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English Pages [56] Year 1914
The
SKELETON IN THE CLOSET By
CLARENCE
S.
DARROW
With Compliments of
THEODORE SCH%OEDE% Cos Cob, Conn.
?5>
THE SKELETON
IN
THE CLOSET
THE SKELETON INTHECLOSET ^j/CLARENCES.
DARROW
\J^
PRINTED ^ PUBLISHED BY FREDERICK C. BURSCH AT HILLACRE RIVERSIDE CON-
NECTICUT MCMXIV
Copyright
1899 Barrow
Clarence S.
THE SKELETON
IN
THE
CLOSET ^HE
closet
has
long been
so
allotted to the
skeleton
we
that
have come
to regard this
room as its it
fit
and natural home
has been given over to this
guest because
it
is
the darkest,
the closest and least conspicuous in the house.
The
door can be
securely fastened and only
now
and then can the grating bones 5
be heard by the world outside.
however secluded and unused this guest chamber seems to be, and however carefully we bolt the door and darken Still,
every chink and crevice in the
we
walls,
the
that
and is
will
occupant
remain
closed,
conscious
ever
are
is
until the
and the
last
there,
house tenant
has departed, never to return.
The
very fact that
we
try so
hard to keep the skeleton in proper room, makes
it
the more
impossible to forget that there.
Now
and
its
then
it
is
we
awake with a start at the thought of what might happen should
it
break the door and 6
wander and
through
then stray
out
wide world, and peaceful,
the
house,
into
tell
all
the the
neighbors
trusting
from what house it stole away; and yet we are somehow conscious that the rumor of its dread
presence
has
traveled as far as we are
Man
is
already
known.
a wonderfully adaptable
animal; he
fits
himself easily
where he is placed. He passes from infancy to childhood and from childhood to boyhood as smoothinto the environment
ly as the placid river flows to
the waiting
sea.
Every
cir-
cumstance and surrounding of his
life
seems
to
have
been
made for him. Suddenly a new desire takes possession of his soul
the
;
he turns
home
of
back on
his
childhood
his
days and goes out alone.
time
little
a
new
In a
family
is
reared about him, and he forgets the
round
may
group that
clustered
lose a
or a fortune,
leg
and he soon conforms
changed as
naturally
before.
A
born beneath his roof; a
place within
home, and
his
to his
and
condition
goes on as easily
He
his father's hearth.
life
and
as
child
is
it
takes
heart and
in a little while
he
can scarcely think of the day it
was not there. Death comes, 8
and
member
a
band
is
drops
healing balm upon
its
almost
dead
while rally
ever
has
we
it
we may
varying
no
the
scenes, is
always
matter
how
may have dwelt forget
ence for a
be-
Even though its
little
actual pres-
time,
still
no
so perfect and no en-
is
joyment
9
and
to all things living
neath the roof.
cloud
across
But
adjust ourselves natu-
an intruder,
a
the
that
lived.
skeleton in the closet
scene
goes on
life
unconscious
ever
long
little
carried out, but time
wounds and
the
to
of his
so great but
casting
our
its
happiness
we
feel
shadow or the
weight of some burden on our soul
;
and when we stop
to ask
the cause, the grinning skelton
reminds us that
it
is
with us
even here.
This
spectre
stands
quite
from the other sorrows of our Hfe age seems powerless to forget, and time will
apart
;
not bring
ever-fresh, recur-
its
ring scenes to erase the
ory of the
This
past.
because the skeleton
such a
dreadful
memnot
is
is
really-
guest.
The
kind and loving ivy creeps tenderly scar til
around
and crumbling stone, un-
the whole ruin
with
yawning
each
a lovely green.
is
covered
The
de10
caying
stands
pile
and
free
open to the sun and rain and It
air.
does not hide
head
its
or apologize for the blemishes
and seams that mark and
kind,
a
takes
and
face,
its
forgiving
nature
the ruin, scars and blends
with
these
all,
her
softening years and lovely face into
a
beautiful
w^hole; but
harmonious
unlike
the
ruin,
the skeleton in the closet
there
We
we
breath is
a
With
neglected, outcast child.
every
is
insist
that
nothing in the room.
refuse
to take
it
to
our
hearts and
homes and acknowl-
edge
our own.
to II
it as
strangle
it
to
We
seek
death, and
each fresh attempt not only
shows our
murderous design,
but proves that the skeleton not a pulseless thing but
dowed
The
with
is
immortal
brighter
the
is
enlife.
fire-light
that glows around our hearth,
the
more
sounds the wail
whose
wanders
wind
of the
for through
outside, blasts
and drear
desolate
its
the
rightful place
cold
outcast, is
in the
brightest corner of the room.
Our sorrow is
constant annoyance and at
this
dread presence
way
the
us,
but
treat
our
not caused by the
skeleton
behaves
to
from the way we guest. If
we looked
it
squarely 12
in
grinning skull,
its
might
it
not seem so very loathsome to the sight. grin.
It has the
may be
It
right to
but a grim
smile
over
that
has sounded the
it
row and greater
the
that
consciousness
henceforth no
evils are
may be
last sor-
in
store;
it
mocking, sardonic
a
grin at the thought of our dis-
unwelcome presence and the knowledge comfiture over
that
we
cannot drive
There
we
is
no
character
real
its
treat
which we
the live.
it
out.
truer index to
than
the
skeletons
way with
Some run
to
the closet door, and try to lock it fast
13
when
a neighbor
comes
their way.
If perchance any
of discovery
fear
felt,
is
they
stand guard outside and solemnly protest that there
in
room.
the
is
nothing
Their anxiety
and haste plainly show
fear
lest their
hated guest shall re-
veal
face;
its
there
rises
mind more
a
in
and of course the
vision of
neighbor's a
skeleton
horrible by far than the
one inside the door
anyone can
be.
than
or
If the luckless
jailer really fears that the rattle
of
the
prisoner's
bones
been heard outside, he
has
feels
it
his duty to carefully explain or
tediously cover
up every
detail
and circumstance that caused
the presence of the spectre in All this can only
the house.
show
that the guest
terrible
is
to
behold or that the
so
poor and weak that he him-
self
is
and unmanly fear.
can only serve to emphasize
the presence he
tries
There
to deny.
who know lost all else
it
who
having
but this persistent,
in the
it
out and
world to gain
the sympathy or the their
vainly
are also those
grinning guest, drag parade
so
that their skeleton
has been seen, or
neighbors
money of
and
their
friends, like the crippled
gar standing 15
is
a helpless prisoner to his
foolish pride It
jailer
on
the
beg-
corner
holding out passer-by.
his hat to every
The
true
man
neith-
er guiltily conceals nor anxiously explains nor vulgarly parades.
He
lives
his life the best
can, and lets it
is.
A
stand for
it
thousand
may be true
or
idle
he
what tales
One may
false.
have seen but certain things,
and placed him
Another felt
w^ith the saints.
little soul,
who
never
the breadth and depth of
human
life,
scars alone,
may have seen his and cast him out.
But standing by
his
side,
or
clasping his strong, sympathetic
hand, no one thinks of halos or scars or asks an explanation
of
this or that, for in his
whole i6
being
is felt
the divine presence
who
of a great soul,
has lived
and loved, sinned and
suffered,
and been strengthened and purified
by
all.
The that
it
skeleton
only grins
really
we
as
Of all
in the face.
hold
is
kind
look
it
our house-
has received the hardest
it
treatment at our hands.
It has
helped us more than any of the
and been locked in the
rest,
closet for
its
pains.
perchance have
own
come
at
our
invitation, bringing us the
keenest, wildest joy
had ever known. drained dregs, 17
may
It
the
our
We
pleasure
life
gladly to
the
and then coolly locked
the
memory
est
hole
The
close in the dark-
that
day
we
came,
it
nigh faded from
and
the
knew
could
find
has
our
well
minds,
mad, wild joy we
can
more
never
be
wakened from the burned-out passions of the
past,
but
the
which rose up grim and ghastly from the dying
skeleton,
mock and jeer and make us sad. And now when the day is spent and the cup is drained, we charge the flame,
remains to
poor spectre with pain,
and forget the joy
brought. at
these
bones,
our lasting
We
it
look with dread
mocking,
grinning
which we cannot
drive i8
we
away, and long, long
forget the time,
when
ago,
those
were covered up with beautiful and tempting dry sticks
flesh.
may be
It
passr
of the the
jxxstice to
give
him
we
shall
we hear the bones when we
always shudder rattle
that as
closet
door, but
the inmate,
we should
credit for the joys
And
long ago.
this
in
of
brings us
back to the old question of the balancing of pain and pleasure,
good and evil, right and wrong. It
may be
that in the myster-
ious adjustment of nature's balances, a
moment of supreme
bliss will
outweigh an eternity
19
of pain.
In the infinite econ-
omy, which
the more, —
counted for
life
that of Napoleon,
French peasant that passed through an obscure or
poor
the
existence to an
The
unknown
grave ?
brief glory of Austerlitz
was followed by the bitterness of Waterloo, and the long silence of an
exile's life,
while the
peasant trod his short path with-
out ambition, and less
without
grave
Which
is
filled a
nameregret.
the greater and finer,
the blameless
life
of the patient
brute, or the winding, devious
path of a
human
only the dull
no sorrow
soul?
level that
or regret.
It
is
brings It
is
a
ao
where no weeds will grow, and a bare closet where no skeleton will dwell.
sterile soil
Neither should
we remem-
ber the skeleton only for the
joy it
it
brought; from the day
came,
est
it
has been the great-
benefactor that our
life has.
known.
When
ium had
passed away, and the
last
lingering
the
mad
fragrance
delir-
was
almost spent, this despised skeleton remained as the sole
com-
panion, whose presence should forever bind us back to those
were fresh and true and straight from nature's heart, and that world which feelings
that
once was green and young and 21
with pulsing
filled
shadows head,
life.
round
gather
and
our
As the our
once-straying
feet fall mechanically into the
narrow path even
may
at
so straight
and
we
the further end,
shudder
now and
then
at
the thought of the grim skeleton whose
life
is
moved from our selves; but
comes
so far
re-
sober later
with the shudder
a spark, a flash of that
great, natural light
and
heat
that once possessed this totter-
ing frame, and gave a glow of feeling and a strength of pur-
pose so deep and all-controlling that the artificial
no more than
a
world seems
dim candle 22
shining by the glorious sun. It
is
the exhausted emotions
men
of age, which dence,
that are
youth of the It
the
is
pru-
call
ever warning
follies
of
grinning
its
sins.
skeleton,
speaking truly from the
mem-
ory of other days, that
insists
morning held the Does old age halcyon hours.
that
life's
outlive the follies of childhood or does
the
wisdom of
man outgrow the youth? The most
vociferous preachers are often
whose natural spirits have them to drink the deepest
those led
of to
life.
think that
taught 23
They
are so foolish as
others
can be
by their experiences,
;
and mumbling grey-beards endorse the excellence and wis-
dom
of the sermons that they
They are enough to know
not
wise
that
their
preach.
prattle
than
is
more vain and
the
childhood
growing,
it is
babblings
of their
days.
It
was
the
of
life
that
vital sap
made them
foolish
children years ago
the icy, palsying touch of
age that makes them babbling, preaching children once again.
As well might the calm and placid lake teach the beauty of
repose to the boiling, seething cataract,
Niagara's
that
thunders
gulf.
When
down the
troubled waters shall have reach24
ed the lake they shall be placid
Nature
too.
man.
is
wiser far than
makes
She
the
first
childhood precede the second. If the age of prudence
came
would be
a dull
and prosy world for a
little
with youth, time then ;
upon
it
would be extinct earth and death
life
the
triumphant over
all.
But these are the smallest reasons
why we should
venerate
the neglected skeleton, which
we have
ruthlessly cast
into
were a hideous thing. This uncanny skeleton, ever thrusting its unwelthe closet as if
come bones and our 25
it
into our presence
lives,
has been the most
patient,
constant
persistent,
teacher that
We
known.
our years have
all
backward
look
through the long dim the
past,
back to
vista
the
of
little
trusting child that once nestled
on its mother's breast and from whose loving lips and gentle soul it first was told of life, its temptations and its sins backward to her, whose whole thought was a benediction to the life that was once a portion of ;
herself.
We
remember
mother's words
this
us the
way to way to
knew
that
us the
live die.
no
inspired a single
still
teaching
and
telling
We
always
selfish
thought
word she
said
26
and yet time and time again
we
strayed and
wandered from
We
the path she pointed out.
could not keep the road and after a
while
we
did not try.
Again our teacher told us of He, too, was good the path. and kind and knew the way we ought to go, and showed us
and
all
the bad results of
still
we stumbled
sin,
The
on.
preacher came and told us of the beauteous heaven, straight
end of the narrow path, and the yawning gulf of
at the other
hell to
which our shifting
steps led; but his
we heeded
not
solemn tones, though they
seemed 27
foot-
to
come with
the au-
thority of
God
himself.
As the
went on, our mother's voice was stilled, the teacher's words were hushed, the preacher's threats became an empty, hollow sound; and in their place came the grinning skelyears
eton, born of our
deeds;
less
loving
gentle mother, life-like
own desires and more
than
the
real
and
than the teacher, saner
and truer than the preacher's It was ever presidle words. ent
and
persistent;
it
was
a
portion of our very selves.
We
detested and feared the
hated thing;
we
locked
it
in
the closet, and denied that it was there ; but through the bright28
and the long
ness of the day
and silent watches of the night, we heard its rattling bones, and felt
No
presence
its
our
at
side.
teacher of our youth was
like
grim
that
skeleton,
ghastly
which we tried
The
away.
and
our early
to hide
schoolmaster
life
of
took our fresh,
young, plastic minds and sought to
crowd them
full
of
useless,
unrelated facts that served no
purpose through the years that
were
to
come.
that our teacher
by rote
filled so
of pur daily
them were
These
made
lessons
us learn
small a portion
lives that
forgotten
most of
when
the
school-house door was closed. 29
When now some that
and then
we found
use for a trifling thing
we had
learned through
years at school,
prised to
know
we were that
gogue had taught
the peda-
us even this.
In those early days to us that life
sur-
would
it
seemed
consist of
one long examination in which
we of
should be asked the names
states,
the rule of three, and
the words the this
and
Romans
that.
All
used for that
we
were taught of the great world outside and the problem that would one day try our souls,
was learned from the copy books where we wrote the same old maxim until all the 30
paper was used up.
we
years,
In after
learned that, while
copy books might have
the
taught stilted,
how
us
write in a
to
unused hand,
maxims were
still all its
untrue.
We
left
the school as ignor-
ant of
life
as
we might more
nay,
have learned the
we commenced,
false,
its
easily
lesson without
misleading
theories
we
were taught were true. When the doors were opened and the wide world met us face to face,
we
learned,
and
then
alone. life
31
that
We
we
tested
and found
we
what
it false,
blundered on
were taught by the fire and vigor of
our younger years could not
be governed by the platitudes
Nature was ever pres-
of age.
ent with her strong and earthly grasp,
keen
her
desires,
We
white hot flame.
her
learned
the precepts of the books, but
we
lived the life that nature
taught.
Our
blunders and
pathetic
mistakes, and the skeleton that
followed in
wake,
their
re-
mained to teach us what was false and point to what was true.
teacher
This
grim,
made but
unimportant
little
learn,
and
it
of the the
that
facts
schoolmaster sought us
persistent
to
make
laughed
to
32
scorn the preacher's doctrine, that
in
some way we could
avoid the results of our mis-
and
takes
preach,
it
took
place be-
its
and by
side us as another self
presence sought to
its
know peace
not
did
It
sins.
make
we could not until we clasped
that
us
be
at
it
to
our breast and freely accepted
unwelcome
the
portion of our
Only the that
we
of ourselves completely never teacher
33
to
as
a
lives.
smallest
learned in
assimilated
thing
fraction
youth was
and made a portion ;
the rest faded so that
have
it
seemed
been.
soon became a
The dim,
memory
uncertain
of the past,
whose voice had long since died away but the skeleton in ;
the closet
grew
never wearied nor
old.
It
made
ever
learn again the lesson fain
opened
forget;
we would at
succeeding period of our the pages
away,
we would
each lives
gladly put
the ripen-
until, at last,
ing touch
us
of time
and the
spectre's constant presence made
know. From the day it came beneath our roof, it remained the liveliest, wisest, us
most persistent member of the family
group,
the
watchful teacher, neither
sleep
tireless,
who would
nor
allow
its
34
pupil to forget.
may
It
be
that
there
are
barren and uneventful
lives so
that this guest passes ever
by
their door, but unfortunate in-
where it will not dwell. The wide vistas can be seen only from the mountain top, and the infinite depths of life can be deed
that abode
is
sounded only by the soul that has been softened and hallowed
by the
sanctifying
misery and Life
is
touch
sin.
a never-ending school^
and the really important sons
all
of
tend to teach
les-
man
his
proper relation to the environ-
ment 35
where
he must
live.
With wild sires
ambitions and de-,
we
untamed,
are
spawned
out into a shoreless sea of mov-
of
molecules
ing
separate
atom journeying on an
unknown the
course, regardless of
other lives
countless
meets
as it
it
blindly rushes on;
no
lights
to
point the proper
nor headlands stand
way
voyager should take, he to
each
life,
is
the left
an untried bark across
sail
an angry should
If no disaster
sea.
befall, it does
that the
traveler
is
not show wise
or
good, but that his ambitions
and kept line.
desires are
close
At
few or he has
inside
first
we
the harbor
seek to
swim 36
the flood, to scale the rocky heights, to clutch the twink-^
Of
ling stars.
and
fall,
and the
main, though
all
made anew
We
we
fail
scars our pas-
and ambitions
sions
are
course
leave, re-
our particles
year after year.
learn at last to leave the
stars to
shine where they belong,
to take all things as they are
and adjust our
must
to
lives
what
be.
The
philosophy of
come only from
life
can
those exper-
iences that leave lasting scara
and
results
that will not die.
Rather than seek to cover up these gaping wounds, we should
accept
37
with
grace
the
tale&
they
and show them
tell,
we have
trophies of the strife
passed through.
as
Those
scars
are honorable that have brought
our
lives into greater
harmony
with the universal power. For resist it as
we will,
this infinite,
loving presence will ever claim us as a portion of
its
self until
our smallest fragments return
once more to earth, and are united with the elements from
which we came.
No
can be rounded and
life
complete without the education that
the
skeleton
give.
Until
knew human
the soul.
it
alone
can
came we never
capacities
We
of the
had learned 38
by rote
to be forgiving,
kind
and
true.
But the anguish of
the
human
soul cannot be told
—
^it
must be feltor never known.
That
charity born of true
radeship,
and
which
is
com-
the highest
holiest sentiment
of
life,
can be taught by the skeleton
The
alone.
self-righteous,
of forgiveness
prate
fellow
who
to
their
men and who
look
down upon their sinning brothers
from above, are hypocrites
or fools.
They
either have not
lived or else desire to pass for
something they are not.
No
one can understand the devious,
miry paths trodden by another soul
39
unless
he
himself has
wandered through the night.
Those
placid,
that have
human
moved along
lives
a nar-
row, even path; that learned
by rote the lessons that the churches and the schools have ever taught; whose perfection consists in refraining
ing
ways;
who
thought or to
from do-
certain things in
certain
never had a noble felt a
great
fellow
help their
desire
men
—
those blameless, aimless, worthless souls,
bad.
are neither
They
neither
good nor feel
nor
deem come in-
think ; no skeleton would it
worth
its
while to
side their door.
The world
judges the con-
40
duct of youth by the standards
of age. Even ance
is
made
when due
allow-
for the inexperi-
ence and haste of the young, it
is
assumed that youth and
age are measured by the calendar alone.
Few
been wise enough to
have ever
know that
every passion and circumstance
must be
fully
weighed, before
an honest verdict can be written
down; and
that therefore
only the infinite can judge a
human soul. Though accursed,
doubted,
and despised. Nature ever persists
in
her
relentless
plan.
She would make us learn the lessons that
41
youth so
easily for-
;
She
gets.
finds us headstrong,
and
unreasoning,
moved
by
the same feelings that sway the
She decrees that every
brute.
how^ever blind or
act,
must leave our
lives,
consequences on
its
and these immortal
consequences
we
tons and lock
these
uncanny
closely
they
in
treat as skele-
them
But wrap us
up.
specters
their
bony arms
ever peer with sightless
eyes into our
with us
and
v^^ilful,
if
their
we
soul; they sleep or
persistent
will not let us sleep.
are
wake,
presence It is
the
hated, imprisoned skeleton that
we
vainly sought to hide away,
that takes an untamed, fiery soul
42
within
cruel, loving clasp,
its
and holds
closely in
it
un-
its
forgiving grasp until the vain
and wild
longings
desires
of
youth are subdued, and cooled,
and the deeper harmonies of are learned. It
life
is
the hated
skeleton that finds within our breast a heart of flint and takes this
and it
hard and pulseless scars
and
thing
and melts
twists
in a thousand tortuous ways
until the stony mass
and softened and
is
is
purged
sensitive to
every touch. It is this
eton that boastful sins,
43
same despised
skel-
vain
and
finds
and
us
critical
of others'
that watches every
word
we
speak and even each un-
uttered thought
when we other
it is
with us
draw our our fellow on
tightly
robes and pass
the
;
side
when we seek good we are by
it
;
to
hears
us
show how
boasting of our
neighbor's sins; for every spot
of black or red
that
we
see
upon another's rol;>es, it points its bony fingers to a scar upon our heart, to remind us that we are like the rest; and the same finger ever points us to our wounds until we feel and understand that the clay
weak from which
Master used for us was
and poor
as that
he made the
the
as
rest.
44
However blind and stubborn we may be, however long we deny the lesson that the skeleton would teach, still it will not let us go until with perlook
at all
the present and the was, and
at all that
past,
that
harmony we
and
fect peace
is,
and
feel
all
no regrets for
what is gone, and no fears for what must come. It may be
that
our
necked soul until the hair
stubborn, will is
stiff-
persist
still
white and the
heavy shadows hang about our heads, but the his
soothing,
time, ers
45
at
sits
skeleton with softening
with the
last
ally,
watch-
our suffering bed, and
goes if need be, to the silent grave,
where
alike the darkest
crimson spot and the purest
softest,
clay are reunited once
again with the loving, univer-
mother who has forgiven all and conquered all. It matters not how high wc seem to climb, or what the careless world may think for good or sal
It matters
ill.
small ambitions to
how many we may seem
not
have achieved.
Even the
unworthy cannot be forever soothed by the hollow voice of fame. futile
self;
All
triumphs
are
without the victory over
and when
over self
is
the triumph
won, there arc no 46
more
battles to
the world
all
It is
is
be fought, for then
at peace.
the skeleton in the closet
pointing ever to the mistakes
and
of
maladjustments
past, the skeleton
our
standing there
makes
before our gaze that still
remember where our
fell
short;
us
lives
that teaches us so
slowly but so surely
to
turn
from the unworthy victories and the dire defeats of life to the mastery of ourselves. the skeleton from learn that
the
we
world,
can
It is
whom we live
without without
but
not
the
skeleton
ourselves.
Without
we
could never feel another's sor47
row, or
know
another's pain.
Philosophy and theology cannot
tell
became is
us
how
another's life
a hopeless
ourselves
wreck.
It
alone that reveals
the precipice along which every footpath leads.
we
learn that
It is
it is
from
life
but an acci-
when we fall, and equally an accident when we keep the path. The pupil of the schools may look down with pitying dent
glance upon
the
unfortunate
victim of what seems to be his sin.
He may point
that
will
plead with path,
but
to a love
forgive and kindly
him
to take another
the
wayfarer
that
the skeleton has taught will 48
clasp this fellow mortal to his
he
heart, for in his face
sees
but the reflection of himself.
The
wise and good
may
for-
give the evil and the wrong,
but
only the
that there
The life
of
sin
knows
sinner
no
sin.
charity that
and
is
born of
not fine because
is
on some one else, what it does for us.
effect
its
but
is
for
True charity
is
only the sense
of the kinship things.
that
This
neither
oflfends.
It is
of is
all
the
living
charity
humiliates
nor
the sense that
new meaning to life new purpose to the soul.
brings a
and a
Let us do simple justice to 49
neglected,
this
outcast guest,
the useful, faithful teacher of
our
Let
lives.
closet door,
come
and
open
us let
the
the skeleton
and lock the school-
out,
master in
its
leave
faithful
this
roam
freely at
look
it
Let us
place.
friend
Let us
will.
its
the
squarely in
with neither fear
or
face
shame,
but with gratitude for the sons
it
has taught.
the jeering
that
point in scorn
with our
as
It
les-
may be
crowd
will
they see us
the grewsome figure at
side,
but
when we
learn the lesson that
teach,
to
we
shall
it
fully
came
to
need to look
no more without
for the ap-
50
proval or disapproval acts,
but seek
Let
selves alone.
new
of our
to satisfy
chair beside
our-
us
place a
the
hearth,
in the cosiest nook,
and bid
the skeleton take
its
place as
guest.
Let us
the
worthiest
neither parade
new-found as a fact
of
a fact that
and
nor hide our
friend, but treat
it
a fact that
is,
life
—
had the right to
a fact that taught us
be,
how
to find ourselves.
Let us not
forget the parents,
who watch
us in our youth, and the friends
were ever good and true. But above all, let us remember this grim and silent teacher, who that
never neglected or forgot, 51
who
showed
us life as only
who
show,
it
could
opened up new
who touched our human hearts, who made us know and love our fellowman, who softened and melour soul,
vistas to
lowed and purified our
we
until
we
felt
bore to
Until
it
souls
the kinship that all
living things.
came we knew only Be-
the surface of the world. fore
it
came,
we had
tasted of
the shallow cup of joy and the
cup
we
of pain,
but
to teach
us
from
the anguish of the soul
that
bitter
needed there
is
this
a depth profound
and
where pain and pleasure both are one. That there is a
great,
5^
life
so
earth's
deep
and
true
and penalties
rewards
alike are but a hollow
that
there
ourselves,
is
a
show;
conquest
which brings
peace and perfect
53
that
rest.
of
perfect