The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-07-19
tations. think have been made in The coun

| From lonely years in the hill country came
Jesus to the mighty work But these all
came out of their solitude and into society
and made current coin of the
gold they had dug in lonesome mines. The
country is good place to come out Of and
! the world is getting so small now that solitude
Is not long possible 1t is quite difficult now to
| find place where there is not a tin can and
hacked tree, and perhaps it is we'll. city COM
pels man to be civil, urbane, to regard others
| The life of q shepherd the plains is not
poetic. He is apt to be taciturn, If converse
ton was necessity Of life, one would die in
Arizona Something must draw the thoughts
| out
"Sas Marner"-he lived by himself talked to
| his loom, saved his money, buried 1t under the
| floor. At night he would take out the yellow
| pieces, tumble them, kiss them and then put
| them carefully back and sleep over them He
lives on the scantest, coarsest fare that his idol
may be fat. Evidently something radical must
| happen to that man or he is lost. And one night
he finds his gold gone and not far from his door
| step there is baby crying.
A little wad of humanity, deserted and left
| alone on the moor That cry wakes pity in
him that was almost dead. The dead gold has
gone, and the living child has come, and a
| miracle ia wrought The man comes again into
contact with humanity, and so George Eliot
| says The Weaver of Raveoe." This is the
advantage of living in city You here learn to
| live with men, with all sorts and conditions Of
| men.
L
poems were written in the lake district, in the
| midst of beautiful nature, but being written
away from men, they only interest one side of
| the reader. Living when he did, the great
| social questions did not touch him. One century
was like another to him, and his mountains, and
| his lakes 1.-The spirit of the time" that seized
| Carlyle in London could not find Wordsworth
| do not think man ought to seclude himself
from the questions of his time Wordsworth
| bought solitude with price, and it cost, too.
| Thomas Hood would be called in comparison
| with Wordsworth, minor poet. Perhaps he was,
but he was not minor man. He lived where
| he could see humanity and feel. He cherished
| no mountain, but he wrote the Bridge of Signs "
| and The Song of the Shirt" l believe he is
read more and loved better than all the Lake
poets" put together:
This is the value of city. 1t compels man
| to go outside of himself. There is less slow
meditation than in the fields less Chewing the
cud of sweet and bitter fancy" but more serv-
ice.
| Perhaps when the end comes a memory of
| what have done will be pleasanter than a
| memory of what we have only thought.
| In the city all the questions that concern men
are brought right to the door. Every day some
thing happens. The herd doctrines of life are,
| If not read in the Bible, seen on the sidewalk.
| Here are the sinners, here also are the Sinned
against Here, within few square miles, is
mankind. Here is call on the heart and brain,
and apparently for heart and brain
90 to one of our great Cities say Boston, and
| WHlle Cnere De tne guest OF a prosperous man,
| and he will show you the city Before doing so
| he will look you over to see what kind Of a man
you are-whether you think and feel. If he con-
| cludes you do both of these he will show you
what the rich are doing for the poor Not as a
| charity, but for the sake of the city. What is
done to make the city in interest in purpose!
| The Boston man does not dilate much on the
height of Bunker hill, on the old glory of Old
| South Church and Boston Common But per-
| haps he drives you out TO North End mission,
| G a q
| the poorest shows you tenement house that he
| has built where it is easy to be clean and com
| Portable. Takes you around; shows you what
| wealth is doing-it may continue to be wealth
| There is a wall Of intelligence and love to be
maintained about every city that endures. There
| never will be Communism in the least sense of
| the word In a city where every man feels that he
| is a part of it, a recognized part.
The evils of city life mostly preventable
L think of moving into town. 1t will not be
| enough for me to know the population, the width
of Streets the favorite drives the depth of stores.
Babylon had population, wide streets, fine
| drives mighty market, but spiders weave
their webs there. wish to know what kind of
| folks live in place-not the quantity but the
kind. A city inhabited by good folks will always
| invite capital. London is big enough, but at
present do not think of going there to live. l
do not consider it safe place to stay over night.
L have known man to leave rich city and
| all he had, and he was heavy property owner
and he left it all, and he left in hurry. Elk
| Il
| inhabited mountain, simply because of the char
| acter of the folks 1t required an angel of God
| to convince him that his property in that city
was not worth ashes. Gods estimate of the
value of cities has not changed since the night of
| BelShaZzar'S feast. A city is worth precisely
| what the folks that live in it are worth. The
| love of man and the fear of God are the founda-
| tons of all the cities that last
| 1t is the good man, the good family, the good
| neghborhood, the good city that live long All
| hQr facr I'D fn
| such city The city offers some advantages to
| evil-but more to good.
| The great questions must all be answered by
| the cities. They do not pass in the country
| They come home to men in cities. 1 see that in
| indianapolis there is a strike of merchants
| manufacturers and professional men. They
! will have the telephone at a certain rate or not
at all! There is street car strike in Chicago.
These are questions for cities. If man does
not like his neighbor he cannot tell him as
| Abram told Lot: You go one way and l will
| 60 another" The world is too small. There is
no comfortable living among men now except to
| like another. The city was invented to make
| the golden rule imperative
The country allowed man to evade it. Here
he must be just and generous. Live and let
live. AS usual. | have no pet scheme some
| "MorrsOns pill" as Carlyle says, to make men
love one another But have this. You have
| little enmity one with another. Now will you
go apart-one to the East and one to the Vests!
| Not at all Let great new love come and wash
| out the little enmity and dry it,
''The church of Christ is common ground On
God, the Father of all, one Christ. the brother of
| all. He speaks, the Son of Man, to man. He
breaks bread for all. He pours wine for ALL To
all He gives His peace: For all He died. For
| all He lives forever. The church holds up the
only sign of communion earth-the sign Of
the cross. There is one. God, the father of US
ALL one Christ, the brother Of us all: one origin
in one sorrow one redemption one heaven.
"And l. if | be lifted up, will draw all men,"
Drawing men to Himself of necessity He brings
them together. He is the only power l know of
| to cure the trouble of the earth, to answer the
| questions Of the time.