Thoughts I Met on the Highway | Page 4

of blaming or condemning we will sympathize.
"Comfort one another.?For the way is often dreary?And the feet are often weary,?And the heart is very sad.?There is a heavy burden bearing,?When it seems that none are caring,?And we half forget that ever we were glad.
"Comfort one another?With the hand-clasp close and tender.?With the sweetness love can render,?And the looks of friendly eyes.?Do not wait with grace unspoken,?While life's daily bread is broken--?Gentle speech is oft like manna from the skies."
And then when we fully realize the fact that selfishness is at the root of all error, sin, and crime, and that ignorance is the basis of all selfishness, with what charity we come to look upon the acts of all. It is the ignorant man who seeks his own ends at the expense of the greater whole. It is the ignorant man, therefore, who is the selfish man.

To get up immediately when we stumble, face again to the light, and travel on without wasting even a moment in regret.

We are on the way from the imperfect to the perfect; some day, in this life or some other, we shall reach our destiny. It is as much the part of folly to waste time and cripple our forces in vain, unproductive regrets in regard to the occurences of the past as it is to cripple our forces through fears and forebodings for the future.
There is no experience in any life which if rightly recognized, rightly turned and thereby wisely used, cannot be made of value; many times things thus turned and used can be made sources of inestimable gain; ofttimes they become veritable blessings in disguise.

'Tis the sweetest thing to remember?If courage be on the wane.?When the cold, dark days are over--?Why, the birds go north again.
_Ella Higginson_

Nothing is more subtle than thought, nothing more powerful, nothing more irresistible in its operations, when rightly applied and held to with a faith and fidelity that is unswerving,--a faith and fidelity that never knows the neutralizing effects of doubt and fear. If one have aspirations and a sincere desire for a higher and better condition, so far as advantages, facilities, associates, or any surroundings or environments are concerned, and if he continually send out his highest thought forces for the realization of these desires, and continually water these forces with firm expectation as to their fulfillment, he will sooner or later find himself in the realization of these desires, and all in accordance with natural laws and forces.
We are born to be neither slaves nor beggars, but to dominion and to plenty. This is our rightful heritage, if we will but recognize and lay claim to it.

One who never turned his back, but marched breast forward, Never doubted clouds would break,?Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph, Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better,?Sleep to wake.
_Robert Browning_

Will is the steady directing power: it is concentration. It is the pilot which, after the vessel is started by the mighty force within, puts it on its right course and keeps it true to that course.
Will is the sun-glass which so concentrates and so focuses the sun's rays that they quickly burn a hole through the paper that is held before it. The same rays, not thus concentrated, not thus focused, would fall upon the paper for days without any effect whatever. Will is the means for the directing, the concentrating, the focusing, of the?thought-forces. Thought under wise direction,--this it is that does the work, that brings results, that makes the successful career. One object in mind which we never lose sight of; an ideal steadily held before the mind, never lost sight of, never lowered, never swerved from,--this, with _persistence_, determines all. Nothing can resist the power of thought, when thus directed by will.

To stand by one's friend to the uttermost end,?And fight a fair fight with one's foe;?Never to quit and never to twit,?And never to peddle one's woe.
_George Brinton Chandler_

The fearing, grumbling, worrying, vascillating do not succeed in anything and generally live by burdening, in some form or another, someone else. They stand in the way of, they prevent their own success; they fail in living even an ordinary healthy, normal life; they cast a blighting influence over and they act as a hindrance to all with whom they at any time come in contact. The pleasures we take captive in life, the growth and advancement we make, the pleasure and benefit our company or acquaintanceship brings to others, the very desirability of our companionship on the part of others--all depend upon the types of thought we entertain and live most habitually with.

No one could tell me where my Soul might be.?I searched for God but God eluded me.?I sought my brother out and found all there.
_Ernest Crosby._

In the degree