The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-07-10
A Memory.

To the Editor of The Age-Herald.
 In your touching editorial of July 4 on the death of Joel Chandler Harris, the tears between the lines awoke a sympathe etic chord in many hearts, as well as a memory of the authors pieces in his magazines of June and July.
 His article, Tn the Matter of Belief" so impressed me with the man behind the pen, his deep spirituality, his meek ness and lowliness of heart, that I felt more than ever that his inspiration came from the Master. His disdain of theology, cant and pretense was ex- pressed in the following wo1Es: Not all the learning of all the schools can even be measurably helpful. Each in dividual soul must consider the matter for itself, and it must abolish all con- sideration of physical and material phenomena. It must use its own spir- itual logic and reason in considering the matter, and realize that 1t is in the presence of the greatest mystery the greatest mira cle, the world has ever had any experience of. Theology avails nothing here; it is a human in- yention, and has for its basis the fn- uuisitiveness of man with respect to history and tradition, and the active curiosity that has been aroused by the development of the Christian religion. Speaking that, morality was not re- I ligion, he said: Many men whose pri- vate lives are all that they should be- have no hesitation in overreaching their t+1, of business. Of late years this ten
 dency, which is as vicious as thievery has become an art, and, as the result l of its wh olesale practice, we have tho l immense fortunes and the appalling | condition of affairs that is causing such | a tremendous stir among the proNes-
 sional politicians"
 I His serenity of spirit, and peace with all the world, his words of comfort Lo
 the hopeless, now his last message to his readers. were straight from tha 1 heart, that God is in His world and all Is we'll"
 In June's magazine, his reproduction of his first contribution, "On Knowing Your Neighbors." is but another oriyi
 nal thought of revealing the way oi
 now to find our neighbors. who and
 what they are. How many lonely hours could be of eternal profit to souls, ii 1 they loved the flowers, trees, grass ano birds as did Uncle Remus," that sim i Dle-h earted man of the people. He found at his home that the least bit i of sod under his feet was the sweetest
 in the world. nowhere else was the sky so blue, grass so green, sunshine jo
 bright and the shade so welcome. 1 He taught that today Is everybody's | the only time in which to love, to be kind and true. What significant part
 he played in the world never Neemed
 to repose in his mind, he only knew
 that life was action, ndt whining, and
 that love must be expressed in human helpfulness.
 Iris true his books will be immortal
 but his soul was the altar stair or
 which he climbed to God. and now from l it's summit, the backward look sees the glorious effulgence of golden deeds
 from each step, and not alone did he 1 rise through the mists and sh adows ] the hand of tn eFather led him up tc
 bluer skies, brighter flowers and i sweeter waters, the princely heritage | of the pure in heart.
 MRS. SAMUEL W. JOHN. B,rmingham, July g, 1908.