here
in our soil, in our mines, in our factories. This decline of values is but a
passing ripple on the surface of the great sea of American life and action,
and all we need to do is first to try to prevent a recurrence of that alarm
which so paralyzed business last autumn, then to aid in the restoration of pub¬
lic confidence, and lastly to perfect a banking system worthk of our time and
country. I believe that the Aldrich currency bill will tend strongly in this
direction and serve our initial and immediate purpose. I believe it will bring
back in a large measure the confidence which has been impaired, and help to
set the great car of American business moving once more upon the pathway
of triumphal progress which it has followed for more than a century.
A Diet of Apparel.
A southern congressman tells of a
darky in a Georgia town whose best
quality is his devotion to his aged par¬
ent.
Once the congressman asked Pete
why he mad never married.
“Why, boss,” explained Pete, “Ise
got an ole mudder. I had t’ do for her,
suh. Ef I doan’ buy her shoes an’
stockin's she doan’ git none. Now.
boss, you see ef I was t’ gu. married
I’d have t’ buy ’em fo’ mah wife, an’
dat’d be takin’ de shoes an’ stockin’s
right outer my ole mudder’s mouf. ff
Harper's Weekly.
A Naval Voice.
* * What do you think of my voice?”
she asked after trying a selection
from “II Trovatore.”
“It makes me think of sailors,” he
replied.
“Of sailors? Why should it do
that?”
“It has a tendency to die at C.”—
Chicago Record-Herald.
The Two Seasons.
Teacher—Johnny, can you tell me
how many seasons we have?
Johnny—Yes, ma’am, two. Baseball
and football.—Chicago News.
THE PULPIT.
AN ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. MERLE A. BREED.
uic: Realizing the Pattern,
Lincoln, Neb.—The Rev. Merle A.
Breed, who recently entered upon the
fifth year of his pastorate of the Con¬
gregational Church at Mont.icello,
Iowa, occupied the pulpit of the First
Congregational Church of this city
Suiday morning. He spoke from He¬
brews S:5: “See, saith he, that thou
make all things according to the pat¬
tern that was shewed thee in the
mount,” taking the subject, The
Pattern in the Mount, the Building
on the Plain.” Mr. Breed said in the
course of his sermon:
Our text, which is a quotation from
Exodus 25:40, sets before us a pic¬
ture as interesting as it is suggestive.
The hosts eft Israel have been waiting
long before Mount Sinai. Their lead¬
er, Moses, is hidden in the cloud
capped, fire-riven summit in com¬
munion with Jehovah. While the
people are waiting in the plain, he
has gone forth to the mountain’s tow¬
ering peak to be with God, to hear
His will for them and for himself, and
to bring down a divine pattern of a
tabernacle for God’s worship and the
uplifting of men’s hearts and lives to
heavenly things. The people in gen¬
eral had but earthly ambitions. While
Moses was hidden in the clouds and
darkness of the mount, they were
occupied with dancing and feasting,
with eating and drinking, and mak
ing golden calves to worship, Moses is
beholding the pattern of that taber
nacle about which the religious life
of the nation was to arise, and which
was to stamp its impress upon the
world. Moses is filling his soul with
the vision which he is to endeavor to
lga ° raat ’
Siof 41 ? f’th L f ' Wll ^ l8rafhteS m the
plain beneath him. To one man came
hea Ven !r ThS
® to recel f ve it tbl ° ugb kim- ,
oj ijc L*™*™* L . 0 . be that + ofbnng
-
nf u ^ reaCh aud mak '
th 7 hJX, ft f FT I P ea Sll r cn ' 2 ‘
™ont g un§ ®atenals, i lab , °r
'
f f S r be wrought
nut nr. wi n^ ran T hfe U1 ! 011
11 f as ^ imagine
Svfni that trihoi nhiiiro a n U nt f + n lsrael gre a f ?, ly d f
ft 0I ? P tabe r nacla - with
£.« , ark’aifd n SflteiS:
stick and cherubim, its pillars and
table, its canopies and courts, its holy
place and holy of holies, its laver,
mercy-seat and mysterious separating
vail. But there was one who had
seen something better, who knew
that, beautiful and costly as it was,
the tent of meeting but dimly fore
shadowed forth the glory of that pat
tern shown him in the mount. The
people saw only the tabernacle in the
plain, but the eyes of Moses looked
beyond and through that and saw
the pattern he had beheld in the
mount with God. And that is our
thought together this morning, the
pattern in the mount, the building in
the plain, for life still has its Sinais,
where we behold ideals, and it has
its plain, where these are to be real
ized. Surely he is a sorry builder
who has seen no pattern in the
mount.
For the success of our building.
much will depend upon our choice of
a pattern.
The costliest building is manhood
and womanhood, that something we
call seif, a life, character. Y r et there
is much haphazard building. With
the greatest variety of plans there is
little attention to standards, and an
infinite variety of results, because the
pattern is not selected with the care
an architect draws his designs upon
his trestle board.
What shall we build our lives—
hovel, or palace, or temple? It is an
exliilarating reflection that every act
or thqught is building them into
something. What an infinite variety
of patterns. We can not build after
them all—which shall we choose?
There must be unity in the design,
The eclectic method, pure and simple,
will hardly avail for this. What one
age approved fails to win the appro
bation of the next. There must be
permanence and real worth in the
pattern, if it is to satisfy ourselves or
others as the years pass. As we read
history and the great names of past
er^s move before us, we often feel
hovvl howtranslqnt they were. How like n
is Midas, the Phrygian king of
legend and story. How like a mold
ering trireme upon the shores of time
is Pompey the Great. How like a
dust covered ruin in the Roman
forum is Caesar.
Now we may all be tabernacle
builders, like Moses, if we will.
For this method Moses followed is
not to be thought of by us as excep
tional. It is a type for us each in our
building. We, too, are building,
“building every day, building for
eternity,” and our Scripture lesson
told us that our building must stand
God's test. We have like opportuui
ties with the great Jewish lawgiver,
If he had eyes to see God, and ears
to hear God, so have we. Will we
choose the tabernacle pattern for our
lives? “Every human soul,” wrote
Hartford's greatest divine, “has a
complete and perfect plan, cherished
for it in the heart of God—a divine
biography marked out, which it en
ters into life to live. This life, right
ly unfolded, will be a complete and
beautiful whole, an experience led
on by God, and unfolded by His se
cret nurture, great in its conception,
great in the divine skill by which it
is shaped; above all, great in the mo
mentous and glorious issues it pre¬
pares.” Life may be used for other
purposes, no doubt, but do they sat- ’
isfy? 1.' not life insipid, unsatisfying,
lost, till P is all wrought out a temple,
a dwelling place for God most high?
Here some will say, “But my life is
cast on other levels. It deals with
common things, with the doing of
momentous acts and routine service,,
What opportunity dan there bo fot
me to achieve such large or worthy
results? If conditions were different,
or my calling other than it is, all this
might be of interest to me. I long to
put just this into my living, but it is
all too remote from life as I have to
live it.” Here lies the value of the
scene before us. Through Moses the
humblest of the people became part
ners with him in building the taber
nacle. Moses did not rear it upon the
cloud-encircled mount, but iu the
plain, that you and I might be enc’our
aged to realize the purpose of God
| for us in the field of common daily re
lations and amid what will otherwise
be the drudgery of daily living. He
leaves us the same task. Merchant
and teacher, sailor and soldier, farm
er and workman, author and editor,
housewife and clerk, mistress and
maid, lawyer and preacher, however
humble and obscure our lives seem,
we are to be fellow workmen with
God in bringing things divine into
these seemingly common and un
meaning activities and relations,
After the clouds and glory had with
drawn from Sinai, the humblest Is
raelite could point to the tabernacle
and say: “The glory of God still fol
lows us all through our wilderness
wanderings in that tabernacle yonder,
and without me it would never have
been complete. tour life, where it
is, is needed for the rearing of some¬
j thing greater and better than the
tabernacle in the world of to-day, and
without it the kingdom of God will
never come in its fullness. Before
this all other needs of our time sink
into insignificance; for the truest
tabernacie for the showing forth of
God to the world is not a pattern
hidden in the majesty of unapproaeh
able heig hts, nor is it .temple or
cathedral, helpful as these may be,
bllt a life simple outwardly, though
with i uxuriant and divine furnishings levels
within; a life spent on the
where our fellow men live theirs,
filled not with such consecrated fur
nishings as adorned the tabernacle
Moses fashi.oned, but with the graces
and kindl - v deeds men need to see and
feel near at hand - This is OU1* Work >
as divinely appointed to us as it was
t0 Moses . It is the great er building,
in which all our common tasks and
humblest efforts may have an honored
P^ce as truly as did the altar and
laver in the ancient tabernacle.
But for this successful building of
Go T S .»"™T 8 " e : *'“•
^ d w^ Se J f a „!Tn!1 i. f te M j S n arcord , the ^. *“ ount g :
p , an F T 5 n a ,i aS T al Siance a. His
5 , v,a7° r + IS no ! g 1
’ DI W1
dlsdos ® tbat - pr Purpose and a plan are
! ® s vei a y^ a v ere u uto - itselt. ° negiain No. one °L mwer SSDd
'
b !°°Pp!j’ , aTlbldden- ^ ot
°ue leaf f diops beimie its time. ., Not T a
bird “ ot ® 18 unrelated; its music is
conditions and
yake L s own ecb ?. All things fall
* ato tbe ., * r pl ace and carry out the di
lr T P UI P°» e -
13 the method of the divine
. bui wliethei hu
,™ an ( ‘J P', Dg 28 ’ And ^ m may natuie b ® so oi_ 111 in yoar
-
^ P al ,P se „fT ™ r . ne us - and ^, e 10llow may know U as God tia y s
tbe s ‘ am of sand, the flower, , the .
b md of the air. ‘ If any man willeth
1° do His will, said the Master, “he'
shall know.” God does not withhold
Pus plan from any man. The mount
is ever ready for the revealing of the
pattern, but men must take the time
to learn, to withdraw to its retreat,
T be pattern came not to Moses till he
bac ^ twice spent forty days and forty
rights in the mount alone with God.
After many years' tuition in the
wilderness came John the Baptist,
herald of Christ. The wilderness rvas
his mount of vision. Handel had a
spiritual ear. and gave the world the
oratorio of the Messiah, and when we
hear it we must not forget the long
period of preparation. Michael An
S e l° had the spiritual eye and hand
an< l painted the frescoes of the Paul
* ne Chapel with the representations
°f the martyrdom of St. Peter and
the conversion of St. Paul, and carved
the statues of “David” and “Moses.”
ft Paul spent three years in Arabia
to meditate upon the vision he had
had of the Christ, who had met him
oa his way to Damascus; if Christ
Himself retired to solitary places for
Quiet and prayer, you and I need time
f° r suc h a disclosure of God’s will for
us as R e 3 s waiting to give. Before
we can rightly rear the tabernacle
vice °f our lives must in seek the the plain pattern of daily in ser
we the
mount, not Sinai, but the heaven
reaching life of Christ. The divine
pattern has come near men in Jesus
Christ. We have not to seek it amid
the perils, darkness and difficulties
of Sinai; it is here with us, built in
all its divine perfection on the levels
of our daily needs; supplying us with
all desirable inspirations, helps and
satisfying fellowship, opening the
very vail by which we enter into the
most holy place itself. It is not a
mount distant and removed, but a
presence near at hand, familiar with
our needs, to which we may with
draw in moments of discouragement
or temptation, full of divine comfort
an( l solace for the hours of sorrow,
°f divine strength and vitality in
our days of weakness when all other
be lP seems far away, full of gracious
warning when we are careless and
wayward. We need ever to be with
drawing into this mount, Jesus
Christ, if we are to realize the pattern
m tbe plain of our earthly living. Be
cause it is so accessible, so complete
m its ministry. “See, therefore, that
thou make all things according to the
pattern that was shewed thee in the
mount.”
You won’t improve your chances by
too many.
Tht
cbunbaq-Scfioof
i
|
!
|
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COM¬
j MENTS FOR NOVEMBER 15.
i
;
Subject: The Lord Our Shepherd,
; j Psalm 23—Golden Text, Ps.23:I
i —Commit the Entire Psalm—
I Read John 10:1-18.
I
] TIME.—-Uncertain. PLACE.—Un¬
j certain.
j Met, EXPOSITION.—I. twenr,y-third Every Want
1-3. The Psalm is
I a great depth, an unfathomable ocean
0 f truth. The foundation thought of
j the Shepherd.” first four verses, figure “Jehovah is my
| The stands for
C are, protection and provision on
: God’s part; trust and obedience and
I following on man’s part (Jno. 10:1,
; 18> 26-29; Gen. 33:13; Lu. 2:8; 5:4
j 6; Acts 20:29; Isa. 53:6; Matt
9 : 36). It is a shepherd’s business to
feed the sheep and iambs, and by
making Himself my Shepherd Jeho
V ah has undertaken to make it His
business to provide me with pasture,
to meet every need So David con _
tinues, “I shall not want.” This any
one who is sure that he ig OI}e of Je _
hovah’s sheep can confidently say.
Who Jehovah’s sheep are Jesus plain¬
ly tells us (Jno. 1C:3, 4, 5, 27). Je¬
hovah’s sheep will never lack any¬
thing that it is for his real good to
have (Ps. 84:11; 34:9, 10; Phil.
4:19; Matt. 6:33; Ro. 8:32; He.
13:5, 6). The Psalm leads on from
the general statement to specific
wants supplied. In verse 2 we have
four wants supplied: rest, food, drink,
leading. Literally translated, “He
maketh me to lie down in pastures of
tender grass, He leadeth me beside
| the waters of rest.” There is a two¬
fold rest in this verse: the passive
rest of sheep lying down on the soft,
young spring grass; the active rest of
walking beside the waters of rest. Is
there any other grass, food, so easy
for a true sheep of Christ to eat, so
juicy, so delicious, so nutritious, as
that which we find in the Word of
God? There is drink as well as food.
Jehovah leads His sheep right beside
“the waters of rest.’ What “the
waters of rest” are Jesus tells us
(Jno. 4:14; 7:37-39). The Holy
Spirit is the water we drink (for the
appropriateness of “waters of rest
cf. Gal. 5:22). There is guidanr
also “He leadeth me.” Not only a
there still waters there, hut it is Jt
hovah Himself who leads along the
hank. This leading is continuous and
constant. He “leadeth,” not driveth.
In this and the following verses there
are four experiences into which, and
in which, He leads; “waters of rest; ft
“paths of righteousness” (a holy
walk); into and through darkness,
peril and testing; into His own house
forever. In verse 3 we have a fifth
want supplied: healing, or revir r ing,
invigorating, “He restoreth (or, re
viveth) my soul.”
II. Every Fear Banished, 4. The
Lord’s sheep is now taken into entire¬
ly new experiences. No longer pas¬
tures of tender grass and waters of
rest, but “the valley of the deepest
darkness” (that is the force of the
Hebvew phrase “shadow of death”).
The Psalmist has not merely the ex
perience of literal death in mind, but
all experiences where the darkness is
thick and profound, God’s sheep do
not always walk in bright paths, In
the darkest valley Jehovah’s sheep
have no fears, “I will fear no evil. ft
A true trust in God banishes all fear,
under all circumstances, for all time
(Isa. 12:2; 26:3; Ps. 3:5, 6; 27:1;
46:1-3; Phil. 4:6, 7; Ro. 8:28-32).
And why not fear? “For Thou art
with me.” Not because there is no
danger, but because there is One with
us stronger than any possible enemy.
III. Every Longing Satisfied, 5, 6.
Here the figure changes: Jehovah no
longer appears as a shepherd, but as
a bountiful host. “Thou preparest a
table before me”—think out all that
He has spread before us on this table.
No banquet on earth like that. As to
the general character of the feast
read Ps. 63:5; 81:6. Note where we
are feasted, “in the presence of mine
enemies.” Christ’s own have enemies.
(Jno. 15:19; 2 Ti. 3:12), hut our
wonderful Host will spread us a ban¬
quet in their very presence. That is
one of the things that make the world
so angry with the church; they see
what a banquet we have, while they
are feeding on husks. • There is not
only a feast; but also an anointing.
The oil with which He anoints our
heads is “the oil of gladness,” the
Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38; He. 1:9; 1
Jno. 2:20, 27, R. V.). He anoints
our heads with this oil, it flows down
over our whole person (cf. Ps. 133:2„
R. V.). In ancient times an anoint*
ing was a necessary preparation for a
feast, and the anointing with the Holy
Spirit is a necessary preparation for
the Lord's feast. The next step fol¬
lows naturally, yea, inevitably *» my
cup runneth over” (jjpr, is “an abun¬
dant drink”). Do you know the over
flowing cup? Now we leave the feast
for our earthly pilgrimage (v. 6).
But we are not unguarded, “surely
goodness and mercy shall follow me, ft
I wish no better rear-guards, or foot¬
men than those. God’s goodness and
mercy (loving-kindness) follow our
every step. There is no doubt about
it, “surely.” How well-protected and
perfectly secure we are. The Shep¬
herd picking out the path before us,
and again close beside us in the dark
valley, and His own goodness and
mercy following us all the way. Note
how long this will continue. Now we
come to the end of our pilgrimage
and pass out of time into Eternity,
“I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever. ■ >