Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-03-24
BEST THOUGHT IN AMERICA
DIGEST OF THE MAGAZINES

months Century (3), drawing a sharp dl,.
Junction between the governing CLASSES ana
the governed. ~"-
Russia Is made up of two narts ,h4
lever FUSED and that never can fuse for ny
t mLst part is to the second as a schooI ~
Tiui P,ssia hS Is 10 colony of corals. The real
tusslan people lie almost unseen undor =
Iorelsh oVerlay which has somehow rot n.
sen recognized among the nations as Russis
anu Whlch began to be deposited more Than
d thousand years ago. when Rurc the NorsA
man. with his followers. came in and es,aS
Hshed themselves as rulers of the land II h
not generally known that the present house
9d 0ao homanoif, which has held the sceptre for
oVo years, is half German. We In America
VINO Know something of the part played bv
George III, of the house of Hanover-Bruns
WICK, IN the oppression of the colonies in op-
gost Iosltion TO the idealists of England, will un.
derstand something of what 900 years Of Ger
Wanlzation has meant to the Russian people
FOR long period, when the great mass OF
tne peasantry were SerfS upon the estates OF
the Russian nobility the task masters upon
these estates were Germans, who had been
imported to wiring a larger return from the
labor OF these unfortunate people And the
record which they left in the land accounts
IN very large measure for the enmity be.
tween the Slav and the German which ls
hnding vent in the present war. In the
higher offices of the ministry too il has been
the hand of the German that has set the
Russian Government in opposition to the
Russian people,
Tolstoy is the glorified Russian peasant ut
tering his heart to the world from the cross
OF the ages. From this man alone, in mod
ern times, has gone out the living conviction
that peace and brotherhood are realities des-
tined sooner or later to conquer the world
From this heart of the Russian people we
see, like saving spirit in the midst Of blood
and death, spreading out over the world thai
wide circle of democracy beyond which you
cannot go.
Current Opinion translates from the Revue
de Paris tribute by Gustave Lanson, the
distinguished French savant," to this spirit
of Russian Humanity" "a:
Tolstoy Dostoyevsky. Gorky. to cite but
three names, wrote only in order to diminish
human suffering. All their work is a crusads
against evil, an invitation for all men 70
throw aside egoism, wickedness hardness
greed They pity the people but without M
dulgence for its vices. They are severe 70.
ward the great and the wealthy but WlnUu'
preJudlced calumny. Nothing in German NJ
erature nor in any other literature is CON.
parable to this great wave of humanity MIN M
which the Russian novel has inundated
rope. Realism, naturalism for French WIllel1 Ws
used to mean pessimism, irony, cruelty. ooVo
ness and idealism were ridiculed as the LEM ns
of the romantic virus. The Russians na av
revealed to us, have taught us anew, II ysS IA
prefer, that one might be true exact ans
close to life, that one was even truer, HUI %
exact, closer TO life in expressing pity, ss"
derness, and in word, in being human
"It Is Cold in the Trenches"
That the source of the humanity In rus
sian literature is in the very hearts ana n's'
of the peasantry, is illustrated by the touen'
ing stories told by George Kennan In 'n'
Outlook, of their response to appeaA ~
help for the soldlery, and this In spite
their own destitution C5):
myriad of collectors took the hea y
which bore the inscription, 1T Is Cold III 'ss u
Trenches" They went from house 10 Nth aiath
collecting sheep skins and warm o,i+, oulei v' ob-
ing for the soldiers ana lhe a,,.,',aymped
tained was so great that ii nearly swahiprS
the Governments facilities for recep snusosl
distribution. The peasants sometimes a assrus
stripped themselves in order 10 senu seaor ard
clothing to the "cold trenches" a pooa lone
AGED neasant woman who was living avn"
had nothing that she could give sssr me
towel She gave that and then aesIed 70
collector had left her log house, shs ,lIs ont
him hobbled after him, and holulns haH
conner Ave kopeck piece 1.-TWO ana = ssv.
cents) said "Here take this, too, lhaSSsrkF haSS
ing it for kerosene but can slt ia '
TO THE GOOD SHEPHERD
Not =, this fold Thine other sheep obey ia'''
And follow on by paths we do NOT ny, A h.
out IN the world in other worlds II ma NJ fres
Which God can hnd, and wheIe ne
winds blow.
Free blow His winds. although our pau
narrow; ,, hesrls
Warm shines His sun, although ou
are cold, .vss
His heavens aid the fan Of every spsIssSss fsil
And all Thy sheep. % Christ, may n"1
One shepherds voice. on hills where '4'.
falling a ~ stsd
one flock beneath the sunlight ana mo tn
II any sheep has wandered from Ihy Vsf .aa a.
l pray Thee. Christ Il wander not ~
So many foldsi So many sheep pele -
One fold at last. one Shepherd 49, =
And some that hardly know ihy
climbing 49,
70 enter NJ, Christ the open poo
-Lopls p Esnson. 10 TIE inq'i'7-