The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-09-04

few more pounds than we of a metal which
he can neither eat nor wear. Nor viii
money be so valuable in that day. in the day
OF our dream. when it's possession is only Of
value as it has been nobly attained, when
simply it's possession does not admit one to
the charmed circle of the aristocrats.
And the day of a new aristocracy APP
proaches-the aristocracy Of learning.
Welcome the day Wien education shall
mean more than an ability to read and
write; welcome the day when the public will
not demand that schools, too, shall be ma
teriaIizing agency, when teachers whose
duty is higher shall not have to teach chill
dren simply how to earn bread and butter;
welcome the day when grand preparation
IS required of everyone who would play on
that wonderful organ. the human mind, and
when he who stands high in thoughts is not
pitied or scorned because he has not made
the dollars. / have a dozen friends whose
combined outfit would not pay one years
salary of railroad president, yet whose
being is worth more to the world than the
whole banking capital of the State Of New
York.
o knowledge is wonderful thing-true
knowledge; not simply knowledge of how to
make money, how to get lien on a newly
discovered gold mine, but that knowledge
which is thinking again ''the thoughts of
God.' which is living again the life of the
past" 1t is that aristocracy which is now
incoming.
HOW 1T WILL COME.
But even here we have not the true arts.
tocracy. knowledge is but food, and unless
digested is of no value. 1t may perhaps
help one to earn living, but what is such
a living worth? If living is not to develop
a noble character, which is to endure, what
meaning has life? knowledge may result
in educated rascals; it can be applied as
we'll to the creation of a tool to open a safe
as to a means of locking it securely.
We have seen the gradual rise from
brutism to intellectualsm, Swallowed at
least, and the next and most significant
step is toward true worth of soul. This
last step is pregnant with meaning to him
who is looking for proof of future life 1t
puts a meaning in the struggles of the past,
for we have seen humanity rise on step
ping stones Of it's dead self to higher
things" We see how senseless were the old
fights with winds and waves and lower
stages of civilization without this complet-
ing step. First, triumphs in matter. then in
mind, and now in spiritual life. The results
of this conflict must endure. even beyond
the grave for all else was for this.
We may not live to see the day when
society is governed by those principles,
which we believe to be the true and last
ing ones. but there is one corner of this
earth that may be ruled by them if we so
will it. That corner is our own heart. The
aristocracy of the future will come in only
as we are prepared for it, as we make it to
come in by our living it's life. 1t is the king
dom of which Christ taught us, it is the
realm of the poets dreams. for which
philosophers have hoped and reformers
have prayed.
OF the G. A. r. organization 1t is said:
"No child can be born into it: no procama-
ton of President or ukase of Gar can
command admission; no university can issue
a diploma of fellowship; no act of Congress
or Parliament secures recognition: the
wealth of Vanderbilt cannot purchase MEM
bership.''
This is. too. a description of the new
aristocracy which is coming in with the
kingdom of Christ. which is the kingdom
OF Christ: only a soul which has berne the
heat and burden Of the day, which has
been valiant in the fight against the wrong,
can enter the charmed circle of the coming
aristocracy. There is one great society
on earth. the noble living and the noble
dead