The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1897-07-09

who said, "Come. boys, let US gop' and
the inscription upon his monument told
how he died at the head Of his regiment
on the bloody field Of Gettysburg. He
gave all that man could give, he gave
himself, his life, his all. And he was but
one of many. And If today like call
should come, every hamlet and village
and city in this broad land of ours would
send forth such as he, to do all, to dare
all, to suffer all, for their country.
Trooper Peter Halket, of Newfoundland
in Olive Schreiner's story of that name,
wandered away from his company and
spent the night alone in the koppje.
There he met with one, like unto the
Christ, who discovered to him all the
meanness and selfshness of his own life
and told him of a glorious company that
had been since the world was and should
be until the world was theirs, company
who had this for the sign of their fellow
ship, that they loved one another. And
when Peter Halket heard of this goodly
company and its glorious heritage he
knelt at the feet of the strange prophet
and desired to be numbered with them.
$50, them" said the Prophet Christ,
"take a message to England, cry unto
Englands queen, cry to the wise men of
England, cry to the women of England,
cry to the workers of England, rebuke
them for the sin they have done in this
fair land.' But Peter Halket said, 81
cannot give that message. 1 am but an
unlearned man, the son Of washerwo
man, they will not hear me-" Go,
then" said the Prophet Christ, "Take a
message to the men and women of this
land. Warn them of their sins. Com
mand them to peace" NAY" lsaith
Peter Halket, 81 am but a stranger here,
an unknown trooper; they will not hear
me-" $50, them" said the Prophet
Christ, go to one man. Demand ofhim
the souls that he hath bought; cry out
against him for the blood that he has
shed. Rebuke his sin and greed; and if
he, Cecil Rhodes, will not hearken, then
I say unto you, that though he should
seek to make his name immortal and
should write it in gold dust and set it in
diamonds and cement it in human blood
yet as l blot out his name written in the
ashes of the campfire, so shall his name
be blotted out" 'Nay," said Peter Hal
ket, II cannot do even that" Then the
Prophet Christ laid his hand upon his
head, "Peter Ha1ket, harder task give
you than any other which has been laid
upon you. In that small spot where
alone upon earth your will rules, bring
thereinto, bring the kingdom today.
Love your enemies; do good to them that
hate you"
And such today is the call of the red
fag-not to offer ones self gloriously
upon the field of battle-not to be enroll
ed among the illustrious dead whom a
nation holds in blessed memory,-not to
cry to England or to Mashonaland, nor
to South Africa's great man-but to rule
our own spirits and to do the less--but
the greater thing, in quietness and sobri-
ETY., subordinate party, and class and self
to our country.
stood this SUMNER at. the seashore
when the tide was just upon its turn. We
could not tell at first whether it were
still running out or had begun to flow in
again. Sometimes we took courage from
some wave that broke beyond its fellows
and said, "Surely, it is running in" But
when the next wave and still the next,
fell short of their predecessor, We said,
Nay, it is still upon the ebb." 1t is with
us now-at the turn of the tide. Long
has it been ebbing, laying bare in its out
flow all things Shiny and corrupt; it has
been ebbing all too long. Shall not the
tide of civic patriotism, OF social right
eousness, of political truth, now begin
to flow again with swift, fast rising flow,
that shall bury all things unholy and un-
clean? The tides of ocean ebb and flow,
and man cannot change them. But the
fall and rise of these moral tides, it is for
man to determine. The flag calls for pu-
rity, for truth, for self-sacrifce. God
give us answer in the hearts of the peo-
pie. God grant us flowing tide.
80
A., nneaiIinp onooi6o for ohnIara arl,,,o,