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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 6, 1905)
OCTOBER 6, 1905 The Commoner. 5 THE FREEMASONRY OF SENTIflENT He was a man of ardent affections and bitter prejudices. He was quick to judge harshly but equally quick to revise his opinion. Ho was ' sojourning in a western city. He visited a church whose creed was not his and whoso preacher, from the first, stirred his prejudices. He seemed determined not to be satisfied with anything this preacher did, and when the sermon had been delivered he had satisfied himself that it was one of the poorest to which he had ever listened. But a change came over the spirit of his dreams; and a little child was the central figure in the scene which made this man con clude that, after all, he had listened to one of the grandest sermons that had ever been preached and had participated in one of the sweetest ser vices that had ever been rendered. At the conclusion of the sermon the preacher said: "You will all temember how one bleak morning last winter we carried from this church all that was mortal of a woman who was loved because her whole life showed that she lmew she was serving God best when she rendered service to God's needy creatures. The poor and the sick of this neighborhood outside of the membership of this church- have missed her every day since her death, but today we are to have a re minder of her noble life. Most of us remem ber that ten days prior to her death a little child was born unto her, and although she was well prepared to die, she was more than ever anxious to live because of her longing for a little one upon whom she could lavish some of the boundless affection she had given freely to the needy. Today that little child is to be baptized, and I call your at tention to these facts by way of tribute to its mother's precious memory and in the hope that her fine example will be ever before us." It was not difficult to see that the stranger in that church was, as the boys would say, "sitting up and taking notice" just at this stage of th6 proceedings. And he was one of the most deeply Interested spectators as the aunt of the motherless child carried the little one to the altar. Holding the child in his arms the preacher went through the baptismal service; and then before handing it back to the aunt he held it at arms length and took a long, earnest and, we-may say, a loving look into its happy face. Then pressing the little one to his breast he kissed it passionately while the tears coursing down his furrowed, cheeks gave to the mother less child another baptism not the baptism provided in the service books but the out pouring of human love and human sympathy which, after all, is the substance of the form provided in our creeds. By this time the tears were rolling down the stranger's cheeks. The hostility within his heart for that old preacher was entirely gone. The love, the sympathy, the tenderness which he had failed to detect in the sermon of the day he had observed in the kisses which the preacher gave to the motherless child, and in the tears which rained upon the baby's face. He knew that that preacher was his "kind of people." He had recognized the freemasonry of sentiment. He saw clearly the tie that binds men of deep feeling, and he felt as though he would be glad to grasp that preacher's hand. Certainly he was a better man because hostility had been banished from his heart; and perhaps, after all, he was a stronger man because of the necessity for the readjustment of his opinion. Several years ago a newspaper man wrote a simple little article that had small literary merit but depended for public approval solely upon its tender sentiments. A man who was generally believed to be hardhearted wrote to this newspaper man a personal letter thanking him for the article referred to, and saying: "I have frequently found these kind of sentiments cherished where one would least expect them to bo, and I am frank enough to say that I am surprised in this . instance." The newspaper man was just as much surprised to learn that his article had met favor at the hands of his correspondent. We don't know all that is going on in the hearts of our neighbors. Of course the cynic would say that if we did we would more regularly jock up our hen-roosts at night. But everyone knows some man upon whom he has passed erroneous judgment, Everyone knows some man whom he at, one time regarded as cruel and ?JtleS8' but lator found t0 b0 lcnlor and true. While some of our greatest writers would give us the impression that most men aro bad, if we will but examlno our own experiences with the majority of our acquaintances, wo will dis cover that these writers, famous though they are, merely skimmed the surface In the "proper study of mankind." .Some of us prefer the opinion of that writer who said "he only fears men who does not know them, and ho who avoids thorn will soon misjudge them." Too often wo mistake thoughtlessness for meanness. Some havo polntod to the eagerness with which men will push one another in order to secure a scat on a crowded street car or train, or to purchase a ticket at a crowded box office. They forget tho many instances where men have calmly submitted to death in order that tho lives of women and children might be saved. They forgot tho great heroism, the patient labor and tho ten der sympathy shown at every railroad wreck whore men in large numbers havo gathered. They forget tho prompt responso made in the average American neighborhood in casoB of sick ness and distress. They forgot tho many little and yet important services rendered by one man when it comes to burying another man's dead. They forget that every appeal made upon tho sympathy of men for help for the afflicted has been promptly and fully responded to, whether the calls came to the men of a nation, to tho men of a state, to the men of a county or to tho men of a small community. They forgot the hospitals that have been erected and main tainednot in most cases by the liberal con tributions of rich men, but by the small and regular donations of poor men. They forget the Houses of the Good Shepherd and similar in stitutions whose doors are ever open to fallen women. They forget the ready response to alms that may be counted on in any street in any city of the land where the beggar's necessity Is apparent. They forget the support given and the respect shown for the Volunteers, the Sal vation Army and kindred organizations support given in most cases by those who make no pro fession of religion. They forget the constant, steady tendency toward good manifested in our public sentiment, if not at all times in our laws a public sentiment constantly striving to advance the best Interests of society, constantly strug gling to overcome the evils incident to society. The cynics would have us accept tho methods of the insurance ringsters as a fair sample of the disposition of men; but they forget that when ever such crimes as these have been exposed the condemnation by public opinion has been overwhelming. t They forget that it Is the very goodness of men which, slow to see evil in others, has, in part, made it possible for a coterie of men to Impose upon their fellows. Tho cynics would have us believe that the instances of corruption in public life fairly reflect the char ater of men generally. They forget that, while the people are sometimes slow In learning the truth, when faithful prosecuting attorneys have uncov ered wrongdoing and honest governor- have set themselves squarely against the encroachments of powerful interests men of all political parties and of all creeds, and men of no political party and no creed, have rushed to the support of good government. Man's struggle for light does not terminate with the delivery of his college diploma. With most of us it is a constant and a desperate struggle; not only a struggle for existence, but a struggle against passions, a struggle to do the right thing at the right time. A show made its appearance in a frontier town. There was no orchestra, but an old organ was secured and finally one thoughtful and observing citizen who had learned to play the organ, was persuaded to act as the "orches tra." The rough frontiersmen gathered in large - numbers, most of them with great pistols buckled to their waists, and when tho "orchestra man" took his place at the organ it was noticed that he had taken the precaution to pin upon his back a large placard bearing the words: "Don't shoot tho organist. He's doing the best he knows how' Some of us yet believe that most of us are doing tho best we "know how." One great trouble is that "men's evil manners ye in brass; their virtues we write in water." If men would get closer to one another there would be less cvnicism in the world, and, all important, less cvnicism in the world's literature. "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin," or rather rominds us Uint wo nro all kin, just as brothers, long-tlmo outranged havo lator boon reconciled at tho knoo of tho mother or at tho mother's grave, or perhaps by some touch Ing reminder that thoy nro brothers and that sympathy, kindness and tho forgiving spirit aro part and parcel In tholr duty. Somo of those eminently prnctlcal men aro wont to laugh at their fellows who deal In that sontimont which Lowell describes as "Intollec-' tuallzod omotlon, emotion proclpttatod, as It wore, in pretty crystals by the fancy." But those "pretty crystals" never hurt nny ono. Thoro are a few men who havo habitually repressed this "intol lectuallzed emotion," and somo In whom it wan nover dovoloped. Robert G. Ingorsoll, riding on a train ono evening noticed tho beautiful sunsot, and touching his scat-neighbor on tho arm, pointed across tho field, saying: "Isn't that sim ply beautiful?" His neighbor looked out of the car window, but his vision roachod no farther than a bunch of cattle, and he ropllod: "Suro It is. Them's tho finest bunch of steers I've scon in many a day." A leading wostorn lawyer was onco askod whether ho had even known a man who was wholly bad. Ho replied: "1 thought I (lid at one time, but I found that, after all, 1 was mistaken. For many years I had as a cllont a rich man In whom I hr.d not been ablo to discover a good im pulse. In the course of years this man came to be an Invalid and ho lost his fortune. During his bet tor days ho had secured a large sum of life Insur ance. His family was In distress and ono day ho went out and committed suicide in order that those dependent upon him might obtain tho necessities of life. I made up my mind then that there Is some good In every man." It doesn't do to Judge our fellows harshly. The cultivation of kind thoughts Is such a de lightful pastime that it is idlo for men to un dertake to keep up hostilities. It would bo -hotter for every one of us to got through tho world without having enemies, but if we must have them for a time, It would bo well If wo could know thorn better when we might discover that that fine old lover of men knew what he was talking about when he said: "If wo could read the secret lives of our onomlcs wo would find there enough sorrow and suffering to make us lovo them." In somo of tho simplest of verses wo find the greatest of morals. In a book complied for the children there Is a verso that was doubtloHS written for the grown folks: "Do you wish for kindness? Be kind. Do you wish for truth? Bo true. What you give of yourself, you find; your world Is a reflex of you." And long ago a man, pleading for tho kindlier impulse, gave to the world a valuable reminder when In homely verso he wrote: "You daro not chain tho Hon; you must not chain the dove; and every gate you bar to hate will open wide to love." ItlCHARD L. METCALFE. "OUTRAGEOUS CORRUPTION" Referring to "life Insurance abuses" the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, a republican paper, says: Every dollar of life insurance profits Im properly turned into the pockets of individ uals, or secretly placed to influence selfish legislation, Is a species of outrageous corrup tion, a robbery of tho many for the rapacious few. The time to apply the remedy is at the moment of detection, and no one has a right to complain if the euro is stern in its nature. That being true what will tho Globe-Democrat say with respect to the suggestion that the republican national committee "put It back?" The Insurance Inquiry disclosed that one In surance company has contributed $150,000 to the republican national campaign fund during the last three presidential campaigns. This money belonged to tho policyholders, and was contrib uted without their consent. According to the Globe-Democrat, these contributions to the repub lican campaign fund amount to "a species of out rageous corruption, a robbery of the many for the rapacious few." Of course, putting it back would bo a cure "stern in its nature" but, In tho language of the Globe-Democrat "the time to apply the remedy is at the moment of detection." Ono remedy is to provide publicity for all con tributions to political funds, and the prohibition of such contributions by corporations. But "at the moment of detection" the first remedy Is "put it back." 1 1 ii SjWIjjuUfafc. - 4'.