Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-02-18
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

The whole world is laughing at the
British "suffragettes," and their queer
audaeities, which have been landing
them behind prison bars. Not every.
body perceives that when a cause has
reached the stage where its adherents
are willing to suffer for it there Is
no turning back. Undoubtedly, behind
the reprehensible antics of these Won-
en- lies the serious purpose to arouse
public attention to the cause which
they champion Henceforth, equal suf-
frage for women is bound to be an is
sue in British politics. Any cause
which reaches the stage Of having
martyrs has passed through its ex-
perimental period
In this Sunday-school lesson we find
the young Christian church advanced
to such dimensions and portentous-
ness that it suffers its first maryrdom
in the case of Stephen the lovable.
Where the martyr blood first falls,
there is great milestone in the pro
gress Of any enterprise. The really
serious contemporaneous significance
of this Notwithstanding ancient story
is that there are still some things
worth dying for. Into the midst Of our
doctrinaire and dilettante times, with
their frivolity and superflcial!ty, we
have projected this tremendous story
of martyrdon for truths sake. Sud
denly We are brought up to a, realiza-
ton that there are still great convic.
tons and causes more precious than
life. Even more directly, there is lum-
inously written on the very face OF
this thrilling story of the stoning Of
Stephen, the glorious truth that Christ
is worth living for and worth dying
for.
Making New Heroes.
All national leaders are concerned
with the problem of putting stuff and
fibre in the constitution of the oncom-
ing generations. How shall we make
todays boys knightlier men that their
fathers? In the face of the effeminiz.
ing tendency of the times, it is one OF
the gravest tasks confronting the
twentieth century. Our day demands
iron in the blood Of its mon. How
shall we impart this depth OF convic-
jtion, this courage for the sake OF
ideals, this lofty idealism, which is
civilizations crown? Opportunity,
here comes Stephen to the help OF
some fifteen million young people in
the Sunday-schools OF the continent
1t is a poor teacher indeed who does
not give his class on this occasion a
new conception of the heroism of faith
and of the sublimity of suffering for
conscience's sake. This is an occasion
when many boys and girls will be in
troduced to the long roll of martyr
spirits who counted not their lives
dear unto themselves for the truths
sake.
The child or man who has never
learned to subdue desire or a sense
of comfort and convenience at the die
tate of a conviction, is to be pitied in
deed Such a one, instead of being
pillar of society, is problem of soc
iety Instead of being lifting force
he is weight to be carried, and q
constant peril. 1t takes the Stepher
stuff to make good citizens.
A Layman Who Preached.
This year, 1909, marks to an ex
traordinary degree the enlergence O
the laynlan into power in religion:
work. The present Sunday school les
son shows how the early church, wher
its work grew large, made extensive
provision for service by the laity. Tht
apostles themselves withdrew from
work that could be better done by mel
who had not their preaching commits
sion. So, with greater care than il
sometimes exercised by later congre
cations. they chose seven men t.
serve the church in temporal matters
1t is probably true that if the stron
and prosperous churches of our ow!
time were to make some such ade
auate division Of labor SO that tn
lang might bear its share Of the bul
den of waiting on tables, visiting tn
sick, and caring for the temporalitie
of the church, the preachers would no