The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1896-03-26

SOME RAMBLING THOUGHTS.
There is grandeur; there is an
awesome influence in great
standing up alone, de-
FAINT of storm and unc hanged by |
1t is assertiveness soldi- |
fed; up beS ond the UNDERLINE 1t
pushes is way, then even the lich-
ems are lelt behind, and at last its
over-towering height is formed only
of cold, unyielding rock and the
everlae ting SHOWS. Is there COM
fort and courage in gazing at IL?
Only when we are in certain moods
of doubt as to the endurance of the
Almighty in whose hands it has
been but dust. More frequently
this vast, inert, immovablc mass
depresses one. 1t is too strong, too
lasting, too independent to comfort
US little pygmies upon whose mum
berless generations it has fr0wned
down indifferently. Before We
came, 1t cared not. After we are
gone 1t will care not. Its heart is
stone. Hearts of flesh yearn for
hearts Of flesh.
***
The dull, unbroken roar of Nj
agra ascends forever and forever to
the skies whether they be piano.
piled by the day or shrOuded by
the night. Before man was, it Isl;
there is no comfort in it. 1t is in
liquid picture the csaseless stream
of humanity, forced relentlessly on
to the final plunge from which
none ever return. We gaze at its
glorious fall and are nothing to it.
Whether we linger or depart it
carries on its one insensate duty
Oi obediance to gravitation. There
Is no feeling of kinship to a thing
so vastly enduring, and 80 vastly
Indifferent. Its heart Is cold.
Hearts filed with warm blood
yearn for their kind.
~
The great inahimate things of
nature can stand alone. But we
cannot perhaps because we are not
great, and certainly because
are not great, and certainly be-
we are animate, with hearts
that culver with pain, or bleed
with sorrow, or rejoice in hope, or
yearn for fellowship. The man who
stands aloof from us all Indifferent
as q mountain and relentless rs
Niagara, is a monster and no man.
***
Next summer gaze out upon a
wheat.fed and read its lesson.
A gentle wind will break a stalk
that stands. alone. Look now on
the whole nodding expanse. The
summer zephyrs stir it only into
rich golden undulalions and none
are laid low. A rude wind arises
and the stalks toss wildly in the
air like pillows in mid-Atlantic
but when it has passed they are
again gently moving in the summer
sun, making glad the heart of tae
farmer and promising power to
hungry humanity.
***
Let us realize our fraiIty first and
then our power. l write unto you
who, with me, are young and en-.
thusiastic, buoyant and purposeful
you upon whom is descending the
necessity of doing as much as the
past has done, giving human prog
ress one little step forward before
your time comes. What | write,
feel: Make friends, bind them t.
yourself with bands of iron, loose
them not; that you be not fount
standing alone, an unsupported
mark for every mischance." Thi
is day when humanity is realiz
ing the powers of combination
With God all things are possible
and not irr.vently may we sa,
with the u WHIP of purposefu
hearts wrapped up in noble plans
nothing is impossible"
~
How slow of heart we sometimes
are. We relapse to the savagery o
the stone-age when the enemy 0
every man was the very next MAJ
he happened to meet. We think i
noble to be independent of every
one else and we set our mouths al
firm as Caesars. We delude our
selves: in our complex civilization
! (and who would thrust US back
ward upon the path by which hu
manity has risen) we cannot be in
dependent of each other. Most en-