The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1903-06-19
THOUGHTS.

AAt' ~ FttAA AAAhiH W ihlilnN "NNNMf
The ley winds that hurry ptst,
when Boreas blows his biting blast
The forked IRE that splits the sky,
The summer breeze that saunters by
Each varied form, each changing mood
j. framed for evil OF for good.
And each the Influence must own
or one great power and one alone
so In the spirit passiontorn,
or In the wasted heart fOrlorn
or In the gentle soul that knows
No care itself but others woes
In natures cruel crafty kind
A spark divine We always find.
How much Of dignity is impaired to
our incomplete human natures when
we believe that they are part Of the up
ward and forward trend Of things 1t
makes the weakest and the least feel
sure Of kinship with the strongest and
the greatest. The belief that human
nature has in itself the impulse to bet
ter things aud there is constantly i'm
proving makes every gain Of everyone
a gain for all. II makes Of us human
Family" instead Of a lot ofantagonistic
particles. 1t helps Us bring our little,
feebly offerings Of "the best we can do"
into the presence Of the great Father
assured that no scOrnful smile will greet
their triiling character.
History will meyer be complete. Too
many pages in the past have been de-
stroyed or were never written, to per
init a full record Of what man was like
when he first appeared here. So myth
aud theory, very early in his history,
stepped in to explain 10y picture words
how it all happened But 50 far as re-
search goes, the further back we travel
towards fragmentary traces Of early
man, the more savage aud uncultured
aud uncongenial do we find him.
He dwelt apart, with his hand quick
b smite every other man he met lie
knew nothing Of comforts, cared no
thing for his descendants, yet out OF
such strange material has been build
ed the present day.
The man in the cave, dwelling IN
fear and suspicion, had within him the
germ Of the highest civilization-not yet
reached but approached where men
dwell together in cities and in nations
swayed by one general impulse and
working for one common interest.
The man in the cave, cracking the
marrow bones Of the beasts he slew,
had within him the promise Of day
already here when the foods Of the
earth pass in commercial peace from
one nation to another, so that the lack
Of one is met by tie plenty Of another
and the sunshine shed on one is brought
right home to the mouths Of those for
whom no sun shone.
The woman in the cave, claspng her
young to her bosom in dread expec-
fancy Of Fate every time twig crack
ed or a strange sound was heard, had
within her heart the same instinct
that will ever make real women shed
their life's blood for their children; bu'
she had much more in her than the
sure survival Of this primal instinct;
from her have come women who think
ahead. who believe in high-bOrn child
rem and who give their lives energies
for all children their own or Others in a
way that she Of the cave could not
dream.
The man and woman in the cave,
timorous with superstition, and poop
ling every storm, every wave, every
creature with Demon-Gods who had to
be appeased, are the drest ancestors Of
the ones who now see no relentless
Spirit Of enmity to themselves any
where in the universe, but who do see
and do feel that the Maker Of all things
is Father, patient, watchful, far-see-
ing, whose pleasure is in the things
that are His, whose joy is in growth,
and whose reward is in the feeble gifts
Of service his growing children can
bring him.
We believe IN growth:-the height Of
yesterday must not be the measure OF
tomorrow. We believe in dissatisiac-
tion:-the thing grasped loses its charm
in the grasping so that the hand thrusts
upward eagerly for something just a
little higher. We believe in the ever
lasting restlessness in achievement, surg
ing and dwelling over the great human
heart like the waves OF the sea, the
restlessness preventing stagnation and
decay, the kinship Of cease.ess toll
keeping men in closer accord than
would dreamy inaction. We believe
in the growth Of mans goOdness-none
being perfect, all having some survlv'
ing fibres Of the savage to bind down.
but all having the promise within them
Of brighter things than brutlshness and
better things than seliishness; every
one Of them with some good in them
none altogether evil.