Weekly Caledonian. (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1919-1920, 1919-02-05

CustOiIlS, HiOTdis, are uli SO nlucH Ut
variance; the civilization is so much
older and sadder and wiser and philo-
sophical; We come to appreciate in
deed what Kipling meant when he
said that East is East and West is
West, and Never the Twain Shall
Meet. And we realize that the few
MUST meet. Modern invention has
spanned the waves, annihilated dis
lance, brought time to naught. We
must meet and have human inter-
course. We must try and discover
tn common viewpoint, the common
rendezvous of thought and action.
And when those of US who think
deeply realize the consequences at
tnding on the danger of not getting
along with one another, of not I'M
derstandins of missing the common
rendezvous of thought and action,
panic sieZes us. What are we 60
ing to do about it, indeed? We Won
der.
And the1. the first normal ana nat
ural impulse is to write about it. We
want to tell the folks back home still
in the paradise of the Splendid Isola-
ton how far the Near West is from
us; how near the Far East is to us.
Subconsciously we feel that know
ledge of things as they are will be the
panacea of all tn old worlds troub-
les. If we know the facts, we can
conduct ourselves accordingly and
wisely. We start in with our writ
ing. And then the enolmity of the
task dawns upon us. The task is en-
ormous because of the difficulty of
comparisons. How can we make the
folks back home appreciate and I'M
derstand peoples and conditions
which they have never seen, judge by
standards they have never had to en-
ploy before, get the viewpoint of peo-
Piles whose civilizations are the exact
of ours? Where is the Great Meet
ing-place. How can we bring our
home-folks to it? And yet time is
going on and problems multiply. And
so, discouraged by the size of the
work, we abandon it to the High
Forehcads and Academicians. And
only Chosen Few follow the High
Foreheads and the Academicians. The
great mass remains in the darkness
of Indifference. Both hemispheres
suffer from lack of competent press
agents.
Here is Asia awaiting the hand of
the Word-A rtist of the Common Peo-
pie.
Here is the Orient, old, sad, wise,
philosophical, a bit helpless, looking
with skepticism on the newborn, up
start Occident.
And here is America, blandly going
on it's provincial way, calling out for
the great cast to stand aside or fall
in line, the East and the West
strangers.
Is therc-can there ever be-a
meeting ground?
It seems impossible.
And yet is is not impossible.
There is meeting ground.
Perhaps on its face it is difficult
for us Americans to understand.
more difficult than it is for the Orien-
tails. Yet it exists and has existed
for quite some time in the past. We
of the western world are loathe to
recognize it or admit it for we are
prone to catalog it with the sentiment
tai and the maudlin. That is because
we are Americans, and new and tin
seled and puerile. 1t goes to prove
the contention that the East is East
and West is West and the habits,
one the exact anthithesis of the other.
That cor'~on nee+in"-r'ace is the
customs, ethics, trends of thought O.
of religion.
1t seems strange to say it.
We Of the western world may be
unable to comprehend it. In failing
to understand and appreciate we may
scott or lose interest.
There is 4 great No-Man's Land of
ePace which both of us can traverse
and join hands and live thereafter in
harmony and good-fellowship and I'M
derstanding in a world big enough to
hold all of US.
1t is Religion.
Religion to us American folks in
the great mass is more or less of a
hobby. "~~