The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1897-12-10
THE ROAD OF LIFE.

THE ROAD OF LIFE.
! he sign-po>t of our duty
Is pointing up the hll,
Above tie valleys beauty,
hat stretches soft ana still.
The upsard path is dented,
Where heroes 1eet have Tod;
Yet We would lie cOntsuted
Upon the dowery.strewn sod.
lis III TO stay repining,
Because The way is long:
For vigor comes with climbing,
And effort maseS US strong.
And though il be not given
To us 10 reach the ski les:
To know how We ave stIiven
May help another rise.
Effort overcOmeth the world, for ef-
fort Is faithful oneself, and III the
value Of lie, aud in the right of the
world To tue best We can accomplish.
Effort wel.-sustaiued and weil-directed
this is the victory. But would you
seek shorter way? Then use Long
ing as your guide-post 1T leads by
Dir am paths TO golden glories that van.
iSh when you awake. 1t woos YOU
with dazzled eyes out into 4 dreary
desert ana leaves you to enjoy the sub
stauce of Il mirage. 1t weakens your
manliness for action, not longing, j. life
Far better to toll the path that has been
proved ny all the ages.
The stroug are Whose who make the
most ui life as it comes to them; who
Spurn iud0lence IS they would scOr-
plnu>; who turn the defeats OF life into
more certain victories 10y struggling on
when all seems lost; who Yield to
neither difficulties nor disappointment,
not because they stop to argue out adj
vantag-s, tut because the spirit OF
true man despises yiedlng-caunot
yield. These are the ones who stand
ser-ue aft great resisting, whose deeds
TO mat or about mems names-are
woven IN every progress, and whose
freely spent efforts are the secret of
human tuumphs They are goodly
company, whom 10 perishable book
stall ever fully record, but whose
works live through the hands that
wrought be dead.
Herein is your hope and mine, hum
bic men OF purpcst. Shall We paint
the signers of our declaration as heroes?
Yes, If you will. Yet surely they came
tn the front because there was public
upinlou back of them, and this was
made up of those nameless yet consci-
eutiOus elements of a country's life that
are the substratum aud the very sub
stance also of all great forward move
ments. And-on the other hand
shall We credit Alarlc with disrupting
the Roman Empire? No, his strength
consisted in the weakness OF his enc.
mics, who, raised 10 Heaven by their
privileges, brought themselves down 10
desJruc,iOD: not by the wickedness of
ANY one man, but oy the general un
righteousness and consequent feeble
uess of the many.
Alas! the strong aud the weak to-
gether make up a nation, and its con-
tinuous power Is possible only by an in
Grease OF the strong and a decrease of
the weak. The weak are those who do
not utilize life 10 the full: who. loving
the comfort of the hot-house. perish at
the sincere chIdings Of the north wind:
who crumole like sand ramparts at the
first touch OF the ocean of testing that
all characters must endure if they
would ue true; who seek Tor themselves
The quiet inches OF life, satisfied to fore
g the honOrs if only they can escape
the strivings that precede donors: who.
Ike troplc savages, are content with
food secured without labor and much
sleep with late awakeniugs; who being
weak are selfish, and shut away their
compassion from struggling. eager
humanity whose efforts they scorn,
out whose shOe-strings they are not
worthy 10 uuloose; who have the forms
OF men but the virulent softness of ielly-
fish; VINO have the outer appearance of
manly grandeur but the attributes of
internal parasites, hidden, despised,
iuverienrate, yet ever fed by others
labor.
Choose ye this day your class!