THE VOICE OF characteristic of the better life of our time ? It 

 is often supposed "that to be a nature-lover 

 implies unvexed indifference to the human af- 

 fairs of the time, and that therefore it makes 

 for a kind of serene and weak utopianism." 

 Does not the impulse of service lead us to the 

 place where men most gather, the city rather 

 than the country, the street rather than the 

 garden? 



Most surely, the true ideal for man is not 

 that of the meditative life of withdrawal from 

 common human interests, not that individual- 

 istic spiritual development centering the soul 

 upon itself and its moods, but that of service 

 inspired by a sense of community of life and of 

 life's interests. It must not be forgotten that 

 while the Bible story of humanity begins in a 

 garden, it ends with a vision of a city. 



But what best fits us for the service of man? 

 Is it not best found in the cultivation of a sane 

 and stable confidence, an unfailing poise and 

 balance of mind and heart? Without such 

 poise and repose we become involved in the 



