Norwich bulletin., 1920-06-19
THE MAN WHO TALKS

] onic nations since the armistice was igned, Nov. II, 1918. That act has now eceived the necessary legal sanction. But the resolution has failed to ,ain the presidents signature. Of course lostilities will not be resumed in conse- luence of his veto. But is it giving the Square deal' to our entente allies? Prob ably the majority of our people feel that | she proper thing for this country to have | done was the adoption of the peace | treaty As congress did not, the only i logical step remaining was the declaration that war was at an end. The presi- l dents veto. then, puts us in an awkward position with the rest of the world. Does it not create loophole for Germany to escape from her indemnity obligations? This attitude of the president in con- stantly blocking the wheels of congress sional action will not tend to increase his with the people at large.
 When we come right down to brass tacks, exactly what have we gained by the war? Our young men by the thou- sands sleep in French soil death from diseases and from wounds exceed those who were killed in battle number were maimed for life and will be handicapped in getting living. The expense was enormous, and the resultant a high cost of living that has brought about general dissatisfaction. But have we gained what We set out for? Has the world been made safe for democracy and civilization saved from another attempted assassination? What will be the agency of protection? Not the league of nations with the United States left out. When our senate turned the Versailles document down, England, being vastly more inter- ested in resuning trade relations with Germany than in protecting civilization took her cue from us and is now de- manding modification of the peace terms. In consequence France, without the support of Russia, which she had in 1914, is made to bear the brurt of post war conditions. In view of these and other equally pertinent facts, one cannot help asking, what have we gained by the war?
 Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, in that de. lightful little volume, Beyond the Gates, devotes one chapter to the symphony o color This at first seems to be mixed metaphor for the word symphony" mean: | harmony of sound and has nothing in i | expressive of color. But there is such { thing as harmony of color, and color ma! | be so pronounced as to be called loud.
 It is true that pleasing colors in perfec | combination have just the same effec | upon us as harmonious sounds. In colo i Nature gives US chortises, solos, duets | trios, duartettes and thus on. With lit | tie imagination we can liken pines | spruces, frs, hemlocks and cedars to tn heavy bass voices or. instruments. Elm
 and early naples with lighter shade ma, remind us of the lighter or bariton
 voices. The apple and the birch will cor
 respond to second tenors and finally tn
 .-k,if i But now and then We have the poplar, a
 this season of the year a shimmerinI mass of white, we may liken to the mezz l soprano, or the birdlike tril1s of a Nor
 dica. When all are seen in one land
 scape it has the concert effect upon us 1 This is what Elizabeth Stuart Phelps sa1 Beyond the Gates
 There is no religion in making onesel
 uncomfortable The main object of re | ligion-and. of course the Christian re l lgion is here meant--is to glorify one I Maker. and the second object is to le | religion glorify us. That is, let it bright en- en1ighten. dignify and inspire ou | own lives Bodily or mental discomfoI
 has directly the opposite effect; it tend I to bedim and deaden and discouragt Discomfort has the same relation to spil itual betterment that disease has to phy
 scal health. There are cases. of cours where it comes to one as a shock, bring ing him face to face with the grim real
 ty of his conduct Even here it is only , reminder and not good in itself | there was some positive good in makir oneself uncomfortable one would natura ly expect that the fakirs of India wou ? be highly perfected beings. From all a 5 counts they are not models of moral ar f spiritual excellence. The bodily tortur,
 to which they subject themselves are a
 most incredible. Thus far they have n,
 proved to be the pathway to holiness tn; i any of us would accept To believe in u efficacy of discomfort is to endorse u 2 theology of the medicine man and u 2 witch doctor.
 Certain ideas like certain diseases ra, as epidemics. We are thankful they d not with us all the time. Irruptions T the body and of the mind hop, skip al t jump through the decade. If it isr V smallpox then it's eugenies. If the tim f are unusually calm then some outsi f saint startles the world with a magazi j article on Whats the Matter With t
 Church?'' Just at present the alar1nis are working overtime on the. maria 'f relation. One great journal offers pri2
 on the following themes What do V
 think is the matter with marriage
 Why so much marital unrest%' "Wh 2 about war brides trial marriages a
 divorces?" The inference is that ms
 riage is a failure. Do we stop to real ,e that where one unfortunate maria z- wriggles itself into publicity there :
 ninety and nine couples who have ne,
 asked man to part asunder what G
 hath joined together?' It will be q lo after tomorrow, at least, before the dt 70 mas of bolshevisn will frighten us, ti
 the institution of marriage will soon f
 low in the wake of dead civil gove a ments.
 al From the tone of many published al
 cles today it would seem that writers
 either looking for perfection or someth of to growl at Suppose we should e to demn Gods natural world as a fail
 becaues it is not all arable land
 flower gardens but has swales, swan +i- quagmires and malaria; or the anil ,g kingdom because it contains besides II ,v and the domestic animals such pests
 gnats, f1eas, mosquitoes and rattlesnal
 Why not condemn the coinage and {, i culation of money because, in spite SD the closest scrutiny, commercials creep 'et Is it quite fair to condemn the Y, M. ts A. because it lilnped under imposs
 conditions. or is it quite just to br;
 the whole institution as crooked beca he under the pressure of great haste a g ,,s many crooked sticks got into it? course it is too bad-for the growle1 or that God didn't make us saints, but a
 matter of fact He has made the aver
 man about half way between the devil at an angel There are times when he SC, rk. to be swinging back again to the de 1ili and then he crosses the equator and
 breaches the angel On the whole, I ti
 he is slowly gaining in the angelic di
 tion.