The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-07-17

not believe.-John ". As. A wicked genera
We pray no more. made lowly wise.
For miracle and sign,
Anoint our eyes to see within
The common the divine.
Christ showed little sympathy or patience
with the wonder-seeking impulse of His
generation. He was more anxious that
men believe His words than that they ac-
cept His miracles.
If the Son of man come shall He find
more real faith in truth on the earth to-
day? Is not this generation ever seeking a
sign also? Men have little ear for ''the UNI
sung beauty hid lifes common things be-
low" They listen only for the song of
great repute. Lovers ignore the fact that
True love is but humble, low-born thing.
And hath its food served up in earthen-
A thing to walk with, hand in hand,
Through the every-dayness Of this work.
day world.
And. turning away from the simple loves
that would make our earth an Eden, they
seek amid strange environment the excite
ment and frenzy which makes love seem a
miracle
This craving for the new and strange is
universal The boy prefers the animals of
the menagerie to those of his own yard.
The woman wants fabric of foreign make
and stamp. Travellers go abroad before
they have seen the beauties Of their own
land.
Carlyle enunciates the great fact that the
most startling scene in the world. seen
twice, becomes familiar and common to the
ordinary mind. The meaning of life's great
est experiences is exhausted sooner than a
child tires of its new toy. First experi-
ences, however pleasurable, become COM
monplace upon few repetitions.
tage in this eagerness for the unusual
without it there were less progress in the
world 1t saves man from indifference and
apathy. 1t is mighty counteraction Of the
conservative, centripetal forces in human
lives.
But, taught by the beauty of the uncom-
mon, man should learn to behold the equal
beauty of the commonplace. Seeking the
strange and wonderful, the true and beau
tiful are often overlooked. The divine has
been lost in commonplace only through
familiarity.
Even those things which through routine
have become distasteful were once of great
est joy. Housekeeping is a tiresome round
of care to weary womanhood. But, tired
woman. think of the first time you stood by
your own fireside or sat at the first self
gotten feast by the board of love. Then
voices celestial were singing in your heart.
1.-THE dull and weary round Of care
which the business man finds in his voca-
ton was not apparent on that Mayday
when the boy left school and with bound
ing heart went to the Office. seeking work
and destiny. Familiarity breeds con-
tempt" only because it closes man eyes to
the beauties of the common scene and seals
his heart to the common joys.
DELIGHTFUL EXPERIENCES.
o that those sensations, those fond rap
lures of young experience might last, that
the vistas opening before a new impulse,
the gladness accompanying new en-
deavor, the hope and fervor of new de-
termination might go with all men through
life!
If some myth-god were to assure me or
the realization of my choice Of heaven,
would not ask for wealth, or golden streets,
or any of those things for which men
usually pray would say: Make permanent
the sensations of fresh experience. give me
continually the joy of the first kiss of
fresh young love- the satisfaction Of the
first home, the gladness of the first journey
into the world, the enthusiasm Of the first
real Decd the delight of the first great
thought. All other dreams, once realized.
grow wearisome, but herein there could be
no WEAKNESS.
We need to bear in mind how futile life
would be If we went though it, touching
but once each door-latch, seeing but once
each sight, and clasping but once each low
ing hand. The very order and fullness Of
life demands familiarity. Accomplishment
necessitates commonplaceness. He who
would really achieve must do and do and do
again, ever the same small task.
Sc tr4oxy tai 1o lCf
the divine be sought in it. This may the
more naturally and readily be done IL We
note three practical facts:
/. The freshness of first experience may
be kept. There is something wrong when
familiarity breeds contempt. The secret OF
the joy of new experience is that the heart
comes to it with fresh expectancy. The
divine is anticipated, therefore seen. The
home becomes more and more sacred with
it's new loves and ever deepening sorrows.
Shallow hearts alone are unm1ndful of the
deepening stream of grace. Opportunities
for energy and zeal have not vanished from
the shop or store; only enthusiasm is lack
ing in the heart of the keeper of the shop
and store 1t is not life. but human feel
ings that grow stale and cease to please.
No fairy god can give life constant fresh
ness: but wise interest. worthy purpose, UNI
selfish motive and a pure heart will perpet-
uate the joy Of any day of spring through
out life's changing year.
IT is SACRED.
q The mind need not seek far to find that
the commonplace Is really very sacred.
However restless our hearts, their truest
Joy is that with every returning spring and
every recurring experience "the same dear
things lift up the same fair faces
The vines of affection cling to the COM
monplace. The exceptional dazzles, but the
accustomed deeply moves. Rarity attracts,
but the ordinary sustains. The voice of a
Patti thrills, but the homely lullaby stays
and satisfies the heart; the old, old ballads
of simple daily life sung from the common
experience of a common singer send men
to solemn chambers of sorrow, and to the
watch towers of hope. as the divinity artists
can do only by reinforcing the power of
their art hy the force Of the beloved COM
monplace.
A wanderer from home. pleasure dazzles in
vain,
give me my iowly matched cottage
again.
Our heaven--and there is a good deal of 1t
in each and about all-our heaven is right
here in the commonplace. Men make UNI
usual effort to see a king. and feel honored
by handshake from the President; they
journey far to see monuments OF history