Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1910-12-06

'Tis a consummation devoutly to be
wished" And if that consummation
were realized the pearly gates would
swing open more frequently and the
doors of earthly happiness would be
| forever ajar. But that must be a
diminutive soul that is incapable of
occupying more than one good place
The privileges of deserving men are
unrestricted. "The world is all be-
fore them where to choose and Provi-
dence their guide" In this infnity
of choice no man is yoked to unit.
His capacity is his only limitation.
My good christian brother, your posi-
tion is both pleasant and safe, but
couldn't you bear slight extension
and enjoy little variety? Widen
yo horizon. Enlarge your capacity.
Open your heart TO all the fullness of
joy that this life offers you. Dedicate
yourself to all good instead of con-
finilg your efforts to one. Then you
| oilClit dlSNONCI OlldU LllC IllOl dI UlllN
is a cooperative system, and that all
theSood things that are given us, if
rieas'y directed and intelligently
utilized, will conjoin for the real bet
terment of mankind. You may not
favor any particular fraternity, but
you can surely fill more than one sta
/ in Io xrnr1Afc opfiun ho
cause even the thirty-third degree of
goodness and usefulness is open to
everybody.
The filing OF our stations in life is
something like the parable of the
Talents. Each man is supplied ac-
cording to his ability and his wi ling
ness to work. His facilities are pro-
portioned to his powers Of accomplish
ment. There are some who constant
| ly discover and utilize new fields of
useful endeavor; others who labor
contentedly in the old fields and at
tempt no enlargement; still others
who merely occupy. These last are
fatal blunderers. They are mere
filters, moral loafers, goody-goody can
didates for angelhood, waiting for
the development of wings yet willing
to float into Paradise without futter-
ing a feather. There is no ''get
there" for such people. Their present
is nonentity, their future inanity.
To the true Mason, 'life is real,
life is earnest" Action is the prin-
cipal, love the impelling power,
humanity the object. Such an one
does not stop to worry about the es-
tablishment of his own good, because
he knows that all paths of good lead
up to the same objective. Yet he
keeps a firm hand on his lines of life.
He strives to give shape and direction
to circumstance. He draws. upon his
will-power to secure the advantage in
| his environment. The other day
found in a newspaper a little poem
in three stanzas entitled ''Closing the
Doors" The first lines of the STAN
zas are respectively as follows:-"I
have closed the door on Doubts" II
have closed the door on Fear" II
have closed the door on Gloom"
Most of us know our friends, but few
of us can, in the first analysis, recog-
nize our enemies. The latter come
in such questionable shape that we
sometimes fear to speak to them.
The greatest danger from our enemies
is that they are intangible. Like
Hamlets ghost they come without
premonition, and, unless our spir-
its are clean and strong and brave
enough to grasp and detain them,
they vanish without revealing their
identity or their purposes. But their
influence remains in the guise Of
Doubt and Fear and Gloom, and it
depends upon ourselves whether their
shadows shall continue to cloud our
Lives, or whether we siI2ll, through
the force of unconquerable will, dis
pei the darkness and let in the sun
light of joy and peace. We can shape
Jour present and fix our future. We
need not remain in doubt, or be
shaken by fear or enveloped in gloom.
The pure soul carries everywhere
perpetual sunshine, and its all per
vading light viii dispel the deepest
gloom. The vital test Of man is
how far is he master Of himself? II
he can answer that question, and
prove himself the victor, he has his
lines Of life well in hand and is abso-
lutte in his moral domain. Our be
loved order. like a pioneer in the
moral wilderness, has Dlazed the trail