The news & observer., 1905-12-24
THE RHAMKATTE PHILOSOPHER
He Gives His Opinion On Various end Sundry Impor-
tdnt Matters in a Wise and Quaint Manner
(Rhamkatte Roaster.)

cent gatherings of moral workers
through the State; now in the west.
,low in the east and again at the very
capital. Collectively they represent
| mighty influence, deepening, broad
ening, gathering strength each year
from the Colleges and Universities
sending to them men who Will teach
.oftier ideals and will embody in their
own lives somewhat of the ideals they
YOU'D teach.
IF much of the stuff preachers have
oeen talking from the pulpit all my
lifetime" observed Squire Gilmore.
was all the good they been doing.
shop would have peen shut up long
md merry ago. But thar amt no
arguin' agin a man who in sight o his
leighbors year in year out. leads a
lean honest life. The influence of
that man counts all day and right
far into the night but you know
mighty few preachers see that 1T is
he thing they stand for and not their
explanation of that thing which men
respect. / amt no saint myself but
IS long as the church is
working to make men more decenter
[ chip in when the hat comes round.
Il never seen a man let up aDuSln
his wife for having heard sermon
on baDtidZo and how Adam was made.
But when a preacher gets up and talks
1bout clean living and making the soul
inside you grow bigger pointing out
where you lay down and where you
ought to have stood up Strong-you,
lot the other fellow say, begin 10
feel thar is something batter in life
than / been gittin outen it, anG some"
noW next week / don't cu&s so much. =
You mean" says jim of the Roas-
ter, "they answer HERE! before their
names are called. You mean IL they
would jes keep thar ears open and
.har mouths Shet, they would in good
time hear q Voice sayin' John. You,
[ have called to be a Blacksmith.
Jeemes, You have ! fOreOrdained to
push a plow Go now, both, an do
your stunts like GoG-fearin' men!
"These young preachers Dut me in
mind of that fellow in the play VINO
thought he was called to act every
part the boss sung ort. from g roarin'
ion TO = suckin' dove" jim has such
/ fool way of putting things! The
Squire and / were talking seriously.
Now this brother" l continued
who has volunteered to take . mes
sage to Japan,-what's his name? ?
john Smith p presume he is young.
Yes, very young. and as ignorant or
the work he will have in Japan as a
six months setter puDpy. Whatever
influence he will have in Japan will
be that of a man living up to those
principles which good men the world
over have recognized as the founda-
ion of morals and religion. Rellglon
is the hunger of the soul. Theology,
our poor explanation of this. The dis
tinction of right anC wrong is tan
gled skein which ha; been slowly ana
painfully drawn from human expert
ence and scared into our understand
ings with red hot rons. When the
great Teacher said, Il am the way,
the truth and the ife.' he referred to
the principles he taught and not to
himself. The Japanese are not soul
less ignoramuSeS ald he must be
man of broad culture and mature
spiritual growth wn may hope to in
fluence them. Self complacency saws
mighty little wood.
THE call of this young brother may
nave been a blast from Gabriel for
all / know" said Jim. But in consid-
erin calls" l cart forgit Walker
who mistook the lrayin' OF a jackass
in a neighborin' barn-.ot for. Il cali
when he rails his voice an said.
Walker! Walker! Go preach! Go
preach! Go nreacl!
"Visions am calls ire all mighty good
ijf thar gifts enough plain sense stirred
In to keep them otter ingredients from
fermentin' an spiln'."
The japanese have a religion which
makes of them elem men. i1culcatina
reverence and sdf-immolation. To
influence them we must send men who
have higher ideals. lead cleaner lives
and are their Intellectual superiors.
He is a poor man who
does not love some person, some
cause, some principle. better than him
self Wherever YOU find reverence
combined with love. forgetful of self,
you find religion that is not False"
The love of wife and children is, re-
ligion, the love of country and last
and highest within reach OF
our poor feeble imaginations
is the love of love itself
and Of moral excellence. The more
impersonal the object worshipped the
loftier the religion and the higher the
heights to which the devotee is lifted.
The Japanese are not devoid of these
The fact that a religion persists, suf-
ficiently indicates that it satisfies the
soul hunger of its votaries
philosopher. You are right ex,
claimed Jim. Folks won't keep ham
kerin' after food as don't satisfy hum
ger an gives 'em the belyache!"
Please pardon Jim's homely simile.
| was about to say. that if | could
meet this John Smith. a we'll meaning
young fellow, who has seen life only
through a gimlet hole and sWears. no
doubt, the universe stops at yonder
board fence, / would speak to him
thusly:-"John, my son. do not set out
on your mission with the idea that the
Japanese have not questioned the in
finite and the divine or are without
lofty ideals of conduct, or that your
explanation of time-old mysteries viii
be conclusive. When you shall! have
reached Japan fail not to remember
that you have moro to learn than to
teach and that your usefulness Will be
in ratio to your conduct as a man.
morally spiritually. socially. intellec-
tually, measured by the no mean stan
dards of them whom .'ou would infiu-
ence A failure to observe these Dre-
cepts, oh my son. viii cause some
light minded JaDs to smile and per
haps a few wise old priests to grieve.
But then what is the use of my
talking to John. He has heard a
"call" and is wiser now than all the
wisdom of the ages and of Rham
katie.
Squire Bill was beginning to yawn
and l noticed Jim's attention fixed
upon one of these little brown wrens
which was flirting herself saucily
through a pile of wood flung down
nearby
"You know" says jim. chat blame
little bird kept me from hanging my
self one day."
All of us knew Jim ne.er had any
I, of II Ia; INxvi1.