Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1897-04-01


of our study Will it pay this expense OF
books and time and trouble? l can simply
answer for the future as for the past: whcth'
or it will pay or not, depends wholly upon
our viewpoint, and may add. upon our
selves Thurmont is old enough and large
enough to maintain good study club, 'nd
ouph, TO sustain one from mere PRIDE II
from no higher motive. We ought to keep
one alive because We ought to be ashamed
not to do 80, and yet must add that five
as individuals join with no noblrr motive,
If IL is simply to say II belong t" the Gun
merely to give ones self prestige in the com
mun,y, or To- idle away an otherwise unpr"fl'
table evening, better, II thousand times better,
to disband ourselves sell our books and give
the proce eds to some charity
But" hear some one say, 1--WE give the
Club all the time we can spare from our
other engagements of home and church and
society. VIZ may not give 1t supreme inter
est, but it stands next to some other duty
do not want you to neglect other ob'iga'
tons equally worthy and binding, you are
not to make either this one or that one first
and supreme You are To make NIL IN which
you engage with a serious purpose. OF first
and supreme importance. Not one but all,
and you are to find the time for all of them
by stealing it away from your pleasures and
rccreations, from your amusennents, dress
and society. Mind the adage, "where there's
will, &C." Ii you cannot make a noble
undertaking first and supreme, then don't
engage IN il at MI.
do not say these things in censorious
or E,ultfndlng spirit, but rather to enthuse
you with higher ideals and encourage you to
greater efforts. Be noble be earnest in one
thing If tina. one is positively MI you have
time for, but do not triAe with the many
Let it he prayer meeting, missionary society,
study class, whist club, or whatever you
may elect, but whatever it is. let us take
hold with noble seriousness Of purpose and
determine to put into it onr oest selves.
There is a lhousandfold more rcdceming
and saving grace int good whist game whi re
one is learning nothing worse than to keep
her tongue, rs occasion requires, than there
is in fritterlng away whole evening in
trying to get something for nothing; making
the vain show of smuggling thought out OF
lesson into which We have put neither
thought nor time during the week.
We may as well learn now rs in the years
to come there is no royal road to any good
under heaven, either in the material, spirit
ual, or mental world. What we want We
must pay for, and as we let the years with
their golden opportunities. slip by, pay for
with interest and compound interest rs we
older grow.
If we want that culture which knowledge
alone can give, then must we labor for that
knowledge No one else can supply us, we
must earn 1t ourselves or go without it.
There Is no such thing rs vicarious knowl-
edge, vicarious wisdom or vicarious good,
ness.
An! how my heart aches and goes out to
the young girls from sixteen to twenty five!
Fresh from high school or college with
memory. imagination, ideality and all the
powers of the mind al their brightest and
best, glowing with hopes and enthusiasms.
with the great world all bef're them, thrill
ing heart and toul with glowing visions of
conquest and power: Oh! don't | know!
Haven't been through it all, and don't l
now at my age, see in the wasted oppor,u
mites of my young girl friends, my own life
reduphcated and lived over again! Isay and
say it truly, that girls between the ages of
sixteen and twenty five dream and long for
what will never come to them in Gods world
until they have turned their longing and
dreaming into action, and have paid for the
desired good, to the uttermOst fnrthing.
"By the thorn road and no other,
rs the mount of vision Won"
And SO dear girls, can give you the ben
eft of my experience and mistakes. that is
ALL and after all is told, you are I" settle the
problem for yourselves. You will settle to-
night by your votes whether you think II
will pay you to continue the Club another
year. The question is in your hands. All
can do is simply to place myself at your
service, in the future as in the past, pledglng
myself anew, to do all can to help forward
the work of each and NIL, with the added
heartfelt prayer of tiny Tim: God bless Us
all, everyone, Amen