Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1907-10-10
OF SIX. the sole manager ana dispenser


for all, staggering beneath a burden
more than man has dared to bear,
who shall deny her praise? That
widowed mother, with a flock and
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 heroism of the
plain people, who have little but who
serve so much, to whom life offers
such a meager portion but who make
1t 20 so far, is a most sublime, as 1t Is
a most compelling, fact of human life.
I can conceive of nothing harder, day
by day, to arise to face the impenetra-
BILE wall of hardship and of approx
mate poverty which dominates the
horizon of so many lives. I can pic
ture nothing more unutterably UNI
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. 10
desire to live in the face of it, to de-
eide to struggle against 1t, 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 differentiate
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 righteousness
are intrenched The army of greed at
any price is already in the field. The
plunderers 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 I'M
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
eminent, they laugh at law, they scott
at the rising tide of popular disap-
prevail 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 Gallons 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
ct rp1r nf ut
bring them to account
We are face to face with no theory.
We are confronted with the Taost 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 meL dear.
The dctum 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 herosm nee
essary to refuse to bow. Men have re-
: fused. They have been consumed.
! The threat to-day is bow down or
| be ruined. Touch us not lest the
/ country die. - Forsooth we shall re-
frain to eradicate the vermiform ap-
pendiX of financial and commercial
and political indecency and disease
because of the shock to the patient.
! Thank God We have men of heroism
at hand, men who have wisdom, who
have the hand and the nerve and the
experience and the wisdom to disobey
our modern ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS and to
operate. And they will not be burnt.
| Their heroism will not spell their
death. 1t will not invite disaster. 1t
Will save the patient from uglier ills
and worse torrents.
! The sort of heroism that can live
humbly in the contemplation of such
evil with trust in God and confidence
! In the heroism of the leaders that are
called is the sort that has made
America a power. The heroism that
remains steadfast and faithful in the
face of regnant wrong is the heroism
that Eliminates her history. She has
much of it. She needs more of it.
1t should be rewarded. 1t should
have our support. We should have it.
For it is the heroism Of the Christ.
RIDDLES.