EDITORIAL 



3*3 



backs, while war makes men erect , fine 

 in appearance and wholesome to look 

 at. 



Arcadian simplicity means exactly 

 what the country is now urging that 

 everybody shall do. Work hard, live 

 near to nature, and as simply as pos- 

 sible ; for frivolous expenses and fool- 

 ish pursuits substitute economy and 

 hard work faithfully and earnestly per- 

 formed. 



War has also supplied our tables 

 with better fare. Formerly every one 

 was regarded as a crank who said, Eat 

 less meat and more vegetables. We 

 now say that such a man is a patriot 

 and shout hurrah for his patriotism. 

 Many of us with Arcadian instincts 

 could all the time have told you that. 

 They who have been preaching and 

 practising it have been called vegeta- 

 rians and cranks. It took submarines 

 and howitzers to blow even a part of 

 the superfluous meat from our tables. 



Hoover did not inflict suffering but 

 furnished luxuries in his war breads. 

 We never did believe in the autocracy 

 of white bread. 



The farther we depart from nature 

 the worse the result always seems to 

 be. When we refuse whole wheat for 

 the jejune yet beautiful white bread we 

 are not heeding nature's call. Now 

 thanks to the war, we have economical 

 war bread that, in comparison with the 

 innutritious plain white bread, is an un- 

 dreamed of luxury. The mixtures of 

 Graham, whole wheat, bran, rye, buck- 

 wheat, corn meal are blessings. They 

 are bright spots in a picture brought 

 out by the blackness of war. The world 

 will never go back to where it was be- 

 fore the war. 



So much for the nature and Arcadian 

 point of view. The naturalists are de- 

 lighted by this return to the simple 

 things of life. We leave to the preach- 

 ers in the pulpits what is especially 

 their province, the discussion of our re- 

 turn to the serious, thoughtful, relig- 

 ious point of view, to which the hor- 

 rors of war are bringing us. One of 

 the best preachers who have pointed 

 out these good features of the war, 

 while not a preacher in the common 

 acceptation of the term, is in reality 

 one of the best. We refer to Harry 

 Lauder. Hear his words. 



"In the days before the war, young 



Englishmen and Frenchmen were 

 leading gay, careless lives, with hardly 

 a thought for the morrow or for such 

 shadowy things as death or a future 

 life. 'Let us live and be merry' was 

 the cry then, but now it is all different. 

 Because when men know that at any 

 moment a shell may explode in their 

 midst and blow them to shreds, or that 

 an order may come during the night 

 for certain regiments to make ready to 

 go over the top at dawn, their thoughts 

 are mostly on their God and on the 



life to come all through 



the night you see silent, yet calm and 

 peaceful faces in the dugouts, and, 

 somehow, the religious atmosphere 

 makes a definite impression upon you. 

 So much so that one night an officer 

 said to me, very quietly : 



AVhen I see the men this way, I 

 sometimes wonder if this war was not 

 brought about by God as the only 

 means of making the world think of 

 Him and His laws more often!'" 



The Reverend Oliver Huckel, Pas- 

 tor Second Congregational Church of 

 Greenwich, Connecticut, says it is a 

 blessing to churches. He cites as fol- 

 lows : 



"One striking instance is the united 

 church services Person- 

 al preferences and personal conven- 

 iences have been set aside, and all the 

 churches have united heartily, loyally 

 and enthusiastically in these services. 

 I am sure that this war-measure and 

 coal-exigency are proving an emphatic 

 blessing to the churches. It is inaugu- 

 rating an era of Christian fellowship 

 from which, I pray God, there will 

 never be a retreat, even after the Avar. 

 We have all made mutual concessions, 

 but we have found how delightful is 

 this united fellowship in worship and 

 service. I believe it is a distinct lead- 

 ing of God, a providential step in the 

 progress of God's kingdom." 



Truly, he who unfolds to us the way 

 in which God works through the world 

 of phenomena may well be called the 

 best of religious teachers. In the study 

 of the organic world, no less than in 

 the study of the starry heavens, is it 

 true that "day unto day uttereth 

 speech, and night unto night showeth 

 knowledge." — John Fiske, "Excursions 

 of an Evolutionist." 



