The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1909-04-01
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ON BEING A BROTHER.

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Gle that loveth his brother abideth
in the light. John , 10.
There are some people who make
brave professions of intense love for
all the human race with whom it is
nevertheless exceedingly difficult for in
dividual Representatives of the race to
live. 1t is always an easier matter to
be filled with a lofty sentiment Of uni
versal fraternity than it is to exhibit
even ordinary patience with the man
who stands beside you.
That love for man which is the best
evidence Of ones love for the Most
High may be much simpler and
much rarer quality than we sometimes
think. 1t is by no means certain that
1t is all summed up and expressed in
foreign and home missionary offerings
or even in reform and charity Organl-
cations or that it is the exclusive
property of those who write and sing
about the brotherhood Of man.
1t is really an easy matter to learn
to love the ideal and fictitious man,
the creature of the poets imagination.
He makes no assaults on your nerves.
olfactory or Others and when you get
tired Of him you can just shut your
mind to him; he will not shiver Oh
your mental doorstep nor vex your
philosophic soul with querulous init
nations ON bread and handouts.
Some of the most selfish people in
this world take perfect delight IN
dreams Of the federation of the ma
lions of the world, when all the peo-
pies shall love one another, all the
flags be furled and the cannon be con-
verified into flower pots. But that uni
versal fraternity would be quite diff
ferent matter if it became practical
and affected the interest on govern
ment bonds or the price. of furs and
feathers.
Some of the most disagreeable peo-
pie in the world, candidates for heav-
emily individual islands, and prodigious
reservoirs of emotional verse and
phrase on brotherhood and the love
of our fellow beings. But the fellow
being sentiment was not made to en-
brace their servants and neighbors
who would be quite happy If one OF
such angelic ideals would take an an
gelic habitation permanently.
Then you will find some ordinary
people, rough, perhaps, on the exterior,
and even sometimes seemingly I'M
troubled by high ideals, about whom
their fellow beings gather like iron
filings to a magnet, to whom they
cling In times Of trouble like l1mpets
to a rock. They may have heard quite
nothing of poetry on brotherhood they
are simply brothers. that's ALL
There are others who seem, as we
say, to have faculty for getting along
with all kinds of folk; they make
friends and they hold them. They are
found amongst all kinds Of people and
in all walks of life, but they are the
cement of society everywhere. They
are not often brilliant and they are
never burdened by theories of social
Improvement, but they are just broth
ers. making us all family.
Now. there is nothing mysterious
about this power that some have TO
win friends and to bind us all togeth-
er. 1t simply means that they have
learned to look for the essential things
in people; they like us for our
own sakes; they set their hearts
on the souls of men, the real self III
each Of us. They get along with the
hobo because they see through his
rags. and with the king because they
do not see his regalia.
The trouble with many Of us. is
that when we talk about brotherhood
we mean we would take all men into
our family if they would acquire our
tastes and habits. When we look at
the other man we are thinking how I'M
like he is to what we are and
therefore to what he ought to be. We
miss the man himself because we can
not see through his conditions and
clothes.
While we are seeking to save re-
ligion from evaporation in sentiment
shall we not seek to save fraternity
from the same fate? Brotherhood
means many hard lesson, means do
ing many difficult thing, means pay
Ing big price. But it means finding
q great reward, it means the discovery
of humanity. 1t means learning to
live with other people and so finding
the greatest wealth in the world, that
which lies in human hearts and minds.
A man learns to love books by read
ing, and songs by singing, but the
greatest of all loves, the love of hui.
mainly, of lives, is learned just by
living with people, by taking time to
find out what is in them, by stopping
long enough in our mad business of
making living to realize that the best
things of life lie in the love and life
of others.
BIRTHRIGHT OR POTTAGE.,
By Rev. George Clarke Peck.