The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1897-12-09
THE GUIDE POST.
IT MUST BE STRONG "EFFoRT."
MAKE THE MOST OF LIFE.
Some Rambling Thoughts.
BY "NEMO. !"

{Copyrighted by Dave & Tabor.)
} The strength of muscle comes from
long-contlnued exercise the strength
of an ideal from years of devotion to it
strength of mind from patient train
ing; strength of character from tn
markings left by decades of struggle
And there is no short way!
Would you seek the royal road to th'
pinnacle of your llfe's highest posi-
billties? Then move forward, watch
ing tor a guide-post with the single
word effort !" Turn, in by it ant
press on, though it does not lead by
1owery paths through valley fields
Your highest, like mountain-top
will never seem to move toward you
until you move towards it. Ways o1
life are thus divided to the doubt.
ing and timid ones, the lowly paths
that give no wide outlook +; to the fear.
less and purposeful ones, ways that
climb upward, leading by many grand
experiences to prospect most broad
and to an atmosphere most exhilarat-
ing. And what is this upward triumph
over the downward tendencies of our
nature, but the counterpart of real
mountain climbing, in which the world
ever grows broader and yet more silent
at every forward step and backward
glance? There, alone with the High
est, our hearts are filled with ming
ling emotions, our eyes gllsten with
tears and we know not why; save that
we are small, smaller in relation to the
universe than an-invisible animalcule
is to s-great-greater than all Gre
ated things if we unite our force with
the Force abOve,-weak-wea than
veriest thread If we forget our union
with the great human family below,
sad-sadder than we can understand
because so many of our fellows are con-
tented with narrow valley-sight.
~
THE ROAD OF LIFE.
The 81 gn-post of our duty
Is pointing up the hill,
Above the valleys beauty,
That stretches soft and still.
The upward path is dented,
Where heroes feet have trod
Yet we would lie cuntented
Upon the flower -strewn sod.
'Tis ill to stay repining,
Because the~way is long;
For vigor comes with climbing,
And effort makes us strong.
And though it>be not given
To us to reach the skies;
To know how we have striyen
May help another rise.
Effort overcometh the world, for
effort is faith-ln ones self, and in the
value of life, and in the right of the
world to the best we can accomplish.
Effort well-sustained and well-directed
this is the victory. But would you
seek shorter way? Then use 'sLong-
ing" as your gulde-post. 1t leads by
dream paths to golden glories that
vanish when you awake. It woos you
with dazzled eyes out into a dreary
desert and leaves YOU to enjoy the sub
stance OF mirage. It weakens your
manliness for action, not longing, is
life. Far better to toll the path that
has been proved by all the ages.
The strong are those who make the
most of life as 1t comes to them; who
spurn Incidence as they would scorpi-
ons who turn the defeats of life into
more certain victories by struggling on
when all seems lost who yield to
neither difficulties nor disappointments.
not because they stop to argue out adj
vantages, but because the spirit OF a
true man despises yielding cannot
weld! These are the ones who stand
serene after great resistings, whose
matter about mems names
are woven into every progress, and
whose freely spent efforts are the secret
of human triumphs. They are good
ly company, whom no perishable book
shall ever fully record, but whose works
live though the hands that wrought be
dead.
Herein is your hope and mine, hum
BILE men of purpose. Shall we credit
Luther with the Reformation? No!
rather he merely voiced a feeling that
was moving resistlessly through the
awakening European giant. Without
that dumb cry Tor freedom OF thought
"a cry that was not solely a religious
protest-he might we'll have fingered
within the scholastic walls OF Wltten-
burg. Shall we paint the signers OF
Ayers Pills, being composed OF the
essential virtues of the best vegetable
aperiepts, without any Of the woody or
fhrous material whatever, is the reason