News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1916-06-14

heroes, ana llHCereIto VIII aoioo %
long as the stones of the cathedral
abide in their places.
One must have equipment, too, for
a mission. AS we have minated,
one is not obliged to forego the possi-
bilities of success and Joy and happiness
in making life mission. 1t is intend
ed that in gathering strength he shall
use it to help bear the burdens OF the
weaker ones. We would not give the
impression that we thought that all
rich and influential and so-called
mighty men belong to the class OF
those who are making life career,
and all the poor and lowly ones are
making life mission. In other words
we would greatly regret leaving the
impression that in order to make of
life mission, it would be necessary
to forego the plans that actuate so
many of us. Not by any means.
There are men who are missionaries
with their ten talents; there are men
who are longing to make career with
their one talent. The determining
factor which decides the career or the
mission is the attitude of mind and
heart. With a right heart can turn
a million dollars into myriad messen-
gers of love and service, or l can turn
crust into an offering in His name to
one of His needy ones. With an evil
heart, l can turn a dollar or million
dollars into fre-brand from hell, or
crust into a poison that will choke
to death fainting Pilgrim 1t is not
the amount or the quality of what we
have that the Master regards, so much
as the motive which prompts the use
of it. If keen wit, hard-hearted sell
fishness are the equipment and motor
force that make career, Character and
the desire to be helpful are the equip
ment and motor force that make pos
sible the turning of life into mission.
The tremendous insistence of the
Judaean Prophets and Apostles upon
character as the one thing needful is
simply putting in another way what
our modern scientists put in his, that
"Cleverness is inferior to goodness,
and in the order of world values, the
moral is over the mental" You can
not decide whether a man is going to
be a blessing or a curse to the world
by the size of his brain. Of itself it
may be just so much force off the
rails, blind devastating force. Let
anyone, for instance, study the Rem
aissance period in Italy. 1t looks like
midnight thunder storm. At every
point there are lightning flashes of
wondrous genius, which serve only to
reveal the more wildly the blackness
of moral depravity.
The supreme question for modern
civilization is the formation of charaO-
ter. Of what use are our material
advancements if they leave only dis
NAL emptiness within? OF what use
carrying the people at sixty miles an
hour on our express trains if they are
fools when they get into the train
and fools when they get out at their
destination. Of what use our latest
telegraphy, if it filings across the world
no better news than that of commercial
fraud, of society intrigues, of the follies
of the rich and the discomfort of the
poor?
1t is fact that education without
character may train us to be more
clever devils. Put the knowledge of
trained chemist into the keeping of
an evil-hearted man and he becomes a
DR.. Waite, self-confessed perpetrator
of the most fiendish crime in the year,
criminal history. The man who can
concoct a scheming advertisement to
draw the pennies from the poor wild
ow for a fictitious investment osten-
sibly to yield her fabulous returns,
but in reality to rob her,'is bigger
menace to society than the man who
fires your home with an incendiary
brand An education that is not first
and foremost a training in character
is only preparation for villainy's
more effective service. A cultivated,
educated scoundrel may do more harm
with stroke of his pen, or in a half
hours work in the labratory than a
score of burglars could do in a year.
Has your training during these past
years been caught up by character
that will absorb it as a garden absorbs
seed in the spring-time to turn them
into fruits and flowers for mans use
and delectation,o or have years of study
quickened your wits that you might
the better prey on society? l do not
believe that there is one of the latter
class here. But we mention the al
tentative to point out the possibilities.
Are our schools training the American
soul today? Has your soul been en-
larged and your vision of life as a mis-
sion been broadened in proportion to