Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1912-01-25
THE PATHWAY OF FIRE.
Rev. C. H. Ricketts, Gives Eleventh
Talk in Series at MeCrum Howell
Plant.

At the McCrum- Howell rOundry on
Wednesday at noon Rev G. H. Rick
etts was the speaker in the eleventh
Of the series of shop talks given under
the auspices of the Y. NJ. c. A. His
subject was The Pathway of Fire.
Two solos were acceptably rendered by
Mrs. William g. Haselden.
Rev. Mr.. Ricketts, outlined in the
opening of his talk how steel comes
to it's throne from the iron ore
through q pathway of steel, applying
this lesson to life.
From crude iron to steel, or, along
the pathway Of fire is every mans ex-
perience who makes good. Men, when
you first came to work in this foun~
dry you came as crude iron. You
were the raw product just as it was
dug out of the earth. You were full
Of impeTfections that had to be dis
posed of before you could become the
skilled workman. You were tried "as
by fire" A treatment less heroic
would not have given you steel fibre.
Show me man who just floats
through life on pleasure barge, and
l will show you nonentity. No man
in his senses invites the pathway of
fire; If he did it would fail as an edu-
cation and a discipline. If we were
guided merely by our feelings we
would never have a twinge Of rheu-
matism or a sick heart. We would
never have any obstacles, any cares,
not single tria1-ours would simply
be "the fowery beds Of ease"
It may be that dollhouse plants
thrive in such an atmosphere; the
warm sunshine matches out the spawn
of the mollusk. But white oaks and
red blooded men are not made that
way. They have to endure hard
ness" and that very hardness is their
salvation. If the white oak was not
called upon to fight for its life, If it
was not compelled to pass, as it were,
through the pathway of fire, it would
not pass the century mark.
The world has not yet made "a
burning fiery furnace hot enough to
hurt real man. Real men are some
times severely tried, as when they
meet with accident, or as death comes
into their home, or as they lose their
job, or as they are n1isrepresented and
treated unjustly. And yet If they are
real men the iron atoms of their blood
will come to the surface and show
that trial has given them a steel fibre
1t is sometimes said that man
makes hell of his surroundings. II
may be the home or the workshop, or
any other place in which he shows ont
the very worst there is in him. This
is making pathway of fire for some
body else, because of bad habits or d
bad disposition, and is quite distinct
from the hard and fiery road that
every man has to travel himself from
| the crude iron ore that Is In him al
| the start to the refined steel that is in
| him at the finish. I can imagine thu:
the very mistakes that a man makes
| in this business at the beginnang must
make it hot for him. There will he
! times when the very too Is d man
works with seem to be possessed with
an evil spirit; times when the sand 4nl
| iron and limestone and machid5ry
seem to be off color; times whal the
very IRE in the oupoIa seems to halii
| on its job; times when the cores. chap
| let's. nloldS and various adjustments
seem bent on doing the wrong thlig:
| times when If you followed your feel.
| ings you would DE in bed rather than
| at work when the fewer In your blood
| seemed to be Of about the SAM tenn
| perature as the molten ore. Now
| these are mighty hard things to bear
| but they make men. II is the pash
| way of fire that ali msn wd0 are oab
their job must go throC7h. n ,'inns
| but fire can change the raw iron in
| got into the finished steel product.
. But workers In a foundry are not
| the only mon who have t, tread thu
| fiery pathway. 1t Is q road that ne
| real man can escape. 1t has been Or
/ daiaed that a man shall pa the fnt
! price of his advancement in life. The
| sweat Il his brow isn't eE IA.
+, full price is himself. 1t Is true 5f 81
! the trades and professions.
! Whatever a mans occupation, ne Il
/ apt to feel that some other would b
! less arduous. The fact is there are M
| soft snaps in this life for real men; il
| there were many of the real met
would soon disappear. I have somt
! times thought would rather be Z
| lawyer than q minister, but they dt
| sometimes roast lawyers as we'll a.
! ministers and school teachers. Ever
! Common e0uEleilRen do not always
have smooth sailing. You viii fad thi.
| to be trHe all along the line from Goa
heaving to statecraft,
Men, there is just one thing NOR,
that / want to commend to your no
tice, and that it when the Three Wor,
thiss wa&s cast iEts the iharaiRg. .hsF.