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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2. 190L
OWEN WISTER AS SEEN THROUGH LADY BALTIMORE
By REV. JAMES W. LEE,
PASTOR TRINITY METHODIST CHURCH
A UTHORS unconsciously reveal
themselves in their books. No
one can help loving Dickens, not
because of what his biographers say
of him, but because of what “Bleak
House,” “David Copperfleld” and his
other immortal stories say of him. In
not one of his creations is Dickens
consciously giving any account of him
self. He is seen between the lines he
writes. He appears, not directly, but
indirectly, as the sun makes Itself
known in the flowers.and the trees and
the changing winds.
What Lockhart, In his charming blog-
raphy, says of his father-in-law does
not tell us a tithe as much of Sir
Walter Scott as we learn of the great
writer of romance from “Ivanhoe,"
-Rob Roy,” etc. Art, therefore, gives
us truer history and biography than
recorded fact. Shakespeare's “Henry
the Eelghth” teaches us far more of
the king, his wines, his cardinals and
his age than we get from the literal
chroniclers of the sixteenth century.
Literature becomes doubly Interest
ing to us when we use it as a means
to study the men who create it. “The
World as Will and Idea” Is a marvel
ously striking and interesting philo
sophical work, but one will find It far
more absorbing If he thinks of it as so
many openings through which to look
at the strange and tumultuous soul of
Schopenhaur. If the great pessimist
had of set purpose been determined on
giving the world a sight of himself, he
could not v have succeeded half so well
by narrating every act of his life, as
he has by giving us his metaphysical
treatise. He set out to give a concep
tion of the universe, Its ground and
meaning. The picture he gave fur
nishes a much better drawn portrait
of the interior life of the author than
of the actual nature of creation. Very
few will agree that the system of
things set forth In his philosophy
agrees with the real order of exist
ence, but all will agree that Schopen-
haur did succeed completely in build
ing a metaphysical frame In which to
hang his own picture.
All this Is preliminary and may be
regarded ns so many rounds of circling
approaches, spun off for the purpose
of enabling us to arrive in thinking
dlstanco of Owen Winter and his Lady
Baltimore.
This is the most generaly read work
of Action perhaps that has appeared
during the year. Southern people es
pecially have hailed It with delight. It
Is clean, clear-cut and exceedingly
wholesome. The picture of the Kings
port society Is true to the life of our
grandfathers and grandmothers of the
olden time. Through this admirably
drawn sketch we are uble to get
glimpses of the sane, simple, aristo
cratic. elegant Christian life our ances
tors lived. It was aristocratic, not be
cause of Its money or other merely ex
ternal accompaniments, but because it
was serious, and pure and consecrated
to lofty Ideals. It was the aristocracy
of refinement, and conservatism. It.
was aristocratic because it was not
cheap and loud and inflated with the,
sense of making a show In the world.
It was aristocratic because of Its his
toric consciousness. It was perhaps a
little extreme In the emphasis It placed
upon having descended from long gen
erations of pure and pious ancestors.
But this was Infinitely better than the
protruding Insufferable conceit cheap
people succeed In filling themselves
with, upon no- better reason than that
they have managed to lift themselves
up by the diligent use of “their moral
inefficiencies.” This old-time Kings
port society was aristocratic in a sense
that the New port Society at the present
is not, because as one of the characters
in Lady Baltimore declares, the Kings
port people were connected by marriage
and a very important element of New
port people are connected by divorce.
Newport society Is divided into three
classes—“those who have to sell their
old family pictures; those who have to
buy their old family pictures, and the
lucky few who need neither buy nor
■ell. who are neither going down nor
bobbing up, but who have kept their
heads above the American tidal wave
from the beginning and continue to do
so.” This last class Is put down as be
ing fine as any'people in the world.
Wlster makes the leading spokesman
of hJs story wish that he could buy
Kingsport and put it under a glass In a
museum, the fine, correct old women
and all. When asked for whom and
for what, he answers, Why, you ought
to see! You have Just been saying It
yourself. They would teach our un-
llcked boy cubs, our alcoholic girls
who shout to waiters for “high balls"
on country club porches—they would
teach these wallowing creatures, whoso
money has merely gilded their bristles,
Tne manners we've lost, the decencies
we've banished, the standards w
lowered, their light Is still flickering in
this passing generation of yours."
The picture given by Wlster of the
society In Kingsport, which Is really
Charleston, S. C\, ought to be studied
and fallen in love with by all our young
people to such an extent that there
should be formed the deep determina
tion to reproduce it. Sooner or later
we will come back to it. It is easy to
see that the step being set by the "high
ball,” “cigarette smoking" Newport
young woman is the pace that kills. It
Is Intimated In Lady Baltimore that
Southern society has been saved from
these excesses, so far, by Its poverty,
if poverty is such a boon as this, we
might all well wish to remain poor for
ever. But this is not necessarily so.
Many of the old-time charleston' fam
ilies were rich, but they never thought
to find in their wealth grounds for out
raging the everlasting laws of decency
and morality. How the Southern peo
ple are to meet the temptations that
come along with great wealth In this
approaching new, time remains to be
seen. But we know very well that the
owners of great plantations and slaves
before the war were of the very highest
type of life.
The wealth of the Southern people
who lived before the war did not hurt
them. But the Vast riches soon to
come to our people will cheapen us
and coarsen us, and reduce us to the
level of common mud, unless we get
our Ideals of social life from Kings
port Instead of from Newport.
nut we are only circling round Lady
Baltimore, pointing out thoughts stored
up by reading the book. What about
Owen Wlster? This Is the question.
How could a man, born and reared in
Philadelphia, write such a book? One
can hardly resist the conviction, after
reading Lady Baltimore, that the au
thor of It must at least be a half
Southerner.
But more than this Is true of Owen
Wlster. He Is Southern complete
through his grandfather and English
complete through his grandmother.
Many, many years ago. before the
beginning of the nineteenth century,
one Major Butler was living In South
Carolina, pernaps In the neighborhood
of Charleston. He was a planter and
slave owner. From some cause or
other he did not succeed In Carolina.
Because of debt he became embar
rassed. In order to mend his fortunes
or recover what he had lost, he started
for Oporgla. But before reaching his
destination he was overtaken by the
sheriff of the region he had left, who
followed him In order to collect what
was due his creditors. Major Butler
was a proud, high-minded man—a
typical gentleman of the old school.
To be arrested for any cause was, In
his esteem, to be disgraced. So he
faced the sheriff with a pair of large
pistols and gave him to understand
that he would die In his tracks rather
than be arrested. The sheriff, there
fore, in the terms of Mark Twain, waa
persuaded to let the major pass on
with his family, his negroes and his
holdings to Georgia. He settled neur
Darien, Oa., on the Altamuha river,
and began planting operations again on
St. Simona Island. He succeeded In a
large way, and soon paid every debt.
with Interest, he owed In South Caro
lina. Major Butler had two sons—
John and Pierce. The fortunes of
John, we are not to follow. He mar
ried In Philadelphia. Pierce Butler mar
ried Frances A. Kemble, a brilliant
English actress, the daughter, I thin*:,
of John Philip Kembl#, who was one
of the most celebrated English actors
of the eighteenth century, and the
brother of the famous Mrs. Siddons.
Two daughters were born to Pierce
Butler and Frances' Kemble, one named
Sarah, who married Ow-en Jones Wis-
ter, and one named Frances, who mar
ried the Hon. and Very Rev. James
Wentworth Leigh, dean of Hereford,
England, since 1894. Canon Leigh is
the third son of the first Lord Leigh,
and the uncle of the present Lord
Leigh, of Stonellgh abbey, Kenil
worth.
Owen Wlster, the author of Lady
Baltimore, is the grandson of Pierce
Butler and Frances A. Kemble, and the
son of Owen Jones Wlster and Sarah
Butler.
After the marriage of Pierce Butler
and “Fannie" Keinble (as she wm
but was so deeply opposed to slavery
that she wrote a book against it. She
finally went back to England, wrhere
she spent the remainder of her life,
leaving her children with her husband.
This history, for which I am indebted
to a gentleman In Atlanta whose grand,
father's plantation adjoined that of
Major Butler, helps us to understand
Lady Baltimore, and how Owen Wlster,
a Northerner by birth and training,
could write it.
FOR THE COMMON PEOPLE
By REV. JOHN E. WHITE,
PASTOR SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH
ItHHMHHHIl
IIHIMHHIMII
I N mediaeval times the idea pre
vailed that the Bible was God's
book for a special and elect class.
It waa secluded and guarded In ab
beys and cathedrals. It tvas a great
day In the history of mankind when
that idea was exploded and the Bible
was placed In the reach of the plain
man.
It 1s easily discovered, w'hen one
conies to the New Testament for him
self, that the revelation of Christ is
delivered at the level of the plain, or
dinary, average man. Christ was at
pains to declare that He had come not
to deal with the righteous, but sinners.
His message, His life and His minis
try was keyed to the pitch of common
humanity.
Now, when we begin to study the
work of the Holy Spirit, under whose
dispensation the church of Christ waa
to go Into ail the world and preach the
gospel to every creature, we may be
absolutely certain that the personality,
presence and pow-er of the Holy Spirit
was a truth and an experience for all
the,Christians.. We do not need go far
Into the matter aa the New Testament
reveals it before we discover the error
uf the current conceptions on the sub
ject of .the Holy Spirit.
The plain man Is in Christ'n thought
In every utterance prophetic of the
paraclete, “I will not leave you com
fortless, but I will send you another
comforter,” Christ Is thinking of men
who needed help, men who had in
firmities, not of -uncommon or unusual
saints. It seems conclusive beyond dis
pute that the ministry of the Holy
Spirit, and the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit and the empowering of the Holy
Spirit are directed not for the extraor
dinary characters, not for the prodig
ious, colossal, conspicuous, overwhelm
ingly distinguished souls; not for the
man who gets his holiness advertised
in the papers; talked about on the
streets and proclaimed from the plat
forms, but for the comfort and help of
the unimaginative, unpoetlc, hard-
pressed believer who is neither a
prophet nor the son of a prophet. There
are prophets and sons of prophets, but
they ure not the average men. The
Holy Spirit, as He Is set forth In the
New Testament, is God's provision for
the religiously unglfted as well as the
religiously gifted. He Is doing quite
ns great u work In the unendowed and
unimaginative souls as He Is in those
who so readily yield to spiritual in
fluences. It would be hard to decide
whether the Holy Spirit Is doing His
greatest work In a man I know who
has strong and passionate fleshly In
firmities, or the good woman I know
who has been spiritually, virtuously
minded all her life. One is a saint;
the other Is what most of men are.
a sinner saved by grace and kept by
the spirit, who mightily helps him to do
as well ns he does.
Mr. Edison selected a bit. cf bamboo
to perfect the electric light because It
offered most resistance to the current.
The men of apostolic days and the men
of later years who exhibited in the
results of their living and labor the
greatest power of the Holy Spirit were
men, without exception, who made no
large claims of holiness, but owned
themselves the chief of sinners.
The Economy of Grace.
Now, in the wonderful words which
conclude the chapter, than which hu
man thought never soared to grander
heights, the theme is Grace. This sug
gesta that which should never be lost
sight of, that In all His work the Holy
Spirit operates according to the econ
omy of Grace. Grace Is the Holy Spir
it’s law of action. He is the gift of
Grace—not the reward of meritorious
ness, even as was Christ. He Is with
us by the free and unmerited favor of
God and with us In the double sense of
being in us and for us. "And if ye, be
ing evil, know how to give good gifts
unto your children, how much more
shall your Heavenly Father give the
Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?”
And this Is the highest word that
can be spoken about the Holy Spirit.
It rings out above the groaning of the
struggle. "What shall we say then to
these things of God if God (by His
Spirit) be for us, who can be ngulnst
us? Nay. we are more than conquerors
through Him that loved us." When you
are exhorted to seek the Holy Spirit,
remember this. He Is already yours;
He Is In you the gift of Grace, and you
can not lift your hand to seek Him ex
cept by Him. I w'ould rather exhort
you to welcome Him, welcome the
Helper who has come. Let Him have
His way in your body, His temple.
Now, there are great questions about
the work of the Holy Spirit, which are
plainly answered In ourt text:
Who does the Holy Spirit help?
Where does the Holy Spirit help?
How does the Holy Spirit help?
First. Who does the Holy Spirit
help?
He helps those who have infirmities.
This answer lies clearly upon the facts
of the 26th verse—“The Holy Spirit
helpeth our Infirmities.”
Second. Where does the Holy Spirit
help?
He helps at the point at which our
infirmities hurt us most, ut the point of
prayer. This Is also evident In tho
text, “The Holy Spirit also helpeth our
Infirmities, for we know not what to
pray for as we ought."
Third. How does the Holy Spirit
help?
He helps by making intercession for
us and with grounlngs which can not
be uttered. Let us look ut these things
in turn.
Who?
The Holy Spirit helps those who have
Infirmities.
Was that ever made quite plain to
you? Have you never heard it other
wise? Yet is that not exactly what
Paul is saying here and throughout
this chapter. Always read the 8th
chapter of Romans in the light of tho
seventh.
I have heard that the Holy Spirit will
have nothing to do with us unless wo
are holy. That Is not so. It Is mis
chievously false. The Impression has
often been made that the Holy Spirit
Is exacting as to the conditions under
which He will work; that He Is harsh
In Judgments, rigid in requirements,
and that He occupies a position out
side the Christian's heart from' which
He makes certain severe demands on a
threat that unless they are compiled
with He can not come In. That Is not
o. It Is desperately false. Nothing
ould more misrepresent Christ, Ills
spirit, His life, His method and minis
try. The Holy 8pliit, by those who fall
Into this error, Is sometimes Illustrated
by a bird that Is frightened away by a
hostile movement. How untrue. It is
almost a blasphemy.
“Know ve not that your bodies are
the temple of the Holy Spirit?” Not
ought to he the temple, but actually
are. And vory mean temples they ure
sometimes, but if a man is a Christian
the Holy Spirit will persist there and
help there, yea though It be us Paul
REV. DR. JOHN A. WHITE.
declared hla body to be, a very body of
death. But does not the Spirit also
dwell In the-saints? Yes, and very
richly, especially the saints of humil
ity and modesty and sweetness who
wear the graces of tho spirit which
are “love, Joy, neure, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
temperance."
But He also dwells In us who are not
saints, to make us better than we are
and richer In these graces. He helps
those who huve infirmities The most
perfect statement of the facts In the
average Christian’s life I ever heard
in the sermon of an Irish preacher
from the text, “By the grace of God
am what 1 am,” the outline of which
as. "I am not what I once was—not
what I ought to be; I am not what I
shall be." Surely this Is a truth about
the Holy Spirit In which every one may
find courage. He is not a potent right
of the aristocracy of the church, but
the plain man's friend and helper.
Whero?
The Holy Spirit helps us where our
infirmities hurt us most—at the point
of prayer. Experience is the best coni
nientury on this truth of the text, our
humun weaknesses focus all their mis
chief in an attack on prayer. Their
power Is directed to the central citadel
uf the Christian's life. I believe that
all Christians feel, without the exhor
tations of the pulpit, that if they could
pray aright the greatest sorrow of their
Christian lives would disappear. If they
could—why can thev not?
We have had no break with our be
liefs In nrayer. As a doctrine of reve
lation we give to all that Is claimed
for prayer u full Intellectual consent.
We know as a matter of religious fact
that In the mind of God prayer is no
fiction, that God has determined that
He will be Inquired of and that nrayer
should have a positive influence In di
recting the course of His creatures. We
also know in a more realising way that
there Is a connection between human
mind and divine mind, of which prayer
Is the link. We are never disposed to
question the good poet who sung:
"By prayer the whole round world
Is bound by gold chains about the feet
of God.”
We are too familiar with the fmpultv
to pray to doubt the reality of prayer.
“Oh, when the heart is full. And
bitter thoughts come crow-ding thickly
up for utterance*, and the poor common
words of courtesy are such a very
mockery, how much the bursting heart
may pour Itself In prayer."
We know all that and more than that
about prayer. We know- that ft Is vi
tal In the Christian's life—the soul’s
very hands and mouth by which It
feeds on God. And we have the hun
ger. We have desire. We have/things
we want God to do. There are effects
and results in our own lives, In the
lives of our children. In the lives o|
our friends, we want to see broughl
about. We see a hundred things nboui
we would sincerely rejoice to see
changed; yet we can not pray.
We do not take hold of praying with
anything like the earnestness and de
termination our simple common sense
would suggest we should. But we have
not far away the explanation of
prayeriessness. Our Infirmities, our
fleshly faults, our mental and physical
weaknesses have all conspired to as
sault us at the point of prayer. We
have a body and It Is a body of death.
We have human Intellects and they are
carnally minded. These are our Infirm
ities. Every whit of the praying wm
do Is contrary to them. What a cata
logue would they make If we should
call them over. If we could get a
clear picture of our Infirmities, assem
bled In a company, we would not so
much wonder that we are hindered In
prayer. Look at that figure of youi
pride, of your self-love, of your Jeal
ousy, of your desire for gain, your love
of pow-er. your self-confidence, your
resources of hate, your unforglveness,
your lust to get all you can and keep
all you can for yourself, of your ani
mal passions, of your resolute preju
dices, of your stern and unbinding wll-
fulness. Now- all these are aimed to
keep us from fellowship with God. I
do not think the devil trembles w-hen
he sees the weakest saint upon his
knees, but Instead he loads his gun
and takes good aim. We need the help
of the Holy Spirit against these odds,
and we get It.
How?
How does the Holy Spirit help?
“By making Intercession for us with
groaning* that can not beJ uttered.”
Now, this does not mean that the
Holy Spirit makes Intercession for us
outside of us at the throne of Grace.
We have an advocate of G«d, Christ
that died, who Is ever at the right hand
of God, maketh Intercession for us.
But the Holy Spirit Is In u* and He Is
praying for us through Us, In a vica
rious way He Is at work teaching us
to pray the prayer He gives us. Have
you not seen a mother with the little
child? At first, when the baby Is
very small, she prays for It outside of
Its consciousness altogether. She takes
the baby up In the tender arms of
her prayer and says, “God bless my
little one tonight as he sleeps. God
guard my child this night." But after
awhile the child can talk. The Idea of
prayer Is realised In Its little heart and
mind. Then watch the mother. She
prays no longer outside, but through
the child. Puts the words into the
child’s ear on Its memory, on its Ifps,
catches the word that drops and places
It in place again. Gently, patiently,
she teaches the prayer, and then she
kneels by Its side and follows every
word through with her own faith at
the child lisps:
Th# mother helpeth the child’s in
firmities. She maketh Intercession for
It by going with her cry through Its
uplifted heart. That 1h the work of the
Holy Spirit In us making Intercession
for us. The doctrine Is that the Holy
Spirit mediates In us for Christ while
Christ mediates for us with God. Our
Infirmities are nil the while drawing .
our hearts away from God. He Is there
keeping the fires of desire and impell
ing our thoughts to Christ.
If the Holy Spirit should leave this
world there w-ould never be another
Christian prayer. There Is pow-er
enough In my natural Infirmities 4o
(hug ine to my feet and aw*ay every
time I bow- my knees In prayer. If
If 4 * did not help us we would pray no
more. Our souls would be gangreened
through and through by the dead bod-
» that enswathe them.
"With groanlngs that can not be ut
tered." That Is the conception that
Paul had of the hard task set for the
Holy Spirit. That Is his conception ot
the resistance the Spirit meets In us.
The channels are choked by Infirmities,
as He struggles to express through
us the desire of our hearts. His cries
are muffled. He Is like a giant striv
ing to break open the walls of a dun
geon It Is an overwhelming concep
tion. but wc know- something of. ejacu
lations that die away with a grasp from
our lips, Incoherent aspirations that
fa»l buck on our hearts like a bird
worn tied by beating against a cage.
These broken prayers that are only
great soul w-helmlng longings are the
prayers the Holy Spirit heaves against
the barriers of His fleshly temple, as
He struggles In us tor our expression
god w ard.
The Issue Is clear. Our Infirmities
„.-e robbing us of a full fellowship with
God. Draw the lines. Mark the roes of
your soul, the hindrances of the heav
enly life for which God created your
spirit. Our Infirmities show us where
to begin. We will begin to be better
men and women right from them.
Remember, you do not fight alone.
The Helper, and He Is mighty. Is at the
front and calls you to His side for your
own deliverance. You can roll the bat
tle on Him when your arm is weary,
only stand with Him; do not desert
Hlni with your light good will.
THE STONE PILLOWED DREAMER
I.
By REV. EVERETT DEAN. ELLEN WOOD,
PASTOR UNIVERSAL1ST CHURCH
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••a
I N’ the Old Teetament account of the
beginning of things we read the
lancinating etorjr of a young man
turning hie back upon home and Its
•ooclatlons and faring forth Into an
untried land. Impelled by two of the
primal Impulse* of the human con-
•elence, the fear of justly deserved ret
ribution and the unconquerable stir
rings of a new ambition. Night over-
**kes the traveler, with no shelter of
human habitation supplied to hie need.
Committing himself to the protection of
lb' Hod of hie fathers, he makes of
the earth his couch, and, pillowing his
hrsd upon one of the etones In which
the unfriendly district abounds, his sins
nnd his ambitions are soon surren
dered to the Insistent demands of
"death's twin sister—sleep.” The etars
l keep unceasingly their vigil: the eool-
i Ing breeze touches lovingly the face
! of the wanderer: the tired body relaxes
1 gratefully to the soothing Influence of
! close contact with Its earliest mother,
| and In the still active mind, now swept
clear of the bewildering maze of the
'fiercely contesting passions of the wak-
i Ing hours, there gradually assumes
definite shape a vision of surpassing
beauty and of wonderfully compelling
j Incentive to better living.
I The young man dreams, and In his
dream, lo! a ladder set up betwixt earth
and heaven and t*opled by the angelic
I forms of the messengers of light npd
, truth, and to his quickened and enrap
tured senses there came that voice
which still shakes the earth, speaking
| to him In command and In prophecy
: of the things which should come to
WHEN IN THE COUR8E of human events It becomes necessary" to
build a house, a home, a hovel, a hut, a bam, a hungalo, a factory, a tene
ment. a shelter, a shack, a shed or any plats? requiring roofing, consult
us about _ _ . _
VULCANITE
It Is the logical thing to use, for reasons too
numerous to mention. People who have bought Vulcanite are buying
u when they need roofing again. There are facts which actually- hap
ten and they speak louder than w-ords. It does not require jxprrt
labor to apply It. It Is recommended by the National Board or in-
‘’•“rwrlters and Southeastern Tariff Association.
“YOU CAN PUT IT ON.”
ATLANTA SUPPLY CO.,
80LE 8TATE AGENT8 FOR GEORGIA.
29-31 South Forayth Street, Atlanta, Ga.
J. C. GREENFIELD, Pres. C.A. PEEK. Sec';
pass for him and for the nation which
he should be called upon to lead.
The Truth In the Story.
We may not determine the author
ship or the authenticity of the story.
For one man It is history, for another
a tradition, for another an uplifting
legend, for another but the beautiful
romance of an Inspired mind, but be
all this as the Individual reader shall
choose for .Jilmself, this much Is cer
tain; It contains for every one who
reads It comprehendlngly one of the
most profound and Inspiring truths of
life.
Since the beginning of conscious hu
man life upon this planet the souls of
men have been lifted onward and up
ward, from year to year and from age
to age, by the dreams of the drenmers
— the dreamer* of wide-open eyes and
of ear* ever attuned to catch the faint
est whisper of the Infinite. These are
the dream* which are really worth
while*, and which have made the race
what It Is today, the dreams thut visit
men and women, not in the' silent
watches, when night has closely drawn
her curtains, shutting out the noisy
day. but in the hustle and clash and
clamor of the busy, work-a-day world;
the dreams which have for the arena of
their waking realisation the dusty per
spiring scene of life’s actual conflict,
and for their constant Inspiration the
flushed and eager, yea. oft times, the
saddened and despairing faces of those
who struggle for the mastery. Yes,
these are the dreams which must con
stantly be dreamed and realized ere
we shall hope for the answ-er to the
prayer which Is so often upon our lips
and In our hearts, “Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done." One of the most
helpful of all of man’s God-given qual
ities Is his almost Instinctive self-
dlssatlsfactlon. True enough It Is that
this Is one of those virtues whose un
due exaggeration becomes a disas
trous vlee. but It Is also certain that
without It there Is no progress.
-Reign and keep life In this thy deep
desire,
Our only greatnesa Is that wa aspire."
REV. E. D. ELLENWOOD.
Thus truly sings Jean Ingelow, and
thus It Is that the world owes Its
constant progress toward the freedom
of light and truth to the Insistent and
noble discontent of Its dreamers. NVe
must learn that he most truly “hon
ors father and mother" who has passed
the frontier of ancestral attainment
and has pitched his own tent a day’s
march In the van.
Difficulty the Parent of Endeavor.
Let us not forget the sort of-pillow
that this drear.i«r of the story- had
perforce chosen upon which to rest his
head. It was “one of the stones of the
place.”
The world Is filled today with the
bftter complainings of men and women
who really seem to believe that nearly
nil the rest of us would long ago have
been smothered In the dust of their
chariot wheels, If only they had been
given a “fair show," a decent chance
like other men. Untiringly they pour
Into our ears from their throne on the
Upturned empty drygoods box In the
country postofflee or the corner-stone,
the tale of the marvelous achievements
which would have been theirs, the
splendid benefits they would have con
ferred upon the race, If only there hail
been doled out to them the needful
preparation for the fight with circum
stance which they were called upon to
wage.
Why, bless your heart! you poor,
whining waller of "the things that
might have been," don't you know that
nearly all the lifts the world has been
given God ward have been the result of
dreams conceived In the hearts «.f
dreamers whose heads were pillowed
upon a stone, yea, all too often, whose
bodies rested upon pebble-strewn gran
ite!
"We rise by the things that are neath
our feet," by the difficulties and handi
caps we have overcome, by the evil
impulses we have conquered and con
verted Into servants, "by the pride de
posed and the passion slain," not by
the good above us which our covetous
ness may enable us to pull down to
own, but not to possess. Our dreams
and longings shall reveal to our en
raptured vision the ladder upon which
we shall rise out of low aim and un
worthy desire up to the vaulted dome
of a spiritual conception of our own
vast possibilities, when these dreams
have their Ineepthm In some undesir
able condition of mind, body or estate.
What a long list of stone-pillowed
dreamers history- presents for our In
spiration and encouragement! Jems
of Nazareth, Paul the Apostle, Socrates,
Gregory, Paschal, Bernard, of fiarl-
veaux. Richard Hall, Robert Green.
MJIton, Beethoven, Channtng, Lincoln,
Helen Keller, here and there their
names shine forth as we turn at ran
dom the pages of life’s record of worthy-
deeds, and each of these dreamers
knew his individual pillow of stone,
varying In hardness only In degree, yet
how poor would the world be If any one
of these dreamers had refused to take
as his own "one of the stones of that
place.”
Action Must Follow Revslstion.
If our dreams are to be of any prsc
tlcal worth to the world, we must re
member that action must always
promptly and decisively follow revela
tion. In the Genesis story, which we
are using as the basis for our thought.
It Is related that the author of this
wonderful dream “rose up early In the
morning and took the stone which he
had used for a pillow, and he set It up
for a pillar, and he poured oil upon It
and consecrated It.” He made of it a
monument to the splendor of his In
spiration and to hla subsequent
achievement.
Not dreams alone can sing songs,
paint pictures, win battles, build cities,
w rite books, save human souls, or es
tablish ethical standards for the guid
ance of a race. If our Inspirations are
ever to be anything more than the
shadow- of their environment, we, too,
must rise up early In the morning and
with the oil of a determined will and
an unswerving purpose, we must con
secrate our lives os n monument to the
fulfillment of our splendid vision, the
realisation of the dream God has given
us.
The Responsibility is Individual.
The need for the dreamer of great
dreams Is by no means past. Every
roil of the printing press and every
flash from the telegraph reveals to us
the world’s Imperative need of men of
higher Ideals and more exalted ambi
tion, and the man whose realised vision
the world waits for Is not the man In
the next state, In the next county, In
the next street in your own city; It is
you, my friend, right where you are, no
matter what your environment, no
matter what circumstance apparently
so pitifully hinders. It Is your thought,
your prayer, your work, your sacrifice,
which the present hour demands. Art
you ready?
But, you say, It will cost a good deal.
Yes, It always does. Never a prise w-as
worthy the striving but It left the win
ner spent and weary. We would all
fain stand upbn our own mount of
ascension, but, between lie Gethsem-
ane and Calvary. Yes, truly It deea
cost a good deal. But the rewards are
richly commensurate. Within the eager
grasp of that exhausted runner thera
rests secure the prize, nnd though if
we be true followers of Jesus Christ
we shall not ask to escape Gethsemana
and Calvary, yet we know that our feet
shall one day ascend the mount. Yet,
It costs something, but It pays. Let us
rejoice, therefore, rather than lament,
If, like Jacob of ole*, we, too, are called
upon to take unto ourselves "one of
the stones of that place" for a pillow,
for we know that In the morning, we,
too, shall come to our Bethel with glad
rejoicing. *
God pity us If the time shall ever
come to the race when "our old men
shall no longer dream dreams, and our
young men shall have ceased to see
visions."
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