Humanly Speaking | Page 6

gentleman who has preceded me has pointed out, that
concentration in cities is a great evil. It is an evil that should be
counteracted. As I was saying last evening to the Colonial

Dames,--Washington, if he had done nothing else, would be
remembered to-day as the founder of the Order of the Cincinnati. The
figure of Cincinnatus at the plough appeals powerfully to American
manhood. Many a time in after years Cincinnatus wished that he had
never left that plough. Often amid the din of battle he heard the voice
saying to him, 'Back to the Land!'
"It was the same voice I seemed to hear when I received the letter of
your secretary asking me to address this grange. As I left the smoke of
the city behind me and looked up at your granite hills, I said, 'Here is
where they make men!' As I have been partaking of the bountiful repast
prepared by the ladies of the grange, your chairman has been telling me
something about this community. It is a grand community to live in.
Here are no swollen fortunes; here industry, frugality, and temperance
reign. These are the qualities which have given New England its great
place in the councils of the nation. I know there are those who say that
it is the tariff that has given it that place; but they do not know New

England. There are those at this table who can remember the time when
eighty-two ruddy-cheeked boys and girls trooped merrily to the little
red schoolhouse under the hill. In the light of such facts as these, who
can be a pessimist?
"But I must not dwell upon the past; the Boy Scouts of America
prepare for the future. I am reminded that I am not at this moment
addressing the Boy Scouts of America,--they come to-morrow at the
same hour,--but the principle is the same. Even as the Boy Scouts of
America look only at the future, so do you. We must not linger fondly
on the days when cows grazed on Boston Common. The purpose of this
society is to save Boston Common. That the Common has been saved
many times before is true; but is that any reason why we should falter
now? 'New occasions teach new duties.' Let us not be satisfied with a
supetficial view. While fresh loam is being scattered on the surface,
commercial interests and the suburban greed to get home quick are
striking at the vitals of the Common. Citizens of Boston, awake!
"Your pastor had expected to be with you this evening, but he has at the
last moment discovered that he has two other engagements, each of
them of long standing. He has therefore asked me to take his place in
this interesting course of lectures on Church History. The subject of the
lecture for the evening is--and if I am mistaken some one will please
correct me--Ulphilas, or Christianity among the Goths. I cannot treat
this subject from that wealth of historical information possessed by
your pastor; but I can at least speak from the heart. I feel that it is well
for us to turn aside from the questions of the day, for the quiet
consideration of such a character as Ulphilas.
"Ulphilas seems to me to be one of those characters we ought all to
know more about. I shall not weary you by discussing the theology of
Ulphilas or the details of his career. It would seem more fitting that
these things should be left for another occasion. I shall proceed at once
to the main lesson of his life. As briefly as possible let me state the
historical situation that confronted him. It is immaterial for us to
inquire where the Goths were at that time, or what they were doing. It
is sufficient for us to know that the Goths at that time were pagans,

mere heathen. Under those circumstances what did Ulphilas do? He
went to the Goths. That one act reveals his character. If in the
remaining moments of this lecture I can enforce the lesson for us of that
one act, I shall feel that my coming here has not been in vain.
"But some one who has followed my argument thus far may say, 'All
that you have said is true, lamentably true; but what has it to do with
the Advancement of Woman?' I answer, it is the Advancement of
Woman."
"How do you make that out?" I asked.
Bagster looked vaguely troubled. "There is no such thing as an isolated
moral phenomenon," he said, as if he were repeating something from a
former sermon; "when you attempt to remedy one evil you find it
related to a whole moral series. But perhaps I did not make the
connection plain. My