Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-02-20
Some Rambling Thoughts.
(BY NEMo.)

(BY NEMo.)
If we 90 out under the skies at night
and gaze up to the heavens and reflect
upon the huge bodies that there are
moving with reslstlesS force, and yet
rhythmical order, through space, bodies
Oh which our own round earth would
scarcely be more than d blotrh; if then
we reflect further that this earth is so
vastly greater than we, that we are no
more to the whole than a grain of sand
is to the output of a quarry, we shrink
within ourselves and recognize our
puny insignifcance. A good dose of
this severe medicine takes the boastful
ness and growing out of most Of us;
and we can spare them, for If ever
there were Il rooster with throat of
brass and a larynX of platinum, he
could hardly keep up with some peoples
self-Satistied nose and Clatter. This
kind Of belittlement is wholesome as
corrective, but no one lives and thrives
on qulnine, nor can we live and thrive
| morally if we are i'll a constant state OF
shrink-in-y your-shell-an curl-up.
~
No. followers of trembling pen
| This universe may be infinitely great ;
the Infinitely Great made it. 1t is also
! infinitely small in its details; the In
| tiultely Microscopic Almighty made it.
| The detail OF an oyster Is as wonderful
in its adaptablllty, lis evidences of fore
thought, its completeness, as is the
detail OF the planetary system. Nothing
| is wasted around you, nothing to small
| for attention. Then Just as necessary
as food is to us, 50 necessary may we be
| to the whole body polite. Your physi-
| clan can demonstrate to you the effect
| upon the system of your various foods,
some going to feed the brain, other to
strengthen the bones, other to make
| the finger nails, other to iengthen the
| hair, and other TO weaken and degen
crate the body: just SO positively can
| the philosopher tell if the civilization
of to-day is being strengthened or
weakened by your existence; whether
| it were better that you had never been
| born, or whether the longer your life is
prolonged the better for your living is
the world that you tread as a moral
monarch. No food can be entirely
| without influence on the body that
absorbs it; no individual can be nil in
| his influence.
*s,*
| Let us think no more of ourselves
than we ought to think but for Heavens S
sake, don't let us think nothing of our
selves. Stop crying 10 your heart that
you are nobody, and be somebody.
| Nobody is everybody, but every body
NAV be somebody, filling some niche,
carrying on some work; justitying the
care and wisdom that framed us and
the Almighty Intelligence of whom we
are part. Naturally we cannot all do
the same thing. Old Paul knew that
The toe cannot fix a collar button, the
heel cannot hold a book; some Of us
are the doWn-trodden, the heels and
| toes of civilization, yet we are as
essential to the world as steam is to an
| engine.
~
| So it is worth while to repeat "no in
dividual can be nil in his influence"
Whether we wish 1t or not, we are
welding an influence on those about US,
moulding for good work or perverting
| toward evil. Young man, tell smutty
story to an innocent boy, and you may
| blight a life by the subsequent accumu
| Iations upon the one evil thought you
| in planted; restrain wandering youth.
and you may set III motion d power to
reform town or revive Il nation. Here's
Il point for US who are doomed to live
| lives of Obscurltv. We shall, most Of
us, in all probability, die unknown to
the world, but, by constantly setting in
motion the forces Of good in those we
jOstle in the ways of life, We may have
our essential share in great deeds, vast
accompl mplishments, and moral victories,
Just as the insignificant insect was essen
tlal to the final outcome Of the Pacific
island.
~
With such view of life cannot we
recognize its value and grandeur, even
in obscurity? One more thought, too
great for this pen to wOrthily treat, and
these rambling thoughts close: No two
of us travel exactly the same road from
the cradle to the grave; no two of us
come in contact with just the same peO-
pile; no two of Us influence Just the same
group; no ONE of Us can retrace our
steps and take up again combination
of forces that we have neglected. Like
the worker IN plaster of Paris, orr work,
good or bad, solIdities az it leaves our
hand. What we each neglect may re-
main neglected for ever, for no one will
have just the opportunities we have had,
nor travel over our road, step by step.
~
Thus from a sense of our little i'm
portance we have possibly passed by
successive thoughts until we realize in a
way, not seIf-sufficlent, but determined,
our Importance and our grandeur 1ndi-
vidually in doing well our little tasks,
working out our little details and using
we'll our little opportunities.
-
Finally:
Confucius says the disease of men is
| this: They neglect their own fields, and
90 to weed the fields of others"
The authorities of Jerusalem decreed,
''let every man sweep in front of his
own door. thus shall the city be clean"
The Bible says 'Cast out first the
beam of thine own eye, and then shalt
Ii IL FL to ,,r,l thn To