New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-05-03
ADVISES Y. W. c. A.
Or. Lyman Abbott Tells Association
Hoe 1t Can Do Its Best Work.

Inc trouble with US Americans is we pay
aitoeether to much attention to the shell of
'AAes' forgetting that ii is the life within, the
eerm OF vitality. that counts supremeIy," said
.'e Rev DR.. Lyman Abbott yesterday, address,
ing the fifteenth annual meeting of the State
Doards OF Women's and Young Womens Chris
Nsn associations in Brooklyn
That is one difficulty with our educational
system Oh. what a fine university we ex-
oialn See what a splendid campus it has
anu what a spacious library" And we forget
~ ask now the professors are paid and what
'io Oh work they are turning out. All our
N"0usHt seems TO go to fine buildings, liberal
Equipment Of apparatus the shell. the cover
!ils the external integument That is why it
- SO much easier to raise $1,OO0.OOO for
OuiIulHgs than for endowment fund.
FaFuy' suppose this is because we work by
slsht' not faith; because we are still pioneer
people and a materialistic people. For this
tendency to put the stress on externals is seen
t'A our government. We place our reliance on
-""' "ieh all law can do is to make vice diff
cut ana virtue easy-it cannot stop vice or
create virtue. 1t is very important that We
get good men in the aldermanic chamber in
congress and the Senate. but when we get them
they are only like the walls to q city-the life
OF the city is still throbbing within
they tell me there is a man in Jersey who
speaker turned toward Mrs Charles n Judson,
president of the Brooklyn Young Women's
Christian Association. with a twinkle in his
eyes Well that family should be very clean!
0lllI' whether they are clean not depends not
on the number of their bathtubs, but on their
love Of cleanliness.
Things are vital only they minister to
life. Only life can produce life Whether this
is true IN the scientific world not, it is GER
tainly true in the mental and spiritual life
The Bible is not life. but it ministers to life
1t is an instrument of life whereby we are
placed in connection with those who wrote and
made it. The moment we begin to foot up our
result in statistics Satan gets to work and we
are mStaklng the substance for the accident
the shell for the life"
And then DR.. Abbott astonished some of his
hearers by saying that it didn't matter so much
what special form good work takes as who
does it.
When I was attached to Harvard University
as preacher" said he. "a lady came to me and
asked me if 1 couldn't get two or three young
men men to help in her boys club one or two even
ings week.
. What kind of fellows do you want?' asked
.. oh, any kind. long as they're nice
" And what do you want them to do?
AWNING they like. What 1 want is to
establish personal relations between the men
and the boys
Il think got my idea for this talk from that
woman-all my best ideas get from women!
Inc 1tCl 49, Sdlu LIT. ADDOtt, while his audi
ence still looking pleased, that we cant
come IN contact with one another and not give
life of some kind. Two young women will de-
eide to do some good work
will teach a Bible class Sunday after
noons,' says one.
L viii teach a cooking class Tuesday after
Moons says the other
One religious. the other secular work you
Wen, that depends. The first girl may teach
the Bible in such way turn her pupils
from II; the other may teach her cooking so
that the class will learn patience sweetness and
lot more Of the Christian virtues That's one
Of the hopeful things in our work to-day We've
caught Jesus's secret He came to live among
men, and His life flowed into them-and it's
been flowing so ever since, spiritually
Don't be particular about the form your work
for others takes; only choose the one IN which
you can express yourself best. The power that
goes from to the other is the power that
really governs the world"