This is morbid and unwholesome talk which can do no human being any good to utter, or listen to.
But it can depress and discourage the weak and struggling souls, who are striving to make the best of circ.u.mstances, and it can nerve to suicide the hand of some half-crazed being, who needed only a word of encouragement and cheer to brace up and win the race.
This is the unpardonable sin--to talk discouragingly to human souls, hungering for hope.
When the man without brains does it, he can be pardoned for knowing no better.
When the man with brains does it, he should be ashamed to look his fellow mortals in the eyes.
It is a sin ten times deeper dyed than giving a stone to those who ask for bread.
It is giving poison to those who plead for a cup of cold water.
Fortunately the remarks above quoted contain not one atom of truth!
The writer may speak for himself, but he has no right to speak for others.
It is all very well for a man who is marked with smallpox to say his face has not one unscarred inch on the surface of it. But he has no premises to stand upon when he says there is not a face in the world which is free from smallpox scars.
Life is not "a hopeless battle in which we are doomed to defeat."
Life is a glorious privilege, and we can make anything we choose of it, if we begin early and are in deep earnest, and realize our own divine powers.
Nothing can hinder us or stay us. We can do and be whatsoever we will.
The prize of life is not "a thing which is neither enjoyed while had nor missed when lost."
It is enjoyed by millions of souls to-day--this great prize of life. I for one declare that for every day of misery in my existence I have had a week of joy and happiness. For every hour of pain, I have had a day of pleasure. For every moment of worry, an hour of content.
I cannot be the only soul so endowed with the appreciation of life! I know scores of happy people who enjoy the many delights of earth, and there are thousands whom I do not know.
Of course "life is not missed when lost"--because it is never lost. It is indestructible.
Life ever was, and ever will be. It is a continuous performance.
It is not "worthless" to the wholesome, normal mind. It is full of interest, and rich with opportunities for usefulness.
When any man says his life is worthless, it is because he has eyes and sees not, and ears and hears not.
It is his own fault, not the fault of G.o.d, fate or accident.
If every life seems at times "unsatisfactory" and "inadequate" it is only due to the cry of the immortal soul longing for larger opportunities and fewer limitations.
Neither is life "false to hope." He who trusts the divine Source of Life, shall find his hopes more than realized here upon earth. I but voice the knowledge of thousands of souls, when I make this a.s.sertion.
I know whereof I speak.
All that our dearest hopes desire will come to us, if we believe in ourselves as rightful heirs to Divine Opulence, and work and think always on those lines.
If "no whisper has ever reached us out of the void" confirming our faith in immortality, then one-third of the seemingly intelligent and sane beings of our acquaintance must be fools or liars. For we have the a.s.sertion of fully this number that such whispers have come, besides the Biblical statistics of numerous messages from the other realm. "As it was in the beginning, is now and shall be ever more, world without end, Amen."
Preparation
Every day I hear middle-aged people bemoaning the fact that they were not given advantages or did not seize the opportunities for an education in early youth.
They believe that their lives would be happier, better and more useful had an education been obtained.
Scarcely one of these people realizes that middle life is the schooltime for old age, and that just as important an opportunity is being missed or ignored day by day for the storing up of valuable knowledge which will be of great importance in rendering old age endurable.
Youth is the season to acquire knowledge, middle life is the time to acquire wisdom.
Old age is the season to enjoy both, but wisdom is far the more important of the two.
By wisdom I mean the philosophy which enables us to control our tempers, curb our tendency to severe criticism, and cultivate our sympathies.
The majority of people after thirty-five consider themselves privileged to be cross, irritable, critical and severe, because they have lived longer than the young, because they have had more trials and disappointments, and because they believe they understand the world better.
Those are excellent reasons why they should be patient, kind, broad and sympathetic.
The longer we live the more we should realize the folly and vulgarity of ill-temper, the cruelty of severe criticism and the necessity for a broad-minded view of life, manners, morals and customs.
Unless we adapt ourselves to the changing habits of the world, unless we adopt some of the new ideas that are constantly coming to the front, we will find ourselves carping, disagreeable and lonely old people as the years go by.
The world will not stand still for us. Society will not wear the same clothes or follow the same pleasures, or think the same thoughts when we are eighty that were prevalent when we were thirty. We must keep moving with the world or stand still and solitary.
After thirty we must seize every hour and educate ourselves to grow into agreeable old age.
It requires at least twenty years to become well educated in book and college lore. If we begin to study at seven we are rarely through with all our common schools, seminaries, high schools and colleges have to offer under a score of years.
The education for old age needs fully as many years. We need to begin at thirty to be tolerant, patient, serene, trustful, sympathetic and liberal. Then, at fifty, we may hope to have "graduated with honors"
from life"s school of wisdom, and to be prepared for another score or two of years of usefulness and enjoyment in the practice of these qualities.
Instead of wasting our time in bemoaning the loss of early opportunities for obtaining an education, let us devote ourselves to the cultivation of wisdom, since that is free to all who possess self-control, will power, faith and perseverance.
Begin to-day, at home. Be more tolerant of the faults of the other members of your household. Restrain your criticisms on the conduct of your neighbors.
Try and realize the causes which led some people who have gone wrong to err. Look for the admirable qualities in every one you meet.
Sympathize with the world. Be interested in progress, be interested in the young. Keep in touch with each new generation, and do not allow yourself to grow old in thought or feeling.
Educate yourself for a charming old age. There is no time to lose.
Dividends
Our thoughts are shaping unmade spheres, And, like a blessing or a curse, They thunder down the formless years And ring throughout the universe.