The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-12-06
SAYS UNCLE CIV

The Son of Martha is the salt of the
earth, and there is no better lot IN
life than that of ordinary, well-houSed,
well-fed, clean-minded, contented
usefulness. Most of us at times hear
the call of the far heights, and many
there be who climb. 1t is huge
privilege to tempt the unknown, to
win riches and great honorS, if these
be founded upon honest service, but
the rigors of such an existence, the
overtowering responsibilities, the buff
fets of wind, the singing chill of
rain, and the manifold hardships that
ways balance the account. These
climbers are the generals of the army
of common good, and there is room,
after all, for but few generals. The
world needs soldiers, and the soldiers
are not without their reward.
Blessed is he that finds joy and a
share of this worlds goods in ordinary
human service. He might well forget
the goods, but it is the part of the
efficient soldier to earn his own way
and that of his household. 1t is a
huge army in which he enlists and a
gOodly one. 1t is the army that con-
quers the raw land and spans streams
with bridges, continents with rail-
roads, and maketh the desert to bios
som. 1t rears cottages and sky
scraperS, molds the steel in the mills,
builds ships and street cars, paves
streets and keeps the machines of the
factory busy, provides the world with
food, clothing, motor cars, books and
newspapers, heals the sick, feeds the
poor and amuses them that rest from
their labors. All who are useful be-
long to it, and they who are wise
enough to choose such parts as are to
their liking and strong enough to win
a commensurate reward for their SerV-
ices are happy.
There are parts in this army of hu-
man service which call for heroism
and the splitting of blood. We have
baptized our great industries in vital
red from our vines. 1t has been
worth while-these lives would have
been well lost had the sacrifice been
necessary. But the world has Just
awakened to a realization of this lin
gering blight of barbarism-the use
less sacrifice of life and limb in the
name OF progress. The casualties in
the army of service have been too
to cleanse her skirts of the stain of
blood. The 'safety-f1rst' movement, of
which we spoke the other day-safety
devices in factories, labor saving ma
chimes, and in almost equal measure,
laws restricting employment of chill
dren and WOmen-all these give evil
dence of the fact that society has de-
term1ned to make easier and more de-
Sirable the lot of the soldier of the
common good, around whom the dan
gers are thickest.
Tomorrow, the mine that is a tomb
will be the exception, the sIxyscraper
dead who died in rearing its steel, the
railway whose roadbed is stained with
the blood of ''wops" will be the ex-
ception and society will owe a smaller
debt to the martyrs of industry. But
even before this genuine humanitar-
1an1Sm comes to pass, it is good to
new and carry and draw and mold
and see the work of ones hands serve
the needs of the world. It is good to
do the common things well, good to
feel the strain of muscle, good to con-
sumo the brain for progress, good to
labor and to endure and to live in the
consciousness of having been useful.
For though it be a good part to do
honor to whom honor is due, after the
scrtptural parable, it is a better part
to serve. For the world, after all,
pays little attention to artificial dis
tinctions of rank and caste and place,
put rather would honor a democracy
OF labor, great free masonry or SER
vice, in which to be useful is to be in
full and splendid fellowship.-CCopy-
right, 1912, by the Mcclure Newspa-
per Syndicate.)