St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1884-06-28
A SUM IN ADDITION.

A SUM IN ADDITION.
s'DEAR MADAME:-I am sometimes tempted
to think that my life is of little value and yet
think should be missed should be taken
away. ] live III a little country place where
there is one church. public school, black
smith shop, one store and a post-otfice. We
never have anything going on beyond the or
binary routine of daily life-no lectures. no
concerts, no excitement of any kind greater
than that of receiving the Tribune every
week. We are at quite distance from the
railroad. and get our mail only twice u week.
People here are born and live and die without
leaving the boundaries of the township. am
the teacher of the village school, and so cir
cumstanced that see no way but for me TO
stay right here and care for my parents while
they live, as am the only child. / find great
help in your column, and wish that some time
you would put in a few words for those stu
ated as am. think you would say what
would be helpful and comforting
No one life is of very great value.
"There is nothing great but God" The
gaps made in the. ranks of humanity
when the mighty fall are soon closed
up the wounds healed, and the current
of LIE moves ON as before. To us one
life is of more value than another, but
to God all lives are equally precious.
With Him there is nothing great, with
him Lnerc is nOLnlQg Small.
The populations OF the world are made
up of individuals who lead monotonous.
and uneventful lives. . Life is very wide
and the capacity of individuals in their
largest dimensions very small. One
can not know everybody, can not see
every thing, can do only limited
amount of work, can compass but
but a small portion of enjoyment. A
mechanic in New York City has mar
row horizon, wider in some respects
than mechanic in the country, in
others very much narrower. In the
city there are concerts, and theaters,
and operas, and lectures by the score
every night in the year, but he has
neither time nor money nor ability to
attend them all. His range of social
activity is necessarily very limited. The
same is true of all working people in
city or country, whether they work
with their hands or their brains. The
aspirant for success in sculpture or
painting or authorship is as regular in
in his or her studio as The mason at his
trowel or the carpenter at his plane.
Whatever industry one pursues, what
ever locality one inhabits, the novelties
in it are soon worn off. and the work, If
carried on well, is carried on because
the worker, is faithful, persistent, con-
scientious, no less than because the
work is or is not interesting.
Not our ability to do well, not our OPP
portunity, is the essential thing, but
our disposition. "For if there be first
willing mind, it is accepted according to
that man hath. and not according to
that he hath not. = It is patient con-
tinuance on small scale, on large
scale, on whatever scale one is set to
work that insures the promised reward.
This young woman each day as she
cares for her parents, and smooths their
pathway to the grave, honors herself in
honoring them, and beside the daily
satisfaction Of duty done, which is the
noblast reward in any field of labor,
She has the promise of ''long life in the
land which the Lord God giyeth" her.
In the school which she teaches, she is
training young men and women for she
knows not what high positions, what
spheres of wide usefulness, and these
boys and girls under tuition will bear
ULIC AL III nC4 l41110 SLuu CudlItCGCE
while they live Her labors are not
more monotonous than are those of
teachers in city schools, and they are
far less trying and exhausting. She
may open the windows of her school
room and let il the pure, sweet, coun-
try air, the breath of flowers, the song
of birds, without letting in the roar Of
drays and rapid transit trims and the
dust of the crowded metropolis. She
may take her pupiIsJto the haunts of
the denizens Of tho woods end of vile
birds, and make them IN elEgent and
glad disciples of Thoreaq(with no fear
Of tramps She may dben bc9 own
eyes and theirs to the n onders of the
ins6us world, of plant lib; of the peb-
bles beneath their feet, al ID enrich her
soul and their souls bysdbiect commun-
ion With, the CreatN I Through His
works, and so lead e1Bif$ Iat once rich,
harmonious, siaple ap9 satisfying, all
the time SIMPLY accg 5Eihg and doing
the work given he1SSo do, in the place
assigned her.
A cup of cold water given in the name
of disciple even does not lose it's re-
ward. In the final accounting, when
the sum of things is taken, every act of
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