Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-05-31
Sunday Morning Talk,
Life and Sacrifice.

Memorial day gains in impressiveness
! because it comes at a time when May Is
gliding into June. when life in every blade
and bough is moving toward its consum-
nation. when the vigor, the beauty, the
opulence of nature appeal most power
fully 10 our senses. Just at this time
we turn aside to put WreathS upon the
graves of our patriot dead. to tell once
more the story of their valor. to mourn
their departure and to draw lessons of
hope and incentive from their careers.
But all the while the scent of the spring
! time blossoms has been waited to us. the
birds have sung merrily above our heads.
unconscious of the existence of any such
thing war, and life. not death, has been
| regnant in the world.
But even this lavish loneliness of nature
has. much of it. been evolved from the
/ death of last years growths Except a
corn OF wheat fall into the ground and
die. said the Master lit abide,h alone.
but if it die it beareth much fruit" AL
most everything fair in nature or in hu-
man nature has its roofing in some
new may take its place. The thing that
! links those now far away days in the
early COS to this spring time in the year
of our Lord 1908 is the eternal element
of sacrifice without whose constant opera
ton the world would stand still or retro
grade.
What makes those days of strife glor-
ious in the retrospect is the evidence they
afforded of the capacity of men to lay
down their lives for the cause that they
loved. 1t was the demonstration on a
grand and conspicuous scale of quality
never absent from the human breast.
Many of those who fell were young. with
life stretching away before them all gold
! en- with promise and opportunity. and yet
they hes1tated not moment to take the
risks of battle. AS time goes on we dwell
less on the issues to settle which they
gave their lives than on the fact that
they were ready. cheerfully. to yield their
! lives
And yet men of this type would have
lived sacrificial lives had there been no
war with its one great test. Indeed,
sometimes those who stay at home bear
the heavier part of the burden. II is the
| constant. normal sacrifices in days of
peace rather than the abnormal. occa-
slonal sacrifices in times of that
| show the stuff of which men are made.
! The scarlet thread runs through all life.
/ What is home but the product of I'M
| numbered and alas. too often unap-
preciated sacrifices on the part of the
wife and mother and sometimes. often
let us hope-on the part of the husband
and father. What is a we'll ordered, in
! tellIsent. righteous community but the
outcome of sacrifcial effort on the part
/ or many teacher. many a preacher,
many public official many a private
| citizen. They have learned and acted
upon that splendid saying, Life is not
| cup to be drained. but measure 10 be
! filled" They are not reaching out in
every direction and tapping fountains
| simply that the waters may flow into
their own exclusive cup and they may
| drink and be filed. Rather are they con-
J tributing of their very life blood to "a
common chaice from which other thirsty
! ones may drink and be satisfied.
| This is the permanent lesson of Memo
rial day, that the sacrificial element is
wrought into the very texture of ma
| lions life. that only as an individual life
| is touched and thrilled by this sacri-
! fetal element does ii become fine and
strong and beautiful and servicea BILE.
Shall we not take this lesson afresh to
our hearts we go from another
Memorial day to the year before us which
| is sure to bring us constant challenges to
| sacrifice in our public and private lives?
THE PARSON.