The Washington herald., 1909-03-28
Different Views of lie Grande Passion
Expressed by the Contributors to This
Weeks Symposium Offerings
By THE OPTIMIsT.

When Henry Drummond voiced the SEN
tIment which heads this page to-day. he
uttered no extravagant figure OF speech,
nor did he mean one iota less than he
declared. Love IS the underlying power
that actuates every human impulse. no
matter how humble or how exalted the
individual or how simple or how gigantic
the undertaking The instinct OF love
dwells IN every one-in everything. II
impels the wild mother beast to fight for
her young; It forever pushes man forward
In his struggle for existence
Love Is a term so broad that unless we
take plenty Of time TO consider we may
confuse its various kinds We are too
prone to look at Il in the physical sense.
which is perhaps natural when we real
ize that IA fits relation 10 the race II Is
IN that sense the most powerful His
tory and fiction have preserved to US
some famous examples OF some great
physical loves. Romeo. whose loves were
numerous, until he msf Juliet, sacrificed
his young lfe for the realization Of his
passion. Dante loved Beatrice from afar.
but his passion burnt itself out and LETT
him a stern ascetic. PaOla anu Fran
cesca may be mentioned IN passing as
another instance OF a consuming love
between man and woman.
But It is not with these meteoric passions
that we have 20 DO. as optimists. al
though we must recognize that these were
all unoonsciously fulfilling the laws Of
nature They could no more help loving
than he earth can help putting forth its
green IN the spriagtime. AS optimists
We must realize the more lasting quali-
ties Of love than those which bow merely
TO physical laws The love between par
ents and children, the love Of patriot
for country. the love epf work, all are
beautiful and necessary forms of love.
But the love that concerns US most and
the love which I believe TO be the great
est and most enduring Of all. Is the uni
versal brotherly love OF man. The love
of humanitV-the kindly, sympathetic
helpful love, that reaches out and en-
braces all our feliow-kind. This is the
greatest love OF all
II We could establish between men a
complete realization that such a univer-
sal love is necessary for our social and
material. as we'll as spiritual betterment
the world would advance more closely
70 the ideal. Our Influences, brother
optimists, must be steadily held in the
direction that will lead TO a elimination
Of this happy condition. II we show our
selves TO be hopeful and helpful and low
ing OF each other. 1t should not be long
before the influence viii spread and when
once it takes firm root in humanity. II
will be hard 20 dislodge it. Our duty.
then. is clearly to love one another-aot
merely TO exercise toleraton for the
faults and the shortcomings Of our neigh
boz as we think We see them. but TO
love him as we love ourselves, and bet
ter.
I dislike 10 take Issue with any OF the
members, but I have received this week
quotation as follows: Love, If not recip-
rocated. win die. Its only food or life giv-
ing power IS reciprocity I hOpe that this
view of love is not general, or that any
OF my fellOw-Optimists will consider such
q statement seriously. Il must be a poor
love indeed which cannot unselfshly go
on living in spite Of all rebuefs. 1 am
sure my correspondent will forgive me
for disagreeing with him. and I only
make use OF the quotation IN order that
you may see that even so great thing
as love has those who doubt its all
powerful everlasting Influence.
To show YOU how The Washington Her
aid Optimist Club makes for good among
It's members. I want 10 refer 10 an lnci-
dent which came to nay notice during
the week. One Of our stanchest mem
bers, Mrs. Claude. called AT the Office
and told US that her beautiful country
residence at Chevy Chase had been de-
stroyed By FIRE Optimists, think of the
courage ft takes TO face such a disaster
with cheerfulness. Mrs Claude's Op-
timism stood the test, and I want 70 say
that her visit TO the Office was to tell
me that she had saved a few things from
the fire, among them her Lets Help
button and her copies OF The Washington
Herald which recorded 0ur clubs prog
ress.
You don't know how encouraging II is
TO hear such things. FOR II tells us how
much our club is helping the members
Much good that we have done will prob
ably never be known, but we are con-
stantly getting cheering news. and above
sll lots and lots OF help from each ether
J. B. Clayton. VINO won a g prize last
week for a paragraph on Life" writes
that he has turned over the proceeds Of
the check to a sickly child. who has 1T
tie and needs much" I am sure that
the benefit which the littls invalid re-
csived was not half 50 great as the good
which optirnist Clayton derived from his
charitable act. Certainly Il deserves
place here. that the rest Of Us may bene-
At, too, from the thought Of the Sun
shine which the club Is carrying every
where
We occasionally hear from the nttie
ones, and naturally ike 10 encourage a
helpful spirit In children at the age when
character Is being formed. So I cannot
refrain from printing the contribution Of
Victor HaTtshorn. aged eleven years. OF
sos Webster street The poem Is familiar
TO as all and WI come back to Us as a
memory Of our own childhood. Il be1rs
repetition;
Il love yc1. nOthsr," sid little Jshn:
Thgn. fozgstsng vogk, hIs cap vent on
And be was 0f 70 The garden wing.
LeaTing bis mother the wood % bring.
i love you, mother" said rosy Nell
i love you better than tongue can tell %
Then she te7sed and pouted fun half the day.
TIL ber mother rsjo,csd when abe went to play.
= love you. mother" said little Fan;
To-day III help you ell ! csu;
How glad am that school doesn't keepF'
So abe rocked the babe til il fell asleep
Thsn steprlns sof1y she tock the broou,
and swept the Aoer, aad Snsted the room,
Busy and happy al DAY was she
Helpful and cheerful aE child could b
4 love you mother again they sid
Three little children going to bed;
How DO you think that mother guessed
Which Of them really loved her besti
As announced on wednesday. the con-
test next Sunday VIII be on the subject
Of Work" You have all proved your
selves such earnest workers in the cause
that I am sure there VIII be no lack
OF able and helpful contributions. As
usual. It Is requested that the contribu-
tons be sent in early IN the week. so as
70 give plenty Of tins for considering
them. / want to receive more and more
paragraphs each week. even though
don't have room to print them all. be-
cauEe 1t gives much wider range for