The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-09-14

driven farther and farther apart, and
the chord of sympathy between rich
and poor is greatly strained. Destitu-
ton and squalor Turk in the shadow
of palaces, and great faw-breakers vie
with petty thieves in ignoring the stat
utes OF the state. The instrumental
ties OF government are being used for
public plumber, and those who make
fortunes through legislation employ
1.-THE of their winnings for the cor
ruption of the sources of public optn-
ion. Not only is n bribe dangled be-
fore the eyes of the INDECENT vo-
ter. but those who profit through the
control of the government do not hest
tate to subsidize newspapers and to
scatter their hush money wherever
protest can be silenced.
The opportunity is here and the field
inviting. A great orator complained
generation ago that the scholar in the
republic was not doing the work for
which his education fitted him. He
declared that the great truths relating
to society were not the result of schol-
arly meditation, but had been first
heard in the solemn protest Of martyr
ed patriotism and the loud cries OF
crushed and starving lahor--that the
scholars, instead of making history.
were content to write II "onehalf truly
and the other half as their prejudices
might blur and distort II"
Let not this reproach be truthfuliy
uttered against the scholars of Amer
lea today. With soil capable of sup
porting a vast population: with cli~
mate that gives intimate variety and
furnishes healing for every Ill, with
a people commingling the best blood
Of all the races. and a government
which furnishes the greatest stimulus
to high endeaver-here the scholar
ought to find the most powerful incen-
tive and be inspired to the most heroic
effort Whether he turns his atten-
ton TO the improvement OF crops and
herds. to mechanical labor. to the per-
fecting of methods of exchange or TO
the cheapening of transportation. or
ministers as physician to the Ills OF
the body. or as an instructor to the
wants of the mind, or as religious
teacher to the needs of the heart-no
matter to what he devotes himself. In
finite possibilities are before him. In
whatever walk of life he takes his
place he cannot shirk the duties OF
citizenship, for, living in the land
where every citizen Is g. sovereign ana
where no one dares to wear crown
he must help to make the government
good or share the blame of permitting
evils that might be corrected.
If we apply the term coward to one
who from fear of bodily harm, falters
upon the battlefield. we must find some
harsher term to apply to those who ig-
ANONYMOUSLY withdraw themselves from
the struggle of today. In the presence
OF the tremendous problems which re-
ouire for their wise solution all the en-
ergies of the body, all the powers OF
the mind and all the virtues of the
heart.
strive to make your lives resemble a
purifying stream. remembering that
the higher the reservoir from which
you draw the greater will be the pres
sure. Let not happiness be the aim OF
your lives, for happiness eiudes those
who most eagerly pursue 1t. but comes
unbidden into the homes or those VINO
labor for higher ends.
l. Beware of selflshness, for selnshness
defeats itself He that flndeth his lie
shall lose it, lis true in other than
religious sense, while he who surren-
ders himself unreservedly to some
| great cause gains a larger life than
| the one surrendered. Wendiil Phillips
gives fitting expression to this truth
when he says. "how prudentIy most
| men sink into nameless graves, While
/ now ana then lew 4ofkSl ehcaASosfeS
| into immortality"
No ideal is a sufficient one that will
not satisfy us in our declining years,
as we'll as in the days OF youth and
! the DAYS OF maturity, Aye, more, no
ideal is all that 1t should be unless II
! is so lofty as to be visible from both
sides of the river that separates the
| temporal life from the life that Is eter-
nal. Be not discouraged because you
strive for that which cannot be wholly
attained. The ideal Is only ideal be-
cause 1t is beyond our reach. and yet
| it may guide US as the polar star
guides the mariner upon the open sea.
! II perfection is not possible to U.S.
neither Ia required Of us. When
we have done our fun duty our con-
sciences will acquit us, and our friends
will not condemn. I'VE work In the
real, but we live in the IDEAL" some
| ore has said. and yet the ideal Ia the
most real thing that we know. as all
can testify.
The development of the individual
is never complete. Solomon describes
the path of the Just as like the shin
| ing light that shineth more and more
into the perfect day." and Holland,
putting the same thought into verse.
says:
Heaven is not gained by a single
( bound.
1--WE build the ladder by which we
rise
From the lowly earth to the vaulted
skies,
And mount to It's summit round by
round"
So, with the work OF government
and the work of civilization. We
find an unfinished work when we ar
rive; we leave the work unfinished
when we are called hence. Each day
marks out our duty for us. and 1t ID
for az to devote ourselves to Il, what