The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1918-02-26
THE PETTY TASKS OF LIFE

thing to do. If only had time 10
read or to write books"
But life itself is one great DOCK
one great story-and we are all each
day turning its leaves. After AL we
would get tired of reading only cold'
printed pages. The world IS the
great book of life, and the people anu
the things we meet are its pages
Every detail, even the changing
tasks, become fascinating When we
think of them as our tale OF NE
which we are telling day by day Inc
variety of our acts is our safety, even
if most of us spend our years in turn
ing small pages.
What kind of tale is my life to be
when all is told?
A great French critic, Sainte-BeuVe
(1SO4-69), gives a suggestive hint !
have arrived" he says, "at a deeper
feeling of the principle that what
ever | do or do not, working in the
study at continuous labor, scattering
myself in articles, spreading about
in society, giving my time away TO
troublesome callers, to poor people
in the street, no matter to whom or
to what, cease not to do one ana
the same thing, to read one and the
same book, the infinite book of the
world and of life, that no one ever
! finishes. in which the wisest read
: farthest. ! read it then at all the
pages which present themselves, in
broken fragments, backward, what
e matters it? | never cease going on
g The greater the medley, the more
It frequent the interruption, the more
/ get on with this book, in which one
e is never beyond the middle but the
q profit is to have had it open before
q one at all sort of different pages"
The wayside has its wonders il
y" plants and flowers. "Tree unto tret
IL is uttering speech. and flower unit
. flower is showing knowledge" Will
% pursuing the study of medicine in tn
= Office of a country doctor, Asa Ora
a. 1S10-8S), son of tanner in coun
try town of New York, laid the foun
lg dation that made him Americas fore
r most botanist. One day he chance
e, to read the article on Botany i
is Brewster's Edinburgh Encyclopedia
re "a poor thing, no doubt" he says {
it in his autobiography, "but it int
es ested me much" He bought a cor
ne of Eaton's Manual of Botany, an
ca pored over its pages assiduousl
OF This was in mid-winter when he ha
to not access to a greenhouse or to eve
ng single potted plant. In his rid,
RS over the country visiting patient
he had an opportunity later for CO
lecting, of which he made the mos
ng This was the beginning Then can
he correspondence with botanists al
IT, personal acquaintance with then
I'D ultimately love of science absorb,
IL the earlier profession then follow,
host Of contributions to hum;
he knowledge; and when his herbariu
OF and library were transferred to Ha
IA ward university for safe keeping Il
Ter former contained at least 1000
on specimens, and the latter about 2,5
it works.
at Prof. Samuel Lee (1S37-1S52),
MS Cambridge university, originally
pm pupil in charity school, was cons
ed cred dull boy. From school he W
his put to work as a carpenters appre
,ed tice. One day a book containing Ii
in quotations fell into his hands.
tut aroused an interest in him to lea
'p- Latin. He continued his studies a
re- finally secured a position to teach
er- charity school. He died a profe
sor in one Of the greatest unversitl
of the earth, and was noted as O
uit of the most remarkable Orien
scholars Of his times.
255 Success or usefulness in life dc
not depend upon mans chances. /
ulf upon the man himself. A chance
est life is not fat pocketbook fou
255 in the street; on the contrary it
something to be taken in hand. ST,
'ity led, worked over and developed
.45, personal effort Let the young re;
For er of this take to heart an inscripti
6OS on the monument to Horace Ma
ok, "Be ashamed to die until YOU ha
254 achieved some victory for humanit