Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-10-03

1 Up to its source OF light. Could call
| that common. a vulgar member of the
great family of flowers. that had
| taught me the beauty of aspiration
after such a touching fashion? That
intangible all-powerful foundation
strength which had come to the poor
plant when II discovered that there was
| something connecting it's lowly life
with the heaven above 1t had ennObled
| It indeed.
l tell this childish story Of the sun
flower because ] see In 1t an illustration
of what Bible reading has done to keep
| so many lives above that sadly lower
ing level which makes us speak OF peo-
pie without spiritual perception and
a piratiCns as common" That multi
| tude who live to eat and sleep and gain
and spend, and who find In their fellow
creatures only q means to an end.
| The most absolutely, irredeemably
common person whom | ever saw was
handsome woman Of forty dressed in
satin and respondent with diamonds.
Sne sat at a hotel table, while a young
girl in white gown and apron waited
| upon her: the summer must produce
| The winters collegiate fee. Originally
sDclal strata. but she of the white gown
had seen with her calm gray eyes the
gates of pearl and the foundations of
J that celestial city which is to each of us
. that which our heart Graves, in that
place which can be seen only by eyes
spirit clear Somehow, omewhcrc.
the heart has tn attach itself To the
wonderful foundations which Mrs.
supports To natures born into the com
nonplacc surroundings of everyday
work-a- lay life. When without any
demonstration or personal persuasion n
young man or woman reads how sacred
is childhood in the eyes Of the Creator,
and that 10 hurt little child IS TO
arouse the Divine wrath, he has learned
something hard to forget. When he
has seen the poor widow cast in her
mite and learned that 1t was of more
value than the thousands of the rich
he has been taught that wealth cannot
buy the Divine appreciation by it's i'm
ntnSlty. When he has discovered that
IF he seeth his brother have need" and
fails 10 succor him, he has fallen short
OF the stature OF a true man, the ''radi-
car adherence Of his mind to what is
common is destroyed
The gentle protector of infancy; the
happy siver Of hif small gift TO help the
poor; the man vowed to lift his brother
out of the mire and bind UP his wounds
COR loves sake, has come out of the
ranks OF "cornmon-foIk." When he has
rooted his aspiration in these founda-
tons, he is bound to grow less and less
rude of speech and act, every day of his
life. and &c become n gentleman, rs
Kingsley once said of a woman. ''by
grace of Cod
The Old-tlme blind plodding through
the sacred books. chapter by chapter.
reading words which have neither
meaning nor significance to the young
mind. Obedientiy. discharging an In
comprehensive duty. is not that source
of inspiration which educates ana
softens Il hard nature and nuts the
facts of struggling life in any new
light. The truth overlooked by mar
cnts and teachers lies in the fact that
through no other known source is re-
ceived such an exhaustlesS store of
suggestions of moral rectitude or of
revelation Ct the reality of the spiritual
and the unseen. Nor is there anv
other way of stripping Off the glitter
from evil ambitions after which we
see our children striving. as by famii-
larity with those scriptures that are
open TO US every hour.
do nct mean the search for dogma
end doctrine--that part of the value
Of the Bible is in other hands-but I |
mean tho brief. convincing. wildly i'm |
rr"sSlvc revelation of the noblest pos
SihilitieS Of which human nature is
capable. and the only glimpse Of tho
glory OF Cod that human vision can
Etar: when we sit and mourn at the
reckless folly of some and the cold in |
Gincrcnce of others, does il not seem
strange that we do not make use Of |
that accessible. easily obtainable bool,
Oh instruction and example while VIC |
Try to show our children what life is /?
l mean what any mother or father |
can teach of self-mastery, of sacrifice |
OF struggle and victory by the recita- |
lion Of its stirring histories. and bv
the Int nse personal interest and an |
fitcati"n which is SO quickly reused |
by rightly setting il forth.
Facts, dates. all the many things
which are involved in certain plans OF |
periunctory study, ] do not include in |
this present suggestion OF the Bible nc
a textbook for character that shall
redeem a lowly man from being a /
'colninon' man. and reveal the best
nobility 10 US all.-"C" in New York
Post.