Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1897-03-23
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SOME RAMBLING THOUGHTS.
BY MEMO"
Copyrighted
How sheep-like many OF Us act We
reflect on neither past nor future; there
is for Us no glorying in deeds done oy
the race, no realization Of our share In
further progress; no learning from the
voice of history, no vision OF happy peo-
pie vet to be blessed. sheep take things
as they find them; men force nature to
their will. sheep are content IL merely
well-fed, men do not live by bread alone.
Sheep look constantly at material things (;
men gaze upward unabsshed even BY the
shimmering glories Of the throne OF
everlasting might. Let Us be men.
Try 70 outlive a free mind that will
believe In things not seen, in deeds not
shared in, in powers not possessed by
yourself A tsd-pole's horizon Is limit
ed by his unwholesome puddle, but your
horizon is limited BY nothing IL you will
but curb selfishness and be a sentiment
being. The past Is all yours. Though
often YOU forget 10, you are lineai
descendant from the earliest ages. The
great Of every cline are your kinsmen,
bone of human bone and flesh OF human
flesh. Find interests outside OF your
self; enjoy the inheritance OF great
things already done.
Just as learning dead language helps
Us understand English, SO the past inter-
prets the present with its multiform
activities. without such knowledge life
is 10 Us. as with the unthinking brute,
beref. OF clue as TO whence or whittier.
The blood OF heroes for righteousness and
martyrs TO racial duty. courses in human
veins. Such knowledge will thrill a
man into the full stature Of manhood.
Yet the supreme grandeur Of living can
be ours only when doing something
definite. We may draw inspiration and
pride Of birthright from the past; we
must live and act in the present.
Bunyan's muck-heap rsker saw no
beauties; seltishness In the essential
duties OF life, and appreciation of the
full meaning Of life do not abide togeth-
er. We cannot serve our race and
worship Mammon. IL we flank our
selves with money-bsgs, or IL we want
20. just for what they may bring OF per-
sonal comfort We are condemuing our
selves TO loneliness aud heartsches.
Money never bought sfriend, and money
never held one. The transforming grace
Of true woman's love, IL never pur-
chases. Ii buys eye-service; IL buys
self-seeking sycophants. The house Of
the heart IS empty when such NIL II.
The trained ear can detect sounds in-
audible TO the unframed; the trained
eve can see into beauties Invisible TO
ordinary mortsls; the trained hand ac-
complishes things impossible 10 gross
manipulation. The heart trained 10 III
terests outside itself looks upon a new
world. Without interest in others, q
narrow life remains narrow; with il
even 8 sick room may become the centre
OF worldwide influence. The shepherd
tending his wandering sheep, the miner
working amid dangers, the farmer wres-
Ting with difficulties, the wife at her un-
paid labors, all can live transformed
lives, IL they feel their share in the
worlds best interests.
Whittier describes life as "a cry be-
view OF il. Your life and mine are
links in an endless chain. We are the
living expression OF the dead Who rest
from their labors; We are the custodisns
OF the future, il so that We live. How
dead the Imagination that cannot under
stand this Unborn sons and daughters
are within you. For them your daily
life is preparing gloomy or glorious
morn. What that morn is 10 be, We
you and l-sre predestinsting by our
strength or by our weakness.
But mark you, To live Is to turn
the back on insetion; sloth and real
living are sniipodal. Likewise, earnest
ness and full appreciation by our fel-
lows are impossible. Human no-bodies
have no enemies but he who goeth forth
with noble purposes, i bound TO run
counter 10 the legion demons Of laziness
and stupidity, gluttony and filth, who
cry out Leave u alone. What have We
10 do with thee:" They whose souls are
10 go marching on with armies whose
footsteps never vet have echoed, must
face coniumely IL they try 10 lift human
ity one inch higher.
Unhappy for the world is il for man
TO attain his full ambition. He ceases
his efforts; in action Is death. Better
far TO have the full fruition Of effort
always just evading the hand, and thus
beckoning 20 further deeds. Let there
be no contentment with one good thing
done; but have each purpose merely a
part of something greater; just as with
the universe, made up OF numberless
stars, all grouped into solar system,
these included in the vast aggregation
itself, and that in turn pushing onward
through space 10 something yet neither
seen, nor foretold, no imagined.
Poverty is 10 bar 70 breadth Of mind
or Of helpfu'ness. The poor have always
given proportionately more 10 each other
than the rich have bestowed upon them.
The widows mite Is no solitary in
stance in the world. And as for giving,
whose pleasure is greater - they who
give and are glad 10 have money take
the place Of fellowship, or they who SUI
fer in order 10 help? Real giving means
sharing. Or as the Master says in Low
ellis poetry
"For the gin without the giyer Is bare
Who gives himself with his aims. feeds thee
Bimself, his hubgeriDg neighbor and Mes
Do not train your little ones to think
that the main object Of life is to pass
expeditiously and silently by the world
as q foe TO grace. We are here, TO live
right where we are, and now, setting up
righteousness and striking down wrong.
The religion that justifes man In TAX
ing all his communal rights. peace, pro-
lection, government, and Ia giving no
service in return; even deriding the
world as lying in the evil one-that re-
ligion itself is an sbhorrent foe to the
grace Of living which is the noblest
preparation for the grace OF dying.
TOWN ELECTIONS.