The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-01-31

remainder of our life to it's close, and
upon eternity.
There is rare courage in just being
sensible, in compelling our feelings to
face facts and deal with them instead
of with useless wishes or regrets.
No life can be pure and>Strong with
out making others purer and tronger (;
man is composed of part of ah> that
he has met and with which he ms
come in contract.
There is no standing still; we are
going forward or slipping back. Let
US look back over the year and see
whether are stronger or weaker for
our work. s..
We cannot dream ourselves into
anything that is either beautiful or
good; we must hew our dreams out Of
the hard rock with pick and hammer.
There is nothing for the self-indulgent
but miserable failure.
The thought of just God having
seen all that we have done would
only breed despair in our minds if we
did not know that He forgives those
who hnmbly and penitently confess
their sins.
five are determined to SOW "wild
oats" God will not hinder US, but He
sets up before us the fearful warning.
He that soweth to the flesh shall of
the flesh reap corruption."'
The person who is wasting bis in
heritance in riotous living is fortunate
if he can pull up before everything is
gone. The greater likelihood is that
be will 60 on till health, and wealth,
and self-respect are gone.
AS the sweet fragrance of q frail
flower ascends to minglet with the
atmosphere, so does the holiness of q
good man sweeten, the life of his
neighbors and even as stagnant pole
gives off miasIna, does the influence
of evil corrupt and poison. p, 60
Recreation is intended for the mind
as whetting is to the scythe. He,
therefore, that spends his whole time
in recreation is ever whetting, never
moving, and he that always tO{lsfand (;
never recreates is always moving,
never whetting. /.
If one allows himself to banker after
evil things he will not be saved Tim
doing the evil by any outWafd res
traints. God will allow him to make
his own bed and will let him lie init
until like the Prodigal he comes to
himself, and sees what q fool he is.
five could all realize fully the truth
that all our thoughts, words and ac-
tions are an open book to God and are
recorded tor or against us, we should
feel that we have greater need to keep
all our thoughts, imaginations and de-
sires pure and noble.
Upon how many does the loving in
fuence Of dead mother still shine?
And Of how many stars that have
ceased to exist do astronomers teSgn
us that we vet receive the light?,
What invisible power is it that seR3es
us at times with the exaltion and IN
spiration of past deeds, past heroes,
past glories?
Conversation is an art worth learn
ing. Its keynote is unselfishness. To
speak without trumpeting our opin-
ions, and to listen without interrupt
ing, are accomplishments which self
ish person finds difficult, but which
must be learned before the charm OF
commences. -.
When some of life's pleasant places
have for US come to an end, when some
door of Joy has closed behind us, shut
ting US out from old delights and
feliowships, and bidding US turn to
new paths, how slow we are to accept
the inevitable. j
Once there was brier growing in !
ditch, and there came gardener with
his spade. AS he dug round it and
lifted 1T out, the brier said to itself,
what is he doing that for? Does not
he know that am only an old worth
less brier ?" Then the gardner took ~
to the garden and planted it amid his
flowers, while the brier said, What g.
mistake he has made, planting an old
brier like myself among such rose trees
as thesep But the gardener came
once more with his keenedged, knife,
made a slit in the brier, and. as we say
in England, 'budded' it with a rose,S
and, by and by, when summer came,
lovely roses were blooming on that
old brier. Then the gardener said,
Your beauty is not due to that which J
came out, but to that which l put into
you.'n That is what Christ would DO
with each life of ours. He would put
himself, his own life, into us. Then
we shall be able to live worthily ana
beautifully and to succeed and become
q blessing in the world. Christ In US
will make us what we ought to be.,
Nothing else will. -...
He who disobeys any law dishonors