Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1909-02-19
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REWARDS.
Bv Henry T. Gone.


likely to remember that many great
ones reviewing life have expressed lit
tie but disappointment, and have de-
clared it's rewards only illusory phan-
toms. We are likely to agree, for the
success on which we set our hearts Of
ten, when attained. turns to bitterness.
Does life hold any trustworthy prom
Use Of worthy reward? Is it worth the
strife? If it be true that at the end
OF every stage there waits for us only
an empty, hooking prize, If happiness
be ever a receding rainbow, where
when the motive Of rewards is gone
can we find that which will hold life
true to things high and nerve 1t for
the best?
May it not be that we are making a
great mistake in looking for our re-
wards at the end Of our work. in
thinking Of life's rewards as if they
were wages? The best rewards are not
in the things to be attained; they are
in the attaining. Joy Is not a distant
mountain peak; joy is the light and
who climbs upward.
We wear our lives away in fretful
seeking after things afar, in ambitious
strivings after fame, power, and
wealth. So life comes to it's end with
the heart still hungry for the eternal
bread and the waters Of life. We have
fought for baubles along way where
that water ever flows and that bread is
to be had for the asking.
Not in our wages, not in our prizes,
but in our work lie our true rewards.
The greatest happiness for any true
man is to have something worth while
to do, some part to play in the worlds
business, some task that calls out the
deepest in him and nerves all his pow
ers something high and great; here is
the real joy of living and its true salts
faction, just to be working worthily.
The expenditure of energy brings it's
own reward in increased vigor and in
disciplined powers. No matter what
else he makes the worker is making
himself In the great workshops Of the
eternal, of which all our factories and
mills are but tiny corners, no man has
to wait for his wage nor can any get
more Or less than his due.
Only minds that drivel into twaddle
tell us, when we are weary with the
work of to-day: Never mind, you'll
get your reward in heaven Eternal
Justice does not so defer the pay day !;
all worthy work here is rewarded in
the Joy Of doing, in the glory OF the
work, in the great happiness o: service,
in sharing in the work Of the most
high. Heaven opens to labor now.
OF course this does not eliminate the
Day envelope; but it does subordinate
it making it a means only for further
living and working, and not an end. 1t
is sad sight, prophetic only of dis
appointed life, whenever you see a man
regarding his trading, his business, Or
his toll as something only to be en-
dured for what he can make out Of it.
This marks the difference between
the artist and the artisan; the one
finds his Joy in his work, the other his
pleasure only in his pay. You cannot
hire mothers no wage ever could be
worthy: but love transforms drudgery
into delight the service and sacrifice
bring their own satisfaction. Greed
and low aim would spoil an angels
task: love and a sense of high service
will make the lowliest lofty in spirit
and reward.
Any man may take life in this way !;
he may take the artists relation to the
work of his hands though he be team
ster or a bookkeeper, doing the work
for its own sake Then no matter how
the back may be bent the free heart
cannot be bowed down; no matter
what the tasks the man is not slave
driven to them, he is man using
them.
Life only becomes worth living as
one has a sense of entering into the
higher values of Its service, sense Of
doing part Of the work Of God and man
through all eternity. We mortals are
making the worlds. That spirit gives
ouality and permanency to any task Or
r,roduct. The wall you build may
crumble to dust, but the honor, and
truth. and idealism you put into it re-
main forever. and are built into that
o,+v whose maker and builder is God