The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-02-13

AUrK a THa IMsRRFEcr

aMosbot us fret over our fauItsand
tailinga Or fmperfaotions disoour
ege us. Oar defeats Outlines break
our spirit and csuse us to give up.
But this is not true living. When we
look as it in right way we see that the
experiences that have been SO disheart
enlng to us really contain elements of
hope and encouragement.
Their Ia beauty in imperfection.
Perhaps we have not thought of it,
but the imperfect in a good life is oft
times the perfect in an incompletes state.
It is q stage of progress, a phase OF de
veloPment. Is rs the picture before
the artist has finished it, Il is beauti
full, therefore, In its time and place.
= A blossomi is beautiful, although cam
pared with the ripe, luscious fruits,
whose prophecy it carries in It's heart,
it seems very imperfect. The young
fruit is graceful in its form, and wins
admiration, although it is but the be
ginning Of the great tree which by and
by it will become. A child is not a
man. How feeble is infancy It's
pc Vers are undeveloped its faculties
are untrined-itis yet without wisdom,
without skill, without strength, with
out ability to do anything valiant or
noble. Il is a very imperfect nan
Yet who bIames a child for it's imma-
turity9 Thsre is beauty in its imper-
lection,
We are all children Of a greater or
lesser growth. Our lives are incom.
plete, undeveloped. But if we are liV-
ing as we should there is a real moral
beauty in our im~parfectness. Il is q
natural necessary process in the IN
folding of the perfect. A child's work
in sch Dol may be very faulty and yet
be beautiful and full of encourage
ment and hope, because il shows
faithful endeavor and worthy improve
ment. a writing teacher praises his
scholars as he inspec5s the page they
have written. He tells them, Or car
tain Of them, that they have done ex.
cellently. You lock at their work,
however, and you find it very faulty
indeed, the writing stiff and irregular,
the letters rudely formed, and you can.
not understand why the teaeherspeaks
so approvingly of the scholars work.
Yet he sees real beautym it, because,
when compared with yesterdays page,
it shows marked Improvement.
So it is in all learning. The child
walked three steps alone to day, and
the mother is delighted with her baby's
achievement. These were it's fist
steps. A little girl sits at the piano
and plays through the simplest exer
else with only a few mistakes, and all
che family are enthusiastic in their
praise of the performance. As music,
IG was most faulty.
The same is true Of all faithful efforts
at learning how to live. We may fol
low Christ very ~impefectly, stumble at
every step, Feslizs 10 but the smallest
measure the q Ialities OF ideal disciple
ship yet il we are doing our best, and
continually striving toward whRtso
ever things are lovely, U efforts RuG
attachments are beautiful in the eyes
Of the Masle-, and pleasing to HT
We usually think Of de.eat as die
honorable Sometimes it is. 1t is dis
honorable when il comes through COW
ardice or lack Of eff )rt. We ought to
rain ourselves to be overcomers. But
wnen one has bravely done his best,
and after all has gone done in the strug
gle, there is no disgrace In his failure
A tWOfold battle is going on whenever
a man is fighting with hard conditions
or adverse circumstances, and IL is pcs
sible for him to fail 10 one and be vic
5orious in thu other. Too often a man
.ucceeds in his battle with the world
at the cost OF truth and right This
is defeat indeed, over which dishonor
heaven grie ves. But whe n a man fails
IN his struggle with circumstances, and
yet m out with manhood untRr
nished, he is q copq1erer indeed, and
his victory gives Joy to the heart OF
Christ. In such failure there Is glo-.
rious success, and no dishonOr OF the
life in heavens sight.
Defeat is the school in which most
Of us have to be trained. In all kinds
of work men learn by making mis-
takes. The successful business man
did not begin with success. He learned
by experience, and the experience was
very costly. The true science OF liv-
ing is not to make no mistakes, but not
TO repeat ones mistakes. Defeat, when
one has done ones best, and when n
takes a lesson from his defeat, is not
something to be ashamed of, but S me
thing to be glad for, since it Gets ones
feet on q little higher plane D5teaf
which makes US wiser and better Is a
blessing to Us. We owe more to
defeats, with the humblings Of the
old nature, the cleansing OF motive ard
af-cGion, and the deepening Of trust
IN @ I'D, than We owe to the prouder
experiences which we call our sue jes-
ses.