Evening star., 1925-07-22

This means" continued Aurelius,
IF you will take no notice of all the
past, and trust the future providence,
and direct the present only comforma-
bly, to piety and justice.
"Conformably to piety. that you
may be content with the lot which is
assigned to you, for nature designed
it for you and you for it.
"Canformably to justice, that you
may always speak the truth freely
and without disguise and do the
things which are agreeable to law
and according to the worth of each.
Let neither another mans wicked
ness hinder you, nor opinion nor voice,
nor yet the sensations Of the poor
flesh which has grown about you.
If you will respect only your rul-
ing faculty and the divinity within
you, then you will be a man worthy
of the universe which has produced
you, and you will cease to be a
stranger in your native land"
How many people there are who, in
truth, are strangers in this, their own
native landi
You see them everywhere on the
streets, men, women and children who
seem to hardly know what it is all
about" driven here and there by the
opinions of others whom they have
never seen before and will never see
again; eagerly proclaimfng truths"
which they have accepted from others,
who, in turn, got them from still
strangers in their own home town,
strangers in their own country,
strangers in the universe.
They do not even begin to know
how to live to get the most out of
life. What can be done for them? l
do not know-do you?
n !,
So we have finished the "Medita-
tions" of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus,
one of the great books of the world. /
hope no reader OF this column has felt
that there has been too much c. L. t.
in these II papers.
The project of treating each of the
dozen books in detail in a daily news
paper was a somewhat novel one, but
| did not shrink from it, because ! feel
this way about this matter:
That one does not have 10 write
down" as the So ying Is, to readers of
newspa pers, but that such readers are,
in fact, the same people who read the
best books and the best agazines.
This column is based upon the be-
lief that there is place in good
newspaper for a consideration of the
higher ideals of life, including the best
books. The interest in ethical and
philosophical ideas, the present writer
teels, is not confined to the pulpit, but
prevails in every household where sin
cerity and desire for the better
things of life prevail.
To look back over the vast eXpanses
of time, to open the old. old books and
take out of them passag ges that can be
related to our own day and age, is an
II nd arta lxt tnc
world closer.
Those who. in a materalistic age.
fear for their own thoughts, cannot
help but be enforced in their opinions
by the words of Marcus Aureliue. who
taught himself and SO US, to think sub
timely.
He taught us to take life as it is.
and 10 make the best Of il. and TO have
decent faith, and hope the best from
it. When j think of Marcus Aurelius
/ think of the story of the late Simon
Wolf, of whom Catholic priest said:
THE best Christian in Washington is
Simon Wolf, the Jew"
l will close this series with n quota
ton from the fifth book of the "Medi
tations." withheld for this purpose
for ii is one of the greatest passa ges
in all literature. Aurelfus say
Everything harmonizes with me
which is harmonious TO thee, o uni
verse.
Nothing for me is too early nor too
late which is in due time for thee.
Everything is fruit to me which
thy seasons bring, o Nature: from
thee are all things. in thee are all
things. to thee all things return.
The poet SAYS, Dear City of
Cecrops: and wilt thou not say, Dear
('ity of God2''