Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-09
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slight"
Colorless. uninteresting lives are durable.
just as miserable broken lives are durable.
And the keynote of higher existence Is
struck the moment the person turns mem
tally from his cramped circumstances and
reaches out heart and mind toward a wider,
fuller life.
The difference lies solely with ourselves.
We ourselves have the power to choose the
life full of experience and strength Of rur-
pose. We have but to wish 1t and SO de-
eide. We may not see how the difference
is to come, but If we strongly wish for 1t
it will come. The slight. colorless lives
which are seen commonly seem dull and
embarrassing to those whose outlook is
wider and whose point Of view has
changed.
George Macdonald said once in effect
that any life, no matter how unhappy, was
endurable if it was interesting. And we
can well believe this true when we loox IN
at life of petty aims and contracted ex-
perience, and wonder how any one can bear
to live it.
All lives can be strong lives, lives filled
with a great purpose, dominated by iCIty
will. replete with circumstances. Lively with
accomplishment.
The Influence
or the temperate life on disposition en-
phatically was shown In Cornaro. the cele-
brated Italian noble. whose natural consti-
tuition was so weak that he was not ex-
pected to live to be forty. yet survived to
a remarkable old age.
The irritable temperament which had be-
longed to him by nature and which had
been aggravated by intemperance. gave
place to beautiful serenity and mildness
in harmony with his changed life.
THE brain Of him who lives in this man
ner" said he, Is as result, certainly in
tain entire use Of reason. Thus to his own
extreme comfort and contentment he Is en-
abled to rise above the low and mean con-
siderations of this world to the high and
beautiful contemplation of things divine.
In this manner he considers. knows and
understands. as he never would have done
otherwise. how great are the power. Wis
dom and goodness Of God. Descending
nizes in her the daughter of the same God:
and he sees and touches that which with
a less purified mind he never could have
seen or touched.
"Sobriety purifies the senses, lightens the
body. quickens the intellect, cheers the
mind. makes the memory tenacious. the
motions swift. the actions ready and
prompt. Through her the soul. almost de-
great extent its liberty; the vital spirits
move softly in the arteries, the blood
courses through the veins, and finally all
our faculties preserve with most beautiful
order a joyous and pleasing harmony"
Cornaro found the effects of his simple
life remarkable and became so enamored
Of its beauty and holiness that he devoted
himself to the work Of enlightening his
fellow-men and trying to persuade them
that the happiness he had found was in
the reach of all.
To Enable us
To gain and keep that Inner calm which ia
essential to the development of what Is
noblest and best in us we must rely on
high and helpful ideals. In such faith Hes
our salvation. Upon our belief In the
calm soul Of all things depends our abil-
ity to gain the will to neither strive nor
cry the power to feel with others that
weighs for much in aiding US to live that
noble life which Is possible to each Of US.
Nor must we fail to copy day by day the
perfect life that was lived for three and
thirty years in this trifling world Faith
in the eternal power, not ourselves. that
makes for righteousness" the belief that NO
struggle however blind and cropping. to-
ward the light can fail to bring measure
OF peace, the conviction that communion
in thought with the eternal and initiating
In life of Jesus Christ must lift and bless
the soul.
Probably 1t is impossible for any one set
in family. to withdraw herself from all
fretting. The solitary may seek retreat.
but 1t Is to be questioned II In so doing
she does not render herself comparatively
useless member OF society and thus fail 10
contribute her share in benef:ing the
social" the universal, OF which we hear
much from the good Marcus.
The elf-poise of real value Is that gained
in the midst Of others. that seit-cont rol
won amidst trials and temptations that
make 1t possible in the stir and pressure
of common life to live well.
ADA MAY KRECKEH.