The national leader., 1889-02-23
FOOD FOR THOUGHT.

Heaven is never deaf but when
mans heart is dumb.
The tender. humble, broken heart il
the best thank-offering.
How much pain the evils have cost
US that have never happened.
d. the truth you know. and Won
shall learn the truth you need to know.
Smiles are the higher and better re-
sponses OF nature to the emotion of the
soul.
Garry the radiance Of your sonl in
your face; let tbs world have the bene-
fit of it.
The days are made on loom whera.
of the warp and woof are past and
future time.
Love that has nothing but beauty To
keep it in good health Is short lived and
apt to have ague fits.
Do not wait for extraordinary eppor.
tunities for good actions, but make use
OF common situations.
The most delicate, the most sensible
OF all pleasures. consists In promoting
the pleasures OF others.
If thou art wise, thou knOwest thine
own ignorance, and thou art ignorant
If thou knOwest not thyself.
He that hath tasted OF the bitterness
of sin will fear to commit 1t; and he
that hath felt the sweetness Of mercy
will fear to offend it.
Prudence supposes the valve of the
end to be assumed, and refers to the
nf 10 thn
OF right means for given ends.
No one can ask honestly or hope fully
to be delivered from temptation unless
he has himself honestly and firmly
determined to do the best to keep out
of it.
Our hreside conversations, our
thoughts as we pass along the streets,
| our spirit in the transaction of bust-
ness, all have some amount, small
though they be, of moral value.
Kind words produce their own lmag. Z
| in mems souls, and q beautiful tmag r
it is. They soothe and quiet and com
fort the hearer. They shame him o.
of his sour, morose, unkind feeling
We have not yet begun to use kin
+, words In such abundance as they oug y
to be used.
Before we commit q sin 1t seems to
| us so shallow that we may wade
through it dry shod from any guIltiness
but when we have committed 1t, it
often seems so deep that we cannot
escape without drowning. 4
People who have nothing to do br
hinder busy people from work live -
| every country, town and DeighbOrhoo>.
They claim, like Death, all seasons for
their own. They are as hard to abate
and almost as common as mosquitoes,
and cannot be poisoned as we DO cock
! reaches.
Those who hate instruction and des.
plse reproof are destined, it may be.
to learn through years Of trouole and
disgrace. how sadly they have sinned
against their own best interests; while
those who like little children listen to
| admonition and give heed TO counsel,
find blessing In all their ways.
A man OF faith has basis OF cour-
age, and so OF heroism, that no man
who lacks faith can be possessed Of
| Physical courage is necessarily limited
by one's personal limitations. Self-re-
lance cannot extend beyond the
bounds of self. But he who has faith
in Him who is omnipotent, and realizes
that he stands for Him, has no limit
that omnipotence has not. He Is sum-
cient unto all things.
Never forget that the free use and
play of the faculties is the source OF
the noblest power and the Durest JOY In
life; the pelf which they can win Is but
as dust in comparison. while the range
and force of cultivated and developed
faculty constitute the true wealth
which Is alone worth reckoning in time
and eternity.
If we work upon marble it will per.
ish; if we work upon brass, time Wii!
efface it; If we rear temples, they VIII
crumble into dust; but If we work upon
immortal minds, if we imbue them
with principles, with the just fear of
God and love Of our fellow men, we
engrave on those tablets something
that will brighten to all eternity.
Place the skylark in the smallest pos
sible cage. and it will walt calmly and
quietly for its release: give IL large
cage. and it will quickly beat lts LIE
out against the bars In frultless efforts
to escape. And since learned that 1
have seemed to understand my own
life better: and now love to think that
we. in Gods sight, are like the SKY
larks. and that our limitations are only
Gods tender and restraining hands
holding ms back, and shutting US III
when greater freedom might DO utter
ruin.
If Won can make rough handle
smooth and almost comely by ingenious
MANAGEMENT of daily labor, IL IS better
than the prescribed methods OF drudg-
ery. which is slavery. one test-token
of the Masters work on earth was that
ronoh places should be made plain
smooth. if you hke-and the wilderness
bIoooon, aa the rose. The burden you
u i;ft nav be but pebble; the planting
in in the desert but blade OF grass; the
ronab nIace IeyeIed but a molehill. 1t
ao on ffIsIIment OF His will. This Is
standino-not s M grovelling-in your lot.
Those who cavil at our Efforts to dig
n,fv commonness find no warrant for
M 40 doing in nature or in revelation.
To buy on credit may be tempta-
.,on for many reasons, but a tempta-
t'on .'on to be put resolutely aside. Few
n,Hn .n have Welded to the seductions OF