ON THE WATCH TOWER.

Evening Star, Issue 14966, 28 August 1912, Page 3

ON THE WATCH TOWER.

[By A am.-]

Ifeaanlay said that if John Weeley had to the Roman instead of the English Ch*rch he would have been mad© the Genexal of an Order, and have kept his flock and his organisation in tho papal fold. That is, h© would have been rendered inflkpewknk of bwhops and of all territorial boundeiev being subject to the _ Pope ■lone, like the Dominicans, Franciscans, and other*. The same thing may be said of General Booth. He would have been the possession of Protestantism a* a whole if Protestantism had been sufficiently •Jsrlblo. It will be- a shock to many to told that Protestantism is more rigid fetgoted than Romanism, but 1 think it is a fact. Tho orthodox sects of Fro- ■ tiatont! m do not differ from one another more than the orders, brotherhoods, and sisterhoods in tha Roman Church differ from one another. Before the Reformation i there was as much rivalry and jealousy between Orders an there now is between sects; and the preaching and begging friars were as much hated by the parish priest and the bisiop as the Nonconformists, Methodists, and Salvationists now an© by tho English rector and his bishop. Th© Order©, however, were subject to the Pope, and, that k?pt them within the Church. That was flexibility and toleration. ******* General Both, the greatest bishop of his time, has pissed away, and tho question of the future *f the Salvation Army has become a lie one. No absolute autocracy can evdurc anywhere. Th© Pope is far from ai autocrat. The autocracy of th© Tsars las at first tempered with assassination ; it- is now tempered with counsel and th. very grand-duke atmosphere in which heiives. Wesley was, for a time, an autocrat, but by degrees Ids prominent preachers fcgan to control him. 1 have read his adaission somewhere that it was vain to cal him Rabbi, for he could no longer do a ho liked. Nor coudd he appoint any eagle successor. He had to appoint a hntired leading ministers to succeed to hispowers. This Legal Hundred, I understock continues to this day, but is now a. men registering machine to confirm the resolutins of tho conference that may be a thousnd strong or more. Democracy will and nust prow, and with its growth come dispu*© and disruptions. Aly infer, encc is tht latterly General Booth has been less n autocrat than a figure head, and that Is successor will have much less power t liar he that's awa‘. The new General must b an elderly man already, and ho ■will not hve time to -rather prestige before therois another change. The present Commandr will not be allowed to appoint his succesor with a scaled envelope. There will be ©bate, ahd tho legions of th© Rhine wd not accept the choice of the Pretoria! Guards, and hence will arise strife an. division. ******* The atni versa ry of Nonconformity recalls a reat, perhaps th© greatest, illustration < the intolerance of Protestantism. The reip of the saints was the reign of a fanatica and well-drilled minority, that went tosuch extremes a? to discount in the eves of.h© nation th© undoubted good they had d<je. After the Restoration tie first electioigave Charles 11. a Parliament more devote) to Royalty than was tho King, and more ©voted to the Church than were the bif.hcj. It was poor Christianity, but it was aerage human nature to want to pay off oh scores in kind. A great King or a benebof great bishops might have modern tedth© storm, and have patiently healed the winds of th© Church. But greatness and -isdom were not available, and human pass in was allowed to inflict upon the Churli the greatest blow she ever sotstaind. The Act of Lmiformuy, and the perscuting Conventicle Act, Five Alile Act and Test Act that followed, did far moi to rend th© Church than ever the CrcawelHtes bad done. These horrible binders also forced a great deal of the rer quality that is the glory of a, church un© the side of Dissent. Had toleration an patience been th© policy, and had a cetury been allotted to the work that was Brimpted to be done in one stroke, how di'ere-nt ecclesiastical history- might have b©nl But Rome alone has patience and tftv * * * * * * The Jala Air T. G. ilacarthy, of Wei.fcgton, ha© left a large fortune to his ddow. and has provided that should eh© narry again th© bequest is to go to her Disband and her children, should she have iriy. after her. This is a very unusual, and I think a very noble, provision. Airs Alacarthy is evidently th© young wife of an old man.- Th© usual course in such eases is to leave the young widow a moderate pension conditional on, her accepting perpetual widowhood as the price of it. Th© pretext is that the deceased ought not to support tho other fellow, and that the widow would b© sought after for her money. The old Sultan forgets that she married him for his money, and that it made him happy. Surely, then, h© ought to provide for hex future happiness, and not for her perpetual bondage to the dead. If marriage makes for that happiness, whv on earth should he not rejoice in it ? Why should he stain his departing soul bv binding her to misery and temptation for th© sake of filthy lucre that is no more value to him than the clods on his coffin ? ******* In a recent case an old sinner left a very handsome provision for his young widow; but if she was untrue to his rotting corpse, and dared to marry again, it was all to go to a handsome young nephew. Love laughs at locks, and bare, also at stupid wills. This young widow east a longing eye on th© nephew, and Barkis was willin’, so they were hitched up and were none the poorer. Mrs Astor, of the Titanic, has a cool million, and is quite a girl. If she marries she loses it all. and the million goes to her stepson, who has millions enow already. In this case there is no way round, so perpetual widowhood seems assured. There was, however, a case a year or two ago of a widow surrendering*two or three millions in order to marry-; but then, she had a good deal left after the great renunciation, and, after all, the third and fourth millions do not add a great deal to one’s comfort. ******* Ben Tillett hasn't forgiven Lord Dcvonport yet, but is going to follow him up into the torrid Never-never that lies in the Great Beyond. I believe that region comforts more of this world’s unhappy ones than th© milder clime specially prepared for them. “ H© will get his bacon cooked wher* he is going.” There is balm for the soul writhing m defeat I Little do ye think, 0 ye profane ones who have cast doubt on theological topography and thermostatics, of what solace and comfortable assurance ye would deprive the weary and aching children of defeat! When tho priest refuses. Christian burial to Ophelia, her brother bursts out with I tell thee, churlish priest, A ministering angel shall my sister be When thou liest howling! Thus, too, in ‘Richard 11..’ Green, when Bolingbroke orders him to execution, exclaims t My comfort is that Heaven will take our souls, Which was the greater comfort, think you, gout!© reader? Are there not momess in th© life of half mankind when all personal hopes would bo bartered for an assurance that some other was safe beyond tho Styx in Dante’s hottest masonry! I fear it is so; but depend upon it, reader, that is not the spirit that can correct th© world’s injustice, Unless, indeed, Satan can cast but Satan. ******* J* He will get his bacon cooked.’’ Say vott eo. Ben? It is usually his goose that Is coaxed and hi© bacon that is saved; but you will not have any part of him cosns to that, not even his most solvable bsesn. Well, well; let us drop the politics of it. The bacon and th© pooso are more {arresting than tha prophecy. Bacon cpyosrs to have been the chief flesh diet of the peasantry, and hence they two called “ chawbcoone ’* and “ baconJbeeiae,** In the Gadshill robbery Fatotaff •eU upon th* travellers with “ baocn- I led knaves 1” and as ha drives; them I pet b« ariemt *Oi»* baroas, aof“- TM |

word baoon is Saxon, and Scott pointed out in 'lvanhoe ’ that the name of the_ living animal ts Saxon and of the dead animal Kotcnrau, showing that iji© Saxons tended tho beast and the Normans ate it. Calf, ox, and swine are Saxon, but veal, beef, and pork are Norman. We may infer that the Norman masters ate tho titbits of pork and left the grosser fat to be hung for their serfs, who gave it the Saxon name. Some say that the phrase “ Save his bacon” originated in the civil wars, when the peasantrv were put to all sorts of shifts to save tlreir most valued store. In this they would suffer at the hands of the soldiers, and often be beaten. Their own sides and roar would thus come to bo called their bacon, and if they saved the salted commodity it would bs at ths expense of their dignity. Carlyle, in translating Schiller, shows that a man's body is his bacon: To the Kaiser,, therefore I sold, my bacon, And uy him good ohargi) of the whole is taken. The indignity of saving one's bacon is always reflected to the proper use of tho phrase. Thus Dr Syntax j But as ha ran to save his bacon. By hat and wig he was forsaken. ******* Away back in the Dark Ages there was a Swedish king who accomplished great things with few men-—Eric, tha name of him. One day he appeared before a hostile town with so meagre a following that the townsfolk, in derision, hung out a goose that ho might have something adequate to shoot at. This wns in the same spirit as that in which the French King sent Henry V. r. " ton ”of tennis balls. However, he laughs best who laughs last. Eric soon hail the town blazing in several places, which altered the tuna of the citizens. They sent a herald to ask what be wanted. “I want to cook your goose,” was the reply, and the phrase goes echoing on still all over the world. 1 fancy that the phrase was ‘‘roast your goose” a few centuries back. Such changes of words in phrases have frequently occurred. The porter in ‘ Alacbcth ’ imagines himself to he keeping the gate of the regions where Ben Tillett foresees a pungent aroma of overheated dripping. "Who’s there?” “ Faith, here's an English tailor come hither for stealing out of a French hose.” ‘‘Come in, tailor: here you may roast vonr goose.” I presume that most people know that a tailor's swan-necked “ iron ” is called a goose. ******* The Press of to-day abounds with such headings as ‘'Labor Troubles.” ‘‘Labor Unrest,” “Labor in Revolt,” and so forth. Had Burke lived in these times he would probably have written of ‘ The Present Discontents.’ That good old phrase still describes the situation. Contentment is a lost virtue, and if we could get it back, even without godliness, it would be great gain. John Galsworthy’s old road mender says : “ Look here! Aly father was a farm laborer at eight shillings a week, an’ he brought up six of us. .However he managed it I don't know ; but I don’t think things are any better than they was then—l don’t—l think they’re worse. This progress, or what do they’ call it, is destroyin’ of us. Talk about people’s increasin' in the milk of human kindness—l don’t see it, nor intelligence cither. Look at the way they spend their ’oiidays—it gives you stomach-ache to see them. All a lot o’ rowdy fellers, never still a minute, that's lost all religion—a lot o’ town-bred monkeys. This 'ere modern life, it’s hollowed of ’em out, that's what it’s done, in my opinion. People's got restless; they keep on trying first one thing and then another; anything so long as they can be doing something on their own. That's a fact.” ■:=• '* * * * * * Galsworthy’s old shepherd sings the same tnr.o, though that student of the times is far from desiring him to do so. “ T was married at twenty on eight shillin’ a week. You won't find them doin’ such a thing as that these clays—they want their comforts now. There’s not the spirit of content about of forty or fifty years agone. All’s for movin’ away an’ goin’ to the towns; an’ when they gets there, from what I’ve heard, they wish as they was back; but they don’t never come. . . . Times past a man would’ do his job, an’ never think because his master was rich that he could cheat him : he gave a value for Iris wages to keep well with himself. Now a man thinks because he’s poor ho ought to ha’ been rich, and goes about complainin’ and doin’ just as little as he can. Tt‘s my belief they get their notions from the daily papers—hear too much that’s goln’ on, an’ it onset-ties them. They read about Sawcialism and millioneers, an’ it makes a pudclen’ in their heads. Look at the beer that’s drunk about it. For one gallon that was drunk when I was young there’s twenty gallon now. Tha Tory sheep ha’ changed since I remember. Not one o’ them ewes that isn't pedigree—and the care that's took o’ them! They’d have mo think that men’s improvin’, too. (Richer they may he, but what’s the use o’ riches if your wants is bigger than your purse? A man’s riches is_ the things ho does without and never misses.”