The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-02-05

| older persons tell MN may. plVVc hSipAui
years and years from nowy is 1T not a
| marvel that the present being so vital, the
| future SO intangible, such q large proper.
tion Of our bows and girls are persuaded
| to study as much as they doy
Those who are far sighted in their busi
ness are often singularly near sighted when
caring for the best interests of their chill
| dren. Only at one stage of their lives can
| they 40 to school. Take boy of any tai
ent early away from his books and put
| him to earning the very little that he can
make. The probabilities are that he will
remain a small wage Garner for life. Give
| him more opportunities, casting your
money away for the time being IN his edu.
%etion and when you are in real need the
likelihood is that he can return it TO you
with large interest
The long, long hours patiently spent IN
| helping the little ones understand great
moral and religious truth, represent so
much time gone from You with no lmme-
date, possibly no ultimate, advantage to
yourself but the return will be IN the
character of him you have been training.
The agony of prayers for Maynard, sons,
straying daughters, Indifferent friends are
all heard and will be answered If we keep
on casting our heart aches, our time and
our longings upon the apparently unheed-
ing waters.
How MANY are the temptations to dis
worker. The Sunday-school teacher comes
home tired out by the seemingly unsuc-
cessful attempt to impress or even interest
those whom she has been teaching. A
whole church year passes and what has
been accomplished? In the eyes of the
worldly economist, such wearing and tear
ing labor is very foolish According to his
method of computation nothing pays save
what brings in material profits. Such like
conception merits Solomon's characterize
ton. "All this is vanity and striving after
wind"
The opinion of the worldly economist is
not a supreme court whose decisions are
binding on the Christian. Nothing done
for others is ever lost. II performed for
God and humanity with faith in results
the reward will be inevitable.
Better men and purer women are the
certain products of every teachers spirit
ual venture, in casting her bread upon the
waters, for the return it may sometime
bring.
1t is apt to be far cry to the nantes
tation of results. The many days of our
text may mean never on this corner OF the
universe, so far as the pocketbook, the
standing in the community, the tangible
influence upon others is concerned. Yet
even so.
"Ours is the gracious service whence
Comes, day by day, the recompense;
The hope, the trust, the purpose stald,
The fountain and the MONDAY shade!
And were this life the utmost span,
The only end and aim of man,
Better the toll of fields like these
Than waking dreams and sothful ease"
Though the recipients be unworthy of
our charity, unappreciative OF the value
we attach to time, abuse our benevolence,
the money we give, the hours we use, the
II. IL
who have tried it that
"What we spent, we had.
What we saved, we lost.
What we gave, we have"
The bread we have cast upon the waters
returns to us in a different form, but in so
satisfactory a way as to make it our one
regret that we failed to invest more after
the same fashion. The more money we
give away the less remains in our bank ac-
count, the more sunshine is in our faces
and hearts. The more intelligence we scat
ter absoad the more we CLEAN for our
selves. The more prayers ave offer UP for
others, the better we know how to pray
for our own needs. The more our hearts
sympathize with the pains of others the
larger will our hearts become
The more we disregard the worldly wise
rule of sel6shness the greater is our true
prosperity. Says Jehn G. Holland:
"Give and spend,
And be sure that God will send,
For only in giving and spending,
Do you fulfill the object of His sending"
Now we enjoy the interest. The time
will be when the accrued principal of our
courageous investment in stock will finally
come to maturity. In that great day we
shall find that every cup of cold water,
every old coat, every piece of bread, every
kind word, every call on the sick, if inn
,oa11a6 bv lowe yyaS done only incidentally
to the unworthy and really to the All
Worthy. We shall hear the voice of our
beloved Master say, ''Inasmuch as We have
done it unto one of these My brethren,
even these least, we have done it unto Me"
Then will the truth of the old Turkish
proverb be manifest, What you give IN
charity in this world you take with you
after death. Do good. Throw it into the
water If the fish does not know it, God
does"