The Caucasian., 1905-02-14

peace and happiness cone to us through
service to others. NJ nl;;ti is so happy
as he wEo has made ;tno1Ler happy.
No pillow is so reS1fni as that OF Elin
who has relieved tie anxiety Of his
brother. The peace tat passeth under
sta.ding never fills tie heart that cher
ishes selfish desires or turns away from
another's misery.
The Secret of HappAness.
How is it with America? Il would
like to see America, but the people are
not SIS great as you think said Ihom-
as Carlyle to an American visitor. You
may boast of your democracy or any
ether 'cracy' or any other kind of polit-
ical rubbish, but the reason why your
labcring folks are so happy is that you
have vast deal of land for very few
people," True, Thomas Carlyle, true.
But what would our lands be worth il
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 it's golden cheek to be kissed
Of the sun unless its roots once wadei
knee deep in the mud? What makes
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 TIE Egyptians for centuries
worshiped the river Nile because it's
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
a 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 Mann
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
CdHIlOl uO ally SOOI W us.
Like Luray Cave.
Or our lives, if they are not like the
Styx of a Mammoth cave, supporting
only few blind fish swimming hum
dreds of feet below the surface of the
earth, may be like the wonderfully
suggestive beauties of Luray cave Of
old Virginia. which likewise are doing
no good to any one. That Luray cave
is a marvellous place. Though it's beau
ties were buried for centuries, yet un-
der the flash of light it looks as though
its walls had been erected only yeatcr
day and, like the TAI Mahal of India,
are a giittering 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 a 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 it's last wild, mad roar. Yonder
is the ''ballroom," where our imagina-
ton tells us the ny!s phs and the fairies
used to sport and dance and make mer
ry. Near to this "ball hall'' is the seem
etery ridge" where those nymphs ami
fairies were 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.
50 red that they seem to have been
IN h1no1 off, hn coJ1inpc yx-hn
over this very mountain once followed
Stonewall Jackson in his last raid or
into the blood Of those soldiers who re-
coiled before the cavalry charge Of
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 eats eye.
blinks some emerald or, tiger-likc,
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. It
shivers, rolls over once or twice and
then lies still, to be decomposed by the
coming ages. 4 marvellous and EN-
chanting place is Luray cave of old
Virginia. .@.
All its walls are strangely sculptured.
Column high and ehasm wide. u.
'Tis the place where all the shadows
OF the past years silent hide.
But when I stood within the walls
Of that Fascinating place said to my
self: How like selfish man Is this cave!
His heart Is heart of stone. Amid
the sufrerings ana troubles of sinful
world, with all his vast resources for
doing good, he buries himself in wall
ed citadel, which is called his home or
his store. He lives, he breathes, he
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
Of Luray cave in Virginia or Of ST.
lent river Styx flowing through the
dark halls of Mammoth cave of old
Kentucky! May it be a river OF life,
bringing peace and joy and hope to all