The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1881-01-29
What is Trouble ?

or not. The coarser-grained man
shrugs his shoulders, when he is sharply
rebuked by companion, and says
laughingly, "High words break no
bones" He is not troubled by any
thing of that sort. The man of finer
grain reads in the countenance of a
friend whom he loves and honors cen
sure of some careless word of his, and
his heart is pierced with pain. To
him .I..r. ..-4-.-
. A clouded face
Strikes harder than an angry blow.
And he has trouble day and night until
that face is bright again. One man
loses few hundred dollars, and it
troubles him sorely. Another finds all
the slow Accommodations of years swept
away in an hour. and it brings him no
serious sense of loss; yet he is in con-
slant trouble because of his loved sons
misdoing. Is it for either of those
men to measure the force of the others
troublep
What folly to say, "That man has no
trouble to be compared with mine, be-
cause he has no experience that dupli-
Gates miner' What if he is free from
such physical pain as racks your frame?
Are you sure that he would not rather
be in physical pain until the day of his
death, than endure the trial of his re-
morseful memoriesP What if he seems
supplied with all these sources of COM
fort-in family, and property, and pop
ular favor the lack of which is the
cause of all your trouble? Can you
say that he would not have felt less
keenly the death of those dearest to
him, and the loss of property and popu-
lar favor, than he feels the bitter be-
travail of a friend, or the failure to be
true and noble on the part of one to
whom he had given the highest place in
his heart, as lofty ideal?
All! how little we can Judge of the
hidden troubles of our fellows by the
calm exterior and the untroubled ap-
pearance which they present to us.
That tirm-set face may represent con-
slant struggle to be firm. That glow of
holy beauty may be from the light of
the refner's fire which is burning day
and night in the heart below. Those
cheerful words and smiles may be the
rich harvest from seeds which were not
quickened unless they died, and were
not fruitful except as they were nour-
ished from hidden graves. 1t is this
thought that Lucy Larcom phrases SO
beautifully.
The sorrows that our deeper natures feel;"
They said, " Her placid lips have never spelt
Hard lessons taught by pain; her eyes re-
n NOS 70 aI
70 other eyes. Life and her heart have dealt
With her, but lightly."-When the Pilgrims
dwelt
First on these ., shores, lest savage hand
To precious graves with Decorating tread.
The burial-tield was with the plowshare
p crossed
And there the maize Ter silken tresses
tossed.
With thanks those Pilgrims ate their bitter
While peaceful harvests hid what they had
What if her smiles concealed from you her
.r dead?
Each soul knows its own trouble
and only its own. 1t is not for us to
expect that others can measure our
trouble; nor have we the ability or the
right to pass upon theirs. We cannot
understand the cause or the extent of
the whirl in their hearts that makes it
seem as if the very foundations of the
earth were being swept away; nor can
they realize how we can have quite as
severe trouble from quite a different
cause. But to them and to us there is
comfort at every such time in the
thought that One who fully knows our
trouble sympathizes with us in it all
most .tenderly, and is able and ready to
bring as safely through it.
God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
= Therefore will not we fear though the earth
| be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into
| the midst of the sea;
Though the waters thereof roar and be
/ troubled.
Though the mountains shake with the SWELL
/ Ing thereof. t..tf
The Lord of Hosts is with us. N
The God of Jacob is our refuge.
Lord, "give us help from trouble;
for vain is the help of MANS. S.
| Times