Norwich bulletin., 1914-08-15
SUNDAY MORNING TALK
REMEMBER THE stDINes.

A siding. as most of us know. is a short piece of track beside the main line onto which trains may be switched in times of congestion. Both express and accommodation trains may be run on a track that has plenty of sidings. Trains may even pass each other in op- posite directions if there are turnouts a-plenty-and engineers remember to use them- It is when they forget the sidings that the trouble begins.
 Life would proceed far more happily Tor thousands if we remembered that there are sidings also to be used in the social intercourse of men. We are often called to wait bit on the turn out It is because we so often forget, or scorn to do so that collisions and wrecks occur.
 We are surrounded every day by peo- pie of various temperaments. of strong ly individual traits, and of purposes that may often run counter to our own It is the easiest thing in the world to stir up dissension and strife, to find ourselves at loggerheads with people about us. There are those all about who keep in sort of perpetual dead lock with their neighbors because they have never learned to take the sidings of life.
 One of the sidings is named Toler- ance. We should be willing to give the other fellow a chance to think his own lnOAShlS. It IlOI HSC6SSdIY 10 meeL the opinionated man with a bigotry equal to his own. When his opinion and yours are evidently coming to- gether in a hopeless clash, do not feel that you are in duty bound to fight the matter out to a finish. Allow him the enjoyment of his own opinion while you hold courteeusly to your own He may be partly right. any way. Act in gracious and gentle manly spirit of tolerance. Commend him for his sincerity and refuse to be led into acrimonious debate. In the interest of peace take the siding that, on life'S narrow track you and your
 brother may pass safely and part as friends.
 Tact. likewise, is a siding onto which the life train should often be switched. There is the hammer-and-tongs method of getting things done. If you are going at anything, go at it hard" is | familiar counsel. with it's evident truth and importance. But let us not go at even what is good so hard as to defeat our own righteous purpose. Be willing
 to study different personalities and try | to understand them Each life has its
 right and its wrong handle. Pull the right one
 | It was said of a certain energetic reformer that he would use a trip hammer to kill a fly on mamma's nose" Surely the fly might have been I Accuse no man of being a moral side- stopper who pauses in order to under stand the evil situation he is trying tc
 correct. Intelligence and tactfu methods or handling have led to the correction of abuses and to the reform | of individuals when even bullets and | clubs have failed. Be sure that more | lives have been loved than have beer
 licked into the kingdom of righteous. ness
 There is another siding onto which | many need to switch the life train fre- | quently and it is named Patience. The | vigorous capable, ell-endowed people
 should remember this little piece oi | spur track when in contact with the
 strugglers and the incompetents with | whom the roads of the world are fair ly crowded Because my clumsy, shift ing engine only puffs and crawls alons is no reason why it should be showed into the ditch by the flyer. Better provisioned engineers should rathel pause a moment beside me to share their fuel and water.
 The dull lad in school, the mer- chants trying clerk, the pastors dis appointing church member-aIl tht
 host who are making slow and heav,
 work of the journey, these have claim on those of you who could sruI express if you would, clearing tn, track of all obstructions. Character il tested by ones conduct toward tn, weak. In his disposition toward pa tient forbearance with the faults o
 those about him is the Christian mar to be known
 It is when We begin to exercise tol
 erance and tact and patience towarS
 our fellows that we begin to appreciate
 the boundless patience of God towart
 us sall. Let us reflect that under an,
 strict accounting out own lives yer.
 likely are not paying decent interest ol the investment, about the cost of main
 tenance and repairs. And yet tn heavenly Manager keeps us in service In honest moods one feels as tn
 PSalmist felt when he exclaimed, 'Th, gentleness hath made me great" THE PARSn>I