Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-08-30
A GIVING OR A GETTING WAR
Bv WILLIAM. T. ELLIS

, share themselves with the world, and
offer up their all upon the high al
tar of sacrifice. Every record of the
trenches is a record of self-surren-
der, of holy giving. found the
thirsty Massachusetts boys in action
without water. because they had
given their canteens to the wounded.
OF course: that is what being SOL
dier and comrade means.
Nobody should pity our men in the
trenches; they are to be envied. They
have drawn the sting from life and
won to the grandeur of vicarious en-
istence. They have achieved the
heights of audacious, self-spending
experience. following in the train or
the Saviour who "emptied himself,
and gave His life a ransom"
They alone live
Who greatly love
And greatly give.
Millionaire puupers
In contrast with those royal CIV
ers, the soldiers, and the like-minded
folk at home who are their stay and
support, we behold the getters. the
men who have only money;-or. rath-
er, whom money has. There are such
beings who are starving in spirit
! while their bodies are surrounded by
abundance. They have money. but
have not life. Their capacity for law
ishness in love has been lost; and If
a celestial surgeon were to operate II
would be discovered that their souls
have become shrivelled and weazened
little organs. like their appendices.
Their generous impulses have been
atrophied. The grace of giving has
departed from them. True, they make
contributions-whic they term en-
tortions-to public charity lists: but
this they regard as a penalty impos-
ed upon them by society, a refined
sort of tax, and an essential business
expenditure. OF cheerful giving, hill
arious giving, adventurous giving,
they know nothing whatever.
THAT man may last, but never lives,
Who much receives. but never gives;
Whom none can love, whom none
can thank,
Creations. blot creations blank"
These jaded men with tired eyes
and worried lines, who have plenty
of servants and sychophants, but
few friends. are pitiable spectacle,
as they lounge. overful and equity.
in the luxurious chairs of exclusive
clubs. Existence has no real sweet
ness for them. The glow of vital i'm
pulses has departed forever from their
lives. Money and its arafrs engross
them. Instead of devising ways for
giving money, they petulantly COM
plain that everybody is trying to get
it away from them. They resent the
stern mandate of civilization that
they shall at least make public be-
quests in their Wills. A rich man ir-
reparably disgraces his family il he
leaves nothing to charity.
In contrast to these dwarfed spir-
it's consider that splendid Advenrur-
er, who was lavish with his life to
the limit of the hilltop and its cross:
and who. although he made his cli-
materic gift when still a young man,
is the worlds most conspicuous Sue
cess. His philosophy of giving, and
His great gift of himself, are the
eternal condemnation of selfishness.
what the "Drives" Uncover
War loan and Red Cross and Y. NJ.
c. A. drives" have uncovered MANY
depressing instances of men and wo-
men who are sordidly self-centered
and eptioned. But why
dwell upon these? For the inextin-
guishahle glory of all these patriotic
and public-spirited efforts is their