The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1897-05-16
WHY IS THERE soRRows

WHY - THERE SOHHOWs
There In no man too rich. too good or
too healthy to escape sorrow. Some there
area rare few-who pass through life
with lcss sorrow, in degree or in repeti-
ton. than Others. but there are very. very
few who go from the cradle TO the grave
without q pang of grief or disappoinf-
ment.
The Christian has the consolation that
whatever befalis him. II is the viii OF
God. aud 1t is his duty 20 bow submissive
ly. This Is one r-ason why Christianity
IS such q soiace. 1t calls for no EFFORT o.
the mild to expiain. but satisfies the De-
lever that he whom the Lord loveth He
chasfeneth. and that the cruelest bereaye-
nent !. nothing more than test of faith.
Cnti the soul has entered that happy
negative state, however. 1t Will impatient
~ rebel against the seeming injustice, and
inquire what the force is which turns the
Joy of expectation into the sorrow OF cis-
appointment and snatches away what Is
most highly priced. Some disappointments
are not unjust; they are the result of I'm
due expectation. The disappointment of
a failure to secure nomination for or cleo
ton to a high office. or of failure to attain
any sought success In life. 10 not beyond
explanation. Men who have not reached
as far as they hoped have no more reason
to curse fate than has the man who could
not reach the persimmon because his pole
was not long enough. 1t may turn all the
golden apples Of life I'm the sight of such
a disappointed man into the ashes of the
fruit of the Dead Sea: but ii is not such
sorrow as challenges ali wondering specu-
lation. Such incidents carry compensa-
ton because the loss of one man is the
gain of another.
The gray. sad evening Of many lives is
silent and stin because of the conscious
ness OF failure. Many who have aspired
TO success sit down in shaded corner by
the wayside in the cleaning of the years,
and bitterly see the new throngs hurry
ing BY, gay. hopeful and buoyant. with
the flush of youth on their cheeks and the
disappointed man looking on wonders why
sorrow must come, why the prizes of the
world he has so eagerly sought have been
beyond his reach. Conscious of his own
shortcomings. he has yet seen others with
little effort have the tempting fruit fall
into their lucky grasp. Is there an an
swer to thisg Does the law of universal
compensation ever even up the bitterness
OF the unsuccessful life and the sorrow of
a task unaccomplished?
There is no such answer TO the inquiry,
why must sorrow come? when it takes
away from one without giving to another.
when II darkens one life without letting
sunshine into another; when IL puts upon
the helpless heart the burden of a great
grief and leaves no sign of intelligent pur-
pose and utters no promise of suhse-
quent joy. The cruel perversity with
which cherished kin and friends are torn
asunder. the bright little stars of home
are hiotted out. sweet lips silenced and
loved eyes olosed-all thrust coarsely be-
meath the dank. material earth. These
bitternesses of life have no alloy of bless-
ing I'm them.
longing Of the heart Tor compauionship be
starved? Why are the harp strings never
| played upon by sympathetic fingers. but
| Jared by careless passing hands. which
| nnger lovingly enough elsewhere? Dis
appointment IN the early love IS not a
sorrow. aien and women PASS and halt
| and pass on. leaving faint Impressions on
each other. bat they mate and mate. and
| the loss Of one is the gain OF another.
| There are 0tsappointmentS. but not sor-
| row. The sorrow comes when the heart
| finds itself out upon the waters drifting
from the lights Of the shore. and realize.
that il has parted company forever from
the fellowship Of love. and the sun is
going down.
II ss no answer that as We have sown
/ In former stage OF existence we INNS,
| reap In this. and as we SOW now. We mus,
| reap hereafter. Since We have no reeol-
lection OF the past. its lessons can have M
influence upon as. AS We are not guided
Ia love by Judgment. but by involuntary
| inclination, cur errors Of this life can ha
no guide for us in the future, unless thu,
new life carries remembrance OF the CID
| IL We do not know for what We are being
ehassened. the punishment has lost All u.
4 value as an a.cnerncnt
| Religion teaches nlsnd faith ,n an .r-
scrussoie Judge who rnetes eat pan.l,,ns
ana rewards: philosophy teaches us -
bear with courage the disappoantnsepts ~
life. but neither responds intelngsu,,y 70
the pleading prayer. Why must sorro,
comet