The Democratic advocate., 1896-05-16
SOME RAMBLING THOUGHTS.
Written for the Democratic Advocate,
BY MEMO.
ron rnosr wno sonnow A.p srFrEn.

THOSE WHO SORROW AND stfFEh.
Just now the trees are putting forth their leaves
But the selfsame influence that sends the thrill OF
renewed energy from the roots full to the most re-
moie tin of the smallest braneh is bringing back
nud into life the trees enemies that have lain dor
inant all winter In a few weeks many naked
branch will be thrust upward towards the heavens;
naked before its time stunted in its growth; nay,
even damaged forever because Of the evil that has
befallen it, Where the rich greenery OF leaves
should be you will find the skeletons of their glory
shrouded in the nauseating webs OF the army worn
or bearing the tetale evidences of other creatures
of ofdestruetiye habits Then winterwill come again
and find the suffering tree unprepared for the rigors
of frosts The storms will gradually wrench its
weakened limbs one from another. In few years
ii will lie altogether prone and rotting
Has such Il tree rounded out the cycle OF Its pur-
nose Like others il has transmitted the Inorganic
rocks into fibre and foliage but apart from fatten-
ing and maturing of grubs and caterpillars' bugs
and beetles it has done nothing, and nature makes
haste to break up into its elements IN order tht
it may once start out upon cycle of possibil-
tiles. Its wondrous grain has beautifed no vain
seoting. Its toughness has never supported the
straining sails in the bowling tempest, bringing
human beings at last to a haven of safety; it has
served not so much for flrewood Its trials have
destroyed it. 1t is worthless
What shall we say then, or whereunto shall we
Iiken ourselves: we who suffer with the constant
presence of the worm at the heart bereayed by The
dread revival ofdisappointment each time that hope
buds forth smitten with the bufetngs of the world
that threaten to uproot us from every solid foun
dntion? Shall we liken ourselves to deeaying tree
and read in their defaced and dreary branches ON
own life story and its inevitable end? From The
heart at least will cry with a loud voice NO
a thousand times No - The simiitude is imper
feet. The pessimism is unfounded.
Vegetation grew was overwhelmed and rotted
and the animal creation travelled and groanet
through long ages before man, the apex of creation
came upon the scene. As the higher animal witt
his powers of lOcOmotion is infinitely above th'
fixed and stationary tree SO man by hisfntellectua
and spiritual powers il infinitely above either
While in his liability TO decay and to death hi
nature shares with all lower forms the universe
corporal law that IAN things wax old and pas
away" yet his invisible mind and spiritual power
that find no counterpart in the physical world ma!
well he regarded as subject to II different law from
the tree when smitten, bereaved and damaged.
And SO it is Where the damage to the budding
leaves of tree weakens its vitality and the branches
grenched apart permit the inftration of water
decomposition results; with the nipping of hopes
and of plans in the bud, and the wrenchins by
storms of life will if viewed agight strengthen and
reinforce us on some stormy and rock bound
coast the writer has heard, the grain of the trees
seems knotted and bound in together to resist the
fury of the gale; and Oliver Wendell Holmes says
of us who buffet 'The north wind puts the back
bone OF resistance into man." 1t truly will if we
but stand up to il. Without belittling the pangs
of those who read these lines and in all seriousness
us one of the brotherhood of burden bearers, the
a.. l.
pointment are an essential part of the progress o
the world The value Of sorrow is no new idea
and its appreciation is not confined to Christian
thinkers, As long ago as 500 B. C. Confucius said.
"a gem is not polished without rubbing, a man
perfected without trials" and again, Men who
are possessed of intelligent virtue will generally be
found to have been in trouble"
The tendency with most of us, if we are LETT
alone, is to continue along the animal plane, and
seek qualification for all our We apt to
be selfcentered selfish, neglectful of others and
deaf to the claims of the race upon u.s. But a start
ling sorrow comes upon us and it ultimately rends
and tears our selsatisfaction into tatters Just
the visitor a volcanic region has his whole faith
in the stability of the earth destroyed by the seis
mic waves that rumble and grind around him, so
the sufferer finds it necessary to shape his life
by new standards of character and conduct. The
lead it and to guide it. The way of setting those
spirits apart and fitting them for the usefulness of
life lived outside the confines of their own
breasbones is to plunge them into the crucible Of
afilieuon, and burn the dross iiereely away. Are
you in that crucible? Then there is good metal in
you to be brought out. Are you suffering and
curbed at one point and then another? Then you
are on the road to power over other human beings.
There is no denying that the woman OF
greatest power others is the that has
tied in company with disappointment and trouble
and come up ont of 1t all conqueror of selfish
plans, purposer of broader sympathies, breather
of loftier ideals than were ever dreamed of during
those days when everything was sunny.
We will leave out of consideration the effect OF
in essening the hold upon life and content
ing to die and seek place of rest These aspects
are dwelt on more than enough by others, till we
have come almost to believe that the right spirit is
one that means for release from this mundane
sphere of sorrow. Sorrow that does only that has
not completed one-haf its work; when it has truly
broken and softened our selfish impulses it makes
us fit to live and most fitted to comfort and strength
Ell Others.