Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-07-17
THE COWNSMAN


L other pilferngs. made away with Bible.
II the better the booty the less the offense,
perhaps the thief might have done worse
As it happened. he was surprised In the act
| and. singing his spois in a sack on his
shoulders, he made break for liberty, but
| was shot after he ran. Most of the shots
went wide. but one hit his pack Yet the
| thief ran on. his pack only the heavier by
a bullet; for the Bible, being book Of un-
/ common thickness. stopped the bullet before
| 1t reached Revelations and the thief and his
| booty were saved. There are some persons
who cannot conceive OF any salvation by
means Of the Bible except one such as this.
| DoBERT W. SERVICE. in his vivid and
Asvital Rhymes of a Red Cross Man." tells
direrting variant of this story. II con-
| Germs one Soulful Sam. who, when Il came
| down to Scriptures, say, wasn't he just a
bird! Sam always 'ad tracts in his
| pocket wherefore vhen ''one Of them bits
| OF lead comes slingin' along in 'urry" ut
plugged I'm ard on the chest just where
ed tracts for army corps slowed away
| In his Nest." with a consequent salvation the
| like of that which pursued and caught our
| thief. Now. the pal OF Soulful Sam was not
OF his religious temper. but a profane and
unrcgenerate man. so that when another bull
| let came clipped through crack in the
| sandbags and "whalloped i'm bang on the
| breast" he fell all Of a heap. while visions OF
| his wicked life passed before him. But he.
too, was unhurt. although he carried neither
| tract Bible. "rd only---a deck Of cards.
| boys, but It seemed to do just the same"
EDUCATORS, practical persons" object
IL ors and Philistines--it is difficult at times
to tell which is which---are at the moments
| glib with what they tell us Is to be the edu-
| cation Of the future. the education which is
| to he ours after the war We have been
| r. Y. always is able to tell US in what. We
| have sent larger eSpeditionsry force to
greater distance in given time than has
| ever been done hitherto. We have put our
| thousands into the fighting line. able not only
| to hold their own against the seasoned vet
| Grams of the enemy, but to prove themselves
| again and again better man 10 man. Better
| even than this. we have raised the spirit Of
| this quarrel from a struggle, in which to
| down thief and rescue stolen goods out OF
| his marauding hands. to a fight for human
| liberty and an equality of rights among ma
| tions And yet have been tried and
| found wanting" Only the ingenuity of
professional President out Of job can pos
| sbly tell us in what.
| TUE educator promises us that he will see
TO il, nov. that we shall never he found
wanting again. We have wallowed in the
| arts or scared idly in thenr--vary the figure
| YOU will--when we should have labored
| unswerringly in the crafts We have wasted
| time on principles when should have
| equipped ourselves with applications drip
ping TO the finger tips. There shall he no
more of this. What are now to learn, we
and our children. is all to be useful prac-
| tical, applicable to daily living measurable
| in terms of utility to the State appraisable
| cn scales and by yardstcks, so that we shall
| never be caught again napprg-the educa-
| tors, practical persons" objectors and Phil
| istines are always catching the public nap
| ping--so that never again shall an enter
prsing. calculating enemy prepare himself
| before our very eyes. while pursue the
harmless ways of peace. We, too are now
| to be enterprising and calculating and to
prepare before his eyes TO rob him br fore he
robs us: in short--although the EDUCATORS.
| the practical persons" the objectors even
the Philstnes do not exactly like to put 1t
| that way--we are TO emulate the efficiency"
| the rateria ialisn,, the brute disregard of all
| that is ideal and worth while the imperial
ism even, of the boche.
| r OOT is the product Of war. OF imperial
| IL ism and of some sorts of commerce ; but
| there is rift even in the loot of war The
| highest products of peace are of another kind
and material prosperity only clears the land
on which to build them. 1t Is to France that
we have gone for art unless obsessed by the
corrorosties Of the old Munich school or by
| the horrors Of the new. II is to France that
| we go for architecture, sculpture, letters and
| the drama and to find appreciation and honor
| for achievement in each And to France.
| too. we may go for music one of the
| artistic amenities of life. not as the popu-
| larly accepted background for gourmandiz-
ing, beer and tobacco This cultivation of the
arts, clear and trenchant French scholarship
in antiquity, history and abstract thought,
| the distinguished role of Frenchmen in
science--these things beloved educator and
| Philistine are not Of your cult of utility,
| practicafty and preparedness. They belong
TO the world of ideas. not to the world of
| Of n,
perial grab. the world which exploited the
| laboratory for effective poison gas and de-
| vised the Zeppelin and undersea craft in
| times OF peace.
| THE world of impractical ideas it is that
L has given to us the example Of a re-
| public. the motto Of which is Liberty
equality. fraternity" that has strengthened
| the heart of nation to stand as man
| against the greatest barbarian invasion of
| all times generated by experts whose life
| work Is soldering, and to say, in proud emf
| nence a craven foe. '.You shall not
| pass To nation nourished on ideal
| things, however impractical may seem their
| immediate applications. to nation which
| loves liberty honors God and respects the
| rights of man. all things possible To
| such q people the Germans have shown
themselves in this war, on the other hand, a
| cargo of Bibles could serve no better pur-
| pose than did cotton bales in our battle of
| New Orleans with the British.
| THE education that has made boys in
L France ready. adaptable. cheerful kindly.
tractable, resourceful, courageous is not a
| failure nor thing to whine about and de-
| plore. Let us tinker with It at our peril.
We can improve it, of course but can
| improve It best In what IT is, rather than in
seeking the methods, the "thoroughness," the
petty applications and utilities which belong
to nation of peasant spirit incessantly