The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1904-04-21

| Maturer Life-FOr What We Receive
We nust Give Something in Return
"A Rude Awakening.
| Contributed 20 Baltimore Sun
Whose indeth Me fndeth life.'
blessed are they that keep Ny ways"
Proverbs, viii.
Youth is the golden aye. 1t is al
ways with delight we think OF the
days OF long ago, when all was sun
shine, with no clouds to darken the
horizon. with no sighs to oppress the
heart. Then it was a Joy merely to
live. The blood ran. warm in the
veins, the heart beat with ecstasy,
the eyes sparkled with hidden fire.
No slow and measured step then, but
q leap and a run; no labored inter-
ests then to fill out the day, but i'm
pulses that carried with them the
whole heart and enthusiasms in which
was wrapped the entire being. The
days were crowded with laughter and
the night knew no disturbing dreams.
Life was a tissue of sunbeams, spun
from the angelic spheres. The years
glided by softly like vision. What
wonder if, awakening into a ripper
age, we call our childhood and youth
golden
But how abrupt the awakening is!
Like fash the scales fall from our
eyes and we stand face to face with
reality. We cannot account for it; it
is beyond our understanding. Some
how we have passed into the realm
OF responsibility and duty. We see
the days of our youth fitting sud-
denly away from us. We seem to
awaken from IA sweet dream, and
10! we are men. We have been in our
paradise, and now the gates are for
ever closed.
How the whole aspect of life has
become changed! There is no longer
that independence with which the
youth snaps his fingers at the world
and laughs it to scorn. We now see
in the world Il force We must reckon
with. And we see, too, that we must
now determine our own life instead OF
having it determined for us. From
day to day the truth is brought
home to us that for what we receive
we must give something i'll return.
Nothing for nothing. If we wish
bread. for bread we must work; if we
desire hOnors, honors we must de-
serve; if we long for fame, that fame
we must ourselves create. Constantly
the world sits in Judgment and be-
slows it's rewards i'll proportion to
the quality OF the work done. 1t
makes grievOus blunders from time
to time, for the world is not perfect.
These mistakes, however, are not in
the understanding of the principle of
compensation, but only in the appli-
cation. The world means to be just
and to do well by everyone of us.
Those who perform kingly work have
their proper reward; SO also those
who speak the language of the
prophets; SO, too, even those who are
but hewers of wood and drawers of
water Ii glaring error occurs in
the distribution it corrects itself
later. The great genius, slighted by
his own day and generation, is sure
to be vindicated in the next. On the
! whole, the average man gets out OF
life but little more or less than what
he earns.
Thus, with our arrival at mans
estate is the duty laid upon us to
give good account of ourselves.
How different from the condition OF
youth! Care then was unknown, nor
was there any thought of tomorrow
Joy and laughter came as lightly as
Il breath. Happiness was almost the
normal state of being Now it must
be followed with the greatest labor
and woOed with the utmost care, and
even then it is not always won. But
something inexpressibly great is
gained in passing from the state OF
youth, careless and improvident OF
the future, into this new realm oI
pressing responsibility. Wecan form
character, we can acquire manhood
the very Towering and fruition o
life. We can turn the lOwliest station
into place of honor, the meanest
opportunity into distinction. We
are not all equal. No one knows why
this one, through no inherent virtue
of his own, should find ready admit
tance to the high places of the world
and that one, wholly blameless
should stand without and knock anC
knock in vain. 1t will always remain
an unsolved mystery why we should
not all have the same key to the dOo1
of life. But there is our station, tc
do with it what we will. whatever it.
limitations; our manhood is seen BY
the way we fill it. 1t is the way W.
use the opportunity at our command
that tells. One may be armed Will
the sharpest weapons and a mer.
cloud will find him helpless; another
with the simplest tool, will bore hi.
way through steel. We can thus ex
ercise will power. we can show strength
of character We can make the very
best of our life. Instinctively we fee
we should by such conduct be obey
ing a Power greater than our own
The whole meaning of religion be
comes perfectly plain in the one worl
DUTY. Nay, God is never so truly
worshiped, nor so greatly exalted
nor so visibly manifest, as in thi.
making the best of life, in this doins
of ones full duty.
Let us then be men-men of char
acter, men of will. Possessing these
We are strong and solid and world
conquering. Within the limitation
of our individual spheres each of Vi
may become a recognized power, {
veritable tower of strength. Th'
same quality of manhood becomes {
force for good in the small circle al
in the great. The difference is not o
kind, but only OF degree. In th'