8
THE STJNDAT OREGOXIAN, PORTjLATTO, OCTOBER 24. 1915.
HOMES AND FARMS NOW DOT LANDS
RECENTLY RECLAIMED FROM FLOODS
Islands in River Found to Be Ideal Tracts for Dairying and Productiveness Amaze Addison Bennett Company
Provides "Stake" for Settlers Who Have. Ambition to Be Independent.
i&:;7ifLjr r,5 -i
H j f 1 - - fv- L4I rJzk . - S: ' J.J l
Con Isfr Soiuyyf on v s
ZKz.cs .
mMiu; : ffly fj .irr,,,,-, r
BY ADDISON BENNETT.
IT IS said there is an area of about
50,000 acres of tidelands between
Portland and the sea along the Co
lumbia River, some of which has been
diked and is now in cultivation, the
first efforts being- made in this direc
tion a number of years ago on Toungr's
13r, near Astoria. It has been found
that these lands are as rich and pro
ductivx as any lands ever placed under
ultivatfon in the West.
Knowing that a threat many people
are lookilng for locations upon pro
ductive land, and beinp informed that
a largre area was either reclaimed or
in course of reclamation about 20 miles
ast of Astoria, and that Willard N.
Jones was largely interested in the
projects, I went down with Mr. Jones
to see what had been accomplished and
what the outlook is for the future.
1600 Acres Reclaimed.
We took the train for Cilfton, which
Is one of the oldest fishing: settlements
on the Columbia, being-, as, I under
stand, the site of the first salmon can
ning establishment on the river. There
we were met by a launch and taken
over to Tenas Illihee Island, which lies
TRAGEDY OF UNUSED TALENT IS UNCOVERED IN SERMON
Rev. John H. Boyd Declares That to Bear Pain Is One of the Great Achievements of Life and Blames Troubles of World on Man of Little Caliber.
BY REV. J. H. BOYD.
Pastor First Presbyterian Church.
IN what, to me, is the most remark
able passage in oil English litera
ture, requiring an unabridged dic
tionary and a liberal education to un
derstand it I refer to the chapter "The
Everlasting i"ea" in Sartor Resartus
old Thomas Carlisle breaks out in
these words: "Be no longer a Chaos,
but a World, or even a World-king.
Produce! Produce! Were it but the
pltlfulest infinitesimal fraction of a
Product, produce it in God's name! 'Tis
the utmost thou hast in thee; out with
It. then. Up, up!"
In far calmer
language, and with
the exactness and
clearness of a
t r a i n e d thinker,
President H. C.j
King, writing as a
psychologist, shows
us that the whole
composite natxire ofi
man was made fori
action. He points
out that the circu
lation of the blood
the delicate articu
lat!6n of the nerv-
miK nnri muscular'
systems were allRev. Joku H. Boyd.
wrought out for action. Then he goes
into the world of the immaterial, into
the world of the mind, and shows that
there is not a capacity or a faculty of
man's mental self but is adapted to
action. Consciousness is naturally im
pulsive. Every idea tends to express
itself in action, and all desire moves
toward conduct. Feeling is connected
with motion. We call it "emotion."
Then again, upon a far higher plane
of thought. Hamilton Mabie. as essay
ist and philosopher, has pointed out
the fact that man's personality, all that
goes to constitute manhood and
womanhood, the intellectual, the moral,
the inner world of idealism and aspira
tion all that is loftiest and noblest
in man's nature fulfills itself only in
concrete outward expression.
Scotch Sage's Outcry Cited.
Let your mind rest for a moment
upon the wild outcry of the old Scotch
sage, or upon the calm exposition of
the nature of body and mind in their
wedded alliance, or upon the philo
sophical idealism of the essayist, and
you will see that all three of them are
simply trying to declare in our mod
ern hearing what Jesus of Nazareth
has embodied in parable 2000 years
ago.
The Sage or Nazareth, if I may so
speak, had already understood this in
exorable pressure of human responsi
opposite Clifton, perhaps a mile away.
Taking: on-supplies for several camps
we were joined by' W. G. Brown, for
merly a member of the corps of United
States Engineers stationed on the
lower Columbia. We went down the
river about four miles to the eastern
end of Long Island. The railroad runs
along this island for several miles and
has two stopping places on it.
I do not know how many square
jniles there are in Long Island, but
the Brown Diking Company has prac
tically reclaimed about 1600 acres. This
company is composed of Willard N.
Jones and.W. G. Brown. The reclama
tion work was done under the super
vision of Mr. Brown and by dredges
constructed from his designs. It is
enough to say the dikes have been in
for three years; there does not seem
But like the best citizens of his native
bility of action, the irresistible demand
made upon the inward to express it
self in the outward, concrete accom
plishment. Jesus of Nazareth saw the
strong man, the endowed man of two
and five talents, upon the plane of ac
tion, throwing himself with virility of
will upon the challenge presented, and
coming back triumphantly, with life
fulfilling itself. He also saw the lit
tle man, timid and unendowed, fail
ing. Christ saw all that. This parable
holds up a mirror to the changeless
features of humanity. Here is the en
dowed man, standing Saul-like in large
stature. above his fellowraan the
marked man, standing head and shoul
ders above the common multitude.
Whenever he thinks, ideas emerge;
whenever his virile will chooses and
resolves, bricks crystallize into build
ings, long lines of rails stretch out
across the empty prairies, mountains
are uprooted or distant countries bound
together. There is a potency, a splen
did efficiency in that man, which
marks him as the competent man, the
talented man.
There is the poor, starved empty life.
unendowed, timid and weak, with only
one talent. He is the man of the
masses. He is the man of the great un
differentiated crowd just the ordinary
man or woman and. for that reason it
is this man who is of vital interest
to us.
Proximity of Christ Shown.
He is near to us. He is one of ""our
kind. He might be my neighbor. Per
haps he-is my friend. He may be my
self. We sympathize with him because
of our intimacy with him, and because
of his nearness to our own condition.
We feel the poverty of this man.
We take an inventory of his assets,
and there is no large capacity there.
His ideas are never as strong, -they
never reach as far as the other man's.
He breaks into what appears to be a
new pathway, only to find that multi
tudes have traveled it before him. He
cannot handle the large responsibili
ties. Poor fellow! Poor us in the pov
erty of our endowment!
Mark the modesty of the man! He
knew himself. Had he not seen others
outstrip him upon the highway as they
ran together? Had he not seen the
plans of others accepted and achieved,
while his own were found deficient?
Had he not seen other men lift mighty
responsibilities white he groaned un
der the commonplace task? And so he
thought. What can I do? In that great
world of effort and achievement, where
strong five-talented men are thinking
and acting, what can I do? If I act,
it is but to add an unappreciated some
thing and so "Master, I have kept thy
i talent. I could. do nothing. Lo, there
the remotest possibility of a break ever
occurring, and they are two feet above
the high-water mark of 1894. It should
also be said that the lands reclaimed
are readily drained, where necessary,
by a system of tide gates, which take
care of any surplus water. These
gates also keep the water in the canal
in circulation, leaving no cause fqr
malaria or breeding places for flies
or mosquitoes.
The first settler we met was a na
tive of Holland. He and his family
came to this country about five years
ago. He had some money and went up
into the Alberta country to engage in
dairying. He later failed, -and by the
time he got his family and effects
down to Whitman County, Washington,
he was practically penniless,
country he never -gave up, did not
spend any time In repining, but kept
thou hast that is thine." Poor fellow!
Poor me! Poor you!
Our pity is inevitable, - yet in this
state and in such a life, there is a
great element of evil. The master
says, "Thou wicked servant! Evil isi
not simply a positive quality, an in
justice wrought, a black smear of a
positive lust. Idleness is evil! Ster
ility is wickedness! To have a life
let it be lowly, let it be unendowed,
let it be commonplace, let it be but an
undifferentiated atom amid the masses
of humanity and not to invest it in
something worth while! Let it be all
that, yet there is something to be
wrought out. some product that ought
to come. some responsibility that
should be me, something concrete that
should be achieved.
To Achieve Nothing Is Wicked. '
All philosophy, all psychology, all
idealism, all life is calling out that
reality with tremendous emphasis, and
it sounds to us out of the heart of this
memorable parable today. It is wicked
to have a life and to achieve nothing!
To have the soil wherein worth may
be planted and may grow, and yet to
have nothing but sterility and barren
ness at the end of life! It is an evil
thing to come empty-handed after all
the opportunities which have been pre
sented! Then look at the shame of it! That
hour of accounting, when the atmos
phere is vibrant with joy! Congratu
lations fall from divine lips, friends
and neighbors hasten in with ready
grasp to tell the successful man of his
achievement. His heart is uplifted as
he hears the plaudid "Well done." Is
not that a fine thing to stand upon
the ground where men are accomplish
ing, and where you yourself have added
something, and to feel that you are a
part of all the joyous and triumphant
achievement of the hour?
But this poor man stands apart. No
man says well done upto him. Empty
handed, he stands there, while othars
come full and shame is upon him. But
worse than that, the loss of such a fail
ure is most tragic. "Take from him the
talen,t and give to him that hath the
ten talents." Strip him! . Let him be
naked and he stands there forevermore
empty!
That is not the decree of a stern,
exacting master. It is the eternal law
of life! You must either be large, or
shrivel into littleness. Use the talent
or else it will be taken away. Become
or else fail. It is a law that runs
through all the biological realm of
insect and animal and soul of men, that
the life that will not accomplish, is a
life that must shrivel into contemptible
littie"ness.
You see the tragedy of it. The ele
ment . ol. wickedness in such sterility
busy ' at any odd - job he ' could get.
About a year ago this man, William
Dejong. heard of the operations going
forward on Long Island and deter
mined that he would cast his lot with
the others going there to embark in
the dairy business. Without money
this looked like a dream more than a
prospect, but he did not lose sight of
the vision. He went on getting his
house in order for the move. Did he
write to the owners about the prices
of land and the terms or the prospects
of getting work? . He did not. The
first thing Messrs. Jones and Brown
knew about Billy Dejong was their
notification that a Hollander with a
wife and half a dozen children, three
pelter horses and sqme broken furni
ture, about $100 worth of plunder all
told, was at the depot awaiting a
launch to take them over to Tenaa
Illihee.
"Stake' Is Provided.
That was in February last. Dejong
got work and soon he was taken down
to Long Island where he selected 40
acres of land. He received a house to
live in and provisions when needed,
for he had to go to work on his land.
It should, be said rtght here that
practically all of the land reclaimed
by the dikes mentioned is in brush,
mostly willow and Cottonwood, with
some wild - crabapple. It costs about
$20 an acre to cut the brush and burn
it so that the land is ready for plowing.
Dejong and his two boys, aged 10
and 12, with his wife, when she "was
able to work, and the other four chil
dren as an audience, went at the brush
and soon had 15 acres ready for the
plow. Then the company "sold" to
Dejong two brood sows, some chickens
and 12 head of grade Jersey two-year-old
heifers, all bred to a registered
sire.
Acre a Month Is Fnpuaat,
Now I am not going to. follow the
Dejongs very closely any further. I
saw the father and several of the
youngsters. I .went over the Dejong
place. I saw his onions, carrots, kale,
rutabagas, corn, his two stacks of hay,
cabbage, chickens and pigs. Then he
showed me his 12 fine jersey heifers
and their 12 calves.
His milk checks for At' gust and
September amounted to J 150 $75 a
month. From now on they will go a
little higher. The family not only has
sufficient food to carry them through
the Winter;, they have a lot to sell.
You can see at a glance that they are
not only on the road to independence,
but to fortune. His cream money will
all go. every dollar of it, to the debt
he owes for the heifers, pigs, etc. He
thinks in a year he will be milking 25
cows, will be getting $150 a month
from the creamery and will be paying
every month for anacre of land.
I have taken up so much space with
the Dejong case that I can only men
tion the case of his neighbor,-- John
Rosasco briefly. John and his brother
dropped down on Long Island about a
year before Dejong did. During the
Winter of 1913-14 they brushed eight
and one-half acres. A year ago last
Spring they planted this and sold the
product up and down'the river.
Profits Made oa Credit.
The two of them did every bit of the
work. They had no money whatever to
start on; Messrs. Brown and Jones sold
them everything they needed on credit,
even to a small launch in whici to
peddle their produce. Their sales up
to the first day of last January
amounted to $3187.40, and they had
enough to carry them through the Win.
ter and pay for seed for last Spring's
planting. Then John bought his
brother's interest and cleared the re
mainder of his 15 acres, which was all
in crop this year. Positively, I never
saw such yields in all my life. Think
of raising 480 sacks of onions on land
that was in brush in April and the
onions harvested in October!
Last year Rosasco was the only set
tler on the Brown-Jones lands on Long
Island; this year-there are 12, having
75 acres in cultivation. Mr. Dejong
was brought up behind the dikes of
Holland in the dairy business. I asked
him how his land compares with the
diked lands of Holland.
"There is no comparison." he said.
"I can raise more feed on one acre
here without fertilizer than I can on
five acres of the , Holland after
heavy fertilizing. And as for milk
why, my heifers are giving far more
milk than I ever knew heifers to give
in my native land. And did you ever
see such calves?"
His 11 neighbors all sang the same
tune with different words. And re
member, all of them came there with
no capital save ambition and industry.
They were backed for everything they
needed by the owners of the land. They
stand ready to assist others who will
go on the land and go to work as did
these. But they want no idlers, even
though they have money to pay for
their land.
I might write a column about the
(Concluded on Page 1 1, Column 6. )
and emptiness, the shame that, over
whelms after life's opportunities have
been presented and neglected, and then
at last to stand shorn of all endow
ment, and with the gates of growth
and of power closed upon life! It's an
awful thing to have a talent, and to
bring it at last unused!
Let us see what are the tragic ele
ments and the causes of failure in a man
like this. The first thing which looks out
upon us from the pages of this story is
this: That the modesty which we, too,
feel, the sense of inability, the grace
of humility, if you please, which marks
our friends and neighbor of the par
able is nothing in the world but .an un
worthy self-consciousness. Mark that!
The modesty of the man is a make-believe.
The reality within his character is a
paralysing self-consciousness. There
are delicate points belonging to the
tasks of the sculptor which are hind
ered if the light casts the shadow of
himself upon the marble. There are
delicate processes in the cunning work
of the filigree maker, aye in the move
ments of my lady's deft fingers
as she weaves the fine thread, which
cannot be accomplished if the shadow
of self falls upon the task. Self-consciousness
is a weakness in our nature.
This painful introspection and self
depreciation is a Jindering thing, and
this man felt it. You note htm there
with his constant reminder of his one
talent, and over against him standing
the man with the five talents and the
man with the two talents, and he is
always contrasting himself with the
man of larger ability, and excusing
himself because of his one talent.
Their doors of opportunity are multi
tudinous and his are few. Thus these
modest people, If you please, these
people with their sweet humility, that
charm as by a show of self-deprecia-tion.
are in the last analysis people
of an intense and unworthy self-consciousness.
-
Reaponsibtlitr Rests Only on Is.
It Is fatal! The individual's worth
our talent may neither be multiplied
nor wrested from us. The responsibil
ity is ours and ours alone. There is
but one door for us, and God is calling,
and therefore regardless of what the
other man possesses or is doing or is
able, we should invest our one talent
and meet our one responsibility!
And that is not the worst about this
man of the parable. Look at him; he
is a man who is Ignorant and unimag
inative. He says I and my one talent
are incompetent. We can accomplish
nothing. The man was Ignorant of the
fact that the one atom Is necessary to
the constitution of the whole. He was
but a drop of water, but an imagina
tion awakened to life's responsibilities
MEN PROMINENT IN EUROPEAN WAR
AND DIPLOMACY ARE PHOTOGRAPHED
Crown Prince of Italy Say King Is "Very Brave Man Robert P. Skinner Tells Washington of Trade Conditions
in Britain General Sam Hughes Proud of Honor Gained on Battlefield.
I I I" - T
M r - - "III -y-.y i ' ! v-
1 fv 4 1 - ' Ml
a HE CROWN PRINCE OF ITALY
was born September 15, 1904. Un
like most of the heirs to Euro
pean thrones, he is unable to take part
in the war, but he has been to the
front to see his father and he naively
remarked on his return that the aKing
was "a very brave man."
Robert P. Skinner, the Consul-General
at London and one of the oldest
consular officers of the United States,
has come to Washington to inform the
State Department about trade condi
tions. It was reported recently that
on account of his reports to the De
partment about the British blockade
of American trade the British had
asked his recall, but this is denied. -
Stephen Dragoumis, the new Minis
ter of Finance in the Greek Cabinet,
belongs to a distinguished family and
enjoys a high rerutation for independ
ence of character and personal integ
rity. At one time he was Premier of
Greece.
John Rodemayer presided when the
Bald-Head Club of America, of which
he is president, held its annual dinner
at Winsted, Conn. Members were pres
ent from all parts of the United States.
Mr. Rodemayer has some hair in front,
but the top of his head suggests the
fruit of the well-known and highly
respected ostrich. In private life Mr.
Rodemayer is Editor of the Connecticut
Western News
General Sam Hughes, the Minister of
Militia, of Canada, is proud of the
distinction which has come to his son,
Garnett. at the front. He went to
would have understood that mighty
oceans are' but aggregated drops. He
was but a blade of grass, but an imag
ination alive to the divine issues of
character would have understood that
it is blades of grass which carpet the
earth with the beauty of God. He was
but a grain of sand, but grains of sand
constitute yon mighty reaches of ocean
shore.
It's the one man in the mass that
counts. The trouble with the world
today is the failure of the one man!
Ignorant of the force of .the single in
dividual, and ignorant of the fact that
the power of the mass is the power of
aggregated individual life, amid the
perplexities . of our modern society,
overburdened and shadowed with diffi
culties which are too large for us; our
eyes are turned upward and outward,
while we quarrel with some mighty,
potential personality, and blame him
for the way in which the world is go
ing. Some J. Pierpont Morgan, with
his stupendous syndications of wealth.
Is sitting astride of our National life
as a mighty colossus, and we cannot
move. Poor democracy.
Or else the world is in turmoil be
cause of the injustices of a Rockefeller
grinding the faces of the poor and
robbing the laborer of his hire.
Or else it is some impulsive Roose
velt, who breaks out with his crude
thinkings, and all the world shivers
under the disturbance.
Do you believe it? Let all Roose
velts fulminate as they will, let a thou
sand Rockefellers sit astride the neck
of the poor, and syndicates of wealth
manipulate bank clearances, and the
world will still be comfortable. The
evil of the world is not In the magni
tude of the one evil or foolish man,
but the difficulty lies In the failure of
the masses composed of Individual
units.
its the little man who is making!
nail and drives it crookedly. It's the
narrow-minded business man who em
ploys one clerk or five clerks, and fails
as an employer, who is making the
trouble. It's the mother in the home;
it's the child in the commonplace re
sponsibilities of filial duty; it's the tins
band who crosses the threshold and is
untrue to his obligations; it's the aver
age man who is making the trouble!
The agony of our age, and the failure
of human progress is because of the
little man who does not realize tuat if
the pretty things of life were" well
cared for, the weight of a Rockefeller
or a Morgan and others could be aasily
borne!
That was the trouble with this man
of the' one talent he had no imagina
tion, and therefore he failed, and others
like him bava failed. It's the common
.-. . aTY. Tv
LA iLs
France with the Canadian volunteers
as a Lieutenant-Colonel. He fought at
St. Julien and Festubert and was re
warded with the Distinguished Service
Order and now he has been promoted
to the rank of Brigadier-General and
has command of the First Brigade un
der General Alderson.
Clive Bayiey, the successor of Sir
Courtehay Bennett as Consul-General
of Great Britain at New York, has ar
rived. He did not come as a stranger,
for he was Consul at New York for
nine years, until 1908. He has since
been Consul at Warsaw and Consul
General at Moscow. He is a son of
the late Sir Edward Clive Bayiey. His
wife was Constance Rlcardo. daughter
of Francis Ricardo, of Old Windsor.
"Heir to Million" Held for Fraud.
NEW YORK. . Oct. 15. Swindling
women he courtea and using a bogus
will to show he was heir to a million
are two charges - made by Captain
Henry, of the United States Secret
Service, against "Captain Harry Claus."
arrested recently. Claus waived ex
amination before United States Com
man and woman who are making the
trouble in the world today!
But there is another element wrong
in the character of this man of the one
talent. The man is a coward. He says
it himself. "I was afraid." In other
words, there was a difficulty before
him, an opportunity was to be sought
it was hard to think out a wise invest
ment it cost something to meet the
responsibility of the hour the man was
a timid man, and h'e shrank back and
tried to find a place of ease. He went
and digged a hole, an easy thing to do,
he wrapped the talent in a napkin, and
then came with whining excuse and
said, "1 kept thy talent. It was easy
to do that and I did it!"
That's what's tne matter with the
world. It is our philosophy of ease that
is at the bottom of it! A little rough
ness, a little uphillness, a little diffi
culty, a little pressure and we shrink
back because we are cowards!
Do you realize, beloved, that we are
In the midst of a generation of man
kind which conceives pain to be the
chiefest of all evils.s And velvety ease
to be the largest of all goods? My
friend Dr. Vance, of Nashville, tells of
a young mountain boy whom he em
ployed to show him the trail among the
Great Smokies. The little fellow in
sisted upon running beside the stirrup
of the rider, and as he beat along the
path next to the pathway, the sticks
bruised him and the briars gashed him,
until when they reached the end of the
trail, blood was oozing from many
scratches, and there were dark bruises
on the lad's knees and legs. Dr. Vance
said, "Look what you have done to
yourself. Is it not hurting you?" And
the boy said "Yes." "Well, what are
you going to do'about It?" "Why, noth
ing!" was the answer.
Pain Considered Part of Life.
That was fine. Pain was. a part of
the game. That came as a part of his
responsibility. He was scratched in
pain, ne was bleeding, he was bruised.
"What are you going to do about it?"
"Nothing!" Stand it! It's a part of
life's fulfillment. It belongs to duty!
Yet here we moderns are in our pow
er and ease, ever seeking the places of
quietude. I am in sympathy with every
thing which will bring peace to this old
vexed world, but I confess to you this
morning, an inward Indignation as 1
hear most of the outcry for peace, as
against war. "I did not raise my boy
to be a soldier!" No. poor, flabby
father and poor invertebrate motuer
you brought up your L-y withouc de
votion to principle, without vision of
justice, without ideals of humanity, and
you are bringing him up to be a silken
fop. to imitate the aimless grace and
inane actions of the dancing master!
We are cowards, and seek the easy
5
-av.-
missioner Houghton, bail being fixed
at $5000. Claus is accused also of
impersonating a Government detec
tive. ORCHID KING OWN LAWYER
Carrilio Cross-Kxamiiies Wife In Her
Separation Suit.
WHITE PLAINS, N. J., Oct. 17.
When the action for a separation
brought by Mrs. Maria A. De Carrilio
against her husband, Luis F. . De .
Carrilio, on the charge of cruel and
inhuman treatment, came to trial the
other day before Justice Morschauser,
De Carrilio, who Is known as the
"orchid king" of Orienta Point, ap
peared as his own attorney and cross
examined his wife.
De Carrilio is a Colombian and when
he lived in that country, he practiced
law and was a Judge of the Superior
Court. Justice. Morschauser allowed him
to act as his own attorney because he
said he disagreed with the lawyer he
had hired.
The couple have been married 25
years. Mrs. De Carrilio testified that
her husband swore at her in Spanish
and called it cruel treatment when he
called her "traitor," "little head,"
"snake." "brute," "liar" and "fool."
Mr. De Carrilio says that his wife is
attempting to get his property away
from him and that the separation suit
is the result of a conspiracy.
thing, and that is what this man in the
parable was doing. "I was afraid."
There was a difficulty before him. He
could not make the pathway without
resistance. I felt the pressure and so
hid the talent in a napkin!
Can you wonder that old Thomas
Carlisle breaks out as he does? Can
you wonder that the Master repeats
his message in the two-fold form in
the parables of the pounds talents?
Can you wonder that I am speaking
this morning of the tragedy of the un
used talent, when I see multitudes of
men and women with capacities within
them, but simply because they are
small, leaving them uninvested, unused,
and then life is shamelessly sterile and
inactive.
Responsibility Realisation Sought.
We are looking downward through
the coming months of an active church
year. The Church of Christ stands for
the kingdom of righteousness of love
in the world. It is demanding hands for
its activities, and hearts beating with
devotion to its interests. I would
awaken you to a realization of your
responsibility, and ask that the com
monplace man and woman shall yield
himself and herself to the interests ot
our great work for the Winter and add
some small good to the aggregate
whole.
Vast continents have been built by
the imponderable secretions of animal,
culae. they added their mite and then
perished. But the continents grew. A
few days ago. I stood before the largest
ant hill I have ever seen in the State
of Oregon, and as I saw the little crea
tures climbing the steep slopes, each
bearing a mite of straw, and doing his
little part. I turned away with this
thought: "Oh that the small man ar
woman might see that God's kingdom
of goodness and peace is to be realized
through the activities of the infinites
imal power of the individual!
Yesterday morning as I came to my
study, a gentleman handed me a small,
but perfect, Autumnal rose, and said,
"Perhaps upon your desk it may in
spire some thought that will be helpful
to others." As I looked into the face of
that perfect flower, I asked, "Have you
a part in this sermon on "The Tragedy
of the Unused Talent?" This idea
came: Here is the commonest of all
roses, one blossom amid a myriad. It
bloomed yesterday. It will fade to
morrow. But this little rose with its
simple power, and one opportunity, is
perfectly accomplishing its lowly, but
divine mission. 1 bowed my head in
the presence of the little flower, and
Bald. "My God. I am ot the on talent,
I am but one of the mass: let me fulfill
myself aa perfectly as that flower Is
fulfilling itself!" This is my prayer,
for the people of nir congregation.