Daily Kennebec journal., 1910-10-11
Sunday Thoughts.

first step in setting house in order is
to cleanse it's surroundings"
The application. of this is obvious.
Mems lives are too often neglected in
the same way Whatever may be the
condition of the heart, it is surrounded
outside by all sorts of evil things, evil
men, careless habits, moral unthrift.
and scores of things which. though not
perhaps evil or sinful. vet indicate a
want of moral order, moral taste, and
sense of beauty.
We do not appreciate the blessings
God has given us. We obliterate from
our minds eye the beauties which
chase after those things which We hope
for in the future and which ever seem
to be beckoning us toward goal
which, when attained, will be the only
thing worth living for.
An accepted notion of the perfect
future is of a glorious place where
all is bliss and to attain which we
must eliminate from our present life
all of the beauties and happiness which
constantly surround us, in perpetual
preparation for the life to come. II
is only necessary to eliminate these if
they injure ourselves or others. And
yet we should know that heaven is
what we make it, here and beyond. If
we have no capacity for being happy
in this life how may we expect a per-
feet understanding of happiness in
afterlife?
Before actual decay begins there is
period of waste which is as true in
the life of man as in the existence Of
tree. The wreck of human physique
and human mind begins in careless
ness as to the details of character
We neglect the little things of life
which mean so much. The beginning
of mental rot is the breaking away of
the moral fibre, and moral fibre is
lead. Happiness is builder of fibre
both mental and physical, and labor is
builder of happiness. When we read
of the lives of distinguished men we
find that almost always they have been
celebrated for the amount of labor
they have performed. The same prov
idence which permits diseases pro-
duces remedies. and when it sends sor-
rows it as often sends supporters
There is a story in the Arabian
Nights Tales of a king who had long
langushed under an i'll habit and had
taken an abundance Of remedies to
no purpose. At length a physician
cured him by the following method:
He took hollow ball of wood and
filled it with several drugs after which
he closed it up artificially Next he
took mall and, after following the
handle and that part which strikes the
ball, he enclosed in them several
| drugs after the manner as in the ball
itself He then ordered the sultan,
who was his patient, to exercise him
self early i'm the morning with the in
struments till such time he should
| sweat: then he should find the virtue
of the medicaments perspiring through
tie wood should have so good an in
fluence on his patients constitution
that he would be cured And the sui
tan was cured by the exact remedy
of which he was the most in need
physical exercise
The gods have set a price on every
real and noble pleasure; there is moth
ing truly valuable which can be pur-
chased without pains and labor. Thus
if you would gain favor of the AL
mighty you must first attain something
by the work of mind and body which
brings first pleasure and then real
happiness in the qualification of thus
having accomplished something.
A''N "'i'I poi dS1tc III TIE HuI11dH
dwelling is vermin in the heart And
this is encouraged and fed by careless
living and lack of wholesome work of
mind and body. There are always
duties to perform and miserable is he
who slumbers on in idleness Groser
said that, Labor is of noble birth;
but prayer is the daughter of heaven.
Labor has a place near the throne.
but prayer touches the golden scepter"
Real enjoyment of ones every day
work and appreciation of ones sur
roundings is like unto continuous
prayer. For when we see and admire
without the power of expression in
words or deeds we are happy. and
happiness is a form of PRAYER For
being happy we are grateful and out
of the fullness of our hearts we express
our thanks unconsciously to a being
whom we do not know or understand
hat TO whom we give praise I'M
biddingly, but who has said that in