When you speak of an absent friend, it would be well to imagine him present and listening to what is being said. Speak as gently of those who do not hear as of those who do. Speak frankly to the friend beside you, for insincerity never yet aided a friendship. Speak kindly of the friend who is away from you, for unkind speech has yet to win its first victory for the speaker. Speak of your enemies as though they were your friends, and some day they may become your friends. A kindly tongue and a helping hand for all would soon garland the earth with sunshine and happiness. Building a World Brotherhood (1918) Among the most valuable results of a thing are often those which are classed as bi-products. This is true of a certain inevitable social effect of Christianity. That effect is brotherhood. The natural tendency of the Christian religion is to make men understand the fact that from the beginning they were created brothers. As far it fails to accomplish this task, it will have failed of its social purpose. As far it succeeds, it will have wrought the foundations of the better day. Such is the tendency of the Christian faith, because Jesus recognized no artificial and arbitrary barriers. The lines across which nations and social classes scorned to step he threw out of his consideration, and crossed them regardlessly. In his estimation of things, a man was a man. He could be no more and there was no disposition to ever rate him as less. The world has arrived at this viewpoint slowly, but as surely as it does arrive at this viewpoint, its strifes will cease. Wars and troubles come from clannish exclusiveness and class hatred and distrust. When those who belong to such classes as capital and labor forget their social differences and emphasize their fraternal relations, they will forget that they were ever pitted against one another. The only way the problem can ever be solved is by the elimination of the caste lines which separate the contending elements. The employer must remember that the workman is a capitalist in time and muscle, and the employe must remember that his employer is also a workingman. The Laughing Man (1919) Shakespeare was a prophet of many ages beside his own; Dickens was a champion of the lowly and oppressed; Scott was a delicate weaver of the fairy fabric of romance; but Victor Hugo was an analyst of human life and experience. Without adornment or polish, his books are cross-sections of the feelings and doings of men. His knife cuts deep enough to reveal the workings of the inner laws. In Jean Valjean, the criminal, we have the story of a man who taught the world how low a man can fall and how well a fallen man can rise. In Gwynplaine, the laughing man, we have the story of one who taught the world how close may be the relation between the laughing countenance and the serious spirit.