The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1916-09-28
THE LITTLE VOYAGE

From the Indianapolis News.
! OF course | had heard preachers and
Vators speak of life as a voyage, but
! living all my days in an inland town,
rhere the ouly water with which l am
| N speaking terms is sluggish little
:reek. zigzagging it's way to the river.
! his particular figure of speech never ap-
oeaed to me- | did like the sound of the
{ word voyage, however. and l had always
/ onged tor the sight of big waters. so even
tiny one-day voyage was big event
! It was down at the docks. when the boat
| .are in. that l had a sudden memory Of
hat old picture From Shore to Shore"
which many of US knew and loved in our
childhood, and determined to see II
there was any likeness between life and
= little voyage. Perhaps even its brew
ity would make it ali the more like LIES
little day.
Well. like life, the beginning of the voy-
age was under strange conditions, among
strange people and strange scenes The
! lay itself was like life, with it's mixture
IF sunshine and clouds. The path up the
shining waters was like life. sometimes
( smooth, sometimes ruffled. but like that
II my own individual life so far, with no
great storms nor overwhelming waves.
The people We're like ife--laughng, chat
tering groups and sad faced silent ones.
| There was much for all, gay music, and
music that brought tears to the eyes. The
morning was long and delightful-but
came at last to the turning point, when
we knew that our voyage was half over.
| How we dread it in lite-the time when
we know we are on the home stretch
but why? The last half of the journey
may be even sweeter and more beautiful
than the first We have grown accus
reconciled to the people who must share
It with us: There are stu ioyely scenes
afternoon-the sunset,
We know at sunset why we needed both
clouds and sunshine through the day. Oh
it was so wonderful-that sunset! Away
out there on the water the king of the
day knew that he had the center Of the
stage, and he meant to let us know what
he could really do in the line of setting
At first, he sank lower and lower, in
dignfied manner befittng a king, then
suddenly growing mischievous, he dropped
the water you couldn't tell where clouds
LETT off and water began. He got busy
with his paint brush and palette as soon
as he was out of sight, First, he used
a brilliant gold, edgng the great blue
cloud so deity and swiftly that we never
knew when it all happened Then he put
blue and goid, and gold trimmings on al
the tleecy little clouds that went flittna
across his canvas. Then, growing .prodi
gal with his coloring matter, as if fear.
full that, like our tickets, it might be good
for one day. only, he threw out great
bands of pale pink and pale blue across
the Sky, and a deeper band of rose be.
tween the blue cloud and the water line,
Suddenly he flashed out between these
two bands of wonderful co,cring, then, az
If fearful OF applause, he dropped quietly
out of sight. He needn't have been afraid
for the people who loved him and his
wonderful painting did not want to spoil
it al! with noisy applause. So many in
that throng had missed all the glory Of
It, And that was like life, too
1t did seem for q little time after the
sunset that there was nothing more to it.
that the rest of the little voyage would
take, just like dreading the turning point
for after the dusk crept there were this