The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1915-09-23
THE RELATION OF
HOPE TO SANITY
As Long as There is Sanity There is Hope
or Faith Which Terms are Synonymous
to Life---Sanity and the Will to Ever
Strive on.
By Vamce---in the Mentor.

To those deprived for a time
from the, physical freedom that is
supposed to be accorded the ones
who have not been adjudged guilty
of violation of said freedom, this ar
ticle is particularly addressed.
Let us see if we cannot get to-
gether on a true understanding of
what this small word really means:
it has only four letters, but when
combined what potency they have.
Many times the writer has won-
dered why faith and hope are used
separately, as tho faith had one
meaning and hope another. If you
think of the meaning of each you
will probably arrive at the conclu-
sion that faith is hope and hope is
faith, and when you reach that con-
clusion you will have gone some
distance on the road of knowledge
as to the real force of each seperate-
ly.
Opening these remarks. mention
was made of the deprivation of ply
sical freedom deplored by the one
addressed, and intentional empha-
sis was placed on the adjective ply
sical. primarily to call attention 10
the fact that mental freedom cannot
be restrained, and, because of this
no curtailment of hope is possible.
Is there some scoffer who doubts
the actual truth of those six words?
Maybe he may say so, but if he ex-
amines himself inwardly and hon.
estly, he must arrive at the same
conclusion it for granted
that he has reasonable ability.
No human living can absolutely
abandon hope and retain his sanity!
A sweeping assertion, and one to be
questioned, you may say. Very
we'll; let us prove it.
Many times in your solitude you
have placed yourself. your life, your
position. in array; you have swept
away all the false coatings that are
donned for personal aud public dis
guisings; you have come down to
hard pan; you have seen yourself as
only you can be seen by human
eye-mentally naked. You are
mentally shocked; the horror of the
glaring self, unadorned by any
frills, makes you mentally sick.
What are you? Nothing but a sell
fish fraud!
As you continue the examination
you 60 lower and lower until you have
reached the depths of human retro
spection. You stand, mentally, on
the edge of black, bottomless a.
byss: one step more and the hell Of
despair being reached, sanity would
flee and hope be blotted out. But
what does occur is soft gray light
that broadens slowly, and from its
inception rises sun of hope that
gradually expels the clouds of near
despair. You take heart of grace;
you accept the hope of the future
held out by the unseen but Almigh-
ty hand, and again. faith in your
power to rehabilitate your past, hope
that was almost submerged, takes
possession of your being.
Have you ever fingered by the
bedside of one dear to you, whose
life has been given up by the best
medical authority you could obtain?
Because the doctor has passed his
verdict, has your hope gone, even
when the dread visitor has arrived,
although your faculties for time
may be numbered? Later, just so
sure as you live and breathe, comes
a soft wave of hope, that some day,
some time, you will see your loved
one again.
When sentence has been passed
upon you and you enter prison with
a stretch of years before you, per-
haps there has been no time limit