The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1903-06-05
SPIRITUAL FOG.
Like Its Physical Counterpart IL Has
In It Great Danger for Those
EnVe1Oped.

There was a decided thaw recently.
and at nightfall the difference of tenn
perature between the lake and the land
was such that the mist crept up from
the water and spread itself rapidly
over all the neighboring shore. il
rolled i'm among the sky-scrapers. as we
have seen it fiji great valleys in the
Alps or canyons in the Rockies Every
where lights twinkled feebiy, and
sounds died down, and the whole earth
seemed to shrink within itself for fear.
And well IL might; because the most
impalpable of our perils are the ones
most to be dreaded. Fog, says the Chi
cago Interior, kills more people than
the lightning. The dreadful thing
about il is that il shuts us out from
knowing. We "meet with darkness in
the daytime and grope at MONDAY as
in the night" So Eliphaz says in the
book Of job. Whenever we note the
fog's stealthy approach we say inyol-
unfairly: "The good Lord be merciful
to the traveller" The railway engineer
slows down his machine, involuntarily,
when the fog enfolds him. At sea- the
captain walks the bridge Of his ship
with every sense strained TO its utmost;
and at every breath the "siren" roars
a warning that shakes the very hull
with dread. Anyone who has stood at
the bowsprit and seen out of the misty
darkness a ship shoot, full rugged, si-
lent. ghostly. TO disappear in a twink
ling on the other side, has felt his heart
leap into his mouth. because as his
soul lived, so surely he was but a step
from death at that moment. And
whenever there has been widespread
fog abroad in the land, we open the
morning paper with trembling and
reluctant hand. We know it viii con-
tain its register of disasters 10y land
and sea; because as surely as men
travel in darkness, so surely do their
feet take hold upon the ways Of death.
Steaming into the mouth Of the
Frazer river one day. we noted upon the
rocks. close under the towering. sheer
wall Of the bay, a wrecked steamer.
Captain" we inquired of the officer
who stood near MS. "was that wreck
due TO a fog?" He answered with a
shrug: "Oh. yes; TO a fog. sure enough.
But the fog was inside the pilots head.
He found it i'm a whisky bottle That
is the foe that steals away a mans
safety because IT enshrouds his iudg-
ment. lie mistakes his folly for his
wit. lie mistakes his friends for his
foes. lie mistakes foolhardiucss for
courage. lie sees everything through
distorting haze. He runs his craft
upon a rock and sinks his soul into the
abyss.
The only way to beat fog is 10 rise
above it. You cannot blow IL 10 pieces
with artillery. You cannot dissipatc II
by searchlights. But you can leave it
below YOU. Get into the higher re-
gions; for there il never comes. From
some lofty height in the great noun
tains Of the world we have looked down
upon one vast sea of fog which filed
all the procumbent valleys: but where
we stood. the sun was shining i'm his
strength; and for leagues and leagues
around us glittered a world Of beauty
as untouched as the walls of the New
Jerusalem. He who dwells upon the
heights dwells in safety, because there
alone he dwells in light.