Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1922-11-01
Miss Florence Minis Pays
Tribute to Work.
Dear Advertisers:

Tribute to Work. s
Dear Advertiser: 4
1t seems as if but a few moments
have elapsed since last week when
I was writing to you. 1t seems but q
continuation of that afternoons
work, and l like to write to you, ex-
cept that my attempt is little silent
drama, itself struggle to put dim
ideas into clear sentences. 3
/ attended the opening. exercises
of the Leland Powers School the 9th!
er day. Mrs. Powers in her opening
address said when people left place
they loved and returned, it seemed
to them as if they had never left;
but had always been there; and sud-
denly the feeling came over me that
II feel like that. Somehow it seemed
that was a part of it all and it was
a part Of me, and that ! had but
awakened from dream of absence.
Until then, / could not explain
what I feel when / return home each
yeara feeling that l have never
been. away. I have consciously strug-
gled to recall names and events con-
nected with places have recently
left, but the JOY of being at home
looms large, larger than any memo
ries of past joys.
So when l sit to write to Edge
field, the place I love, and think my
hardest, and write, meaning well,I
create certain mood of kindly
thought. When / assume again this
state of mind it seems that / was
ever present with you in my thinking,
ever writing letters to you, that in
their motley composition are like
Joseph's coat of many colors.
Every person in an audience is
like q radio machine, each receptive
to message, and each responding
in his own way. My reaction that
morning at the Leland Powers
School was Of appreciation of all the
things which in the years before, !
had accepted without consideration.
had been, accustomed to rise with
Il the o5'tEhef stndents When the faculty'
came on the platform. Perhaps some-
times I did it absent mindedly, or
uncorsciously, possibly even, resent
fully, at having to bother with the
courtesy. I do not remember now,
but the other day fairly sprang
from my seat.
The middle west doesn't bother
about observing polite forms. had
changed since 1 had last seen the
school. 1t was as though I had been
through dark tunnel, and coming
again to the day, welcomed it with
thelight of appreciation in my heart.
I left the school when I graduated
not wishing to teach. / had had the
privilege of learning much and sell
fishly would have kept it all. For
tunately l changed my mind. In CIV
ing others what I had learned, 1
greatly enriched myself, and coming
back to the school, I began to know
that until that day, I had not really
begun to be worthy of it.
It seems to me that advantages
and opportunities are like any other
worth while things that we possess.
They have to be paid for, and they
can not be paid for with money. The
money one spends is but the symbol
of appreciation. After one has taken
in, there must be division of what
has been learned with someone else.
A meal is only half meal, unless
there is someone across the table. A
play is only half a play, unless there
is an audience, human element,
across the footlights, and what violin
list does not practice in tune with the
heart beats of imaginary people to
whom he will sometime play?
The beautiful things that are
learned, and all learning is beautiful,
since it deals unmistakably with
laws, with truths and with human
experiences, are all abstract. We
take them, as it were, out of the air.
We cannot keep them, unless the ele-
ment of unselfshness is present with
1r,i11ino fo pnn1l