The record-union., 1897-10-03


called in again to point a moral by
means Of that silly head which he bobs
into the sand to shut out all sight of the
world. Unlike him. his human counter
part ranges through every climate, un-
feathered and unhonored. Some even
are in your community Let US at
them and be done with our bird pointer
for a while
Thou money-lover, with not only head
but heart bent down behind a few ring
ing coins; through a world whose beau
ties and noblest joys are to thee in
visible, the avenger is stealthily ap-
preaching. A little twinge of pain
somewhere, a little numbness in your
brain, a great deal of turning hither
and thither to famed physicians-what
are these but warnings of your fate?
Your tiny heap seems SO important to
you that you thrust away the very
thought of death and feverishly desire
to feel forever the magic thrill Of
wealth within your grasp. You long to
get more; yon build it up around you
like a wall Fool! Helped by wealth
you may fly on the wings of the morn
ing TO the uttermost parts of the earth,
swifter than the shadow of an
eclipse the arrow of death will reach
you-ard then what have you? The
heap that you trusted in, as fortress
with trOuble-proof bastions will not
save you from the glazing eye and the
rafting throat, the clammy sweat and
the vague picking at the bed-clothes.
These are yours by common human
ity and when they come to you, moth
ing material can be taken away into
the darkness. Something cannot be
taken away from nothing; your life is
nothing as you have lived it. You will
close your eyes and lie lifeless beside
the beloved wealth that has already
closed your eyes to the needs of the
palpitating world of misery
But do I intimate that only ordinary
death experiences will come to you?
Nay, if I do, I lie; for there will be an
outstretching of other eager hands to-
ward your golden heap-they are even
now waiting for your death in order to
scramble for your possessions, and as
likely as not, behind fragments of your
sours-all will crouch another genera
ton of fools. Is that all? No: for if
you love wealth more than kindness;
if you gather from expressions; if you
wrong and cheat in order to rake more
and more around you, your memory
will be crusted over with gangrenous
hatreds. Pleasant and wonderfully
useful though money may be, have you
indeed chosen the better part of it in
contenting yourself with acquisition?
Under the effort your head with its no.
bic powers, is bowed lower even than
the animals who by getting give and
having done all, stand to serve human
ity. But you get and give not, and the
service of humanity in any form is out
Of your range of vision; your head is
too low
Thou fashionable woman, hiding thy
nakedness behind frumperies that
change with the changing day; content
ing thyself with a world limited by pat
terms and rounded out by f1ounces; thou
art also among the ostriches. Picking
and pruning and philandering, covered
with the products of creatures more
gentle, and with flowers more fair than
yourself, you go your way as though
the body were more important than the
mind, neglectful of the fact that the
mind adorned and the spirit sweetly
and gently cultivated will last long
after the skin has wrinkled and the
eyes have lost their sparkle. Com
pared with the fabric of your mind
your body is but a basting thread. Yet
behind a contemplate hillock of clothes
you bow your beautiful head until you
no more see the wide world of noble
womanhood to which you are surely
called. How selfish you arel Your
father needs must deck you though his
aged head calls for rest; you cry
Give give to both father and hus-
band, not that you may make any re-
turn either to them or to the world
You circle around yourself, you admire
yourself. you get pleasure in humbling
those less gorgeous. Do you call that
living? Can you by any stretch of
your perverted mind, satisfy yourself
that your powers We're given you Just
to fulfill the function of a dress form.
If that were all, bent wires with cilicia
covering could fill your place in the
world. Silly ostrich. when the avenger
reaches for you. and your place knows
you no more forever, what will you
leave? Clothes! whereat even the serv-
ants will fiout in a little while. Upon
my soul, life is not worth the effort of
living. if that is all it can be made to
bring forth.
Live largely. Let Hfe's current flow
Like gen 'rous flood from winter snow
Full, swift and strong, nor lightly bent
BY any small impediment
The narrow mind is like the stream.
That sparkles bright in summers gleam:
But tiny rock or fallen tree
VIII check its journey toward the sea.
Wherefore look wide, and learn to live
On nights which true Irrespective give,
So nothing trivial shall hide
The clear horizon stretching wide
Lift up your heads. o ye ostriches!
Peep out with blinking eyes from be-
hind your fads and your foibles. Raise
your heads on high where they belong
and then look at life as a whole. with
a due sense of proportion, impossible
before when You We're so near the
ground. What Go you learn? That no
one cares for you. SO long as you care
only for yourself; that the love of your
fellows is bought with a price. a great
price. whose chief pearl is your own
lf-fcrgetfulness: that the soul self
centered has no part in a civilization
that is only made of things gained by
brain and brawn and then thrown into
the common fund of humanity.