Norwich bulletin., 1912-04-20
SUNDAY MORNING TALK
The High Cost of Right Living.

I shall not bring coals to Newcastle by telling you anything about the high cost merely of living. The butcher. the baker and the candlestick maker are giving you all needful in struction along that line. With almost every commodity on the jump, millions of American families are finding It serious problem to keep ahead of the bill collector.
 At this time we speak rather of the high cost of right living. Kindly note the qualifying adjective. l want to take the discussion for moment or two into a higher realm, and make IL a concern of moral life rather than of mere physical existence. Existence is not necessarily expensive. A crust or two and a few glasses of water day will do the trick for any of us. Gen timely right living, on the other hand, whether one is accustomed to dine on terrapin or on black bread, is a very costly proposition, And it will be no cheaper whether the price of foodstuffs goes up or down.
 It is not an easy matter in this world to stand up to ones ideals. Such loyalty, whatever the old school copy books used to tell us, means struggle and sacrifice. He who hitches his wagon to a star is going to find rough travelling. The best and most genuine people in the community are not al ways the people receiving the largest degree of popular acclaim. The man who lives clean, tells the truth, works for the public good without any utter for motives is by no means sure of re- ceiving all the bouquets. Instead, he is likely to get kicks and cuffs, and sneers. The better a man is, the more will all evil men hate him.
 History proves the case up to the hilt. You have 8 reason why Dante, most luminous spirit of his age, one of the greatest poets of all time, must die a broken hearted exile. You have a reason why noble-sp spirited Paul of Tarsus must lay his neck on the heads mans block, You have a reason why Jesus of Nazareth, great friend of humanity, must die at the hands of implacable enemies The world has a way of stoning it's prophets and set ting at naught it's moral leaders. Any one who has lifted his head above 1 the level of his times has had to face the opposing spirit of commercialism and utility. Our own age is nowise 1 different in this regard from its pred 1 ecessors.
 His biographer tells how during the 1 last 10 years of his short life, the com poser Mozart lived in the great pleas ure-loving city of Vienna. He was in extreme poverty ,eking out a preca- 1 rious support by giving concerts and piano lessons. Often he actually suf- 1 fered from cold and hunger. His com 1 positions brought him in little or noth- | ing, the public preferring the rag | time" of that day to the more serious | works of the master. When his pub 1 fisher told him that he must write in l an easy, popular style or not d note 1 would be printed, nor cent paid him he replied, Then, my good sir, I have 1 only to resign myself and die of hun l ger"
 It doesn't cost much merely to live l to exist, as the clam does in the har- l bor mud; but to live right-that is ar l expensive matter. The man who i stands for principle, suffers for the truth, and proves loyal to an idea must frequently exercise a force oi will and patience in sacrifice that moral misers know nothing about.
 The costliest product in creation is l a righteous character; and it is Wortl all it costs. The best things in life come high. If you start out to buy 2 | genuine Franz Hals or Rembrandt you are likely to pay for it at abou | the rate of 5000 per square inch. 4 sign painter will cover a whole board fence for you at a cheaper rate thar that. If you get the masterpiece vol are going to settle big bill. And 1t fl not otherwise with character.
 When a man invests in q good If,
 e invests in that which will outlas
 the stars. An approving conscience i
 the supreme earthly boon. Any ma
 terial success is us dust and ashes be ] side that When one comes to reaiiz,
 these things he is conscious of no sac
 riflce and no regret as he gladly pay
 the high cost of right living
 THE PARSON