Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1920-09-23

brief respite breaks the time allotted
by the laborer to his vocation and when
refreshed In body, his mind counts the
work half done, and, with renewed energy.
he seeks to conquer the task in the re-
naming portion OF the day
Evening Is that period when "the lights
begin to twinkle from the rocks The
long day wanes The slow moon climbs:
The deep means round with many voices"
Nor should we forget that twilight
period between sunset and evening when
the days work is done and one dwells
upon the happy reflection Of progress
made and earned.
As in a reflective niood, we ponder over
the divisions of the day. we realize how
Ideally it is adapted to the purposes Of
the toiler, the thinker and the dreamer;
the toier appreciates the orderly division
of working hours: the thinker marvcls
at tho multiplicity and variety OF proos
lens presented and the dreamer In
apired by the WORD pictures Of the poet
and hone of the future, allows his farcy
to have full sway.
Life is combination Of days: brilliant
or dull, dependent upon me mental att,-
tude OF the person involved.
con life's vast ocean, diversoy we sail.
Reason the card, but passion is the gale"
Those Of you who have read Arnlel's
journal will recall his interesting defini-
tion OF life:
"Our life Is but a soap bubble hanging
from a reed; it is formed. expands to
its full size, clothes itself with the love-
lest coors Of the prism. and even escapes
at moments from the law of gravitation
but soon the black speck appears in it,
and the globe of emerald and gold van
ishes into space leaving behind II nothing
but single drop of turbid water. All
the poets have made this comparison, It
is so striking and so true. To appear. to
shine. to disappear, to he born. to suffer
and to die: is it not the whole sum of
life. for butterfly, for a nation for a
starr"
Amiers definition. as an example of
| word painting. may appeal to the aesthet-
/ ic mind but TO the calm tinker. would
there be satisfaction in life which Is
nothing more than "a soap bubble hang
| ing from a reed? Nations and stars
may appear and disappear. butterflies
may live their brief span and soap bubbles
be changed in moment to drops of tur-
bid water: each passing away to be sure,
! but in it's day and generation function
ing in It's own way in the great plan of
the universe.
: | would not have you entertain a view
of life tinged with peAsimism, such for
example as is set forth in William Cullen
Bryant's reflections upon The Perils of
Life when he furnishes to the pess'mist
the thought and the possible definition
| that "the life of man is state of con-
tinual vigilance against the warfare of
the elements" Rather would I fashion
! timistic in tone. life of strenuousness
tinged with a stoical calmness and with
reason as the basis or underlying motive.
a life, as the end of which one may say
as did Sir Richard Grenville:
( Here die |, Richard Grenvile, with a
joyous and quiet mind, for that I have
ended my life as true soldier ought to
do. fighting for his country, queen, re-
ligion and honor; life from which one
should pass without bodness and without
fear, from the struggles of inquiry to the
certainty of knowledge, from a world OF
doubt to a world of truth
How can we best perform the days
work so as to enable us to emerge from
the struggles of inquiry to the certainty
of knowledge?
How far winds the trail from the world
of doubt to the world Of knowledge?
monosyllabic. Anglo-SaXon words. are
fraught with meanings of many kinds
They may spell Joy or sorrow as de-
termned by Individual environment and
circumstances. II the laborer enjoys his
days work, his co-Workers experience the
same pleasure, and you have f. contentet
and prosperous industrial enterprise. The
professional man or woman each day
discovers some new situation or problem
or by new method or a different appll
cation of known principles. can better DC
the appointed task. 80 the days wort
thereby becomes a profitable page in hi
gr her lfe's work. And so in an analysis
OF the Individual preparation for the day!
work, the mental attitude of the worker
and the results attained are element;
that spell ll-success or failure when his
torans search the records for cause anc
effect. This morning ! wish to dwell 70
a Httle while upon some rules of conduc
which observation has led me to believ'
are of major importance In contributing
to a successful days work.
MUST SERVICE APPRENTICESHIP
Those of you whose good fortune 1t il
to have spent a few weeks in the wilds o
some forest, whittier you have been guild
ed by one whose peculiar vocation ha
made him proficient In woodcraft an
Natures sign language have marvelle'
at first at the almost uncanny precision
with which your guide has led you from
lake to lake, and from point to point II
the unblaZed forest.
Frequent trips, however. have acquaint
ed you somewhat with his methods an
you come to have more confidence in hi
judgment and to believe more impicitl
{ In his conclusions as to the direction
/. pursued.
0 The navigator, likewise, guides his shi
into the harbor by ways mysterious t
0 the novice. but to those acquainted wit
the heavens and certain landmarks hi
methods are as unerrnS as the rotatio
of the earth on its own axis. The stud
of the various crafts first leads the az
prentice to marvel at the many apparen
skilful and almost ineXplicable devices @
artisanship. AS the period of apprentice
ship lengthens. however, the toiler be
comes the thinker and the symmetry c
. the underlying principles becomes NOR
u apparent and gradually the toiler an
thinker finds himself borne along b
s fancy and momentarily he lives in tn
r land of the dreamer
@ Aud so we must all commence the day
t work as the toiler content to accept cel