ng souls of
our cities. They see a vision, not of a purified nation but of a
regenerated and a reorganized society. Shall we throw all this into
the future, into the futile prophecy of those who talk because they
cannot achieve, or shall we commingle their ardor, their overmastering
desire for social justice, with that more sober effort to modify
existing conditions? Are we once more forced to appeal to the
educators? Is it so difficult to utilize this ardor because educators
have failed to apprehend the spiritual quality of their task?

It would seem a golden opportunity for those to whom is committed the
task of spiritual instruction, for to preach and seek justice in human
affairs is one of the oldest obligations of religion and morality. All
that would be necessary would be to attach this teaching to the
contemporary world in such wise that the eager youth might feel a tug
upon his faculties, and a sense of participation in the moral life
about him. To leave it unattached to actual social movements means
that the moralist is speaking in incomprehensible terms. Without this
connection, the religious teachers may have conscientiously carried
out their traditional duties and yet have failed utterly to stir the
fires of spiritual enthusiasm.

Each generation of moralists and educators find themselves facing an
inevitable dilemma; first, to keep the young committed to their charge
"unspotted from the world," and, second, to connect the young with the
ruthless and materialistic world all about them in such wise that they
may make it the arena for their spiritual endeavor. It is fortunate
for these teachers that sometime during "The Golden Age" the most
prosaic youth is seized by a new interest in remote and universal
ends, and that if but given a clue by which he may connect his lofty
aims with his daily living, he himself will drag the very heavens into
the most sordid tenement. The perpetual difficulty consists in finding
the clue for him and placing it in his hands, for, if the teaching is
too detached from life, it does not result in any psychic impulsion at
all. I remember as an illustration of the saving power of this
definite connection, a tale told me by a distinguished labor leader in
England. His affections had been starved, even as a child, for he
knew nothing of his parents, his earliest memories being associated
with a wretched old woman who took the most casual care of him. When
he was nine years old he ra