The record-union., 1897-07-18
SOME RAMBLING THOUGHTS.
BY MEMO.

! copyrighted by Dave & Tabor.)
| To live is, as it We're, to set sail over
/ AN unknown sea route never trav-
| eled before, for no two follow the same
course through life. Experiences never
met before will be ours and storms that
TO others ever grappled with must be
i endured. Storms cannot be escaped by
wishing for calm weather, but must be
met and ridden through by all the sea-
manship we can control. 1t is in the
storm the simple ones, brought up in
fair-Weather ports, go to wreck; 1T is
the storms that spare the stanch and
| seaWorthy to ride at peace at last IN
| the ripping haven, filled with those
who guided by the stars of heaven have
! rejoiced in breeze and in calm to do
their best. Complain not at fierce on
slaughts of angry waves They try
mems souls and wash the unworthy
overheard, to leave behind those whose
manful spirits are glory to our glori-
Gus race.
To live is, as it We're, to climb
mountain whose beetling sides defy
conquest by shrinking men, but whose
very roughness and stern projections
!
ever upward and who 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 above the heads of
the fearsome crowd in the valley be-
low. But the climber is never safe; all
his faculties must be on the alert, his
muscles braced for effort, his eyes open
for creVasses, that with him are er-
rors of judgment, his ears attent TO
the sound of the freezing avalanches
above him, that with him are chilling
criticisms, his soul filed with the spirit
of Excelsior and yet never too full
|, to resist the benumbing influence of
| long continued effort in an atmosphere
rarer than that breathed by men who
stagnate
To live is, as it were, to be in
battle 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 ell 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 if we perish in the doing, he has
others in reserve to carry on his work
in our place. 1t is in 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 weapons that
slay evil and put down the enemies
of progress.
To live is, as it were, to burrOW in
the mine, cooped up and cramped, if
only the precious thing sought may be
found; content to undergo hardship and
to become begrimed with mud and
wafer and soil if one gem may be
brought TO light The patient plodding
in darkened ways that some of us do,
ever urged on by inner impulse to fur
ther effort, is mining in every sense.
We see no light of heaven, and yet we
go on; we hear no sounds of joyous
nature, yet onward ever; the things
we conquer are hidden far from the
eyes of men and beyond the point where
their praise would be audible, yet sus-
tanned by the motive of our quest;
our patient work is there and is known
! hv the few whose hearts SVmDat hiZe