The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1882-12-08

gard for ones self another. Don't
Shakespeare say, 'Self-love is not SO
vile sin as self-neglecting?"
"Yes," answered Miss Walter, "but
think. Here am /, the eldest of large
family. Papa is not we'll off. 1 have
saved enough money by teaching and
sewing to take me through Swarthmore
College. But if / stay at home and con-
tinue to sew, and use my money on my
brothers and sisters, they can all be
educated; whereas, If 1 went, as L in
tended, they might have no advan-
tages.'
"Lillie," suddenly inquired Cornie,
"are they your children?'
NO"
"Are you responsible to God for their
existence?'
NO"
"Could you ever have anything until
You earned it?"
Never"
"Now, then, let me tell you, they are
not one bit better than you are. Your
soul is just as precious as any ones.
You are responsible for yourself, not
for any one else. No one else can work
one else can insure your salvation. L
tell you, our individuality is burden
which we ourselves must bear, and
which we cannot lightly shift of. Those
children have the same parents as you
had, to support them while they are
little they have just the same chance
of earning money and educating them
selves as you had. Hoe your own row
first, and be sure of your own corn
before you stop to hoe for other
people,
Miss Cary's earnestness had flushed
her face and exhausted her breath.
But | can't be selfish, Cornie," feebly
answered Lille.
do you think it wrong to commit
suicide?" abruptly asked Cornelia-
ooh most assuredly!"
"Well, do you think destroying ones
life the only way in which to do such a
thing?" continued Cornie. What of
deliberately destroying ones mental
powers, ones prospects of happiness and
usefulness? You would willingly dwarf
Yourself on the merest chance that the
others will turn out better than you?"
Lille was silent.
Have you any moral right to do
it?" persisted Cornie. What will
Won say when you come to stand before
the Lord, and can only give Him your
one talent folded in napkin, when you
might have been able to present at least
i've talents?"
II will tell Him." declared Lille.
firmly, "that I buried my talent in
order that might better do my duty to
others"
"Yes," tartly enunciated Cornelia.
Lord, l was female Jesuit! did
evil that good might GOMEZ"
Miss Walter started. Il did not think
of that she murmured
Well, you'd better think of that"
advised Cornie, "if you don't I'll tell
you how it will be. Your sisters will
dress better than You, on your earnings,
and look down on You. They'll marry
before you, and do better-that is, pro-
vided YOU marry at all. Your brothers
will despise You, for not many boys can
stand being pecuniarily helped by a
woman, when they might just as well
work. No matter how much YOU do,
they'll only find fault because you don't
do more. At last, when you're old and
ugly and worn out and poor, you'll have
to beg your living among them all, the
best way you can. Finally, like one of
Mrs. Livermore's superhuous women,
you'll be pushed back on the shelf
that Is, unless, like some good, old
maid aunties, you end your days as a
child's nurse, in home of which you
ought to have been mistress.
"You say you don't want to be selfish.
Suppose you make others so? Suppose
you do so much for them that they take
1T as matter of course. Don't you see
that you will strengthen the seltishness
In them, and SO do them harm instead
of good? 1t is all very well to talk of
being unselfsh, but the fact remains
that we cannot get away from ourselves.
We must bear our own punishments-
why not our own rewards?
Hush, Lille! I am not done yet.
Look at nature all around you. Don't
the squirrel, the ant and the bee pro-
vide enough for themselves, before they
have any to spare? It is instinct, i'm
planted by the Creator. We have the
same instinct, but we think it an out
cropping of our total depravity, and try
to conquer it. The consequence is, we
do nobody any good, and ourselves
nothing but evil. We end in mental
and moral suicide.
Let me tell you what doctor told
me. Do you know where the coronary
artery is? 1t nourishes the heart, and
is the first one given off by the circula-
tory system. The heart has to supply
the whole body; but it feeds itself first,
and with the best and purest blood.
Why? Because it has great deal of
work to do, and needs strength. How
could it accomplish anything, if it sup.
piled itself last and with the feeblest,
most impure blood? Will you have
your body better cared for than your
soul?
IL tell you this illustrates a most i'm
portant truth. Yet men sometimes,
and women often, set themselves up to
be wiser than their Maker. As if He
ordained that happiness ard comfort
should always be wrong, misery and dis
tress right! The hardest task is far
more likely to be found out of the line
Of duty than in it.