Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1904-12-15

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have their trouble for their pains. Each
4 persons base of operations is the field
4 Of his immediate duty. Neglect this
/ field, and all you undertake at q dis
lance is compromised First. then, be
of your own country, your own city,
your own home, your own church, your
own workshop; then, if you can. set out
4 from this to SO beyond it. That is the
4 plain and natural order, and Il man must
I fortify himself with very bad reasons
to arrive at reversing it. At all events,
i the result OF SO strange 4 confusion of
4 duties is that many people employ
4 their time in all sorts OF affairs except
those in which we have a right to de-
4 mand it Each is occupied with some
4 thing else than what concerns him, is
! absent from his post, ignores his trade.
4 This is what complexities life. And It
4 would be so simple for each one to be
! about his own matter.
Another form of simple duty. When
! damage is done who should repair it?
4 He who did it. This is just, but it is
only theory and the consequence Of
following the theory would be the evil
4 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 through
1 hole in the roof or the wind blows
| in at broken window. VIII you wait
| to find the man who caused the mis-
\ chief? You would certainly think that
absurd And yet such is often the prac-
tice Children Indignantly protest, Il
| didn't put it there. and | shall not take
/ it away" And most men reason after
the same fashion. 1t is logic. But it
is not the kind of logic that makes the
world move forward.
On the contrary, what we must learn
and what life repeats to us daily is
that the injury done by one must be
repaired by another. One tears down,
another builds up; one defaces, anoth-
.r restores; one stirs up quarrels an
other appeases them; one makes tears
to flow, another wipes them away; one
| lives for evil doing, another dies for
the right. And in the workings of this
is logic but a logic of facts which
makes the logic of theories pale. The
conclusion of the matter is not doubt
full. A single hearted man draws it
thus: Given the evil, the great thing is
to make it good and to set about it on
the spot Well indeed if Messrs. the
Malefactors will contribute to the rep
aration. but experience warns us not
to count too much ON their aid.
But, however simple duty may be,
there is still need of strength to do it.
In what does this strength consist or
where is it found? One could scarcely
tire of asking. Duty is for man an
enemy and an intruder so long as it
appears as an appeal from without.
When it comes in through the door he
leaves by the window; when it blocks
up the windows he escapes by the roof.
The more plainly we see it coming the
more surely we fee. 1t is like those
police, representatives of public order
and official justice, whom an adroit
thief succeeds in evading Alas, the
officer, though he finally collar the
ton, not along the right road. Before
man is able to accomplish his duty he
must fall into the hands of another
power than that which says, do this,
do that; shun this, shun that, or else
BEWARE
This is an interior power; it is love.
When man hates his work or goes
about it with Indifference all the forces
of earth cannot make him follow it
with enthusiasm. but he who loves his
office moves of himself; not only is it
needless to compel him, but it would
be impossible to turn him aside And
| this is true of everybody. The great
thing is to have felt the sanctity and
immortal beauty in our obscure desti-
ny; to have been led by a series of ex-
periences to love this life for it's griefs
and its hopes; to love men for their
weakness and their greatness and to
belong to humanity through the heart,
the intelligence and the soul Then an
unknown power takes possession of us,
as the wind of the sails of a ship, and
bears us toward pity and justice, and
yielding to its irresistible impulse, we
say, 7 cannot help it; something is
there stronger than l." In so saying
the men of all times and places have
designated a power that is above hui
manity, but which may dwell in mems
hearts. And everything truly lofty
within us appears to US as manifes-
tation of this mystery beyond. Noble
feelings, like great thoughts and deeds
are things Of Inspiration When the
tree buds and bears fruit it is because
it draws vital forces from the soil and
receives light and warmth from the
sun. If man, in his humble sphere,
in the midst Of the ignorance and faults
that are his inevitably, consecrates
himself sincerely to his task, it is be-
cause he is in contact with the eternal
source Of goodness. This central force
4 planifesfs itself under n th0uSand