Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1905-04-03

peace ana happiness come 10 us through
service to others. No man is so happy
as he who has made another happy.
No pillow is so restful as that of him
who has relieved the anxiety OF his
brother The peace that passeth under
standing never fills the heart that cher
ishes selfish desires or turns away from
another's misery.
The Secret of Happiness
How is it with America? II would
| like to see America, but the people are
not as great as you think" said Thorn
as Carlyle to an American visitor. you
may boast Of your democracy or any
| other crazy or any other kind of polit-
| zeal rubbish but the reason why your
| laboring folks are SO happy is that you
| have a vast deal Of land for very few
people" True, Thomas Carlyle. true.
| But what would our lands be worth if
we did not have our mighty rivers to
water them? Whence could our cattle
find water TO drink and grass to eat
| but for the rivers? How could our
| grain lift its golden cheek to be kissed
of the sun unless its roots once waded
hhOC dCCp III tAO luuu w hat UldkGS
the Atlantic coast, especially New Eng
| land, have the most fertile valleys? The
| rivers. What makes Sahara one great
| sea of sand? The absence of the rivers.
| Yes, as the Egyptians for centuries
| worshiped the river Nile because its
| rise or fall meant to them food or fam
| inc, clothing or nakedness, prosperity
or poverty, health or disease, the rivers
| of our land are the source of fertility
| to the soil and prosperity to our people.
| If the peace of our hearts is to be like
| river it must give help temporal and
| spiritual to all around us.
Are we temporal and spiritual "riv-
ers of life' to our fellow men? Some
| of US are truly rivers of death" or
| rivers of seclusion." Our lives are like
| the stygian stream in the great Nam
moth cave of Kentucky. We are sur
| rounded by grandeurs and beauties on
every side, but we have walled our
selves in by solid rock, where we can
do no good to others and where others
cannot do any good to us.
| Like Luray Cave.
| Or our lives, if they are not like the
| Styx of a Mammoth cave. supporting
only a few blind fish swimming hun
dreGs of feet below the surface of the
| earth. may be like the wonderfully
| suggestive beauties of a Luray cave Of
| old Virginia which likewise are doing
no good to any one. That Luray cave
| is marvellous place. Though it's beau
ties were buried for centuries, yet I'M
! der the flash of light it looks as though
its walls had been erected only yester-
day and, like the TAI Mahal of India,
are a glittering mass of dead precious
stones. Yonder stand the columns Of
| stalagmite as statuary in vestal gar
| ments of purest white. Here are the
drippings of cataract, as though the
| mad rush of Niagara had been in
| stantly halted and, like an open mouth
ed lion, dared not utter one growl, al
though even now we seem to hear the
echo of its last wild, mad roar Yonder
is the Ballroom" where our magma
ton tells us the nymphs and the fairies
used to sport and dance and make mer-
ry. Near to this ball hall'' is the ''cem-
etery ridge" where those nymphs and
fairies We're buried ages on ages ago..
Here are the hanging wells of the god
desses," so thin that through them
flashes the light of our guides lamps,
so red that they seem to have been
| dipped in the blood of the soldiers who
over this very mountain once followed
| Stonewall Jackson in his last raid or
into the blood of those soldiers who re-
Lightning Horse Phil Sheridan.
From yonder cathedral, with its domes
and spires and steeples and minarets
| and strange carvings, there come echo
ing up the solemn notes of an organ
which roll and swell and thunder and
whisper and pray and chant and die.
From out of every grotto stretches
some hand or lifts some snowbank or
flaps some wing or, like a cats eye,
blinks some emerald or, tiger-like,
glares the bloodshot eyeball of some
ruby or flashes some emerald. And
While all the chimes Of all the towers
are beginning to ring suddenly a sta
lactite many tons in weight breaks
loose and crashes upon the floor. II
sh1vers, rolls over once or twice and
then lies still, to be decomposed by the
coming ages. A marvellous and en-
chanting place is Luray cave of old
Virginia.
All its walls are strangely scuEtured,
Column high and chasrn wide.
lis the place where all the shadows
or the past years silent hide
But when 1 stood within the walls
of that fascinating place l said to my
self: How like selfish man is this cave
: His heart is heart of stone. Ami6
, the sufferings and troubles of sinfu
, world, with all his vast resources fol-
, doing good, he buries himself in a wall
, ed citadel, which is called his home o.
his store. He lives, he breathes, b,
: eats. he sleeps, he works for himself
, and himself alone. Oh, brother, may
! your gospel peace be not like the gilt
tering grandeur hidden in the darkness:
, nf a T,urav cave in Virginia or of al