The Point Pleasant register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, W. Va.) 1909-1939, 1910-07-13

What we see, largely determines
what we are. The books we read and
the sights we witness furnish much Of
the foodstuf out Of which character is
made. Indeed. we say broadly: See
ing Is believing" and limit the field Of
mans activities to the boundaries Of
his horizon.
It is not without significance that
the children of Israel. dying from fe-
yer caused by the fiery serpents, were
told that everyone who looked should
live. Surely the principle is OF wider
application than this Isolated incident.
1t can be truly said that only those
who look really live. Here is blind
man. He never had the incentive to
work that comes to every man at the
sight OF thousands Of his fellows
thronging our city's streets, intent
upon their business. Standing on
some mountain peak. he never saw
the crimson bars falling behind the
king Of day; never knew the glory
Of God as skies with sun and stars
and consultations unfold his mighty
acts; never felt the inspiration when
the night was passed and on the
morning sky clusters OF purple cloud
began to ripen in the crimson dawn
that man does not know nature, nor
life nor God. Vision has value.
Years have passed. You have not
been living on the tower. You have
/ plunged in the valleys, You have
waded deep waters. You have scaled
steep heights. Sometimes It has been
hard, God knows. Down the high.
ways Of the years you have come
struggling. crying. curslng. some
times praying. but the ideal has not
been realized. Disappointment means
the failure Of one of two parties to
keep an appointment The vision has
failed.
Here is where prophet on a tower
is needed. He can see some things
which you can not You, in the
depths below! You. in the darkness
behind! You. disappointed at the
appointed place. hear what the Lord
God says to Habakkul1 on the tower:
The vision Is yet for an appointed
time. though It larry. wait
for 1t, because II will surely come"
LIES disappointments are a uni.
versal experience. Some dlsappoint-
ments must succeed the certain de-
lusions of youth. The man higher
up has spoken a word to US and our
cherished plans have crumbled like
a jig saw puzzle. Joys We have sought
are crowded back into the future.
Stern reality has driven beyond today
into that vast tomorrow blessings
that seemed almost within our grasp.
1t is equally true OF the moral life.
In the darkness Of some depression
we have had n vision Of what we
might be. Of what We ought to be and
of what we said: by the grace OF
God. We will be-"
But we haven't. At least / hope we
have not attained that ideal. say
hope So" because It we have
achieved that ambition It means. not
that we have made wonderful prog.
7ess. but tla; the vision was too in.
significant to have lasting value.
The disappointments OF life. be they
IN secular business. Christian work
or Christian character. may produce
one Of two results. One Is despair.
Hope deferred makes the heart sick.
Oisappointments are like eggs, which,
orooded over and Matched. produce
The serpents OF despair. When q man
begins to ask: What's the user" he
ought to stop and find out.
The other effect OF disappointment
may be TO call up reserves OF strength
and new battalions OF energy.
Within the past year three notable
biographies have been published Of
m actor. a soldier and a reporter.
Richard Mansfield. autocrat, OF
naughty spirit. at the beginning OF his
career was offered al important par,
n q play. He tainted because he had
Been two days without food, which he
was too poor to buy. and was imme-
lately dismissed Disappointment OF
poverty. Tecumseh Sherman. forty
years old. wrote: Il look upon my
self as dead cock in the pit. no.
worthy Of further notice Dsap-
pointed ambition! A little English
boy. whose father was dead. whose
mother had abandoned him, ran away
/ from the poor house. drtfted 70 Amer.
lea. fought as a confederate soldier
at Shiloh and eventually crowned dis
appointments with the laurels OF sue
Y cess. His real name was John Row.
lands; the world knows him, BY the
grace OF the queen of England. as Slr
Henry N. Stanley.
Think OF the disappolntments Of
these men and host Of others who
have endured as seeing an Invisible
vision. Paul wrote: We are trou.
bled on every side. yet not distressed"
We are perplexed, bat no. altogether
without help. Prosecuted but not for.
saken. Cast down, but not destroyed.
This means that with a vision TO be