The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1914-01-03
in the business world when q village

in the business W0fi9 WAen = FllA6ef
becomes a city are either harmless or
positively beneficial. This is not
true of the church in all instances.
Though the view Of the church be-
comes wider, and the field of its min !
istrations broader, its emotion leaks /
out. The city church both in archi- |
lecture and spirit becomes more for!
NAL. In the village church every ,
body knows everybody; there are
friendly gatherings after service;
there is a warmth to our charity;
when we give a donation we give it,
not to charity, as we do in the city, i
but to the Widow Smith or the moth
erless Jones children We cannot
wholly blame the church. In the viii
lage, there is only fence, at m st
block or two between the rich and
poor; in the city, there are miles of
streets between and generations of
this living in different spheres. The
church tries to reach its arms across
this distance, but they do not quite
reach after all. 1t is one of the sor-
rows of the city that the church is
not able to fulfill all the demands
laid upon it in it's greater field. Some
earnest souls, finding that the poor
and the sinful cannot come to them
across the chasm are trying the ex-
pertinent of going down to them.
Yes, the church in the city is trying
to reach the needy, and the hayward
Complete success is within the realm
of the possible, if the church,
through its members, continues on
its newest line which is, after all, the
method of Jesus, who ate with the
"Publicans and sinners
One of the reasons Why the church
finds it's work in the city SO difficult
is that the social world has changed
too. In the village, when one class
tries hocking together, it finds it
lonesome work. And. there are SO
many ways to get acquainted and
, well-acquainted that the social fences
can not be kept in repair. In the
city, birds of feather may flock to-
gether without feeling lonely. And,
: they do flock together drawn by com
mon tastes and common pursuits.
With the increase in numbers, great
err extremes appear; the city's
heights Of learning, position and
wealth, are balanced by depths of ig
norance, degradation and poverty.
, The high might learn patience, char
ity, love from contact with the low
, ly; the lowly might learn wisdom
| and optimism from contact with the
: great, but the two are world apart
in the city. Each class huddles to-
: gether; it's characteristics become In
> tensiffed so that the rich become
, richer, the poor poorer, the good be.
/ come more coldly virtuous, and the
hayward wander farther afield. It
7 is sad thing for the city that her
l children have grown apart in their
lives, until they scorn and hate each
other and brother preys upon his
: brother, feeling no kinship.
We look to the political world to
; remedy our social evils, but it has
; changed too. The men who sought
an Office as an honor and carried it
as a crown have passed away. In
> their stead are too often men who
seek Office as key to the city's cof-
fers, as a highwayman's weapon of
assault and extortion Gone are the
clear-eyed, wise men who knew and
cared what was going on in the po-
litical fields of their town. There
must be today somewhere in the
city's hurrying throngs, men like
: these. Perhaps that is It: they are
in the throng; they are pushed and
u hurried and crowded; they cannot
see over the heads of the crowd;
they cannot see the city for th null
: titude Of its inhabitants; they must
hurry to get their morsel of daily
bread before the bread for the day
e Is all taken. Because these men are