The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1905-03-23

20 to see If you would see all ior
would needs make the tour of society
at large, rich and poor, wise and ig
norant. And certainly you would not
Judge so severely then. Paris Is a
world, and here as in the world In
general, the good hides away while the
evil haunts itself. Observing only the
surface, you sometimes ask how there
can possibly be so much riffraff. When,
on the contrary, you look into the
depths you are astonished that in this
troublous, obscure and sometimes
frightful life there can be so much
virtue"
But why linger over these things?
Am I not blowing trumpets for those
who hold trumpet blowing In horror?
Do not understand me so. My aim is
this: To make men think about I'M
Ostentatious goodness-above all, to
make them love 1t and practice 1t.
The man who finds his satisfaction In
things which glitter and hold his eyes
is lost, first, because he will thus see
evil before all else, then because he
gets accustomed to the sight Of only
such good as seeks for notice and there
fore easily succumbs to the temptation
to live himself for appearances. Not
only must one be resigned to obscurity;
he must love 1t II he does not wish to
slip insensibly into the ranks of fgu-
rants, who preserve their parts only
while under the eyes of the spectators
and put Off In the wings the restraints
imposed on the stage.
Here we are in the presence Of one
of the essential elements of the moral
life. And this which we say Is true
not only for those who are called hum
BILE and whose lot 1t is to pass unre-
marked; 1t is just as true, and more
30, for the chief actors. If you would
not be brilliant inutlllty, man Of
gold lace and plumes, but empty inside,
you must play the star role In the sim
pie spirit of the most obscure of your
collaborators. He who Is nothing worth
except on hours of parade is worth less
than nothing. Have we the perilous
honor OF being always In view, of
marching In the front ranksr Let us
take so much the greater care of the
sanctuary Of silent good within us; let
us give to the structure whose facade
Ia seen of our fellow men wide foun-
dation of simplicity, of humble fidel-
ity, and then, out of sympathy, out of
gratitude, let us stay near our broth
ers who are unknown to fame. We
owe everything to them, do we not2 l
call to witness every one who has
found In life this encouraging expert
ence-that stones hidden In the soil hold
up the whole edifice. All those who
arrive at having public and recog-
niEed value owe 1t to some humble
spiritual ancestors, to some forgotten
inspirers. A small number Of the good,
among them simple women, peasants,
vanquished heroes, parents as modest
as they are revered, personify for us
beautiful and noble living; their exam
pie inspires US and gives us strength.
The remembrance of them Is forever
inseparable from that conscience be-
fore which we arraign ourselves. In
our hours of trial we think Of them,
courageous and serene. and our bur
dens tighten. In clouds they compass
US about, these witnesses invisible and
beloved who keep us from stumbling
and our feet from falling in the battle
and day by day do they prove to us
that the treasure OF humanity is its
hidden goodness.