The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-09-01

ton Of our life problem: here Is to be
alone can give adequate purpose and
meaning to our existence.=Rev c. z.
Boone, Roman Catholic, Washington.
HOW WE DO THINGS.
Everything depends upon the spirit
with which we think and live We
must not serve Christ by rote. Our
prayer book must not become a prayer
wheel. We must not say our devotions
box.-Rev. H c. Swentzel. Episcopa-
liam, Brooklyn.
HONORING OF OLD AGE.
The treatment Of old age not only
in turn mobiles that character. When
old age is spurned and venerable men
and women neglected. whether in the
home or in the nation, there will be
Of coming disaster. We honor our
selves when we honor old age--Rev-
F. P. Parkin, Methodist, Philadelphia
SAFEGUARDING THE HOME.
Nothing can be more important than
the safeguarding of the home, ana
never was it more needed than today.
It is the home life which sweetens and
sanctifes the national life The stream
made sweet at its fountain head Will
refresh the land through which it flows.
Thus the home is the nations safe
guard and its most sacred possession
Rev. DR.. Earl B. Hubbell, Presbyt terrain,
Chicago.
A WARNING.
If we make money superior to NOR
ais, pleasure of more consequence than
piety; if We place the world above
spirituality, self above God, time above
eternity we shall be guilty of miSdi-
recting the force that ought to have
been used for the building of the tenn
pie of chara cter. Power is lost through
friction. If there is lack of harmony
in the inner life, If conviction is out
81 on
is at war with conduct, if what we
know does not walk side by side with
what we do, there will be such tenn
pest in the soul as will make impossi-
BILE the best; there will be such fric-
ton as will end in a waste of power.
Power that is abused will be taken
away. Power that is unused will be
forfeited.-Rev. Polemus H. Swift,
Methodist, Austin, III.
GROWTH OF CHARACTER.
There is no need of enumerating all
the laws by which character grows
| The essential thing is to see that it is a
growth and not a sudden creation. We
have cast the idea of miracle out OF
our physical life. We know that there
is no such thing as an event in nature
which has no connection with any
thing before or about it. We need to
narrow our expectation of miracle in
the moral life, for while we cannot
help believing that the Will has the
/ power of stepping in and changing our
moral tendencies to some extent, yet IT
| is very certain that we have supposed
1t to have more power than it really
has. 1t really governs only a small
part of the character. We might COM
pare it to the soft tip by which the root
of a tree grows. That tip is very sensi-
tive to ali influences of heat or cold,
dryness or moisture, and to any resist
ance. 1t grows or stops growing, goes
straight on or curves around a stone,
according to the necessities of the time,
with a power that seems wonderfully
like intelligence. But when once it has
advanced, the root behind it begins to
harden and become incased with bark
and is no longer sensitive or movable,
What the root finally is in shape and in
direction is the result of what that
free little tip has done for It day by
day. We may change the direction of
the tip, but not easily that Of the root
it has once made. The character of
any man at a given time is like that
root It is the result of a long process
Of growth. To a very large extent it
is hard and Interchangeable by any sud
den influence. 1t is free to move only
at a small point Even that point
starts from where yesterdays growth
ended and its freedom to move is
limited to a narrow range. That is to