Norwich bulletin., 1914-05-01
STANDARD
 IS GOING UP Harder to Be Real Man Today Than in Colonial Times.

Red Flooded Men was the subject that Rev. c. H. Ricketts spoke on at the Y. M. c. A. shop meeting held at the Richmond Radiator company, Wednesday noon before a very atten- tive audience. Mrs. l.. O. Potter ac- companied by Miss Letitia Kramer sang several pleasing solos. Rev. MT. Ricketts said in part:
 It has always meant very much to be a man in the real sense of the term, and never more so than in this present age. The aids that a man has at his disposal to make the most of himself were never so great as now but strange enough a man never had to pay so big a price to be red-blooded as now. Increased opportunities have pushed up the standard Git has gone up like the cost of living) and to reach that standard requires mighty eff fort. It is harder to be a real man today in a modern city with a thou sand things tending to pull him down than it was in puritanic Boston two hundred years ago with an atmosphere decidedly religious The possibility of reaching a high water mark was never so great as here and now, man is going to be rated by that possibil- ity. It takes more gray matter to be a man on the banks of the Con necticut than along the shores of the Congo.
 Heredity.
 What makes red blooded men?- that is, men of splendid nerve, min gled with will power and moral inn pulse-is it heredity? To some extent yes. It stands to reason that the off, spring of tuberculosis, typhillis, in- sanity and idfocy are handicapped from the start Such unfortunates are doomed to a second rate existence. If it is true that Hike produces like" then it is better to have a brainy man for a father than a mere dummy and yet this heredity business is terribly overworked. It sometimes works to mans disadvantage to have a big grandfather for two reasons; first, if the man by his own effort makes good his grandfather gets the credit, if he falls fiat his grandfather gave him a respectable name. It may be that blood counts, but it doesn't always make red b1ooded men.
 Are they made by environment? This no doubt exerts a powerful in f1uence on ones character. But red blooded men refuse to be dragged down by unfortunate surroundings The crowd reflects its surroundings but history shows that the human soul can rise to any height in. spite of its environment
 The one thing that makes a real man is purpose. The gates of hell' cannot prevail against a purposeful man. There are no letters of body or soul that are not snapped by pur- pose. The man of purpose is a mas ter wherever you put him and a lack of it makes a cringing slave.
 Makinss of Society.
 Human society is made up of verte- brates and mollusks. In church the vertebrates want their minister to be a red blooded man of ideals-to have the courage of his convictions-to stand for something worth while-to boldly attack injustice and wrong. even if by so doing he makes one-half of the congregations tearing mad But not so the mollusks. They want the minister to trim his message so as not to make them squirm. Let him preach on sunsets and tube roses but not on the wages of sin" As there Is action and reaction between pulpit and pew there will be jellyfish in the pulpit as long as there are nanby spambys in the pew.
 The speaker then put terrific em- phasis on the necessity of red blood ed men at the head of corporate bodies and in all places of high trust and also that real backbone strength was called for in labor. He showed that woman's ideal was a man of towering masculinity, strong, virile and yet lov- able. He closed by showing that no labor was more rewarding than the effort put forth for the immortal crown ef nIf,