Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-04-10

I one whit better than the ancient saint
I and while our brains spread over q
wider area, and touch more subjects
they are also more thinly spread, and
we are not more profound than our
fathers were. There is only one way
in which we can improve, and that
Is socially-in bringing to the lives
of the least the comforts, the culture
and virtues of the best. Our money,
our power, can only be so used for this
purpose, and for this alone Is 1t worth
while. g. ##.
This hodge.podge way Of doing
things in which some build their
4 homes on the hills and away from the
| floods, while others, and they usually
the poorer, are permitted to build in
the valleys and the gulches, to be
swept away one year, rebuilt. only to
be swept away the next year in and
year out repeating the utterly stupid
/ folly--this way of living ought to end.
| This vain conceit Of man which leads
| some to think that they are happy only
, if they out-shine on some higher hill
than others, is enough to make the
really wise laugh. though 1t must
make the angels weep. When Will we
come to know that we can be truly
happy only when comfort and culture
and virtue are distributed to all, and
to all alike?
Should Correct the Dangers.
Then why am speaking thus to you
today? Well. first of all the heart Is
stirred for those hundreds who have
died needlessly, and those thousands
that are driven from their humble
homes into want and despair. To me
it is the smallest matter that we
should rescue, and sustain these un.
fortunatesi until they get upon their
feet again What concerns me most Is
this, whether we, a great nation OF
wealth and OF knowledge, shall not
preclude the recurrence Of these
dreadful catastrophes. A great ship
went down in mid-ocean year ago.
carrying fifteen hundred people to
their doom. And the, dreadful thing
made every vessel sailing the open
seas safer. This then, seems to be our
philosophy, which, however, only ad-
yertises our folly: we must be driven,
beaten into doing the best we know
interesting. one Of the brightest our
generation has produced. She would
still be a scratching, kicking animal
but for Miss Sullivan who evoked her
powers.
All Can be Elevated.
All around us are souls not so dark
as that, thank God, but yet dark and
needing only to be called forth. To say
that they cannot be is false. Give them
a chance. Unmeasured qualities Of mind
and soul lie everywhere, and they Will !
be forever imprisoned unless evoked. !
Let the light In on them. You dare not
keep immortal souls like that, capable
Of immortal dreams, forever IN the
treadmill of the merest physical tasks.
The world needs the enrichment which !
such awakened souls could give. They |
are by nature just as fine as any of
ours. Nature does her work better than
man does his. Fully ninety per cent OF
the children born In the Shiny slums OF
our great cities are normal, with all
the possibilities Of ally souls born any
where, If only evoked. We libel nature
when we say of them that they are un-
fit for the higher things OF life. Why
should we keep the iron heels of phys
lcal necessity on the brows Of these UNI I
developed souls? Some day God will
challenge our right Ito do: that. Indeed,
he does now challenge it. Since we
have the knowledge and the means to
conquer the physical conditions of life,
these higher questions Of life. This Is
our immediate problem: SO to adjust
the conditions Of life, that every soul
shall see, or at least have chance to
see, the light, and come forth in all its
fullness Of development. God gave us
this world Of power and Of opportunity
to subdue, but to subdue for one pur-
pose-to liberate the soul.
Some day the physical conquest of life
will be ended. Our food supplies will be
enough, and they will be wisely dis
This is not question Of ag-
by some such dire disaster as this.
= l am, then, chiefly concerned in the
saving of human life, the conserving
If human life, and what God wants
always to go with it, comfort. So far
We have expended our ingenuity In
,erfecting machines, but chiefly to
make more money. Now that we have
he means and the knowledge, let us
address, ourselves to the divine art OF
perfection of human life;
he building Of safer homes, safer from
lood and fire. the making of more ,
ane and safe cities where privilege :
hall be fairly distributed, and justice /
airly administered; to the conquer /
ng Of disease, thus lifting from men at {
oil as we'll as men at leisure, the !
Ireadful handicap which illness brings.
This relief. or prevention OF disaster, :
s what concerns me here. Why could !
We not now set our entire military and !
laval engineering corps at this prob $
EN- and on nationwide scale, OF !
hrowing these waste waters where
hey are needed, and diverting
hem from where they are dan : :
AS for tornadoes, many :
ears ago heard Bishop Simp- :
on say that the time would
ONE when man would be able $
o locate the tornado at it's place Of or I
gin, and dispense it there before IT'S
nSane force gathered. Now these three
ornadoes which within the past tWoi
weeks have swept over the country, one +
3 said to have originated in Oregon, I
ne in Colorado and one in Utah. Now 9
he climatic and meteorological con- 9
itions which beget these storms are .
nown and mapped. Bishop Simpsons !
rophecy uttered before this knowledge1
,as complete, seems near realization.l :
We shall yet be able to dispense these Z
wirls Of wind at their inception. Z
8 Soul Must be Reached.
I am concerned with these things for