The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1904-04-12

thrown there by the winds or cast by
the blighting frosts OF October. None
OF us knows what mighty, unseen, far
IF forces are working for us. AS dis
aster and ruin. sorrow and destruction
OF hopes come from the clouds and
the air, unheralded, sudden and in
visible, so may new hope and blessing
and comfort and peaceful, sunny days
and happy nights come. 1t never IS
too late. The winter may be long, but
spring and summer come. None OF
us fall too low, no man and no wo-
man. The seed or root buried and
-trampled in the ground, part of the
mud, hid beneath the snow these FIVE.
six, eight twelve months, will wave
triumphantly beautiful to the gentle
melody of April breezes and showers.
The trees from which the last leaves
were rudely torn. leaving them gaunt
and tossing skeletons, will be clad
gloriously with foliage. In every
community in this land we have. men
lighting manfully but desperately
day by day to keep the wolf from the
door: old and broken men sadly con-
Tossing themselves as failures, some
oil them even seeking .eefuge in the
almshouses, where they air their
quarrels with the world and mourn
fully call the roll OF their ;inisfortunes;
.outcast men WHO have MADE them
selves enemies OF organized society
and the law; tired, discouraged and
fieartsick women who have striven
honestly and apparently in vain: wo-
mer whotry to hide behind paint and
gaudy raiment and bought smiles the
protests of their womanhood and the
warnings OF their souls for homage
and decency, and the respect that was
theirs by right. until it was forfeited.
For all these. miserable, there is hope
because history tells us, as the spring
tells us. that from all these classes
have blossomed some of the flowers
and beauties and glories OF human
ity. All of these have claim upon and
appeal to those of us who are more
fortunate-not always because we de-
serve to be; frequently because we
happen to be SO. And the world IS
full OF good. There is help always for
those who will summon the strength
to seek and try to deserve it. There
is hope always for those who will hold
it and with honest heart and earnest
purpose look for it. The spring and
the good time will come for those who
will faithfully believe in them and will
borrow and welcome and cherish their
warmth and sunshine.
There is an old, sweet hope, an
humble yet aspiring and triumphant
faith. that has gladdened many hard
lives, lighted many stricken hearts
in all the generations through these
many long centuries. 1t may live
when even at the end we sadly con-
fess-as most OF lis must-that we
have failed: that our dearest and
most tenderly cherished wishes have
been disappointed, that what we
longed for most has been denied to
us, what we loved must have been
lost. 1t is the hope and faith that
however grievous our sins may have
been, however, we have failed and
lost. however bitter may have been
our disappointments, disillusions and
sorrows, death itself. by infinite mer-
cy. may mark the coming OF the
spring, may be the wooing by mighty
and distant power of the poor seed
to bloom into beauty and loneliness
through endless tranquil days in in
effable light increasing.