The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-07-19

millions Of profit Aut. though Nathan
Rothschlld was ~ wealthiest fnaneier
in al Europe he was one of the most
unhappy Of fnsa When a friend visited
him one day Ana said. You ought to be
happy man 9Th al this wealth. Ma
than turned, and. with look of seorn,
answered.; 'HaPpyl Happy I happy!
Boshi Let us change the subject"
II wealth does not In itself produce hap
piness neither does worldly fame nor
honor Men strive for place and power
as II with them they were sure of happi-
ness They plot and conspire and muir
der that they may mount the steps of
throne, and when they succeed they find
they have gained nothing but anxiety
and worry. When the Servian king and
queen, Alexander and Draga. We're as
sassnated Pope Leo XIII was heard to
exclaim in the Vatican .'Oh when win
the people learn that thrones stained
with blood are not worth having?' And
yet for financial wealth and worldly hon
or thousands of men will surrender their
all. They will follow these will O. the
wisps though the shining lights may
lead them over miasme swamps and
qualSing boys and into the fatal quick
sand. They will seek and struggle and
continue to struggle to possess these sup
posed priceless treasures, because they
believe that IN them the great heart of
happiness, rich blooded and life giving,
can be found Then when they have
been defeated in the struggles of life
they sometimes drive the destroying dag
ger into their own arteries, as tanta-
lied serpent buries his poisonous fangs
in his own flesh.
Joy of Helping others.
Moral application: Do not try to build
the temple of happiness out of yellow
bricks. Think not that the broad hieh
way which leads to the throne room of
JOY Is always lined with applauding and
voefferating multitudes. The ground mole
may tunnel his way into gold mine,
but he still remains a ground mole The
bat, flying about in the darkness may be
able to push his claws into trembling
mems pockets, but he is still nothing but
a hateful bat.
Envy and eovetousness also lead to
suicide. The unwilIngness to love our
neighbors as ourselves is one of the indi-
rect causes of this dreadful sin. Two
ways of looking at this old world-the
one Is through the green glasses OF ENVY;
the result of unhappiness; the other way
is through the sanctified crystals of a
tender, a holy love- the result of gospel
JOY The one way is to bitterly bemoan
because some people are supposed to be
better of than we are. The other way
Is to try to find out how many people are
worse off than we are and then with a
Christian desire to help them as we
would like to be helped If we were in
their places Through what kind of
lenses have you been scrutinizing the HUI
man race? Through the green glasses
of envy, which make all the world look
dark, or through the clear, transparent
crystals of gospel love, which always
make make all the world look bright?
No happy man ever wanted to commit
suicide. No man can be truly unhappy
who is trying to help his fellow man.
When he finds that he is making others
happy, their joys become part of his
joys.
The suicidal knife is blunted upon the
milestone of kindness and nd self
sacrifice for another reas hen a
Christian earnestly conseci lis life
to helping his fellow men h is amazed
how many troubles are piled at his
neighbours door and, instead of repining
at his lot, thanks God for the mercies he
enjoys. He becomes more contented to
carry his own burdens because as his
prother's sorrows grow larger and larger
In his eyes his own necessarily by COM
parison shrink and dwindle and become
less and less. Beautifully illustrated is
this thought by an old Latin classic: The
gods, hearing the continual grumblings of
the human race, decreed that all men
should be able to choose their own bur
dens. but they must choose some. They
decreed that every man, woman and child
should bring their load of trouble in a
pack and throw it In one place Then all
the different troubles Of the world were
piled In heap. The rich man came
from his palace the poor man from his
hut. The old man came lettering upon
his staff; the young man came leaning
as roe upon the mountain side The
father came, followed by his swarm of
children the single man came alone. The
bridegroom came, leading his bride: the
widower came after his wife had been
snatched from his side. All came with
their troubles. All threw their packs In
the one pile. Now" said the gods to
the assembled people. '1et each individual
select any one pack of trouble that he
would" Of course the multitudes were
overjoyed. Each man at first lifted and
weighed the troubles of every other man.
Then at last" so goes the fable, leach
individual at a given signal was satisfied
to lift up again his own troubles and in
contentment go his own way"
The coward's Heart.
No power on earth can make a human
being more contented than that which
comes from being brought into sympa-
thetic touch with other peoples trials
for all people have them. The white,
fieecy clouds off in the distance, circling
about the mountain top, may look like
sea gulls sporting with the crest of a
wave. On nearer approach, they are
only fog and drizzlng mist The ships
far out at sea have spotless sails and
trimmest hulls. But upon nearer ap-
proach. we see that their canvas is be-
fouled and their huls SCARED with the
blows of many tempests. Clear crystals
OF tender love will not only make us
try to help our fellow men and desire to
live as long as we can for that purpose,
but they will also teach us to be more
and more contented with our own lives
Brother, better change the lenses in your
spectacles. Better be a sunbeam playing
In the day than a sullSing OWL solitary
and alone, croalSing during the night.
a towards heart is a direct cause for
the suicidal sin. "Oh, no." says some
one; that can not be. A suicide may be
this. or that. or any other thing, but he
is not coward. No man is a coward