THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, MARCH 13, 1921
IDEAL LIFE DECLARED INSTINCTIVE DESIRE
AND WISH OF EACH NORMAL HUMAN BEING
Every Truth of Nature That Will Help Him to Do It Said to Be of Great Value to RaceTwo Radically
Different Views of Relationship Between God and Man Cited Both Called Orthodox.
Sermon-lecture by 1 W. Rogers, na
tional president of the Theosophtcal so
elty before the Portland Theosophlcal
society during bis via it Last week.
I
'. t
TO LIVE an Ideal life Is the in
stinctive desire of the human be
ing1. Every truth of nature that
'will help him to do It is of very great
value to the race and we cannot spend
time more wisely than in carefully
studying the fundamental principles
of our being. We all strive, with some
degree of success, to establish a con
sistent relationship between our ideals
and our lives between precept and
practice but our success must nec
essarily be largely dependent upon
our understanding of our relationship
to the source of all life and the
method by which Its sublimity may
become an individual possession.
Within the world of Christian
thought and philosophy there are two
radically different views of the rela
tionship between Cod and man. They
are equally orthodox equally author
itative; and jet profoundly important
results depend upon whether we ac
cept and shape our lives by the one
or by the ohter other.
One of these views Is commonly
known as that of God transcendant.
The other is known as that of God
Immanent.
At first thought this may sonnd
like metaphysical abstractions with
no relationship to the practical af
fairs of physical life. But careful
consideration will 6how that they
present ideas as opposite as the poles
of the earth and that these ideas have
profound and far-reaching Influence
in the world of men.
That view known as transcendence
Is that God and man are beings apart
from each other; that the relationship
1 that which exists between the in
ventor and the machine. It is an an
thropomorphic view of the supreme
being , and it translates spiritual
truths in terms of the literal and the
materialistic It is widespread in
western civilization and is quite rat
"orally found side by side with that
literal interpretation of the Bible that
obscures truth and destroys beauty
tit mistaking allegory for history.
The opposing view Is that of God
Immanent. Immanence differs from
transcendence as the clear light of
day differs from the baffling shad
ows of the night. It is the view that
tho supreme being is not apart from
his universe, but is within it; Indeed,
that he is his universe, and jet more
than his universe; for the idea of
Immanence includes all the sublimity
signified by the word "transcend
ence." while rejecting only the ma
terializing tendency and limitations
with which the dogmatic use of that
word has invested it.
Of course it is nearly as impossible
to express spiritual truths in phys
ical language as for the finite to com
prehend the infinite. All attempts
only emphasize our helplessness. In
the effort to describe immanence, or
j in-being, we can only declare that
A we nean that the universe is an ex
' piession of God, an actual emination,
j a literal portion, is the supremo be
r t ins, but not all of the supreme being,
1 as hands are part of the body and
I jet not the body; an emination, even
j as the clouds are an emination of the
i ocean; and that man. as part of the
universe, is as literally a portion of
the supreme being as the raindrops
are literally a portion of the sea. They
" will become again the sea, but are
' for the time being far from home and
. are in no sense at that time the sea.
There Is an actual separatoion In
what we call space and yet there re
4 mains an inalienable- relationship In
nature between them. Regarded as
S Individual drops, they have lost the
jrrandeur. tho power and the func
tion of the sea. Tet each is a minia
ture sea. Each has the very essence
and actual nature of the sea, and each
will ultimately return to the sea.
And thus it is In the relationship
between God and man from the view
point of immanence. As the raindrop
Is to the ocean in the material world,
the finite being is to the supreme
being In tho spiritual world. The soul
is literally a spark from the divine
life, raying outward into material
realms and ultimately returning with
a rich harvest of experience to its
source. The conception of God Im
manent, therefore, accepts most liter
ally the great truth that "In him wa
live and move and have our being.
Wo are Inseparable from him. We are
divine fragments of the one life. We
km srods in tha making.
There is no exaggeration In the
tatement that these two views are
equally orthodox. In western civili
sation there, may be ten who believe
in transcendence only for every one
who believes that Immanence alone
represents the truth of nature. But
the minority have the scholars and
thinkers with them. The Encyclope
dia Brttannica says:
The conception, of God as wholly
external to man, a purely mechanical
theory of creation, is throughout
Cliristendom regarded as false to the
teaching of the New Testament as
also to Christian experience.
Whence came that misleading "me
chanical theory of creation" that is
largely responsible for the unfortu
nate materialism of the west? From
the ignorance and intolerance of the
monks of the middle ages, whose
mental poverty was as dire as their
physical poverty, and whose theology
was as bare and dreary and mate
rialistic as their cells of stone. If
we go back to the early Christian
period we shall discover that . the
Christian Fathers held the view of
Immanence. Indeed, go back to the
Old Testament account of cosmog
ony and we read of man that "In his
own Image created ne nim. image
is defined as a reflection, a likeness
In what does that likeness consist?
Since God is wholly immaterial it
cannot refer to physical characteris
tics. It can mean only that in spirit
ual essence. In power, in wisdom, in
compassion, man is an image of God.
The difficulty with those who hold
that widespread western view which
is antagonistic to immanence 1s that
instead of thinking of man aa a re
flection or Image of God, they think
of God as a reflection and extension
of the best characteristics of man.
It is this grand old Christian idea
of the immanence of God that the
theosophlst has in mind when he as
serts that all human beings are es
sentially divine; that each of us is an
embryo god. It is a conception of the
soul that is In harmony with all the
scriptures, with ancient and modern
philosophy and with the working hy
potheses of science, for it Is insepara
bly associated with the idea of evolu
lon; and it was proclaimed In many
forms by the Christ himself when he
spoke from the hills of Galilee.
Now if the immanence of God is a
truth of nature we shall be able to
establish the fact by an analysis of
man. We shall find inherent in him
the qualities of a god. Accustomed
as we are to looking at the shadow
side of human nature It will at first
seem startling to declare that an
gelic attributes are common property.
And yet it Is unquestionably true that
when we penetrate the exterior
strata of tne nnman Deing mat con
tains the unpleasant and repulsive
which Is but a phase of evolution, as
scaffolding n "Sly but necessary
phase of architecture we find the
moil conclusive evidence of the in
herent divinity of man. Convincing I noticed wrong or an injustice becauce
proof of this is his recogniton of his I the unity of all life has been recog-
i
imperfection. Were he less than an
embryo god ho would be blind to hi
faults. Emerson says something like
this: Granted that we are base,
but how do we know that we are
base?" In that sentence the Ameri
can philosopher shows man's divinity.
Only the divine can comprehend dl
vinity. That, which is below the
divine level cannot see Its imperfec
tions. A tiger does not think of him
self as being cruel. A horse does not
censure- himself for being ignorant.
A pig has no remorse about his greed.
tsut man recognizes his cruelty, ad
mits his ignorance and apologizes for
his .greed; and in all this ho proves
his innate divinity
But man does more than recognize
his imperfections. To "this evidence
of his divinity he adds proof that he
is a god in the making by his efforts
to transcend imperfection. The whole
history of evolution is but a striving
for perfection. It is what has been
called "the divine urge." It is the
water of evolution seeking its source
as the raindrop returns to the sea.
It is the spiritual gravity that proves
the oneness of all life.
Now, this old and beautiful truth of
the Immanence of God will enable us
to get a correct understanding of
what Inspiration Is. To live an in
spired life we must, of course, com
prehend inspiration.
The common view of inspiration is
that with which most of us became
familiar in our childhood days. It
assumed that only writers of the
Christian scriptures, the prophets, the
saints and the seers were inspired.
That belief goes naturally with the
purely mechanical theory of crea
tion." The relationship between God
and man becomes that of autocrat
and subject. He "made" men as men
make toys. Some he fashioned to be
prophets and saints. Others he made
to be ignoramuses and villains! There
was a gulf between God and man and
the seer was the link'acroBs., He was
something unique, not in the natural
order, but different from the human
mass. He was supposed to be di
vinely inspired because bo was set
apart to speak for God, as a prime
minister speaks for a king. To have
suggested that the inspired person
spoke less than the whole truth on
any subject, or himself comprehended
but a fragment of truth, would have
been considered blasphemous.
This seer of the transcendence Idea
had little to do with worldly things.
He dealt with the future rather than
the present. His visions were not re
lated to the work-a-day world. This
life seemed to be of questionable
value a fleeting sorrow to be toler
ated as a child gets through with the
measles, a period of existence not to
bo enjoyed, but rather the transitory
stage of unavoidable evil that will be
followed in due course with the re
turn of appetite and life that is
worth while!
Special inspiration is consistent
only with "a purely mechanical the
ory of creation." If that illogical and
unscientific conception of the uni
verse is thrown aside the old view of
inspiration must go with It. What,
then, is inspiration and what id the
InFPired life?
Inspiration Is the influx of the di
vine life into the human being and It
becomes possible in exact proportion
that we comprehend the oneness of
all life and strive to escape the
thraldom and self-interest. Inspira
tion is an intensification of the di
vine force that is within all human
beings not a creation of what does
not exist, but an evolution of what is
there, as a Fpark may be fanned into
flame. When one is Inspired the
god within has been aroused, compre
hension of the unity of all life has
dawned, compassion is born and we
behold the phenomenon of the human
evolving toward the superhuman. In
spiration, then, is not dependent on a
special act of God, but on a special
effort of man. and it indicates the
stage of evolution that he has at
tained. The old idea that divine inspiration
is a monopoly of religious writers and
wurKers, or saints and seers. Is as
narrow as the theology of the monks
of medieval times. The truth is that
all whose greatness and goodness
mane tnem channels for the divine
force are inspired. All whose love
of their fellowmen has moved them
to accept hardship and poverty and
pain In helping to lighten the sorrows
of the world have lived the inspired
life. It is no more possible to limit
Inspiration than it is to define God.
Religious activities do not monopo
lize it. Who Is (he truly religious
man.' ho who lives to serve the
world. He who enlightens mankind.
He who feeds the hungry and lifts
the fallen. He who fights the battles
of the oppressed. He who lives In
advance of his times and in exchange
for his brave opinions accepts pay
ment in the coin of calumny. He who
gives his life for a principle, even
through mistaken judgment, in a bad
cause. Whether famous or obscure,
whether respectablo or despised,
whether accepting the highest of re
ligions or rejecting them all, they are
the truly religious they are all in
the galaxy of the great.
buakespeare did not write scrip
ture, but he was as certainly inspired
as any saint.. He comprehended the
soul. He "held the mirror up to na
ture" and it reflected every height
and depth of human emotion. He
filled his stage with the actors of his
Intellect and they moved the world to
laughter or to tears. He preached
a hundred sermons in a single play
He stimulated Imagination, he quick
ened sympathy and enabled men to
think the thoughts and live the lives
of other men. Poet, artist, dramatist,
philosopher, marvelous interpreter of
nature, greater than genius nothing
less than inspiration can explain him
Wagner will serve as another il
lustration. His art demonstrates this
natural truth of inspiration in an
other way. He brought some por.
tion of the wondrous harmony and
regal grandeur of a higher plane into
physical life. The music of Wagner
has a kinship with the majesty of
the stars. It lifts the consciousness to
higher realms. Why does it elevate
and ennoble us? Because it arouses
In some degree the consciousness of
our relationship to the one life. It
awakens the inner god to temporary
cognition of his own greatness. It is
as though a prince, suffering from a
lapse of memory, had become a wan
dering outcast. But suddenly some
incident that stirs the depths of his
being a familiar landscape, a glimpse
of a palace, a bugle call brings tem
porary recollection and be becomes
aware of hie rank and station, aware
that he is a member of a royal house
hold and has all along been a prince
of the realm. He may slip back in a
moment into forgetfulness. But think
how even a flash of the truth must
have thrilled him. And so it is with
the soul encased In a physical body.
It has Identified Itself with Its pres
ent environment, but such music my
lessen the illusion. In the same
sense that the prophets were in
spired Wagner was Inspired. Some
portion of the divine life flowed
through him and drew men upwards.
All the poete- who have moved the
heart and awakened the imagination
of mankind are examples of the in
spired life. The. God that speaks
through them is the same God that
speaks through the recognized sav
iors of the world. The spirit of
protest flashed out against aa un-1
nlzed and the welfare of the stranger
has become the heart's concern. We
need not go to ancient history to
una inspired lives. They are all
about us. We ' need not even go
aoroaa in our search. Lowell, among
otners, comes instantly to mind as an
example. He gave voice to eternal
truths. Such lives are inspired. Such
people are the messengrs of God.
Tho old Idea that only those who
are engaged in some distinctly re
ligious activity can live the Inspired
life is utterly inconsistent with the
belief in the immanence of God, and
is at war with the principles of evo
lution. All activities of the business
and political world play a necessary
pant In the evolution of intellect and
compassion, without which there can
be no religion. There is still linger
irg in the world too much of the
tendency to regard the life of thc.
pny&icai pianes as comparatively un
important. Those who give their en
tire attention to a future heaven are
likely to stumble over the simplest
duties of earth. This world is as
important as any world and this life
is as sacred as any life. In physical
existence we are getting precisely the
lessons we require for evolving the
virtues that will make heaven at all
possible and enable us to comprehend
and enjoy it. The physical plane is
aa necessarv to the heaven life as the
primary school Is necessary to the i
university, and it is just as divine as
any other plane. No department of
human experience is higher or lower
than another. Tbey are simply mu
tually dependent No method of
human perception or cognition is
more important or sacred than an
other. We truly say that intuition Is
higher than intellect. And -et until
intellect Is sufficiently evolved to
hold impulse in check, intuition can
rot act. The higher is dependent on
the lower. The mind of the surgeon
is higher than the nerves of his body.
Yet his expert life-saving knowledge
waits upon his nerve control. Until
he controls the lower, the higher is
useless. Just so It Is with Intellect
and intuition. Until Intellect is
evolved and used, intuition can- be
but poorly and uncertainly expressed
Now. nobody will deny that business
and political life develop the Intel
lecL They are therefore essential
parts of the divine plan for the
evolution of the souL
Tea. the physical life is very Im
portant. The life after the loss of
the material body may be bliss in
eed for those who have lived up to
their highest ideals here, but none
the less the kingdom of heaven is
within us and we may know it now
To work as the selfish work, but only
for the welfare of the race; to play
heroic role in the life-drama of
Ibis, our world: to evolve every vir-
ue and faculty that pnyslcal ltie
can express; to win the love of new
friends by our unselfishness and
obility: to hold the love of old
frlende by our loyalty and our faith;
this also is heaven, and a heaven
hat is here.
We may look even In the political
field for the inspired life, and we
find it in such men as Mazzini and
Washington, 'n Franklin and Lincoln.
They had visions of a happier human
ity on earth, and their personal in
terests were forgotten In the effort
to give those visions tangible form
and to work them out in the terms
of material success. They were all
'cspired. Political action can be Just
sb sacred as ecclesiastical action. All
the forces that work toward freedom.
Justice, equality and brotherhood are
divine forces.
But we may go farther than to
declare that the inspired life is to be
found in the business and political
realms. It is equally true that in
spiration is consistent even with the
forces of destruction. To a remark
able degree the inspired life has
characterized the great Iconoclasts.
Luther. Bradlaugh, Besant, Ingersoll,
Blavatsky they are some of the
heroic figures among the destroyers
of outgrown theories and beliefs.
Some of them are too recent to have
taken the place in history to which
they are entitled, for the iconoclast
of one age is likely to be the saint or
hero of the next. The world regards
Luther and Blavatsky as represent
ing different degrees of usefulness
and beneficence only because of the
different periods o time that sepa
rate them from usl The radicalism
of Luther In the sixteenth century
has became the ultra conservatism of
thn twentieth.
These great iconoclasts were benefi
cent destroyers. They swept away the
nbselets and cleared the path for
progress. They stimulated thought.
They worked against that mental
inertia, which characterizes the man
who permits others to think for him.
"It Is a noble thing to destroy slavery
and free men s bodies. It Is a nomer
thing to destroy superstition and free
men's souls.'
Every era muBt have the icono
clasts the destroyers. There would
be tio progress without them, for de
struction Is as necessary as construc
tion. Consider how a city changes
In a generation. . Mechanics' shop
are torn down that manufactorle
mav be built. Hovels are cleared
awar that mansions may appear.
Where the old tenements stood fairer
structures rise. The very knolls and
dales yield to the transforming hand
of man. Rivers change their course,
lakes appear, new landscapes come
Into being. A constant, almost im
perceptible change goes on until
in time the filthy streets have
become boulevards, the dingy houses
have vanished, and we look upon a
city of parks and palaces. The old,
the Inadequate, has disappeared. The
new, the necessary, has arrived. But
the new order could not be until the
old order was destroyed. The two
wings of the Angel of Progress are
destruction and construction.
Of course the iconoclasts have al
ways been misunderstood and de
nounced as fanatical and dangerous.
The conservative majority never
wishes to move on. They prefer the
security of that which is to the un
certainty of that which they have not
seen; and so they argue against prog
ress and persecute its advocates.
They insist that a religious belief
that served their ancestors well is
good enough for them. It is as
though an ultra-conservative of a
past generation should have said to
a progressive: "These old houses are
well enough. They serve the pur
pose. You are an impractical vision
ary. Tou prate of buildings wltn
wide windows hat will make in
teriors marvelously light. Tou spec
ulate upon systems of ventilation
that are mere dre-ama You hint at a
better method of heating than the
use of stoves. You even believe that
in illumination we- can discard oil
lamps. Tou actually advocate dis
placing all the blessings of our glori
ous civilization with these fantastic
things! You are not only Impracti
cal you are sacreligious. Tou would
destroy our ancestral homes with
their sacred memories. You are at
tacking the most precious things of
life. Let well enough alone. Keep
on the safe side. These old houses
may be somewhat dark and damp,
but what was good enough for our
fathers Is good enough-for us! It
represents their highest conceptions
of architecture. I'd rather Bleep in
this cellar of a room with its one
dear old, window a foot square and.
have rheumatism all my life than to
be false to the highest ideals of my
fathers!"
The iconoclasts axe the pioneers of
the mental and moral world. They
destroy the useless. They clear the
field so that better building becomes
possible. Tbey are ambassadors of
God, even when not aware of their
own divinity, and none the less so
because some of them have ques
tioned his very existence. The icono
clast has a close relationship to the
martyr. He "is the center of a storm
of human passion. He proclaims un-1
popular truth. Because it Is unpop
ular his reputation, his liberty, his
life, are in peril. Because it is truth
It lays the foundation on which the
future happiness of mankind rests.
He shapes the destiny of an ungrate
ful world and all of the organized
forces of society are against him.
Whether his activities are religious
or political, he is equally the Inspired
messenger of God. Lowell puts it
concisely In six lines:
Right forever en a scaffold;
Wrong- forever on a throne;
But the scaffold shapes tbs future
And within the dim unknown
Standeth God, within the shadow.
Keeping watch above His own I
Martyrdom is the logical outcome
of Iconociasm, To some degree every
Iconoclast must become the martyr.
The higher his work the greater will
be his sacrifice and the mightier will
be his inspiration. To those who deny
immortality the heroism of the mar
tyr who goes to the stake may seem
a foolish sacrifice, but his death is
undying testimony to the truth of a
greater life. It is evidence that the
human being is greater than his
physical existence is so great, so
divine, that at a certain stage of his
evolution he cannot be false to a
principle. He has reached a point
where "life at any price" becomes
contemptible and impossible, just be
cause of his awakened divinity, and
he can continue to realize his divin
ity only by uncompromising loyalty
to truth. To retain his life by deny
ing truth would be to lose more than
life. Emerson, says:
Though love repine and reason chafe.
There came a voice without reply
"Tis man's perdition to be safe.
When for the truth he ought to die."
The distinguishing characteristic
of the Inspired life is the spirit of
sacrifice Whoever possesses that
belongs o the nobility of nature, to
kinshin in God. whether he wears the
rags of a mendicant or the robes of
a king. There is no stronger evi
dence of the immanence of God and
the truth that his spirit flows
through and inspires thousands out
side the list of the religious writers
and speakers, than Is furnished by
th"e iconoclast and the martyr, who
are necessarily the antagonists of the
accepted ideas of their day. They rep
resent the most godlike qualities and
the highest ide&ls known among men.
Through such personalities divinity
speaks, the supreme life. flows, the
divine fire is kindled in others, and
that miracle of miracles Is wrought
the transformation of the common
place Into the sublime.
Who can grasp the tremendous sig
nificance of the literal divinity of
man and the mighty truth that he is
a god in the making? Behind him lie
the conquered fields of his past evo
lution. Before him stretches the 11
Hmiitable future where his battles for
wisdom, power and compassion shall
be fought in the starlit temples of
the gods!
THE LITERARY PBRISCOP& 1
N'
MISS ETHEL R. SAWYER,
Director of Training Class. Library Asso
ciation of Portland.
OW that planting time is com
ing on our thoughts turn fondly
to seeds and things. Earth
yearnings arise in us and everyone
who can beg or buy a bucket of dirt
and a window box begins a series, of
Intensive farming experiments. Let
us not at this time forget to pay due
honor to one source of our spring de
Ifght. those public servants who scat-
sprini
oir of
hope of a fine crop of votes in the
fall. J. P. McEvoy has set down our
feelings in appropriate verse in his
"Slams of Life" "with malice for all
and charity toward none."
I know I have a congressman
Id Washington. D. C.
For now and then he conies around
To get a vote from me:
Ho proudly shakes me by the hand
Aud asks about my needs.
And when he goes to Washington
He sends me garden seeds.
Whenever there's a bill tor which
I'd like to have him vote,
I trust in him and tell him so
By 'telegram or note;
And he gets every one, I know,
And every one he reads.
For always when the Spring- has come.
He sends me garden seeds.
The other day T wrote to him
"We put our faith In you
To make the league of nations safe
If Wilson puts it through."
His answer came right back to me:
"Appreciate your needs .
Am sending In tomorrow's mail
Some lovely garden seeds."
I am glad I have a congressman
la Washington. D. C.
His legislative efforts there
Mean oh so much to me!
He is my representative.
For me his bosom bleeds.
And always when the Spring has come
He sends me garden seeds.
Radishes and lettuces.
Tomatoeses. cucumbersca.
Such lovely garden seedsl
In spite of the recent boom in
poetry products we can t get roucn
in the way of income tax from the
younger versifiers. According to air
Ernest Hodder Williams, president of
Hodder & Stoughton, London, and
vice-president of George H. Doran
Publishing company, publishers still
count themselves lucky if they sell
300 copies of the work of & highly
praised young poet.
Whiting Williams, author of
What's on the Worker's Mind," is
Rio mere arm-chair economist, nor
he even content to be a swivel-chair
theorist. To gather material for his
book he spent seven months at naro
labor in steel mill, coal mine and
other labor centers. Since writing
his books he has addressed 11 cham
bers of commerce, 10 national organi
zations of manufacturers, while
carrying on his regular courses on
the management of labor In the
Harvard business school. Now If he
really had his eyes and ears open
during all these months he should
have much of value to tell us, al
though, of course, the most crushing
weight that Is on some workers'
minds the fear of dependency for
themselves or their families can
never be really known by any one
who comes, however sincerely, as
temporary laborer, buoyed up by the
knowledge that whatever he may
suffer, bis family is cared for.
Hilda Conkling, our 9-year-old
poetess, has been announced as the
winner of the Touchstone Magazine
noetrv contest for February. Finan
daily that means $50. Professionally
(can you call poetry a profession
these days) it is interesting, because
these poems were submitted anony
mously, of course, and there were
several distinguished adult poets par
ticipating in the competition.
Floyd Dell it seems Is "slight and
a little shy," "Don't tell them." he
begs, "because I still like to think
I'm shocking some one, and I still
like to think I'm one of them; but
the younger generation takes away
my breath. Why! When I read F.
Scott Fitzgerald I went to the mir
ror and looked at mj-self to see how
many hairs there were left, and said,
"Good Lord, can It be you're getting
middle-aged!" Well, if the young
people In Fitzgerald's "This side of
Parad'se" are a faithful representa
tion of actual 'boys and girls in our
world, we elderly monitors had better
move up within shouting distance of
the times. Protect the innocence of
youth! Why, goodness me, It's we
innocent old things who need pro
tection from the sophistication of
youth. They won't leave us a single
illusion soon!
F. P. A., in the 'ntroduct'on of C. L.
Edson's "The gentle art of Column
ing," says that column-conducting is
the pleasantest job In the world.
'HJiven a set of morning papers, any
child able to frame a coherent sen
tence and to rhyme in simple couplets,
can begin to write a column. In a day
or two the public will bee-in to help
The Oregon Bools
and Tract Depot
Now Located at 266 'j Alder St,
BIBLES, TRACTS AND CHRIS
TIAN LITERATURE ON SALE
FREE READING ROOM
Just Received New Shipment of
Chafers Works '
Phone Aut. 520-43
him; then he Is an editor andi a con
ductor, and the public does most of
his work for. him:" Now, if there is
one sort of work that we aspire to
do it is that chief job of a good ex
ecutive getting some one else to do
the work. But we don t find it
easy as F. P. A. makes out. For some
time now we have been running more
or less of a column In these pages
and we can assure you the work is
mostly achieved by the sweat from
one individual brow. Somebody's
shirking.
Theodore Maynard, the English
poet, came to visit us last spring
and likes America so much that he
is "staying on." He has been visiting
his parents in Canada and now is
bringing out a new volume of
poems, ,"The Last Knight" and a first
novel entitled, "The Divine Adven
ture."
An account of what is probably the
first novel ever written is contained
in W. C. Summers' "Silver Age of
Latin Literature." Fragments only
of the story remain, but it seems to
have originally been a voluminous
work by Gaius Petronius, the master
of ceremonies of Nero's court. Surely
you remember the noble Petronius in
"Quo Vadis" who opened his views
and departed with dignity to the
Blj-sian Fields when tho Neronian
favor was withdrawn. This work
"The Satirae," is an exciting and in
volved story of Roman high-life and
is supposedly the sole forerunner of
modern realistic fiction that classic
literature affords.
Just one hundred years ago last
month John Keats died in Rome. A
young man of 24, very short in sta
ture and dreamy of gaze, with bronze-
brown hair and luminous hazel eyes
he had published in 1820 a wonder
ful little volume of thirteen poems,
eight of which, at. least, are master
pieces of English verse. Utterly out
of place in the England of his time,
lashed by the critics, and sick to
death with love, as well as with bodily
ills, be yet felt sufficiently conscious
of his own achievements to say Just
at the end, "I think I shall be among
tho English poets after my death."
They say that the Macmillan com
pany has offered a $100 prize for the
best rhymed review of Wells' "Out
line of History." Now there's an
Idea for a little extra money on the
side and we ask only that If one of
our readers wins the prize he (or
she) will play fair and give us half.
Balanced ration for week-end read
ing: "Breakers and Granite," by John
Gould Fletcher.
"Kim," by Rudj-ard Kipling.
"The Behaviour of Crowds," by
Everett D. Martin.
BECKER "Literary Review."
He who makes no mistakes does nothing.
He who makes many mistakes loses his Job.
Booker Washington.
' '
Read a book for Religious Book
Week, March 13-20th.
The Feast of Lanterns, by Louis Jordan
Mlln. Fred A. Stokes Company, New
York City.
Our author knows her China inti
mately. She gave proof of this in
"Mr. Wu" and other stories, and gives
new evidence of her wonderful talent
in the present novel, "The Feast of
Lanterns."
In the latter we are treated to sym
pathetic colorful ' tone pictures of
Chinese womanhood and girlhood, also
domestic peace. Chinese manhood
peeps in only occasionally, while Chi
nese virtues, the love of home and
purity of Chinese family life ever are
extolled.
The novel opens in China about 30
or 35 years ago, and the principal
characters are members of the aristo
cratic clan or family of Ch'eng. An
old proverb had predicted that some
day a girl of this clan would save
China in a time of great need and
peril. For many years mothers of the
family had given birth to sons, and
daughters of the Ch'eng house unless
legally adopted were non-existent.
Here is one sample paragraph as to
the excellence of Chinere virtue, etc.:
All Chinese home life starts with one
great underlying advantage physical
beauty. And It has many others. Every
Chinese is born into surroundings of pre
eminent beauty beauty of form, beauty
of color, beauty of exquisite juxtapositions
natural beauty and beauty of all things
that are made into beauty, and Into an al
most untainted atmosphere of good taste
and intrinsic kindliness.
Consciously or unconsciously, every Chi
nese is a sincere lover of nature and of
everything lovely. No other people has so
stern and uncompromising a sense or jus
tice, so ready a sense of humor, more bal
ance, more unflinching loyalty or less ex
aggerated estimate of the Importance of
self. It is a proud people without vanity:
a self-reliant, strong people, lacking bru
tality; suave without affectation, dignified
without self-assertion; free from ridicu
lousness, industrious, contented, hard
working dreamers who, too. are shrewdly
practical, honest above all other races.
home-keeping, home-loving: first of all
peoples in Its love of children and In its
chivalrous treatment and Just estimate of
womanhood. The clan or Ch eng had ail
these characteristics indeed few Chinese
lack them.
From these extracts it will be ob
served that our author has fallen in
love with China and Chinese, and that
she writes in the idealistic sense.
The head of the Ch'eng clan and
house is Ch'eng Shao Tun, a widow
and a stern ruler in her own right.
She had borne her lord seven sons,
but she was possessed of two great
sorrows: the death of her husband
and because she had borne him no
daughter. Ch'eng Yun was one of six
sisters and the niece of a score of
aunts. She was on terms of intimacy
with the illustrious empress-dowager.
Her favorite was her youngest son
and idol, Ch'eng Chu-po. To conserve
and serve China was this aristocratic
widow's religion. She was prone to
fits of furious anger over trifles.
The time comes when the young
man, Ch'eng Chu-po, must by the cus
toms of his clan, get a wife and rear
familj'. The idea is repugnant to
him, as he does not wish to leave
his mother. He had never loved a
girl.
One sunny day Ch eng Chu-po set
out to celebrate1 the feast of lanterns
ne of the big events in the Chinese
calendar. A procession approaches,
as guard to an illustrious girl of blue
blood one Sing Tzu and the anchor
ite Chu-po sees her and loves her.
Sing Tzu is a girl of wonderful
beauty. , Chu-po makes an Impas
sioned pma. to his mother that he may
marry Sing Tzu. and after a stern re
fusal the mother relents and the two
lovers are married.
The wedding is a state affair. But
no girl comes of this marriage and the,
dowager-ruler is furiously angry J
When a baby boy is born the dowa
ger is not mollified. She wants a
granddaughter.
The dowager-mother sends Chu-po
to England to get an Englsh educa
tion and to learn the ways of white
people. The Ch'eng clan and others
are worried over Russian plots to ab
sorb Manchuria and Japanese plots to
seize Corea. Cholera visits China and
kills many of the Ch'eng chieftains.
Chu-po, who alone is left to the dowa
ger, is summoned home, but at Hong
kong the cholera kills him. Tzu dies
of a broken heart.
Tzu's son is named Ch'eng Lo Yuet
and when he comes of age the stern
grandmother finds him a wife. Hua
Foh Tien, a maiden of a noble clan.
Suppose further lineage is omitted?
On page 128 there are 304 pages
n the novel it is announced that at
length a granddaughter is born to
the dowager-ruler, and the baby is
named Tien Tzu. She is the real hero
ine of the novel. She grows up as a
girl of wondrous beauty and intellec
tual gifts and accomplishments. When
Bhe reaches her tenth year she is sent
.......
, , . v ..... I
: fo 'T -.::
i
liin ,i.-...r.lM j L
mm !
Arthur James Balfour, author
' of Essays, Speculative svod
Political."
with a slave girl named Mung Pann
to England to receive her education.
In describing what happened to Tien
Tzu in England the novel is at its
best. An English lover appears, Jack
Selwyn, Lord Ashford, and he kisses
her. to Tien Tzu's great distaste. Tien
Tzu knows that she is being reared
and educated to serve China. Is she
to become the wife of a white hus
band, or is she to go home to China
and do as all the honorable women of
her clan have done?
I
MARCH 13-20
"A campaign to promote a wider interest in
religious books."
This store Interprets religion as concerned with every
thing thaf helps humanity. Here are some of the topics
that will be featured this week, and you are cordially
Invited to come and browse, whether you wish to buy or
not:
Social and World
Problems
Educational Methods
and Reform
Christianizing
. America
Labor Problems
Reconstruction
Personal Religious Life
Books of Comfort
Immortality -Bible
Stories
Methods of Church
Work
Our book department and show windows have been
fiven over this week to fitting displays for the occasion,
t will be well worth a few moments of your time to come
in and look around.
NOTE: The Judges in the Book Contest have not yet
been able to arrive at a decision on account of the gen
eral excellence of the manuscripts submitted. However,
the winners wilt surely be announced in this space next
week, as the manuscripts are now in the hands of the
Judges:
MISS JESSIE HODGE MILLARD, Children's Supervisor,
Portland Public Library.
MRS. J. F. HILL,, President Parent-Testrher Council.
MR JAMES K. BROCK. WAY Scout Executive.
The J. K. Gill Co.
Third and Alder Streets
v
The Mirrors of Downing Street. Illus
trated, o. P. Putnam's Sons, New York
City.
Whoever the author of this power
fully written but slightly pessimistic
book, is, he shows decided ability in
expressing frank opinions that are
worth while and skill in making
these opinions readable.
The author signs himself as "A gen
tleman with a duster" and presents
word portraits of noted people as if
these were shown on a mirror. Our
author asserts that this mirror is
dustj-. because the people who are
mirrored perform dusty actions and
obscure themselves from public view.
Therefore, our author - procures a
duster and removes the dust from the
mirror, so that all may see.
The mirror is BritlRh and mostlv
political one. Word portraits are
printed of these British notables:
Premier Lloyd George, Lord Carnock,
Lord Fisher, Herbert Asquith, Lord
Northcliffe, Arthur J. Balfour, the
late Lord Kitchener. Lord Robert
Cecil, Winston Churchill, orLd Hal-
dane, Lord Rhondda, Lord Inverforth
and Lord Leverhulme.
In writing about these notables our
author is more often personal and
critical than laudatory. He writes in
that strain, he says, to show these
idols the errors of their ways, in the
hope that they repent for the sake
of sick and ailing England that needs
men.
We are told that Lloyd George has
in him "the soul of an eagle force
striving to rise above the earth on
sparrows' wings. Lloyd George also
has "lost his old fire and is tired out."
Mr. Asquith is ungrateful to friends
and lacks decision at critical mo
ments. Lord Northcliffe suffers from
pessimism due to some organic' trou
ble, and while he is a tremendous
driving force, he apes Napoleon, .is
too fond of the limelight and succeeds
largely because "other men work for
him." Arthur J. Balfour has harmful
aloofness of character and has an
artificial manner. Lord Kitchener
was a driving force, a maker of a
machine that made others work and
"stupid" and "selfish." Lord Robert
Cecil is a dreamer and not a doer.
Lord Haldane is the martyr and hero
who really won the late war as far
as England is concerned. The late
Lord Fisher was the real naval hero
who checkmated Germany.
Our author is someone over the
Atlantic who has a wide and Inti
mate acquaintance with English
statesmen and political and social
conditions over there. His great cry
for England Is "nobler living."
Kssays Speculative and Political, by Arthur
.lames Ballour. ueurge it. uoran co..
New York city. ,
Mr. Balfour is on nf the most cele
brated and experienced of English
statesmen, and during the late war
he occupied a responsible position in
the government of his country. His
life work is stamped on the far-flung
history of the British empire.
These ten essays have been col
lected by Mr. Balfour during the last
dozen years and have appeared In va
rious publications. They are ably
written, with that charm and polish
of which Mr. Balfour is master.
The titles are: "Decadence," "Beauty
and the Criticism of Beauty," "Berg
son's 'Creative Evolution,"' "Francis
Bacon," "Psychical Research," "Anglo-German
Relations." a paper writ
ten for "Nord und Sud." 1912:
"Treitschke's view of German World
Policy." 1916: "The 'Freedom of the
Seas." addressed to the American pub.
lie in 1916: "The Foundations of a
Durable Peace," a British reply of
January. 1917, and "A Brief Note on
Zionism."
Mr. Balfour writes In cultured Eng.
llsh style, and uses carefully chosen
words. His paragraphs are long.
The Strength of the Pines, by Edlsen War
shall. Little, Brown 4i Co., Boston.
Bold, strong and rugged in recital,
this is a splendid out-of-doors novel,
reflecting the mountain folk of south
ern Oregon.
Wild folk who have little respect
for law and order and who believe
in enforcing demands by rifle fire
are pictured In these 308 pages.
Bruce Duncan as he thought his
name was hurries from his eastern
home to the Oregon mountains on re
ceipt of word that his old playmate
and sister, Linda, was In peril from
outlaws. Bruce learns that his real
name Is Bruce Folger and that a
blood feud over the possession of
lands exists between the Folgerj and
Turners. .
The Turners try t kill Bruce and
there is a succession of fights, rifle
shots and bloodshed. A giant grizzly
bear comes upon the scene and is a
principal actor In the mountain
drama. Of course there Is a love tale.
Ihe novel is a healthy, worthy ad
dition to novels picturing Oregon's -
out of doors.
Mind Adrift, by Daniel Wright Klttredse.
b. . snorey. Seattle.
It is as If Edgar Allen Poe had sud
denly come to life and had written a
morbid tale of dark realism like this.
It contains S3 pages.
The hero of the little book is
Plunkett Treen, M. D.. but who had
never practiced medicine. He was
fabulously rich and in his time a dia
mond rival of Cecil Rhodes, the South
African diamond king. At the open
ing of the story Mr. Treen is a passen
ger on a steamer going from this
country to Egypt, and he behaves so
quetrly and talks so wildly about the
"hounds of custom" that he Is placed
under restraint, charged with insan
ity. Occasionally the book Is ram
bling and confused.
Decidedly a strange message.
A First Book in American lllntory. by
Charles A. Bard and William c. Bg
ley. Tho MacMlllan Co., New York city.
Clearly Illustrated and printed, this
book on elementary history ought to
get glad welcome In the school room.
It begins with tho arrival of Colum
bus, and concludes with the end of
the world war In November, 191S.
The text of the book is patriotically
American, and the general story is
told in fair, honest fashion, with no
partisan bias. Many of the objections
raised to previous histories of this
sort are not to be found within thei-o
pages. The little book is cordially
commended to the attention of school
authorities.
America Triumphant I'nder God and His
Christ, by Kilty Clieatuam. u. r, ul
nam's Sons, New York City.
Written In reverent Rtyle and with
choice of words that compel the read
er's attention, this little book of S4
pages gives a message that has rest
ful, soothing Influence. It dips into
metaphysics, and has several refer
ences to writings by Mrs. Augusta
E. Stetson of New York city. There
are 84 pages.
The Sirth Sense, by Stephen McKenna.
Ueorge H. Doran Co., New York city.
Quite an able philosophical English
novel, and attractively told. Two of
the characters, Rawnsley and Gart
side., speculate on the sixth sense, or
an Intensified smell sense, beyond or
dinary seeing, hearing, smelling and
touching (p. 76). The characters have
manv adventures, ana tnev travel tar.
g HE sense of pleasure which buying a good
g book arouses comes from the memory of past
delights. Often a man will smile as he turns
the pages of an Oxford book for past experi
ence tells him what to anticipate.
t-A selection of those recently issued.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN EUROPEAN
THOUGHT
Edited by F. S. Marvin Af. $3.00
Twelve essays by noted scholars summarizing the work of
the leading European thinkers in the Ust fifty yean.
GREAT BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES
1 'By J. Travis Mills Wet 2.50
A critical review of their historical relations in lectures
delivered to men of the American Army of Occupation
in Germany.
TUTORS UNTO CHRIST
Sjp Alfred E Gar vie W f2-25
An interesting introduction to the study of religions.
THE AMERICAN SUPREME COURT
'By Herbert A. Smith Tf $i0
A reasoned summary of the Supreme Court's work in
inter-sute cases and its signifies nr in the settling of inter
national disputes.
ROMAN ESSAYS AND INTERPRETATIONS
"By W. Warde Fowler 5.65
A book for the folklorist and student of
religion u well u the clawing.
STUDIES IN HISTORY AND POLITICS
'By H. A. L Fisher 5.65
Delightful essays largely fnirriricil in character from the pen
of the present British Minister of Fdiirarinn.
MEDALS OF THE RENAISSANCE -
'By G. F. Hni Vet -25.00
Covers the entire field of merlslTir art m the fifteenth and
and sixteenth centuries valuable alike as a referenos work
and for ha fine illustrations which figure for tha most part
pieces not previously illustrated.
tAt all booksellers or from the pubKshert.
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS atmtriam branch
35 WEST JSkd STREET, NEW YORE
'Jfio, standard of textuaf crccTcnce.