Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1906-10-18

Blessed are the meek: for they snail M
teflt the earth.
The cynic laughs this statement to
corn. 1t is the meek. he says. who
fave great fortunes; who possess the
boundless estates; who are the multi
n~i!!ionaires: who are the lords of the
iarth. Are the coal magnates, the
sailroad barons. the trust kings. re-
narkable for their meekness?
Stop a nay cynical friend,
Ind re-read Christ's saying. He does
tot say that the meek shall acquire the
larth. but that they shall inherit 1T.
What we acquire comes to us as the re-
ult of our endeavor-often OF our siren
lous %endeavor. Not ~infrequently the
freely and the GraSpinG. the callous
md the selfish, the ambitious and the
Ielf assertive, acquire the earth; but
hey never inherit it. We inherit What
ZONES to us without seeking, without
Effort, and often without ever any ex-
,ectation on our part. The Inheritance
b a free gift. The unmeek often get
possession of the earth, but only he
meek inherit it. Selfish men," says
is the meek alone who inherit it from
he heavenly father. free from all de-
Elements and unrighteousness.'
Have you not met the grasping man
m a journey? On the arrival of the
rain at the station he makes his way
10 the front, careless of the women
ind children whom he pushes to
tide; he gets the first seat in the hotel
omnibus, or is the first to drive away
n Il cab at the station; he succeeds
n putting himself ut tie head of the
Waiting line at the hotel desk, not in
frequently crowding himself in before
meeker and less assertive men; he ae-
hands the hest room in the hotel and
Iften gets it. Verify. verify. | say
INTO YOU. they have their reward" But
have noticed that this man never EN-
pys his journey. He is n chronic grurl-
bier. He finds no pleasure II he finds
I multitude OF faults. He may pos
less the earth. and he often does, but
he never inherits it. He gets. bat he
Ices not gain.
Such am experience is symbolic OF
he larger experience of the journey
VI life. The eager and the grasping
ften possess, but they rarely enjoy.
An artist who has capacity 10 apprc-
siate, but not one to buy a single
picture inherits more in the public art
gallery than the greedy PhiliStine who
purchases pictures but really never
possesses them. John Burroughs. with
his few acres on the banks of the Hud-
ton. has really more of the earth than
northumberland who owns hundreds
" acres which he has rarely time TIC
Visit, and who does not know the diff.
terence between a maple n an elm
Or W the son of the thrush and
he chirp of the English sparrow
Doubtless there are men who both &C
luire and possess; men who can en-
10y the pictures they ave purchased
Ind the unit rangeS which they
lwn. But in general it is safe to say
that the pleasure of life is in AN in.
verse ratio to the amount of energy
expended in the mere processes of ac-
iuisition, and tais for a very simple
.eason: the processes of acquisition
have absorbed all the time and Energy
Ind neither time nor energy has beer
eft for the processes of sell culture.
Would Jesus. then, discourage effort
paralyze endeavor. forbid the siren
nous life. chill ambition and aspiration
tf;ti<e sluggish the blood of entilus
assn? No; he was himself, i'm the
aob1est sense Of the term. an entlus
last. His life was a strenuous one
Rarely in hurnan history has any in
div!dual crowded as much into three
years as did he. But his energy wa:
Expended in service for others, not il
acquisition for himself. His life inter
! me to say is this: Put all your am
bition, all your enthusiasm into TIL,
work of service. Make it the ain
Of your life to cave the worit
better and happier because you hav'
i've in it. and take withou
greed or gfaSplNS Hnat the world VII
give you OF service in return. 1t ma,
give you roses or it may give YOU
ihorns: it may give you a crown o
1t may give YOU a cross; it may hal
you as a king or ii may cruelty YOU
as Il malefactor; it may sometimes d,
the one and it nay sometimes do TIL
other: but this does not much matter
What matters is achievement. not ac
QUESTION. If you pursue this course
YOU will inherit the earth. For thi
spirit finds more JOY in poverty thai
self seeking finds in wealth; more jo.
in the cross than seif-seeking find
in the coronation. III you possess thi
spirit, o MAY get less than you
greedy neiehbor. but you will gail
more Tie mind wholly given to TIL
york of service will do better worl
than the mind divided between TIL
question of service and of acquisition
n in. general the better the servic
the better the compensation, and al
ways the greater the happiness.