The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-03-12
'Iive Le,!ips Of Fdilltre
{ By m. THANK CRANE

ss h tbe parableof the five foolish yirginss, z1i,en the brfdk1rc6m came, they found tnem-s kelyes with no oil for their lamps. .ss
 They stand for all those whom the crisis finds nnprepared. .,.s..
 I will sxplicate to als what are fness five
 Lamp one is religion without morality
 Max Mueller says that the Hindus are the most religious and the most immoral 2. peo. ples. And there is no doubt of the sad iact . that religious emotion can glow m 2 q neart sss n fellow flame to immoralities. The great sst snemies to religion are those who profess s,ietv hui fail to show rectitude. Theirs IS 5 inc iamp with no oil. ..Why call ye me Lord, aIord,s said the Master, "and do not the things sayf l.h,4 v;e. sis made up of sentiments,a Lie, ai'er ai, is tha usav yo,i feel about 1t. It is essential, ithsn sTtbat we acquire a set of dependable and permanent feelings. The only way 10 dsenlr root desired emotions in the soul is E fos nractice them regularly. "The habit or ( doi,x that which you do not care about when YOU would rather be doing something eise;
 safd Huxley, "is invaluable. t IS oniy they who do thus who have on m .ne.a iese ssss glarnt,.s They whose rule is to do as they please are the foolish virgins, whose lamp or ] joy carly burns to a smoky WICK. s Jamp three is training without the VIII. 1lf' 'pIl our parts that which needs most and gets least education is the will. dappiness E ;N -fhe product of strength. strong body X K sood and so are strong mind and strong B zsn6fions hut none of them is 90 good as ssfronr will. The will is the human main snring and ought to be of tempered steei. A .aft will that gives way to the push or any desire is the cause of most human Wreckaee. And a yacillating, hesitant will that cannot move firmly toward a chosen end IS tne causs of most failures. ..,. z-,...,
 ness. 1t is doubtless your duty to do right. s5but if is no less your duty to be as pleasant about it as you can. Goodness may pc very splendid lamp. of bronze or or gold, iise the lamps of the temple, or of cunningY wrought iron, hard as the lamps upon sne wall of the Strozzi palace at Florence, put without cheerfulness it is but dead lamp and sends out no guiding ray to other souls; Be good for your own sake and be cheerful for your wife's sake.s- Lamp five is love without loyalty. IoS say that loyalty is the oil in loves lamp is { yery accurate figure of speech, for, es q matter of fact the enduring brightness of love is wholly drawn from loyalty. Why do \ man and a woman at the altar swear they will love each other till death do them partt Simply because other things being normal, n man and-.a woman cannot live together m the iHtimacies of marriage, remaining loyai.
 
 love. The free loyers who look on marriage as a bondage, as an unpsychological attempt to confine to one channel an emotion that should be free, do not understand the human sAedrt. With. the oil of fixed loyalty in the heart the flame of true love will not cease to sburn.s Without that oil love ceases to be lambent and clear andsis but an occasional dull coal when the match of opportunity is touched to it, and consumes not the souls oil of life. but the souls very substance, the light of whose burning is no light and whose only product is most sill-smelling yapor.
 Happy are those five wise virgins whose religion is the crown of a just life, whose emo .tions flow in deep canals to irrigate their desert days whose education begins with the culture of the will, whose piety is amiabie to us poor sinners and whose love is fed from deep wells of loyalty, for it is they who are the lamps of this dull world. It is they, who shine unquenchable and lovely as the clustered Pleiades in the night of our doubt and despair. 3 ss