The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1908-02-27

and Reprinted from the London Chron-
icle
Trust yourselves, youths and maldens
who are emerging from childhood, when
first the questions arise in your soul:
What am [? Why do [ exist? Why do
all who surround me exist? And chiefly
most agitating of questions-Am and
are all around me living as we should do?
Trust yourself, then, also, when the re-
plies to these questions which suggest
themselves to you do not agree with
those impressed on you in childhood, and
do not agree with the life that you and
the people around you are living. Do
not fear this disagreement, but, on the
contrary, be assured that in this dis
agreement between you and all that sur
rounds you is expressed the very best
that is in you, that divine principle
whose manifestation in life constitutes
not only the chief, but the sole, meaning
of our existence Trust, then, not your
self; the individual Bill, Jack, Annie, or
Milly, son OF daughter of king, minister
or workman, merchant or laborer, but
trust that self-the eternal, reasonable,
the holy source which lives in each OF
us, and which for the first time has
awakened within you, presenting these
most important of all questions, and
seeking and demanding their solution.
Do not, then, trust those who with IA
condescending smile tell you that they,
too. once sought replies to these ques-
tions, and did not find them, for none can
be found except those which are ac-
cepted by everybody.
Do not believe this, but trust yourself
alone, and do not fear to disagree with
the views and thoughts of those around
YOU if only your replies to the questions
that have presented themselves to you
are founded not ON your personal wishes,
but on a wish to fulfill the purpose of
your life, and to fulfill the will of that
power which has sent you into life.
Trust yourself, especially when the re-
plies presenting themselves to you are
confirmed by those eternal principles of
human wisdom, expressed in all religious
teachings, and in the teaching nearest to
us THAT of Christi in it's highest spir-
itual meaning.
[ remember, when / was Is years old,
cXpericncing a time when [ suddenly
awoke from the childish submission to
other peoples views in which [ had lived
till then: and for the first time under
stood that 1 must shape my own life,
must choose my own path, and must my
self answer for my life to that Source
which gave it to me.
[ remember that I then dimly, but
deeply felt that the chief aim of my
life was to be good; good in the gospel
sense, the sense of self sacrifice and love.
| remember that I then tried to live ac-
cordingly, bit the attempt did not last
long, | di,! not trust myself, but trusted
rather to what was suggested to me con-
sciously and unconsciously by all around
NE. And my first awakening was re-
placed by very definite though various
desires for success in the eyes of the
| world; to be distinguished, learned, ia
nous, rich, strong-i. e., not such as |,
but such as other people, considered good.
| J. did not trust myself then, and only
after several decades spent in attaining
worldly aims (which I either failed to
attain or, having attained, saw to be
useless, vain or harmful), did | under
stand what forty years ago l had seen,
but did not then believe, must and
should be the only reasonable aim of
each mans efforts. How different, how
much more joyous for myself and useful
to others, might my life have been had
[ believed and yielded when the voice
of Truth, of God, spoke for the first
time to my soul, unsullied as yet by such
temptations!
| Yes, dear young people, sincerely, in
dependently-not under the influence of
suggestion from outside, but quite indie
pendently and STRENGTHENING awaked
to a consciousness of the full importance
of your life, do not trust to those who
tell you, that your strivings are merely
the unattainable dreams of youth, and
that they, too, have dreamed and striven
| but that life soon showed them that it
has its own demands and that one must
not indulge in fancies of what life might
be, but must try how best to adapt our
actions to the life of existing society
and to aim onl,u at keing a useful mem
Der of that society.
| Do not believe, either, in that danger
Gus temptation, especially strong in our
day, which consists in the assertion that
the highest destiny of man lies in coop
Grating in the reorganization of the So
ciety that exists at a certain place and
time, using therefor all possible means
even though they be directly opposed to
moral progress. Do not believe this
That aim is insignificant in comparison
with the aim of manifesting in yourself
the divine principle which has been placed
in your soul And that aim is false
which permits any deviation from the
principle of goodness dwelling in your
soul.
Do not trust it, Do not believe that
the manifestation of goodness and truth
in your soul is impossible. Such mani
festation of goodness and truth in your
soul is not only possible, but all life
| yours and that of all men) consists in
that alone. And that manifestation in
each man is the one thing leading us
merely to the best reorganization of So
ciety. but to all the welfare appointed