The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1907-10-10

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less, though perhaps not individual,
fame. But what is the courage Of the
| leader or the soldier in the front line
of the fierce fight to that of the toiler
| who, day by day, works and plans and
slaves and lives that children may be
reared and prepared for life and the
home be kept intact? That father
yonder who, from sunrise to sunset,
day in and day out, in health and
sickness, when sad or glad, tolls for
| wife and family; is he not heroic?
| That mother, with her cleanly brood
of six, the sole manager and dispenser
of a princely, gross salary Of SO a
week, up with, or before, the first
streaks of the earliest day, resting
only when all are sleeping, cooking,
washing, nursing, caring for them,
| with smiles for each and tenderness
for all, staggering beneath burden
more than man has dared to bear,
who shall deny her praise? That
widowed mother, with flock and a
pittance; that child who alone sup
ports a home; that maiden who Is
pure and sweet upon wages that are
criminal before the living God, who
shall deny the sublimity of their
humble heroism?
To my mind the hsroism Of the
plain people, who have little but who
serve so much, to whom life offers
such meager portion but who make
it go so far, is a most sublime, as it is
a most compelling, fact Of human life.
I can conceive of nothing harder, day
by day, to arise to face the impenetra-
bic wall of hardship and of approx
mate poverty which dominates the
horizon of so many lives. I can pic
ture nothing more unutterably un-
bearable than, day by day, to be COM
PEELED to undergo the refined slavery
that is unquestionably characteristic
of so much of our modern life. To
desire to live in the face of it, to de-
eide to struggle against it, to hope
even against hope, to live and to love,
to get little and to give little, to
retain and to augment the diviner
characteristics that alone differenttate
humanity from the beast, to plan for
posterity and to have faith in God in
the midst of the relative riches that
constitute the poverty of our times,
is heroic. We should thank God for
the heroism of those among us who
have so little and who live so largely,
in proportion as they have capacity
and opportunity, for the common
veal. We should thank God that
they are faithful, that they know
how to live simply, that they are
moral. For if ever the men and
women who are the burden-bearers
in the worlds work become saturated
with the vices, the follies and the
fallacies concerning life that infest
the minds of those who constitute the
topmost and the nethermost strata of
society, the world will have short
shrift.
Another sort of heroism that we
must never fail to remember and con-
slider and to which we owe much, is
that moral heroism among the polit-
ical and religious leaders of the coun-
try that is increasingly obvious and
actively at work. For that heroism is
real. The forces of unrighteousness
are intrenched. The army of greed at
any price is already in the field. The
piunderers Of the public are as busy
as the vultures that prey upon the
dead. The camp followers who are
out for petty graft are busily at work.
The sleek, self-satisfied captains Of
political and commercial piracy are at
the front. They are all the more
dangerous because they have per-
suaded themselves that they are sim
cere, that the benefits they have un-
doubtedly been instrumental in bring
ing to society excuse and justify the
rapacity Of which they have been and
to-day are guilty. They scorn gov
ernment, they laugh at law, they scott
at the rising tide of popular disap-
proval. Their special pleaders are
hired, their subsidized papers are
already bought, many Of their books
are burnt. They invite the test and
even dare to threaten. In pulpit and
in pew, on the forum and in halls Of
learning, wherever there is an itching
palm or a callous heart there their
champions may be found. 1t is need
less for me to expand the story by
telling you Of the governments, mu-
nicipal and state, that they may al
most be said to own, the legislatures
that they have bought or have tried
to buy, Of the defiance that they
throw into the very teeth Of admins
trative officers who with honesty and
singleness of purpose attempt to
bring them to account.
We are face to face with no theory.
We are confronted with the Eost un-
palatable facts, when everything is
considered, with which any nation
has ever had to deal. There is no use
in waiting for a declaration of hostil-
tiles. The war is already on. The
enemy is in the field. Heroism
is required to go up against him
for "the sake of our cities and for the
people of our God" Heroism has al
ready been shown. 1t has already
cost some men dear.
The dictum is to pulpit and press,
to politician and statesman, to the
financial and the business world, to
labor and to capital, to the world at
large: We have erected our golden
image, it suit US, bow down or be con-
sumed. And woe betide the man with
the information and the heroism nee
essary to refuse to bow. Men have re-
fused. They have been consumed.