Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1870-07-06
What is Life Doing for Me :

hA hLDNhE L. MALhths
A very important question for me, as well |
ls for every other young man, is, What is |
life doing for me Am getting the good
Of it2 Am | acting on a right theory Of
its value ? | see men acting on very dis
similar theories Of the value Of life. They |
get very different results out Of it,
Now, what is a right result want
sound theory for | cannot afford an unsound
one. There is no coming back to try over
again. This little span through which | am
passing must give me its best, for it is all of
this kind Of life | am to have. Perhaps |
can get hint or two towards an answer by
looking at some people around me.
Here is my wealthy neighbor Mr.. b. Life
to him is what it brings him Of property.
His theory is Life is worth what it does
in making a man rich.
But that theory will not do for me. |
only need to look at Mr.. b himself, to see it
is too scanty to answer. 1t does not meet
his wants When his child died last spring
When the Wall street panic came last October,
saw his theory failed him. Nay, it fails
him every day. hundred wants look out
Of his eyes unsatisied His theory is too
narrow for him even now, and to carry it
over into the future, is to make it shriyel up
together. Our best garments are without
pockets"
| look, then, to my old school-friend w.
His theory Of the conduct of life is the gain
ing Of happiness Life does its office for him,
he thinks when it brings him pleasure. But
| cannot hide from myself that, under this
theory, w. has been going downward ever
since | knew him. He has been hardening
and contracting His theory ignores all OBJ
legation to others 1t makes him heartless
1t shuts him up in his own interests. Besides,
see also that VS. theory of life leaves very
many persons hopelessly to fail of good.
The sick the oppressed the very poor, cannot
be provided for on any such plan. If enjoy
ment is lfes end then for multtudes the end
must fail W's theory will not do for me.
Two other men often pass me on the street.
One is D, the great student the other is NJ
the great politician One is the most learned
the other the most influential man | know.
d thinks life is worth what it gives him of
knowledge, NJ what it gives him Of power. But
know both of them well enough to see that
the theory of neither is adequate. D is by
no means asl useful in proportion as he is
learned and NJ by no means happy in pro-
portion to his influence. Life is not doing
for them what ought to content man. They
are making splendid failures.
look, then, at one other man. K is head
book keeper at the establishment in which
am. He is an old man now. His life has
been a very eventful one He has known
what it was to be a fondled child of rich pa.
rents then an impoverished orphan; then a
struggling youth thrown on his own resources ;
then wealthy merchant, the head of his own
home; and now, finally, after a period Of dis
aster in business and afiiction in family, he
has been ten years keeping books on scanty
salary for the close-handed firm we both serve.
| asked the old man one quartcr-day some
years ago, as we each of US received our mea-
gre stipend for three months work, What's
the use of life on these terms2 What do
you get good out of it2" | have never for
gotten his answer. al get all that any one
can, was his reply. "Life's only worth is
what its discipline amounts to-
Life is worth just its discipline The
idea was new one to me then. 1t came 10
me at moment when | was bitter and sore.
But have never forgotten it. 1t clung to
me- And the more | thought Of it, the wiser
it seemed. And the longer have lived and
the more | have seen and done since then,
the truer has appeared the old clerks theory.
have adopted it as my own.
And | have done so because it fits, more
than any other one, all parts of life, and the
life of every man. Let me show you how il
does so.
In the first place, it fits every mans life
We are put into this world to be trained
We came empty-handed into it, and we 60
empty-handed out of it. And that shows us
that the good of life is intended to be an in
terror thing 1t is something a man can
have even when his arms lie crossed in his
coffin. And that good is his discipline Of
spirit. The training and culture of the soul
is the great matter, How man feels to.
ward God and toward his fellow-men, is the
question which life's discipline decides what
his influences are, whathis principles, what his
satisfactons, these are the things life determ.
ines. If man has soul, aud his to live for.
ever, these notices are the great ones Of life.
The theory, then, fits every man.
But see, too, how it fits all parts of every
mans life. If the good of life is what it,
discipline amounts to, then there is no cir
cumstance of life which may not be without
its profit. Is man rich2 Why, then, he
has the discipline Of wealth. How he USE
riches is the trial question for him. Is {
man poor ? Poverty is his trial experience
How he bears want is the important problem
to him. There is not a circumstance Of any
mans life, prosperous or adverse, but in thi
theory of the value of life" finds its place
And each circumstance, in its turn, may
equally secure lfe's good. A man may b.
gaining it when he is accumulating wealth, o.
when wealth is fleeing from him when h
is in health, or when he is sick when he re
joices, or when he weeps. Discipline is ac
complishing its purpose. He is getting tn
good of life.
"What is life doing for me-" then, is
question which has, for a good while, turne'
my thoughts inward instead of outward.
don't expect to find my answer in blank &C
count | look not first TO see whether life i
going well in such matters as social standing
political preferment, or literary repute.
ask myself, in quiet hours, 4" Is the disciplin
of life making me humber, stronger, NOR
patient, more Christian2 Is life doin
this best thing that it ever does for any one
fitting me for usefulness in the present. an
7 for readiness to meet whatever comes after 2
, try TO be able TO answer that question al
4 frmatiyely. And when am able, it does no
trouble me much to be poor, or disappointed
D or lonely; J am still getting the good of life