The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1910-10-28
Gaturday Digit
ToIkc By Rev. F. E. DAWSON
N/OttAS Rutland, VI
THE KINGS AMOUNTING.
International Bible Lesson for Oct.
80, '1o-(Matt. 2e:1-16).
SfO4o4oFofofoFo+o4o4ofofo

Such was the criticism of Judas, when
a loving woman, as an expression OF
her devotion to Christ, anointed His
feet with precious ointment. The
penurious disciple had no conception
Of the beautiful or the sublime, either
In nature or in art, or in religion. He
would never have given a penny to
promote an aesthetic or benevolent
enterprise. The Scriptures intimate
that he was not only miser, but a
thief and though he professed great
love for the poor he really itched to
get hold OF the sheckles the sale OF
that spikenard, that to his mind was
wasted on Christ would have brought
Money, he could understand, but
spikenard, bah! 1t was only a smell.
Society has always been afflicted
with class Of carpers like Judas
There never was an effort made to
sweeten the bitter cups of this worlds
trouble, but some sneering critic has
appeared to complain of the waste.
The poor would die of starvation,
and vice and crime would become
epidemic If these people could get
hold of the funds which are, accord
ing to their way Of thinking, wasted
upon the undeserving. 1t is impossi-
BILE for them to realize that the human
heart Graves sympathy as the body
needs bread, and that the soul hungers
for love and starves without it, as
truly as life is sustained by food, and
perishes for lack of II. There are null
ttudes of people who can understand
a dollar, but who cannot understand
a bouquet They know what a bag of
potatoes means, but they cannot un-
derstand how a smile and a pleasant
word, puts song into the heart that
sings all through the day, and acts
as tonic amid the depression Of busi-
ness anxiety and bodily weariness.
Value Of the Aesthetic.
The value of the aesthetic in life
has not half been appreciated. In
proportion as nations improve their
surroundings do they rise in the scale
of living. 1t is possible to get an edu-
cation in a little red school house,
whose benches are hacked, whose
roof leaks, whose windows are brok-
en-, whose stove smokes, whose door
says on one hinge whose equipment
consists of cracked blackboard and
nubbins of chalk, but the child who
goes to school in modern, up-to-
date twentieth century building stands
better chance of getting right views
of things. The community which
thinks it waste of money to erect
well-equipped school house, and to
pay for properly trained instructors,
may save their money but it will be
at the expense of the manhood and
womanhood Of the next generation.
Critics Of Improvements.
When a new church is to be built
Judas always comes around. He.
wants no foolish display about the
house Of God. He declares that stee-
pies are an invention of the devil to
rob the poor people of their hard
earned money, and as for stained
glass windows, the very mention of
them makes it certain that we are
headed straight for the papacy. His
fathers worshipped in a plain, I'M
painted, rectangular, hill-crowned,
wind-swept, sun-burned meeting
house, and what was good enough for
his ancestors is good enough for him!
And then if he is outvoted, he but
tons up his pocket at such unrighte-
Gus extravaganza, and goes out cry
ing, Waste! Waste!
In the estimation of these people
1t is waste of good material to bury
the bright minds of Christian lands in
the darkness Of heathenism, that those
people may see a great light. He
doesn't think it unwise for the bright
est and most aggressive tradesmen of
civilized nations to push their way
into heather countries to carry on
business. In their case there is money
in 1t. But that a man should lay
down his life instructing the ignorant,
reforming the vile, and making him
self the saviour Of whole districts
swarming with human beings who
otherwise would live like cattle, and
die like flies-Judas cannot in the
least particular understand that
Wasting Good Material.
When such a woman as Frances
Willard, brainy, cultured, fit to grace
any position in society, gives up her
life to the advocacy of what the
superficial consider an impossible re.
form, how many there are who criti-
else such waste of good material.
They say she threw her life away.
On the contrary she broke the ala
baster box of infinite love upon the
feet of staggering humanity and the
odor of the ointment fills the world
to-day. While the world stands that
she hath done will be told as a men,
orial OF her, while the women who
have lived like butterflies, like them
will be forgotten. There is many a
delicate, tenderly-nurtured, cultivated
slum worker, wearing the neat garb
OF deaconess, or the characteristic
attire of the Salvation Army, scrub
bing floors, tending babies, shaking
up hot pillows, comforting drunkards'