The Skeleton in the Closet

Citation preview

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