The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1895-01-31

LIFE, from the cradle to the grave,
has been described as a journey, with
pixies and toll houses all along the line
at which we must stop and pay our
way. Now the question naturally
arises, do we get sufficient return for
money and time expended OH the
journey? Which takes the heaviest
toll? that part of the journey in which
our lives have been devoted to right
doing, or that part which we have de-
voted to the lusts of the flesh. TO the
many who are still paying the price of
crime were this question asked, they
would reply, 1.-THE latter is the most
COSTLY 1t is more expensive to sin,
than to comply with the laws of God
and man: and happy is he, who, having
started on the right road where every
thing was good, stuck to it, and is enjoy
ing the pleasure of an honest and up
right life. The stops on the journey
of life are many; here and there refuge
of safety may be found; grand charac-
ter may loom up before us, and we
become infused with his grand life and
struggle to keep, like him, in the paths
of virtue and nobility; but the vast
majority of stops, the many roads that
branch off from the narrow way, lead
to vice and folly, pride and fashion, and
the multitude drift aimlessly along, too
weak to retrace their steps until they
are engulfed in the maelStrOm OF
wickedness; until misery, degradation,
the poor house, the prison, and the
grave ends the earthly journey. Is not
the toll a heavy one? Does it pay?
Have the pleasures that we have en-
joyed been worth the price? These are
questions. that we, who have reached
the prison end, may well ask ourselves
Again we may ask can we not recover
from the wreck? Experience has
taught us that we have taken the wrong
road through life. We know all the
avenues that lead to shame and degra-
datiOn. We know our shortcomings
and we have reached one of the inevi-
table ends of miSSpent lives the prison.
God in His great wisdom will give
many, perhaps all of us here, another
chance. Again the sun in all its bright
ness will shine upon us. Again life
with all it's possibilities, it's ups and
downs will lie before us when we go
from prison walls; will we use this
experience SO dearly purchased to
make that life more beautiful, more
useful to ourselves and society. or
will we, with eyes wide open go on with
the old life, with sure and terrible retri-
button, a continuation of our present
miserable condition? This question
remains with ourselves to solve. The
best efforts of the best people on earth
will avail us nothing if we do not begin
ourselves and prepare the ground for
them to work on. There is no
power can overcome the human heart
without some effort upon the part of
its possessor to become worthy of the
consideration of those who would make
man better, life worth the living. We
cannot say "help me | am weak and
sinful and then remain passive, we
must be up and doing. We must look
at the picture reflected back to us from
years wasted, and, fully realizing our
shortcomings, go into the battle with
determination to overcome all OBJ
stacleS that beset our pathway, and we
will find life's journey smooth, and
many pleasures yet to be found; that
where the roadside has been strewn with
weeds and tares, flowers will bloom;
where once misery. disgrace and hard
ship was our portion, honor, respect
and love will be given us, and the sins
of the past will be blOtted out forever.
What beautiful picture compared
with our present environments. Let
us, while here, prepare for this better
life; let us go into the world deter
mined to avoid the cross roads we en-
tered in the past, and liberty, honor
and manhood will crown our efforts.
IT HAS always been boast, here in