The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1916-06-29
The Value of Things


first cousins. If give you present which
costs me nothing in time or effort or personal
sacrifice, the gift is valueless. For the cause
whatever it is-that the man puts closest
to his soul he will give himself. The dia-
monds of Kimberly have price determined
by the difficulty it is to dig them out of the
blue earth and by the monopoly that re-
leases few of them at time to the open
market. The pearls from the East Indies
command princes ransom when arranged
in perfectly graduated chain, because they
have been winnowed from the toll of thou
sands of dark-brow men cropping in the dim
sea-depths and holding their breath to get
them.
There is checkbook representation, and
there is personal representation, and man
might empty the mines of Golconda on an
object of charity and still it would need men
to minister to the aided need. We may be
penny-wise or pound-foolish in our giving
and still we have not done away with the
INV eA'AA6 ~ 10 W ~ OURSELVES oAo ~ give
ourselves as the best and most precious be-
stowal of all.
Let us cease to give away the things we
do not want, or, rather, after we have given
away these things, let us be little reckless
and give away something that we care to
keep. If "high heaven rejects the lore of
nicely calculated less or more, high heaven,
presumably does not care to have its affairs
piled high with rummage-sale of the votive
offerings that are merely what we have dis
carded as superfuous. 1t is no compliment
to heaven to immediate what we do not care
to keep.
That is where the poor are often wonder
full. They give till the shoe (if they have
shoe) pinches. The rich man trims little
off the edge of his fortune as cook might
trim scraps from the edge of pie, but he does
not stint himself. The poor man, who has
next to nothing, shares with him whose
bookkeeping knows only minus quantities.
1t sometimes hurts to see the way the
generous strive to atone for the non-giving
of the ungenerous; even little girl may give
in and give up too much to some spoiled
tryant of the nursery, a boisterous, domi-
neering brother. Fair play has to step in
and prevent a rank imposition. We all
know people, big and little, who would give
till there is no more to give. They need to
be protected from their own warm hearts.
cit is a shame to take the money! and
there are always plausibly friendly panhand-
lers standing ready or lurking in ambush to
fleece them, for they are as easy prey as the
lambs led to the slaughter.
Such as these need no reassertion of the
doctrine of the preciousness of the gift of
SELF We make boast of mans many in
ventions of machinery, but no machine has
yet evicted man from his necessary place as
the inventor. Plan any enterprise you please.
ask any question, and the first step is to Sc
cure the man for the place or the answer.
Out of few ounces of brain matter must
come bridge, railway, tunnel, war,
book, Kingdom
A mans value far exceeds that of the
things he possesses, even when to himself he
seems worthless. He is worth more than all
his hand can grasp or his eye can reach.
There is no patentable substitute for him,
simply because he is the vehicle and the
protector of soul, whether he ever pirates
of it or not. The soul is not merely a vague,
impalpable essence which provides the re-
captivity for inspirational experience and
religious exercises. 1t is more than reason
to go to church, M ore than candidacy for
Paradise. Since ''things never yet created
things" there is no comparison between
the value of man with a soul and soulless
things.-Exchange.