Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1906-09-14
LOVES WASTES.

LOVES WASTES.
By Henry F. Cope.
."To what purpose hath this waste
Of the ointment been made?'-Mark
xiv. 4.
Love is a foolish thing to the man
who has none; it is wastcful, eXtraVa-
CANT, fruitless. Yet the riches of life
spring from the wastes Of love. Frlgld
pharisees always are ready to sit ana
calculate what might have been done
with the money that a great, loving
heart flung away. If they had fed the
poor of all the orient with their pen
MES the deed would have been forgot
ten long ago: it would have borne far
less fruit than the act Of the woman
that looked SO like folly to them.
TO the calm economist love makes
many mistakes; but heaven sees her
prodigality is but seed sowing. The
harvest lasts through the ages. 1t is
not the good we do with calculating
nicely that counts for most; that is but
charity. Never until love lays hold of
our lives and we fling away some
things that men say we should prlze
do we know the JOY of giving.
The world ~forgets the wise things 1t
| has done-the things that seem wise
at the time Of their doing. The world
remembers the foolish things, those
! that men desplsed, counted qulxotic
impulsive, and wasteful. It is a good
| deal more likely to remember Joseph's
love for his brothers than all his eXecu
tive ability in storing corn in Egypt.
The day will come when we shall
honor men not for their profits in thu
business of living-of these we may bt
a~shamed-Dut for their gifts to life
when we shall know that there Is ne
living without giving; that he alone
finds life who loses 1t; that b meas
ure Of Success Is not the things O.
which we may die possessed, but TIL,
things of which our living has mad
the world to be possessed.
1t ia selfishness that makes a mai
q moral pauper. No matter how sue
cessful he may have been in acquirin,
riches, he goes out of this world NOR
ally destitute IL he has failed to los
some Of his life, to scatter some of him
self as seed sown for the future. Ill
may wax fat and arrogant now, blu
none shall hang his head lower whel
life is shown in its real values. Coz
pity the man who has enriched his sub
stance by impoverishing his soul.
And just there lies the secret of !
al!-the great advantage of love
wastes comes back to the giver. A ma
is impoverished not by what he give
away, but by what he withholds. II
Is wasting his substance In the wors
way who is seeking to store it all u
for himself. The flowers cast thei
seeds with prodigal hands; the strit
economist finds waste written all owe
nature; he knows not that that is til
secret Of her wealth.
The heart grows rich by its losses
and as soon as we have learned ths
the heart is the true measure Of the lii
we begin to find our wealth not in &c
ting but in giving. Many a mar hi
gone down to death labeled a fool /
this worlds wisdom because he Ii;
been too generous to accumulate an,
thing, who yet has taken more out
life than all his critics put together.
From the viewpoint of the ininit
the wastes, the follies. and the loss
Of true love are more than justife
The odor of that ointment has con
down through the ages. 1t has promp
ed to a thousand generous deeds
has taught man to spurn the calcula
ing Of profits and losses when son
great purpose appealed to him. 1t h;
enriched the world with an idea
something always and %eternally wort
more than all things real.
Whose feels a fine impulse, such :
stirred in the woman's breast, If he |
wise, will not check or deny 1t. 1t
better to do the most foolish thing
love than the @sest in calculating sci
ishness. The choice things OF eur live
the memories we cherish, and ii
things that remain to cheer our ofte
dropping hearts are the fruits OF ju
such deeds; they are like flower
sweet immortelles, springing from II
seed lavishly scattered by love.