The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1932-01-01
Oh. E. Prall Over KICK, Dec. 81

the thoughts of men and women
and even little children are turn.
ing toward the new year with min.
gled curiosity and anxiety. Per
haps not in the course of human
events, have men been confronted
with such a prospect; contain it
is that the problems and the solu'
tions of the coming year will in
some measure, differ from those
of our former experience. To me,
New Years Days are like the
rungs of a ladder. From the firm
footing which we have established
during the past year, u curious
andJ anxious feet grope for the
next rung. Or perhaps you think
of the New Years Days as the
mile-stones along the highway of
life. Perhaps the holidays" which
Immediately precede that day are
a time in which we may pause to
contemplate the uncertainties of
the year to come. Perhaps, at this
time, you are leaning on the new
ly attained milestone and summing
up your life. If I have caught you
so leaning, l should like to insinu-
ate into your thoughts, two lines.
The one you will repeat looking
forward and the other, looking
backward. AS you attempt to see
the yelled stretch of the next mile,
remember this, 1--WE have not pass
ed this way before. Be cautious.
Be careful. Try to avoid the mis-
takes, the misdeeds, the stumbling
blocks, of the other miles which
you have %traversed.
Then I shall ask you to turn
and look back over that mile we
think of the last year. AS you
consider it's grevious blunders, it's
unkind words and unwise deeds,
remember this line, 1--WE shall not
pass this way again.. What a ire
menduous significance this line has
when we think how impossible it
is to correct our errors once we
have made them. How well I re-
member that as a lad, I used to
cultivate the corn, back in old In
diana. The first times over, | new
er seemed to be so conscious of
the Importance of being careful,
but when it came to the last time,
the thought (if not the words) was
constantly in my mind, 81 shall not
pass this way again" What a
whale of a difference it made. And
so I ask you to take these two
lines and, stepping confidently a.
cross the threshold of the new
year, continue on your way, bold
ly unafraid, yet mindful and eau
tious.
Life is like walking in the dark
and yet there is nothing to be
by shrinking and cringing.
That man who constantly avoids
he issue, avoids life. In this ever
changing world, man is the great
est migrant, geographically, politi-
and socially. One man is born
n a hovel, and dies president of
he greatest country the world has
,ver known. Another is born in a
palace of a long line of kings and
s shot to death in a cellar like a
at. One man writes plays for a
ath and plaster theatre and the
world acclaims him as one of it's f,
liant minds. A wonderful boy
yrites poems under an assumed :
anne and, through sheer despon- :
ency, shoots himself to death in :
lonely garnet, starved and dis j.
outraged, but in spite of the shift :
1g scenes of life, the unexplained :
.ecurrence of prosperity and adj :.
ersity, We cannot doubt that it
character which wins the game. :
ut of all the great maze of human :
there is one fact which
unquestionable and irrefut-
BILE. 1t is this. 'The only true sue :
ess is good character" About the '"
me of the Civil war, a hotel was -
Tilt in an eastern state The own <
caused a large sign to be paint :,
which hung in front of the -
ace for fifty-five years, until his u
cath. During the first quarter of .,
century, at intervals of four or y
We years, the sign was repainted. a
the later years of the old mans -
e, the letters began to stand out d
ON the board in bold relief. It IL
as explained that the letters had u
ZEN more carefully painted and III
it'll better paint. Thus, for fifty ps
years, the background wore ~
way, but the letters remained. 81
laracter is like that. Ut
ct
ley builded an inn in the long h
ago,
And, over the door, they hung
a new sign. ba
l a background, rough painted. re
two coats or So, Ne
They painted a name so careful lei
and fine. in;
rough the passing of years, the FRI
background has been pr,
Worn away by the wind and the de
rains: of
often happens in lives of men. lif