The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1900-07-29

OF the crowd and remembered him IN the
first prayer. 20 Lawd," he prayed. "Dou
knows Marse B.. lie CANDLES an ne
drinks an he cusses. But y. Lawd, bless
hGm. Tor he give s. 10 dis church.
But the woman who does good may ex-
pect nothing In preferment or proht In
the South we don't even elect her TO the
school board.
Yet In this very denial OF public honor
We eXalt her station. for We esteem IL
superior to preferment in that il repre-
sents power without position and nliu-
ence without patronage. Not questioning
the abstract iusMce OF so-caled woman 5
rights. | doubt the wisdom OF the scheme.
because in my view woman can not come
TO man's place without coming down
TO maintain that citation Is woman 8
responsibility. II Will be a sad day for
her and sadder day for society when
she dosccnds from the pedestal where Al
mighty God has placed her, for when man
can no longer look no to something no
bier than himself the ideal will be lost
and social achievement will cease
To DEFEND that station is mans re-
spoons ibility. for in 1t lies he hope of So
cial purity: and he who by temptation or
deception or desertion spoiIs the life aud
DESTROYS she influence OF one Of these
Kraoos nf earth commits treason against
the common veal.
Marriage is beautiful aud a good wife
Is the ideal OF human happiness, but /
revere he woman who dcnies herself the
sweetest blessing OF nature in order 10
pursue noble purpose. / respect the wo-
man who will not marry merely for a
home and l admire the woman who will
not be battered into giving a home 10
some worthless fellow
There was a certain rich widow living
in comfort and contentmont. and several
elderly gentlemen had vainly endeavored
to lure her into matrimony again. Finally
a wealthy widower from the East carry
ing with him the evidences OF good liv-
ing and heartlnese that seeks congenial
companonship, visited the city and was
soon a caller upon the intractable widow.
After he thought sufficient advancement
had been made to justify proposal he
proceeded to feel his way.
Beautiful homo you have here"
Yes, / enjoy it."
Fine outlook fine trees. fine yard. very
fine all around. But there is one thing
lacking"
"Yes?'
at is an Adamless Eden, don't you
know. You are SO good in everything
else that should think you would be glad
to share these blessings with husband. ="
"Are you proposing. sir?"
I'm an argumentative way. II you cen
be convinced that you should have hGs-
band, I should like to be the man"
Husband ! have gardener that
smokes and drinks! | have a parrot that
swears like pirate, ard | have a eat
that stays out all night. What in creation
do I want with a husband?"
49,
Responsibility to Cod come now to
the final topic of my theme, Responsible
ity that stops with self is only selhshness
which the beasts of the field exhibit in
marked degree Responsibility that stops
with society is only selhshness OF a
larger view which the clansmen of bar
barrie ages praciced with discretion and
skill. II man owes no other responsibility
his aspiration is merely pride OF person
and vanity of achievement l believe
there never WAS a man who did not feel
binship with something nobler than him
self. The impulse Tor righteousness and
the ambition for higher things are no
more spontaneous than LIE or cOmbus-
tom they are the echoes Of the stll small
voice that in the beginning whispered into
the listening ear of the human soul.
Somewhere and somehow this race of ebay
has received a divine touch for 1t is not
in animal philosophy to otherwise account
Tor the pure and the inspired Of earth.
Whether We reckon from pr0topasm or
knowledge that man was tmpregnated at
his birth with the potentinlities of his
present goodness and his utmost reach,
for the most flexible evolution assumes
only the development OF latent qualities.
Our imagination Will not allow us to linz
1T mans future attainment We can not
conceive a point beyond which he will not
seek to 80 or may not go In discover NIX
the unknown. We must acknowledge thai
the unwound future alone measures the
possibilities OF human kind, If we may
know all in this material Universe, we are
sprung from one who knew all in the be
ginning BY the law OF hydrostatlcs water
can rise no higher than its source BY
the same law it must rise that high IL It
encounter no obstacle. The attainment
of man at the last day Is the measure Of
his capacity on the first day, and the one
is as Unreasonable by present instru
ments us the other We can't work out
of the problem any more than was in
volved in 1t at the start, and If its solu-
tion be Infinite truth and beauty, so must
be its original components, and especially
so the author of their complex combina-
tion. To my mind IL is impossible to
conceive a limit to human progress, hu-
man good and human happiness as IL Is
TO bound 1.-THE starsown vague OF space ="
and l can no more imagine the end OF
aspiration and supernatural energy than
! can imagine the humiliation OF matter
and the exhaustion of force.
Inverseiy, l can not imagine race
sprung from anything less noble and in
telllgent than the destiny which it sees
afar.
This conception does not logically n
volve personal Immortality, but the mar
vel of a perpetual race or perpetual time
is no less than the marvel OF perpetual
Being We do not know we can not know,
but every human heart hopes-some faint
ly, some conhdeutly-and it is pertinent
to inquire the origin OF hope. II is pres
ent in every race and condition OF man
from the first record OF human conscious
ness, and 1t endures alike through the
degradation OF vice and the doubt of
learning. IL is the one universal intul-
ton, yet it has no suggestion In obser-
walton or experience; It is disputed by
everything we know or zee. We can trace
the genesis Of other nations, but not Of
this Why should man hope? How could
he ever conceive the idea OF immortality?
We must concede the mystery of the CON
cept or the miracle Of an impression SUI
pernaturally conveyed, and In the last
analysis OF refined philosophy there is lit
tie difference between mystery ana mir
acle, for mystery is something which rea-