Goshen College - Maple Leaf Yearbook (Goshen, IN)

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24 GOSHEN COLLEGE RECORD. Follow The Gleam William H. Haarer ENN YSON in his beautiful poem of HMerlin and the Gleamw pic- tures Merlin, an old man, looking back over his life 's experiences and relating how through all his life he had fol- lowed the gleam that was ever advanc- ing before him, and how that now, HAH but in heaven Hovers the Gleamn. and now as he looks with tenderness upon the youth by his side he says: 'fNot of the sunlight, Not of the moonlight, Not of the starlight! O young Mariner, Down to the haven, Call your companions, Launch your vessel And crowd your canvas, And, ere it vanishes Over the margin, After it, follow it, Follow the ,Gleam. Over nineteen hundred years ago there dwelt in the East some wise men, men who had made a study of the starry heavens. These men as they were exploring the worlds above them one bright starry night discovered a strange wonder. ln the western sky gleamed a star remarkable for its size and brightness. These men had heard that a king was to be born to the Jew- ish nation, whose country lay in the direction of that magnificent star. Con- sequently they at once associated the appearance of the star with the birth of the king. They at once set forth to find and greet this heaven born prince. Following the gleam day after Magi traversed many miles of unknown to them, aside they finally country of Judea. time did the Magi day the country and never turning arrived in the hill Here for the first turn their eyes from their guide and direct their footsteps toward Jerusalem, supposing that there the -object of their search 'could be found. But they searched in vain for the king, they had lost the gleam, and only when they had retraced their steps did that bright gleam light up their way again and finally lead them to the king. The developing youth loses interest in his childish pleasures, he begins .to look forward and aspires to become a man. He looks about himself, he reads he considers his father's profession, he investigates others, he explores the starry heavens of his future possibili- ties and finally finds his star, his aim in life. Such decisions are of great import- ance. The destiny of the world hangs upon them. Had not Columbus con- ceived the idea that the earth is :L globe, suspended in space, and that the coveted treasures of the east could be obtained by sailing west, and had he not upon such a faith determined to spend his every energy in undertaking what no civilized man ever before had dared to undertake, what would be the present condition of the world? Wlio can tell how much the world has been influenced commercially, politically, so- cially, and religiously by the existence and example of the United States? What would be the condition of the

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GOSHEN COLLEGE RECORD. 23 t'l'm going to a hospital, mother. '.T':l-1' 3.- cii Cm'- fir'-, gm' rf ,.4 r-4 ,-, H ffl-12 5.-44 ,.,- r--4:2 P444l-1 :JCOP Q+-sf COX Cav-'p-I 'US f-I-Q 47-,,...aO A '32 p-4 f-PV ' rl' I-I' EOE 'Um ,- E50 mC 't ,...,. gqcrqcd O rc NH' 5:5 :sm I-3 lf-i-123 must do it mother . Iler mother said nothing, but being mother she understood. Five years had passed away. Elllfll had tenderly cared for many sick. Many long nights had she soothed aching heads while her own heart was breaking. Many a time had she closed the eyelids of a dead sleeper. Many a weary sufferer smiled as she passed. They turned to her as the sunflower to the sun. Her own sorrows had opened a spring of sympathy within her heart. Everyone felt it, but little did they guess what that sympathy had once cost her. Another evening Edith sat by the window watching the beautiful crim- son tints of a winter sunset. She lived over again her childhood, her girlhood, and then that evening five years ago. All the pain of that night seemed to have returned. t'Shall I never forget? she sobbed. There was a light tap at the door. A nurse entered. HThere has been an accident, Miss Wllite. A patient who is very serious- ly wounded has been brought in. She has called for you . HFor me, who can it be . Edith hastened to the bedside of the sufferer. Suddenly she stood still as if rooted to the spot. Madeline, O how could you? Havenlt you already caused me enough pain? The eyes of the sufferer opened. Don't be hard on me, Edith. I never meant to make you suffer. I did not know you loved him so. I. did not realize until it was too late. But I loved him, too, Edith, I loved himn. Edith did not answer and Madeline continued. 'tC'an't you forgive me now, I need your friendship. I have missed you so much since he is gone. Forgive me, Edithn. Just then a little sweet face by the side of the sufferer smiled up into the nurse 's eyes. HHer eyes are like Edward'sl', said Edith. HYes, Edith . There was a pause and the sufferer continued. 4'Edith, take her. I can't stay here long. All will soon be over and I shall soon be with Edward. But I can't leave her. Take her Edith, and care for her. You always were my friend, ean't you forgive now and take her? The nurse gathered the child in her arms, and as the soft little cheek nestl- ed confidingly against her own she sobbed, Yes, Madeline . The eyes of the sufferer closed peace- fully. Edith clasped the child to her heart and all the pent-up feeling rushed through her being, as she whispered, Someone to love, just to have someone to love7'. And with foregivness the pain in her heart was changed into a gentle sorrow and love.

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GOSI-IEN COLLEGE RECORD. 25 world without our free institutions and our system of national government U? lf Columbus had abandoned his decision, would another soon have undertaken such a voyage or would this most magnificent country be yet unknown to the civilized world? Columbus saw his star in the west and its gleam led to greater riches than he had anticipat- ed. Instead of finding a new route to an old country he opened up the way to a country whose discovery was destined to change the history of the world. Such an aim will help to concen- trate one's every effort to the accom- plishment of some definite value in life Not every man in the East was explor- ing the starry heavens and saw that glorious star, .and not every man that saw it followed its gleam. Only three of all the people of the East beheld the king. These three had caught the vis- ion and had followed it where it led. Many a man has wasted his life for want of a purpose, because he has either never had a vision of life or has failed to make it his great abiding pur- pose. ln this age of high centraliza- tion it is essential that one's energies be spent along some definite line. In fact this has always been necessary but this fact has never before been realized as in the present. Life is too short and too valuable to be aimlessly spent. tt'l'his one thing l do , said the great aspotle to the Gentiles. He had caught his vision and all his persecutions and personal difficulties could not turn him aside. There were also other apostles of Christ but this single aim of Saul of Tarsus led him to Hlabor more abund- antly than they alln. t'l3ut 'this one thing I do' led him to use all means for success, and to send for and make use of 'books and parchments' and himself 'give attention to reading' in order that such tprofiting might appear to men ', with the result that his influence over the thought of the Christian world today is greater than that of any other man that ever lived, save Christ, whom he served so gloriouslyw. A similar singleness of aim has put many a man in position of trust and honor even in spite of the most forbid- ding obstacles. One such eminent American citizen in one of his public addresses said of himself. HI was born in poverty, want sat by my cradle. I know what it is to ask a mother for bread when she had none to given. At the age of ten he became a bond boy to a farmer. He served until he was twenty-one years of age for food and raiment, one month 's school in the win- ter, and six sheep and a yoke of oxen. He was so poor that up to his twenty- first birthday a single dollar cover every penny he had ever spent. But from his childhood he had an in- spiration that did for him what a for- wo ul d tune could not l1ave done without it. lt was an inspiration for knowledge. After working all day he would read by the light of the kitchen fire, hour af- ter hour, often till morning, from books which he borrowed wherever he could, thus reading during his indenture nearly athousand volumes of the best American and English literature, works of history, philosophy, biography and general literature. He sold his sheep and oxen, tramped many a weary mile in search of work, hired out for a month for six dollars, became an apprentice to a shoemaker, later took up the trade for himself, working sixteen hours a day and often all night long, and by such unremitting toil saved by the end of two years sev- eral hundred dollars towards an educa- tion for the practice of law, when his