THE GARLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3337, 27 February 1918, Page 53

THE GARLAND.

FOR THE QUIET HOUR, No. 235. By Duncan Wright, Dunedin. - DISAPPOINTMENT. '^Disappointment—His appointment," 'Change on© letter, then I see That the thwartings of my purpose Is God's better choice for me, Hia appointment must be blessing Tho' it may come in disguise, 3?V?r the end from the beginning Open to His wisdom lies. '^Disappointment—His appointment," Whose? The Lord's Who loves me best, Understands and knows me fully, Who my faith and love would test; For, like loving earthly parent, He rejoices when He know 3 That His child accepts unquestioned All that from His wisdom flows. "Disappointment—His appointment," "fro good thing will He withhold" Prom denials oft we gather Treasures of Hia love untold; Well He knows, each broken purpose Deads to fuller, deeper trust; And the end of all His dealings Proves our God is wise ,and just. L. S. S. "It is a trite saying that disappointment is the hardest "of all things to bear—hardest because it finds the soul unbraced to meet it, relaxed, at ease, and turned to indulgence and joy. Often disappointment embitters and maddens. It may be the smallest fraction of good—a little morsel of delight which a wealthier or happier would spurn; no matter if it be but the killing of the prisoner's spider or Mungo Park's little bit of moss in the sandy desert. No man with a man's heart in him gets far on his wilderness way without some bitter, soul-searching disappointment; happy is he who is brave enough to push on another stage of the journey, and rest in Elim, where there are twelve springs—living springs of water —and three-score-and-ten palms."— J. B. Brown. 4

" Yes, as usual, doomed to disappointment." A soft voice replied, "Do not say 'as usual '; you sometimes are wonderfully prospered." " Yes, I say, 'as usual,' " was the angry .response. " 1 find the path blocked up whichever way I turn; try hard as I may something or other upsets all my plans. I might as well give up one time as another." " Perhaps it isn't the right time," said a soft voice again. " Maybe God would prove you before He blesses you; perhaps He sees that you are not prepared for prosperity. We must take the blessings thankfully as come, John, and the disappointments, too, as part of His loving discipline. Everything comes best in God's time." "Disappointment—Hie appointment." Lord, I take it then as such, Ijike clay in tho hands of potter, Yielding wholly to Thy touch, All my life's plan is Thy moulding 1 , Not one single choice be mine, liet me answer unrepining— Father—" Not my will, but Thine." "Disappointment—His appoin linent." Change the letter, then, dear friend, Take in cheerful acquiescence, All Thy Father's love may send; Soon, will faith be lost in vision, Then, in glory Thou shalt see "His appointment," and that only Was the right way home for thee. Longfellow says: "Welcome disappointment ! Thy hand is cold and bard, but it is the hand of a friend. Thy voice is stern and harsh, but it is' the voice of a friend. Ob, there is something sublime in calm endurance, something sublime in the resolute, fixed purpose of suffering without complaining, which makes disappointment often better than success." Another writer says : " Disappointment is responsible for one half of the cynicism that is in the world. When a man views things with undue hardiness, being ready in the unhappy irritability of his spirit to snap and sneer at all that comes in his way, depend upon it he is urged on by the ghost of some bitter disappointment. The human heart may be a graveyard as well a flower garden. And the mind will often wander forth to brood over its buried dead until, to a distorted vision, the whole hearth appears a hideous mockery, a decorated sepulchre, a gigantic mistake. He who "scorns love, friendship, ambition, and such like as treacherous quicksands, is the one who could point with the finger of contempt to some grave where lie the mouldering bones of a delusive sham which heretofore had borne a sacred name. And so, as wo said, it comes to oass that grim disappointment is mainly responsible for the cynicism which we see around. .But this need not be. Nay, more, it ought not to be. Because the one whom you loved with a passionate devotion turns coldly from you, say not with a sneer, ' What is friendship but a name?' Nay, rather, let memory dwell upon a by-gone happiness with chastened gratitxide; let sympathy be on the alert to recognise a kindred spirit who may fill the vacant pla.oe; and, above all, let heart and mind turn in reverence to ' the Friend that sticketh closer than a brother.' jiecause your highest ambitions haye been dashed to the ground and trodden small by the heel of a cruel failure, do not say that your aspiring neighbour follows an ignis fa'tuus, which will lead him kneedeep into the mire. Let not your disappointment blind your vision, shrivel up your charity, and steal away your (aith in human nature."

ABOVE THE STORMS'. By M. »B. S&ngster. They tell us, who have dared to climb To Alpine summits clear and high, How, in their solitude sublime, Ensphered by the unclouded sky, The glory of the sunlight lay Around them like the smile of God, While, far below, a darkened day The whirlwind in its anger trod'. So sometimes when our pilgrim feet, By painful steps ascending high. Have gained at last a still retreat Shut in by lucent arcs of sky, God's peace bo keeps the steadfast soul, So rests its frailness on His might, That, though beneath the thunders roll. It dwells serene in cloudless light. What though the upward path be steep— What though the way-worn feet may tire, A soft tranquillity of sleep Is not for spirits that a,spire. 0, first the rough and rugged road', And then the blessedness of rest, When, from the radiant hills of God, He lifts us higher—to His breast. An anonymous writer gives sage counsel as to how disappointments may be avoided. It occurs to me just as this point to ask the question: How many readers of the Otago Witness could, with a good conscience, say, " I have never once in my life of ups and downs had any really serious disappointments?" I venture to suggest that most of us have had many grievous and bitter disappointments; and perhaps with a measure of cautious sagacity some of these could have been avoided. "All of us," asserts this writer, "have more disappointments than we need to have. If wo would learn to look upon life as an unfolding story of varied incident and ceaseless change, rising to its glorious climax, the ups and downs of it would seem less crucial to us. It hurts to be jolted out of our ruts; it is hard to bear losses, and sometimes harder to sustain wisely the inflowing of abundance. It wears upon us to toil for a great end, and to come far short of it. Yet there should be no real disappointment in all this, for we have no promise of immunity from change or from failure to obtain our desires. 'lf we expect to be undisturbed in a- complacent walk Ave shall be disappointed. If we expect interruptions, we shall have fewer of those experiences that we commonly call disappointments." Let readers and the writer of this message openly and frankly confess that to hold up high standards and lofty ideals on moral and religious topics is one thing, to act up to them is quite another thing. If therefore someone said of me: "In the hurly-burly of life any person might write the word with winch we started our message: DISAPPOINTMENT; but only through God's help and grace can a "man or woman say reverently and truthfully: "His appointment. I should at once acquiesce." T. DE WITT TALMAGE, in his usual trenchant and suggestive style, has this message for us: " Some of you have been disappointed this summer. Vacations are apt to be disappointments; but whatever have been your perplexities and worriments, know that 'man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps.' Ask these aged men in the church if it is not so. It has been so in my own life. This summer I' started for . the Adivondachs, and landed in Liverpool. I studied law, and I got into the ministry. I resolved to go as a missionary to China, and I stayed in the United States. I thought I would~~like to be in the East, and I went to the West. All the circumstances of my life—all my work —have been different from that which I expected. So, my dear people, this morning take home the comfort of this subject. Be content with such things as you have. From every grass-blade under yotir feet )earn the lesson of divine care, and never let the smallest bird flit across your path without thinking of the truth that ' five sparrows are sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God. Blessed be His glorious name for ever.' " THE DISAPPOINTED. There are songs chough for a hero Who dwells on the heights of fame. I sing for the disappointed— For those who missed their aim. I sing with a tearful cadence For one 'who stands in the dark, And knows that his last best arrow Has bounded back from the mark. I sing for the breathless runner-, The eager, anxious soul, Who falls with his strength exhausted Almost in sight of the goal; For the h&arts that break in silence, With a sorrow ail unknown— For those who need companions, Yet walk their way aloro. There are -songs enough for the lovera Who share love's tender pain; , I sing for one whose passion Is given and in vain; For those whose spirit comrades Have missed them on the way, ' I sing with a heart o'erfiowing This minor strain to-day. And I know tho solar system Must somewhere keep in space A prize for that spent runner Who barely lost the race. For the plan would be imperfect "Unless it held some sphere That paid for the toil and talent And love that are wasted hero. Ella Wheeler Wilcox.