The Tupelo journal., 1918-01-18
MEETING MISFOR-
TUNE HALF. WAY.

my. NOCnlng dOeS US more Hdrm anu
nothing receives from us more cor
dial invitations to "come in and make
yourself at home"
Most Of us act, as we journey
through life, as though we had al
ways to take with us a weekend bag
packed chuck full of worry. And it
really is not at all necessary to go
along from day to day carrying with
US a stated number of things to wor-
ry about-for we will keep meeting
plenty of new worries to pick up and
take with us.
What possible value has worry? 1t
does not impel to action. When you
sit and agitate yourself about the
terrible things that may be going to
happen, you are not even remotely
planning to try to stop them from
happening; you r just sitting and
waiting for a miracle to come along
and fix things up. l know, for have
kbeen through it!
Once upon a time I was sitting in
a doctors Office waiting for an ex-
animation of a very serious sort.
With me was some one l loved. We
sat and waited for an hour. Each
Of us was suffering agonies. Each
of us was letting her mind go off on
ugly little tours into the ugly big pos
sibilities of the situation. We were
waiting to be told the grim truth.
And we used up most Of that hour
suffering in advance of the facts, i'm
agining the most dreaful possibilities
of sickness, operations-even death!
Suddenly l picked up a book and
began futtering over it's leaves. l
simply felt the W necessity to
do something. l was hardly looking
at the pages, but presently my eyes
were caught by a sentence Confucius
wrote centuries ago. Here it is:
"The legs Of the duck are short;
the legs of the stork r long. You
cannot make the legs of the duck
long; neither can you make the legs
of the stork short. Why worry?"
In that quotation lies all the wis
dom of all the ages / should like to
take as a topic for one of our little
talks about once a month. We all
need it so very badly.
Surely we know that a man cannot
by taking thought add a cubit to his
stature. Neither the things we de-
sire nor the things we fear can be
affected by thought that never trans
lates itself into action. Fear m
times attracts the very evil we seek
to avoid. BY putting ourselves into
a receptive attitude toward sickness
and calamity we seem almost to at
tract them-to weaken III powers
Of resistance. By believing in our
ability to overcome evil and then de-
liberately setting about proving that
ability, we can accomplish a great
deal.
lCC IlC QAOIC soo III VI 1ANSOP
fables. 1t is called Hercules and the
Wagner.
AS a wagner was driving his vain
through a miry lane, the wheels stuck
fast in the clay, and the horses
could get on no farther. The man
dropped on his knees and began cry
ing and praying to Hercules with all
his might to come and help him.
"Lazy fellow" said Hercules, ''get
up and stir yourself. Whip your
horses stoutly, and put your shout
der to the wheel. If you want my
help then, you shall have it,"
People who worry are just one de-
gree worse than the wagner. They
see the mud and the mire in which
the wheels of their chariots may pre-
sently stick fast. They ven imagine
that down the urn of a smooth road
there may be a stretch of miry clay.
And they begin agitating themselves
over the difficulties that may lie
ahead beyond the present smooth
stretches Of road.
1t doesn't pay to worry. 1t wears
you out. If calamity comes you
have used yourself up anticipating 1t
and are not fit to meet it. Don't I'M
agine a possible dangerous situation
that lies ahead of you. When you are
in a bad sit %lation, don't figure out for
yourself ali it's ugly possibilities. II
you have a cold, don't think yourself
ahead into bronchitis, pneumonia and
a life of invalidism. Why turn your
self into a reception committee for
all the evil roaming around j n the
world waiting for a welcome? Why
attract harm by expecting it?
You cannot change the inevitable.
That you believe if you are a fatal
A~ A