The Washington times., 1921-05-30
Today

TOWer OF moVOOIys
Creator Of Good Deeds.
A 0oad and An inspiration.
by ARTHUR BRISBANE-l
Copyright. 1ssll
Memorial Day reminds you Of
memory's power. and what we owe
to It.
One day Is consecrated to the
memory Of men that died for this
country. Every day in the year
/, IL memorial day, and every day
has its thousands Of important
memories.
We owe the Pyramids and the
mysterious Sphinx to the desire Of
kings to be, remembered. The
Washington Monument stands In
memory Of . man whose military.
genius gave this nation freedom.
The Arc de Tviomphe In Paris
recalls memories Of victories that
glorified conquest; the Pantheon
stands for remembrance OF real
greatness.
Great temples, crumblinR, were
I built in memory and In honor OF
gods and goddesses now forgotten.
Codes of law. our calendar. the
names Of the month-July for
Julius Caesar, August for Caesar
Augustus ores Of familiar
things and names represent the
ardent desire to be remembered.
Thursday and Wednesday arc for
Thor and Wodin, fierce gods that
have given way to gentler reli-
gion. Millions eat the bread and
drink the wine, all over the earth.
in memory of the Last Supper,
when the Disciples gathered round
the Founder Of Christianity.
OF a thousand kind acts moro
than nine hundred are done In
memory Of father or mother. or
Of some dead child.
We are often hard in ourselves,
but memory softens US. Lady Mac
beth tells you that she would have
killed the king herself had he not
resembled her father as he slept.
The good that men have done Of
their own motion and prompting is
/. as nothing compared with good
: deeds inspired by memory. And
the evil that men have left undone
has been due to memory Of others
rather than to goodness in them
selves.
The peoples holidays. days Of
happiness and freedom from work.
are days of memory: Christmas,
for Christ's birth; July 4th in
memory Of signing the Declaration
of Independence; THANKSGIVING in
remembrance Of Gods goodness,
as shown IN the crops.
Take away the days Of memory
and it would be dreary world for
the worker. There would be no
Sunday, the day observed in mem
ory of the completion Of Gods
task and his repose.
Memory is a goad that drives
men on. Alexander fought to out
shine the memory Of his father. Of
whom he was Jealous. JuliAs
Caesar fought to eclinse Alexander
and Lucullus; Napoleon pushed on
to the disastrous end, spurred by
the memory of the great Greek
I and great Roman, and determined
10 outdo both.
Plato strove to excel his teacher.
Socrates, and Aristotle. pupil OF
Plato, tried successfully to make
his memory outshine both Socra-
tes and Plato. Bacon, who said,
"Nothing that affects men Is for
eien to me-" strove with noble re-
suits to pass all the Greeks.
Memory Of what others have
done is a power that creates new
and greater work. All records are
broken, for remembering that the
thiro was done in such and such
a way makes it possible. by q
supreme effort, to do 1t better.
There would be little virtue.
patriotism, or courage among men
were it not for memory's driving
power.
A man who has been taught in
boyhood to honor the brave and the
generous cannot be a coward or
mean.
Divine wisdom is shown in the
fact that goodness reproduces it
self and is cause Of goodness in
? others. How many women have
been inspired by the story. Of Cor
nelia and her sons: how many by
reading Of Joan Of Arc. or Of Lin
coins good stepmother. giving edu-
cation to the child destined to save
his country?
Memory is a check on the con-
science, a goad to energy, a conso-
lation and a punishment for
failure.
Many a man that the world sup
poses happy has gone through
long, painful hours at night, with
memory hannting and Furnishing
him.
Memory is an aid to justice. for
II drives the criminal to reveal his
crime.