worldly ways and byways-第49章
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first…love whisper。 Who can enter the chapel where their dead lie;
and feel no blush of self…reproach; nor burning consciousness of
broken faith nor wasted opportunities? The new year will bring to
them as near an approach to perfect happiness as can be attained in
life's journey。 The fortunate mortals are rare who can; without a
heartache or regret; pass through their disused and abandoned
dwellings; who dare to open every door and enter all the silent
rooms; who do not hurry shudderingly by some obscure corners; and
return with a sigh of relief to the cheerful sunlight and murmurs
of the present。
Sleepless midnight hours come inevitably to each of us; when the
creaking gates of subterranean passages far down in our
consciousness open of themselves; and ghostly inhabitants steal out
of awful vaults and force us to look again into their faces and
touch their unhealed wounds。
An old lady whose cheerfulness under a hundred griefs and
tribulations was a marvel and an example; once told a man who had
come to her for counsel in a moment of bitter trouble; that she had
derived comfort when difficulties loomed big around her by writing
down all her cares and worries; making a list of the subjects that
harassed her; and had always found that; when reduced to material
written words; the dimensions of her troubles were astonishingly
diminished。 She recommended her procedure to the troubled youth;
and prophesied that his anxieties would dwindle away in the clear
atmosphere of pen and paper。
Introspection; the deliberate unlatching of closed wickets; has the
same effect of stealing away the bitterness from thoughts that; if
left in the gloom of semi…oblivion; will grow until they overshadow
a whole life。 It is better to follow the example of England's pure
Queen; visiting on certain anniversaries our secret places and
holding communion with the past; for it is by such scrutiny only
THAT MEN MAY RISE ON STEPPING…STONES
OF THEIR DEAD SELVES TO HIGHER THINGS。
Those who have courage to perform thoroughly this task will come
out from the silent chambers purified and chastened; more lenient
to the faults and shortcomings of others; and better fitted to take
up cheerfully the burdens of a new year。
End