The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1920-01-04
DIR. ANDREAS BARD
| COMING THIS WEEK
Kansas City English Luth-
eran Pastor and Scholar
to Be Heard in City

The Rev. Andreas Bard, D. D., OF
Kansas City, well known patriotic and
religious orator, will make his first
visit to Birmingham this week. He
comes as the guest of the Rev. Albert
Massey, of Christ English Lutheran
church. Mr. Massey having formerly
had his home in Kansas City where
Lutheran church. The visitor is author
of many published writings, both in
verse and prose. your Flag and My
Flag" is probably the best known of
Dr. Bards recent books, being a
volume of inspiring essays on Amer
icanism. The late ex-President Roose-
Welt, ON hearing a wartime address
by DR.. Bard, wrote him in commenda.
ton. II am particularly pleased to hear
your straight American doctrine"
Among the speaking engagements
which Pastor Massey has accepted in
behalf of DR.. Bard are the Music
Study club, for next Thursday morn
ing; the Civitan meeting Friday noon;
the Masonic fraternity Friday evening.
and the Community club on Saturday
noon. Two addresses to the general
public are to be delivered by DR.. Bard
on Sunday, January II, at the Strand
theater
At the Tutwiler next Wednesday
evening the Rev. Mr.. and Mrs. Massey
are to give a reception in DR.. Bard $
hC 70 Ia he Nf fI.vie, oh rnI1
Here is an extract from "The Road
to Montsalvas" by DR.. Bard
How anyone can find life worth
while without the sunshine of Christ
ianity is a mystery to me. We may
talk of the prattle of babes OF loves
young dream: we may hear the trili
of the humming bird and the carol of
the larks; we may watch the rise of
the day-star and inhale the perfume
of the rose we may appreciate home,
where mother bends over the cradle Of
budding life and where work is conse-
Grated love. We may have open eyes
for the charms of nature, of music and
of art. We may be as poetica1 as
Byron, as melodious as Verdi, as in
tellectual as Carlyle. as successful as
Napoleon. AS long as death is in con-
slant pursuit. turning into ashes the
blossoms of youth and love; as long
as man lands before the unanswered
question of his destiny; as long as a
tombstone will mark at last our dearest
hopes and our cherished ambitions
Just so long Faust will raise to his
lips the poisoned cup and Hamlet give
voice to the question whether it were
not best to end the thousand natural
shocks by way of suicide know
that there are certain atheistic writers
who would think differently. They
burst into a rhapsody of words and
eulogize life's pleasures They claim
that faith, instead of being an eagle,
soaring IN the azure and discovering
beauties that are hidden to the deni-
zens of dust, is nothing but a blind
mole, shutting out the glories of the
sunlt earth But these writer's will
have difficulty in convincing a serious
world. Even the old Greeks. who gave
US Homer and a Plato. Phidias and
Demosthenes. were far from con-
siderina life an enviable treasure
Their greater hero. Achilles. dies in his
youth their benefactor. Prometheus, is
chained to a rock; their martyr. Lao
coon. Is crushed by snakes The He
brews noted for their spiritual insight
nut upon the lips of their wisest
philosopher the confession that all
things are vanity. and Moses. one
of the giants of the race, compares
human struggles to the grass that
grows up in the morning and withers
at night.
''Tsut over the sadness of the earth
Christianity rises like a star II gives
us Immortality in place Of death. char
acter in place of dissipa ton, a Father
n place of fate. It is the sunshine
of life. It purifies the home. it com
forts our hearts. it strengthens our eff
forts. it sweeps the cobwebs from the
brain"