The Washington times., 1922-08-22
The Stiff
Upper
Lip
We Mortals Have Enough Of Divine
To Garry Us On Wings
Of Spirit

& OF Love and Romance.
wy Ho is there who has never
w cried out from the depths
teriy that his sufferings were too
great to bear? .a..
Who In there who has never
faced what seemed to be unen-
durable? Who Is there who has
not known terror. Encouragement,
utter desperation at the thought OF
afflication which seemed beyond
human endurance?
NThere's no question that we
fnortals have In us enough Of the
divine to carry us on wings of
spirit past all the barriers Of the
flesh.
l"As the day is, so thy strength
Is" says the Book Of Books. And
even the most irreverent have
found that cruel occasion proves
this true. The spirit performs
miracles when miracles are needed.
The woman who has not walked
q step for twenty years may rise
and run from a burning building.
Florence Nightingale performed
miracles of endurance In the
Crimea. Doctors and nurses go on
working way past the fatigue
point. and they come TO no harm,
even though they go for days with
out sleep and with Inadequate food.
We have no idea and no way of
measuring the things of which we
are capable when pressed. When
we contemplate difficulty we esti.
a. n
terms of our ordinary day. We
never consider our vast reservoir
of reserves. We merely think OF
ordinary procedure and OF how we
sigh and faint and struggle at the
least sign of difficulty when things
are going along their regular
courses. -.
Most of our ills we have cured;
The sharpest we still have sur
vived.
But what tortures OF fear we en-
dured --...
From the troubles which-never
arrived"
This Is true, and is safe as a
slogan and motto, for most Of our
most cruelty anticipated woes
never do arrive-but when they
do-our strength is great enough
10 meet them.
A friend Of mine was the vic
tim of a cruel and lying bit OF
SANDER which was so deeply
grounded by the time she heard of
Il that there was practically no
way to stop its course! In her
desperation she wanted to run
away. There was no way OF fight
ing, no way Of denying. All she
could do was hold her head high,
act as usual and hope that by her
simple honesty and courage the
innocence of her life would assert
itself to those who had heard the
cruel lies about her.
"I can't do it," she cried.
But she did do II. And IL work.
ed. Truth prevailed. Simple dig
nifty made itself felt as innocence.
Denial and flight might have
seemed like protests of guilt. But
the quiet silence which seemed too
much to compass, established the
truth.
The dearest, bravest old man I
know had to undergo an operation
recently. The doctors said II
would take twenty minutes and
that It would be best to give moth
ing more than a local anaesthetic.
For an hour and a half those doc
tors,probed a wound in the throat
while the dear victim lay there
brave and quiet. He bore torture
which the physician in charge told
me was almost inconceivable.
"I'd have hated to stand that
agony without an anaesthe etic,
said the surgeon. I'VE Offered
him gas finally-but he knew II
would make things harder for us.
and lessen his chances of coming
through and back to the daughter
who loves him. So he stood 1t all
without the least whimper."
(. Unendurable pain! But tho
brave father stood II. And be-
lieve all of us can find strength
like his to bear the Uncomfortable"
and so to fortify our characters
and to make ourselves able to rise
in spirit, triumph in soul and sur
n - -