Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-08

Love
Is not to be had by saving ourselves for
IT. Love is not one grand thing which comes
once, and then for all time, and in no other
way through life. And the heart which lets
itself outflow in small affections, in kindly
acts Of loving helpfulness throughout daily
life; the heart that is pitiful to the weak
loves forgiving to the mistaken loves, and
strengthening to the love that fails at the
supreme test IS the heart that realizes at
last that love was in all these. and that
supreme love includes all forms of itself,
however poor or mistaken they may be; for
love evolves as the soul evolves, and the
undeveloped soul can have but an unde-
veloped crude. faulty love. But only by
accepting this crude form Of love with the
stronger, more advanced love can we come
into an understanding of the whole
The same principle OF the little things
making the great things holds true for all
phases of our experience. And 1t is there
fore to the pennies of joy and love that we
must look. and then the pounds will take
care Of themselves. s
The aggregate amount of happiness we
get through life is composed in large meas
ure Of the small pleasures we secure upon
the way.
Aspirations
Toward the best is possible for all. Con-
sciously or unconsciously. in our secret
places we set up our ideals.
These are our standards which we begin
to grow toward while we are yet unaware
of the process. 1t Is like the tiny Seeding
to which the child who plants it gives the
support Of string which leads it toward
the pole 1t is not yet strong enough to
Irvine about.
And. generally unconSciously, a we grow
We change these standards, suppiauting
them by better ones as we approach them
nearly and find them inadequate to our
needs.
we must do this Our little vine has
grown The string which was sufficient
while IT was weak Is not enough for
the sturdy vine. We must continue to
do this as We must give our little vine a
taller and yet a taller pole to climb upon
when We find it has, arrived nearly at the
top OF the pole we set up last year.
And II is the straightness of the pole,
its height ana its direction which deter
mine the size. the shape and the beauty of
the vine. whose guide and helper and pat
tern II was, it is the slow adaptation of
years OF growth toward this ideal which
We. blindly, it may be, are trying to copy,
which creates the whole character, in
evitably forming its good or bad, high or
low. according to the character of the
standard We have set up in our hearts.
Children
regard them chiefly as clay to be nodded.
The fortunate children are those who are
brought up with a large admixture of
wholesome neglect.
II the mother only could realize that
home training Is largely matter of absorp
ton. Of imitation. of unconscious assimlla
ton she would have fewer moments of
sprrowful uncertainty.
Her own genial temper. her face. her
tones. the pretty gowns she wears, the gay
little songs she sings. and the stories she
tells at twilight. the tender brooding tdat
never is absent from her loving heart and
from her manner; these are the things that
educate her children.
They resist positive orders and they are
sometimes rebelious in their hearts when
commands are given brusquely and en-
forced with sternness, but no child resists
the sunshine
There IS little hope for the mother that
rules by threatening. and in whose yocabu-
larry cor III do So has a fixed place. There
is every hope for her who woos children
from harmful playing by calling their at
tention TO something else. and thas wins
them OF their own volition to the better
way. There is every hope for the mother
that puts her commands in the form or re-
quests, and whenever practicable gives her
reasons for them. There is every hope for