Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1915-11-02
FOR A GREATER
WEBSTER CITY
Rev. H. I. Haywood Gives Interest.
ing and Instructive Address
Upon Subject.

!. At the Universalist church SUI
day night Rev. H. L. Haywood di!
cussed the subject, "How Webste
City may Become a Great City, an
he gave his hearers many things t
think about. It is quite evident tha
Rev. Haywood has given this matte
much thought, as he is eminentl
well fitted to discuss it from variou
standpoints. AS might be expecte
the speaker did not hold to the the
DRY that great city was simply
city of great numbers. It require
something more than population t
make town great. Following is
brief review of the address:
You will note that I said great
not "big," for there is, a differenc
as wide as the ocean. A Location
convenient to large economic sup
plies alone can make city big. l
must be at the crossroads of com
merce, or at strategic point OF
some navigable stream or at the por
of sea navigation ere it can grow in
to San Francisco, or Chicago, OF
New York. Into that kind Of big
ness Webster City can never rise. A
small town it is and a small town il
will always remain.
'But after all it matters little
how small a town is. II you sit FOL
a little at the feet Of the Muse Of
History you will soon learn how lit.
tie the world ultimately appreciates
mere size. Where is Troy, where il
Babylon, and Niniveh, and Tyre, and
the other huge centers Of population
which SO caused men to wonder In
the ancient world? They have sunk
into the unutterable forgetfulness OF
limbo. Where they stood the bat
has her nest and the jacket walls to
mournful moon.
There is only one thing that can
make a city truly great and that Is
the presence in it Of some great soul.
Wonderful is it how the very sky
seems to grow different where one
Of the divine men has lived. AS the
soul Of music gets itself permeated
through the wood of the violin SO
that the older the masters instru-
ment the sweeter is its music, 80
does beautiful spirit seem to cast
a radiance over the place Of it's hab-
itation. In a private letter st. Fran
els of Sales mentioned Anselm,
Whose BIRTH he said, has so nobly
honored these mountains Think OF
that! How big is mountain! How
tiny man! And among the Alps
most of all how is q human dwarfed
into insignificance! Yet men felt
that the very mountains had been
honored by having born among them
soul like that Of the learned Saint.
"All the beloved shrines to
which men go on pilgrimages are
the homes, or have been, of some
great soul. Why did Europe for two
centuries pour the cream of her
manhood into the crusades in an at
tempt to capture Palestine? That
miniature hemmed-in land was Of
small monetary value, yet millions
went into the campaigns for the TAX
ing of it. There is but one answer.
The mere fact that Jesus had been
born in Bethlehem, had worked at q
carpenter bench in Nazareth, had
lived at Capernaum and had died at
Jerusalem set millions dreaming un-
utterable dreams and filled them
with horror to think that sacred
place could be in the hands Of those
who did not love the Master. His
mere presence cast halo over the
fields and streams and men will
dream dreams Of Galilee while
dreams have power to rise from hui
man hearts.
"This is true Of all earth's holy
places. Men go to the Scotch High.
lands because Scott lived there; to
the Lake Country because it Is
haunted by the spirit Of Words
worth; to Warwickshire because II
was there that Will Shakespeare
was born and married and started
out to seek his fortune; to Weimal
because it was the home Of Goethe
and Schiller. But you don't hear Of
men making pilgrimages to Chicago!
The one and only path to rea
greatness is for town to develop
within itself some great soul, truth
that receives ample proof the mo
ment we recall the story Of the be
loved cities, like Jerusalem, Athens
Venice, Florence, Stratford-on-Avor
and Concord. Massachusetts,. !.
"Out Of Concord, the last mention
ed, there came such spirits as Elmer
son, Thoreau, the Alcotts, Haw
rH.N.~ khn oAo