Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1897-04-22
CHARACTER BUILDING.
Every Man n BuiIder-The Foun aas
ton md the Structure.

u
ton and the Structure.
Every man is builder. He gathers
about himself certain opinions, senti-
ments and habits, and erects an edifice
in which he resides. 1t is an invisible
house, a house not made with hands,
and yet the most real and substantial
editice of life. A mans belief becomes
an impregnablc castle, for you never
can drive him out from beneath the
roof of his own convictions and feel
ings. Character is the only enduring
structure. Mans body may decay and
return to dust, his dwelling house may
catch fire and resolve itself before his
eyes into ashes and smoke, but his
spiritual house, his moral character,
is immortal and imperishable. It is
the only permanent edifice he is capable
of building. Hence the Importance of
putting in the best material and con-
sulting the best architect. When a
mans character is fixed, his house is
built, and, as a rule, he makes no
changes. Many people are building
their soul houses in ridiculous styles
of architecture, and the world laughs
at their folly. By and by they will
laugh at themselves.
III character is the building, a mans
philosophy is the ground, and it mat
ters much what kind of ground you
build on. The desert produces nothing
better than the Arabs tent, and the
frigid zone yields nothing superior to
the ice hut of the Esquimaux.
&c ~
heavy valleys of Switzerland, where
the rays of the sun can scarcely effect
an entrance. 1t is cold and damp and
gloomy. 1t is bad location for build
ing. Agnosticism is about as bad, and
reminds us of the alkaline plains this
side of the Rocky mountains, which
present. monotonous level to the eye
and contain the meanest kind of irri-
tating dust. Not even q camel could
take comfort in that locality. Agnosti-
cism answers II don't know" to all the
great questions of the soul. In it you
find no rain, no dew, no verdure, no flow
ers, no birds, no song. About all it
offers you is dust. Do not build there,
ii you are wise.
Materialism is worse 1t reminds
us of one of the rocky islands of the
deep, repellant in aspect, unproductive
and comfortless. 1t is bleak and bare
philosophy; poor place to erect
your house and rear your family. Meth
err would we advise people to build upon
the swamp land of sensuality, and
founder about in the bags OF lust and
appetite until they sink into dishon-
ored graves. Build, rather, on the mel
low soil of Christianity, which for it's
fruits and flowers remind one of south
ern California. Build near the ocean
of Divine love, where the rain is plenti-
full and the dews heavy and the harvest
abundant. .......
Having selected your location, build
at least two-story edifice. No man
can have a symmetric, well proper
toned character without strong, wide
basement of knowledge upon which to
place the remainder of his being. God
made us to have ideas as well as piety,
hence we should put several rooms into
this lower story. Every science is
collection of Divine ideas, and consti-
tutes one room in this palace of the
soul. The more we know the broader
we become, the better foundation we
lay for the superstructure. Yet the
moral nature is superior to mere in
tellectualism, and forms the upper story
in man. When you build, make your
hallway broad and inviting, a place 10
promenade and chat rather than q space
so compressed that one can barely
squeeze himself between the hatracle
and the stairs. In other words, be
genial and jolly. Don't write ''cave
canem" (beware of the dog) on the floor,
but "salve" (welcome).
Put in a large parlor, while you are
about it, for this room represents cu1-
ture. In it one finds the piano, the oil
painting, and books elegantly bound.
The more and varied our aesthetic at
tainments the higher order of being
we become. Our eompanionship Will
be sought after. Our drawing-room will
never lack visitors. The best room of
all, however, is the sitting-room. This
is the place where the family really
lives-where mother does her sewing,
father reads the paper and the chill
dren do as they please. Here you find
the flowers in the window, and here our
best friends come and spend the after
noon. Here you find the Bible on the
table, and here the family kneel in
prayer. This is the best, the contest, the
happiest room in the house. Around it
the pleasantest associations of child
hood cluster. What is the name of this
room? It's name is the sweet name of
religion. A soul without religion is d
house without sitting-room. 1t has
no fireside, no divine companionship.
Whatever else you build, do not omit
this, the most important room in the
house.-Rev John L. Scudder, In N. Y.
Journal.
FIGS AND THISTLES.
w thsaC In .pn nR