The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1898-06-24
Let Us Look to Ourselves.
Editor Democrat Star.

The late summer and fall Of '97 wa
q trying one TO all OF us-one Of thos
seasons that show OF what stuff a mai
Is made. Like the thunder cloud o
our gulf region, the fever visitation
broke over US, startling us unto recog
milton Of the fact that we are NJ
longer immune from epidemic. a
cloud no bigger than a mans hand
appears once more upon the horizon
1t may pass, leaving US unscathed
and there is solid reason for believing
it will do so, but should it hold ;
storm let us look the matter calmly
in the face.
There is only one thing that make!
life really worth living and that ont
thing Is the development Of the best
that is in ourselves and in Others
The man who does not do this is
failure, though he should amass the
combined wealth Of the Vanderbilts
and Rotchilds. The richest man the
world ever saw preferred wisdom tC
everything else; and the best express
sion Of his God given wisdom was his
JUSTICE. Solomon was cminently JUST,
and Solomon was the wIsEsT Of men
and the most prosperous. Were many
Of us to measure our prosperity by our
justice to the fellowman, / am afraid
even Jobs turkey would seem well-to-
do in comparison. Our %justice-in
many cases-is like what the dairy
maids calls "blue john skinned
milk, nothing more. We keep the
cream for ourselves, and the other
people must take what they car get.
There are eXceptions-bright excep-
tions, glorious exceptions !; exceptions
than sh0ne like stars during the last
fever term in New Orleans, Mobile,
Scranton, Edwards-everywhere the
visitation came-but exceptions only
prove the rule. What has become of
Tue spirit Of Christianity when men
rushed by thousands, like frightened
ieer, from the Southern cities, leaving
lome, and in some instances leaving
families in the mad race for personal
What had become of the
'pirit of Christianity when sister
carried on through the medium
the press, a civil war of words as
in intent as the yeritablc bat
les Of the secession? What had be-
'ome of the spirit of Christianity,
be asked as the prelude Of a
Ong catalogue Of instances too sad to
De remembered even now without d
,ear-of Instances of mothers refused
lccess to dying children !: of instances
the stricken being deprived Of each
asst slight alienation as life would
rive OF instances OF sheer starvation.
Il is true, a nan owes something to
himself: he has only one physical life
Ind has a right to protect it-aye,
more than q right, a duty often and
duty in the highest sense of the
word when there are others dependent
lpon him. But, however, that may
DC, there is never a time when we can
lot aid ours own community, our i'm
Mediate neighborhOOd, by REFRESHING
he despondent tone, by speaking the
word, by checking the i'll fore
Joding. All the old experienced ycl-
ow fever doctors and nurses tell us
low much a cheerful state Of mind
contributes to check the spread Of the
and even to moderate It's vio-
.cnce when incurred. We can force
ourselves to speak cheerlully and we
must do it-EeYer mind how we feel
about the matter. 1t is wonderful how
much one good humored person can do
10 reyolutionize the feelings Of a whole
assembly. There is nothing in the
81 courageous as Il laugh except,
perhaps, the craze for naming every
lhing-from a son and heir down to
,he last new drink at the soda fountain
after Admiral Dewey. The prac-
ice Of cneefulness will soon become a
labit and it will make stronger and
met and women Of us. We
Viii be surprised to see how agreeable
We have become, we wont bore our
elves lis we used to do, and our ret i'll
like the Old woman's little
.og in Mother Goose, will fail to rec
gnize US when we have cut off some
t the long garments of sellishness we
Sed to go about in. The source of
ears is very near thesurface after all,
nd life has many hidden springs that
i'll unloosc their fountains soon
nough-let us smile then while we
IN. And when the supreme moment
ONES, and 1t must sometimes come to
II Of US, and the need of suffering
umanity becomes so great that our
ersonal safety can only be preserved
t the sacrifice Of all that is good and
rue-the sacrifice Of the only thing
hat makes life itself of worth, we
ill arise, girded with new strength
nd follow where the Master leads the
ray. We are each of US, In a beauti-
III sense Of the word, anointed min.
'ters of Christ, and in this active
ministry unto our fcllowman Is Chris
pure and indebted. Should
he events of last summer renew them.
let us meet them calmly and
Iopefully If we cannot give active