The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1905-02-02

external law, but 1t may become an
internal law. When man has once rec
ognized the inner law and bowed be-
fore it, through this reverence and vol
untary submission he is ripe for liber-
ty. So long as there Is no vigorous
and sovereign inner law he Is incapa-
bic Of breathing its air, for he will be
drunken with it, maddened, morally
slain. The man who guides his life
by inner law can no more live servile
to outward authority than can the full
grown bird live imprisoned In the egg
she'll But the man who has not yet at
tanned to governing himself can no
more live under the law Of liberty than
can the undedged bird live without its
protective covering. These things are
terribly simple. and the series Of dem
Onstrations old and new that proves
them increases daily under our eyes.
And yet we are as far as ever from
understanding even the elements of
this most important law In our de-
mocFaCy how many are there, great
and small, who know from having per-
sonally verified it, lived 1t and obeyed
it, this truth without which a people Is
Incapable Of governing itself? Liberty2
1t Is respect Liberty? 1t Is obedience
to the inner law, and this law is nei-
ther the good pleasure Of the mighty
nor the caprice Of the crowd but the
| high and impersonal rule before which
| those who govern are the first to bow
the head. Shall liberty, then, be pro-
scrbed2 No; but men must be made
capable and worthy of it; otherwise
public life becomes impossible, and the
nation, undiscipllned and unrestrained,
goes on through license into the mex
tricabIe tangles Of demagogy
When one passes in review the IN
dividual causes that disturb and COM
pIlcate our social life, by whatever
names they are designated, and their
list would be long, they all lead back
to one general cause, which is this
the confusion of the secondary with
the essential. Material comfort, edu-
cation, liberty, the whole Of civiliza-
ton these things constitute the frame
Of the picture. but the frame no more
makes the picture than the frock the
monk or the uniform the soldier. Here
the picture is man, and man with
his most intimate pOssesslons-namely
his conscience, his character and his
will. And while we have been elab-
Grating and garnishing the frame, we
have forgotten, neglected, disdgured,
the picture. Thus are we loaded with
external good, and miserable In spirit
ual life. We have in abundance that
which, If must be, we can go without
and are infinitely poor in the one thing
needful. And when the depth of our
being Is stirred with its need of low
ing, aspiring, fulfilling its destiny, 1t
feels the anguish Of one buried alive
Is smothered under the mass Of sec
ondary things that weigh It down and
deprive 1t Of light and air
We must search out, set free, re-
store to honor the true life, assign
NAlillSH w AAlNll DtbINi IibNtS anu AN7
member that the center of human prog
ress is moral growth. What is a good |
lamp? 1t IS not the most elaborate,
the finest wrought, that of the most
precious metal. A good lamp is a
lamp that gives good light. And so
also we are men and citizens, not by |
reason of the number of our goods and |
the pleasures we procure for ourselves, |
not through our intellectual and artls-
tie culture, nor because Of the honors
and Independence we enjoy, but by |
virtue of the strength of our moral
hber. And this is not truth of today.
but a truth of all times.
At no epoch have the exterior condi-
tons which man has made for himself
by his industry or his knowledge been
able to exempt him from care for the
state of his inner life. The face of the
world alters around u.s. its intellectual
and material factors vary, and no one
can arrest these changes, whose sud
denness Is sometimes not short of per-
ilous But the important thing is that |
at the center of shifting circumstance
man should remain man, live his life
make toward his goal; and, whatever
be his road, to make toward his goal
the traveller must not lose himself in
crossways nor hamper his movements
with useless burdens. Let him heed
well his direction and forces and keep
good faith, and that he may the better
devote himself to the essential-whlch
Is to progress-at whatever sacrifice,
let him simplify his baggage.