Year: 1872

MUTUAL AID AND ASSISTANCE ON 1HE


JOURNEY OF LIFE.


An essay read before the Placer county Tench-


ers' Institute by Mrs. Anna Burdick'


How little we realize, when life is bright
and prosperous, and our pathway hedged
with the beautiful flowers of peace and hap
pmess, how much we depend on our fellow
travellers for what we have and what we are
But let the clouds of sorrow and disappoint-
ment begin to gather in the horizon, the
flowers droop, wither aud die, one by one,
under the chilling blasts of adversely leaving
nothing but the thorns the sad remembrances
of what has been; trials come thick and fast,
till the burden is so heavy we fain wo Id
stop by the wayside, only higher power
bids us press on, be the way ever SO long
and life ever SO weary. Then, oh then, how
precious the word OF encouragement, the tear
of sympathy ,and how welcome the hand that
clasps ours with true heartfelt interest, and
leads US out of the murky of doubt into the
blessed light of renewed hope, stronger faith, ,
and more perfect reliance on "Ilim whose
promises never fall" If we only thought of
this more how often we might fpd the oppor-
tunity to extend the helping hand; how many
hearts, crushed by the weight of woe, might
be made lighter by our earnest sympathy;
how much sin avered, how many Il soul
saved which for the want of it goes down,
do,cn to the dark depths of despair! a
young man starts on the journey of life; the
sky is clear and the air filled with the breath
of flowers and the sweet songs Of birds, the
harbngers of SUCCESS; the green meadows
stretched out before him, bounded by rugged
peaks he is ambitious to scale. lie is strong
in his power to do and to dare. For time
he succeeds, and writes his name high on
the mountain of fame. But lie makes
false step; reverses follow, and in the hour
of trial perhaps he is assailed by that demon
who has blighted so many brave lives; In
temperance. lie wavers, struggles earnestly
to regain his failing manhood, wavers again
and finally falls. Shall he be lost? Shall
we pass by on the other side and make no
effort to drag him from the pit into which
his feet have stumbled? For the want of a
little timely assistance shall bright star be
bloted from society, and a soul lost for
eternity? A thousand times NO, Go to him,
and by words of kindness and love help him
to regain bis lost manhood; and should we
fail once, twice, thrice, still have hope, still
persevere, until his feet are once more on
firm ground, and with renewed energy he
again treads the beaten path of hQuor and
duty.


Sadder still, we see young and lovely
girl, tue idol OF fond parents, the bright cen
ter of circle OF loving friends. The tempter
comes, aud through her holiest affections she
falls. God help her then, for very little will
she receive from man, Few will she find
to say, "Go, sin no more No matter how
sincere her repentance, though she weep tears
of blood, yet is she cast out; she has started
on the downward road, and there is 10 turn
ing back. The stern edicts of society bar
the way, till for her there is nothing left but
the dark rolling river, the fatal cup Or life
of sin and shame, ending in an eternity of
despair. When will all this cease? When
we shall have learned that we are children of
one Father; and as members of one family
learn to help each other in the hour of trial
and sore distress; remembering they "have
but stumbled in the path we have in weak
ness trod." Oh, am afraid that"some of
us who walk so proudly erect and pride our
selves upon our firm aud steady adherence to
the right, who look, if not with scorn and
contempt, with as little charity and pity upon
those who have wandered from the straight
and narrow path, and whose feet are torn
and bleeding from the thorns they have
found upon the road ] very much fear at
the last great day, when we are called upon
to give an account Of our stewardship, we
shall hang our heads in very shame to think
we have been so remss in these duties to our
fellow=man; and our skirts we thought so
spotless be found stained with the blood of
those lost, that with our assistance might
have been saved to life eternal.


Then gently scan the fellow man,


Still gentler sister woman;


Though both may gang kennie wrang,


TO step aside is human"


When in our vocation as teachers how
much we depend upon each other. How
many of us toll and struggle on, till both
mentally and physically we are well nigh ex-
hausted, with so little result for the good,
when few words of council would show us
the reason Of our failure and point out the
way Of doing our duty with satisfaction to our
selves and benefit to those dependent upon
us for instruction Wherever we are, no