Evening star., 1925-08-27

Reading history is Salutary, il for
no other reason than that 1t makes
the reader appreciatesmore than ever
| the country and times in which he
| lives.
I speak. of course, of the United
States, and of 1925.
Read a bit in Roman history, and
then thank God for our land and our
! times. Ancient history is depressing
even in the reading. being but an end.
less succession of wars, intrigues, dis.
asters
One cannot read in ancient or me.
dieval chronicles without arising sad
dened, SO great were the tragedies
and so useless, so terrible the living
conditions, SO far from peace and
happiness were the peoples of the
world
Despite the glory that was Greece,
and the grandeur that was Rome" to
| use Poe's memorable lines, the under
| current of all those times, and for
centuries afterward. was one of fear
Pride over nothing, arrogance. ex-
treme cruelty, misery, disease-these
were some of the concomitants of
life in the old days. Human sacrifice
eladiatorial combats, spectators clam
oring for death for others (glad for
the moment to have the attention at.
tracted elsewhere), tortures, spying
were commonplace.
Home, as we know it now, simply
did not exist, in the main. One who
| loved peace and the ways or peace,
! books and studies, had TO seek a
cloistered cell, not only to find the
! peace of God, but even to find such
peace in this world as that today
commonly vouchsafed almost any one
who desires il
Read history, then, il you would
have greater appreciation for your
| own country. your own home.
l suppose most readers have some
favorite era. Maybe they wish their
lot had been cast in ancient Rome. or
in Greece. or in France during Napo-
Icons time.
TO all such / would solemnly recall
the plain fact that no country or no
age had as much to recommend it as
the United States now. The glamour
of the past is false lure, a spotlight
that sets off so-called heroic figures,
| leaving all the remainder of the stage
dark. In those shadows, however,
creep peStilence, awful human figures,
wolves in the shape of men, libel on
the animals whose brothers they are,
a deSecration upon their Creator, Z
| shame to humanity.
Read in the byways of history ra.
ther than in the wide highways so
readily displayed for us by those his
torians who love to play up Julius
Caesar as If he really amounted to any
| thing except a crafty, unscrupulous
fellow.
From such reading you will bring
two main thoughts:
/. Gladness for the United States in
1925.
.. Respect for all men and agencies
| that held aloft, in all former times, the
highest ideals of human conduct
The true thrill of history comes. not
in the wars, the intrigues, the side
stepping. but in the forward move
| ment OF huma nifty, as whole. toward
| realization of its highest ideals.
Sometimes, when ideals are more or
less attained, there comes a sense of
ennui, boredom, call it what YOU
choose. Nations, as we'll as men, feel
IL. Lets start something"
Then it would be well if men in posi-.
tons of authority and respect. writer's
preachers and others, would lay aside
their controversial subjects and each
devote himself to bringing home to all
the blessings we already have
L never hear minister in the pulpit
discussing the Mexican question Tor
some such subjecD but what | think
he had better get back to talking about
Jesus and His love-
!: 4 **
Take the subject of home. Just as
one single instance of the great hap