Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-13

wrongdoing-only he is entitled to the praise
due to whoever employs great powers for
the common good. If the man who accu-
mulates that great fortune uses it i'll or does
not use 1t well, then far from being an
object of envy. still less an object of ad-
miration. he should take his place among
tnoSe Whom we condemn and pity-for
usually. If we have the root of the matter
IN u.s. we Will pity those we condemn If
ne uses 1t Alright, then he is entitled to our
admiration. our respect exactly as every
man is entitled to it if he has special
talents and uses those special talents for
the welfare of the people as a whole for
the uplifting of mankind
Changes in Half Century.
onderful changes have come in the
last haif century. 1t may well be as Mr.
justice Brewer has said. that we tremble
on the verge of still greater changes in the
future The railway. the telegraph the
telephone, steam, electricity all the mar
Vicious mechanical inventions of these last
I'VE decades, have changed much in the
Superficial aspect of TIE world and have
therefore. produced certain great changes
III the world Itself. But after ALL in glory
ing over and wondering at this extraordi-
nary development, l think that we some
Tunes forget that compared to the deeper
.hihSs IL Is indeed only superficial in it's eff
feet. The qualities that count most in
man and in woman now are the qualities
that counted most 2OO9 years ago and as a
iatioH we Slld1 dcnleFe success merit
idllufe accordingly do or do not d g.
play those qualities. Among the members
OF this congregation is a man who in his
prime, served as the fleet engineer of Far
rasut when Farragut went into Mobile
bay. That was forty-one years ago. The
ships and the guns with which Farragut
dld that mighty feat are now almost as OBJ
solete as the gal!eys that fought for the
mastery OF the AEGEAN sea when Athens
waged war on Sparta. They could no more
stand against a modern ship than cou d the
ships that fought against the invincibIa Ar
mada in 13Ss But if the need ever comes
Tor tins nation to call on its sons to face
foreign foe. the call will or Will not be
made in vain, just exactly according to
whether we do do not still retain the
spirit which drove Farragut and the men
under him onward to victory. The gun
changes. the ship changes; but the qualities
needed in the man behind the gun in the
man who handles the ship. are just the
same as they ever were So il is in our
whole material civilization of today The
railroad, the telegraph all these wonderful
inventions, produce new problems. confer
new benefits and bring about new dangers.
'Cltles are built up to enormous size and,
of course. with the upbulding of the cites
comes the growth of the terrible problems
which confront all of us who have to do
with city life. Outward circumstances
change. New dangers spring up and old
dangers vanish But the spirit necessary
to meet the new dangers, the spirit neces-
sary to insure the triumph that we must
always been. This is the spirit which lies be-
hind this society. and all kind red societies,
and owe to this society all the hep we
can afford to give; for it is itself giving to
our people a service beyond price, a service
of love, service which no money could
buy"
Secretary's Annual Report.
Secretary Swift in his annual report said:
The society will celebrate its eightieth
anniversary in May next. The immigrants
are coming to the United States in increas-
ing numbers, and if the average for the
past four months continues the million
mark will be reached for the year. He said
the tract society's colporters among the
immigrants are converted foreigners. They
meet the foreigners on arrival and follow
them to their homes and places of employ
ment, distributing Christian literature in
the language or dialect they speak. EX-
perience. he said, proves this to be the
most successful way of evangeizing them
The colporter at Ellis Island distributes
Christian literature in twenty-four Ian
guages or dialects. The total number of
colporters laborng among the foreigners
is thirty-eight.
The tract societys aid, the report says, is
also essential to the successful carrying
forward of mission work in islands
One of the superintendent in Cuba states
that no agency is so potent for practical
good as the consecrated colporter distribut-
erature furnished by the American Tract
Society. No other agency exists which is
equipped to do this work.
The last annual report shows that the
society has published the gospel message
in 100 languages dialects, and that
ninety new publications have been added |
These were in eight different languages |
The total number of separate and distinct |
publications, including volumes, tracts and
leaflets issued from the home office during
the history of the society was S.5SS, and
the grand total of all publications printed
reached I50,I Sl,513 copies. The total num-
Der of periodicals circulated for the year
amounted to 1896 400 copies.
Union missionary colportage goes to all
men without distinction of race or creed |
The results of colportage for siXty-three
years. set forth in the report, show
IL, 1873 677 family visits made, 1915 ,116
volumes distributed and 9,03S,645 cases in
which prayer was offered or word of per-
Sonal eXhortatiOn given.
In the foreign field there is what has been
properly called The Christian Literature
Revival" The decennial missionary con-
ference of India has stated that che
schools and colleges are annually sending
forth thousands of boys and girls, young
men and women, who must have suitable
literature provided for them their edu
From Japan, China, Korea, indeed from
the entire mission field, the report says
comes this same cry. 1t has been stated
that one missionary. equipped with litera-
tuTe Is dDie u do liie WIN VI wv WIZ
have not this equipment. The grand total
of foreign cash appropriations since the
foundation of the society is $14S, 713.
The call for the tract society's special and
unique work. the report says, is greater
than ever before in it's history and its re-
sources greatly overtaxed. The society |
is wholly dependent on donations and leg
acies, and, says the report, some of its
most important work of necessity will be
curtailed unless there is a more generous
response the part of evangelical
churches and individual donors.
Yacht Rappahannock at Alexandria.
The steam yacht Rappahannock, the flag
ship of the navy of the state of Virginia |