100 YEARS AGO IN THE SARATOGIAN
Sunday, July 21, 1918. Investigators blame a single unknown arsonist for three fires set just outside the city limits early this morning, The Saratogian reports.
Just past midnight, firefighters respond to reports of a fire on Gravel Hill near the Schuylerville State Road. They arrive too late to save the two-story structure owned by John Driscoll. Investigators find traces of oilsoaked rags on the veranda and automobile tracks indicating a getaway by car.
“While the members of the department were at the Driscoll place a blaze was noticed about half a mile to the east,” a reporter writes. By the time firemen reach the scene, a small wooden building owned by Frank Beagle has been completely destroyed.
While the Beagle fire continues to burn, a third blaze breaks out near Bryant’s Bridge. This time a rural schoolhouse is consumed, a loss valued at $2,000.
No Time To Idle Now, Says Bishop
Bishop William Hall Moreland of Sacramento CA preaches a guest sermon on wartime sacrifice at Bethesda Episcopal Church this morning, “listened to with intense interest by a large congregation.” Moreland’s text is I Peter 2:21, “Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.”
“Why is there so much suffering?” Moreland asks, “Not only the wicked and ungodly suffer, but also the good, the brave and the innocent, millions of them; and it continues every day on the battlefields and in the ruined areas of the great world war.
“Can there be a just God who will permit all this misery to occur? Such is the question that comes to myriads of minds, and the answer is to be found in the Cross of Christ.”
The answer, Moreland preaches, is that “The only progress the world has ever made has been made through suffering. Every human life depends on vicarious suffering, the pain and anxiety which another suffers on its behalf.
“No child comes into this world without the anguish of its mother. A parent’s life is one long vicarious sacrifice, often unrecognized until lying silent in the casket, and the children all pay too late the tardy tribute of tears.
“This divine truth, this glorious truth, that life was made for sacrifice, that you can only save your life by losing it, has always been the commonplace of our religion….Now the whole world has caught that mighty, saving vision.”
In Europe, American soldiers “have found God, have learned the worthiness of the cause for which they battle. Are we going to let them outstrip us in spiritual power?... Let us keep the home fires burning of prayer, sacrifice and consecration.”