“Why, they are all alike to me, Mr. Babson. I don’t know one from the other.”
Later in the evening—it was during the Christmas vacation—a young fellow drove up to the house in a fancy automobile, came in and asked for this manufacturer’s only daughter in order to take her to a party. I didn’t like the looks of the fellow very well. After they had gone out, I said to the father:
“Who is that chap?”
The father replied: “I don’t know; some friend of Mary’s.”
The father had every one of his cows blue-printed, but he didn’t know the name of the man who came to get his daughter and who didn’t deliver her until two o’clock the next morning! That man was neglecting the human soul, both in his factory and in his home.
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I repeat that we have gone crazy over structures above ground. We are absolutely forgetting the greatest of our resources,—the great spiritual resource, upon which everything depends. How shall we develop these resources?
Certainly we are not developing this great spiritual resource in the public schools. The educational system was originally founded by the Church to train the children in the fundamentals of righteousness. Gradually, but constantly, we have drifted away from this goal and to-day the purpose for which our schools were started has been almost entirely lost. In some states it is now a criminal offence for a school superintendent to ask a prospective school teacher what she believes or whether she has any religion whatever! Under these conditions, is it surprising that the spiritual resources of our children are lying dormant?
Much of the prosperity of this nation is due to the family prayers which were once daily held in the homes of our fathers. To a very large extent this custom has gone by. Whatever the arguments pro and con may be, the fact nevertheless remains that such family prayers nurtured and developed these spiritual resources to which the prosperity of the nation is due. The custom of family prayers should be revived along with many other good New England customs which some modern radicals may ridicule, but to which they owe all that they possess.
The masses to-day are getting their real education from the daily newspapers. Many of these newspapers have much good material, but the great effort of the daily press is not to make producers, but rather to make consumers. The policy of the daily press is not to get people to serve, but rather to get them to buy. Not only is the larger portion of the newspapers given up to advertising, but most of this advertising is of non-essentials, if not of luxuries. With this advertising constantly before the people of the country, it is but natural that the material things should seem of greatest importance. To remedy this situation is a great problem to-day facing the Christian business men of this country. What shall we do about it?