Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1905-03-02

/ have known, too, number OF old
teachers, men and women who have
passed their whole life Mt the same oc-
cupation, making the rudiments OF hui
man knowledge and few principles
OF conduct penetrate heads sometimes
harder than the rocks. They have done
Il with their whole soul throughout the
length of a hard life in which the at
tentlon Of men had little place. When
they lie IL their unknown graves no
one remembers them but few humble
people like themselves, but their rec
ompense Is in their love. No one Is
greater than these unknown.
How many hidden virtues may one
not discovcr-if he know how TO search
among people Of n class he often rid
icules without percclving that In so do
ing he Is guilty OF cruelty, ingratitude
and stupidity! ! mean old maids PEG
pie amuse themselves with remarking
the surprising dress and ways OF some
Of them things of no consequence, for
that matter. They persist also In re.
Winding us that others, very selfish
take interest In nothing but their own
comfort ana that Of some cat or canary
upon which their powers of affection
center, and certainly these are not out
done in cgolsm by the most hardened
cellbates Of the stronger sex. But what
we oftcnest forget Is the amount of
self sacrifice hidden modestly away In
- lp az V1I pu nh liunq
Is It nothing TO be without home and
It's love, without future, without per
sonal ambition? to take upon oneself
that cross of solitary life SO hard to
bear, especially when there Is added
the solitude OF the hearth to forget
oneself and have no other interests
than the care of the old, of orphans,
the poor, the innrm those whom the
brutal mechanism of life casts out
among Its waste? Seen from without
these apparently tnmc and lusterless
lives rouse pity rather than envy.
Those who approach gently sometimes
divine sad secrets, great trials under
gone, heavy burdens beneath which
too fragile shoulders bend; but this is
only the side OF shadow.
We should learn to know and value
this richness OF heart this pure good
ness, this power to love, to console to
hope, this joyful giving up OF self, this
persistence in sweetness and forgive
ness even toward the unworthy, Poor
old maids! How many wrecked lives
have you rescued, how many wounded
have you healed, how many wanderers
have you gently led Alright, how many
naked have you clothed, how many
orphans hayo you taken In, ana how
many strangers who would have been
alone I'm the world but for youyou
who yourself nre often remembered
OF no one. | mistake. Some one
knows you: 1t Is that great mysterious
Pity which keeps watch over our lives
and suffers In our misfortuncS. For
gotten like YOU, often blasphCmcd, 1t
has Contidcd to you some of Its henv-
cnlcst messages, and that perhaps Is
why above your gentle comings and
Eolngs we sometimes seem to hear the
rustlng wings of mlnistcrlng angels.
The good hides itself under 80 many
different forms that one has often rs
much pains 10 discover 1t as to uncarth
the best concealed crimes. A Rus
sian doctor who had passed ten years
of his life In Siberia, condemned for
political reasons to forced labor, used
10 find great pleasure in telling of the
generosity, courage and humanity he
had observed, not only among large
number OF the condemned, but also
among the convict guards. For tho
moment one Is tempted to cxclaim,
'Whcrc viii not the good hide awayl"
And, In truth, life offers here great
surprises and embarrassing contrasts.
There are good men, officially SO rec
oguIzed, quoted among their assocl-
atcsl had almost said guaranteed by
the government or the church So who
can be rcproached with nothing but
dry and hard hearts, while VIC are as
tonlshcd TO encounter In certain fallen
human beings tho most genuine ten
derncss and, rs II were, thirst for
self devotion.
should like to speak next, apropos
of the inglorlous good, OF n class that
today II is thought quite fitting to
treat with tho utmost one sldedncss,