Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885, May 01, 1877, Page 124, Image 4
r 124 AlTLAUSE. U -i t'i i fe i yet nchicvcil in our work, while ambition and aspiration give a new incentive, and change the results of our labors. Some choose for their woof, idleness; others, industry. The forinei bring forth as the fruits of their weaving, sin, crime and misery, in different figures and col ors. The latter produce purity, innocence and happiness, all of which please the eye and make glad the heart. When we weave in time given us the golden threads ot pleasure alone, the fab ric is gaudy and useless, giving but a pas sing satisfaction, dazzling for a time with its brightness and beauty, but lacking those essentials without which it is use less. "With some, sorrow and aflHction form a liner, purer material, with mild and well blended colors, having a different and higher kind of beauty. " For life In one and In Its warp and woof There runs a thread of gold that glitters fair, And sometimes in the pattern shows most sweet, When there are somber colors." But tiio same sorrows and aflliclions with others cause the weaving to be ill. shapen and deformed, with dark and gloomy shades. The difference between the two is in a part of the machinery called the heart. In one, the heart is kept bright aud shining by love, patience and holiness; while the other grows dull and rusty by hatred, anger and discord. Sometimes one weaves almost uncon sciously at first, with what is called bad habits, and soon they find their hands and body bound by these in such a manner as to prevent their weaving anything ex cept an ugly, disfigured fabric. The strangest part of this weaving is the record that is kept of it in the faces of the weavers how much thej' have woven and how well or how poorly. In the com' mencement of the work the couctenances are pure and spotless, but as it progresses the marks are soon visible, recording the good, the bad, the lovely and the unlovely, thus stamping indelibly in their faces the kind and character of their work. Sometimes there is an additional charm added to the weaving, when two persons, finding an afllnily existing between them, take up the fabric of life and weave it to. gcthcr, "for better and for worse." But this fabric is not always the smoothest or finest, but is often rough and uneven, lack ing botli harmony of coloring and beauty of texture. Different guides are taken for tills work of life. Some have none other than their ovn selfish wishes and caprices; others arc slaves to fashion and custom, while those who most earnestly wisli their work well done take as a guide a volume some times called the " Book of Books." In this there is a pattern laid down of a life woven eighteen hundred years ago, which, in its surpassing beauty of form coloring and texture, excels all others! Taking this guide and pattern for our work, we cease to look forward with dread to the coming of the sister fate, whose part it is to cut the frail thread of our lives. Nor will we have to say at the end of our task : " The colors Unit we had to weave Were bright in our early years; But we wove the tissue wrong, aud sW.incd The woor with bitter tears. " We wove a web of doubt and Tear. Not faith and hope aud love; Because we looked at our work, and not At our pattern above." E.P. APPLAUSE. The ease with which we progress on life's journey, depends on the impression which we create in the minds of our fel low men. By so conducting ourselves as to gain the respect and confidence of those with whom we come in daily contact we become prepared, under such cheering auspices to move with firmer and steadier tread toward the goal whither a noble arn bition and proper motives lead us. Eulogies of "self made men" may still resound with their flattering accent; the world censured for its want of charl ity; humanity deemed heartless and inliu-