San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-05-24
PATIENCE! PATIENCE!!

4A14ANOAi 1
1t is recorded that on a certain
occasion in "Friends" meeting
house, the only discourse to which
the spirit moved any one present
was that Of an old Quaker lady,
who, rising with tremulous tones,
remarked, "Patience Patience |! |!
Let patience have her perfect
work. My servant broke a water
jug this morning and / never said
word about it. Patience! Pa
thence" After sitting in patience
for another hour and the spirit
moving no one the quiet Quakers
silently filed out and each one
went to their own homes. Thus
they illustrated in manner and in
matter the quaint but very sug-
gestive sermon of the old Quaker
lady, Patience! Patience!! 1t is a
theme that might we'll merit a
longer discourse, albeit no more
pertinent.
Patience has not the call among
the western nations as queen OF all
the virtues. In fact it Is too
much the fad of the present to
sheer at the patient man or woman,
and put down to their discredit
rather than to their credit the
possession and exercise OF this, the
crowning virtue of all the list that
adorns humanity. 1t is only in
the oriental mind that this virtue
takes it's true place and is accorded
that rank to which its great excel
lence entities it. That it is en-.
throned in the eastern mind is
only too evident to every student
OF their religions. Eternal pa
thence is the eternal song and it's
possession the eternal glory of all
who shine brightly is the firma-
ment of the eastern beliefs. And
why not? Is not patience the at
tribute OF the Eternal One, that
shines out most conspicuously?
To the scientist comes the full
est force of this idea Of the inf.
mite patience OF creation, for to
him alone comes a conscious and
intelligent sense of the uncom-
puted periods OF that time which
measures the beginningness of
things, at least so much of dura-
ton as runs backward to our con-
seriousness OF things beginning.
Behind that it is useless to peer.
Vast as are the cons that mark the
backward stride of life's move
ments to where they first strike
the scientific Investigator as really
existing, vaster still are the Pc
RODS that reach behind this first
conscious movement to that be-
ginning which is only a name and
OF which no mind conceives. Life's
unbeginningness and its amending
ness alike forever vailed from
him.
The patience of that formative
force that some call nature, some
God, some spirit, some fate is GER
tainly worth considering. The
unmeasured ages, in which the
germs Of the things that now are
were growing to their maturity in
the womb Of material existence,
measure only the Infinite patience
that watched their slow develop
ment. The evolution of forest tree
and coal bed and organized ami
NAL life in its highest conditions,
has been affected only through
patience that has no parallel in
all that humanity has conceived
or witnessed. That it has been by
this infinite patience that snch
grand results in nature have been
achieved, may well be taken as
evidepcing that by the same rule
of patient waiting and watching
equally grand results will be
achieved in the world OF human
thought and effort.
Patience has been the watch
word of every great invention or
discovery that has opened up to
humanity the wisdom and the
wealth and the msrvels OF this
world, and all others with which
we have even the most superficial
acquaintance. Patience las been