The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-04

son. to keep your house, 10 guide your children. All this is pardonable, and how easy to understand But it is ex- ceedingly dangerous. To fold ones hands and let things take their course is to transform one evil into worse. You who think that you have nothing left to lose will by that very thought lose what you have Gather up the fragments that remain to you and keep them with serupulous care. In good time this little that is yours will be your consolation. The effort made will come to your relief, as the effort miss ed will turn against you. If nothing but a branch is left for you to cling to, cling to that branch, and if you stand alone in defense of a losing cause do not throw down your arms to join the rout. After the deluge few sur vivers repeopled the earth. The flu ture sometimes rests fin a single life as truly as life sometimes hangs by a thread. For strength go to history and nature. From the long travail of both you will learn that failure and fortune alike may come from the slightest cause, that it is not wise to neglect detail and, above all, that we must know how to wait and to begin again.
 In speaking of simple duty I cannot help thinking of military life and the examples it offers to combatants in this great struggle. He would little under stand his soldiers duty who, the army once beaten should cease to brush his garments, polish his rifle and observe discipline. But what would be the use?' perhaps you ask. Are there not various fashions of being vanquished? Is it an indifferent matter to add to de- feat Encouragement, disorder and de- moralization? No; it should never be forgotten that the least display of en- ergy in these terrible moments is sign of life and hope. At once every body feels that all Is not lost.
 During the disastrous retreat of 1S13- 14. in the heart of the winter, when it had become almost impossible to pre- sent any sort of appearance, a general, I know not who, one morning present. ed himself to Napoleon in full dress and freshly shaved. Seeing him thus, in the midst of the general demoraliza- ton, as elaborately attired as if for parade, the emperor said, "My general, you are brave mans"
 Again, the plain duty is the near duty. A very common weakness keeps many people from finding what is near them interesting; they, see that only on it's paltry side The distant, on the contrary, draws and fascinates them. In this way fabulous amount of good will is wasted. People burn with ar- dor for humanity, for the public good, for fighting distant wrongs; they walk through life, their eyes fixed on mar .yelous sights along the horizon, tread ing meanwhile on the feet of passers' by or jostling them without being aware of their existence.
 Strange infirmity, that keeps us from seeing our fellows at our very doors People widely read and far travelec are often not acquainted with theil fellow citizens, great or small. Then lives depend upon the cooperation ol a multitude of beings whose lot re mains to them quite indifferent. Nol those to whom they owe their knowl- edge and culture, not their rulers nor those who serve them and supply thelr needs, have ever attracted their atten- ton. That there Is ingratitude or im- providence in not knowing one's work men. one's servants-all those, in short, with whom one has indispensable so- l cial relations-thfs has never come into their minds. Others go much further. 1 To certain wives their husbands are strangers, and conversely. There are parents who do not know their chi!- dren: their development, their thoughts, the dangers they run, the hopes they cherish, are to them a closed book. Many children do not know their par ents, have no suspicion of their diffi- eulties and struggles, no conception or their aims. And am not speaking Of those piteously disordered homes where all the relations are false, but of honorable families. Only all these people are greatly preoccupted; each has his outside interest that filis all his time. The distant duty-very attrac. tive. don't deny-clains them entire ly, and they are not conscious of the duty near at hand. I fear they will have their trouble for their pains. Each persons base of operations Is the field l of his immediate duty. Neglect this | field. and all you undertake at dis tance is compromised. First, then, b' of your own country, your own city yolv own home, your own church, you own workshop; then, if you can, set ou from this to go beyond it. That is tn
 plain and natural order. and man mus fortify himself with very bad reason to arEve at reversing it. At all events the result of so strange a confusion o duties is that many people emplo their time In all sorts of affairs excep those in which we have a right to dc mand it. Each is occupied with some thing else than what concerns him, absent from his post. ignores his trade This is what compiicates life. And would be so simple for each one to b about his own matter.
 1 Another form of simple duty. Whel damage is done who should repair It
 He who did it. This is just, but 1t \ only theory, and the consequence o
 following the theory would be the eyi in force until the malefactors were
 found and had offset It. But suppose
 they are not found. or suppose they
 cannot or will not make amends?
 The rain falls on your head througl
 , I 4Lo rnnR nr. fhe wind hlOWi