Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-08-06
(By William T. Ellis)

u
| (By William T. Ellis)
| Some persons live to be looked at
but they are not the ones best
worth seeing. The attention paid
by large classes, in our day, to dress
and toilet makes the thoughtful OBJ
server recall effete Rome in the hour
of her decline. The merely orna-
mental bulks too large with us, Out
ward appearance gives us more con.
Germ than inward worth, or thorough
| efficiency. Leaves, rather than fruit,
are our criterion of success. We are
| planting too many ornamental
shrubs in the garden Of our modern
| life, and too few fruit trees. IT Is
high time that we should study over
again the incident of the barren fig
tree. blasted by our Lord.
This puzzling miracle OF Jesus ap.
pears to deal with those who seem
to be more than they are: who are
not fulfilling their promises. On the
road to Jerusalem he saw a fig tree
abundant with leaves, but with no
fruit. Now characteristic of the
fig tree is that it commonly puts out
Its fruit before it's leaves Jesus was
deceived by the appearance of this
unseasonably forward tree, as he saw
it by the roadside, but when he found
that 1t bore nothing but leaves, he
condemned 1t to fruitlessness forever.
The Sheep Dog That Pointed.
| II one Is an ornamental tree and
nothing more, then, of course, leaves
are satisfactory output. IT, how
ever, the world has right to expect
fruit, then no amount of foliage can
be accepted as a substitute. In the
matter Of human lives, it is not how
you appear, but what you produce
that really tests your worthwhile
ness.
All the taiIors and masseurs and
BARRIERS and manicurists and haber-
dashers and jewellers cannot offer any
acceptable substitute for doing
man-sized task in the service of the
world. The gilded youth OF. both
sexes who adorn our city highways.
and who have never done useful
| stroke of work in their lives, are
the objects of all mems scorn. Bar
rem fig trees and barren lives merit
nothing but condemnation.
Down in Virginia, on plantation
where have gone hunting, there Is
an old sheep dog who will follow to
the field the man with gun. He
will go through all the motions Of
fine bird dog: he points perfectly,
but there are never any birds where
he points. He is hypocrite dog, for
he consciously tries to appear to be
what he really Ia not. hat Is what
makes the hypocrite. : his lesson Is
the bibles own picture of all SUCH
The Lives That Produce.
The central idea Of both parts Of
today's lesson passage accords we'll
International Sunday School Lesson
committee has marked this as a tenn
perance lesson. The first incident
carries the moral, that lives should
bear fruit; each in it's own kind, and
all the fruit Of which 1t Is capable.
Few of us have to go outside Of our
own neighborhoods to find an illus
tration for this proposition. Many a
promising fig tree has been shorn of
its expected fruit by the blasting
power Of strong drink.
The editor of the most widely cir
culated periodical in the world, told
me, a few weeks ago, that he was
convinced that in his business man
could not so much as drink single
cocktail with his luncheon. without
impairing his efficiency. With real
fervor he went on to argue for tenn
perance on the basis of economic eff
ficiency He Is making the temper
ance fight his own; for the arch.
enemy Of the fruit of cultivation Is
the traffic in alcohol.
The whitening judgment of an en-
1ightened social conscience has been
turned against strong drink within
our own time. The forms Of activity
against 1t are many and varied. Here
is working temperance pledge,
which the Pennsylvania Anti-Salcon
league has put out las matter
of conscience, purpose to stand by
all men, movements and newspapers
that stand against the liquor traffic .
When the Church Is Corrupted.
The contrast seems sharp between
the blasting Of a single fig tree and
the cleansing OF the great temple of
Herod: yet both were In the days
work of Jesus, and both were Of a
piece with his one ministry. He who
did the great things, was not above /,
doing the small things also II a !
Christian cannot be missionary to
China, at least he can help to, a
higher level the shiftless, ignorant ,
and irreligious folk around the cor
ner. The work is one work, whether
in America or In Africa.
Great evils do not spring full-pro- /
portioned into being. They are of
slow growth, and, at the base OF all
OF them, there is usually something
commendable. The abuse of the
privilege Of trading in the temple at
Jerusalem had quite naturally devel-
oped. The need for sacrifices made
it plausible that merchandising
should be carried on for the benefit
Of the pilgrims near the temple
courts; even as today in the very
courtyard of the Church Of the Holy /
Sepnlcher in Jerusalem, pilgrims may
buy trinkets. In heather temples
this Is not at all uncommon. have |
bought Mecca beads in the court
yard at the Mosque Of st. Sophia in
Constantinople, and Chinese antiqui-
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