Norwich bulletin., 1917-02-24
THE MAN WHO TALKS

She felt as if there was only One who could have taught the stem to seek the light and the root to explore the darkness. How many realize that darkness is as essential to the pro- duction of fruit and flower as light.
 There are only few people who get
 into the spiritual atmosphere of the
 garden. The great host of toilers m
 the field do not know that a garden
 has a spiritual atmosphere. It does
 not have to the moth, or the toad,
 or the stock or the stone, or to any
 creature who does not sense that God
 is All in All. Intelligent workers do
 not have to be associated long with
 the things which express life to be
 sure there is more back of production
 than chemical action and reaction.
 They do not mistake life for form or
 energy. but as the user of energy and
 the perfector of design The clothing
 of the earth in beauty shows design
 In all its multitudinous variety, and
 gives evidence of the existence some
 where of a designer in whose real
 presence We should be over-awed.
 Have you ever thought how strange it is that man will sit up
 nights, or sell his soul to the devil,
 for money he does not need; but IS
 slower than death very often in de-
 velop1ng the spiritual qualities he does
 need As a free agent it is not in
 evidence that he has broad com
 prehension- The things he needs most
 he hopes for. but doesn't work for;
 aDu the things which are temporal he
 hustles for often like a galley slave,
 but seldom prays for. He supports
 his faith with expectancy, and his
 lack of it with works of an intensely selfish character. When I recall the Lord should be mindful of him!" feel like giving it up. I know this is not the picture of man usually paint ed, but there is no false color about 1 there a fny nd more women who are imbued by the divine spirit, and who keep alive the l evidence that man and woman are ca pablo of becoming the sons and daughters of God.
 Do not feel discouraged if that boy of yours doesn't take high rank in school for mans life-record shows that it is not the boy at the head of his class who becomes Lgreat in the affairs of government or as a leader I men. Many youths at West Point lined up ahead of Ulysses s. him when men were needed to pre- serve tho Uion. Jacob Riis, who l made fame in this country and be- came the friend Of President Roose- veit writing of his boyhood days in | Denmark says: Jacob and Hans were | the two dullest boys in a class of fifteen members, and were the only l ones later in life who were honored | and decorated by the king" Do not l nag the slow and dull kids, but pa i tiently dri5ble out to them evidences | of patience love and ideals and trust | to the future for their development. | No one can fathom "the glooms and i gleams that dart across the school 1 boys brain.'' The boy may fore shadow the man, but we cannot in- terpret the shadow.
 This nation spends eleven hundred 1 million dollars for liquor and five mill l lions for missions and to aid the poor, | annually, we are told. Man spend fifty | five times as much money to poison | himself as he does to extend the gospel | to the poor and to alleviate their dis | treSs. Here is a problem which if | worked out by any rule of proportion | would fail to show evidence that this | is Christian nation. If we are a l Christian nation why do we permit | such a volume of un-Chrisian traffic. | Man. it is said, judges by quantity-l God by quality; but with such figures | as these on the blackboard against us | the Almighty judging us by quantity and quality could not withhold con These figures spell not only an impaired citizenship but a | defective progeny, more than half our school children under medical supervision being registered as de- taken a stand for statewide prohibit ton, which in time is as sure to be- come continent-wide as was the abo1- shment of slavery.
 | have noticed that people who pro- sess to devote their time to the well ,are of the public never in the slight est degree neglect their own welfare. ng out for number one is such necessity that it naturally becomes a habit. Those people who make a liv- ng by their wits include reformers of every class as well as politicians. White we have the virtue of unselfiSh- ness impressed upon us from the re- igious side, we are impressed by all our dealings with men with the fact we do not look out for ourselves no )ne will stand sponsor for us. The world says every tub must stand Ipon it's own bottom;" that poverty | s no disgrace to a man, but that it is ;onfoundedly inconvenient." This is not an unselfish world; and it is the md play the part of the hawk. Hence l hose who openly profess to be unsel- ish are at once put in the class under suspicion.
 A youth may be taught ideas are worth a dollar apiece without being greatly benefited: but if they grasp he fact that picking up good man lers is like picking up money they will soon realize the truth of it. 'Civility," we are assured, costs nothing, and buys everything The .rrand boy, never mind how poorly he nay be dressed who says excuse me-" when he has to pass in front of you 1ot only surprises you but awakens ln interest in himseIf-leaves a good ! To pick up good manners saves one from being regarded as a out. Edmund Burke, the great Eng ish jurist, did not hesitate to say: Manners are of more importance than avs Upon them. in 2 great measure he laws depend. The law can touch Is here and there, now and then. 1 Manners are what vex or soothe, cor -upt or purify. exalt or deba SC. bar ] 1ariZe or refine. by a constant, steady, insensible operation. like that If the air we breathe in. They give heir whole form and color to our ives. According to their quality. they id morals. they supply them, or they otally destroy them." Good manners leed be cast in the mould of natural less to be given their full force, for Lrtificiality puts upon them the mark if being secondhand.