Norwich bulletin., 1915-03-27
Sunday Morning Talk
THE LINE OF LEAST RESISTANCE.

Physical nature and human nature are much alike in their quest of the line of least resistance Water runs down hill because it follows the easi est way, and men do likewise. There is something in US that craves soft .. ness and ease. Four ffths of the in- ventions of the age are designed to save us from exertion. It is the era of the automobile with rubber tires and deep cushions. And now the muscle to start, stop, or light his car It can all be done by turning a switch or pressing a button.
 To do a thing in the easiest way may mean to do it in the worst way How often the easiest way represents work that must be pulled out and morals, moreover, may prove in the end the hardest way. One who always follows his natural impulses is, likely to land in the penitentiary. Most thing that was easiest. They con tinue to go down because that is the path of least resistance. And 1t is g. slippery slide for fair. To borrow some of the ancient wisdom of Josh Billings: When a fe!ler gifts goin thing had bin greased for the oka- Shun."
 Man has it over nature in that he can beat the downward pull of gravi- ty. Water must go down hill, but man need not. It isn't necessary for him to do the easiest thing. Billy Sunday tells how, on g. Sunday after noon long ago, he left his baseball mates sitting on curbstone in Chi cago and followed some Salvationists down to the Pacific Garden Mission To pull away from that crowd, some of them jeering at him, was not the easiest, but the hardest thing to do. It took a lot of grit, If he had fol- stayed with the sbunch" we should never have heard of him.
 Business men sometimes choose the lino of least resistance. They adopt short cuts to success. They scheme to arrive quick and without the stfug kEow. Often indeed their rneteoric careers are interrupted by the police but not always. Sometimes they "get by." But always they forfeit the real rewards of hfe-a clear con- science. the joy of honest achieve ment.
 There are boys and girls in school who choose the line of least resist ance. They slide through on some one else's work, copying answers from translations from the ''trots" in which someone else has done Latin into English for the benefit of lazy stu dents. It is the easiest way. The pupil may get ay/diploma, but he loses the only thing he went to school for training in attention, judgment, and diligence.
 We need not envy one who has O. smooth and easy time.' One "born with a silver spoon in his mouth" must take care. The spoon may choke him later on. The rich and pampered people are under the great est temptation to make pure waste of their faculties. They may simply veg etate, or spend all their years in vapid amusements or aimless travel. Only exceptionally strong personali- ties can still amount to something after having been born to ease and luxury.
 It is the live fish that swim up- stream. Some of the greatest souls have found life the toughest struggle It is written "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree Of life" It is the reward of heroisn.
 The hero is not fed on sweets Daily his own heart he eats
 Chambers of the great are jaiiS
 And head-winds right for royal sails.
 THE .PARSON.