Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-10-10


one must chop the wood and cook and
wash the dishes. Some one must carry
the water and unload the pack mules
or the wagon. Some one must take the
long, weary journey to find grain and
pasture for horses. All these tasks are
not easy to perform when your mus
Giles are tired and you have the blood
jumping and jabbing and throbbing
in your innamed feet. But some one
has to do these tasks IF you are not
willing to do them some one else must.
And yet sometimes you will have
man on camping trip who is too lazy
and selfish to do anything or to learn
to do anything. lie magnifics his own
troubles and dsparagcs your labors
until he becomes perfect pest and
makes himself miserable and irritates
every one around him. That Is the
journey of life. Some men are willing
to do their share of work and great
deal more than their share of work. If
they are mentally incompetent then
they bravely and conscientiously say:
II will repair my mental deficiencies.
I will learn to do my duty. When am
ignorant | will manfully shoulder the
burden God has givch me to carry" Is
that your life, o man? Is that your
life, q woman? what you mentally
lack are you by Gods help and by
hard labor willing TO develop?
In The Redwood Forests.
was nightly impressed with this
vel oil mo-
among the famous redwood forests of
northern California. We had been
climbing ono Of those lofty hills when
night overlook us. We slept near u
watering trough ly the roadside. The
tall trees grew taller. The silence Of
the woods became more still. The
presence Of God was perccptible as il
f. 70 mono hvt tNoeo h have been
communing with him in the silent
places of nature. The next morning
fine. tall, handsome man stopped in
camp. He was on his way back TO his
timber claim. He asked ne to accom-
pany him and take Il short cut through
the woods TO the road ahead. and
went While we walked along he told
left fatherlcss at eight years of age.
At nine he was working for his living
At eleven he was driving a plow. Tt
terly alone he had to work his way up
Some years ago he came to the red
wood forests us a tcamster. Now he
was the owner of some Of the finest
sections in that region Then what do
you suppose he talked about? His sue
cess? Oh no! About his lack of edu-
cation. Though n grown man Of near
ly thirty years of age, he intended the
next winter to 90 back to Eureka and
enter the public school as if he had
been Il little boy. DO you suppose you
could keep down n man like thati
Never, He worked. and he worked
hard, but as he worked he said, The
educational deficiencies of my youth
must and will rectify." l admired that
mans courage and humility. | thought
then what n good thing it would oe for
some of us If we took the same course.
At the end of the first days journey
we have discovered mat we have not
the capacity requisite to fulfill the du-
ties we have Undertaken. We spent
orr school and college days in idlencss
and frivoity. We are not equipped for
the journey of life. Is it possible for
us To lay aside our pride and go back
to obtain the equipment we needi
Dangers to Be Met.
But man in the journey Of life
needs TO he more than mentally equip
ped. He must also be physically and
morally protected. AS many dangers
confronted the oriental traveller, so
when q young man breaks loose from
his home surroundings there are many
temptations before him. The only way
to successfully meet and overcome
those temptations IS to prepare for
them keforc we start. You would not
have thought much of the old forty
miner" who attempted to cross the
western prairie without first well test
ing his shooting irons. He may not
have cared how The exterior of his
guns looked, but he was very careful
about the inner side of his rifles. He
always saw to it that no rust was
there and there was no indentation of
his barrels. Whether those guns shot
straight or no was to decide his life or
death. The fierce savages, the ugly
grizzlies, the hungry panthers and the
half starved pack of wolves all de-
manded that he should be we'll protect
ed. He therefore took care that his
gun was in good order and that he had
plenty of ammunition
Then in olden times the travellers
never depended upon their guns alone.
They looked for success to their COM
panions' guns as well. Thus in the far
east as we'll as in our own country
you rarely found men travelling long
distances alone. When the old forty
miners" Travelled through the west they
met at some Outskirt town and made
up train. Then when they were pass.
Ing through the regions infested by
| hostile savagcs they travelled as an ar
my. The sentinels kept watch Mt night.
The horses were securely guarded lest
| they might be stampedcl in some mid
night raid. When the camp was at
tackled the wagons were used as for
tresses and the riflemen deployed. II
you and | go camping Il few miles
from home where we encounter only
the gentle sheep and cattle of some
! friendly rancher, it does not make
much difference where we sleep. We
/ Omen our cai>lD cots at any DoSitioD