The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1912-09-04

we have a school system that makes
| possible for every child to secure
an education. No reason, therefore,
ean be given for ignorance in the
United States. No parent can afford
20 neglect his child's education, and
40 child can afford to disregard the
educational opportunities offered
! him. The boy who goes out with
one arm or one foot to compete with
hose who have two, is not so much
1t disadvantage as the young man
who goes out half educated to COM
pete with the boys who are well ed
ucated. If one would develop him
self into man of large usefulness,
| he must have strong mind as well
as a strong body-a mind trained
to think quickly and to accurately
estimate the problems If life.
But there is a third thing neces-
sary, namely-the development of
the heart. A man may be perfect
in body and thoroughly trained in
mind and yet he may not only be
useless but a menace to society.
Man needs a purpose, an ideal, and
the heart furnishes these. 'As a
man thinketh in his heart,so is he"
"Out of the heart are the issues of
life" We can not build upon
large scale unless we look after the
moral development; in fact, charac-
ter is everything. In developing
the moral part of man, the first
thing is to understand that there is
God back of the universe, that the
world was built upon a plan and
that each individual is a part of
that plan. Nothing can take the
place of a sense of responsibility to
God. Only when We recognize that
we must account to our Creator for
every thought, word and deed-only
then are We In position to make the
most. Of life. No fear of punish
ment inflicted by others can restrain
us as effectively as the conscience
can and should.
Our moral development, then, be-
gins with the recognition of SUI
preme being as our heavenly Faith
err, and we are not ready to live we'll
until we have determined that our
supreme duty is to know His will
concerning us and to do it. The
second thing to be considered in
moral development is a rule of con-
duct, and we find that in the Bible.
We need the word of God: We can
not get along without it. 1t gives
us the commandments that form
the basis of our moral character; it
leads and directs us through our
mature years, and it is our only
comfort when death approaches.
The Bible teaches us of God and it
also reveals to us the Christ whom
We need as Savior and as example.
Christ gave to the world the law OF
love. When we obey the law of love,
there is no danger of our breaking
any other law, for love is the full
fillment of the law. If we make
our bodies strong; If We give to our
minds the training necessary and
then put back of our physical
strength and our mental activity, a
high purpose and a lofty ideal, we
can make life a success for our
selves and bring happiness to those
about us. We may differ in the
amount of good that We can do, but
all can do enough to make life
worth living. One of the beauties
of the Christian religion is that it
can be accepted at any time and can
make even a small remnant of
life useful. was born and raised
in a prairie section of southern ILL
nois and never saw a spring until
was twenty-five years old. Since
first saw a spring. it has seemed to
me the most fascinating thing in
nature. A pond receives water from
the surrounding land and soon be-
comes stagnant; a spring pours
forth constantly of that which is re-
freshing and invigorating.
Just a word in conclusion. God
has so arranged this world that we
can begin at any time to lead USE
full life, and no one can estimate
the amount of good that he can do,
If he only tries. When | visited the !
home of Tolstoi, the great Russian
philosopher, they showed me a ring
in the ceiling of one of the rooms of |
his house from which he had pre-
pared to hang himself at the age of |
forty-eight. Up to that time life
seemed vain and empty to him, al
though he had distinguished himself
in literature and had every social
advantage. At the age of forty-eight
a change came in his life. He was