New Britain herald., 1924-01-05
THE NEW YEAR

| and vigorous start. No one should | be perfectly satisfied with his life | of 1923.
 If we would learn to live wisely | and nobly, joyously and endlessly we must know here and now that not by self-seeking but by self sacrifice, not by lodging difficult | ties but by conquering them. not | by locating our supreme good in outer things but in inner worth l do men achieve. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteous
 ness"-then the Master of all the higher values will add to us that
 which has supreme and lasting worth.
 Let us put Christ in the center of our philosophy of life. Let us put the greatest fact in the greatest place. We are taught to treat little facts with profound respect to take up a poor fossil Of trilo- bite and read in it a whole chapter of the worlds history--how then
 
 that He means something revela-
 tory about reality?
 What is good man? What
 makes q good citizen today? We
 may judge of an era by its defini-
 ton of goodness. In the Middle
 Ages a good man was typified as
 standing on his pillar amid the
 scorching heat of summer. draw
 ng up by cord the food the people
 brought him as they stood at the
 base of the pillar adoring the good
 man. No one of us accepts that
 conception of . good man today.
 We know what a good man was
 according to John Bunyan. To
 John Bunyan the good man was
 the escaping man, the man in
 light. There is truth in that al-
 lcgory but by no means the whole
 truth. and anyone who accepts
 that as q complete picture of the
 truth is totally out Of sympathy
 with the needs of the goth century.
 What is T good telephone? A
 
 the right material or of correct
 pattern. but it is primarily one that is in touch with all the other telephones on the line; one in communication with the central telephone exchange and so in touch with all of the other tele- phones in the homes ana offices of the city. To be good is then second- ly 10 be in right relation to our fellow-men.
 When ye pray" says the New Testament. When yc pray. say OUR. Noi only when we pray but when we toll, when VIC plan, when we study when we educate, we must say OUR. The lost boy in he great city of New York is our boy and wc are responsible for his bee ing lost. That lost girl is our girl, and her fall is part of tho fall of the social order that tolerates and produces her. That case Of infantile paralysis in the tenement is our paralysis, and if we ignore if the disease will come creeping down the street and into the room where our little ones lie in the cradle.
 Not only when we pray but in all life's activities we are learning 10 say OUR. Then VIC go back 10 our task heartened and inspired, each one Of us facing his own pri- | vate difficulty. each one 10 bear | his own personal burden, each one | 10 fight his own private battle, | with new courage and hope be- cause Of the feeling that others | with him are saying: This is our task. our battle, our country that | we are trying 10 serve"
 We arc in the world to serve. | The business man expects the min- ister and inc doctor to subordin- ate everyf hing in life 10 service. | Why should moi also hc make his business social utility? Why | should hc not subordinate the idea of profit 10 that of service? Now, hat is no easy task. Tt demands | lcart--it requires also d sound Of those economic prin- .iples which must underlie and sustain all human well-bcing and progress.
 \ man vas watching the build ng of the Houses Of Parliament n Ottawa. since half ruined by the great fire. He spoke to three stone | ,uttcrs. To the first one he said: What are you working for?" And he man said: 'If you want 10 snow l am working for two dollars md a half day" That wns "tt ie could see. He had no thought J"yond it. Then he said q. iecond: What are you doing icre?" And pointing to the blue rint the second replied: T am rying 10 cut this stone so it wiH ook like this blueprint" There vas man who had some hitlc of his task as re- atcd to the tasks of other men. Then hc said 10 the third stone utter: What arc you doing here oday;' And pointing up to inc ising walls and parapcts and pin taries Of the great home Of 1eGisla- ion for that part Of the British Empire, he said: T am trying to To my part in making that" There Tss a man whose daily drudgery Tas redeemed by his vision, who ealized the relation of the work 1