The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1873-10-27
LECTURE OF ANNA y. DICK
ENSON.
subJec,: "For Your Own sake"

We give below brief abstract Of the
lecture delivered by Anna +. Dickinson at
Brandon on Friday evening last The
lady on this occasion was dressed in hand
some satin, elegantly trimmed, of the
bright Quaker color, which was relieved at
the neck by a Queen Elizabeth" VI the
most radical pattern, upon which shone a
diamond pin, while gem of the same
lustre sparklcd from her finger
The speaker began by stating that very
few people knew how to live or to learn the
lessons that life teaches. Many not learn
ing these things show their ignorance in the
training Of the children committed to
their care. They seem to think
that the children must live in the
same old fashion they were taught to live
into run in the same ruts they have ever
been wont to follow. If the child is
square he must be put into the round hole
circumscrbcd &C cording to the parents die
tation and in doing so the edges of the
child's nature must be Clipped off and
made TO fit that particular place. If the
child has attributes which plainly fit him
for "a certain position III life they must he
wiped out of his life, forgetting that Gods
mark is indelible and cannot he success
fully clfaced. Conservatism may be
shocked and the child is not allowed to live
for his own sake but for the sake of So
ciety. 1t is perfectly plain to the person of
sense that God is glorified by the gifts He
bestows whatever they may be.
The question is not whether the seed is
what yob may like-it may be the wheat
that gives sustenancc to many, the tree
giving shade to the land-but whether it is
the seed given to plant. The boy often
times is made to take up the work which
has fallen out of the pervelcss hands of old
age, not for his own sake, and consequent
ly makes precious bad work of living at all.
He is not allowed to give out the true OK
| preston of his own soul but the simple
| ideas OF sonGC one clsU. - - not strange
that, blindfolded at the outset, as he is,
unable to live for his own sake, he soon
gets warped into the wrong position and
cannot get. out. There is so little doing
that is worth doing because people are not
earnest in living. Ask hundred people
why they arc here tonight? They will
answer, 81 don't know'-"to have a good
time" or other foolish replies. If people
were here to die they would be put into
their graves at the outset. They are here
to live-to live for their own sakes and not
for the simple prejudiccs of others We
are told we love the world hut do we take
notice of what is going on around us? In
the city you find men, said the speaker,
who are not fools, but who can't answer
the first question touching the many i'm
portant points around them-thc temples,
the churches, the public buildings and other
noticeable objects journey up and down
among the mountains of the country, you
meet a man by the roadside and ask him
what is that peak or that mountain? Il
don't know" he says, You say he must
be a stranger. No, he has lived here these
many years, but he has been ''too
busy" to trouble himself about these
things-''too busy" after the material
things of this life to answer the foolish
questions OF strangers These men have
not the time to make the acquaintance of
themselves, They must remember that
Nature, though never fastening is in the
end relentless.
What we love we are apt to CHERISH and
we are told that the one treasure above all
others which we prize is life. Do we love
it for our own sakes? No, we hate it, we
assassinate it we stand upon it as il it was
our dcadliest foe. How many times do we
hear the expression, " Oh, dear, what shall
we do to kill time?" We are all externally
trying to kill time. When hear such ex-
pressions, said the speaker, fan would
cry, - Oh, God midst the dead and dying,
make me the mouthpiece to arouse these
souls and compel them to comprehend that
there is no reason in the grave
1t is potent and evident that there is no
time So much to do, and no time in which
to do it. You say, wouldyou have us busy
all the time? For ones own sake? Yes,
in some sense. Nature is busy all the time.
The sun shines and things grow The rain
falls and things grow The wind blows
and scatters the seed sown, and from them
things grow. Day and night etcrnally sue
coed each other, the sced-time and the har-
vest come, and something is produced
through them by nature. Yes, some say
| would do if | ouldaccomplish such won
drous things. But it is not what the work
may be, the size or the length of it, but the
SPIRIT of doing, which makes the world.
Even in our own happiness we live not
for the good of people, but for fear of the
people. How often the expression. "What
will people say?" But said the speaker,
people don't say half as much about us as
we think they do, and don't think 80 much
about us as they say.
Many people keep silent and leave I'M
said many things of great good for fear of
number two. In these days of financial
troubles many woman walks the street
arrayed in diamonds and laces, her hus-
band bankrupt, for whose sake For what
"people may say" Some may give grand
party for what their neighbors may think
of them. The neighbors come, and as they
partake of the costly dishes they tipa wink
behind their glasses and wonder who pays