The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-11
DR. TUPPER POINTS OUT BRIGHTER SIDE
 OF EUROPEAN WAR
Says That 129 Arbitration Treaties Have Been Signed in This Century-Lec-
 lures to Veterans

The Rev Kerr Royce Tupper. minis ter and lecturer. of Philadelphia deliv- cred his lecture on Seeing the Bright Side of Things" last evening at the Chamber of Commerce, in behalf of the Confederate Veterans Benevolent asso- citation. Though pr. Tupper has spent most of his professional life at the north, he was born and educated in Georgia, lived during all his boyhood and early manhood In the same town with Gen. Robert Toombs and near Alexander Stephens, while his father was chaplain of the Ninth Georgia regi- ment. In his introductory remarks the lecturer told of visit to Toombs by northerner once. who said: "One thing. General, you will admit we thrashed you" when quickly and humorously Xoombs replied. "No, sir, the only thing admit Is, that we wore ourselves out thrashing your
 "The vision of too many people" said Dr. Tupper, els anything but radiant and the keynote of their lives seldom that of optimism and gladness. We too often emphasize and even exaBgerate the darker and drearier aspect of life, while we pass over, with but little re- gard, it's brighter more beautiful, more blessed phases. Robert Louis Stevenson warns against listening too intentiy to the threat that runs through all the music of the world Carlyle says that some persons delight to travel from Dan to Beersheba and say they find only barrenness and sterility. The pessimist looks down not up, backward not for ward. He is never happy unless he Is miserable. He expects nothing and is disappointed if he doesn't get 1t. He classes among his heroes such men as Schopenbauer, Edward von Hartman and Tolstoi in his last days. The devil, says George Mcdonald. can do any thing with the darlS-visioned soul. It Is a foolish thing to spend ones days on the shores of the Dead Sea when one can live on the mountain peaks of life.
 I've are led too often to gaze at the dark side of things rather than upon the bright, for the reason that the dark
 is so much oftener presented in the public press than the bright Crime and misdemeanor are heralded while tho humble, serviceable life Is ofttimes un- recorded. As an eminent newspaper man wrote recently in one of our magazines,
 The human hive buzzes over cata- strophes and catastrophes newspapers make prominent But there is so much more joy in life than sorrow, sunshine than cloud, health than illness. For every one blind man here a billion and half men that see. The normal Is too often overlooked, the abnormal ad- vertised. Men point to the ruthless, reckless, relentless war across the seas. But think of such facts as these: During our century, not decade and half old, there have been signed 129 interna- tional arbitration treaties; and while during the past century, there have been 10 wars to every one treaty, in the last quarter of a century there have been 50 treaties to one war. And, then. may there not come out of this present war a splendid triumph of democracy over autocracy and monarchy? May we not be nearing the fulflment of Victor Hugo's prophecy in 1S49? And. then. think of the splendid reforms now in progress in our own land. True, we have many difficult problems to solve and mighty perils to meet, and yet glori- man that can see does not see the glri- ous swing today in our land toward po- litical righteousness, on every hand men and women alike marshalled Tor me
 assistance of right and the resistance of wrong lifting the body polite from the low air generated by ward politi- clans into the pure, translucent at mosphere of exalted statesmenship?
 "But while we should be optimists, we should guard against being unin- telligent optimists. Many see not both sides of the shield. They look at good through a microscope but evil through the small end of a telescope. This Is to be condemned. We should shun the Scylla of an unintelligent optimism as well as the Charybdis of gloomy pes simism. Let one but cultivate the yis- ion radiant, have the trend of his life toward progress. link heaven to earth, annex eternity to time. believe in q God who Is both great and good, and he will come to see that the golden age of human history is not in the yesterday of a faded past nor in the today of reconstructed present but in the tomorrow of glorious future" -------------se~----