The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1897-07-22
Some Rambling Thoughts.

copyrighted by Dave & Tabor. !

copyrighted by Dave & Tabor
To LIVE is, as it were, to set sail
over an unknown sea over routes
never Travelled before, for no two
follow the same course through life.
Experiences never met before will be
ours and storms that no others ever
grappled with must be 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
talr weather ports, go to wreck: it is
the storms that spare the staunch
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
and in calm to do their best. Complain
not at fierce onslaughts of angry
waves. They try mems souls and
wash the unworthy overheard, to
leave behind those whose manful
spirits are a glory to our glorious race.
49,
TO LIVE is, as it were. to climb
a mountain whose beetling sides defy
conquest by shrinking men. but
whose very roughnesses and stern
projections give foorhold to the fear
less who look 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 purpose to rise
higher and 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
errors of judgment, his ears attent
to the sound of the freezing ava
lanches above him, that with him are
chilling criticisms, his soul filled with
the spirit of 'EXcelsiorn and yet new
ep too full to resist the benumbing in
tluence of long continued effort in an
atmosphere rarer than that breathed
by men who stagnate.
~
TO LIV + is, as it were, to be in
battle where, amid noise and cOnfus-
ion, the plans of the commander are
nevertheless being carried out. The
struggling of strength agains t
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 all 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 Iiced that
we learn to stay freed from sins that
SO easily beset us, 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 from the weapons that
Stay evil and put down the enemies of
progress.
49,
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 hard
ship and to become begrimed with
mud and water if one gem may be
brought to light The patient tplod-
ding in darkened ways that some of us
do, ever urged on by inner impulse to
further effort, is mining in every
sense. We see no light of heaven and
yet on we go, we hear no sounds of joy
Gus 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 sustained by the motive of our
quest, our patient work is there and
IS known by the few whose hearts
sympathize with us, and to one from
whom no secret is hid.
*#*
TO LIVE is, as it were, to traverse
a swamp whose qualing mire offers
no lasting footing. Its foul gases en-
danger us, and in our hours of gloom
its 1itful lights, arising solely from
decay, yet appearing to promise com
fort, only lead us further away from
our direct course. Without stepping
stones, we grow in experience TO fear
the hampering, clinging, engulfing
mass, until we learn that the solid
supports for our trembling steps, are
made up only Of the things we throw
away. He who casts aside seltishness,
he who tramples passions into the
mire, he who denies himself daily Of
the things that enervate, he who
keeps his eye fixed on one noble pur-
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