| Making the Most of Life |
Chapter 24 |
Page 4 |
There are few things from which young people of wealthy families suffer more than from over help. No noble spirited young man wants life made too easy for him by the toil of others. What he desires is an opportunity to work for himself. There are some things no other one can give us; we must get them for ourselves. Our bodies must grow through our own exertions. Our minds must be disciplined through our own study. Our hearts’ powers must be developed and trained through our own loving and doing. One writes of two friends and two ways of showing friendship: –
“One brought a crystal goblet overfull
Of water he had dipped from flowing streams
That rose afar where I had never trod–
Too far for even my quickened eye to see.
They were fair heights, familiar to his feet–
They were cool springs that greeted him at morn,
And made him fresh when noon was burning high,
And sang to him when all the stars were out;
His hand had led them forth, and their pure life
Was husbanded, with sacred thrift, for flower,
And bird, and beast, and man. The hills were his,
And his the bright, sweet water. Not to me
Came its renewal. I was still athirst.
“The other looked upon me graciously,
Beheld me wasted with my bitter need,
And gave me–nothing. With a face severe,
And prophet brow, he bade me quickly seek
My own hard quarry–there hew out a way
For the imprisoned waters to flow forth
Unhindered by the stubborn granite blocks
That shut them in dark channels. I sprung up,
For that I knew my Master; and I smote,
Even as Moses, my gray, barren rock,
And found sufficient help for all my house,
All my servants, all my flocks and herds.”
The best friend we can have is the one, not who digs out the treasure for us, but who teaches and inspires us with our own hands to open the rocks and find the treasures for ourselves. The digging out of the iron will do us more good than even the iron itself when it is dug out.
Page 4