Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1907-10-11


until he becomes a 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 IL
they are mentally incompetent, then
they bravely and conscientiously say:
will repair my mental deficiencies.
VIII learn to DO my duty. When am
ignorant 1 will manfully shoulder the
burden God has given me to carry" Is
that your life, o man? Is that your
life, o 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
fact some time ago when travelling
among the famous redwood forests OF
northern California. We had been
climbing one of those lofty hills when
night overlook us. We slept near a
watering trough by the roadside. The
tail trees grew taller. The silence of
the woods became more still. The
presence Of God was perceptible as it
Is to none but those who have been
communing with him in the silent
places of nature. The next morning a
tine, tall, handsome man stopped In
camp. he was ON his way back to his
timber claim. He asked me to accom-
pany him and taken short cut through
the woods to the road ahead, and
went. While we walked along he told
me the struggles OF his life. He was
left fatherless at eight years OF age.
At nine he was working for his living.
At eleven he was driving a pillow. Ut
terly alone he had to work his way up.
Some years ago he came to the red
wood forests as a teamster. 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 a grown man of near
~ thirty years OF age, he intended the
next winter to go back to Eureka and
enter the public school as If he had
been little boy. Do you suppose you
could keep down a man like that?
Neveri He worked, and he worked
hard, but as he worked he said, 1.-The
educational deficiencies of my youth l
must and will rectify." 1 admired that
mans courage and humility. l thought
then what good thing it would be for
some of us if we took the same course
At the end of the first days journey
we have discovered that we have not
the capacity requisite TO fulfill the du-
ties we have undertaken. We spent
our school and college days In idleness
and frivolity. We are not equipped for
the journey Of life. Is IL possible for
us to lay aside our pride and 90 back
to obtain the equipment we need?
Dangers to Be Met.
But a man in the journey of life
needs to be more than mentally equip
ped. He must also be physically and
morally protected. AS many dangers
confronted the oriental traveller, so
when a 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 before we start. You would not
have thought much of the old -.forty-
miner" who attempted to cross the
western prairie without first we'll 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 IL 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 q! ,refore took care that his
gun was in good order and that he had
plenty OF ammunition.
Then I'm olden times the travellers
never depended upon their guns alone
They looked for success to their com.
panions' guns as well. Thus I'm the far
east as well 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 savages they Travelled as an ar
my. The seDtinels kept watch at night.
The horses were securely guarded lest
they might be stampeded in some mid
night raid. When the camp was at
tackled the wagons were used as for
tresses and the rif1emen deployed. II
you and | go camping a few miles
from home where we encounter only
the gentle sheep and cattle or some
friendly rancher. II does NOT make
much difference where we sleep. We
open our camp cots at any position.
But when we are in the woods far
away from the nearest railroad sta
ton, when we HE away to the lair Of
the bear and the treacherous wildcat
then we hug close to the campfire and
have the magazines of our guns well
filled with cartridges, for there is dan
ger lurking on every hand Now, in
this journey of life we must meet our
moral and spiritual dangers. In our
first hating place away from home do
we find ourselves prepared to resist
those dangersf If not, then had we
not better go back where we can SUD-
ply our spiritual deficiencies?
Study the life of your father and
mother. How did your father meet
the awful troubles and trials and
which came to him? When
he told you some years ago of some
Of his struggles and how he had been
unjustly treated and how sin In its
most enticing form came to him you
said: Father, l don't see how you
withstood those troubles and tempta-