Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1885-03-27

Do you ever wonder why there are so many
damaged looking men and women2 Every
day, you meet dozens OF elderly people in
whose face there is no clear intelligence, -
their features wooden or animallsh, their eyes
muddy or false. Yet they we're once bright
and young as you are they we're visited, as
you are, by rays of the true light; they heard,
az you now do, the soft calls Of truth and du-
ty they dreamed, as you dream, of great aud
good things TO come. And they had moments
Of serious thought and high resolve. Their
friends thought them promising they step
ped forth into lif- with careless confidence.
Al these damaged old people are so many once
young people aoho haze failed
WHAT the Causes Of faIlure2 Possibly,
some of them are victims of blighting mis-
fortune or injustice possibly, some Of them
passed through their early years without ad-
equAte guidance, wise instruction, or kindly
encouragement. But multitudes have failed
from unfaithfulness TO themselves; from an
INDECENT moral habit, "a habit of not needing
the gentle monitions of reason and con-
science from neglect Of every day advanta-
es,-always from some inward defect.
None of us can live we'll by an occasional
good resolution. Everything depends on
storing up in yourselves a great and ever in
creasing fund of moral power, which shall be
always available to sustain you in carrying
Out JOuE DolteE puTDONd huu 10 nOlu you
steadily to the ideal by which God ever draws
and leads you toward the SUBMITS. Unless
we are willing to live as moral tramps, on the
brink of inward poverty and misery, we must
invest our all in this higher business, so that
every transaction OF life shall yield us spiritu-
al income.
Nothing is secure till we are established In
right habits, rooted and grounded in heavenly
principles We want to become fixed and
unchangeably good This comes from max
ing this love of good, which is identical with
the love of God, the supreme and controlling
Law, the central interest and the fountain of
motives. Thus, everything will help us tow
ard the perfect life. We snail do better than
keep ourselves decent we shall be purer and
truer than the world asks US to be- we shall
require of ourselves a higher standard than
our best friends expect. We shall be eontin-
ually transformed by the renewing of our
minds.
You have read the legend of Blsle, the good
monk, who was sent to hell but no fire could
burn him and no evil spirit could torment
him, because he carried heaven with him.
This story hints the true object of life the
secret of peace Of mind amid all trials and
losses the secret also of moral safety amid
all temptations md exposures. The main
question is not, What is to become of us ?"
but What are we to become?' Nor ia the
answer diffcult. We need not wrestle pain
fully with questions of doctrine, nor wait to
construct our theological creed. If we are
simply .fGithf fui. If we follow the light that
God gives, il we are humble enough TO learn
from all sources, aud yet firmly true to reason
and conscience, cannot miss the road
we shall move toward cur true place in the
Universe. We shall be safe and sound where
ever We are, "in this world, that one. and this
vast forever. ."-Rep. Charles @. dimes.