The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-05-26

US like the mist and is gone.
But life, like the mist, can be either
useful or harmful, beautiful or hideous
beneficial or hurtful. / want to impress
upon you that wrapped up in the human
character are the possibilities of happiness
and Joy or of infinite woes. Sometimes
you have seen the mist rise, in the even
ing and last until the next day 1t has
nestled like a little drop of water upon
a blade of grass or a bud of a flower Civ
ing it life, identifying it, and you see
the good it does. Just so, my friends,
are our lives. Some touch a thirsty soul
and impart life and beauty. They seem
to benefit everything around them, they
are the means through which the divine
spirit has sown human joy, human peace
and gentleness. Oh, the power of hui
man life to scatter seeds Of human kind
ness, like the mist, distilling as it rises
breadth, beauty and doing good to the
blades of grass. The crops are protected
by the mist, the very buds and everything
in nature and so 1t is with lives. Many
lives beautifying and protecting the hives
of those they come in contact with them,
while others like the mist still, in the
form of frost, strive always to kill and
destroy.
"Here is a picture from childhood: The
boys sees his father, his life full of good
ness and truth and from and III this lie
he imparts the principle of infinite love
to the boy resulting in a strong, noble
and protecting character in the boy be-
cause of the good he received from his
father. When l was a boy every time /
was tempted to enter into sin the image
of my father came before my eyes and
thought l had rather die than dis
appoint that old father. Picture the
strong influence Of a noble mother, sitting
with an open Bible upon her knee, and
her little boy kneeling by her side! There
is no end to the power of mothers love
and a mothers devotion. But take the
young man: see him at college and in
society. He goes forth among other young
men, but too strong to be led away, too
noble and good to be led into sin and
disgrace; he throws a strong arm as it
were around his friends and companions
and saves them from sin and disgrace.
Sometimes the mist falls as rain. The
showers not only refresh but cleanse the
earth. So some men and women of
certain character affect society. They go
forth upon the earth and wherever they
go the earth is made purer and better by
their influence. Asxthe dew develops the
leaves, so some lives develop the Cody
and good in men. Some from the cradle
to the grave are found doing their work
nobly, goodly and well, and they do not
work better from having sown their
wild oats.
Somewhere there is exhibited a pic
ture 1t is that of a man at his desk
counting up his wealth and MAX
ing plans for life. Over his shoulder is
an ugly picture of Satan, filling his mind
with evil thoughts. Just outside the door
is a picture of Christ asking for deed
Of love; but the Deyn over his shoulder
il telling him he has not time now to
attend to the request of Christ. Put him
Of, put him ONT And the man who
listens to the Devil is carried out and
aiken home to die in a few minutes,
Christ imploring and the Devil saying
Put him OFF,
Now let us contrast it with the other |
de. Take a ride early in the morning |
owards the southeast. Did YOU not feel |
he chill Of that mist and you get colder
md colder until you are chilled to death? |
% a life may chill and destroy.
David Hume tells of a young man who |
argued his old mother out of her fa1Un
md when she was dying she sent for her |
on and begged him to come back and
i've her peace and the strangest thing Is
le never went for he had nothing to
i've her in place of the faith he had /
obbed her of. oh, to meet that mother
n heaven!
f0Hl-. n. I al 80 f1fi
,ed-side of little dying child On the i
ide of the bed was the mother stricken
nth grief: at the head was the father.
lie had just come home to Norfolk three
geeks before on the promise of a position
n a firm there. He went to fill the place,
md was told that he was not needed now.
[ believe that corporation viii be held
before God, for a few days
ifter the infant died He buried her in
4 strange country among strangers.
Believe me, my brothers, that you
must seek your end only in holy way.
Life must either be spent in a useful
Or harmful way Which shall it be? Life
is as immortal as the mist see the
mist IN the air, In a moment / see it no
more. 1t is not gone. Oh no,
Orly changed. Somewhere in the
world there Is a beautiful little
stream running along the mountain side
when suddenly it reaches the side OF a
ieep precipice. 1t jumps over the nreci-
piee, which is so deep that before the ut
tie stream can reach the bottom it is
gone. They say the stream is dead But
that stream is not dead-it lives. You
can see it far below in the leaves grass
md flowers on the side of the mountain.
1t is the very force of life 1t goes on
doing its good forever. Just so a good
.onl goes ON doing oond until 4 ronnhoa |