The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1895-08-16
HERE AND HEREAFTER.
THE SMOKE,

AH1E SMOhEs
D0ye.winged against a tender, turquoise sky
Inc white smoke ilits; or through the Ian
Quiyers to fading vioiets su,rals fair;
or shifts to gray, curled upward heavily.
II rises In strong, twis ed columns high
From grimy tunnels, flecked With 1tful flare
Or through the planks OF creaking bridge
| bare
1t sits a sinuous way to trail and die
The still, vast skies are background for IL
strife;
IT'S ike mans ycarning. mounting from
| mans pain,
Seeking the tranquil Heavens, waycringly
Earth's careless clash and clangor give 1t life;
IT'S IKE mans prayers, that rise from toll an,
Trail, and are lost, In Gods immensely.
Hannah Parker Kimball, in scrbner.
An opportunity missed may be ar
eternity lost.
The more honesty man has the less
he affects the airs of saint. -(Lava
| ter.
The secret pleasure of generous act
is the great minds great bride. Il Dry
den.
Heaven will be inherited by every
man who has heaven in his soul. =
| (Beecher.
Every man has in himself CONT
nent OF undiscovered character. Hap
py IS he who acts the Columbus to
his own soul.
This sorrow, which has cut down to
the root, has come. not AS a spelling
of your life, but as preparation for
it. George Eliot.
All the doors that lead inward to the
secret place Of the Most High are doors
outward-out of self, out of manliness,
out of wrong.
The inhabitants of the world in the
year 1898 are OF the same kind that
peopled the Garden OF Eden-they do
wrong and try to blame somebody else
for it.
An unanchored ship may be lying ON
waters as smooth as glass, and yet be-
fore the master is aware, his keel is on
a rock. The invisible tide bore him
away 50 softly and 50 silently that he
did not observe the motion. So are
thousands of people-yes, and some
professed Christians. too-carried on
the rocks every week. not by gales of
adversely, but by Inducements of
strong temptation. -fDr Cuyler.
The parable of the prodigal is the
story Of many soul. A man takes
the portion of goods that fall to him.
his heritage of native powers, in
wrought intuitions and acquired cul-
ture, goes into the far country and
wastes his mental substances in riot
Gus thinking. then he comes to himself
and thinks his way back again to his
point of departure. IL death over
takes him prematurely he dies an ag
nostic, skeptic, or an infidel, if he
lives long enough TO think clearly he
seeks and finds God again. Rev. o.
=. Clifford.
Life is like the summers days. In
the first fresh morning we do not rea
lie the MONDAY heat, and at noon we
do not think of the last shadows
across the plain, and of
the setting sun, and of the advancing
night. Yet to each and all the sunset
comes at last, and those who have
made the most of the day are not I'M
likely to reflect most bitterly how lit
tie they have made OF il. Whatever
else they may look back upon with
or with eorrow, it is GER
tain that they will regret no omissions
of duty more keenly than neglect OF
prayer; that they will prize no hours
more than those which have been
passed, whether in private or in pub
lie, before that throne of justice and
of grace upon which they hope to gaze
eternity. Canon Liddon. |
We cannot see into the future to
know whittier the subtle tendencies of
our life are leading us. We do many |
things which to our eyes appear inno-
cent and harmless but which have
in them the hidden evil we cannot see.
We indulge ourselves in many things
which to us do not appear sinful but
which leave on our souls touch of
blight soiling Of purity, of which we
10 not dream. We permit ourselves
many little habits in which we see
no danger, but which are silently en-
winning their invisible threads into a
cable, which some day shall bind us
hand and foot. We spare ourselves
'elf denials and sacrifices, thinking
here is no reason why we should
make them, unaware that we are low
ring our standard of living, and per
hitting the subtle beginnings of self
Indulgence to creep into our heart.
III. X. Miller, ID d.