Article July 26, 1930 Issue

Signs of the Times

with contributions from Basil Binyon, Charles E. Jefferson, Roger W. Babson, Lindsey B. Longacre, W. Major Scott, Helen Keller

[Basil Binyon, in Great Thoughts, London, England]

It is not that there are not great things, but that we do not know how to possess them. Life is full of the most exquisite music, but our ears are heavy; there are gorgeous pageants, but our eyes are blind. There is a great commandment in an ancient and holy book, which most of us have a perfect genius in disregarding, "Thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the Lord thy God hath given unto thee." Few of us know the fullness of that gladness. Rapturous delights invite us, but we give no answer. Brimming cups of joy are pressed to our lips, but we do not drink. We grope in narrow and sullen gorges, when we should tread the summits, rejoicing in the sunlight of the wide vision.

Is not that a strange fatality? We lose to-day's sunshine in the fear of to-morrow's shadow. Some brooding care of imaginary ill blinds us to the good that is immediate. The shadow of a fear that will never be realized sets the soul in a bondage to misery, and leaves a blot upon the fairest day. Beauty unrolls her gorgeous panorama. Truth throws wide the hospitable door of her most sacred shrine. Goodness calls us to her temple to share in the worship of the best. . . . There is sunlight on the hills, far-shining stars wait to irradiate the darkened sky, hope is springing again to birth, and gladness travels on her way with her mouth full of song. . . .

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