Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1907-04-06
A Mental Malaria Which
Should BE Cured.
Pail Mall Gazette.


Should Be Cured.
Talk faith The world is better of without
Yonr uttered ignorance and morbid doubt.
II YOU have faith in God, or man. or self
say so: if not push back upon the shelf
OF silence all your thoughts till faith shall
No one viii grieve because your lips are
dumb.
Not long ago l read the following
gloomy bit of pessimism from the pen
Of a man bright enough to know better
than to add to the mental malaria Of
the world. He said:
Life is hopeless battle in which we
are foredoomed to defeat. and the prize
for which we strive to have and to
hold'-what is it? y thing that is neither
enioyed while had nor missed when lost.
So worthless it is. so unSa tisfying SO in
adequate to purpose, so false to hope.
and at its best so brief, that for conso-
lation and compensation we set up fan
tastic faiths Of an aftertime in Il better
world from which no confirming whisper
has ever reached us out of the void
Heaven is prophecy uttered by the lips
Of despair, but hell is an inference from
history
This is morbid and unwholesome talk
which can do no human being any good
to utter or TO listen to.
But it can depress and discourage the
weak and struggling souls who are striv-
ing to make the best of circumstances
and it can nerve to suicide the hand of
some half-craZed being who needed only
a word of encouragement and cheer to
brace up and win the race.
This is the objectionable sin-to talk
discouragingiy TO human souls hungering
for hope.
When the man without brains does it.
he can be pardoned for knowing no bet
ter.
When the man with brains does it,
he should be ashamed to look his fellow
mortals in the eyes.
1t is a sin ten times deeper dyed than
giving stone to those who ask for
bread.
1t is giving poison to those who plead
for Il cup of cold water
Fortunately the remarks above quoted
contain not one atom of truth!
he writer may speak for himself, but
he has no right to speak for. others.
1t Is all very well for man who is
marked with smallpox to say his face
has not one unsecured inch on the sur
face Of it. But he has no premises to
land upon when he says there is not a
face in the world which is free from
smallpox scars.
Life is not "a hopeless battle in which
we are doomed to defeat"
Life is glorious privilege, and we can
make anything we choose of it if we be
GIN early and are in deep earnest, and
realize our own divine powers
Nothing can hinder us or stay us. We
can do and be whatsoever we will.
The prize of life is not "a thing which
IS neither enjoyed while had nor missed
when lost.
1t is enjoyed by millions of souls to-
day-this great prize of life-I for one
declare that for every day of misery III
my existence l have had a week of joy
and happiness. For every hour of pain
nave had day of pleasure. For every
moment of worry, an hour of content.
cannot be the only soul so endowed
with the appreciation of life. | know
scores Of happy people who enjoy the
many delights of earth, and there are
thousands whom l do not know
or course, life is not missed wien
lost! because it is never lost. 1t is in
destructible.
Life ever was, and ever will be. 1t is
Il continuous performance.
1t Is mot worthless" to the whole
some, normal mind. 1t is full of inter-
est and rich with Opportunitics/for use
fitness.
When any man SAYS his life is worth
less It Is because he has eyes and sees
Npt' anu ears ana hears not.
1t IS his own fault. not the fault Of
goo, rate or accident.
II every life seems at times "unsatis-
factory and inadequate" it is only
que to the cry of the immortal soul long
ing Tor larger opportunities and fewer
limitations
Neither is life false to hope" He
who trusts the divine Source of Life
ShaI ind his hopes more than realized
mere upon earth. but voice the knowl-
edge Of thousands of souls when
make this assertion. | know whereof l
speak
All that our dearest hopes desire will
come to us if we believe in ourselves
as rlghtful heirs to Divine Opulcnce. and
work and think always on those lines.
II no whisper has ever reached us out
al the void" confirming our faith in i'm
mortality, then one-third of the seeming
~ intelligent and sane beings of our az
Hoaiulance must be fools or liars For
we have the assertion of fully this mum
yer that such whispers have come be-
SIDES the biblical statistics of numerous
messages from the other realm.-ELa
N heeler Wilcox