THINGS THOUGHTFUL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16928, 30 December 1922, Page 17

THINGS THOUGHTFUL.

EDUCATION, What we call our root-and-branch reforms of slavery, war, gambling, intemperance is only medicating the symptoms. "W© must begin higher namely in education.—Emerson. On© great trouble with unkind thoughts is that it is so very difficultto keep them only thoughts; sooner or later they find utterance. We may fancy that we are keeping our uncharitable opinions to ourselves, but they are almost certain to express themselves in look or ton©, if not in word. The only way to be really kind is to he kind clear through. THE ENCHANTED ISLAND. Be not afraid; the isle is full of noises, Sound and sweet air, that give delight s.ud hurt not. Sometimes a thousand twangiing instruments Will hum about min© ears ; and sometimes voices, That, if I then had wak’d after long sleep, Will make me sleep again; and then, in dreaming, The clouds methought would open and show riches Ready to drop upon me; that, when I wak’d l cried to dream again. —Shakespeare. A little thing is a little thing, bur, faithfulness in little things is a verygreat thing.—St Chrysostom. FACING FACTS. We ought not to overlook the fact that those methods which have produced the most perfect national organisation in the history of tho world are also responsible for orgies of brutality without parallel among civilised peoples.—Cambridge Essay. THOUGHTS ON MARRIAGE. Marriage is the great sea of an unknown life, a new pilot, and a ship untried.—Mrs Oliphant-. Marriage is like life in this—that it is a field of battle, and not a bed of roses.—R. L. Stevenson. When before all they stand—the holy vow and ring of gold, no fond illusions now, bind her as his. Across the threshold led And every tear kissed off as soon as shed. His house she enters, there to be a light Shining within, when all without is night. A guardian angel o’er his life presiding, Doubling his pleasures, and his cares dividing. Winning him back when mingling in tho throng ; From a vain world we love alas too long, To fireside happiness and hours of ease. Blest with that charm the certainty to please. flow oft her eyes read his ; her gentle mind To all his wishes, all his thoughts inclined. * Still subject—ever on the watch to borrow Mirth of his mirth, and sorrow of his sorrow. ■ —Rogers. PRAYER,

Prayer is always effective. It is a concentration and a cleansing. It purifies the mind and laves th© spirit. We Lnerefore emerge from it as from n Lath, fresh, clean and revivified, with courage to confront the day. Those for whom prayer has no place in their vocabulary are ill-equjpped for life and death. MEDITATION. Men seek retreats for themselves in houses in the country, sea-shores, and mountains ; and thou too art wont to desire such things very much. For this i 3 altogether a mark of th© most common sort of men, for it is in thy power, whenever thou shalt choose, to retire into thyself. For nowhere, either with more quiet or more freedom from trouble, does a man retire than into his own soul, particularly when he lias within him such thohghts that by looking into them he is immediately in tianquility. Know then to enjoy every oay this retreat, arid there renew thy strength.—Marcus Aurelius. CHILDREN OF THE LIGHT. Tliere is one creed, and only one, That glorifies God’s excellence; So cherish, that His will be done, The common creed of common sense. It is the crimson, and not the gray, That charms the twilight of all time; If. is the promise of the day That makes the starry sky sublime. It is the faith within the fear That holds us to the life we curse— So let us in ourselves revere The self which is the Universe! I.et us, the Children of the, Night, Put off tho cloak that hides the scar. Let us be Children of the Light, And tell the ages what we are! Edward Arlington Robinson. TRUE DIGNITY. True dignity is never gained by place, and never lost when honours are withdrawn. —Mas s i n ge v. The day is before me. The circumstances of .this day are mjf environment ; they are the material out of which, by means or my brain, I have to live, and be happy, and refrain from causing unhappiness in other people.— Arnold Bennett. ENDURANCE. Endurance is not only a manifestation of disciplined force, but it is a ■ means of bringing our powers t-o the | very highest development. Two great j military lenders illustrate this point. | Napoleon- was the highest type of the I aggressive soldier. He carried evervj thing by rapid, concentrated movements. Glory was his key word, and i'n a long time he swept everything before him. But there was coming on a man with -another word and other tr.ctics. He was Sir Arthur Wellesley, later the Duke of Wellington. His word was duty, and his tactics were to cautiously make his advances, take up strong positions, and act on the defensive. He gave Napoleon more than enough in the Peninsular campaign. It was hammer /and anvil, and the hammer lad the worst of it. But the climax came at Waterloo. There glory met auty and fury measured its strength ■»• ith endurance. Glory faded and fury rc lied back like a wave of the sea. At the-very climax of tho battle the “ Iron ■ Luke ” rode into the thick of it when : Napoleon’s Old Guards were bearing ! down on the British line like a wave of fire, and with his cocked hat waving • over his head, said : 14 My men. victory is for them who hold out the longest.” j The- value of endurance was never better illustrated. Children of wealth and want , to each is given One spot of green, and all ‘die blue of Heaven. , —Oliver Wendell Holmes.