Omaha daily bee., 1915-07-21
The Fight that
Never Fails
BY BEATRICE FAIRFAX.

A very pathetic letter has come to me
from one of those poor women made out
cast by the cruelty of what she mistook
for love- At twenty-four she finds life
almost hopeless, and her one longing for
a child OF her own seems to her to be
dream that may never be realized. All
her yearning today is for goodness, for
conventionality and for the Joy home.
Pathetically and almost hopelessly she
asks me II think they can ever be hers.
believe firmly that God is love, and
that In His infinite wisdom He forgives
any of his children who have strayed
from the path, and that He builds no
walls about it against those who seek
it again.
We humans are not so kind to one
another--we are not 30 merciful TO our
brothers and sisters as Ia the Father of
us all. When you consider the simple
facts of family life this will seem
natural enough. In your own youth
when your brothers and sisters offended
you, or by their actions disgraced you in
the eyes Of others, did you not find 1t
hard enough to forgive them?
But think of the infinite mercy in your
own fathers heart. He may have pun
ished because he felt the necessity of
disciplining-but he forgave again and
again. Can any OF us conceive of an
almighty father less merciful than a
human parent we have known?
For the little child who has strayed
from the path of righteousness punish
ment generally takes the form of human
ostracism. The woman who has not held
her heritage OF womanhood sacred has
failed in very beautiful trust. And
the price she pays is tremendous. But,
after all. think the heaviest part OF her
debt is her own knowledge Of failure.
To the girl who wrote me the very sad
letter asking for message Of hope I
offer this honest conviction. May It
buoy her up! Her salvation and happi-
ness are absolutely in her own hands. II
she turns from the by-paths OF life back
to the honest road of clean living and
pure thinking II she sacrifices ignoble
friends and dishonest comforts, and
works Loyalty and staunchly for ever so
small a wage and with ever so little
JOY, she will win back in the end to the
land of self-respect
No matter what fails you, II you have
right TO feel that you are honest and
decent and straight and clean. in that
there Is a measure of happiness. Fight
ing back isn't easy, but It means winning
again your own self-esteem-and through
that the respect OF others. A victory in
| the face OF odds is a big thing.
woman who will give up luxury and
spurious love and sham friends. and
actually so 20 scrubbing floors. will win
her way back to feeling Of the Joy
that comes to all those who dare face
the world across the shield OF honest
labor.
Loneliness may come for a time, but
in the end the strength that could fight
must turn into the simple honesty and
upTightness that win respect. II needs a
big. sturdy-souled man to take as his
wife a woman who has strayed from tht
path OF her best ideals. But n she fights
back to them again, a man OF kindly sou
will admire her for her victory ovel
almost desperate odds. And II she 4
honest about her struggle and modest
about the victory over past blundering
he may still give her the proud title o
good woman"
II Is worth the fight. In the victor
itself lies Joy. and II greater Joy comel
Il will be reyerently appreciated. Will,
IL IL does not come there Is stlli tn,
glorious victory over self to make M,
worth the living.