The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-01-09
OF

WHICH maj III Oil ages anu ONN~J
cline has been accustomed to measure
the life and deeds of his fellows, prob
ably none is more common than that
expressed in the words, intensity OF
purpose.
The tendency to aimlessness n life
has been combatted by systems OF phi
losophy and religion, by the influence
OF noble characters and by those higher
and purer desires which, present In the
very dawn of history, assert the dig
nifty of man.
Yet SO comparatively few have been
those me- whose lives have reflected
their convictions that history loves to
record their deeds on tablets of imper-
ishabIe fame, and proclaim to future
ages, Behold a Man"
Different motives, too, often Of a sci
fish nature, have ever influenced men
and women in their life work, whil3
the methods of action employed ex-
hibit a diversity even more striking,
The First Napoleon is an example of
that class of men who look to dominion
and power as the ultimatum of their
hopes. Splendid empires moulded into
form at their touch of power, their
Golfers are replenished by tribute, their
names honored in the high places of
the earth. But in the wake Of conquest
are devastated villages, ruined homes,
broken hearts and an exhausted nation.
And when the master mind quits the
scene Of its activities, the colossal
fabric which it had called into existene
crumbles and falls with a crash, re
sounding through the centuries.
But let the purpose be noble and un-
selfish, then how different the RESULT
a British nobleman, stirred by the
scenes of want and hopeless misery
among the laboring classes of his
native town devotes his life to the
honest, deserving poor.
For years, both in private and pub
lie life, he stands as an exponent of
that noble reform. Opposition, in its
keenest form, met him at every stage.
Even such statesmen as Golden, John
Bright and Gladstone, held themselves
aloof from his plans,
A careful investigation of the prin
cip,es and laws which govern we'll pur
posed lives, will reveal to some extent
the secret of their power.
Such conviction is, in a measure, the
result of personal contact with the
wrong to be righted, or the truth to be
enthroned.
There is for example, scarcely an in
telligent American citizen who does
not feel a considerable degree of sym
pathy for the oppressed liberals of
Russia. But to George Keenan,, who
has sat where they sit, exiled from
their native land, who has realized the
severity OF the Russian yoke, who has
seen the results Of tyranny in cottage,
church and State, who has heard the
cry for deliverance echoed by college
man, noble and peasant, to him, these
sufferings are a burning, vivid reality
demanding foreign aid.
Turn from individual cases to the
public sentiment of America in its
dealings with the practical moral
questions Of the day.
The idea is prevalent that the ques-
ton in regard to the liquor traffic is
no longer one of ethics but of mere ex-
pediency. But plausible though this
view may appear it is manifestly alb
surd to suppose that under the stress
of so great an emergency, the senti-
ment Of the majority of Americas
citizens is rendered Intellectual by a
mere difference of opinion as to meth
DDS of dealing with a confessed evil.
In case of a foreign invasion or
some other imminent national peril
there would be no such vacillating de-
lay. Theories would be given to the
wind, practical methods Immediately
adopted, and every facility of trans
portation would be crowded with men
Fastening to the defense of the COM
monwealth, and why2 Because the
danger iRpealized, the crisis apparent.
The homes Of the nation have cried
out in stentorian tones and this is their
answer. Go the thoughtful observer
the analogy between the two cases is
striking. Standing, as it does, shielded
by the law and intrenched in the lead
ing cities Of the nation, with a concen-
trated power which political bribery
and corruption have rendered we'll
nigh invincible, the liquor traffic
threatened the sanctity of the church,
the purity Of the home and the stabil
ity of the government itself.
IL Ann H. HL-:nA:- L