BIRMINGHAM'S CENTENARY
"What shall be the future of our city?" asked the Bishop of Birmingham, Dr Barnes, in a sermon celebrating the recent centenary of the city. ''There are those who suppose that our name in the form Bromwycham is derived from the quantity of broom growing on these uplands of central England. Will there come a time when the broom again resumes its sway; when once more with the spring the bluebells everywhere display their beauty against dead bracken? We do well to allow such misgivings to intrude to-day that we may remind ourselves that on earth man cannot build for eternity. The great achievements of a city are not material but spiritual. Can it so influence its citizens that they have a quality other and higher than that which we should deem natural? Goodness is infectious. Honesty begets its like. The trustworthy man elicits trustworthiness from others. In our souls there grows responsiveness to beauty which we can constantly see and feel. The perfect city would be one where all that is best in the spirit of man was fostered and where evil was actually overcome by good. Just in so far as our city puts forth such an ideal influence it will have a counter-part eternal in the realm of the spirit."
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Otago Daily Times, Issue 23595, 3 September 1938, Page 2
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215BIRMINGHAM'S CENTENARY Otago Daily Times, Issue 23595, 3 September 1938, Page 2
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