Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-24

A young man who is engaged in
| what for lack of a better term may be
called the writing business came to us
the other day with tale of woe.
He wanted to know why people are
so quick to take offense over religion,
| which, he thought, ought TO make them
! mild and forgiving.
! We could not answer him, an in
ability in which the remainder of man
kind joins us no doubt. He had. he
/ said, a good sense of hIIrnor. ard upon
! occasion had made remarks in the
| hearing of others which they had mis-
construed as irreligious.
What struck him as queer, he said,
and as unfair, was the fact that rome
of these touchy persons had suspended
! Judgment, but had Immediately, and
almost as If gladly, set him down as a
! Scoffer.
And yet" he said. IT have been
| stopped on the street by elderly women
! in black, whose hearts and minds have
been hurt by sorrow, who have assured
me that while 1 did not know them,
| and it made no difference. they had
| read my writings, and wanted me to
know that they appreciated them.
And do you know what they in
variably have said of my writings, al
though I have never once treated a
religious subject as such?" He smiled
happily, They say, Your articles are
We could bring our young friend lit
Tile consolation for there is no balm
in regard to the innate injustice OF
the human mind.
There is no person, perhaps. who
does not have to suffer every day from
some injustice, involving the too speedy
desire OF most men and women to look
upon the bad side of a given thought
or situation rather than its good side.
1t is as If men we're forever content
to gaze upon the reverse side of lifes
medals, with never glance given to
the heroic figures on the front
In this, all mankind is the sufferer,
since the whole of humanity is at some
time involved. 1t takes brains and
courage and determination to make an
attempt to do justice to another, when
1t is so easy simply to lump the fellow
of as fool and let it go at that.
Intelligence of a higher order than
many people possess is necessary to play
fair in world so easily the prey to
appearances as this. A man is Judged
by the words of his mouth-literally
that is true.
1t is. alas, too truel For what are
''the words of the mouth" after all, but
syllables, and what do they mean but
what the nearer makes them mean? It
is vicious circle; always one gets back
to the starting point, that others are
too quick to resent, too determined to
see the worst, rather than the best.
1t takes courage. too. to. resolutely
say to ones self, Now let me see here.
am offended with this fellow. but,
after all, is he wrong, or is there just a
possibility that am wrong in thinking
he is wrong?"
Wonderful to state, it may be ones
wonderful self who is at fault. The
thing is too easy; that ought to make
one suspicious This snap judgment,
this instant jumping at conclusion, is
it not too snappy, too immediate?
Whence has God blessed us with this
divine ability, to judge as the sun
judges? May there not be a shadow in
our hearts, that blots out from our
eyes the truth, even the divine light of
forgiveness?
Above all, determination is necessary,
if one wants to prevent himself from
doing injustice to his fellows in the
everyday walks of life The grand mo-
ments can take care of themselves.
They do not occur often, and the
mental state engendered by them per-
haps is strong enough to handle them
But the everyday life is where we
mortals are caught up. The Devil "a
nice figure of speech) never sleeps, and
is at his best when walking down the
street, or eating dinner. His Faust
moments are Hbt many. He sings to
Marguerite only once in century or