The Penn's Grove record., 1912-12-27
GUARDIANS OF ALL
Writer in the Christian Herald
Gives Answer to the Question,
IAN | My Brothers Keeper"

WV YHERE shall we find a training
NME school in the business of be-
ing a guardian? On all sides
we are beset with teachers of
personal efficiency who offer sure sys-
TENS Of se1f-improvement and for gain
ing success in the battle Of life. The
institution or the instructor who best
can equip the youth to meet competi-
ton, to rise above his fellows, to win
victories yer his rivals, is sure of
eager pupils day and night.
The world is rightly grateful to the
successful teacher of personal eff
cheney; we need more of it in every
branch of business and religious work,
but we need something else with even
greater urgency. We need more earn
est attention to the study of relation
ship and to the business of guarding
the interests of others. Individualism
nus be merged into brotherhood. i
am my brothers keeper. If | am
faithful to my charge he will advance
with me. If he goes down to defeat,
or to a life of littleness and i'll favor
with God and man, it is partly my
fault.
NO! I protest." exclaims the 'self,
made" man and the man whose days
are strenuous with effort to make him.
self. Il want no guardianship, and ]
deny that it is my business to play
the guardian to any other man. This
is an age for forceful, independent per
sonality. Every man must fight his
W way and win his own achieve
ments. No one will accept response
bility for me if l fail. / shall have no
n to thank but myself if | succeed,
/ must struggle for every advantage !
gain and l shall snatch it when and
where l can. The other fellow is do
ing the same thing" Such is the law
of "%self-help," a law greatly exalted
by many teachers, but a pitiless law.
which. when it operates alone. ere
ates a savage individualism. destroys
fellowship, forces some men up and
many men down, and postpones far
into an unknown future the era OF
peace on earth, good will to men"
None Entirely independent.
No one of us is independent of the
guardianship Of our brothers and sis
tiers. II they are faithful to US we
prosper and rejoice. If some one of
them forgets his obligation, immedi-
ately we suffer.
We are guardians of u brothers
reputation as well as of his fortune.
Freedom of speech gives US the right
to express our own views and to
spread our own beliefs; it does not
give us the right to destroy our broth
er's reputation. Why is it that ev-
erywhere we find so many men and
women who unhesitatingly denounce
the integrity and the motives of those
whom they do not know, but who, they
believe, must be guilty because they
have not submitted incontestible proof
to their unknown ~detractors that they
are innocent? Is it more popular to
condemn the absent brother or sister
than it is to praise? Is it more in
~teresting? Is it pleasanter? Does it
satisfy some inward lust for destruc-
ton? When our words have stabbed
the absent brother or sister through
and through and left a reputation
bleeding and stricken down, can we
go on our way, guiltless and indifer-
ent, saying, with Cain, "Am my
brothers keeper"
Some cogent Reason.
1 am my brothers keeper, therefore
1 will make myself strong that | may
lend him a hand when he is weak;
that 1 may carry my WI burden IN
falteringly and lift a part of his when
he is weary.
am my brothers keeper, therefore
I will cheer him on the way; | will
show him that in storm and darkness
I am unafraid, SO that he may be en-
boldened to walk through his own val
ley of shadow with a brave heart and
head erect
1 am my brothers keeper, therefore
| will be true and clean in my life,
hat as his life touches mine he may
not be soiled; that he may find in me
some example and incentive to keep
his own life clean, and his dealings
with men honorable and kind.
am my brothers keeper. therefore
I will try to solve the problems of
life with a view to his welfare, know
ing that in the rightful adjustment OF
business, and society, and life in its
truest expression, my brothers well
fare is my own, and mine is his. When
perplexing questions must be answer
ed by my voice, or my pen, or my
vote. I will seek the answer which
means my brothers good, not merely
because such answer will mean also
nv own good, but because he is my
brother.
1 am my brothers keeper, therefore
I want to know more and more about
my relationship with him and how to
aquit myself as a brother should; be-
cause l shall hear, some day, a voice
calling to me in the garden: "Son.
son. where is thy brother?" and l
shall want to answer, Here, Father,
here is my brother. with his hand in
mine; we have come home together"
honest.
"You were the most conspicuous
feature of the show" says the affable
youth to the chorus lady who has
been wished on hin, at the little Bo
hemian supper"
me? Conspicuous! Why, they've
planted me away back in the fifth
row of the chorus!"
II know. But your wig was on
crooked, your makeup looked as
though it had melted, your tights had
a run in them and you were out of
step all the time. and when the rest
Of the girls swung their arms to the
right you invariably swung yours to
the left. Everybody in the house mo-
ticed you"
It Didn't Work.