Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-01-10

thtoliS aiuOE OLa th0 touhB
er. 1t was q bitter discovery. Many
persons have felt exempted from
further charitable service because
they have found that not all Bel
gians are grateful; that some Ar
menians are unworthy. that there
are mposters- among the Syrians;
that certain Ottoman Greeks are
capitalizing their misfortunes. that
the poor generally are. unapprecia-
tive. This Is shallow thinking. If
help were to be given only to the
wholly worthy and thankful, phi
lanthropy and reform would cease.
God is kind to the evil and the un-
thankful" Moses, like most of US,
had hard time learning how to be
patient with the provoking people
who did not deserve his service.
knights For New Days
Our day has arrived at the Moses
mood, of quick, hard blows at popu-
lar evils. He rode forth righting
wrongs. His attitude toward all in
Justice and oppression was that of
the knights of the new day. All the
world is waking up to the convic-
ton that wrongs are not to be en-
dured. but to be remedied. Patriot
ism expresses itself in fearless cham
pionship of all who suffer We have
seen shining examples of zeal for
their own countrymen, and for the
universal liberty, by the Czechs and
Runianians and Slavs who are in
exile from their homelands. They are
Of the Moses type.
This passion for human rights.
which has made Moses a vital factor
IN our own day, and caused his laws
to be the buttress and hope of lib
erty everywhere, has come to new
power since the war. Millions of
soldiers have had long, long
thoughts concerning it; for it is the
cause to which they devoted their
lives. In the recent remarkable cell
ebration at Philadelphia of the. sign
Ing of Declaration of Independence
by the Middle European nations.
when a new Liberty Bell was un-
veiled. q Jewish speaker reminded
the people that the message of the
bell, and OF the cause, came from
the law of Moses-"Proclaim Lib
erty throughout the land, and unto
all the Inhabitants thereto" Nobody
can have an intelligent zeal for lib
erty without acknowledging his debt
to Moses.
Tranquility is no longer a goal
or life. Soldiers have taught us
that truths tumult Is better than
errors case. Moses would have
missed life had he remained in the
palace; he achieved manhood and
succeed by striking a blow, an au-
dacious, risky blow, for freedom. The
persons whose chief fear is that they
may be unpopular or uncomfortable
have not much standing in the world
to-day. Timorous shrinking from
criticism gets scant respect or con-
sideration. In these times we award
all palms to the fearless champions
of conviction, who are willing to af-
front tradition and conventions If
only they may help make and keep
the world free. There are two classes
OF people in the world: The few
who do things, and the many who
talk about those who do things. AS
we stand with Moses, Gods fighting
man, let us learn the great lesson
of courage for righteousness sake.
Into the Desert
British military RAILWAYS now
thread the desert that stretches be-
tween the palace home of Moses and
the tents of Horeb to which he fled.
when he learned that he was known
as the slayer of the Egyptian. DIR.
Finley made the flight in an aero
plane from Cairo to Jerusalem in
four hours. Ere these words are
printed I shall be well on nv wav
to Palestine, for last look at BibIe
times, before civilization effaces
them forever. The desert and its
splendid thought-compelling isola-
tion is doomed. Instead, / suppose.
we shall retreat for meditation to
the distant heights above the clouds.
1t does seem as If q great desert
aXnariRnNa 10 81
with a great work to do. Moses was
sent off into this school of seclus.on
deprivation and meditation. So was
John the Baptist So was Jesus. So
was Paul. There they all learned
how nonessential are most of the
things that civilization prizes: and
how essential are the things OF the
spirit. "A tent may be a more royal
abode than a palace.
France has been, in some respects
desert of experience for our sol.
diers. They have learned in the
army that mans life consists not
in the things he possesses. There
existence has been stripped to the
elementais for them. They have
| achieved their sublimest heights
without any of the comforts of home
or conventional living. LuXuries or
even conveniences are not essential
to great living.
The First Eesson From the Trenches
Nolan Rice Best, editor of The
Continent, returned from France
with this sense of superiority 70
hardship as his first impression, mo
man is yet free soul who imaRines
that he has to be comfortable in or.
der to be happy. To millions of
Americans the recent war has
brought the blessing of delfverance
from that illusion. They have learn
ed how possible IL is to be hannv
though inconvenienced.
From painless barracks. sheet-
less cots and linenless mess halls on
this side of the Atlantic, our SOL
diers have passed to ttree-laver
bunks and swing-shelf tables packed
with suffocating space economy into
the holds of ocean transports bound
for France. Landed on the other
side of the ocean, they have learned
fresh lessons In scaling down life's
necessities as they .tramped inter-
minable distances under 4norm ous
packloads along stony highways
rode farther yet by rail in freight
cars shared often with their battery
horses. took both the beat of the
sun and the drench of the clouds
without protection from either; and
under the Intellectual shelter of pun
tents camped in the. open fields. now