San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-02-28
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY %, 1891
MILESTONES.

silent and eloquent voice. Sometimes
that voice was mistaken, as in the
case of two sons from the Emerald
isle, who, tramping in New York state
at an early day came upon a fiat
white stone set up by the side Of the
road bearing the inscription, Miles,
Albany, 1876" WhereupOn one of them
remarked to the other, " Faith, Jem,
they live long time in this country.
Here lies a poor fellow named Miles
Albany. aged 1876 years" This kind
of a milestone belongs to another class
grouped more closely together than
the ones that designate distance, and
these also teach that we are on a
journey that will sooner or later end,
but that is not the kind of a milestone
that teaches us today.
How the traveller over unknown ter
ritory, along unfamiliar roads, eager
iy scans the highway as he drives
along, looking for the familiar old
stones by the wayside showing how
far it is to the next town. How lone
some he gets as mile after mile is pass
ed and none appears in sight to an
swer his unspoken questions as to the
distance travelled or yet to cover.
There was a genuine kindness, a real
forethought in the custom that thus
etup by the wayside silent speaker.
Il dumb teacher of distances, Il polite
guide who without Interrogation
would answer to our unspoken ques-
sionings of the way we came and the
way we were going. That old custom
: has not fallen into desuetude, and the
stranger over the plains of Texas is
often admonished as he travels of the
progress that he makes, as he reads
the visible signs of some ones fore
thought and notes in his heart ST
lent gratitude therefor.
Milestones! They are not alone Of
marble, or granite, or wood; carved
or engraved, or painted, or daubed.
They are not used alone to mark the
miles that our horses travel, or our
bikes wheel along the thoroughfares
of the counties and the states we ira
verse. They are found on every high
way that we travel, upon every road
that we wander over, on every plain,
or valley, or mountain that the feet
Of our human progress touches. They
are not always in as plain sight as
the stone that marks the distance
along the roads that reach across
country, but it is only question of
little experience and n little prac-
tice and little care to know, mark
and understand just where these way
marks of human passage are to be
found, what in their silence they teach
and what wisdom of direction we may
gain therefrOm.
MiIestones! More than milestones
are these Of which we speak. The
roadside milestone only notes the plain
ny luC
Z wheels, as one after another they
make broad and plain the track for
all who follow after. That milestone
makes no note of the added miles the
foot may wander as it comes and goes
gathering flowers, finding points OF
observation, seeking cooling shade, OF
congenial shelter, or limped streams
That milestone only measures the d.
rect 800 rods OF beaten road along
which you are supposed to pass, and
at the close Of a days rambling will
only tell you how many miles OF ac
tuai road distance you have come dur
ing your twenty-four hours. 1t is lin
tied to its one function and essay,
nothing beyond 1t.
These other milestOnes mark thu
progress of physical life, note the way
of social advance, tell us of our in
tellectual jOurneyings, speak to us o.
aur material increase and in every
way possible instruct us in all tina
shows our movements along the grea
highway of our whence and whittier
All anniversary occasions are mile
stones along that highway. Not ;
birthday do we celebrate that it doe
not bear its silent witness to tn
passage we are making from tn
unknown out of which we came
into that unknown into which W
are TO pass. All recurrence
of festal days, all annual, bi-en
NAL, or quadrennial elections, ar
milestOnes craven with some messag
from that past which lies behind, col
yeying some instructions for the wa
that lies before. Not book we reaC
not life we scan, not an experienc
through which we pass, but in som
form or other teaches us either goo
or bad concerning that life we Al
living.
Our birthday anniversaries mol
than mark the accumulation of year
These milestOnes mean considerab