nt persons should suffer. The
pessimist cries, "There is no enduring good in man! The tendency of
all things is through perpetual loss to chaos in the end. If there was
ever an idea of good in things evil, it was impotent, and the world
rushes on to ruin." But behold, the law of the two most sober-minded,
practical and law-abiding nations on earth assumes the good in man and
demands a proof of the bad.

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. The prophets of the
world have been of good heart, or their standards would have stood
naked in the field without a defender. Tolstoi's strictures lose power
because they are pessimistic. If he had seen clearly the faults of
America, and still believed in her capacity to overcome them, our
people might have felt the stimulation of his censure. But the world
turns its back on a hopeless prophet and listens to Emerson who takes
into account the best qualities of the nation and attacks only the
vices which no one can defend or deny. It listens to the strong man,
Lincoln, who in times of doubt, trouble and need does not falter. He
sees success afar, and by strenuous hope, by hoping against hope,
inspires a nation. Through the night of despair he says, "All is
well," and thousands rest in his confidence. When such a man censures,
and points to a fault, the nation obeys, and his words sink into the
ears of men; but to the lamentations of the habitual Jeremiah the ear
grows dull.

Our newspapers should remember this. The press is the pulpit of the
modern world, and on the preachers who fill it much depends. If the
protest of the press against unrighteous measures is to avail, then
for ninety-nine days the word of the preacher should be buoyant and of
good cheer, so that on the hundredth day the voice of censure may be
a hundred times strong. This was Lincoln's way. He knew the people; he
believed in them and rested his faith on the justice and wisdom of the
great majority. When in his rough and ready way he said, "You can't
fool all the people all the time," he expressed a great principle, the
doctrine of faith in human nature.

The prophet is not without honor, save he be a pessimist. The ecstatic
prophecies of Isaiah did far more to restore the exiles of Israel to
their homes than the lamentations of Jeremiah did to deliver them from
the hands of evil-doers.

Even on Christmas Day do men remember that Christ came as a prophet of
good? His joyous optimism is like water to f