Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1908-12-18
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IN QUIET PATHS.

~ LIC bSSibS ~ sun "pl
ers."-Psalm xiii, 2.
By far the greater number of Us
must live quiet, simple lives. To the
few who live in the limelight the eX
lstence OF the many may seem to be
humdrum, fiat and uninteresting. But
we are all too ready to measure living
by its eXternals and to decide that tho
life that neve leaps into the public
glare must be lived in a pitiable gloom
Are there not for all our lives, fol
these ordinary, simple lives of ours
high lights, flashes that redeem the sou
from sordid living, high levels to which
we may rise in spirit at least and save
ence? How may we find and know such
occasions?
Are there not, too, what is of greater
Importance, splendid motives. lofty
aims, and inspiring ideals that may en-
ter into and fill all the dull valleys
Of the lowliest life: May not even the
most commonplace lot be transfused
with the glory of a great sncrihce or Il
splendid aim?
Life is what we make it. Greatness
is not in circumstance, nor of condition,
but of character. Who has not known
great hearts, high minds Il noble
souls that have never, become known
beyond their little circles, who have
died, not unwept OF u%nhonored, but I'm
sung because the sounds of their living
have never reached the ears of the
bards of the great, noisy world?
Ordinary people may often be the
best people. We tend to measure lives
by their vicissitudes rather than by
their steady virtues. Those who make
startling ascents and descents get them
selves talked about, but for the plain
business and real work Of the world the
folks who stay on the ground are the
OneS we can count IN.
1t is a good thing to be able to see
the glory in the commonplace. We are
SO easily carried away at the sight of
the ancient, tawdry trappings of mcdi-
ocrity that when true worth appears in
homespun we reject it; it lacks epau-
lets and feathers. We complain of for
tune because it refuses to dress us in
tinSel array.
Modern heroes are more likely to be
in jeans or in khaki than in crimson.
and great lives are more likely to be
found in kitchens and workshops than
in the council chambers of kings. It's
a cheap and futile way to greatness,
this plan Of buying its uniform when
you lack its heart. ,
The size and worth of your life de-
ponds on its aims and motives and not
on the measure of its popular recogni-
ton. The world needs to-day not SO
much men and women of startling pow
ers. as those Of sterling qualities not
SO much a few giants as many Of plain
goodness. The worth Of u day de-
ponds more on what we are building
into the everyday things than on what
some man may be saying or doing in
the glare of publicity.
Often it seems a weary business to
take up the daily task, the same old
grind day after day. Many affect to
despise those who do it, but the spirits
of eternity look down and award the
crowns to those whose toll costs most,
to those who steadily face and fear not
the awful foes of monotony and dull
plodding. Even genius is a matter Of
that steady grinding at one thing.
We ought not to despise our common
place lots or the apparently dull level
of other lives. We need vision to see
how great is any life, how much of the
real riches of life there may be in any
lot, how g%loriously grand are the mean
est tasks, the lowliest labors. when love
is their motive; how the stains of toll
become a garment of praise when the
object is known.
When we see the days as they come
along, not as so many hours of dull
tasks Tut as having so many opportu-
mites for self-discovery and develop
ment, so many chances to do good, to
give love, so many occasions for the
traces and virtues, and so many invi-
tations to learn the real worth of
things, then the days are transformed
from gloom to glory.
We need new eyes and new hearts
rather than new circumstances. Wheth-
pr we live in a prison or a palace de-
bends not on the walls about us but on
the will within to be either slave or
king, bound by our lot or free in heart.
whether we regard life as an imposition
or as opportunity. The quiet parts are
itch to the open heart, and no way is