Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-29
Sunday Morning Talk
The Standstills of Life.

You are travelling a crowded, narrow
thoroushfare. The stream of humanity
advances slowly and with many turns and
twists. In the street the Grays, wagons
and motor vehicles barely crawl along.
Suddenly everything stops. Something has
happened to impede further progress in
any direction. 1t makes no difference how
important your engagement somewhere
else you must wait until the policeman
straightens out the tangle
Sometimes in the early spring after a
mild period that has started the buds
there comes succession of chilly, dreary
days. The faint signs Of new vegetation
grow no more pronounced. 1t looks as IL
there has been a relapse into winter and
you say summer will never come
The business of a great nation. which
has moved forward for a number of
years by leaps and bounds. returning. to
those who conduct it, rich rewards, sud-
denly suffers an arrest. The chill of an in
applicable fear lays its paralyz:ng hand
upon many industries. The country Is all
right" you say. put there is no gainsay-
ing the fact that we have come to a halt
for the present. A reform movement Is
strongly tnaugurated and moves on splen-
d dSly, for a Wills But before long the
..
The champions Of this worthy cause are
subjected to ridicule and even abuse It
begins to look as II they were visionary
and too much in advance of public senti-
ment. The movement halts or even appar-
emily recedes
A strong, ambitious man with far-reach-
ing plans only half realized Is suddenly
laid low on bed of illness. The interests
with which he has been identified suffer.
Another may be found to take up at
q tn htff
halts for a time the length Of which he
can only conjecture invalidism holds him
as its prisoner.
Now what shall we say about these
stardstills of life which in one form or
another few of us escape? First irritating
as they are, they are meant to make us
broader and better men and women. We
may be too intent on one end. We must be
made to think about something else for a
little while. We may be and probably are
too seif-absorbed and self-centered. So we
are suddenly, and as we think. almost
ruthlessly, lied in order that our
thought and sympathy may flow out in
other directions.
Again the period of standstill may be
utilized by US to good advantage. While
you are waiting for the street blockade
to cease you can patronfze the apple wom-
an or send your thoughts above high
buildings to the blue dome OF heaven
While business halts. you can re-examine
your commercial methods and projects In
the light of the highest ethical standards
While youn pet reform suffers a tenn
porary eclipse you can ask whether the in
tensity OF your zeal is matched with a
spirit of patience and a good temper that
refuses to be disconnected even under ad-
verse criticism. While you are Ill you can
make your sick room as Robert Louis
Stevenson and Henry Drummond made
| theirs, a place of peace and OF unfailins
cheeriness for those who resort thither.
Depend upon 1t, the standstills Of life
are among its most blessed boons. They
have their great compensations and what
ever is worth while in our characters and
in our purposes will suffer no permanent
arrest. THE PARSON.