Article April 18, 1901 Issue

Mountain Climbing

BY BURT S. GALE.

In many localities there may be seen now and then towering upward in majestic grandeur, lofty mountains, whose summits seem to be lost in the azure robe about them, or, perchance, obscured in a veil of mist. To make the ascent of one of these monarchs, with its rough and jagged sides and many overhanging cliffs, seems to present a hopeless task. Yet, with all its defiant crags, shelving rocks, and hidden chasms, the pedestrian may find a path, a winding way, or a hidden trail, which leads on and up to its topmost peak. To make the ascent by this path is easy. It leads past the dangerous precipices and away from the yawning steeps. Its course is certain and its end the summit.

Not a little unlike mountain climbing is the pathway of mankind. Childhood, fraught with innocence, affection, purity, and confidence, marks the deep rich valley, or unencumbered plane at its base. Manhood, face to face with all the great and ever-changing problems of existence, sees rising before him a great mountain of antagonism, veiled in a mist of doubt, whose summit is lost in a deep cloud of uncertainty. Thus life seems to be one continuous struggle in which time and sense try to play an important part. With his "days of work and nights of worry" man finds but little to cheer his heart and to brighten his pathway. Possibly something is being neglected, forgotten, or remaining undone, which prevents the finding of that little trail running up the mountain side.

Too often is it a fact that life's journey is begun with little thought given to true character-building, and to those eternal principles whose objects and aims are one universal good. Do we not pause and sigh that the "Great Giver of every good and perfect gift" should so often become the last instead of the first consideration of His children? How often do special blessings come, and with each day a blessing, and still they go by unheeded with no thought of gratitude returned. Let there be an awakening of consciousness, a turning to the narrow way where every step is secure,—guarded and guided by the hand of Love. Fear and uncertainty no longer cloud the pathway. The sunshine of righteousness now appears and with its rich and mellow light makes each stepping-stone a victory, and each height gained a greater cause for rejoicing.

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