Year: 1875

proVerb all the ages cry shame On, tnaI


a bird in the hand is worth two IN the


bush. There is no heart-whole man or
woman on this earth. to-day who can
| truly say that a hope come to such fru-
ition as earth and time allows ever began


to be so good as the shy sweet glow OF


a hope newly risen. This, at least, has


certainly been my owniexperience. My


one imperial blessing all my life has
| been certain eager, tremulous on-look-
| ing Few men have had happier for
| tune than has fallen to my lot, but if
| that could be which God has saved us
| from in His infinite love; if an angel
from heaven could say: g You can come
| into fruition at, once-begin again at
fifteen, and every slightest wish instant


ly fulflled-no waiting for place until
you are thirty-six y nc weary march
| toward the oasis year after year, but
| fruition at once and forever, which will


leave no room for anticipation and no
i need"-I would beg of Heaven to save


me from such fate as that and give me


still 5he old, blessed, buoyant hope that


is not seen. And SO say to you, young


men and women who have still to fight
your way and wonder many a time what


will come of the fight, know no more
than you do how to answer that question
no more than [ know how to answer. it
| for myself; but this | know: that if you
| can hold on to real, pure hope and fol-
| low its leading, that is treasure the fru-
ition can never equal between this and
| the foot of the great white throne.


But it is clear to me that this blessed
| belonging of life must rest again on
| these sure foundations: First, a true faith
| in God, and second, true endeavor In
| ourselves. For, as the farmer would be
| fool indeed if he began to plant his
| corn and expect his blossoms in NOvem-
ber, OF if, in these early summer days, he
| sat on the stoop and said: Here is sum,
| mer again; Nature is stirring; she knows
| what to do; need not care; things will
come all right without my trying; Ishall.


have all want and hope for;" and as he


is only wise when he seizes on the right
instant and, with that on his side which


means to the farmer that Heaven is on
his side, bestirs himself and puts his


whole manhood to the task of making
his hope come true, SO in our whole life


this truth holds good and can never be


neglected, or our hope will be false and
vain. There are hosts of men and wom-


en- who indulge in the most winsome


dreams of a fair and good future, and
begin at last to try for it when there is


no more sense in their trying, for this


world at least, than there would be in


planting corn the last of July and trying


for crop. "Hope thou in God," the


psalmist cries; but hope in God that is


not true to the revelation He has made


of His law is lie.


81 hope to win the love of a good


woman and keep it to make home and


raise family that will be the joy Of my


old age" the young man says as he drifts


on to middle age, while the blessed
| spring-time closes behind him and every
year the first person singular is written
| with bigger letter, and self-indulgence


eats him up close to the margin. That


man has no right to hope for these blessed
gifts of Heaven; he is all out of true
with himself aud with God. "We hope
| to raise these children to be blessing to
| the world" the father and mother say
as the little flock comes about them, and


then he goes about his business and she


crowds her life into her card-case. They
hope the children will come out all right;


they have no business to hope for any


such thing; they are no more justified


in such surmise than the shepherd


would be in hoping the lambs would be


safe on the plain while the wolves were


bowling in the distance as he turned over


and went to sleep.


have no business to hope to be


healthy man again while 1 am eating
things and doing things that must make


me sick, if there is such thing as right


and wrong touching these organic


laws; or to be q sober man ii my will


does not forever mount guard over my
appetite; or true man and trusty


while dare, ever so deftlY, as a minis


ter, merchant, or in any other calling,
to sell the truth to serve the hour, and


palter with Eternal God for power"
These great and holy powers of proper


manhood come no more by dreaming


than the harvests do, and the grand


Murillos and Turner's in the galleries, or


than safety comes to ship at sea when


you drive her through fog, as they


drove the hapless Schiller, and take no
soundings. Those officers, no doubt,
lshad no right hope SO, and, wherever


theysare to-day, the blood of those hap
| less passengers is on tn 5ir souls.


4 But am quite sure again that, when


we are true to this double truth of


Heavens opportunity and our own man


full endeavor, what is lost in failing to


cherish great, pure hope cannot be re-
i covered in the grace and the joy of life;
| and allowing, as we must, for that differ
ence in the human nature by which one


mans hope is as five talents, and an


others two, and another's one-alloWing
for this difference, we are to blame for
our forebodings, and not Heaven.


i We can cherish sure hope about our


future, and the future of those that be-
i long to us, sunny, eager on-looking
toward the fulfillment ofv all of the
| promises God has written on our nature.
We may be all wrong in our thoughts
of the special form in which our blessings
will come; we never can be wrong about
the blessing. 1t may be like the mirage
/ shifting from horizon to horizon as we
Eplod wearily along, but the soul is bound
to find at last the resting place and the


spring. There is many a father III the


world to-day trying hard to get his head


above water who will sink, but his boys


will swim and reach the firm land, and
| think of him with infinite tenderness,


while he, perhaps, is watching them from


above, and their success may be one of
j the elements of his joy in heaven. When
Tread that pathetic}story the other day


about our good friend, Mr.. Alcott, and
4 how he used to try and make his way as
j a teacher and friend of the children, and
Il failed in a manner, and then sat down
i sunny and bright as ever, waiting in


hope, and then how, by and by, his
daughter did it-got the greatest school


and the most lovers among children of
any woman in America-I said: "That


is the way, old friend; you had to wait
like Simeon for the child that would dc
I what you only hoped for, and no doubt
it is dearer blessing to see her do il