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http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029052400

WHAT IS WORTH WHILE ?

BY

ANNA EOBEETSON BROWN,

OR OF

"

" Giving

Ph.D.

Cdltcre and Reform,"

"We Have."

Ol'r Faith," "

The Victory of

What

EIGHTY-FIFTH THOUSAND

New Toek

THOMAS

Y.

Boston

46

East 14th Street

CEOWELL & COMPANY

:

100

Purchase Street

COPTKiaHT,

By Thomas

Y.

1893,

Cbowell & Compauy.

A PAPER
BEAD BEFORE THE PHILADELPHIA BRANCH

ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGIATE ALUMNA.

" Let hut eternity look, more or

less visibly,

through the

Time-Figure."

Thomas Caelylb.

WHAT
Only one

life to live

our best with

most

of

How

can

ergies
is

WORTH WHILE?

IS

We

it.

How

it.

we accomplish

We

to

the

when we

to

make

do
the

best get hold of it?

the most with the en-

What

ask ourselves

all

our college

leave

this

halls.

years out of college are apt to be

first

anxious, unsatisfactory,

disappointing.

away in further preparation,

in useless or

misdirected

be in the quiet

Time

in experiment,

The world

efforts.

does not prove to be the same that

is

want

and powers at our command?

question

slips

all

want

all

we

can

worth while?

But

We

it

seemed to

college surroundings.

Duty

not so clear as then, nor work so well-defined.

Life

is

harder to handle than

finds that theories fail,

enough

the difiiculty

It is of a

lies.

"my own

life

thought.

One

and yet one has not had

positive experience

that

we

to

know

just

where

few simple things

has proved true" that I shall

speak to-day.
7

WHAT

8
Life

IS

We

large.

is

whole of

in the

it

WORTH WHILE f
cannot possibly grasp the

few years that we have to

What is vital? What is essential ? What

may we profitably let go ? Let us ask ourselves
live.

these questions to-day.

with, What may we let go? Who

By what standard shall we measure ?

To begin
shall say ?

By what

authority decide

answer that question for

Each

must

of us

In looking

herself.

about for an answer, I find only one that satis-

me.

fies

ivhicJi

me

It is this:

we cannot carry

this is a

Surely

it

is

We may

let

go

all

things

into the eternal life.

To

deep truth, and a positive one.

not worth while for us to cum-

little time,

we can
when we may

lay hold of things that shall be

ours for ten

ber our lives with the things which

grasp at best for but a

thousand times ten thousand years.

We
good

may

drop

for shams.

selves that

pretence.

In

we have wrought about

garment will shrivel and

ever

we

lessness.

Eternity

is

not

clear light the false

its

fall

us like a

away.

What-

really are, that let us be, in all fear-

Whatever we

cease striving to

seem

are not, that

to be.

If

let

us

we can rid our-

WHAT

IS

WORTH WHILE?

selves of all untruth

much

shall

rubbish, restlessness,

us hide nothing, and

being found out.

mode

of word, manner,

and thinking, we

of life

of

we

rid our

and

lives

Let

fear.

shall not be afraid of

Let us put on nothing, and

we shall never cringe. Let us assume nothing,

and we shall not be mortified. Let us do and
say nothing untrue, and we shall not fear to
have the deepest springs of our lives sought out,
nor our most secret motive analyzed.

Nothing

gives such upright dignity of mien as the consciousness,

me

there

"I

is

We may
serene.

am what

The

ill.

of

combat.
virtue in

ness;

things,

it

is

to

and cheer?
Every

strong.

worry weakens the soul

is

any

Can we not take

large spirit of serenity

For only the serene soul

moment

eternal life

not careworn, nor knows

foreboding of future
its

About

pretend to be.

drop worry.

It is

ourselves

no make-believe."

for its daily

Worry is an infirmity; there is no

it.
Worry is spiritual near-sightedfumbling way of looking at little

and

of

magnifying their value.

spiritual vision sweeps the universe

things in their right proportion.

True

and

The

sees

finest

WHAT

10

WOBTH WHILE?

IS

Corot viewed asquint, or out of

landscape of

would appear distorted and untrue.

focus,

us hang
look at

on the

life

as painters say,

line,

and

honestly.

it

Seen in their true relations, there

rience of life over

Ruskin

worry.

Let

no expe-

is

which one has a right

says,

"God

to

gives us always

strength enough, and sense enough for every

Sense enough: this

thing he wants us to do."

thought comforts me.

It is not the lack

of

ability that often worries us; it is the lack of a

little savoir faire.

distress us so

We

may

much

let

nal years there

not our failures that

It is

as our idiocies.

go discontent.

no word

is

In

restless heart.

its

of

In

murmur from any

how trivial

vast silences

would sound the complainings

days!

In

frettings

In

its

how our

two things that make

find

One

environment.

is

lack of

The other

be overcome
life.

for dis-

harmony with one's

is

one's present opportunities.

one's

of our harassed

great songs of praise

would be overborne

life I

content.

may

all the eter-

dissatisfaction

Of

with

these, the first

the second may be put out of

A congenial

environment

is

not one

yVHAT

WORTH WHILE?

IS

of the essentials of life

if

Which

ask.

of a

day and

eousness

To-day

say,

to

Ah, no

life

"as

God

at the close

have done

that

all

do for humanity and right-

We

and forget that which

take

need

as the soul

down

of us can sit

my power

was in

present opportunities,

are as great

rightly used,

11

gives

and then make the best

look for large things,

To

close at hand!

is
it,

of

not as
it, is

we want

it,"

the hard lesson

human soul to learn.

may be very disagreeable.

that life puts before the

One's environment
It

may

bring constant hurts of heart, mortifica-

tion, tears, angrj' rebellion,

but

there

is

and wounded

To become

strong, the soul

something,

overcome

must needs

something.

strength of

degree with which

we

great

in

the

get into harmony with

our appointed environment.

at

consists

life

fight

cannot

It

gain muscle on a bed of eider-down.

part of the

pride,

a reason for that environment.

war with our town, our

So long

as

we

are

relatives, our family,

our station, and our surroundings, so long will

much

of the force of our lives be spent use-

lessly, aimlessly.

mony with

environment

one's

good way

to get into haris

to

try

to

WSAT

12

understand

it first,

ourselves to

it,

WORTH WHILE

IS

and then

so far as

may

to

begin to adapt

We

be possible.

can never work well while there

is friction

in

our lives, nor gain in our work that "beauty

which
is

born of power, and the sympathy which

is

born of love " of which Ruskin speaks.

Let us say,

God put me among

these scenes,

these people, these opportunities, these duties.

He

is

This
in,

neither absent-minded nor incompetent.

is

exactly the place

the place I

no mistake.

But with
sit

down

am

My
this

He means me

capable of filling

life is in its

to be

there

is

proper setting.

thought in mind, we need not

in idleness.

There are things in the

we can change;
opportunities that our own efforts may
We can conquer many of the diffi-

circumstances of our lives that

there are
enlarge.

culties that beset our career, and, so conquering,

be strong
is

I believe

no impediment

more and more that there

that cannot be overcome, no

hindrance to usefulness that

moved.

If

we go through

life

cannot

be

re-

timidly, weakly,

ineffectively, the fault is neither

with our en-

dowment nor our environment. It is with ourIt is we that are not competent for
selves.

WHAT
life;

we

IS

WORTH WHILBf

not inten'upt him,

for

God

work with

or upon.

can-

is

set before us to

Dr. Miller tells of a poor

regally entertained in a castle.

He had nothing with which

But he shut himself up
days before he

left

and refusing

come

When

man

we can make

our opportunities,

who was

life,

will not

heroic life out of whatever

artist

When

that are lazy, cowardly, idle.

one sets himself to live a grand

As

13

to

to repay his friends.

in his

them,

room

for

some

locking the door,

out, or to let

any one

in.

he went away the servant found the

sheets of his bed missing, and thought that he

But

must have stolen them.

searching

in

further they were found in one corner of the

room, and

when unrolled were discovered

to

have a glorious picture of Alexander in the

upon them.
The Situation that has not

tent of Darius painted

Carlyle says, "

Duty,

its Ideal,

Yes, here, in this poor, miserable,

despicable

Actual,

standest, here or

out therefrom
free.

its

was never yet occupied by man.

wherein thou

nowhere

is

is

even

thy Ideal

and working,

Fool! the Ideal

hampered,

believe, live,

in thyself,

now

work

it

be

the im-

WHAT

14

pediment too

WORTH WHILE?

IS

in thyself: thy Condition is

is

but the stuff thou art to shape that same Ideal

out of: what matters whether such stuff be of

form thou give

this sort or that, so the

heroic, be poetic

to the gods for a

know

seekest

is

already within thee,

If

an

artist

sheet, can

criest bitterly

kingdom wherein

to rule

and

the thing thou

this of a truth:

couldst thou only see

be

thou that pinest in the

imprisonment of the Actual, and

create,

it

here or nowhere,

'

"
!

can paint a great picture on a bed-

we not

find opportunity

and material

environment for the thing we

in our present

wish to do?
"We may

let

nal life there

go of self-seeking.

is

no greed.

One

In the eter-

hears of neither

"mine" nor "thine." All things are for all.

As the waters fled away from Tantalus, so do
the good things of life flee from the grasping

The

and

selfish spirit.

life

never come to those

If

selfishly.

find

them

who

try to

win them

they do gain their desires, they

as ashes to the taste.

are in the
tries to

richest experiences of

way

of

him who,

But all blessings

forgetful of self,

be helpful to the world, and

his life in loving deeds.

who spends

WHAT

IS

WORTH WHILE?

15

Pretence, worry, discontent, and self-seeking,

these

are the

Now what
while ?

things that

we may

let go.

are the things in life that are worth

that

we should

lay hold

of,

keep,

guard, use?
It is

time.
years.

worth while to be wise in the use of

In the eternal
It is

thing that

life there is

no waste

of

with time that we purchase every-

life

has of good.

we make
The most

It is

by the wise

use of time that

ourselves competent

for eternity.

reckless

spendthrift

is the one who squanders time.

Money lost may be regained, friendships broken
may be renewed, houses and lands may be sold
or buried or burnt, but may be bought or
gained or built again.
But what power can
restore the moment that has passed, the day
whose sun has set, the year that has been num-

in the world

bered with the ages gone ?

It

awes me when I think of

a time

when you and

cycles of eternity swept

it,

that there was

were not

when the

onward and the

stars

turned in their courses without the sight or

sound

of

man.

And

Tubal Cain worked

then came a time

at

his

brasses,

when

and Job

WBAT

16

IS

WORTH WHILE?

watched Orion from the plain of Shinar,

never come a time

The

and

But now there can

yet you and I were not.

when you and

I shall not be.

vast gift of eternity has been laid in your

hands and mine: an eternity not wholly to

come, but one which

is

even now here.

Shall

we not use its hours aright?

The question of life is not, How much time
have we ?
for in each day each of us has exactly the same amount: we have "all there is."
The question is, What shall we do with it?
Shall we let this priceless gift slip away from
us in haphazard deeds, or shall we adopt some

plan of saving and of systematic doing in our

What

lives?

shall this plan

we determine what things

time to?

lost.

knocks at

We
it

let

us not forget one point,

spent in being interrupted

shall

worth giving

Let us think about this question.

In our thoughts,

time

How

be?

are

is

strong thinker once said,

my

door

who

is

are spending time well

not time

"No

one

not sent by God."

when we

are

paying

out to God, to buy the things he means our

lives to

own, whether he

is

putting before us a

duty to be done, a friend to be won, a small

WHAT

WORTH WHILE?

IS

17

book to be written,

service to be rendered, a

child to be consoled, or a house to be set in

There

order.

that has

But

we

come

do we

snarl at

is

know but

to us in long

in all our lives,

moment given us

though time

is

We

we should

as it affects us as

history,

looking on to see what

college-trained lives,

now

we

ness, or the
it

sum

it to-

We

are

and the world

will do with our

we have them.
moment of useful-

that

cannot afford to lose a

than

no

an association, and our

working out a problem in

We

is

have to

consider

united power for good in the world.

is

given us

and play, there

this question of the wise use of time not

only as individuals

day

that the in-

days?

throw away.

to

it

the most blessed thing

to eat, drink, sleep, work,

meet

all

us to do each day and to do

How

gloriously!

terruption

time enough given us to do

is

God means

that

of our influence will be less

might have been.

Suppose each of us

should resolve to-day that not a minute henceforward should ever be wasted.
there

would be

in our lives

What energy
What strength

What noble purpose! What grand results!

What could we not accomplish as an association,

WSAT

18
if

WORTH WHILE?

IS

no one of us ever

time in grieving, in

lost

dreaming, in regret, in harmful pleasures, in

idle talk

enough

Eternity

is

long there will be time

:

But

for dreams.

work and

life is for

for patience.

Let each of us ask herself to-day.

How much am

going to deduct from the grand

possible total of time in our lives,

ness,

my

in

it,

and

us

life

without strenuous, unremitting work

work which occupies mind, body, heart,

soul.

to do

But what work shall we

This

when we

is

bilities of

set ourselves

one of the questions that meets

leave college, and that reappears

from time to time

We

idle-

There can be no

Let us lay hold of work.

happy

my

by

unthrift?

we

as

We

life.

see

more of the possi-

fear to

make mistakes!

do not want to throw our powers away

build walls of sand

"monuments more

when we might have

lasting than bronze."

may

There are three questions that we

about a work before
Is it legitimate ?

How many

we

decide to take

Is it individual ?

ask
up.

it

Is it vital ?

kinds of work an honest answer to

these questions

gitimate I

to

built

would cut out

mean,

Does

at once

it conflict

By

le-

with any


WHAT

WORTH WHILE?

IS

present

known duty?

for our

hands to do.

work

If so, that
If

19

we attempt

it

is

not

we

are

leaving our duty undone, and are become

By

busybody in other men's matters.

ual I mean,
alone

us
lar

Is it a

It is a

put into

is

work

How

true

God

some
this

says,

faculty which enables

In

is!

or interfere.

How

put an end at once to

this

good.

It

was never meant

gain

if

I tried.

my

can do

On

neighbor

There are no

whose

gifts con-

thought ought to

all the

envy

His good

grieving at another's good!

it

do.

of

There are

alike.

talents are rivals, or

him

any other."
universe

the

all

two souls

no two with the same work to

flict

"Nature arms

feat impossible to

there are no

two whose

me

to

without a special and particu-

Emerson

man with some

each

individ-

work that belongs

wonderful truth, that no one of

life

to do.

to do easily

to be.

of
is

my

could not

the other hand,

cannot.

life,

not

what

"Why should

either of us be jealous of the other, or imagine

that

am

we

Each human soul can say,

In all the worlds and worlds,

conflict ?

unique.

all the

I
in

ages and ages, there has never been any

one like me, and in

be again.

all

time there shall never

have no double.

WHAT

20

work

Is the

WORTH WHILE?

IS

vital

moment,

Is it of eternal

my own

either in strengthening

character, or

inspiring others, or helping the world?

the

work

We

is

The only pauper

are all capitalists.

the world

If so,

worth doing.

is

a dumb, deaf,

and blind

Let us examine our capacities and

own view

of life

find that

we can do

is

As

better than to put

the direction of our life-energy.

great things with our lives,

him

He

in sincerity.

God never

if

can

to play in the eternal

wastes any-

As long
shall

Above

it.

as

we

He

weakness,

will yet
fitted

nor to

us not fail to see

we have

never be too old for

Illness,

the

drama.

all, let

live

God

and the part we are

Let us not try to escape our work

shirk

for

Though He holds

worlds in the hollow of his hand.

of us,

him

God can do

anything.

forgets

never loses anything.

remember each

them

we but give them

make them use-

God never

ful, uplifting, heroic.

thing.

our

of necessity partial, I do not

absolutely in God's hand, and look to

to

and

gifts,

then put them to the best use we may.

in

idiot.

work

it,

to do.

it.

We

nor too feeble.

fatigue, sorrow,

none

of

WHAT

WORTH WHILE?

IS

these thing can excuse us from this

That we

ours.

tive that

God

is

work

are alive to-day is proof posi-

my work

as

we

arise

to-day?

each morning,

We

do not know

Our

where the influence of to-day will end.

lives

may outgrow all our

outdazzle all our dreams.

day

every hour

is

present thoughts, and

Every day

life,

hands as a

into our

wood and throws

cerra seizes

it.

it

a test-

is

God
new chance of
to see what we

an examination-hour.

puts each fresh morning, each

will do with

of

has something for us to do to-day.

Let us ask ourselves

What

21

it

gift,

servant takes a block of

into the

fire

Gasparo Be-

from the flame, and carves from

As Dr. Trumbull says,

To-day is, for all that we know, the opportunity and occasion of our lives.
On what we do
or say to-day may depend the success and comit

an immortal statue.

"

pleteness of our entire life-struggle.

us,

therefore,

as if our

to use every

moment

It

is

for

of to-day

very eternity were dependent on

its

words and deeds."

If

do,

we do not do
it

the

will forever

annals of

work we were meant

remain undone.

In

eternity there will be some

to

the

good

WHAT

22

we

lacking that

WORTH WHILE?

IS

some

provided,

miglit have

reward unbestowed that we might have had:

there will be something incomplete in all the

Oh, the sorrow of opportu-

everlasting years.

Oh, the

nities neglected, slighted, ordepised!

remorse for
did not

the good we might have done, and

Do

they not bring regret and pain to

the sensitive soul?

Again,

work

this

be, will never pass

of ours,

away.

no atom

great world-energy:

ever

Every breath

lost.

whatever

We
of

of

force

its

Our

is

our lives, every

noble heart-beat, will pulsate through

nity.

may

it

are a part of the

all eter-

lives are indelible, imperishable.

Let us lay hold of the happiness of to-day.

Do we not go through
some

fair

Poor mortal, when thinkest thou

To-morrow?

then to be happy?

it

How

is it

different

not but another to-day?

heart,

if

thinking that

to-morrow will bring us the gift we

miss to-day ?

morrow ?

life blindly,

What

is

to-

from to-day ?

Is

Know

thou,

my

thou art not happy to-day, thou shalt

never be happy

To-day

it is

given thee to be

patient, to be unselfish, to be purposeful, to be

strong, eager, and to

work mightily!

If

thou

WHAT

IS

WORTH WHILE?

doest these things, and

23

remembering

if,

mercies, thou doest

them with

thou shalt be happy,

at

all

thy

a grateful heart,

happy

least, as

as it is

man to be on earth. When all is said

and done, when the shades of twilight fall, and
given

thou sayest, I have had a happy day,

not something yet beyond
all,

and more

satisfying, towards

there

is

deeper than

it all,

which the heart

turns with sad longing, as of a child for

This

mother's breast?

the yearning of

is

its

life,

the cry for the fulness of eternity, which shall

be stilled only in the presence of God:

it is

not for us here below.

What thou callest happiness,

not often

is it

a certain fall in the thermometer, bringing cool

winds and a fresh air?

Is it

not a question of

sun, or of kind words said to thee of affection

or sympathy, or of success in

business?

Are these

some

trifle of

thy

things, then, happiness?

Do

they satisfy forever thine immortal soul?

Not

so

Thou

art

happy when thou hast done

thy duty, be the skies dark or

kind or unkind,

when thou

just or base.

be

art

men

happy

God has planned for

when thou hast been

hast done what

thee this day, this hour

fair,

Thou

WHAT

24

brave, helpful,

thy

WORTH WHILE?

IS

and above

all

uncomplaining of

lot!

Let us lay hold of common duties and

re-

Let us lay hold of the tenderness that

lations.

we

miss all the divine

belongs to them.

Shall

sweetness of

in order to have a career?

Shall

life

we shed home,

how

to

Not

philology?

ethnology,

women

family, relatives,

order

mestic duties, in

and do-

Sanskrit,

learn

college-bred

all

that sounds when, led

by no

pressure of bread-winning which impels

them

think

to seek higher advantages,

but simply by an

absorbing ambition, they leave their father or

mother,

or

consider

life at all

new phase

in a

both,

of

it,

lonely home.

points before

Let us

we rush into a
in, we may

from which, once

not soon withdraw.

This
is,

is

that

front us

the great danger, and a grave one

is apt,
all,

at

the

some time or

danger of substituting some

intellectual ambition for the ordinary

do

affections.

it

other, to con-

not

know how

to

human
speak

strongly enough on this subject, and yet gently

enough.

It is

consider our

on

my

common

heart night and day, as I

problem.

Ambition

is,


WHAT
in

many ways,

WORTH WEILEf

IS

25

we

the most deadly foe

have,

the most deadly foe to our character I mean.

by

Little

that intellectual ambition will

little

draw us away,
true place in

we

if

life,

and will make

and unhelpful women of

ous, affectionate,

We

have been.

that

it

it

and unselfish women we might

make

keep

in

it

bounds

let

our talents lie

idle,

the most of them; there

work

a grand

let us see

holds a just proportion in our lives.

We need not
to

cold, unloved,

us, instead of the joy-

need not try to annihilate am-

bition, but let us

to

from our

are not careful,

for

them

is

but

all;

nor neglect
a place and
us keep

let

their development forever subordinate to simple

human

duties, usually at home.

are free,

free to

Very few

go and come,

travel,

study, write, think, paint, sing, at will.

lives of
life,

most women these

as it were,

gifts are

an underbreath.

lives

read,

In the

an aside in

Most

of us are

beset with loving calls of toil, care, responsibility,

and quiet

duties,

which we must recog-

aize, heed, obey.

We

must love our mothers more than Greek

dialects.

wife,

or

If the instinct of

mother dies out

daughter,

of

sister,

college-bred

WHAT

26

woman, even

IS

WORTH WHILE?

in the course of a

most brilliant

career otherwise, the world will forget to love

her

it

will scorn her, and justly.

If she does

not make her surroundings home-like wherever

whether she be teacher,

artist,

musician,

doctor, writer, daughter at home, or a

mother in

she

is,

her household, and

and loving, dainty

if

she herself

is

not cheery

in dress, gentle in

manner,

and beautiful in soul as every true woman ought

to be, the

ful

is

world will feel that the one thing need-

lacking,

vivid, tender womanliness,

which no knowledge

of

asymptotes

guistics can ever compensate.

woman

to

better for

and

fill

a simple

for
lin-

It is better for

human

part lovingly,

her to be sympathetic in trouble

to whisper a comforting

one grieving
a path to

or

ear,

message into but

than that she should make

Egypt and

lecture to thousands

on

ancient Thebes.

Let us lay hold of friendship.

life shall

we not have

In the eternal

friends forevermore

used to think that friendship meant happiness

I

have learned that

how we may, we

it

means

discipline.

Seek

shall never find a friend with-

out faults, imperfections,

traits,

and ways that

WHAT

WORTH WHILE?

IS

vex, grieve, annoy us.

27

we

Strive as

will,

we

ourselves can never fully fulfil the ideal of us

that

mind

in our friend's

is

short of

it.

Yet

life

is

we

this

day.

come

To have

true.

to have one of the sweetest

can bring: to be a friend

emn and

inevitably

us not give up friendship,

let

though we have found

friend

is

to

gifts that

have a

sol-

tender education of soul from day to

A friend gives us

confidence for

friend makes us outdo ourselves.

life.

friend

remembers us when we have forgotten ourselves,

or neglected ourselves

he takes loving heed of

our health, our work, our aims, our plans.

may

friend

may rebuke

rassed; he

gered.

If

he be

and we are not an-

us,

silent,

we

understand.

takes a great soul to be a true friend,

catholic,

steadfast,

and loving

must forgive much, forget much,

It costs to be a friend, or to
is

nothing else in

costs so

much.

strength,

life,

is

It

a large,
One

spirit.

forbear much.

have a friend there

:

except motherhood, that

It not only costs time, affection,

patience,

love,

must even lay down

There

and we are not embar-

praise us,

sometimes

man

his life for his friends.

no true friendship without self-abne-

gation, self-sacrifice.


WSAT

28

WORTH WHILE f

IS

Let us be slow to make friends, but, having

once made them, let us pray that neither

life

nor

death, misunderstanding, distance, nor doubt,

may

ever come between us, to vex our peace.

Let us be patient,

let

us be kindly, let us be

There are so many

self-possessed in friendship.

ways

of grieving a friend,

softly before

him ? Let us be

we not walk

shall

true to our friends,

and then believe that they are and ever will

be true to us.

One

True love never nags;

of the dearest thoughts to

that a real friend will never get

or try to, or

want

me

it trusts.

is this,

away from me,

Love does not have

to.

to be

tethered, either in time or eternity.

It

is

another

have to

and

great and solemn thing to say to

human
we

live,

spiritual.

Your sorrows
you
far

In this one

soul.

life

that

we

will share all things temporal

Your
shall be

shall yet be near.

from me but that

joys

my

shall be

sorrows.

You

my

joys.

In absence

shall never be so

can hear your voice in

the twilight and in the night-season.

Though

land and sea divide us, you shall yet walk by

my

side

and kneel with me

shall feel the touch of

in prayer; still I

your hand, and rejoice in

WHAT

Your

your sympathy.
strong

WORTH WHILE?

IS

and glad.

letters shall

am

29

make me

not afraid of

you.

With you I need not be too greatly reserved.

To you I may speak the deep thoughts of my
heart. With you alone I laugh with you only
may I shed tears and be not ashamed. To you
only can I say, " Behold, here am I, an undisguised human soul all others know me in some
one mood,
you know me in all moods."
In the eternal life we may make new friends
But can those radiant,
I dare say we shall.
;

perfect,

and

and dear

glorified ones ever be quite so near

to us as those

more human souls that

we have known when they, like ourselves, were

but struggling, aspiring, and suffering mortals;
those

who have

shared joy and pain with us,

who have watched

us wistfully over mountain,

who have quarrelled with

us and kissed us again, who have loved us with
tenderness, and who have been faithful to us,

wilderness, and sea,

even unto

death?

Meetings and

partings,

hand-clasps and farewells, loving nearness and

grieving tears,

on earth.

these are the

But

lot of friendship

in eternity there shall be nei-

ther weeping nor any sound of sighing, and

there shall be no parting there.

WSAT

30

WORTH WEILS f

IS

Let us not be

Let us lay hold of sorrow.

afraid of
nettle, it

when grasped firmly, like the

never stings. The life that has not
it,

known and

for

accepted sorrow

It can neither help nor teach,

and untaught.
for

it

strangely crude

is

The

has never learned.

life

that has

spurned the lesson of sorrow, or failed to read

it

and hard; but the

aright, is cold

has been disciplined by sorrow

full of

Without sorrow

no half-tones nor merciful

It has

life glares.

table.

courageous, and

is

holy and gentle love.

Disappointment,

shadows.

Pain

in

common

the

is

that

life

life, is

lot of

inevi-

humanity.

Sharp sorrow, at one time or another, will come

to each of us,

But

this

veals

if

indeed

same sorrow

many

is

it

has not already come.

a gentle teacher, and re-

things that would otherwise be hard

to understand.

Sorrow passes.

"how

"See," says a keen observer,

little trace a single

one, leaves in

any

sorrow, even a great

He

life."

that the influence of sorrow

meant that

life is greater

not be overborne by

mean

he only

than sorrow, and need

Says Emerson, " All

it.

all gain, is particular

did not

is slight,

...

it is

only the

loss,

finite

WHAT

WORTH WHILE?

IS

31

that has wrought and suffered; the infinite lies

stretched in smiling repose."

There

upon

is

no

Does not

before.

wild clamor of
lot

We

sorrow.

ne-w'

shall be called

to bear nothing that has not

thought

this

still in

part the

we murmur

Shall

life ?

been borne

when unnumbered mourning

at our

hearts, as sen-

our own, have been

sitive, as true, as loving, as

breaking under the weight of the same sorrow

that oppresses us to-day, have
of ours, whatever
it ?

Shall

we not

may

it

rather

met

this grief

and have conquered

be,

now

in turn try to bear

the cross more bravely than any that have gone

we may give strength and courage

weary ones who must bear it after us ?

before, that
to the

Every day of meeting sorrow superbly makes

the

life

more grand.

Every tear that

falls

from one's own eyes gives a deeper tenderness

of look,

of touch,

another's woe.

that

ing

of word,

Sorrow

we may mourn.
felt, suffered,

It

wept,

is
is

that shall soothe

not given to us alone

given us, that, hav-

we may be

able to un-

derstand, love, bless.

Let us lay hold of

faith.

to us to gain a firm hold on

Of what
life, if

profit is it

we hold

it

WHAT

32

WORTH WHILE.

IS

but blindly, without any light on the meaning

of our present condition, or the character of our

future destiny?

Faith, Christian faith, holds

the key to the blessedness of the eternal

life.

Faith opens the gate of pearl, and lets us

in.

Strong, serene, unquenchable faith in the lov-

ing-kindness of God, the wisdom of Providence,

the guidance of the

deeming love
fearlessly

istence

will

Holy

Spirit,

and the

re-

of Christ, will enable us to look

toward the end of the temporal ex-

and the beginning

make

effectively,

it

of the eternal,

and

possible for us to live our lives

grandly

Letting go the unworthy

things that meet us, pretence, worry, discontent and self-seeking,

of

and taking loyal hold

time, work, present happiness, love, duty,

friendship, sorrow,
all true

strength,

and

faith, let

us so live in

womanliness as to be an inspiration,

and blessing

touched by ours

to those

whose

lives are

What

Worth While

is

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ART OF LIVING (THE). By F. Emory Lyon.
BLESSING OF CHEERFULNESS. J. R. Miller, D.D.
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