Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1911-01-28
SATURDAY NIGHT
M 2SERMoNS
,W-A@ BY
p REvSAMUEL
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DO THEY GONE BACK7"


A new term has come into our Won
derful American phraseology, already
rich with expressions from the ''dia.
uond," the "gridirOn' and the turf
Now from the squared circle comes
another, a so called Renoism. 1t is
stated positively, like an axiom in
geometry, that they don't come
back" That is, he-to quote a certain
famous colored lady-that brings
home the bacon" must be one who
hasn't had defeat or hasn't been too
long out of the game TO step out of
line, or worse, to be pushed out, marks
the beginning of the end. No rabbit $
foot talisman can ward off the inevi-
table hour. From that time 1.-THE paths
of glory" lead but to defeat.
Is 1t True?
Let's face the question brayely and
sensibly. After one has reached the
zenith of his powers and there comes
a reverse, more or less serious, can
he come back?" Physically seldom
or only for q time. For the fighter
the sprinter the ball player, the ath-
lete, the man who has had a break
down (his friends tell him vertigo,
the doctor says slight strokeD, the
woman with nervous proStration, its
a mighty SOLDERING thought-but you've
touched your limit. You've caught
sight of the day when you can't come
back" In that vague thing we call
success" can one come back after
defeat or failure? Yes, frequently.
Mark Twain did. And the business
world is full of men who went down
in defeat only to rise again to greater
heights. BIT, mind you, I'm an Opt
mist. Cold blooded statisticians say
rs per cent do not "come back" How
ever, % do. You may be among them.
In the moral world can one come
back?" Thank God, yes. Not al
ways into the society against which
they have sinned, but into regard
of right minded men and, most of
all, into their own self respect. 1t
Is old fashioned, it seems, to quote
while the lamp holds out to burn,
the vilest sinner may return but it is
an eternal truth.
Is Defeat Failure7
You cannot always measure man
by his defeats. You must know what
use he makes of them. The injured
oyster turns his wound into pearl.
The young Jew Disraeli sits down
amid bowls of deriSion at his maiden
speech in the house of commons. His
answer SC THE day will come when
you shall hear me'' Carlyle through
many weary years, in poverty and
pain, writes his first volume of The
French Revolution He lends the
priceless manuscript to Stuart Mill,
and Mills servant lights the fire with
it. In spite of his hardship and de-
spair again he wrote the masterpiece
of today. Milton is blind, Dante and
Hugo eXiles, Bunyan, Raleigh and Lu-
Their are in prison, Darwin and X. L..
Stevenson are invalids. Yes, but
they all made good; they came back,
Mr.. Preacher" True. But Robert f..
Lee didn't. He surrenders his sword
and the Army of Northern Virginia.
Yet north and south say he is greater
than if he had triumphed. Some men
fight and win; others fight just as
faithfully and lose. Many a splendid
success Is built upon Il heroic failure.
Up in the dungeon at Machaerus
there's a flash of steel in the shudder-
ing light, and John the Baptist has
failed-only to succeed. Sunset at
midday on Golgotha. \ mangled body
Is hustled into borrowed tomb, and
the Man of Nazareth lies among the
eternity.
The Dial of Ahaz.
Well, when we are all done here, will
there be another chance to come
back?'' Is there somewhere in the
spirit world where we have another
opportunity? Can we take up the task
sighted here? Will God turn back the
universe and give us yesterday? No
one seems to know. Its not so
nominated in the bond"-that is the
Bible. There's no encouraging word
from ''that undiscovered country from
whose bourne no traveller has ever re-
turned" Better not count on it, AS
tree falls SO shall it lie." Each new
morning is the surest chance to come
back" Sometimes your day may be
prolonged. Once upon a time an an
Glen. king named Hezekiah was sick,
about to die. Prayer was offered for
his recovery. In the courtyard, Wis
ible from his palace window, was the
town clock, a great dial, built by King
Ahaz years before. AS a sign of IA
vorable answer the shadow was to go
back ten degrees on the dial. At high
noon some supreme light shone from
the mercy seat, like that shone "above
the brightness of the sun" to Saul on
the way to Damascus, rose on the 9th
er side Of the dial of Ahaz, and Heze-
kiah had fifteen years added to his
life. Nevertheless the end came
eventually. But don't build on mir
acle, brother. Your day may be near
done. Morning, high sun, afternoon
shadows frightening, gloom of sun
down, twilight and evening star-and
after that, the dark. Yes, you may
"come back" after that bad accident,
"come back" after that fever, "the
shadow (may) return backward as
you sit convalescing on the porch, but
at the last you won't come back"
"Now" Is the day. Whatsoever thy
hand finSafh tO do do II with thy