Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-08-10
SPIRES OF TIE SPIRIT XII
What's the News?
by DIR. FREDERICK BROWN HARRIS
Chaplain Of the United states sennts


present-day facilities for get
ting and delivering the story
Of world events a q miracle
OF coordination and team
work. Ready 70 pounee with
expert extracting techniuues.
alert reporters are poised,
eager TO present the avid
public with the coveted plum
balanced on the thumb Of
the reportorial Jack Horner.
who rejoicing In an exclusive
scoop. says what q smart
boy am II" Radio and tele-
vision Join the press In serv-
ing up-to-the-minute news
beginning at ones earliest
morning consciousness to the
late. evening hour when the
dial is turned of and. hope
fully. slumber turned on. But
a pertinent question Is what
is the news?" The newsl
How true 1t is that the news.
which may mold the future.
does not make today's paper.
News eatherers have no
antenna sensitive enough to
register occurrences whose
massive potency, not noticed
today. may build or destroy
in the tomorrows--coloring
history when today's So
called news is as outmoded
as last years birds nest. To
his pious and pompous per-
secutors. Jesus. whose birth
broke the centuries in two,
was no news.
A contemporary writer who
admits that life in our mod
ern world would be almost
inconceivable without the
daily newspaper makes a
telling point when he de-
clares that the real news at
any time does not come out
Of the blatant noises Of the
street corner tests. He insists
that the real news at any
time is in the working Of
forces that are making to-
morrow. For instance. he sug-
gests that If in the early
part Of the 18th century q
visitor in England had asked
a typical Englishman whats
the news?" he surely would
have been told something
about the doings Of Parlia-
ment, or of the fortunes Of
Napoleon. Who would have
dreamt then that by far the
greatest event of a half Gen.
tury was the fact that up
there in the Epworth Rec
tory the tired and overwerked
mother of a large family was
imparting her own spiritual
insights to her children and
teaching them to pray. Yet.
it is only a matter Of SOL
emn history that in that
quiet and obscure parsonage,
which has recently been re-
stored, was being shaped the
force that probably saved
England from bloody revolu-
ton akin to that across the
narrow span of the channel.
In that rectory was being
generated a force that was
not only to revitalize Eng
land but also to bless the
whole world as the Wesleys
rode forth across all the
shires and sent to America
Francis Asbury, Prophet Of
the Long Road, declared by
Woodrow Wilson to be one
of the founders of this
Republic.
History repeats itself. In
the midst Of the catastrophe
threats of the 1950s who can
doubt that the searchlight
of news often passes over the
most essential things that
are happening. News gather
ers are often inadvertently
guilty Of mistaken magni-
tudeS.
In the Capital City Of the
Nation, where the national
defense Of all we hold dear
is constantly in the head
lines. and where the fury of
the cold war rocks the White
House. the Pentagon and
the Capitol, there has re-
Gently been enacted. night
after night, plays which
have drawn capacity throngs.
In eight weeks more than
10000 people have damned
the National Theatre to over
flowing. Here have been wit
messed two dramatic presen-
tationS under the auspices
of Moral Rearmament, q
global crusade to win the
world to the actual practice
in individual lives Of the
~. rH~.A~n.k - q a waA@ 80