The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-04


 work, therefore, to master the French language, accepted a position at Re miremont in the French Vosges, and in 1882 went to Paris, where hs en- tered upon a successful career as a minister and a literary man. "The Simple Life" is the best known of sev- eral works that he has written, though "Youth and Courage" and "The Better Way are fairly well known to Ameri- can readers.
 After President Roosevelt spoke in complimentary terms of "rhe Simple Iifep such interest in the book and its author developed In America that Rev. Mir. Wagner came across the Atlantic to lecture. One of the flrst men he call ed upon was President Roosevelt, and concerning tho visit he wrote the fol lowing for Success magazine;
 T was particularly struck with the simplicity of the home life of the presi- dent. To one accustomed to viewing the pomp and ceremony which sur round the rulers of Europe there seems to be something notable in the entire lack of ostentation in the Roose- welt family. I was surprised at Mir Roosevelt's habit of inviting to his pri- vate dining table those who are doing good work in the world quite regard less of what their power or social po- sition may be. He looks to the man him. self rather than to his appurtenances, and this is a brushing away of the superfiuities which is rare in men of his position. In Washington saw his boys starting to a public school, and one of them did not even bother to wear a hat. This, of course, was small matter but it impressed me. In Europe the children of ruler with not one-tenth of the power of Mir. Roose- welt do not go to school at all. much less to public school. They have corps of private tutors and rarely ven ture into the streets except in elabo- rate equipages.
 "The observance of complete sim plicity in his personal and family life by the president of the United States, i one of the most powerful rulers on i earth, has wholesome influence not only upon America. but also upon the world at large"
 When he landed in New York not long ago Rev. MT. Wagner said:
 ''I love the American people. l want ed to see them in their own country and to know them personally. To ob- tain that end I learned their language, and here l am"
 He referred to the kind of English he was about to speak, saying he had studied the English language only q short while ago to tell the American people of simplicity. and that if any "accidents'' occurred 1t would not b' by reconciliation.
 "I know that you are saying in youl hearts that 1t Is not possible to live the simple life in this great city of rush ing thought and energy, this city Of tremendous activities and skyscrapers, he said, but tell you that it is."
 "It is possible to live the simple life on the twenty fourth floor of New York skyscraper In the midst of all the noise and confusion. The simple life is not thing of the first floor or the fortieth, not of the shoes or the waist coat, but of the heart
 "Once In Paris, that great city of dust and busy human life, l heard a lark singing in q garden. He was a prisoner, 1t is true. But when l heard him lifting up his voice to the blue sky and l remembered the freedom of the hills and the fields that had been mine as a boy, the walls and houses of the great city seemed to fade away, to stretch out and expand.
 T speak to you here in the center of one of the most tremendous cities in the world sing my song of simplici- ty like lark fin a cage-but it is good place to sing It. The more l study your national character here in Amer ica, the more I look into the founda- tons of your government, the more see of your stupendous energy, the more l realize that at the bottom of II all is the simplicity of your national character.
 'I visited the White House at Wash ington. I found there nothing of th' grandeur of the homes of kings ant kaisers, but the puro simplicity of great people expressed in the home O a chief executive I was guest o your president. I pressed his hand and I had many long talks with hin upon the great questions of the day And again felt that splendid sin plicity was at the root of your nationa character. Stay true to your trad tions be true to your convictions. Tn human race demands it of you"
 pr. Wagner told how he came t write "The Simple Life" He was cal ed upon while a pastor in Paris t marry a workman and his sweetheart One of the six witnesses was tn daughter of great politician. ''I talked to them upon the beauty O : living simply" he said. "A few day afterward the young lady came to m' to ask me to perform her marriage and she asked me to give just the sam' talk that had to the workman. Tner' [ were to be 2,OO0 people present, inciud B ing the greatest diplomats. the greates ] politictans and the leaders In the In
 teIlectual and social life of Paris. |. CT consented and talked to them sim s nIv and straightforwardly upon tn ]. simple life There was publishe = present as there always is, and tn !. next day he asked me to write 'Th i. simple Life I did, and it has gon through the world everywhere. As fo l me, I intend to remain a boy. with . boys heart till am an old, old man" rha author-cIerQyman's chapel in tn