Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1921-12-10
THE MAN WHO TALKS


reward expected and received. A man is
! never paid for being good any more than
| ne is for being bright. 1t is only when
| these qualities are put to action that re-
| ward comes, and the reward is always
| along the line of the quality exercised.
| A bright man. who may also be a gN0d
| man, writes a. book, but it is the quality
bot his head rather than the condition Of
I his heart that sells II. The reward for
! thinking straight is dollars and cents.
| The reward for living straight is the
| consciousness Of being in right relations
| with God There is no comparison be-
| tween the two rewards. Of course living
! rightly puts all of a mans faculties in
| the best condition for working normally,
and yet simply because he -isNa Christian
| he has no promise of being well stocked
in this worlds goods
Do we as Americans have some reason
| for thanking God for a period of financial
| depression? Sounds queer, doesn't il?
| But listen; After long years of extra
| prosperity, the American people have be-
come obsessed with materialism. In
many instances money has become the
only thing, and in most cases the chief
thing, to be desired, sought for and OBJ
| tanned. The tendency is for the grosser
! things of life to crowd out the finer in
| stincts of the soul. We have reached that
| pitch where we see nothing but money,
| money, money. by day, and dream about
J 1t by night We are getting SO that we
| rate everything by money values. OF
| course no sensible person undertakes the
! place that money must reasonably OCCUPY
| in the conduct of the worlds material
/ things. But the point is that the mate
| rial is not the chief goal in life to be
4 reached, and when men seem to be
| striving for that chiefly, the Almighty
| brings US up with a jolt and shows us
other things to be gained. and if in this
| He succeeds a business depression is
| blessing
Along this line am reminded of what
James T. Fields the noted publisher and
lecturer. said: Isn't it amazing that in
| 20 years no American college has pro-
! duced one man who has gained an inter-
| national reputation for eminence in any
department of literature?' This was
spoken at least 20 years ago, and is
! more fully true now than then. During
| this nearly half century has there arisen
| in our midst a. poet to be compared with
| Lengfellow, Whittier Lowell, Holmes
and Poe? Has there been an historian
like Bancroft, Parkman, Palfrey or Mot
ley? An essayist like irving or Emer-
| son? Or novelist like Hawthorne e.
| Cooper or Irving? These are the men
who fiourlshed in the mid-Victorian Pc
Rod wheu Ameri0a was poor How
shall we explain the change? Our col
leges, most of them, have more than
doubled the number of students in the
last 80 years. It is not the ministry
law, medicine and teaching that now at
tracts the crowd but more gainful occu-
p3tions. Intelligence is higher than ever
but it has been turned into the market
place. 1t is a sorry day for any nation
ItC
pottage"
In years past the foreign traveller II
this country was able TO put one over or
us when he said, as a last resort. but
anyway. you haven't any ruins in this
country" We are no longer innocent OF
! that terrible defect. Even this COMPARE.
, ti"ely new land can now look back IL
| periods of departed glory. There was 6
! golden age in Massachusetts which ex.
tended from about 17S3-1S6O This was
the period when some of the staunches
; and most beautiful ships in the werlt
/ sailed from her several ports. and tI,es.
were managed by a class Of navigator.
who formed class all by themselves
This was the hevday of the clipper shin
when the American merchant marin.
dominated the seas, and when these ship:
e were found in all the great seaperts o
I the world In spite Of EngIand's earl,
6 interference with this world trade w
left her for while literally in the back
ground But during the Civil war, 1vhel
all of our energies were needed in otne
c directions England had the chance t.
j regain her supremacy. That golden dar
! has never been duplicated: and constitute
! our only ruins
t Many times has it been pointed GU
+ that there is a great lack Of adil7st in
1 nf our -uct
with another. There are some very ba
> links in the chain that connects ra1
materials with finished products. L
| other words, there is either unvarrante
S waste or profit between the production @
l. eatables and their consumption AS
c pointed out last week. in some parts q
q the country potatoes are fed TO hog
= while in some of our great cities the rric
Of potatoes makes them prohibitfve to th
: very poor. The New York Herald ba
: | just come out with this broad side
e While famine stalks in Russia. Chin;
y Armenia and elsewhere, American farm
d ers are burning corn as fuel instead {
Il coal In years gone by farmers b1rne
: corn for fuel not because coal was hig
put because corn was very low; but no,
they burn corn for fuel not only becaus
corn is low but because coal IS unreasor
ably high" Why should coal be twic
IS what 1t was. while farm produce is bac
a to the pre-war basis? Hence me nee
Of adjustment
If there is in our hearts the feeling {
q thanksgiving for benefits received. We al
+. morally bound to give that feeling OF
ward expression. l, because it is d1
to the bcnefactor. and 2, because
pleases him. To ILLUSTRATE a certain ma
It met a friend the other DAY and said
IS him: Il have worked for SO and SO
n years, but he has never intimated /
word or action whether I have ev
le pleased him or not" eff you hadr
% pleased him." replied his friend .syc
D. may take it from me that he would ha,
gone for you, hammer and tongs :" w;
that attitude either just or fair? Reat
=, to pounce upon him for doing poorl
p but not a word of commendation for d
" ing we'll! ut is a poor rule that doesr
d work both ways" Naturally capital
thankful when labor Is right on to
job Why not acknowledge tho sar
" and create the right atmosphere that
m beneficial to both parties The consciou
to hess of appreciation increases efIicienc
n. Boys always furnish me important a,
profound food for study 1t is amazi
VI how they flourish under kindly and d.
,u eliminating praise. They are also We
sensitive to harsh and unjust CRITICS
They cannot understand why 1t seems
'i be so much easier to denounce than
approve They know for a certainty fl
they are not wholly bad all the tin
de Little Billie knows that ne has fool
ca away his time in the school room n
ed that his card has not proclaimed him
NJ. a bright and shining light in scnolarsh
He In painfully aware how his fatt
| WhfnnAH I'm nd how hi