The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1879-02-08
The Amer.ican vintage.

mar's calculation. Itwould be difficult
to find any village in the country which
has net the materials and the forces OF
the hest civilization and culture. u
these forces and these materials were not
under restraint, if they were only free
to fellow their natural impulses and
courses, there would he universal prog
ress. The fact, however, is that almost
universally the agencies concerned IN
raising the social needs of community
are, fer various REASONS, held in CHECK.
or altogether represssd, Let us try to
paint a typical village. Ut shall consist,
say, of q thousand people, more or less.
The village has its two or three little
churches, and these have their pastors
men of fair education and faultless
morals. Still further, the village has
one or two physicians and o lawyer. In
addition to these, there is the post
master, who is usually man OF activity
aud influence; there is the rich man OF
the village; there are the three or four
men who ale only less rich than ne;
there are the young, well-educated fam
lilies of these well-to do people: there are
a dozen women who are bright in intel
llect, and who read whatever they can
lay their hands on; there is q fair degree
of worldly prosperity, and the schools
are well supported. One would say that
nothing is needed to make it q model
village, full of the liveliest and brightest
social life, and possessing all the means
and institutions of intellectual culture
and progress. 10 repeat a phrase with
which we began, the social potentiaities
of the village are incalcnlable. All the
agencies and materials and appurten-
ances for "a beautiful social life and
growth seem to exist, yet the fact prob
ably is that the village is socially dead,
If we look into the condition of things
we shall find that the little churchesare,
through their very littleness and weak
ness, jealous of each other; that their
pastors are poor and are kept upon q
starving intellectual Diet that the doc
tor and the lawyer are absorbed in their
professions; that the rich men are bent
upon their money getting and money
saving, and that all the young people
are bent upon frivolous amusements.
The village has no public library, no
public hall, no public reading room, no
lyceum, no reading-clubs, no literary
clubs, and no institutions or instituted
means for fostering and developing the
intellectual or social lite Of the villagers.
We have seen exactly this condition OF
things in q village many times, and we
have seen, under all these possibilities
and the hard facts of indifference or 90
scial inertia associated with them, q uni
versal desire for something better. We
have seen churches ashamed vf their
jealousies and the meager support &C
corded to their ministers. We have seen
young people dissatisfied with their life,
and wishing that it could be changed,
and we have seen our dozen of bright,
reading women ready and longing to
make any sacrifice for the production Of
q better social atmosphere. Nay, we be-
lieve thai the average American village
is ready for improvement, ready to be
led. The best social leading is the one
thing lacking. Sometimes it does not
need even this; only some fitting ,oeca-
sion that shall bring peoples egether, and
reveal the under harmonies which move
and the sympathies which bind them.
The probabilities are that there is not Q
village in America that needs anything
more than good leading tofaise its whole
social and intellectual life incalculably.
The village that is most dead and
helpless needs but one hasmonizing, un,
selfish, elevated will to lead and mold it
ito the best life aud the best issues, We
can not illustrate this power of leading
better than by citing the results OF the
recent mode of raising church debts.
One of the two tor three men who have
become famous for raising church debts
goes into the pulpit in the morning and
stands before a bankrupt congregation.
He is told before he enters the building
that every effort has been made to raise
the debt, but ia vain; that, indeed, the