The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1897-05-07
lands and quarters than great Caesar ever
INTELLECTUAL pRoeREss.


saw"
INTELLECTUAL
The progress of the century has not been
all material and mechanical. Along the In
tellectual line 1t has been quite as marked.
One discovery has followed another so rap
idly that a textbook In natural science, for
instance, which has reached the age OF i've
~years.is valueless unless 1t be revised and
brought up to date. This instruction was
| given a few years ago to the librarian OF a
great European university, take every
textbook that Is more than ten years old
and put 1t down In the cellar" Never was
| Paul's statement so true as today, "Whether
be knowledge 1t shall vanish away" You
buy the old editions of the great c~yclopedias
for a mere pittance, they are 6t only for the
waste basket. Yesterdays newspaper Is put
In the fire. knowledge Is vanishing away.
Drummond says that q school boy today
knows more than Sir Isaac Newton knew.
All this is simply indicative of the iutelletc-
ual progress of the age.
PROGRESS.
But there has been progress along moral
lines as we'll as material and intellectual.
1t is not many years since profanity was
tolerated In the best society. 1t was quite
universal. 1t is said that chaplains were
apt to swear at the sailors In order to make
them attend to the divine service. The
great orators Of the day used oaths in order
to give emphasis to their thoughts. Att0r-
neys before the bar and Judges on the bench
were accustomed to swear. 1t Is not many
years since i~ntemperance was respectable
and prevalent. In the best society guests
were expected to drink until they were
drunk. Neither host or guest had showed
proper respect or hospitality unless they roll
ed under the table together. All festal 0cca-
SONS, such as births and marriages, funerals,
tne dedication of public buildings, were
until recently celebrated with liberal
liquid refreshments. DIR. Chalmers, a Pres
byterian minister of Philadelphia, tells how
In 1925 he went to the funeral Of a promi-
nent member of his church and says that he
and the sexton were the only persons In at
tendance who were not in danger of falling
into the grave through drunkenness. On the
next Sunday DR.. Chalmers told his people
that he never again would officiate at the
funeral of a church-member where liquor
was dispensed. AS late as 1885 a deacon in
distiller of whiskey and the agent of the
Bible society. One day a relative of this
B~ible-agency, whiskey-distiller fell into one
of his liquor watts and was drowned. A GER
tain DR.. Cheever wrote a tract upon Deacon
Giles distillery and for reward was sent to
Jail. We all know that the drink curse is
not abolished, but today it is no longer
respectable. Take the matter of lotteries.
1t was only in the early part of this century
that lotteries were commonly used for the
advancement of religion and the building of
churches. The library Of Harvard college
was purchased Ly the sale of lottery tickets.
Only a few years since have WI been re-
joiced by the adjustment of the solitary
survivor of great lotteries, the Lousiana
State lottery. And you all know that today
it is illegal to send lottery tickets through
the United States mail. Within this CEN
fury d~uelling was a favOrite method of set
ling disputes. The gentleman whose honor
was infringed could challenge his adversary
to a duel and be must accept the challenge
or be counted a coward. The prize fight Is
practically a thing of the past, there is no room
for it in any self respecting state or territory
in this Union. The world is growing better.
Never before were men held to so strict an
account as today. Never in the worlds his
tory has the ideal of mani )od been so ex.
allied as today. Never before was so much
expected of men as is expected of them to-
day.
SPECIFIC sIGN OF THE TINES
Ii now we turn to the signs of the times
and read them, we will discover that along
the line of religion there has been a broad
ening of thought and charity and an in
crease of the spirit Of federation. You will
find practically that whilst the fundamental
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