Norwich bulletin., 1915-03-18
SHOP TALK GIVEN AT
 RICHMOND RADIATOR PLANT
The Stiffness of Power Was Topic For
 Rev. C. H. Ricketts.

Rev. Charles H. RickettS. pastor of the Greeneville Congregational church, spoke on khe subject, The Stiffness of Power, at the Y. M. c. A. shop talk held at the plant of the Richmond Ra- diator company at noon on Wednes- day. Rev. MT. Ricketts said the great material forces of the universe are quiet; they do their work with neither friction nor confusion
 The big things in nature are done without hysteria. To the eye the working of such power is invisible and to the ear inaudible. The ''babbling'' brook is noisy because It's waters are shallow; the Mississippi is silent be- cause its waters are broad and deep. shallowness by the noise it makes in tumbling over it's rocky bed. The Mississippi, moving grandly to the gulf hides it's resistless energy in si- fence. We can hear the wind as 1t soughs through the pines, but who ever heard those incalculable forces that twirl the earth around on its axis, or move the stars along in their courses.
 The evidence submitted by the works of man is along the same line The compound triple expansion en- zine of 1000 horsepower works very quietly, but the portable engine in the wood lot of 50 horsepower can be heard a mile away. The cheap auto mobile rattles through our streets like a carnival of empty ash cans, but the powerful siX-cylinder car makes little noise., The greater the construc- tive works of man the quieter the forces involved.
 The things which men do are noisy just in proportion as they are of lit tie consequence. If an obscure ham let in New England wants to vote on the license question: it has to fret and fume and stir up bad blood and bitter resentment weeks before the election only to find that the election has set tied nothing. In Russia the mighty czar comes to the conclusion that Vod- ka drinking is a great national curse, and hence, with no flourish of trum- pets, he simply says: "No more vod- ka," and vodka drinking stops then and there. By a single stroke of the pen. or a single utterance of his cipated. This is real power. Noth- ing more far reaching in its influence has been done in this century and nothing done more quietly.
 The great war gives emphasis to this idea. It is not after all the din of battle, and the noise of bombs that tell. They ccntrcl nothing, and in the main they settle nothing. It is the ul- timatum sent forth by the Russian diet through its kaiser; it is the pithy orders of the grim Kitchener; it is the notes of President Wilson sent to Eng land and Germany, short, clear, and straight to the point-it is these that make the world "sit up and take mo- tice." The masterful strokes of di- plomacy are always the silent ones.
 There is something in the inner ex- periences of men that corresponds to these observed facts. There are times when most of us ask ourselves this question: What do I amount to as an individual?
 When men talk like this-and we all have spells at it-they seem to for get one important thing, viz: that this world of ours would go to wreck and ruin were it not for the quiet poency of these average men. The man of man of power. In seasons of great danger safety is found in the calm re- serve of the common people. When some extraordinary demand is made on nations f1nanceS-as Bismarks g upon France in the Franco-Prussian war-who pays the bills? The great army of quiet, of obscure men. When some great insult is offered to the na- tion's honor, it is not the clustering politician who responds, but the quiet. unknown young men from the work shop, the farm, the counting rooms and the college who don the uniform and certainty of death. The greatest as- set to any corporation is the quiet man always onto his job. We need these balance wheels in politics, business and religion as truly as we do in me- chanics. Thank God for the power of these quiet, reserved men; they are the redemption of human society.