Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1915-03-04
Written for the Beacon.
THE HIDDEN FORCES

I0w dfeAt mills were enclosed De-
tween entertainments and fringed
with willows and po2lars. 1t would
then resemble pretty closely the lit
tie river Marine, that the whole
world'e eyes were centred on q few
months ago. Then place near it in
your mind the main street of m old
French village,-imbedded IN a
broad, rich agricultural belt,-with |
is hoary gray Parish church, its
well dressed and comfortable look |
ing citizens, sedately occupied in
minding their own business and their
own little penny, it's stone dwellings
bailt 20 weather centuries, itsswhIte-
capped old ladies and little girls
with braided pig-tails, and you have
an idea Of such village as Crecy-
on-the-Maine m ''Cadmus" remem-
bers il few years ago, "all on a
summer morning" What could
shake the prosperity Of that village,
that country side? Yet the forces of
death were even then brewing,-in
sear-by Paris, in far-off Berlin and
Belgrade.
pick mp the paper, and read:
300, 900 German troops march
through Crecy. on their way across
the Marne." You can figure out
the rest for yourself: conjecture as
70 what has become of the plump
citizens, and their busy minding of
the little penny, the rich fields and
the ancient church, the school girls
and the promenades and lounging
places on the embankment. The
truth will exceed any conjecture.
The French village is the type of
many o home, and of the error often
made In judging of the prosperity
Of the home. We reckon only with
the visible; with the wealth and
peace seen within the dwelling, with
the visible safeguards that were
spoken of in the last article. We
forget that the prosperity of the
home, and with it the prosperity of
the country, rests on vivisable sup
ports. Withdraw these supports,
let the forces of anti-domestic, anti
social principles brew in the high
places far and near, and the pros
perity of the home 10 as uncertain,
despite the appearance of great sta
bilitv, an was that of Crecy-on-the-
Marine few years ago.
It 10 important then that we know
our invisible supports of home and
progress rs clearly as the visible;
yes, even more clearly, because they
are far more easily forgotten; more
often altogether disregarded.
What harm can come from those
entertaining philosophers, said the
sourtiers of Louis XVI, "even if
they are Q trife revolutionary in
their theoriesf" Yet it was the
teaching Of those philosopher which
penetrated like wild-ire through the
Partisan mob, and swept the court
Of Louis XVI to the scaffold in
1889. Withdraw the visible aids
60 prosperity, and the invisible
principles of society will eventually
build them up again: but withdraw
its unseen BONDS and ties,-like the
bolts in the steel girders of a sky
soraper,-and though their with
drawal 10 soundless, the crash that
follows win be heard to Heaven.
What then are these invisible sup
ports of home and of progress in
gsnsralS This is q broad question to
discuss; but the following papers
will try TO give at least the main
outlines of the answer. Before any
further treatment of the matter.
Aowerer, one essential point should
10 kept in mind.
The first and foremost invisible
support OF the home, and so of all
psogress, 10 religious worship, due
honor paid TO the Creator of all
homes and all nations, paid not
merely in private. but in public.
We do not need the express teach
ing Of Christianity to know this.
Sven without the First Divine Com
mandmens. by the light of pure
reason We attain TO this great truth.
Strange that q truth so Fundamental
shoald Be often the most ignored,
particularly in the present age!
Rvea If admitted in theory, how
many. very many, contradict it in
practice! yet it cannot be passed
ever. Religious worship is as es-
Genital for prosperity as light for
vision. Without it some individual
hemo may flourish fer q time as a
kind Of accident; but the community
Of homes viii inevitably decay when
this duty 10 ignored. But as this
great truth 10 explained and insisted
On in our various churches, we
merely take it for granted, as plain
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