The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1894-05-24
SILENT HEROES,
MEN AND WOMEN UNKNOWN
TO FAME.
Yet They Are Heroes and Hero
ines as Truly as any Who Ever
Braved Danger in Battle or
Other Stations of Life---Some-
thing for Our Readers to Think
Over and Act Upon.
New York Herald, !

mere IS something exceedingly en-
couraging in this statement with which
the Bible opens, because it places man
on high level.
The work OF creation was we'll nigh
finished the myriads of stars had
wheeled into line, ready for their
march through ages ; the earth teemed
with fruitfulness, every manner of
creation rejoiced in life, and the whole
machinery of the universe had been
set in motion.
Yet sense OF incompleteness pre-
vailed something was wanting which
would give significance to the whole.
Without that something all that had
been done would fall short Of perfec-
ton, Then came the imperative sug-
geston: " Let us make man." But
what kind of a being should he be !?
The innumerable host of angels and
archangels must have been filled with
curiosity as they looked on the
wondrous spectacle of revolving worlds,
conscious that the purpose of creation
was to be revealed. The house had
been built, but it was without an ocCu-
pant. "What shall be the shape and
what the characteristics of this new
being ?" they asked, and the answer
came back " Let US make man in
our image, after our likeness"
Then he must be creature with
aspirations, with a thousand possibli-
ties, with a royal nature, with the
capacity for exercising sovereignty
over physical forces and over himself,
very God in miniature, whose
manifest destiny is the companionship
which Heaven provides.
1t may be true that we are prone to
evil, that we sucCumb to temptation,
that we have accumulated an appalling
amount of depravity, but the likeness
to God is still in the soul and has not
been cfaced. Theologians may tell
Us that this depravlty is total but no
man can Sit in impartial judgment on
himself without seeing that the
elements OF true greatness remain and
can be SO developed that he shall
become wholly good instead of partly
bad. The dignity of human nature is
a persistent fact which no amount of
theological controversy can eliminate,
and no man in all the multitude but
feels at times the pulsing of higher
hopes and the consciousness that he
may yet fulfill his mission.
Men and women are nobler than we
think. In the great fabric of the COM
munity are golden threads of personal
heroism, of Selfsacrifice, of calm and
quiet endurance, never told by orator,
never sung by poet. The heroes and
heroines Of ordinary life are too
numerous for counting. Men and
women are daily facing emergencies
which require loftier courage than
was ever displayed on the field of
battle. The physical daring which
under excitement and the impulse of
love of glory stands amid shot and
shell and bears the flag aloft through
shower of bullets may be altogether
admirable, and is certainly worthy of
the rewards of honor which it receives;
but there is nobler daring, and it
deserves far higher need Of praise, as
| when the young man catches a
glimpse, by fash OF lightning
through the darkness, of the inevitable
results of his evil life, and with a
mighty effort breaks from the entangle-
ment of vicious habits, and in spite OF
cajoleries and gibes and jeers claims
possession of himself and maintains
the claim with a will that no circum
stances can break.
Who can tell how many experiences
of this kind occur every year in city
like this Few hear of them, for they
are wrought in silence or solitude.
Such a Hercules does not become
famous by his achievement, but he is
nobler than any Olympic god thai
ever found a place in history OF
mythology.
There are wives who bear the brunt
of i'll fortune without a murmur
husbands who struggle with poverty
or impending poverty, with a calm
fortitude which excites the pity of the
:. cloud of witnesses in the upper air
both men and women who have secre
sufferings SO great that their hearts art
beating a dead march to the grave
but from whose lips no word of com
plant escapes, and girls by the score
who keep themselves unspotted il
spite OF fate, preferring the LONELINESS:
of dingy room with honesty for com
pany 10 the gaudy surroundings which
are bought with impurity of life.
These are not rare instances by any
means. If you could peer into the
souls of passers by you would find
them at every corner. These are the
silent gods and goddesses Of ou'
modern day, whose statues are not te
be found in any Pantheon, but vii
certainly be found in the temple o
eternity. They belong to the un
recognized nobility-to that peerag'
of God who are doomed to suffering
to day, but will rejoice with great glad
ness tomorrow.
One illustration will suffice. 1t is
pathetic story, but it is also true one
The aged father needed constant care
and the daughter, thinking her first
duty was to him, bade her suitors goot
night. While watching at his side sh'