The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1896-08-20
SOME RAMBLING THOUGHTS.
BY MEMO.
(Copyrighted.j

(Copyrightcd.j
(Penned by q layman in the spare
moments Of busy career and dedi.
Gated to better understanding OF
life and its varied opportunities.)
A doctor finds it comparatively
pleasant and very easy to write
nauseating prescription, for to the
patient alone belong the distress and
disgust of swallowing it. So it is a
simple matter to sit here in my arm
chair and scrawl moral prescrip-
ton for those weak and failing ones
who find themselves lacking in good
Influence over their fellows. But the
likeness to the doctor ends here, for
the writer and the reader are both
interested ip the remedy. The ply
sician patient writes it down, then,
in one word, O compound: SELF
conquest"
Such clearly defined remedy. al
most as simple as bathing in the
Pool of Sloan for blindness, or in
the Jordan for leprosy. Iu that
compound word, however, lies an in
finitude Of power just AS within
the lfeless coal lies dormant the
fierceness of prehistoric sunshine I;
or within the sparkling water. the
energy of steam or within the sum-
mer zephyrs. the marvellous disrup-
Tive force Of electricity. To release
the power of each, proper environ
ment is needed. To set free the
might that turks within self-con-
quest, the suitable environment is n
human heart and that heart, yours.
One is tempted to indulge in the
stilted phraseology OF the quack.
medicine purveyer and style this
remedy a panacea. 1t is heart ton
ic so valuable and so lacking in
harmful reactions that ii cannot be
abused by too much use so unaf.
fected by latitude that its cures are
equally apparent in the snow-hut OF
the Laplander and under the palm
thatched home Of the Carib: SO
adaptive that both sexes, the old
and the young, the mighty and the
humble, the well-fed and the hungry,
the wise and the foolish, the saint
and the sinner,-all derive benefit
from n free use Of this one unfailing
remedy.
With human beings, unlike the an
imals, obedience to the dictates OF
instinct, invariably leads astray, and
exposes our natures to the virus OF
pride, selfishness, gluttony, and SEN
suality. While these poisons are
creeping through our veins and do
ing tc death, as it were, the
warriors for guUu, the while cor.
puscles of our moral blood we have
no power. We may for a while by
our fair-appearing exterior deceive
orr neighbors as to our heart con
e dition we may even throw convent.
ent dust in our own spiritual eyes,
but when some supreme moment OF
life comes then shall we fail, and
ignominiously, just when failure il
, most serious the decayed mast
/ snaps in a gale, the bridge yields at
, the moment that human freight is
p trusting to it.
Reforms and churches, ,-one needs
must mention both, since they are
not synonyms,-are made up of in
: dividuals and the altitude of degre-
dation of those individuals is the
, measure of the power of both the
, reform and the church. No wild
, yielder to lust is gain to the mem
bership of the age-of consent re-
form no self-seeker is of advantage
to the bands of the wretched who
, are waiting for their rights no
, church member who with one hand
grinds the face Of the poor, and with
the other applies the moral vaseline
of a penurous contribution to soup.
, kitchens and missions, is of value to
the church that throws it's simple,
trusting. and statistically-anxious
, arms around him. The trite old il
> lustrations of water being unable to
rise above it's level, and the chain
: being no stronger than its weakest
| link, apply here. Let us not be de
a ceivedi 1t is character that tells in
. this world and no character except
that of the animals comes from
/ yielding unquestioning obedience tc
y our instincts. On our human side
e we have the powers of reason, OF
3 aspiration, of development, o.
a growth. But so long as we grove
a in mere physical impulses, whether