Whatever criticism I choose to make on human character, I hope to
soften the criticism with the "milk of human kindness." As rude rough
rocks on mountain peaks wear button-hole bouquets so there are
intervening traits in the rudest human character, which, if the clouds
could only part, would show out in redeeming beauty.
To begin with, I believe prejudice to be one of the most unreasonable
traits in character. It is said: "One of the most difficult things in
science is to invent a lense that will not distort the object it
reflects; the least deviation in the lines of the mirror will destroy
the beauty of a star." How unreliable then must be the distorting
lense of human prejudice.
I had a bit of experience during the Civil War which gave me something
of that whole-heartedness necessary to the service of my kind. In the
twilight of a summer evening, making a sharp curve in a road, about a
dozen men confronted me. They were dressed in blue, a color I was not
very partial to at that time. I had read that "he that fights and runs
away may live to fight another day." It occurred to me that he who
would run without fighting might have a still better chance, but the
click of gun locks and an order to surrender changed my mind to
"safety first" and I was a prisoner of the blue-coated cavalry.
The commanding officer who had me in charge (during my visit) was a
Kentucky Colonel. He afterward became a major-general. I looked at him
during the remainder of the war from the narrow standpoint of
prejudice and cherished revenge in my heart for his having exposed me
to the flying bullets of the Confederate pickets, a peril he was not
responsible for and of which he knew nothing until I informed him in
after years.
A few years after the war our barks met upon the same wave of life's
ocean. We became engaged in the same work of reform, I as an advocate
of temperance, he as candidate for the presidency of the United States
on the prohibition ticket. From the warmth of friendship, my prejudice
melted like mist before the morning sun and I found in General Green
Clay Smith a combination of the noblest traits in human character.
Whoever would graduate in the highest franchise of being, and realize
the royalty that comes of partnership with sovereignty, must have
respectfulness of bearing and feeling toward those from whom they
differ. We are greatly creatures of education and environment anyway,
and until we can unlock the alphabet of a life and sum up the
mingling, blending, reciprocal forces that have been playing upon that
life, we have no more right to abuse persons for honest convictions
than we have to blame them for their parentage.
You do not know the forces that have given direction to the lives of
others; if so, you might know why one is a member of this or that
church, this or that political party, why one lives north, another
south, one on the land, another on the sea.
Some of you may differ with me, but I believe if General Grant had
been born in the South, reared and educated in the South, his father
had owned a cotton plantation and many slaves, General Grant would
have been a Confederate General in the Civil War; while Robert E. Lee
if born, reared and educated in New England would have been a Union
General. If my opinion is correct, if all you northern people had
lived down south, and we southern people had lived north, we would
have gotten the better of the conflict instead of you.
If yonder oak, that came from the finest acorn and promised to be the
monarch of the forest, was dwarfed by simply a drop of dew; if yonder
rolling river, bearing its commerce to sea, was turned seaward,
instead of lakeward, by simply a pebble thrown in the fountain-head;
why not have consideration for those whose circumstances and early
training set in motion convictions differing from ours. God did not
intend all the trees to be oaks, or that all the rivers should run in
one direction, but He did intend all to make up at last His one great
purpose.
Thomas F. Marshall in an address many years ago, to illustrate the
differences between people of different sections, said: "If you call a
Mississippian a liar, he will challenge you to a duel; call a
Kentuckian a liar, he will stab you with a bowie-knife or shoot you
down; call an Indianian a liar, he will say, 'You're another;' call a
New Englander a liar, he will say, 'I bet you a dollar you can't prove
it.'"
Mr. Marshall intended his compliment for the Mississippian and
Kentuckian, but really his compliment was to the New Englander. If a
man calls you a liar, and you are not a liar, the manliest thing to do
is to say, "I challenge you, sir, not on to a field of dishonor, where
the better aimed bullet will tell who's a murderer, but I challenge
you out into the sunlight of God's truth where I'll prove myself a man
and you a slanderer."
I use this to show it is not just to look at character or questions
from the narrow standpoint of prejudice.
Then again, we should not judge a person by one trait. There are
persons for whom you may do fifty favors, yet make one mistake and
they will never forgive you. George Dewey went to the Philippine
Islands, remained in the harbor for months, never made a mistake and
returned to this country the naval hero of the world; and never were
so many babies, horses and dogs named for one man in the same length
of time. But one morning the papers came out with the statement that
he had deeded to his wife a piece of property some friends had
presented to him, and within three days after, when his picture was
thrown on a canvas in an opera house in Washington City it was hissed
from the audience, and when later on he dared to allow his name used
as a candidate for the presidency of the United States, we were ready
to smash the hero at once. But we must remember there are very few men
able to withstand the world's praises. Indeed there never was but one
man who could be successfully lionized and that man was Daniel.
Captain Smith of the Titanic was held responsible by public opinion
for the sinking of the great ship and was harshly criticised by the
press. His forty years of faithful, careful service on the sea was
erased by the one mistake. It was a tremendous one, but let it be said
to his credit that experts had declared that a ship with fifteen
air-tight compartments could not sink, that if cut into halves both
ends would ride the sea. The bulk-head was made to withstand any
contact, and Captain Smith never dreamt of danger from icebergs. But
when he saw his idol shattered, he did all a brave seaman could do to
save human lives. When the last life-boat was launched he came upon a
little child who was lost from its parents. He seized a life-belt,
buckled it about his waist and taking the child in his arms, jumped
into the icy ocean. Holding the child above the water with one hand,
he used the other as an oar, and reaching a boat he placed the little
one in the arms of a woman. Then returning to his sinking ship, he
threw off the life-belt and went down to his death. Who knows but in
the great reckoning day, his reward will be "inasmuch as ye did it
unto that little one on the sea, ye did it unto me."
The great Joseph Cook had a reputation that caused many to look upon
him as one who was all brains and no heart. Before meeting Mr. Cook I
was very much prejudiced against him because of what I had heard. I
lectured for a teachers' institute at New Wilmington, Pennsylvania,
when the great preacher was to follow me the next evening. As I was
leaving the county superintendent said to me: "When you reach the main
line Joseph Cook will get off the train which you are to take. I wish
you would speak to him and give him the name of the hotel where I have
reserved a room for him." When I reached the junction, and the great
savage looking lecturer stepped from the train, I said to myself: "You
can go to any hotel you please, I'll tell you nothing."
Some months later I lectured in Cooper Union Hall in New York City.
Just about time to begin the lecture Joseph Cook entered the door and
took a seat just inside. When I had talked about ten minutes, he arose
and passed out. I thought he was not pleased and the incident did not
lessen my unfavorable estimate of the great thinker.
Some three years later Mr. Cook was on our chautauqua program at
Lexington, Kentucky. Doctor W.L. Davidson, superintendent of the
assembly, requested me to call at the hotel and inform our
distinguished visitor of his hour and see to his reaching the
chautauqua grounds. With reluctance I went to the hotel and sent my
card to his room. He ordered me to be shown up to the room at once.
Approaching the door I found it open and Mr. Cook stood facing me. My
impression is that politeness was sacrificed in my haste to explain
that I was sent to inform him as to the hour of his lecture and to
offer to call for him in time to escort him to the grounds.
Extending his hand he said: "Come in and let me make my best bow to
you for the service you have rendered the temperance cause. I heard
you once for about ten minutes in Cooper Union, when I had an
engagement and had to leave. I see you are on the program tomorrow and
I shall be there."
After his first lecture, returning to the hotel I said: "Mr. Cook, if
I can be of any service to you while you are in our city, please feel
at liberty to command me at any time."
He replied: "I order you at once. I am anxious to see the home of
Henry Clay and the monument erected to his memory."
Next morning we went to Ashland and then to the cemetery. After
visiting the Clay monument, we were passing near where my daughter had
been buried only a few months before. When I had called his attention
to the sacred spot, Mr. Cook said: "I read Miss Willard's account of
her death, and the beautiful tribute paid her in the Union Signal.
Please stop a moment."
He left the carriage and going to the grave, took off his hat and
stood with uncovered head for a few moments. Then taking his seat
beside me in the carriage, he laid his hand on mine and said: "Blessed
are the dead that die in the Lord."
With tears rolling down my cheeks I said to myself: "Under the great
brain of Joseph Cook beats a tender heart." Not to know him was to
misjudge him, while the close touch of friendship revealed one of
God's noblemen.
Unity in variety is the order of nature. Out of what seems to us a
medley of contradictions come amendments and reconstructions that
illustrate the benevolent guardianship of God in working out the
problem of creation. Out of the most discordant elements God can bring
the most harmonious results. Out of the bitterness and bloodshed of
our Civil War has come a more harmonious, united, happy and prosperous
people.
It was said of General Grant: "He's an artist in human slaughter. He
cares nothing for the loss of men, so he wins the battle." But,
General Grant believed the harder the battle the sooner it would be
over. When the end came he gave back the sword of Lee, and said to the
worn-out Confederate soldiers: "Take your horses with you, you'll need
them on your farms. Go back to your homes and peace go with you." That
manly strength of character that enables a man to face shot and shell
on the battlefield, is not any more sublime than the manly weakness of
heart which "weeps with those who weep."
While we should not judge one by a single trait in character we must
not overlook the importance of little traits. In this age of great
movements, great schemes and great combinations, our young people are
disposed to ignore little things. A little thing in this great big age
is too insignificant. Yet, we are told it was the cackling of a goose
that saved Rome; the cry of a babe in the bull-rushes gave a law-giver
to the Jews; the kick of a cow caused the great Chicago fire; the
omission of a comma in preparing a bill that passed Congress cost this
republic a half million dollars; while the ignoring of a comma in
reading a church notice cost a minister quite a bit of embarrassment.
Among his announcements was one which ran thus: "A husband going to
_sea_, his wife desires the prayers of this church." The preacher
read: "A husband going to see his wife, desires the prayers of this
church."
Little things are suggestive of great things. We read that a
ship-worm, working its way through a dry stick of wood, suggested to
Brunell a plan by which the Thames river could be tunneled. The
twitching of a frog's flesh as it touched a certain kind of metal led
Galvani to invent the electric battery. The swinging of a spider's web
across a garden walk led to the invention of the suspension bridge.
The oscillation of a lamp in the temple of Pisa led Galileo to invent
the measurement of time by a pendulum. A butterfly's wing suggested
the combination of colors. So little things are suggestive of great
things in character.
"Boy wanted" was the sign at the entrance to a store. A boy took the
sign down and with it in his hand entered the store.
"What are you doing with that sign?" asked the proprietor.