The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1903-07-07
RANDOM THOUGHTS.

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of the contented mind that one
almost hesitates to expctiatt
upon its advantages.
In the fine old catechism O.
the Episcopal church, the duti
full child says that he ought t.
order himself lowly and rever
emily before his betters, and lear1
to labor truly to get his own liv-
ing in that state of life unto
which it has pleased God to call
him. Such is the species of Con
tent that is suggested by most
of these familiar sayings. They
come so readily to the tongue
that we all seem to agree with
them in theory. In practice,
most of us are devotees of the
GLORIOUS doctrine of discomfort. +"
Herein is one of our many
modern paradoxes. The push
and progress of which we are so
proud are the result of our dis
satisfaction with existing con-
ditions. Our schools and col
leges and settlements ali seek to
stir people to strive for that they
do not possess.
When Toynbee Hall was built
in London, it's academic quad
rangle, sweet with flowers; it's
cleanliness and order and beauty,
and the refined lives of its occu-
pants, were all intended to make
the jewellers ia the desolation of
White Chapel discontented with
their crude and colorless careers.
He who now breaches that
'contented mind is a continual
feast" is as the voice of one cry
ing in the wilderness or a Cas-
sandra speaking truth never to
be believed.
AS is the case in most matters,
the solution of the paradox lies
in the middle way. The discon-
tent that spells progress is glor-
ious; that which means merely
complaint is of all things most
miserable. The content which
is simyly apathy is Incidence and
stupidity personified; that which
finds beauty and JOY and hap
piness at every stage of effort,
whether it be upward or seem
ingly retrograde, is heavenly.
Let us leave for moment the
noble doctrine of discomfort,
which here in America needs
little emphasizing, aud dwell for
little on that content, which,
like the sun, brightens every
thing on which it rests.
There is nothing either good
or bad, but thinking makes it
So" We take for granted you
have ambition-you strive hard
to amount to something. Ad-
vancement is slow. Your work |
is monotonous, exacting. allah
sorbing. You have little time
for recreation, for self-culture,
for family joys, for social pleas
ures. Yet you dare not make
change lest it be for the worse.
Will grumbling help yon ? Will
any single day be the happier
because you dwell everlastingly
on your trials and fluctuations:
On the contrary, it will pay you
over and over again to make the
best of things. Take each hour
of each day on its own merits,
your morning meal, your walk or
ride to the Office, your mid day
interval, your evenings, your
holidays these are all yours to
use as happily as any millionaire.
In your Office, if there is nothing
interesting in your work at least
you can forget yourself by doing
it thoroughly. While you are
living in the present, nothing
but physical pain or discomfort
need trouble you. When YOU
dwell in the dreamy past or the
hazy future, it is in your power
to shape the wavering outlines
of either to your own will, and it
is your own fault if the oictura