If Atlanta be not named for Atalanta, she ought
to have been.
Atalanta is not the first or the last maiden whom greed of
gold has led to defile the temple of Love; and not maids
alone, but men in the race of life, sink from the high and
generous ideals of youth to the gambler's code of the Bourse;
and in all our Nation's striving is not the Gospel of Work
befouled by the Gospel of Pay? So common is this that
one-half think it normal; so unquestioned, that we almost fear
to question if the end of racing is not gold, if the aim of man
is not rightly to be rich. And if this is the fault of America,
how dire a danger lies before a new land and a new city, lest
Atlanta, stooping for mere gold, shall find that gold accursed!
It was no maiden's idle whim that started this hard racing;
a fearful wilderness lay about the feet of that city after the
War,--feudalism, poverty, the rise of the Third Estate, serf-
dom, the re-birth of Law and Order, and above and between
all, the Veil of Race. How heavy a journey for weary feet!
what wings must Atalanta have to flit over all this hollow and
hill, through sour wood and sullen water, and by the red
waste of sun-baked clay! How fleet must Atalanta be if she
will not be tempted by gold to profane the Sanctuary!
The Sanctuary of our fathers has, to be sure, few Gods,--
some sneer, "all too few.
Pages:
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115