is possible to progress. Hence, to me, a “standpatter" is an obstacle in the way of advancement, a block in the way of reform, a hindrance in the path of progress, and a curse instead of a blessing to mankind. Where would the art of printing, all the sciences, all our material advancement of today be if there had been no one to enter the open road? Had there been no open road, and no one willing to enter it, the "stand-patters" would today be paying tribute to England, there would be no United States, and we should be supporting kings, princes, dukes, earls, and the rest of the aristocratic ruck instead of paying politicians and our grocery bills.

Time was when only the priests were allowed to read; even the aristocrats knew nothing of education. Now every Negro child, or the offspring of our poorest citizen, may avail himself of the best our educational system affords, even to the higher courses in the Universities. When I was a boy women were not allowed to study medicine, the law, or any other of the professions. Now they occupy useful and honored positions as physicians and surgeons, lawyers, judges, ministers of the gospel, and their rights are recognized to do any work for which they prove themselves competent.

Time was when in England there were hundreds of offenses for which capital punishment, death, was the penalty, and the Blue Laws of Connecticut were not much better. Now a man's life is valued more

highly than that of a sheep, a horse or a cow, and there are but few crimes that bring down upon himself the final condemnation of his fellows.

When one reads Charles Dickens's Tale of Two Cities he is horrified to find that as recently as the French Revolution the Lord of the Manor had the right to outrageous privileges with a man's bride that make one's blood run cold. England, Germany, Spain, Italy and other so-called progressive countries were no better. Today let any man attempt such abominable "rights," and any jury would justify a swift and clean murder of the filthy scoundrel guilty of assuming them. A hundred years ago the flint and steel was the only method of securing light and fire. The "stand-patters" would have us abolish matches, the kerosene lamp, gas and the electric light. At the same time the chief modes of transportation were horses, oxen and heavy lumbering stage-coaches, or a few private carriages for the nobility and the exceeding wealthy. Now the poor man can ride on the fastest express trains with the great and wealthy, and a journey that used to require three months is taken in three or four days, and soon aeroplanes will do in hours what it used to require months to accomplish. In the mental realm the open road has lured men into glorious pathways of advancement. The astronomer has discovered new laws and new instruments of observation that have so far enlarged. our conception of the universe that the knowledge of

Galileo the master scientist of his day-as compared with that of any ordinary astronomer of today, is as a farthing rushlight compared to a quarter of a million candlepower electric searchlight.

Everywhere knowledge has progressed with leaps and bounds. Since Franklin and Kane, Peary, Nansen, Cook and Shackelton have explored the poles. Since Livingstone and Stanley a hundred, a thousand, have traversed the wilds of Africa, and every portion of it is now mapped and well known. Every quarter of the globe has been explored as never before. Every science has expanded in the past twenty years more than it did in any fifty prior decades.

In the spiritual realm, too, men have dared to go in search of God as never before. They have dared to think for themselves, and listen to His voice within their own souls. Priests, ministers, teachers, do not assume to be the "sole and only" leaders, or if they do, their "followers" pay little attention to them. Men are beginning to know that they are safe wherever God is, and that He is everywhere—they can never leave His presence. Hence they are growing more and more fearless in their investigations, their explorations, their questionings. The "open road" to God is now traveled by many happy souls.

Don't be afraid of the open road, or of those who walk therein. The path may sometimes be rough, dusty, rocky, poorly marked out, but one will have

the sense of adventure anyhow, and that is good for all souls. Surprises, discoveries, new outlooks, new materials are good for mankind; they are a stimulus, a healthy excitant, and lead to a greater and fuller knowledge of God. The idea that we now know all that God has for us to know is so preposterous that it is strange that men should have so little judgment as to imagine it for one moment. There is an infinitude yet for us to search out. We have scarcely reached the shore of the Great Ocean of Truth and Knowledge beyond. Hence, be receptive; keep an open mind; be ready for new and larger ideas; have your knapsack ever packed ready, so that you can move on to advanced ground. Expect large discoveries, developments, advancements.

Thus will the Open Road be a teacher of new songs to you and enable you to enrich the Universal Symphony.

CHAPTER XXX

THE SONGS OF THE CRANKS

CRANKS RANKS are people who do not approve of present methods of thought, of doing things. They seek to bring about changes. Sometimes they are called reformers; occasionally they are declared to be "pestilential fellows," and are haled off to jail. Generally they are harmless; now and then they are declared to be dangerous, though, in my own opinion, the danger is more seeming than real. A crank is generally heterodox to someone who regards himself as a model of orthodoxy. Yet every student of history knows that orthodoxy is only "my" doxy as opposed to heterodoxy, which is "your" doxy, and the heterodoxy of today becomes the orthodoxy of tomorrow.

A crank is a man who refuses to follow the fashion -not because it is the fashion, but because "everybody" follows it. He wants to know "Why?" He refuses to shave his neck, or even his chin or upper lip, because everybody else does. He prefers to live without flesh meat, perhaps, though people tell him he cannot gain enough strength for his daily work from cereals, vegetables, fruits and milk. He prefers to fast when he has a headache, or a touch of dys