Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1911-04-22
SUNDAY MORNING TALK
EMPTY LIVES ,

"Her life is altogether empty So |
spoke sympatheticalsy a, neighbor of |
a woman from whom in quick sue
cession had been taken three very dear
to her. an aged mother, an invalid
husband, and q little child, all of |
whom were dependent upon her and
to whom she minstered with the devo-
ton and constancy of which only
noble womanhood is capable. And
now with all three gone It did appear
ed house. there was little left for her
to do and nothing left Tor her to en-
joy
This is one kind Of an empty life,
but pitaable as it may .se,en, it is in
never been anything else but empty.
The woman just referred to had at
least the comfort of recalling the days
when her home. her hands and her
heart were full. But some, women and
some men have always led empty
lives. Nothing has been emptied out
Of them, because there was nothing in
them to empty They have existed
rather than lived. They have simply
scratched the surface of real life
Singularly enough those persons arc
to be found in two widely contrasted
spheres of activity. In remote coun-
try places whittier books and visitors
seldom ge, where the limitation of
poverty Is h0cAly ltll, We Thu 0Iuply
and vacant lives. But consider them
no more vacant or inane than certain
lives lived In the midst Of the city's
glare and excitement. the lives of the
butterflies of fashion, the people who
must have each day some fresh ex-
element, who dare not stop and think
about themselves or others, who are
absorbed in superficiahties and arti-
fatalities. They may not realize the
emptiness of their lives until some
| II l,o~ -
fortune comes, but they grow old
rapidly, owing to the swiftness of their
pace, and often before they reach mid
die life they themselves realize how
few are their inward resources, how
little they amount to, how unexpansi-
BILE they are, how easily spared from
the circle of their so-called friends.
But there is not much to choose be-
| tween the empty life of the ignorant
and narrow person In the country and
the empty life Of the giddy devotee of
fashionable society in the city
But empty lives of every sort need
not remain in that condition. They
can, if they will. open up four sources
of enrichment. One is the field of
! knowledge. Never was the world so
full of interesting and Instructive
books and periodicals.; never were
libraries so numerous or their custo-
dams SO anxious to make them SER
viceaible to the world; never were
some specially and prosecute it: his
tory, biography. ethics or economics.
Then there 10 the fascinating field
of ones own personality. You must
have some speciality, something that
you like to do ana can do fairly well.
some taste or talent which. il you will
but cultivate will yield you and your
friends much happineas and profit.
| You may have to utilize odd hours
and sacrifice some other things, but
| the cultivation of your speciality will
help fill lip your depleted life.
There is tho field of good will to
others. A healthy human interest is a
| great preventive of ennui. This does
position to gossip about ones neigh
! bors, but a hearty interest in folks
as folks, in individuals with whom
| you have to do day by day, or in
chance acquaintances by the way.
| When you really begin to care for
| people, to care for their growth in the
best things, then your own life is cor
respondingly enlarged.
| There is a room called reverence ia
/ everyone's heart. Some of us hard
/ ly know that it is there With others
the custom for years hos been to
| keep the room utterly closed but some
/ day open the door and explore a bit
| You will be sure to find influences and
| forces which if given the sunlight and
/ a chance to expand. will quicken your
whole being, make you more truly e
man, greater and broaden your life
and lift 1t into fellowship with its
/ maker When that happens, which is
the supreme event that can happen
empty life will have passed away for
THE PARsoN,