Article February 26, 1910 Issue

THE BLAZED TRAIL

REV. WILLIAM P. MC KENZIE.

Out in Colorado lived a woman whose people had been pioneers, so she loved the mountains and found delight in wandering through the pine forests that clothed their sides. On one occasion she had, with a company of friends, been enjoying the seclusion of a camp built among the pines and reached by a trail traveled only by those who were seeking this particular lodging-place. Hence it was not a beaten track, to be followed with eyes downcast upon the earth, but a blazed trail, to be followed only by observation of the marks deeply bitten into the pines by the axe of the explorer who had first marked out the way—not for the feet of those who might follow, but for their minds.

This group of friends had been for a visit at some distance from their camp, and were returning home in the stillness of the late afternoon, when one person turned aside into an easier path, and the rest of the party followed in the way, with some congratulation over the fact that it was a well defined and beaten path. Thus they let their feet guide them until, as the golden dusk of evening glorified the spires of the trees, the path become more and more indistinct, and finally faded out in a glade among the trees. Then fear came upon the party, for they knew now that they had been following the track of grazing animals seeking pasture, and were lost in the forest, where they had no protection or shelter for the night. At first there was bewilderment, but the daughter of pioneers quickly reminded herself of the only thing to be done, which was to follow back carefully the path made by the animals, until the place was discovered at which they had left the trail made by the intelligence of man. At last they found the blazed trail, and with care followed the course indicated by the incisions in the trees, though it was difficult walking and rough underfoot, and at last they gained the shelter of their camp. When the tale was told to an old-timer, he smiled and said, "It is strange to think of the daughter of a pioneer forgetting to follow the blazed trail."

Through a hitherto unexplored region, a way for man's escape has been found by the pioneer discoverer of Christian Science. Carefully she has marked the trail for those who, following, are seeking the peace and refuge of home. The way once opened, none other need open it. The directions once recorded, what have others to do but be guided by them. Some who walk the way thoughtlessly talk of themselves as pioneers, and bid for sympathy as they tell of their toils: but in the nature of the case there can only be one pioneer, and if the way is rough for those who follow it, then let their gratitude be the deeper for the bravery of the one who first found it, and with love for mankind made it a blazed trail to be followed by the mind, so that every man in earnest may avoid the misleading beaten path of custom, error, and animalism. It is the way of hope for the bewildered and lost, for the weary and homeless, and one more incident will illustrate this.

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