Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1895-05-17
Living in Today.
A Sermon for All of Us who Think We
Are over Busy,

A Sermon for All of Us who Think We
Are over Busy.
mamma, why do you not use the lovely
toilet set that Mrs. Eaton gave you for
your dressing-case at Christmas
because, my dear, it is so delightful to
have something with its first freshness on
it in reserve, to use when making ready
for guests whom we delight to honor
"But, mamma, if you will consent to use
them every day, and take the good of
them as we say, ! will promise to replace
them when they have become soiled or
have lost their first daintiness.'
The above conversation was repeated to
me bv the mother herself, who used the in
| cident as a tex. on which to found a little
/ sermon on the duty and the beauty of liv-
| ing in the present.
/ 81 feel quite competent" she said, "to
/ speak of this subject. because l have been
/ so derelict myself ] can see now that
/ have always lived too much in the future.
/ There has always been in my thoughts and
/ plans an unformulated, and for the most
part, perhaps. unconscious reference to an
indefinite sometime when our circum-
stances would justify the use of my precious
bits of cut glass. choice china, finer linen,
modish gowns, etc, every day. unhampered
by the consciousness that they could not be
replaced if broken or defaced. But my
daughters appeal caused a startling arrest
of thought 4 voice seemed to say to me,
Here are you, fast nearing that point III
your life when you may well begin to lis
ten for the soft dip of the silent ferryman' S
oars as he approaches TO convey YOU to the
other shore. Your life is already lived.
The future is too brief and uncertain to be
D cd init
much change The memories of home and
home life which your children are to retain
forever are already fixed and Interchangeable.
And yet even now, you are so absorbed in
the contemplation of some indefinite fu-
ture, or the pursuit of some desired acqulsi-
ton, that the beauty and the duty of today
are half-forCotten or overlooked altogether
And then and there ! resolved to endeavol
10 redeem the remaining time Hencefortl
! am determined TO make each day as il
passes Just as beautiful in every way as
possibly can"
Said another woman to me: For many
years | kept my most beautiful things lalC
away, to be taken out and used only whe1
company was expected. But one day ther,
came a fire which destroyed in an hour al
my cherished daintiness. Oh, how l re
GREETED then that they had not been useC
and enjoyed while they were in my posses
sion, and persisted through use instead o
being destroyed by disaster
Do not these little incidents, homell
! though they are, suggest a prevailing taul
in our American life-the ever-presen
, struggle for some future, perchance indeti
| mite, good And how easy for this habi
of life TO crystalline into a deplorable ant
5 almost irremediable habit OF mind. 1t be
L I'll, .lsg+ r,sal
ones plans with simple reference to today
its own peculiar beauties and privileges
"Some time" we say. ~ mean TO checl
this busy. hurried life, and take time t
5 read and study, take a little pleasure tri
F. every year, perhaps oftener, and begil
a really to live"
10 Alas, the future-that ever-allurin
e 'some tines a recednC quantity. /
is never reached Like the pot OF gold a
the end of the rainbow it allures, recede,
vanishes, and in infinite but hopeless IT
p gret the allured and disappointed sol
- wakes up to find that opportunity. too,
q gone.
= The habit of living in and for the futur
Y comes at last TO permeate one whole being
9 ones very ego. "SOme time-ah, som
7 time,-we shall have leisure to put oul
+ selves en- rapport with the highest spiritus
: life, to spiritualize our whole existence
v so to speak But one day great shoe
|, comes. Something tells us that our hab
J. of soul is ,HTed, that even were we to b
Y translated to heaven today, we should Tin
q that, like Glory McQuirk, we were INC
# in the atmosphere of the place.
g In view of these things, as the preacher
: say, wha. better motto for living coul
g there be than this "In medidS resi- VIII
: should we not leap right into the heart {
= things-cut our garment from the who
r piece instead of using the little pieces, :
r Mrs, Whitney so aptly puts it, search f
= every hidden beauty of the prese,ht ho
j. and bring it forth into the blessed lig
of today; enter at once into that Tonga
ticipated era of hospitality wherein we a
TO entertain, con amore, our ,o3pwn and o
children's friends; brighteTy,,r. the hoI
with all our reserved resou ola fd6ter no
u this very day, into all tho N ,poss,nd be
T. our opportunities afford 10 hoI
II living, for mental and spirit, ,,o,,-,rf,,1 =
y In short, why not begin at o. Ia
i all our dreams-translate the In
y instead of booming them to renal "a
E. in that unsubstantial essence, tt
l. that dreams are made of2'
- 1t is this same thought which RichaI
Jetfries, the lamented English writer c
outdoor things, and true prophet of Il
soul, puts into the mouth of the grown