GRAINS OF GOLD

New Zealand Tablet, 10 December 1908, Page 3

GRAINS OF GOLD

A FRAGILE SPAN. The swan's wake in the glassy mere,

The southward highway of the bird, The path of a star-ray in the sphere,

The road of the west wind ere 'tis heard : Aye, even as these is the fragile span Of years that are called the life of man. — Aye Maria.

To select well among old things is almost equal to inventing new ones. — Trublet. There may be only two or three opportunities in a lifetime of proving oneself brave, but every hour of every day one may have the satisfaction of knowing that he is not a coward. — Anon. The simple question is, whatever a man's rank in life may be, does he in that rank perform the work that God has given him to do? To work — to do honest work of any kind — is, after all, the very first requisite of true religion. And when we base our chances of acceptance on the work we have done with our hands, this will be a better -world full of better men and women. He who by nature is coarse and violent, and who by dint of resolution becomes gentle and amiable, often becomes capable of great and difficult undertakings in the service of God ; because that very stubbornness, or that natural obstinacy, used in a good causs, knows neither defeat nor discouragement. — St. Ignatius. No true product of human leasoning and no phenomenon in the world can ever defy the Faith; but the abnormal suppositions which vivid imaginations conjure up from the mass, of disconnected facts that lie before them will never cease to disturb religious minds. These grotesque hypotheses, however, do not constitute science. They are as far removed from science as the sombre doctrines of paganism are removed from the revelations of Christianity. If you would be 'young when old,' adopt the sun-dial's motto, ' I record none but hours of sunshine.' Never mind the dark or shadowed hours. Forget unpleasant, ' unhappy , days. Remember only the days of rich experiences; let the others drop into oblivion. It is said that ' long livers are great hopers.' If you keep, your hope bright in spite, of discouragements and meet all difficulties with a cheerful face, it will be very difficult for age to trace its furrows on your brow. There is longevity in I cheerfulness.