The Washington times., 1901-06-30

offer new energy and dIprogress-is per-
haps species of mental and moral
| suicide whose results may be more
| fatal than those which pertain only to
| the physical life To discern clearly
| an error implies the immediate 'espon-
sibility to forsake it, and turn the
| power of ones thoughf to the provision
| of new and happier conditions.
The last of these paragraphs is certainly
sound sense. (Boston: Little, Brown &
! Coz
''Nowaday Poems," by Philander Chase
johnson, is a book of miscellaneous verse,
| grave and gay, much of it in the vein OF
James Whitcomb Riley, all of it per-
meated by a sort of genial gOod-fellow-
| ship and confidence in the general right
ness of the scheme of things. Some Of
the poems are perilously near dogserel,
and others are far from it. One OF the
| latter is called
THE DAY.
few brief hours of waking; that is all.
| A few brief hours. and then the shadows fall
And quell the tumult and the glsring light
A golden dream of morning, mounting nigh;
A twilight purple in the Western sky.
Only little while and then, goodnight.
A wish is verified Perhaps a fear
In stern reality's dread shape draws near
You've labored wrong-perehance you've toiled
Alright.
1t matters not when all is dark and done,
| n you be he who lost he who won.
'Tis but little while and then, goodnight.
| And hope shall whisper sweet and pride relent,
As o'er the world the fastening hours are sent
That men may measure striving by their Tight
| The tiny present, with its JOY or pain,
Shall fade And day shall fade and shine again.
'Tis but little while and then, goodnight
And here is another in a different vein:
EXONERATED.
told you bout my Uncle Jim
Twas several years ago
OF how YOU d ought to go to him
Fer things you didn't know.
But you was obstinate an stiff;
You snubbed him once OF twice.
He would have saved you trouble II
You'd asked fer his advice.
He sought with several warnin's screeds
To catch the public eye,
Describn' all our human needs
And signed Vox Populi.
He showed 'em what they had TO dread;
They didn't seem dismayed;
The public simply went ahead
An calmly disobeyed.
So Uncle Jim he amt to blame
Fer all these doin's now
South Africa with skies afame-
This Filipino row.
Pm very much inclined to say,
When signs of peace grow dim,
Folks wouldn't be skeered If they
Had minded Uncle Jir.
There is a character-sh sketch in that, and
In several other poems of the sort. wash
ington: The Neale Company
my Master is a small book by the
Swami Vivekanandas who will be remem-
bered as one of the East Indian delegates
TO the Parliament of Religions. 1t deals
with the Vedantic philosophy as embodied
in the person of onef man, to whom the
writer refers as Master" and no one,
after reading it, car doubt that the es-
sential principles of the religion of the
Eedas are pure and lofty and differ but
little from those of the New Testament.
Some of the sayings of the book are
worthy place In any literature, although
they have been said in slightly different
form by Emerson, Carlyle, and other
Anglo-Saxon philosophers. The little bro
chure is interesting in connection with
the study of comparative religions, If in
no other way. Here is Vivekananda' s
explanation OF the mission of his Master
and the methods of Hindoo teachers:
His favorite illustration was When
the lotus opens. the bees come of their
own accord to seek the honey, so let
the lotus of your character be full
blown and the results will follow.
This is a great lesson to learn. My
Master taught me this lesson hum
dreds of times, yet l often forget 1t.
Few understand the power of thought.
If a man goes into cave, shuts HIM
self in, and thinks one really great
thought and uies, that thought VIII
penetrate the adamantine walls of that
cave, vibrate through space, and at
last penetrate the whole human race.
Such is the power of thought; be in
no hurry, therefore, to give your
thoughts to others. First have some
thing TO give He alone teaches who
has at n teaching
not talking, teaching is not impartlng
doctrines il is communicating. Spirit
uality can be communicated just as
really as can give you flower. rms
is true in the most literal sense. Thls
idea is very old in India, and finds IL
lustration in the West in the belief, in
the theory, of apostolic succession.
Therefore. first make characteristic
is the highest duty you can perform.
Know truth for yourself, and there
will be many to whom you can teach it
afterward; they will all come. This
was the attitude of my Master-he
criticised no one.
Again:
Zone man says because his is the old
est religion it is the best; another
makes the same claim because his is
the latest. 1t is a mass of superstition
that you have heard everywhere,
either in the temple or the church,
that there is any difference. The same
God answers all, and ii is not you, nor
T. nor any body of men, that is respon-
sible for the safety and salvation OF
the least little bit of the soul; the
same Almighty God is responsible for
all OF them. do not understand how
people declare themselves to be be-
lievers in God, and at the same time
think that God has handed over to
little body of men all truth. and that
they are the guardians of the rest of
humanity. Do not try to disturb the
faith of any man. If you can give him
something better, If you can get hold
of a man where he stands and give
him push upward, do so, but do not
destroy what he has. The only true
teacher is he who can convert himself
as it were, into a thousand persons at
a moments notice. The only true
teacher is he who can Immediately
come down to the level of the student
and transfer his soul to the students
soul and see through the students
eyes and hear through his ears and
understand through his mind. Such
a teacher can really teach, and none
else"
(New York: The Baker & Taylor Com
pany)
First Years in Handicraft," by Walter
]. Kenyon, is trustingly announced by the
publishers as intended to show children
how to make useful things either at home
or at school" The useful things in ques-
ton are mostly paper photograph frames