The Washington herald., 1908-04-09
THE OPTIMIST.

would Ike 10 commend 70 the read
ers Of this column a beautiful essay OF
Heaven contributed 10 Harper's Bazai
py Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, whose Cate.
Ajar' has borne a message Of hope to &c
many 1t is beautiful thought that
Identifies heaven with happiness. Says
the essayist:
If ] could be out Of physeaI rain - said !, life
long invalid Il would ass no other hasys- .. u,
could be IN place where might know that m,
husband neser could be Killed on the traip~ cried
one q The gentle ''boniers'' whose cspaefs fer
suffering is neither understood nor resueced y tbz
ssngiine IF / could take mr. children 70
world where every time / hear crou.y conah
my heart did net stand stil With tenor urged
another, that would be heaven for me Tia
muiatto girl who burst into joyful tears at first
sight Of marble bust Of herself ''beCaase il va.
white. had glimpse of her heaven before its time
Heaven must be ike any other fona Ct happi
ness. only 'mose 50. said a thoughtful man
Ard the conditions Of happiness are three: clean
conscience, something to Go. and some one TO love
OF course, a clean conscience implies a
clean lie and worthy striving for the
higher virtues. Something to do all of us
may find, but It must be something
worthy. If it be only sweeping a room,
as George Herbert told US. and so, 100.
with some one 10 love, the some one
must awaken In US, through some alchemy
IN his own soul, the best love that is
within our hearts
And those that were good shall be
happy" sang Kipling. and later, "They
shall work for an age at a sitting and
never be tired at all" II you will but
come TO think of 1t the burden Of most
poets has been that the road 10 happiness
and therefore. the road to heaven is
through the work that a man sets his
hand to. Work has often been stigma
tlzed az curse. 1t is. In reality, one Of
the largest OF Gods blessings. AS Milton
said:
Ot al those wild words which men h misery
thiDk TO ease themselves by ufterine. let him not
oieh ais hrs against the Providence Of heaven. or
TAX uie ways Of God and HIS divine truth for
they are equal. easy. snd not hudensone: ner do
the5 ever cross the Just and reasonable desires Of
men, Ddt allow rs 70 remedy and shake Of these
evils into which human error hath led us through
the midst Of our best intentions
The mysteries Of God are beyond our
ken; all that we may be permitted 70
know-and this not by any written word
or voice Of prophet. but by a voice within
ourselves-is, that it is permitted man 10
work out his own salvation; to create mis-
own happiness, his own heaven It is
through our daily duties, the task before
US. the work done that the mystery of
whence all this tends appeals to US
Yet. touching 50, they draw above
our eeInmon thoughts TO heavens unknown;
orr caily idy and Pain advance
To a divine significance
Our human loTe-O mortal love.
Inst light is not its own.
And Sometimes harror chills our Flood
To Be 50 near such mystic things.
And We WTap rVgud us for defense
Our purple mSaners moods Of seUse-
As angels nom he face Of God
stand hidden IN their wings
I have an intense admiration for Steven
son. and in those whom / admire II ie
hard for me to discover blemishes: but
when he says. as he does in "Virginibus
Puerisque, Alas and alas. you NAV
take II how you viii, but the services of
no single individual are Indispensable"
nave to ask If that Is true? If he
means indispensable te the world. I can
not grant it, for even the weakest Of US
IS strong enough to drop some influence
behind him. Il is not true that an in
iividuafs service is indispensable. It is
BY that very service and that alone. the
manner IN which it is performed; the
spirit IN which It Is undertaken. the
leart that is put into il. the good il ae-
that the individual shall be
saved. As Tennyson pointed out:
DARK Is the world to thee: thyseIf art the reason
Why;
soE IS He not all but thou, that hast power to
feel = am /
Toward happiness. toward heaven. then.
r humility, in meekness. and in great
sladness must we moYe-toward that
heaven where
oniy the Master shah praise Us. and only
the Master shall blame:
And 10 one shall work for money srd m go stsll
WORK for fame;
But each for the joy # the working. and each. in
his separate star.
hall draw the Thing as he sees It. for the God
of Things as They Are!