The Saint Paul globe., 1897-11-15
OF THE VALUE OF VISIONS.
HOW THEY HAVE URGED MEN
AND WOMEN ON TO HIGHER
THINGS.
A PLEA ron THE NEW WOMAN.
1t Is Made by Mrs. Gait, of the Ma
ttOnaI Woman Suffrage Assoc
citation.


who was not proud that she was a
woman. There was not a man In all
that vast throng who was not proud
that his mother, his sister or his wife
was a woman. A woman's tongue
spoke to that vast throng, moved 1t
to tears and to laughter at will, and
sent it home with a divine eloquence
still ringing in It's ears, an eloquence
that told of a brighter life, of happier
homes and better world.
1t was Rev. Anna H. Shaw, vice
president of the National American
Woman's Suffrage association, who
spoke. She was introduced by Rev.
Marion D. Shutter, and her text was
the nineteenth verse of the sixth chap
ter of Acts: 'Whereupon, Oh King
/ Agrippa, I was not obedient to the
heavenly vision" For nearly an hour
the speaker held the audience spell
bound with her eloquence. Anecdotes
were related, some of them bringing
tears and some of them smiles, but all
of them went home to the hearts Of her
| hearers In one instance, when the
speaker was telling Of the great anti
slavery convention in London, nearly
sixty years ago, and of the treatment
there of two American women, the pent
up feelings of the audience rebelled,
and storm Of applause swept through
the church.
What is it to be Christian?" the
speaker asked. What is the differ
ence between a man who is a Christian
and a man who is not a Christian? Of
what avail is it that we worship God?
More and more people are asking:
What is the real and practical side of
Christian living and Christian expert
ence, and what does it do more for a
man who has this experience than for
one who has not such experience?' You
and I are answering this question over
and over again. They do not go to the
minister, and they do not go to the
church, but they ask it of you and me.
They ask it of us in the street, in the
busy market of the world, in our
homes and everywhere, and you and I
are answering this question even when
we are not conscious that the ques-
tion is being asked.
"Some of us answer the question one
way, some another way. Some say to
be a Christian is to be born in Chris
tian country. For a time we did not
Christian country or not, but the su-
preme court said that we were, and
with such a high authority as that we
surely cannot help believe but that
ours is a Christian country, and that
we are therefore Christians, if to be
born in a Christian country makes us
such.
"Others say to be a Christian you
hn n hnr Of o1o1
must attend service: you must con-
tribute toward the support of the
church, and you must lead a Christian
life as the church teaches it. Others
say you must not only belong to a
church, but you must believe in the
creed, accept it's teachings and it's doc
trines. But we know that a man may
believe in a creed, the strongest creed
in the orthodoxy, and never know what
real Christianity is.
IF then, to live in a Christian land,
to belong to church and to believe in
its creed is not Christianity, what then
is Christianity? Christianity is great
er than the creed: 1t is life A man
may be Christian and never hear of
creed. Certain things must enter
into the life Of him who is a Christian
and he must be part of life's whole
thought. 1t must permeate his nature
1t must be with him in his home. 1t
must be with him in his business. 1t
must be that form of living which nev-
er leaves him, and cannot be put off
like priests robe. A man who is
Christian is conscious Of his nearness
to all that is good"
The speaker then told a story of the
death of the husband of a friend of
hers. He had been an agnostic in life,
and before dying had handed to his
wife a clipping from a newspaper or
book ridiculing religion, and claiming
that it was based entirely upon a spir-
itual vison Which had appeared to Paul
People who would follow a vision, the
article read, were weak-minded, and
prOfeSSed Christians were therefore.
weak-minded set.
THE man who does not follow a
vision" the speaker commented, will
never rise to anything. The men who
are the leading men in the world to-
day one time in their lives saw vision
and they followed that vision until it
became a reality. When / was a child
l lived on the seashore. The boys and
girls would gather at the beach, and
the girls would see but as far as the
horizon. The boys would see one hori-
ZOn, then another, and then another
and in their minds would circumnaVi-
gate the world One day a ship would
appear on the horizon. Where is she
from? Where is she bound? What is
her cargo? These questions the girls
would ask But one little boy would
stand out on the beach peering sea-
ward. He was thinking of the future
Now he was a seaman. His head
would rise little higher, and we knew
he was a mate; another toss of his head
and he was a master. He saw Wis
ion.
down there when but ten years of age.
Those were in the good old days when
boy of ten years was somebody. To-
day a boy Of ten can hardly be trusted
to comb his hair-in the middle. The
boys of my girlhood days, when they
left their homes for the sea, hired out
as cooks on fishing smacks, Away out
on the banks, in the fog and darkness,
lying on their little hunks, they would
cry their eys out They were home
sick for their mother, their father,
their brother and sister, and the dog,
and all that made for them home. In
the morning, however, the sun would
come out. The world to them would
be brighter. Their vision would ap-
pear again; the tears would go away
and they were men. After a time the
fishing smack and the cooking stove
would be forgotten. They were third
mates on a steamer: then they were
second mates; then first mates, and in
little while they were captains. Their
vision had gone, and what had been
their vision was real The difference
between q boy with a vision in his life