Norwich bulletin., 1922-06-17
THE MAN WHO TALKS


 to in this country, intelligence Is prime requisite. This fact was borne in upon me with a good deal of emphasis the oth-s CT day from conversation I overheard between two citizens The subject under discussion was the new city charter T don't understand it at all," said one of them, Neither do r. replied the other, and, as the conversation continued it was brought out that neither of them had read it, or heard it explained. And both con cluded that the safest way was to vote against it. Still people are sometimes criticised for being alarmists and tremb- ling for the safety of free government. Such an attitude of mind tends to as sassinate all attempts at progress. The most terrible barrier to enlightened leg islation is ignorance. When citizens vote against measure simply because they don't understand 1t free institutions are In danger.
 We may not be able to give a scien- tif1e explanation of visions possibly there is no explanation to be given. About all we know is that they exist and possibly they may have a purpose in our lives much deeper than we imagine. Men and women have been dreaming dreams and seeing visions ever since the world began For aught we known to the contrary, Higher Power may make use of them for our benefit as it may best serve His own purposes. We do, however. know this that some of the most extraordirl- ary events in the history of mankind had their birth in vision. It is well known that Columbus was obsessed with the vision of some great Eldorado of the west that had not yet been discovered. The vision of this great western possibil- 1ty so possessed him, that he was4corl- pelled to act under it's powerful inspira- tion, and it's result is wholly beyond all human calculation. How full, is history of men and who have achieved results because they were not disobedient to the "heaven vision"
 We are now in the midst of the June graduations, and it is here where visions come in with special emphasis. The boys and girls who graduate from our gram mar schools may be divided into two dis tinct groups those who do and those who do not have visions. To some boys and girls the last day of school is a sea son of rejoicing. They have looked up- on study as bore; they have had little or no interest in their school life They | have been a source of trouble to parents l in keeping them at it. They have yearn- ] ed for the time when they could work There are others who have vision of the academy and college. They are eager tc ] continue their education; they are will ing to pay the price, and somehow fo1 such students way is provided. They | do not see how they are going to do it 1 But if the vision is strong enough tc make them willing to sacrifice they vii 1 somehow get there. To my mind it is z fine specimen of moral heroism for boy. and girls to make this plunge in tht 1 dark, because without knowing how tn, vision in most cases will be realized.
 Every coin has an obverse side; so aIse | has a vision. We may call the other side l of a vision the objective Le me explain it in this manner; In the New Testa ment we are told that the Apostle Pau had a vision of the Man of Maeedol which appeared to him at night and said Come over into Macedon and help us I Now if Paul had vision of the Man o 1 Macedon is it not equally evident tha i the Man of Macedon had a vision 0 Paul? If we have a vision of something it must be that this something gets | vision of us otherwise how can we ex plain it's appearing to us? If the acade
 my graduate has a vision of Yale, liar T ward, or Amherst, and sees clearly Wha
 either of these institutions can do fo
 him, 1t must also be that these college z have visions of the boy that they mus !, have in order to function properly. l ; would be just as hard for colleges to ge
 along without students to educate as 1 would be for students to get along with out educational facilities. This fac : helps us to interpret the nation of visions One sometimes wonders whether fore sight is matter that admits of cu1tiva tion. Is it a gift that springs into bein full-grown, not requiring any further de Velopment? Many things would seem t show that the latter is the correct hy
 pothesis And yet do we possess any fac ulty that is static, incapable of adVanC ing beyond a certain limit? This though , is suggested by the question of the invest 1 nent of funds. When one buys securitie does he act on business sagacity, or jus foresight, or is it nothing but a gamble
 Is 1t based on combination of variou
 abilities? It not unfrequently happen that men high up in financial circles bu l stocks and bonds that prove worthles r and from which they realize little 3 nothing. A poor plumber in Boston sol his shop for 500 dollars and put u money into certain investment frol
 which he realized in few years ove l half million. Was it sagacity. for, t sight, inspiration, or nothing but bu r luck?
 Can anyone explain why if is tn. n things which ought not to grow at a n persist in growing so fast, while otht things which seemingly ought, to gro
 fast because useful have to be nurse
 carefully in order to grow at all? For 3 : illustration simply look at your garde s in these rapidly growing days. How abol l. the weeds? Compare them with beet d onions, carrots, parsnips. The one crc a needs no blowing, fertilizing, cultivatin
 or any care whatever, but how mut
  5 needed to get any results whateve Compare the luxurious growth on u ledge of your garden with what Is in u
 garden if you are in doubt in the ma
 ter. But isn't this true everywhere? IT | weeds will grow in the heart and mir s of your little boy without any actis
 on your part, and, if let alone will crow
 out everything else that you want ? grow. You can let the weeds grow the IT so long that when you pull them out VI will dislodge the grain also. But v
 must take facts as they are; they W
 grow everywhere, and we must pull the l. out and at the right time.
 T We are still feeling many evil effec n of the late World war. In fact there
 little that can be said in favor of it.
 may be that along the lines of miIital "a discipline 1t may have it's favorable point n but this could be gained by militia, st practice quite apart from war. -sOl -' thing has been noticeable in the return
 soldiers and that is a decreased pow
 to take the initiative. The reason r. perfectly apparent; not being due to al if lack of principle, moral or otherwise. B .o due to the sole fact that while under t
 army discipline it was his duty to ta
 orders from his superiors and not to f,
 low the inclinations of his own will F T. thinking was all done for him, and in was not expected to do any planning f e. himself. The habit of not doing gro
 and just as rapidly as the habit of t
 ing. Hence when the war was over a Tn the soldier was thrown again upon