The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 20, 1903, Page 15

nl (Copyright. 1003, by Thomas Mitch) f rosés and d lilles and t ns and’ gol n Los Angeles this ley can hold my The years shrivel ltke a ¢ bear omce more the o runmers and Yes, girls of to- and fresh and lovely frizzes end bangs tray with which you disfigure your of glory. But you should your grandmothers, with their golden ©r ebon locks flowing In Gre ou are bright & pite of t at “crowns have seen an sim- Plictty and ampleness from brows of snow, T ed with scarlet hoods trimmed with white ermine. How we roung fellows ed them to snuggle under the bufl robes, and when the er the bridges—there Itcense whi to be taken fron lips ch a greased the naders lifted the Two credit by his millions, hel g over a stile. A fourth Senate of the United s eloquence. A fifth In his way to the r climbed the 3 gest of the party e hopes or fulfill the The pomp 1 by and he has ayer, for he pos- sesses not riches and poverty does not possess him. He bas. however, all that lionaire cen have that is really having, and be is not in the least worried for fear that he may lose the 1 not got. There is palate, or a song or & view of painting, or statue or wonder of architecture that is Dot In these days and In this land s readily accessible to the possessor of a @ecent w of clothes as it is to & millionatre. There are no reserved ssats in God's amphitheater, and for an hour's earnings one may ride on an electric car to the very verge of the sunset and equally with the capitalist watch the clouds of glory that sur- round the sun as he sinks into the arms of the sapphire sea. Harassed by burdens of wealth and the weight of public cares, the five friends of youth and manhood of the writer of these lines have journeyed on into the great silence, while he, neither weary of life nor fearful of death, lives in the vigor of & green old age, and quotes £ tes to the young men about T am to die and ye are which is best the gods And all the while he ntention of leaving | expects for many years to Nve on and fight on and dle “with harness on his e of m S and live. slone do know has not 1 te he At our Christmas dinner in 1863 there wes neither song nor jesting, but si- lence, wk e cloth was re- es Russell Lowe! through the street making riot, e feet but now are quiet. et as snow drops innocent ew the paths of & there's ears th a-waltin’ ng steve won't, telong The religion of Jesus has ever been an inspiration patriotism and love of liberty. The churches of the North were among the powerful supporters of the Government during the War of the Rebellion. Ehall we ever forget how the young men of the land went forth with the dawn upon their cheeks mois- 2 chrism by the farewell tears of and sister and sweet- heart? Marching along, marching along, for ( and for country they went marc along.” It was d fortune to be present in the seventies at a Christmas dinner given to General Sherman at a e great soldier was In a reminiscent mood. “I am,” said he, a better soldier than Grant. I was a closer student, had a wider experience and took greater interest in military matters, both in the army and while I was in civil life. But I hgve not a patient or a phlegmatic temperament. During the war I was often unable to sleep, because of my apprehensions of what the enemy might do. Now Grant always made up his mind as to what he would do himself, and then he never seemed to care about the plans of the enemy."” The motto of Gensral Grant seems to fromtier post HMRISTMAS ECOLLECTIONS AND have been “Sufficient unto the day is good thereot.” He left his desk in the tannery and accepted the place of captain of a compan: of bec ad been edu- cated at the ex; the Government and ugh what he 1d for hie « the military trat: eers, th do Zven while n by generals whose mes are now forgotten, he was abill which could direct b ess of purchasing horses, and it is not probable spavined animal ever passed tion, for he always did weil ¢ that came to his hands to do. Shiloh and Vicksburg were the preludes, \d the Wilderness was the fyll-volced anthem of the orchestra of hattle which be conducted. In peace as in war his creed was sim- Payment to the na- Pensions to its dis— ple and concise. tional creditors. abled soldlers. Clemency to its former foes and no more secession and no more slavery In all the broad land ccvered by the flag that he brought fiying vie- torious out of the battle smoke. I was one of the several guests who were entertalned on Christmas day many years ago at a hospitable house in a mountain city in California. I was there to dellver a lecture before the Ly- ceum Society. The other guests were Methodist clergymen, assembled to assist in the ceremony of dedicating a new church edifice. One of the guests was Bishop Mathew Simpson of Indi- eana, the most eloquent of all the pulpit orators of his generation. Another was Rev. M. C. Briggs of S8an Francisco, second only to Bishop Simpson as a speaker. A third was Rev. Dr. Peck of Sacramento. He was a broad man, al- most as broad as he was long—five feet two from head to heels and five feet two in girth. “Brother Peck,” sald our host, “shall I not give you another plece of tur- key?" “Thank you. brother,” was the response, “I belleve that I will take another plece, for I have got to preach this evening.” “And 1,” interposed a meager little young Irishman who had just been ad- mitted as & divine, “I will also take another plece, for I have got to listen to him.” “I leave you,” sald this same little preacher, some years afterward on the oocasion of his farewell sermon to & congregatiog in Washoe, “in order that ® IIRISTMAS NUMBER. we may be spared the pangs of mutual starvation. You have been starving my body and I have been starving your souls. The congregation will please Join in singing hymn number 503: Lord, what & wretched land is this That ylelds us no supply. At a Christmas dinner at a mining camp in Arizona our mess had for its guest of honor a clergyman who was 8 bachelor, a patient little soul and a sincere Christlan. We gave him the meal of his life. He did not chide us for drinking champagne. for he was a gentleman, though his glass of it was left untasted. “How are you making It here, preach- er?” inquired our host. “The people of this camp,” was his reply, “are not, I hope, given entirely over to booming mines and playing a game with cards which they call draw poker. But they seem strangely indif- ferent to the truths of revealed religion and even ignorant of its nomenclature. The proprietor of the Humming Glory Saloon called upon me the other morn- ing to request my attendance at the bedside of his brother, who was fast ap- proaching dissolution. I asked him if his brother would like the eucharist ministered. He was confused and evi- dently misunderstood me, for his reply was that it seemed to him 'a queer time for that sort of thing, but that I knew beést and might take my deck along, or that I could get & pack of cards at the saloon. “I found his brother to be an intel- FEAR " CONCLUDED OUR gent man, but a very obstinate one. 1 asked him If he repented his sins. ‘Preacher,’ sald he, ‘I can’t lle to you, and it's no use to lie to the Lord, for if there is a Lord he knows every card in my box. I don't know as I have much to repent of. I have always dealt a square game. I never wronged man or woman or was cruel to horse or dog. I can’t change my record now, and if it entltles me to a pit ticket I suppose I've mot to burn. No, preacher, just give me your well wishes for a starter, and say what you can for me in the way of a prayer and let me take my medicine—whatever it may be—like a dead game sport.’ The poor fellow de- partéd while I was petitioning the Throne of Grace in his behalf. I hope that the Infinite mercy reached him, for he seemed an honest though misguided soul. “I tear,” concluded our guest, “that I shall not be able to remain in this camp. My salary s small and the ir- regularity with which it is paid, or rather the regularity with which it is not paid, is distressing. The butcher has been very kind in extending credit, but his patience has limits, and of late when I have asked for beefsteak he has in quite an absent-minded way cut me off & plece of liver. My regular congre- gation has dwindled to seven attend- ants and the contribution in the collec- tion box last Bunday amounted to but 15 centa On tha whola tha sausa of NOT BE ABLE TO REMAIN IN_TAIS RE)FLECTI ONS OF "Trommas Christ in this camp leaves very much to be desired.” ‘What a Christmas dinner we shall all eat to-day! What a country we shall eat it in! What a people we shall eat it among!. To tell the story of our GUEST." THAT | SHALL CAMRL echievements as & nation In letters, arts and arms, our mighty moral and material growth during even the last fifty years would be the task of the his- torian rather than the paragraphist. How much of it all do we not owe to the religion preached by Christ Jesus! Christianity unfetters the ener- gles, uplifts the souls and lllumines the brains of its votaries, The Roman mythology produced a Caesar, infidelity produced a Napoleon, but it was the spirit of the Christian colony which dis- embarked at Plymouth that gave us the heroes and patriots of the revolu- Buddhism never developed a , who, single-handed, performed the task of girdling a world. Mohamme- danism pever presented an Edison. He was God's gift to a Christian republie. Not under any religion except that of Jesus has thers been developed a Stan- ford — tolling and planning for a life- time to give help to generations unborn. B A e Our domain extends southward to the Southern Cross. eastward to within sight of Asia and northward to the eternal fcebergs. If roads are “the measure of a nation’s civilization,” we products of our industry are dashing through the passes of the Alaskan mountains and filling their bollers with water from Siberian streams. They are climbing to the clouds up both slopes of the Andes. They are acclimated in the Congp, and we can paraphrase the language of the first Napoleon and say to them as they sound their shrill notes of peaceful triumph in the very face of the sphinx, “American locomotives! from the heights of sonder pyramids forty-one centuries look down upon you.” And the greatest development of all is to come. In that ancient pictorial geography of our childhood; that book with defaced covers and dog's-eared Africa from the Cape of Good Hope to corners, where the mythical maelstrom is depicted with frightful accuracy, and the country west of the Missouri River is described as an “unexplored region,” there is & picture of Vasco Nunesz de Balboa, standing upon the brow of the mountain which overhangs the Bay of Panama, and gazing upon the softly swelling Pacific. A mighty panorama unrolled before him. He saw a new ocean, washing un- known continents peopled by strange races of men. He saw a fleld for high emprise, a grand future for himself and his followers, and with bright blade up- lifted to the equator’s heat, he kneit and - solemnly dedicated the lands washed by the sea before him to Chris- tianity and civilization forever. Fircm itself unshrinkingly over the sito of old Panama, the tall palms wave over the long moldered boges of Balboa's com- rades, and the land he looked upon has slept In semi-barbarism through the centuries, and now again the figure of that Pacific ploneer stands in the fore- ground of e plc & for the fu ment of prophecy. At last the Saxon bugles are sounding the long delayed advance, and they will never sound a retreat rough the barriers of Latin incapacity and South American ignorance and greed, and the tricks and plottings of rallroad lobby- ists the project for an isthmian canal bas crashed triumphantly at last, and within five years we may. If we will, eat our Christmas dinners practically, if not act under the stars and stripes In one of the greatest and most pr us tr al es In the world Panama“will be sewered, graded and provided with water works by the Gov- ernment of the United States. Every improvement that sanitary science can suggest and money can accomplish will make !t as healthful as San Francisco or New York, and the expenditure there of the vast sum necessary to construct the canal will create great opportunities for human ambition and %y In every fleild of effort. Forests will be hewed, flelds will be planted, mines will be ovened, electrio tramways will be constructed, and not oaly the ten-mile strip but the entire republic of Panama will be populated by ‘Americans who will carry the laws and methods and enterprize of their country inte this rich tropical fleid. en In the midst of our contemplation of what Christianity has done for this na- tion and for the world on lined of ma- terial prosperity and advancement, let us not forget that the Savior came to build & kingdom not in the palaces of power, but in the hearts of mankind. Forgiveness. mercy, temperance of judgment, gentleness, kindness, seif- sacrifice. These are the foundatiow stones on which the mighty edifice of Christ's faith has been dullded