Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-10-03

ReturnlnS soldiers 1tnu dltei 'N
war work irksome. 1t is hard 70
settle hown to a want ad basis. Llle
at home seems trivial and monoto-
nous for many service men: their
souls, which once scaled the gior!
heights, seek larger satisfacuohs
than the daily round of life IN a
jshop, an office, or store. rms Is
one explanation of the tendency OF
some men to deal drastically with
economic and political conditions.
Wise national leadership will util-
lie the restless spirit of the soldiers
for the attainment of the loftier lev
els of life to which all the world as
pires. Not by repressing, but by
nobly satisfying the larger impuls-
es of men are dangers to be escaped
and prizes gained. Let us give our
veterans a chance to be the best ana
do the most of which they are capa-
bile. They saved the world from de-
struction in France and in Flanders
and in Turkey: may they not save
Ithe world for reconstruction in the
HON Gland?
Always the spirit of high adven--
,ture and of pioneering has burned
an the breast of young men. They
are the ones who desire and VINO
dare. Long ago two such dweliers
in q land which is to-day problem
place. a center of world events, had
put the spirit of the Quest above
business and money making, above
home keeping ease, above the con-
Nentional routine of their friends.
above the ordinary pleasures OF
youth. They set out to find and iol-
low the best. That made them dis
ciples of a hairy desert prophet
named John the Baptist AS far as
he went they accompanied him. ana
thus were prepared to go farther
with Another who came afterward.
In their example we find message
for high-souled, restless young men
to-day. The Leader whom they tol-
lowed is still calling for recruits who
will go the limit in the work of MAX
ing over the world by showing It's
people the better way of life.
Things We Outgrow
Dozens of Officers and enlisted
men in France and elsewhere nave
told me that they can not go PACK
to their old jobs: they have out
grown them. They want something
better suited to the new power Whlch
they feel resurgent within them
selves. We do outgrow tasks ana
books and leaders. A few evenings
ago 1 picked up a book which has
been in my library for twenty years.
When I bought it 1 found 1T vital
and helpful. Now it leaves me cold:
st seems to be almost juvenile in the
way it states perfectly obvious
truths. The book is no longer for
me: 1 have advanced beyond IT,
Also, in fairness it should be added,
] have advanced because of 1t ana
Others like it: We may not forget
our early helpers, in books ana
work and friends.
The two Galilean fishermen about
whom the Sunday schols are study
ing this week ouegrew their lie oE
the Lake, and sought the best lead
ership into a larger satisfaction they
could find. Then, in time, they out
grew John the Baptist-though ne
saw it before they did, and pointed
them to a Leader who can never pc
outgrown: who is to-day as lar III
advance of the greatest explorer INTO
twentieth century life as he was IN
advance of Peter and John. This is
fhe secret of intellectual and spirit
1lal strength: follow the best you
know until you find a better. 90
with any prophet of light as far as
he can lead you-and then go on
TO the greater. 1t is the glory or inc
teacher that he sets few or ms
pupils to travelling farther imam he
himself can journey.
have lately seen the Jordan
River, where it tumbles joyously out
of the Lake of Galilee, over rocks
and amid beautiful oleanders, ana
also down by Jericho where 1T flows
sluggishly brown by the soil through
which it has come, into the Dead
Sea. Most of the length of the Jor-
dan is deserted of human habltauon
to-day; and along its banks the BRIT
ish and Australian soldiers dld orll-
liant fighting during the war. In
the time of our Lesson it was more
populous, for to the eastward lay
the great Greek and Roman cities
which are now only basalt ruins on
the uplands of Bashon and Boab.
By this river, which has come TO
he literary and religious symbols of
decision and crisis, John the bap-
fist preached in such Virile tones
that his world thronged out TO near
him. Whenever a man comes from
God, with a vital message Whlch ne
can apply to his own day, and ex-
press in the speech of the people he
will be discovered by the multitudes.
John did not need to employ pub
ficity committee. No group of lead
ing citizens had to underwrite or
employ him. He did not have to Sc
cure an advantageous site for his
auditorium. Instead, he spoke
living word, off from the haunts of
men, and the people thronged to it.
Ordinarily, nowadays, the pubic OBJ
1ects to travelling as much as mile
to church.
One proof of Johns real greatness
was his consciousness of a greater
to come. He had none of the egotism
of the average professional evangel-
ist. He called himself only a voice;
and accepted his function as merely
that of a fingerboard marked Be
hold!" The next best thing to be-
Ing a doctor, in the presence of i'll
ness, is to be able to show the pa
tient the way to a physician who can
surely heal. If the problems of our
time BATTLE us, we know One who
has a solution for them. The least
of us can introduce our needy world
10 the Christ whom the Baptist
heralded.
Unexpected Seekers
At dinner one night this year i'll
the British Embassy, Constantine
ple where the talk had ragged fast
and furiously upon world politics,
there fell a few moments wherein
neighbors conversed by twos, and
the distinguished soldier and states
man by my side spoke feelingly
about the spiritual aspect of the
present crisis. Later, as we sat in
d corner of the oriental room of the
Pera Palace Hotel, he took up the
theme again. He, too, was seek
er: a man eagerly questing after the