Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1903-10-24
LIFE HAS ITS STRIFE.
We Persistently Struggle to Believe in a
Royal Road Through Life With
out Troubles.

How persistently we begin anew,
generation after generation. and with
strange self-deception strive to make our
selves believe that there is a high road,
royal road TO go through life with swift
serenity and without struggle.
Few of us as parents attempt to fit our
children to do battle with themselves and
with the great army of difficulties. temp
tations. disappointments, and perpexities
which are an integral part of their lives;
nor do we warn them of dangers and foes
which they can never avoid. Escape is
impossible; the conflict is as sure as their
existence, yet what do we do to prepare
them for it?
To shelter. to delight, to fill their
young hearts with the love of pleasure
and then to provide it in largest measure;
to exempt them from disappointment, 10
conceal from them our own sorrows, even
to disguise our self-denials made in their
behalf-this is the preparation we give
for the long journey which leads them
through the land where many enemies
dwell and where hardships are absolutely
certain to await them.
And for ourselves there seems an alb
soute determination to live in sort of
curious state of delusion as to what life
Is. We meet the opposition TO our plans,
the overthrow of our hopes, as if they
were extraordinary and unexpected dis
asters falling upon us as individuals, and
when one hard place has been passed, or
one battle fought, we Immediately begin
to act and think as if we had every right
to henceforth go on i'll clOudless security.
Certainly life is far nOber as it really
is-far nGbler and better worth living
after the way God has decreed it for us.
The whole grasp and majesty of human
character lies in this individual concep-
ton of duty and in the combat to per-
fgtpn t,oI, i E
living is in the choice of good and the
battle to defend it.
In that suggestive and extraordinarily
retrospective book, THE Mettle of the
Pasture" Mr.. Allen asserts this view of
our destiny with an inspiring force: SIT
is the high compulsion of the soul itself.
the final mystery of personal choice,
that sends us forth at last to our strug-
giles and to our peace: My own soul for
hiddeth me- said Hector Of old
1t assuredly arms us to meet our diff
fculties of every sort, to take them a.
things by the way, things to be expect
ed and encountered and conquered, rath-
err than as unlookedfor tidal waves of
Ill fortune, Submerging. and destroying
rs. If we are ourselves thinking of life
as a playground, and starting our chill
dren forth from the protection of our
roofs. and the close shelter of our arms,
as if they were TO ask and receive, wish
and accomplish, and travel always in
fair weather. we may be sure that We
shall find ourselves manned and torn in
the midst of our foolish playing, and that
our dear ones will come back to US to
bind up their wounds and upbrald us
for letting them go uEwarned of thei-
peril.
Nor is this figurative talk of arms ana
battles, and ambusheS the result of I'M
real Imaginative theoriZing- 1t IS the
everyday practical reality OF life, the
1 14hia oh
escape. and of which the advance OF
armed men intent upon victory is the
best illustration that we have.
Half the dscord which mars those
married lives whose cataStrophes shock
our minds and sadden the world. is caused
by the false conceptions of what hippi-
ness arises from, and what brings peace.
Men and women pledge themselves to
each other to enjoy the coming years in
joyful companionship; there is little
thought in their vows of eternal fidelity
of sharing pain and of combining together
to meet the sorrows of their destined end
and way" The man folds his betrothed
to his heart and tells her he will stand be-
tween her and every storm, and pictures
all the joyful things they will accomplish.
The woman does not think of bringing
| forth her children in agony of travail and
peradventure yielding them again to the
al-conQuering Angel of Death. When
the inevitable struggle comes. this man
and woman find they have left them
selves unarmed and feeble.
1t may seem gloomy and dishearten-
| ing view of life TO look for danger and
| disappointment and struggle as inevita-
Bile, but this is far, very far, from my
meaning or belief. There is an element
OF grandeur and heroism in our existence
| from the moment that we recognize that
to be happy We must be undaunted. 10 be
strong we must wrestle, to be triumphant
we mist know the JOY of conquest.
| A boy who can begin, rs soon as he IS
| able TO plan and project his own act1vi.
| ties. to expect to meet hindrances and
opposition even in material things. and
| acquire the power of patient and in
| ,elligent persistence until his end is
| achieved is putting on his armor. Let
| rim he brought up to have all the hard
| work done by some one else and live in
| IN atmosphere OF accomplished desire.
| in which he has no part but the enjoy
ment, and ne is actually made a target