The record-union., 1898-12-29
PRESENT DAY THOUGHTS.
by G. Grosvenor Dave.

Nc Oc-SEAWdI d1OuS luO pain VI
eighteen ninety eight is a very disquet-
ing one-feebleness where there might
have been strength, hesitancy in the
place Of perfect assurance, yielding
when there should have been proud
resistance, obstinacy at g. time more
ut for cheerful surrender, fear when
there was the loudest call for bravery,
bravado one day when there was moth
ing to make it good. Possibly we can
even see our own great .stoggy footsteps
cross a quagnire we ought not to have
traversed-and mud still clinging to
feet that were created to tread clean
highways.
All the innocent joy Of the little ones
who shout Happy New Year" at US
Seems like mockery. We say to our
selves Happy! Indeed how can be
happy? Failure over everything until
life itself seems fraud played until
those who are unwilling to live" The
cheerful need no cheering; it is the
cherries ones who should be called into
q little glow Of warmth; and then only
by those who have known what cold
Is; for we often resist pulpit utter
ance when we feel that the speaker has
no deep knowledge Of life's sad hurly-
burly.
Some time ago I read a poem by
Boston man. 1t was strung-out lot of
sentiment about "a Bird With
Broken Pinfon." His argument, and a
very self-evident one at that-was that
the bird with broken wing could never
soar so high as before the accident.
Then he likened US who make failures
to that same unhappy little creature.
Surely he was far from being correct.
It read to me like the nonsense of COM
pairing two things that were utterly un
like, and then basing a sermon upon
resemblances that did not, could not,
and never would exist
Truth is not in his idea The simile
was a. false one, and life as it is lived
by human beings-not birds-proves 1t
So. The man who has learned by serious
and humihating bumps that he cannot
stand upright unless he looks Well TO
the way of his feet, will be a greater
man and a greater power than the one
who never stumbles and therefore fails
to understand how hard is the path
way of his fellows. Real leadership
must have humility in it, and humility
is hard to find among those who know
neither testing nor tempting.
In other matters besides those Of con-
duct mistakes play valuable parts. The
progress of the world is based upon this
or that theory-sworn to vehemently
for awhHe-having proved to be wrong.
The Importance to the world Of making
errors is ranked by another quality be-
longing to US complex creatures, the
ability to see a mistake after we have
made it, and to profit by it. In fact,
to have done those things that we
ought not to have done, seems to put
us in the best frame of mind to attempt
fhOst things we ought to do.
Sense enough remains within you to
make you despondent over your short
comings-be glad of that. You have
not reached the stage of hoggish con-
tentment with the mire Of your own
making. You have heart yet to believe
that you are capable of better things
than you have yet accomplished. So
at this season, when we are prone to
look mainly backward, I summon you
to a cheerful facing of the future.
Stop moaning and repining over lost
opportunities. Nothing will bring them
back But you live, and life means
that other opportunities are yet to be
placed before you.
Put courage in your heart for this
twofold reason: you know the worst
that is in you and regret it, and you
must believe in better things yet TO be,
or you would not long after them.
Therefore I say-and with me speaks
every soul that has triumphed over
weakness and gone from strength to
strength-let the time of fearful diver
gence from everything that makes for
progress be no longer remembered as
an active grief, but assume in your
mind dull, gray background that shall
make the completed picture Of your
later life's work stand out more clearly.
After all, there is usually a great deal
of concett in those who persist in being
down-hearted. Examine yourself and
see, if 1t is not so. You sometimes
think that you have been singled out for
special affliction and misery. That
heart within you is deceptive above all
things. and it would fain make you
think the whole world is yellow just be-
cause your eye is jaundiced. Good
sense besiege thee, sad friend The
universe is not to be jolted out of joint
just because you are out of step. 1t is
self-centered conceit that makes you
think it so.
Scan the universe some clear night
and then reflect on the thousand times
ten thousand other creatures beside you
who have hearts that can feel and needs
that must be met. If your tiny agony
within does not begin to shrink to its
right proportions, you have no magma
tion at all. What business have you to
be cuddIing misery and asking to be
excused for making the world a bet
ter place to live in? While we live we
serve, or we are unworthy to live.
While we selfishly and conceitedly
mourn wasted chances, no good at al
can we do.
Take courage and be sensible. Turn
your past irresolution into purpose
overcome some fatal weakness within,
nv Incoming so much interested in the