Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1909-01-14
Frantic EnoIeaD0r RefdEds
Reinforcement
Germany Fast Outstripping Both England
and United States in Industrial Ftefd.
IA. Ev Dr.. C. II. Parkhurst N.Y.

-- MER1cA N hustle is nuuing its blight upon everything hat
" really deserves to be called substantial American p ,1e"a
We have recently been informed by n who IA a eA .sp
tional opportunity to acquaint himself with III acts ' ne
~ with all the crowding and proddng th s nsun s. rs
American schooroom, there is less to show To- IL tnn 80 -
secured by the more steady n composed olscpano "
A German is never in a hurry, but he does a as
a n American, and does it better and more Thoroughly n win hn less sa mnnN II
to himself and to other people. We call him phlegmauc. WaIIcn m Hn4 - -
properly UNDERSTOOD. that heAs to such a degree master o. MM USE e no. -.
an cover a great deal of ground without going all to pieces IN IN ~ pUe,s5
And whatever filings W e have made at German inertness we re all prepared
to say that Germany is still to a considerable extent the worloss nooln@
Ian America in the field. of Industrial ompet'lo au W. ~ 49,, ~ w
a question OF military genius and preparation Germany "oula quite likely 70
able tt whip all the crest Of Europe.
But the most serious feature of frenzied American activity is not that we
are not doing a good and solid work Is would be Accomplished were or &C..
tvHy of a less wearing and dstractrg kind, but that it leaves the minds Of
the people in that tumultuous condition that tends to render nem sensiO
o any influence except such as enanate from the fedo of material interest,"
and ambition.
This is n O a season when men art deeply meditating, it is not a season
NJ = A hnrrv to - by Mayn ns n ~ hut, "t ~ ~ ,a az. ' thirs trsina n distraction destroy
their capacity or reflection n DEVOTION; and material results all NJ country
through, are being purchased at the expense of physical exhaustion "'ehec-
Everybody deprecates this condition of things, but everybody, Dr. almost
everybody gives way to it We have acquired the habit of being n a hurry.
1t has become a kind of second nature with us to do as much as we cn do
naturally and then to add another stint to it and to hold or watch in our
hands whhe W re doing it" The shortening OF n lime by IN our fr
running a steamer from New York to Queenstown sends a thrill through the
entire body of what we call modern civilization.
Civilization is n Of the severest diseases from which the rae is suffer
ing. and the iradonaity of the situation is evidenced by the fact that the
the severer the tension the less there is to show for it in the way of comfort
and satisfaction. In point of hustle and nervous perturbation, Heaven
we're to be like New York or almost any American city-except, perhaps, Phil
adelphia-we should pray to be sent somewhere else.
tbs not work, even hard work that puts people cut If sympathy with the
grace, but frenzy is a kind of interior cataclysm that knocks everything out
of place and involves men in unnteligble and unproductive confusion. Chris
tians, in particular, ought to set the example of reserving to themselves suf
fcdent1 leisure and maintaining in their souls and atmosphere of quiet to ena-
BILE them to come often into fellowship with God.
The spirit Of the times is in these respects bad. You know it. The en-
forced and nervous pressure is disastrous sc fara a relates to what is best in
life and finest in the individual soul Christianity oe in successful revolt
against Paganism. Now the temper of todays spirit in all this matter of
nervous hustle and constituencies rush is pagan, a s truly SO as though it
we're being prachsed in old Borneo or Madagascar. And it is for the church.
and for Christians and for you to lead off in a odfashioned apostolic revolt
against this despotism OF pagan frenzy and o settle down into that rational
mode OF life whose very ometness shall carry in it something of the spirit Of
Jesus.