The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1928-06-08
Must Have Vision

io'Ou
i 10 nave the vision and ability
~ take advantage of these oppor-
'unltles as they present themsel-
yes will be your problems. The
iailhiul performance of the ordi-
nary duties will prepare Won for
the greater things in life. Re CON
tent to start at the bottom and
work upward. In this wav O
VIII reach the mountain tons of
success IN later life. Some years
ago. in a book by a modern auth
OF, read the story of a traveller
VINO, countless ages ago, much
Worn with journeying, climbed the
last bit of a rough road which led
TO the summit of a mountain chain
called Ideals. There was a fem
pie on that mountain and the tray-
eler had vowed in his youth that
he would reach it before death
prevented him. He knew that the
mountain was the most difficult
OF ascent of that chain. But he
had a strongly-hoping heart and
a sure foot. He lost all sense of
time, but he never lost hope. And
now, he had reached the temple.
He rang the bell and the old white
haired man opened the gate. "Old
White Haired Man." said the trav-
eler, tell me, have | come, at
last, to the wonderful Temple of
Opportunity? have been journey
ing hither all my life" Listen"
said the Old Man, gently, this
is not the Temple of Opportunity
and the Ideals are not a chain of
mountains. They are a stretch of
plains and the Temple of Oppor-
tunity is in their center. You have
come the wrong road. Go back
to the plains and tell the dwellers
in the plains that the Temple of
Opportunity is in their very midst.
the gates are not ever closed and
anyone may enter who chooses.
The Temple has always been in
the plains, in the very heart of
life and work and daily effort.
The philosopher may enter; the
stonebreaker may enter. You have
passed it every day of your life
a plain venerable building unlike
Il glorious cathedrals. How
mad it is to suppose that the Tenn
pie of Opportunity should have
been built on an isolated and dan
gerous mountain. Tell them that,
although God seems hard, he is
not as hard as all that. The Ideals
are not a mountain range, but
plains where great cities are built,
and where corn grows, and where
men and women are toiling, some
times. in sorrow, and sometimes in
JOY" "Ah, yes" said the traveller,
81 have often seen that Temple.
When I was a child, | played
it and many times have l
seen other children playing near
it." He prayed that he might be
permitted to retrace his steps, to
to his youth, and to early
But, ALAS he was old.
The vigor and the fire of youth
were gone. Ambition was crushed,
hope gone, heart broken. The
sun was sinking in the west and
soon the shadows of night gather
ed about him. In the morning of
life he had taken the wrong road.
He had failed to seize the oppor-
tunities which were about him
every day. We journey through
this life but once-just once. You
cannot retrace your steps. Make
not the mistake that the ancient
traveller made by n~eglecting and
overlooking the duties and oppor-
tunities about you for the imagin-
airy blessing on the mountain top.
Carlyle expresses this thought
beautifully when he says: "The
thistle that grows in thy path, dig
it out that a blade of useful grass,
a drop of nourishing milk may
grow there instead. The waste
cotton shrub-gather its waste
white down, spin it, weave it, that
in place of idle litter, there may
be folded webs and the naked skin
of man be clothed"
State May Expect Good Citizens
So the State having provided
facilities for the education OF our
youth, may we not expect in re-
turn the finished product, a citizen
in the highest sense of that term?
the product of our schools, may
we not expect men and women OF
high ideals, patriotic and law
abiding? May we not expect men
and women of integrity, for integ-
rity is one of the most essential
attributes of character. There can
be no Gee without the rigid
observance of the square deal.
Dishonesty and deception spell
ruin and disaster, though they