The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-10-08

wright puts it's time hallowed words
into the mouths of his typical char
acters when he finds himself at a loss
to find impressive sentences of loving
forgiveness or fierce malediction
wherewith to carry conviction TO his
auditors.
But Miss Baker, in her very original
and interesting paper on Education"
has been the FIRST to bring forciby
before us the dignity and refinement
impaired by the continued use of the
Bible as a daily companion. Where
cultivation and a high mental eleva-
ton gets an intellectual impetus, the
unlettered and the simple, while seek
ing solely for religious comfort and
guidance, receive that for which they
did not look
What causes us to call people com
mon? l venture to assert that the
illiterate Scotch "cotter" rs he turns
DER, wi patrharchal grace, the big
Ha'- Bible. ance his fathers pride, his
bonnent revrently laid aside" does
not come under that lowering appella
ton, Wherever human nature in its
humblcst guiSe has been drawn to
look upward and to lOge and hope for
that which is yet unseen, it has been
lifted beyond and above the Vulgarlty
which comes from greed of gain or
even from ignorance.
Leaving the many-sided discussion
of the religious study of the Bible by
unenlightened minds to more fittin~
places and pens better fitted for So
great a subject, / am eager that the
underlying thought of Miss Bakers
theory should reach as wide an att
dience as possible 1t involves such
a deep perception Of a great turth
overlooked in both parental and school
education. Knowledge alone, knowl
Il <f to- til OF Il on+ 1icO
the standard of character no matter
how largely it mulHplcs power to en-
| joy and to acquire 1t increases
wealth and fits us for the ucc of lux
ury but even knowledge of The stars
in their courses" does not make men
and women noble with that inspiration
and aspiration which make it impos-
sible that they should be common"
They need some vehicle of instruc-
ton that causes them to love "sim-
plicity and purity" those two wings
which uplift a man; they need some
tender voice pleading with them to
regard the whole scheme of glittcring
pretenson which lures women to
adorn themselves with the dress and
ornament that are the clothing of
princes. as wholly at variance with
the beauty that makes the lilies of the
field" perfect; they need a message
from some sphere higher than their
own to make it plain that greed and
display and the fruits of avarice and
deception are like leaden weights car
rying man down as inevitably as
they enter his heart.
The most absolutely, irredeemabiy
common person whom | ever saw was
a handsome woman of forty dressed in
satin and Respondent with diamonds.
She sat at a hotel table. while a young
grill in a white gown and apron waited
upon her: the summer must produce
the winters collegiate fee. Originally
they may have belonged to the same
social strata. but she of the white
gown had seen with her calm gray
eyes the gates of pearl and the foun-
dations of 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. Some
how. somewhere. the heart has to at
tach itself to the wonderful founda-
tons which Miss Baker tells us have
proved such strong supports to natures
| born into the commonplace surround
| ings of everyday work-a-d day life.
When without any demonstration or