The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1897-07-24
Some Rambling Thoughts.


To LIVE IS, as it were, to set sail
over an unknown sea over routes never
Travelled before, for no two follow the
same course through life. Experiences
never met before will be ours and
storms that no Others ever grappled
with must be endured Storms can
not be escaped by wishing for calm
weather. but must be met and ridden
through by all the seamanship we can
control 1t is In the storm the sim
pie ones, brought up in fair-weathcr
ports, go to wreck: it is the storms
that spare the staunch aud seaworthy
TO ride at peace at last in the ripping
haven, filed with those who guided
by the stars Of heaven have rejoiced
in breeze and calm to dc their best.
Complain not at fierce onslaughts OF
angry waves. They try mems souls
and wash the unworthy overheard, to
leave behind those whose manful spir-
its are glory to our glorious race.
-
To LIVE, as it were. TO climb a
mountain whose beetling sides defy
conquest by shrinking men, but whose
very roughnesses and stern projections
give foothold to the fearless who look
ever upward and strive the more. the
more they are hindered. He who is
unsuccessful at one point, and draws
back only to rest for further effort is
bound by the moral uplift of his pur-
pose to rise higher and higher above
the heads of the fearsome crowd in
the valley below. But the climber is
never safe; all his faculties must he on
the alert, his muscles braced for effort,
his eyes open for creyasses, that with
him are errors OF Judgment, his ears
attent to the sound of freezing ava
lanches above him, that with him are
chilling criticisms, his soul filled With
the spirit OF Excelsior and yet never
too full to resist the benumbing in
fiuence of long continued effort in an
atmosphere rarer than that breathed
by men who stagnate.
~
To LIVE, as it were, to be in bat
tie where amid, noise and confusion,
the plans OF the commander are never
theless being carried out. The strug-
Cling Of strength against strength is
decided by calmness and cooperation.
There we learn to stand shoulder TO
shoulder with those who think as we
do. There also we learn that all who
fight on one side are not of necessity
agreed on all things. We give blows
and take them under the eyes of our
watchful leader content to know that
even II we perish in the doing, he has
| Others in reserve to carry on his work
in our place. 1t is life when LIVED
that we learn to stay freed from ''sins
| that SO easily beset u.s." with the
thought of doing better service for
our side. Those who fight for good
throw aside the hindrances OF life that
their hands may be free for the weap-
ons that Stay evil and put down the
enemies of progress.
~
To LIVE, as it were, to burrow in
oit hthts toOBtb up anu Dtu, IL
only the precious thing sought may be
found; content to undergo hardship
and to become begrimed with mud
and water and soil il one gem may be
brought to light. The patient pod-
ding in darkened ways that some Of
us do, ever urged on by inner inn
pulse to further effort, is mining in
every sense. We see no light of heav-
en- and yet on we go, we hear no
sounds of joyous Nature, yet onward
ever, the things we conquer are hid
den far from the eyes of men and be-
yond the point where their praise
would be audible, yet sustained by
the motive of our quest, our patient
work is there and is known by the
few whose hearts sympathize with us,
and to ONE from whom no secret is
hid.
~
To LIVE is, as IL were, to traverse IA
swamp whose quaking mire offers no
lasting footing. Its foul gases
endanger us, and in our hours of
gloom its fitful lights, arising solely
from decay, yet appearing to promise
comfort, only lead us further away
from our direct course. Without
stepping stones, we grow in experience
to fear the hampering. clinging, en-
quilting mass, until we learn that the
solid supports for our trembling steps
are made up only of the things we
throw away. He who casts aside sell
fishness, he who tramples passions in
to the mirc, he who denies himself
daily of the things that eneryate, he
who keeps his eye fixed on one noble
purpose and controls his wandering
glances towards things more glittering
but less noble, treads fearlessly on
ward, safe amid dangers and undivert-
ed amid gloom.
To LIVE is to be all you can where
ever or whatever you are. The quiet
''sHUT IN" on bed of sickness or couch
of pain may live and influence by be-
ing just all she may. The crippled
man, weak by inheritance and robbed
OF his best by the sins of his ances-
tors, may be too incapable to climb
and yet may prepare to set Others on
the way. He may be too stiffened for
seamanship, and yet attend the lights
along the shore, too feeble for battle
and yet the comforter of those who
are wounded and would return, too
sightless to traverse swamp, and yet
able to show how stepping stones may
be made of discarded self.
~
To LIVE is to recognize that the
world has right to the best that is
in us; that we owe it service. To
live is to rejoice in every good work
and wish it "God-speed" whether our
hands have anything to do with it or
not. To live is to step out of selfish
narrowness into the breadth of inter
est in our fellows that is worthy our
divine nature; to breathe the air of
world-citizenship no matter how mar
row the confines of our physical
sphere; to glory in world-progress and
feel our kinship TO all who are good
and great. This is "To Live,r and
this is to give proper scope to our ma
lures that are little lower than the
angels in as far as we are narrower
than the Eternal.
| D.roo<s.. Eoo.ou.u