Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1924-07-16
FRAGMENTS.

FRAGMENTS.
There was once famous old-Worid
cath edral which contained beautiful
stained glass window. People came for
many miles to admire its loneliness.
Bv and by storm came, and the VIM
dow was shattered into thousands of
tiny fragments. The pieces were gath
cred up and stored away in box in
the basement One day stranger
came to the town and asked to see the
famous window. They told him of its
fate and showed him the broken bits
of glass. He asked if he might have
the pieces, and his request was freely
granted.
Weeks passed by. Then the custo-
dams of the cathedr received an in
vitation from a famous artist to visit
his studio. When they arrived he
placed them before canvas curtain.
At the touch of his hand on cord the
curtain fell, and there before their
astonished eyes was the most beautl-
full colored window they had ever be-
held. AS they stood admiring it's rich
tints, it's marvellous workmanship, and
it's cunning design, the artist said:
This | have wrought from the frag-
mehts of your broken window. 1t is
ready to take it's place again in the
cath edral"
1t is pretty story, but the lesson 1T
would teach is priceless. Everywhere
about us we see men and women with
broken, thwarted lives, men and
women who have had golden dreams
and seen them shattered before their
very eyes. Here and there down the
pages of history and in the highways
and byways of contemporary life we
find those who have had the courage
and the genius of the master artist
who gathered up the fragments and
builded more beautiful reality than
the original The blind Milton, the deaf
Beethoven, the imprisoned Bunyan, the
invalid Stevenson We're undaunted by
the disasters which overlook them.
Out of the fragments which We're left
they fashioned priceless things for
posterity. We may not all have the
talents of these noted examples, but at
least we can go forward bravely with
our lesser tasks, using conscientiously
all that is left us of former dreams
and aspirations. We can refuse alb
solutely to indulge in that most dis
gushing of all mental habits, self-pity,
which DR.. Frank Crane so aptly calls
moral SOLDERING"
Selected by Laura from Lynn.
The allusion to DR.. Frank Crane
leads to some questions from an arti-
Gle of his which has a place in the
July American Magazine. Most
people would have to respond
Guilty" to some of the questions he
asks. The title is: Are You Lead
ing a Secondhand Life?" 1t opens
with the following incident;
Recently l heard a young lady say
that she hated Lloyd George. She was
twenty years old. She never saw
Lloyd George, and all she knew about
him was what she'd picked up in the
newspapers she happened to read.
She had got hold of a second hand hate
and was using it and calling it hers
If you could knock at the door of your
own mind, would you find yourself at
home? If you could visit yourself at
your own house, would you find your
sell IN lplu you StleCl IHt music ly-
ing about on your piano because it ap-
pealed to you, or because others said it
appealed to them? Are the records in
your talking machine such as really
entertain you, or did you get them be-
cause some one else said they were the
latest hits? Did you select those books
in your library, or did the mob select
them? Even the clothes you are wear
ing--did you pick them out, or did a
tailor or modesto select them for you?
Most of us are afraid of ourselves.
We fly to put on the opinions, the
clothes and the feelings of others.
1t is a well-used trick of thought to
divide the world into two classes. The
theologian divides manhood into saints
and sinners. Those who are obsessed
with the idea of the Importance of
prosperity, divide the world into the
rich and poor. Those who think most