Camera Work: A Photographic Quarterly (1903 (Heft 3))

A SERMON.
You will find my text in the thirty-second chapter of Deuteronomy, in
the fifteenth verse: “But Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked.” But Jeshurun
waxed fat and kicked.
I propose, brethren, to divide my discourse into four sections: Who
was Jeshurun? How did he wax fat? Why did he kick? And what have
we to do with the matter?
Jeshurun, then, was a pet name for the chosen people. Just as your
father doubtless called you " James Augustus,” instead of “Jimmie” upon
occasion, so, by the voice of his prophets the Lord, upon occasion, called
his people “ Jeshurun.” And when the twelve tribes heard themselves thus
addressed they were apt to drop golden calves and incidentals and hearken
unto the voice of the Lord.
Secondly, brethren, how did he wax fat? You will remember that
Jeshurun had not always been even presentably plump. For many years,
in the absence of straw, he had been sedulously employed in spoiling good
bricks when he longed to be spoiling the Egyptians. But this was before
Moses started the first Secession movement. Then, indeed, Jeshurun
became a prototype of Sunny Jim. Quail and manna and other goodies
from the heavenly larder rained upon him. And he waxed fat!
And, thirdly, why did he kick? Ah, dearly beloved, that you should
miss so simple a deduction in elementary psychology! He kicked because
he got the big head!
And, finally, what have we to do with the matter ? Surely, nothing
but this: that we are become like unto Jeshurun. We, too, were lean and
poorly favored. We, too, were making strawless bricks and spoiling nothing
but our own handiwork. For us, too, has risen a Moses; the Red Sea of
precedent has been rolled back and we have entered the wilderness, seeking
the promised land. Gold medals, grand prizes and honorable mentions
have rained from heaven and we have waxed fat. But, brethren, we are not
out of the wilderness. Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked. Let us not follow
his example.
J. B. Kerfoot.

Let scholars class their artists as they please;
Let critics weigh and play to unmake and make.
Such academic subtleties can hinder
No soul who wills it not, but spurns that dust
Of schools and libraries which chokes and blinds
And shrivels souls content to dwell therein.
[From A New-world Song]
Dallett Fuguet.