Norwich bulletin., 1915-02-27
Sunday Morning Talk
DRIFTWooD FIRES.

1tWGIEeFS on tlneWalef know the Fascination Of picking up driftwood. with pieces Of all sizes and shapes.
 The poor man may gather a. harvest without money and without price And is any fire quite equal 10 one made of these materials! One cay this winter the sea yielded q, piece of cedar spar.
 heavily coated with green paint and with a, stout iron ring bolt in it High upon the beach 1t lay after u voyage that no mortal man could guess.
 Split up and dried it burned nicely n the open grate. the copper paint giving off inc most beautiful shades of color as the flames licked 1t about We sat before the funeral pyTe of some noble ship that had yielded up it's life
 one knew not when or how The
 tragedy if such it had been, was at least ending in warmth and cheer Within an hour the spar was reduced
 to ashes. but there was one raTt that would not burn-the iron ring bolt
 That remained among the cnlbers as
 un1urt as on the day the builder sunk
 1t in the fragrant wood
 As for man himself, who would not
 wish his life to go out in such beauty
 and cheer as marked the end Of this
 old ships spar? Happy is one indeed if he may crown q, career of service by so graceful an exit, with the sorrow of the fnoUrneTs mingled with a solemn 1 joy that such 2. life has been. In that bit of ftCatsam W3s one iT~ reducible element, the ring bolt, that Wifhstood all the attacks of the flame
 upon it. The fact suggests a test that l IS to be applied 10 us all in the day when the fire shall try every mans work, Of what sort it is The great requirement is that there should then be son1e 1ething in us not capable of be- ing construed like dross. Nesrl5, every ! E--T~s fH-~w- judgment day. Whatsoever else that ultimate test may mean lt surely means real moral appraisal on the l basls of the values we have been put l ing into life day by day.
 Wordsworth speaks of
 That best portion Of 3 good mans life
 His little, nameless. unrememberad acts
 Of kindness and Of love,
 These surely endure when much else l Is forgotten. Some of the so-called big ] thlngs-wealtt accumulated, fame 1 achieved, power attaincd-theSe shall seem less than the cup of cold water ] given in the spirit of URseitshuess, The final adjustment of human lots 1 IS depicted in the Bible as being on th5 1 basis Of our humanity or our lack of lt Was 2. nun SeIeu and y Q gave ne meat; I was thirsty and ye gave me 1 drlnE; ] was a stranger and ye took l ms in. Inasmuch as ye have l done 1t unto one cf the least of these 1 my brethren, ye have done 1t unto 1 me The big success in life is made 1 not by riding rough shod over every l one else to some conspicuous position 1 but by generous lifting, by lending 2 hand, by helping lame dogs over l stiles
 If you should take their money, their
 appetites, their selfish ambitions away i from some mon there would be mighty 1 little left You would have little oI l nothing worth keeping, nothing of-val- l us in a normal universe These people 1 have nothing hreproof in their charac-
 ters.
 And nov abideth faith. hope love these three These are the unetang- ing values that cannot be lost in the sea or burned in the fire The world 1 paSseth away and the lust thereof. but he that dceih the will of God abideth forever"
 unafrald of the present or the future he Shall flourish in immortal youth Unhurt amidst the wars of elements Pha wreck of matter and the crush o1 worlds.
 ) IHE FARsoN.