The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1919-12-18
Giving and Forgiving Days Have
Come Again.

The following is taken from the
Crescent Masazlne puUusneu III the
interest or me Shrine. Inc article
IS wnOle meat and is worth any
man Ilme to read it. The spirit is
here, the truth is there, III TACT ev-
eryInIng that ought to be there is IN
thlS article:
The days OF giving and torglVlng
nave come again--days whose duties
a Skinner never shirks. And as 1t
is more blessed to give than to re-
ceive, so is it more blessed to forgive
than to be forgiven.
II somewhere in a neglected,
Weedy corner OF your heart is grow
ing up a rank, malicious crop OF
hate, get busy before the Christmas
holidays and kill it with little splr-
itual sort OF culture.
If you have spoken bitter words
since St. Nicholas was last here, and
thus have wounded some living crea-
ture, make amends this day, that, the
holiday season may find the broken
hearted happy, and your own friend
ships in repair.
II you have gossiped about your
neighbor, innocent though it may
have been, and have brought sorrow
to the circle of his home, hasten now
to proclaim your wrong and your re-
greet, that the yule-tiae fires may
burn brightly on your hearth, and
on his.
If in the year now drawing to a
one whose life is being measured
out to you in hopes and heart-beats,
go quick and make oath to the
wounded soul that so surely as the
sun shall rise again every promise
of the past shall bear golden fruit
in a forever full! of happy morroWs.
If you have lived only for self and
f4gotten h oheI do n an% tho peen
phan, the sick, the crippled, and the
Unemployed, know that in few sol
emn rounds of the seasons you may
be in sackcloth and they clothed in
beauty. So, make your peace with
Him who gave to the world angels,
and fairies, and music, and Christ
mas trees, and the laughter. of little
all good things forever and ever.
And if other have wronged you, sit
up nights to forgive them before the
old year in pathos joins the stately
procession of the past. For the best
gift of all is a pure. heart, which is
beyond all price, and can be had for
a wish if you make it yourself. What
if you have been misunderstood and
and those who did it shall be forgot
ten. Our solar system is but
the universe of creation, this
little world we live in but flake
of driven dust, and your enemy
but one of myriad millions of infin-
itesimal vermin that feed upon it.
Why waste immortal thought on
such a theme?
And if some have more earthly
goods than you, forgive them now for
that. Perhaps they inherited all
they have and are not themselves at
fault. But though they. own the
earth and have naught else besides,
still are they poor. Only he is rich
who can sit alone and unafraid with
friends long tried and true. He who
has roof for his head, q coat for
his back, and food for his body. with
a single shelf of books and a special
panel of friends, has more than mon
ey can ever buy. and all that morta!
really needs. If to this we add all
the wealth of the earth, his condition
little perchance for the worse.
Besides. wealth has its burdens while
in our possession. and leaves pangs
at it's parting. Oftimes it bids fare
well just as we have Injured ourselves
to the hardships it imposes. and have
burnt out all the thon"ht carponS
that illumined life before. There
fore, be not envious for time will adj
lust these relations. and your humble
lot may include riparian rights on
the river Of living waters.
If your heart is bowed down. and
voNr yoke seems hard and heavy: it
is largely because YOU have W19led ~
50. and your own thoughts have still
the magic power to make YOUR yoke
easv and your burden light.
The divinely appointed davs have
come for dscOrd to disarnear. and
for humble mankind to gather in the
clear ring house of the gods. tive 70
forgive and forget. and the while to
be forgiven
Put another vnle-log on the homo
hearth and let the iov-fires Of fond
affection burn as 1919 Joins the W.
nrme~ah'n caravan that has gone be-
fore it out into the homeless desert
of the unreturning years.