The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-06-04

Character with them is "a question Of
climate and religion with them Is a
matter of geography The moods of
the mind are determined solely by
the state eyof the weather. Ethics and
| theology are only departments OF
meteorology. You might think that
the soul Of man has no power. no Gre
ply peace of dead, inanimate clay,
moulded and shaped by external Cir
Ecumstances over which it had no con-
troll.
We cannot deny, of course. the
power Of environment. How differ
ent. perhaps, you would have been
If you lad been born under different
circumstances, The surroundings
under which you have lived have be-
come interviewer into the very tissues
OF your life. suppose you had been
brought up in the slums OF the. city
instead OF having good homes and
Cody parents. Suppose you had
spent your days in the heart OF China
remote from all civilization? Sup
pose you had been Graded and reared
in a Nohammedan country far away
from Christian influences. what a diff
ferent person you would be- Even en-
vironment effects nature, for a tree
, that will flourish in Il congenial cli-
mate will be stunted or die in
climate that Is incongenial
| While this is true there Is a greater
and more important law. IAfe itself
Is greater than environment. Life has
the power to rise above its environ
ment and to transform II into some
thing better. Indeed it is dis
| tinguishinG feature of life 10 do this
very thing. Take the rose as an ex-
ample. 1t is not like the common
soil in which IL is planted. IT is able
to transmute that soil into brilliant
| hues and sweet fragrance. Take this
power in the animal. what is the
| power in the animal but TO overcome
external influences by virtue of its
| own vitality? See the skyIark mount
ed upward and heavenward by the
mysterious power Of its wings.
stone thrown up into, mid air is
speedily brought back to earth Just
because 1t is dead. 1t takes the living
| to transcend the power OF gravitation.
A fish in the stream can swim against
the current while a dead piece of
wood or n leaf is at its mercy
| So it should be in the world of
man. Man should not obey the law
of conformity. buy the law of trans
| formty." A man must not be a slave
of his environment but ma ster Of II,
1 Indeed the very progress OF the race,
every step that has been taken. has
been made because man has asserted
! his life and mastered his environ
| ment Man has not progressed as he
! has been like his environment. but he
has progressed as he has been differ
ent from his environment
should BE Better.
/ Paul wrote stirring letter 10 the
Christians in Rome who were living
| in the midst of the groseest vice and
/ idoiatry. and said To them: BE not
iconformed to this world but be ye
t transformed by the renewing of your
+, minds" Man must he greater than
| his environment to he anything Bit
tern and blackbird both frequent
I boys Yet the bitterfi is n lonely mis-
snthrope. while tie oleckbird is
| CHEEKY and as fond of his fellows as
q candidate. The missionaries in the
| foreign fields in the very center of
| degradation and vice in an environ
ment surcharged with superstition and
SIN and beas,liness where men and
women live like animals. there are
| to he seen the sweetest. finest. most
| beautiful Christian characters in the
world. \ lady was telling me the
other day Of visiting in Albemarle
| county In the vicinity OF the noun
| taineers where nature ran riot with
its gorgeous and fascinating scenery,
and vet In the midst OF all this beauty
1
s,itseur.~ ES3sf -. The beautiful en-
vironment was there but il did not
make the people.
! You may take piece OF wax and
| a piece OF meat and some clay ana
some shavings and put them in the
| fire and see how they act. One soes
to melting ore to frying and TO dry
| Ing up. ono 10 hardening, one 70
| blazing and every one acted on by
| . : \, jep eel
influence in the same environment.
4 one man goes wrong. another re-
penis. another remains Indifferent.
| Nor what IL does to US but what we
do is the thing that determines char
actsr and destiny.
Man Must Have Will.
III The third element in the max
Ing of a man is will.
The man is bound to win who gets
Hold of one great idea and sticks to
| IL and let's II master him and master
everything else, An ideal is merely
potential until ii becomes master of
1.-The will and then 1t becomes dynamic.
Many years ago some of the students
of Temple university held meeting
in the building opposite the Beileview-
I Stratford hotel As they were leaving
the building they noticed a foreigner
selling peanuts on the opposite curb.
! w nile huVlnK peanuts tneS got 10 tatk :
ing to the fellow and told him that
anyone could obtain an education IL
he was willing to work for IT. Eagerly
the poor fellow drank up all the in
formation he could get. He enrolled
in Temple university and worked his
way through. starting with the ele-
men.ary studies. We are told that
ne today ia an eminent pEacticing
physician In the national capital. -
i was down in Portsmouth the
other day Sitting in machine with
my host when a well dressed. pros
porous looking man passed and my
Z host said: do you see that man
Not many years age he and one of his
friends were up on one OF the build
ings down here laying bricks And
he looked out over the city and seem
ed to have a new vision and said, Y
!. will never lay another brick He
came down Immediately and went into
business for himself and today l sus-
poet he is worth quarter of mil
lion dollars"
! Let man first determine on a
. thing and then do 1t. Know where
( you are going and then go. Know
what you are fighting for and then
fight Men like Stephenson and