Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1905-01-12


upon him | was a young student set
ting out with swelling heart for the
great city The sight OF this man did
me good for he was humming song
az he broke his stones We exchanged
few words and he said at the end:
We'll goodby. my boy. Good courage
and good luck.' Since then / have
passed and fepassed along that same
route, under circumstances the most
diverse. painful and joyful The stu
dent has finished his course the break
err of stones remains what he was. He
has taken a few more precautions
against the seasons storms. a rush
mat protects his back. and his felt THAT
is drawn farther down to shield his
face. But the forest is always send
ing back the echo of his valiant ham
mer How many sudden tempests have
broken over his bent back, how much
adverse fate has fallen on his head.
on his house. on his country. He con
tinues to break his stones, and coming
and going find him by the roadside,
smiling in spite of his age and his
w iiilhltr. eDtHtN Oitiit. SDSuRllie
all in dark days those simple words
of brave men. which have 50 much eff
feet when they are scanned to the
breaking of stones.
1t would be quite impossible to ex-
press the emotion the sight of this SIM
pie man gives me. and certainly he
has no suspicion of it. | know of moth
az, Of thrx
time more searching for the vanity
which ferments in our hearts than this
coming face to face with an obscure
worker who does his task as the oak
grows and rs the good God makes his
sun to rise. without asking who is
looking on.
/ have known. too. a number of old
teachers. men and women who have
passed their whole life at the same oc-
cupation, making the rudiments of hu-
man knowledge and a few principles
of conduct penetrate heads sometimes
harder than the rocks. They have done
it with their whole soul throughout the
length Of a hard life in which the at
tention of men had little place. When
they lie in their unknown graves no
one remembers them but IL 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 discover-if he know how to search
among people of Il class he often rid
icules without perceiving that in so do
ing he is guilty of cruelty, ingratitude
and stupidity, | mean old maids Peo-
pie amuse themselves with remarking
the surprising dress and ways of some
of them-t things of no consequence. for
that matter. They persist also in re-
minding us that others, very selfish.
take interest in nothing but their own
comfort and that Of some cat or canary
upon which their powers of affection
center. and certainly these are not out
done in egoism by the most hardened
celiDates of the stronger sex. But what
we oftenest forget is the amount of
self sacrifice hidden modestly away in
so many of these truly admirable lives.
Is it nothing to be without home and
its 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 heart? to forget
oneself and have no other interests
than the care of the old, of orphans.
the poor. the infirm-those whom the
brutal mechanism of life casts out
among its wastet Seen from without
these apparently tame 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, yiow many wrecked lives
have YOU rescued. how many wounded
have you healed. how many wanderers
have you gently led Alright. how many
orphans have you taken in. and how
many strangers who would have been
alone in the world but for you-you
who yourself are often remembered
of no one | mistake. Some one
knows you: It is that great mysterious
Pity which keeps watch over our lives
and suffers in our misfortrlnes. For
gotten like yon. often hlasphemed it
has confided to you some Of its heav
enliest messages. and that perhaps IS
why above your gentle comings ana
goings we sometimes seem to hear the
rustlng wings of ministering angels.
The good hides itself under so many
different forms that one has often as
much pains to discover it as to unearth
the best concealed crimes A Rus
sian doctor who had passed ten years
of his life in Siberia, condemned for
nOliticaI reasons To forced labor used