The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1885-07-09
ssGnteways.''

In my childhood this subject would have
suggested those enjoyable rides on the gate
and the times when l walked beside the high
fence, beyond which l could not see until l
came to the gateway, through which the grass
appears SO much greener and the violets a
deeper blue than those within my reach.
But now the subject suggests something
more. A PASSAGE, a path, a means of entrance
to some region beyond, and not the wooden or
iron structure with which we are SO familiar.
AS we look upon the western sky on a bright
summers evening just before sunset, with
what pleasure do we note the brilliant display
of colOrs forming a beautiful curtain hiding
something more glorious? Soon a rent is seen
in the curtain, the gates are thrown wide open,
and as the Sun-God passes through re seem
to catch ~glimpses of the splendor beyond, and
the earth and sky are lighted with its gor-
geous hues; the rivers now sparkling in the
suns last beams, now playing with the lin
gcring shadows of the trees, the colors of
which are resting on its bosom.
But not long does such grandeur last; For
Goddess Night drops her sable curtain and
pins it with a star. Again We see an emigrant
train passing over the plains-men, women
and children, weary with travel, seeking a
western home. They come to the mountain,
here they enter a rough and wandering way.
On either side are walls of craggy rocks tow
ering high above them. The path is a long
and tiresome one. But far in the distance are
SiCCu AiCauoNsy ucSpilhhicu WILL uO"ciS,
clear, cool springs, grand old woods, plentiful
crops and a cottage home.
Longfellow thus describes such a passage:
"Far in the west there lies a desert land,
where the mountains
Lift, through perpetual SHOWS, their lofty
and luminous SUBMITS;
Down from their jagged, deep ravines, is
where the gorge, like a gateway,
Opens a passage wide to the wheels of the
emigrant's wagon"
just as these gorges serve those western
lands as passages for travellers, SO the senses
often called the give Gateways of Know
LEDGE" serve the mind as passages, through
which it receives intelligence and which are
rough or smooth, according to the degree of
readiness with which the senses are employ
ed. But however well trained these passages
may be, if we put them to a wrong use and
permit evil intelligence to be communicated
to that great nervous center, the result will
be disastrous and our lives a failure.
Much of the evil of our land arises from the
fact that these gateways are not sufficiently
guarded. The mind has been compared to an
old castle, which is surely a grand comparison.
1t, like the castle, has long, dark passages;
many turnings and secret corners. If the
gateways be not well guarded, an evil thought
may go wandering about among these turn
ings and windings and often go into a wrong
apartment, fancying this it's own perhaps, thus
running another and better thought. But the
use of these organs of senses for the attain.
ment of knowledge is not their only sphere
knowledge alone, without thorough applica.
ton in earnest work, will never make of life q
success.
What, then, is the important gateway lead.
ing to success? Is it the s~hallOwness which
hopes to become famous in some direction by
deception as to its depth? One of Americas
greatest thinkers says:
81 hate this ShalloW A m orico piSm whtch
hopes to get rich by credit; to get knowledge
by raps on the midnight tables; to learn the
economy of the mind by skill without study
or power of making believe you are powerful
or through a packed jury caucus, bribery ant
repeating votes, or wealth by fraud"
No, not any one of these is the gateway o.
success. 1t is "Labor, iron labor" The time
that is devoted to labor is never lost. Each
person has an aptness to accomplish easily
some work impossible to others. Yet while
this truth is essential to the growth of the
mind, it is seldom that we find men who act
according to the dictates oftheir own thoughts
They forget that there is no way of achieving
success except by determined labor, and es-
pecially is this true in the case of the scholar
Let him go to work at once and measure tn,
strength of his mind by his power to oppos.
and overcome mental difficulties; and wha
can not a strong will accomplish? If by thi
measurment he finds out his power to do
certain thing, let him go to work at once witt
as much self-trust and as little egotism al
possible. Emerson says: "He only is a well
made man who has a good determination"
Success, however, by no means conveys tn,
idea of perfection. Absolute perfection il
never attained in this world, although man.
years are spent in the pursuit of a single OBJ
ject. Here may be cited the case of Virgil
who labored for many years d~evoting the bes
energies of his life to his great work, eth,
Aenied;" and still he was not satisfied, bu
intended to give three years more to its i'm
p%rovement. But he, dying, left his work un
finished.
Nor ought we to be conteuted with our vic
tories. No great man is ever satisfied will
any goal which he has reached. but labors OIL
and on and gets nearer and nearer perfection
Though we know, by the gateways of GU
senses, that perfection belongs alone to tn
Deity, and to mOrtals unattainable. Never
theless we should remember the teachings o
Socrates, that "The approach to perfection i
the approach to Deity.
CARRIE WILLIAMS.