Newark post., 1914-04-08

delights. Our work ought to be
such expression, and when it is not
it ought to be very short day Of
work; for it grinds. If We cannot
make it 80. We should develop our
minds the more and struggle hard
er and more wisely to get where We
can work as our heart demands.
For all good work, on tasks We
really love, is joy. Expression is
the compensation for the hardships
Of life.
Over the way lives Jane Gray. In
spite Of her many years she has all
the tenderness and mental and spir-
itual strength Of youth. She went
to the farmhouse when she was II
and she was OverwOrked, but she
always made the most Of each op-
portunity and she gained wisdom
as well as. information. At twenty
she married son Of the woman
who took her as an orphan and a
few years later she was a widow
with four small children. farm
worth no more than the mortgage
and load Of debts. She did not
marry and she did pay those debts
and support herself and family.
Denied many pleasures, she stud
led the birds, learned to know them
and their ways, and now, in the
winter time, and especially when
storms come, the birds flock to her
and ! have seen her standing in the
back yard Of her home feeding them
doughnuts and nut meats as she
would 80 many chickens. Some
times they fly 10 her shoulder and
often her porch and the shrubbery
is covered with feathered pension
ers not the English sparrows, but
the native birds, pleading for the
grain and other food they like best,
and for which they never ask in
vain. These birds are not trustful
with others, but they seem to know
that this woman, who has gently
befriended them for more than ff-
ty years, will not betray them now.
She knows the plants, too, and the
wild flowers, and they grow well
under her hands. All the neigh
bOrs children like her, all the poor
and troubled come to her for wise
counsel, for she takes the trouble
to think for those who are not skill
ed in thinking for themselves. She
has written for the papers when
she felt inclined to do it; little ma
ture notes, and short poems with an
unambitious sweetness that made
them charming. She knows all the
movements for betterment; suf-
frage and others, though she has
not been able to leave her little
group about her fire and attend to
such interests. For her the seasons
are never dull; the woods never
without comfortings, the people
never too foolish for her interest to
be given them. She has art and art
expression; in care for the garden
Of flowers, in the appreciation Of
natural beauty around her, in the
making Of the lives Of others more
refined, more just and more happy.
The professional men, the women
Of ideals and Of the highest book
education, find her an equal and
other more than an equal, in her
understanding Of life and nature.
She knows the hills as a friend the
children as one to whom love gives
insight, and she has not lacked
either mental or spiritual bread. In
her, intelligence and love have unit
ed to bring expression, satisfaction,
faith and beauty Of days. She has
overcome her world and made it
minister to her daily needs. She
has laid hold on an eternal quality
of life, for she has made life in
plant and bird and humanity her
care, her study and her grateful |
friend.
Such appeals to nature as this
woman made are not uncommon
and the people about me might |
often profit more by making them. |
know couple who have seen much |,
Of wealth, Of paintings, opera and
sculpture. They have educated
in art by the help of
these things, but they care less for
them now; instead they take pains
to see the morning unroll her can
vases Of dawn; with a thousand
square miles Of background and the