Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1908-06-05
,TRENGTH THROUGH STRIFE.

~
"They go from strength to strength
-Ps.64 I.
The difference between man and the
dust lies in his heaven born passion
for progress, the desire to push on, to
grow, to improve, to enlarge his life,
his knowledge, and his power. All life
Is growth and II form of decay is
death. In the right life aspiration lasts
as long as respiration. He is already
dead who is satisfied, in whom there
stirs no passion for better, ampler
better things. That which yesterday
seemed to the soul a palace, which IL
to-day its house, would tomorrow
prove its prison.
Man was made to grow. All ~ past
story tells us that. Read in the rocks
or in the written Page it is the sa.ur
record Of tell, pain, battle, WEAKNESS,
! and sorrow, victory, aud brief joy-all
but waves in the Great tide that moves
humanity on. Out Of the depths have
we come, and no NAN any longer blush
es at our loWly beginnings, rather DO
we rejoice at the strides made thus far.
Neither dares any rcvrrGut il to pre-
dict how fa7 we may 20. All we know
is that IL us burns the eternal cloud
by day and fire by night that leads III
from EgNDtS of dull content through
deserts Of glowing promise.
The story of each life is like a min
iaturc Of the story of all life. There is
the same helpless beginning. the same
increasing passion for larger life, the
same growing discomfort with things
achieved. To live is to strive, to
achieve and be dissatisfied. to become
better aud often seem to he worse. The
struggle to cast out old evil and to live
f~airer, swccter, stronger. and more
worth while lives goes on in all.
OF all the objects of our pity none
deserves it more tina those who are
content with themselves. No matter
what growth a man may make in char
acter, what progress toward perfection,
1t will never afford him satisfaction.
The search for the peace of perfection
can end only in disappointment. To
the soul there is no perfection. To fine
its goal would be to die. When Il man
boasts of having reached the height of
his ambition you will find he never con
tcmplated any eminence greater than
a beer keg.
Either Il gets better every day or he
gets worse. He needs to feel the great
est alarm who thinks he has come to
the place where he can stand still.
Measure your progress by our discon,
tent with self. The fact that our ideals
seem farther Off than ever before may
but indicate how greatly the horizon
has widened. True, there is a danger
that we shall be content with our dis
content, that we shall say. My appar-
ent imperfection but proves my real
progress. A man must measure himself
not alone by his distance from the goa
but by his steady ]strivings to reach it.
And, after all, the natural life has
little time for my acknowledgements.
get no exercise save in climbing
on and off the scales and standing IN
der their spiritual measuring rods.
They wonder why they do not grow.
Not by inspection does the soul in
crease. Nor by repeated reviews of foot
prints long past, of yesterdays failures
and mistakes. A man ought to move
so fast that the old tracks are soon
out of sight. The things that are set
before and not the things left behind
must determine the things that are to
be.
If life is a race, it is not run before
CnpCf1fOrC. thnrn oYn no ~ nj -.
here. The course winds amoncst the
commonplace duties of the day. He
runs best who thinks least Of the run
ming and most Of doing the work of
that moment in the best and noblest
way. In each effort, in each fight
against content with sloth, with self,
with mediocrity, lies the strength Civ
ing struggle. Soul health comes
through service. The doing of good is
the best defense against the evil.
Strength III and evil is overcome by
the good that is undertaken.
Weary in the fight, and feeling
naught is gained, still press on. Life's
value lies not in it's victories so much
as in its strife. 1t is this long, bitter.
oft disappointing battle that is making
the man OF you. The warriors reward
Is not in some medal at the end-it is
in muscle gained, in keener vision.
stronger arm, larger heart, -uplifted
head, thoughts that look beyond the
stars and catch glimpses of the glory
to be, in burning desire for yet harder
toll, sterner conflicts, nobIer prizes.