The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1908-03-27
Flowers.

II ~ w Ol
Before the Nebraska Historical
Society Richard l.. Metcalfe de-
livered an address relating to the
life of the late James b. Kitchen,
of Omaha. The conclusion of
this address may be of interest
to our readers generally, it being
taken from the current issue Of
The CommonO 1t follows:
This society's opportunity for
service is not limited to he col
lection of historical data or the
distribution of honors among pio-
neers who have passed away. 1t is
its privilege-as il is indeed, tha
privilege of all societies and all
individuals-to cultivate among
men disposition to be more con
siderate of one another. Doubt
less the archives OF this associa
tiOn contain extravagant eulogies
of men who, during all their
lives, were required to run
the gauntlet of unfair criticism
and who misunderstood by the
world, lived among great piles Of
weeds, only, in dying to be- bur
led beneath an avalanche of
flowers.
want my flowers now Rather
than high eulogy uttered when
| am in the great hereafter, and
l would prefer the warm pressure
of hand while l am in the great
now. Rather than pile of costly
wreaths, LAID upon tomb con-
tanning naught but dust, | would
choose q eiug.e plnsy, "purple
with loves wound" or u clover
blossom plucked by gentle hands
and given with a loving smile
and grateful heart % living man.
My observation has been that
as a rule men are much better
than their credit marks among
their generations show. There
is no hero who deserves all the
praises of his partial friend;
there is no villain who is entitled
to all OF the censure of his bitter
foe. We are wont TO boast of our
love of justice; yet if we could
know the injustice that we often
do our neighbor we would hang
our heads in shame-and We
would know if we demanded of
him no more in the way of ex-
cellence than we ourselves are
able to show.
We get out of the world just
about what we put into IL, and
we find in men just about what
we look for.
Ii We carry into the world the
seeds of hatred and OF greed We
will reap as we have sown. If in
our intercourse with our fellows
We carry load of suspicious,
sour aud surly.
But if we pl MT sunbeams in
our world We will reap harvest
of light in ourlives, If we 60 70
meet our fellows with love aud
truth in our hearts, we will find
truth and love coming to meet
us more than half OF the way.
Those of us who are not too
dignitied to be human may fnd
inspiration, and upon this very
point, in the literature of the
children.
There Is an allegory that is
written for the little ones but
ssrviceable 10 the grown folks:
Once upon time cave lived
under the ground, az caves have
the habit of doing. 1t had spent
its life time in darkness. II
heard q voice calling to II: "Come
up into the liglt; come and see
the sun shine"
The Cave retorted: II don't
know what you mean; there is
not anything but darkness"
Finally the Gave ventured forth
and was surprised to see light
everywhere.
Looking up to the Sun the
Cave said: "Come with me aud
see the darkness.
The Sun asked: "What is dark
nessF'
The Gave rspliedl "Coms and
see."
One day the Sun accepted the
the Caves invitation. AS il
entered the Cave it said: "Nov
show me your darkness
But there was no darkness.