The Washington herald., 1908-04-30
THE OPTIMIST.

thinking OK what a United States SEN
ator said to me the other day about
the great march Of progress we of the
present day are witnesses OF. greater in
It's results than the world has ever noted
for similar period. / came across
Froude's essay on Progress, In which he.
the cIear-seeing historian said: IN every
department Of life-in its business and in
its pleasures, in its beliefs, in its theories,
in its material developments. in its spir-
itual connections-We thank God that we
are not Ike cur fathers"
And that is true, and pity it's 'tls
true" for it might be well for us if in
many regards we We're more ike our
fathers. As Senator Beveridge once said.
our forefathers believed in something. Their lives
we're not interrogation points. They had ideals
those landmarks OF progress. They denied the sdage
that nothing succeeds like success. and announced
instead, the proTep that nothing is success which
IS not right They had unfaterng faith in the final
triumph q the truth, snd they knew enough 10
know that one man speaking truth to-day with all
she multjtudes- and al the powers Of earth opp0s-
ing him. viii be Tomorrow a majority Without
that belief faith in free institutions is impossible
and absurd
And II we come TO think thus, we may
see that much of what we call progress
is. perhaps. judged rightly and seen clear
~, only retrogression-sueh loss as that
which comes 10 the man who gains the
world and loses his soul
Certainly the current thought OF the
dWelleTs In our cities that IL Is money
alone that can purchase happiness is
not progress in thought from that
which our forefathers knew Those who
came before US knew, at all events, that
there were higher duties for man than
the accumulation Of wealth, the busy
unrest Of industrial competition that
racks mems nerves. and in its stress and
turmoil makes them lose sight OF God
It is very well to say
Yet doubt not through the ages one increasing
purpose runs.
Aud the thoughts q men are widened with the
process Of the suns
But it matters q lot weather we can say
II truly: whether that is our firm con-
victiOn. Thinking over what has been
done. what acts have been Justified by
the materialIsts who, putting self before
all other things. seek only to get ahead
themselves and justify all they do. all
they leave undone, by the thoughts that
the end justifes the means, well might
we say, Progress, what crimes are COM
mitted in thy name?'
And yet il is not so. for the advance
Of the individual toward his cwn aims is
not what IS meant by progress. Henry
Ward Beecher gave Us the real definition,
when he said
We should 50 live ard labor in our tine that
What came 10 as seed may g. 70 the next gen
GRAFTON as blossom. and what cane % us as blossom
may go to them as fruit, This Is What We mean
by progress.
Believing this, YOU will be on the side
OF Senator Beveridge again when he tells
US that We need a strengthening of our
national character. We need, in states
manship the high seriousness Of a Sum-
ner. the large ability Of a Hamilton, the
unbending uprightness Of an Adams. We
need public men who believe in some
thing-men whom Burke described as
pillars IN the temple Of state, not
weather-vanes upon its dome We need
a national habit OF faith We need even
an eXaltatlon OF taste We need re-
newal Of the Puritan ideals