Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-10-27
Y. VSEYES DISSATISFACTION
PULPITBYDR. DOREMUS SCUDDER


the address delivered last night by DR..
Doremus Scudder at the Central Union
church. Taking as his text Luke %:
80, Do thou. when once thou hast
turned again, establish thy brethren, !
DR. Scudder took up Henry Sydnor
Harrison's latest addition 10 literature,
speaking as follows:
"A work OF fiction which does not
strike the social chord fails to reach
the heart Of today. II may move your
heart as Their Yesterdays or The Ro-
sary' or The Glory OF the Conquered
or as any one. OF hundred more have,
done but not the social soul-center.
For century the great noyelists have
been great preachers like the prophets
OF Israel. Nicholas Nickleby, Little
Dorrit, Alton Locke, Looking Back
ward and their silent comrades were
mightier utterances for their time than
Isaiah's inspired eloquence They
swept away abuses, fixed the minds of
men upon great evils, mobilized ar
mics Of devoted spirits to conspire for
ia new social era. Isaiah never did
that His preeminence lay in being
the great atomic prophet to inspire
the lesser time-prophets of every sub
Tsequent age, creator Of souls that
see, q moulder of dynamic reforTners.
"A written message has the advan-
tage Of spoken word that you cannot
get the better Of 1t by identifying II
with its author and suppressing him.
1T is a more impersonal thing. It re-
fuses to be misrepresented. You can
not accuse It Of saying the opposite of
what It does say and overawe its de-
|nial by shaking stenographer's notes
in its face. Newspapers even cannot
down 1t though they may fight 1t into
Nationwide popularity. Hence the
great social novels Of the nineteenth
and twentieth century have been cree
|ating new earth. Where in Merrie
England today will you find debtors.
prison or a Squeers running q Dotte-
boys Hall or the unspeakable condi-
lions that Parson Lot exposed? Gone
|loreyerl
Attacks Factory Conditions
The book we consider this. evening,
Henry Sydnor Harrison's ". VS.
Eyes Is on its face. prominently a
social novel. Its text is Bad factory
conditions must &c" It does not touch
the sphere Of organized religion. the
theme OF The Inside Of the Cup, nor
does II rebuke so many social crimes.
Manipulation Of public franchises for
|private gain, wages that papder to
prostitution, department store evils.
|complicfty Of the respectable in COM
|mercialfzed vice. all are squarely hit
tn Mr. ChurchilI's book. While v. VS.
Eyes concentrates its venom upon fac
tory conditions that sap the health of
young girls, drive maidens to the
street, MAIN and kill Gods children
and pay starvation wages all to ere
ate & leisure classs thatsaze as hide0us
a caricature Of manhood and woman
hood as the wretched. aborted creatures
exploited In the making Of these PAM
|pered human apologies. The terrible
waste Of our factory system which at
both the so-called upper and lower So
|cial levels turns out ruined lives,
while too often It robs the world Of d
twentieth century Christ, like DR.. v.
Vivian. is the tragic picture Of this
vivid story. Some emotional souls
would have v. " live and marry Car
Isle Heth but that would be to cheat
the Monster, alias the System tour
|present-day industrial SYSTEM, of its
legitimate prey. For in actual. ,expe-
rienee Jesus is crucified, v. V. is MUIR
dered by the System, Only thus will
the System ever be swept from tho
EARTH.
Here we touch upon the secret of
the power Of this story IT has no
message of community salvation by
community action. It sounds no plea
Tor Socialism or any other like pana-
cea. Il presents no plan Of labor
unionism, Of compulsory arbitration.
OF prpfit-shafing propaganda, of pro-
gressive legislation. 1t goes back two
thousand years to Galilee and finds
the solution Of social ills in the power
OF personality. Here 1t strikingly
joins hands with Mr.. Holder In 'sThe
Inside OF the Cup" Allison Parr ex.
claims to her lover: "Do you remem-
Der saying To me once that faith
comes TO us 81 some human form we
love? You are my faith. And faith
in you is my faith In humanity, and
faith in God That Is the GROWING
message Of Mr.. Chnrchiil's book. But
IL ; =.