Things Worth While

THINGS WORTH WHILE. BY LELLA MARLER HOGGAN. The divine end of creation is righteous joy. Man's ideal of happiness differs according to his intelligence. What is joy to one may be pain to another. Bound up in each man's soul is a personal something which makes him different from his fellows. The characteristics of that individuality are interwoven into his life in such a way as to ex- press to the world his inner or true self; and try as he may, he cannot bide that personality; he cannot get away from himself. The inspired man who looks into the hearts of others and catches their sacred joys and sorrc ws, always weaves those expe- riences and emotions about his own personality when he gives them to us to enjoy. In the sculptor's stone, we find the image of his ideal; on the artist's canvas we see portrayed the things which have touched his life;and in the poet's song, we find his soul revealed. And so it is that each one reaches out for happiness in a dif- ferent way from his fellows. He places the greatest value on the things that appeal to his personality. That which is related to him becomes dear to him. The baby asks, my very own?" and when he is "Is it mine, told that it is, he "How pretty; how good !" involuntarily cries, And often the man does not outgrow the childish feeling. When he sees that which is good and beautiful, his first desire is to en- compass it into a narrow limit; to make of it a personal chattel to which he can set claim, The admirer of beauty looks upon the glowing sunset with a regret in his heart that he cannot possess it by putting it on a meager bit of canvas.

THINGS WORTH WHILE. 879 And because man's time and effort are largely governed by this personal element, he fails to discover the things in life that are really worth while. He doss not stop to consider the true value, the divine value of things. If his own selfish stamp is upon an ob- ject, it is dearer to him than if God's value mark is upon it. He reaches out for material objects. He desires to possess goods of intrinsic value. He does not realize that they are only of tempo- rary worth; that with a change in conditions their value will be swept away, and like the Kobold's "Key-Flower" jewels, they will be as pebbles and dead leaves. That which can be placed in a leathern pocket-book or in- closed within four walls is of meager worth so far as the divine seal of value is concerned. Man has not yet learned to place the correct value marks on the works of God. But as he grows farther away from himself and nearer to God, as his world grows larger and better, he will be able to discern the true value more clearly. Those things which have an eternal worth, which tend to the betterment of man, and which in the end, make for the advance- ment of God's purposes in the earth, those things are worth the cost; and those things belong to all men. God intended that it should be so. But he who would have most, according to divine law, must give most. A man's world is measured by his generosity. He receives in proportion as lie gives. And each man gets out of this big, hap- py, wholesome world all that he is capable of possessing and en- joying. All eternal gifts grow greater and better by being shared with humanity. A man may have the opulence of heaven, if he prepares to enjoy it and to share it with his fellows. But he can- not retain in his personal clutches even the beggar's portion. Eternal gifts cannot be clung to; they cannot be held by locks and keys, nor by safety banks and iron bars. This world is a grand old circling unit; and the law of com- pensation is in harmony with the eternal laws of the universe. If man gives nothing out, there is nothing to come back to him. For each man gets according to his deserts. He receives only what he pays- for.

880 IMPROVEMENT ERA. If a man has not received that which he thinks he .deserves, let him look into his life. How much of that life has he given out? How many good things in his soul has he shared with the world? When he has received any blessed message, or wrought out any eternal truth, has he passed it on to his fellow men? When he has conquered some vice or made bis way over some pit- fall, has he assisted his brother to the better way? Has he sanc- tified his sorrows to the purification of his soul, and then shared that purer, better life with humanity? Has he shared his best books, his best friends, his best experiences, and his best thoughts with those who would them? When appreciate he has met a great and a good man, has he loved him less because he had no claim on the man's goodness and power? Or has he let his stingy little self be swallowed up, for a time, in his admiration of the man and his gratitude to God that the world possessed so much of good? After all, what portion of his life and love has he given to the world; and what share has the world returned? If he look at his meager gifts, he will know that as much has been be- stowed upon him as he has paid for. When man learns to appreciate all things of worth, because of their worthiness, and not because of their relationship to him- self, then will he have grown into the higher law. He will not desire to place a narrow, jealous ownership on all things good. When he finds any worthy gift, he will be glad to share it with all men. He will then know that he may possess that which is dear to him, not merely by the law of personal ownership, but by that greater law, the law which gives to each man to enjoy the things which his soul is prepared to appreciate. And in all his generosity, let him remember that the goods, and the hearts, and the souls of others, are not his to give; he must hold sacred their rights. Let each man look into his soul; let him weigh and measure it, and if he finds that it is mean and small, let him reach out for a more generous, whole-souled life, and he will find that, if he cast his small portion on the water, after many days, it will return to him, heavy-laden with the wholesome gifts it has gathered, Let him appreciate his individuality and make of himself all

. : * THINGS WORTH WHILE. 881 that God designed that he should; then let him continually give that self to the world, that the world, knowing him, may bestow its gifts upon him. And though, through desert, he may gain a God's share of life's blessings, • let him not attempt to hold them in a selfish clutch. Remember that Judas lost his heavenly inheritance by cling- ing to thirty paltry pieces of silver; while Christ gained an eternal and glorious salvation by giving his mortal body for sacrifice. Lewisville, Idaho.