Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1910-07-27
The Catastrophe
of Neglect
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F. THERE is ANYTHING that mos, q,

- our might IL we knew IL was COM
Ing. II is the kind OF event that we
call catastrophe. But our conven-
1ional ideas of such an event are OF
tomething so violent and noisy that
we could not fail TO hear its threaten
ing. We assume that we should know
one IL We saw 1t. There are certain
tragic forms in which II sometimeA
tails. like riot or plague or disgrace:
out we are not willing TO attend to the
.ess striking forms in which most such
happenings fall upon mems lives. The
worst and most far-reaching catas
lrophe Is one which nobody notices un
III IL mas done its work. And that is
the catastrophe of neglect.
NO man can be very wise or well.
equipped for life who is simple enough
10 suppose that our worst perils will
Always come ringing n bell to hcrals
their approach. No more can we talks
our ease and trust that II there is any.
thing very serious the matter with our
me our friends and those who love us
! VIII surely let us know of it, For the
hardest thing 10 get through anybody's
mead is realization of his worst fault
Inc lesser faults our friends will dare
TO speak of. as they sometimes do
ana we are quite happy to have gotten
on SO easily. We know that the things
they criticize are not fatal and NAV
easily be corrected. But the closest
friend Will hesitate before telling us
lhat We are degenerating. or that our
"hoie level Is lowered. or that we ara
Ear from being the men we used TO he
AL this we must find out mostly from
ourselves and with the help of God
Many wife has ever before her. night
ana uay' the sad realization that X Is
not thls or that, but the whole spirit
ana inmost life of her husband. that
is deteriorating. She breads the out
look, but she dares not speak. Doina
no definitely bad thing, the husband Is
neglecting the whole purpose of life AT
thousand points. Who can tell ia
that our tone is lowered. our spirit
changed. our ineness turned ia
.Oa-seness through remissness, no one
oi winch In itself seems serio,s
thing. but whose total means that we
nave become without knowing it DIFF.
ferent men? We must find out for our
III.
and remember that more crises I'm life
iaii 10 be met. and more tragedies oc-
cur. through neglect than through all
other forms OF wrong-doing put to
gether.
Wherein Failure Lies.
Ii Is not through lack of power tn
think up new things and make great
| strokes hot 90
often 1t Is through simple WEAKNESS of
doing over and over as long as we live
the very things that have most ac-
counted for any success we have ever
had. Worship ceases from a mans life
because everything seems to be going
well and there is no trouble or disas
ter imminent. IL some catastrophe
bad fallen uron him or his surround
ings he would return to his worship.
IL Is one CT the must subtle catas-
trophies wnen man comes to feel like
that. Little by little, with clear sky
and no clouds threatening. he does not
realize the slump and settling that is
taking place in his whole life. He
offers no affGQpt 10 his Maker. but he
neglects hing One thing and another
may seem to go go ohs5ust as well IN
his life, but his whole situation has
changed without his knowing IL. For
a long time It will seem as II nothing
had happened. With a general feeling
OF wishing well TO his home or his
children, and Just because they are al
ways there and the surroundings OF
the home seem so fair that no particu
| lar pains or effort seem to be called
for, he does not suspect the extent OF
his neglect or how silently cords are
swapping between him and the Nbest
life of his dear ones. Out OF such Nsit.
uations come more domestic tragedies.
than come from anywhere else. Oh
when everything seems all right
could just make vivid to ours
| what 1t was that made them a.
in the first place, and do so
Of just those things But =
| II with most of us things
wrong before we will DE-
things that would insI
ued rightness II thG
down, we will do
| little attention " =.
at this point whic
hour or a half d.
point where harJ
happening by q
these things
we're somet
but we w
great u
ven