Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 204, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 September 1917 — GLOOMY DAY HAS ITS USES [ARTICLE]

GLOOMY DAY HAS ITS USES

For One Thing, It Give* Man an Op> portunity to Meditate and Be Strengthened. ▲ gloomy day now and then serves a useful purpose. It enables a fellow to sit down and take stock of himself, for there Is something about the lowering clouds and dismal weather which causes one to contemplate more seriously the realities of life, the Dayton News observes. And a gloomy day at this' season, of all gloomy days! Sodden, dullen, dreary! The gloom seems to hover over and settle down upon one and sink into his soul. The mind refuses to run In cheerful channels. The very muscles seem to relax and to rebel whenasked to hloodHowsslowiythrough the veins and the nerves grow dull. At least, that Is the way it seems upon a gloomy day at this time of the year.

It Is pretty hard to think seriously when the sun is shining. Life seems to be a sort of a joke. The world smiles and you smile with it, and -all Is fickleness. It is no time beneath the smiling skies of a pleasant day to meditate. But a gloomy day—what are we on earth for? From whence did we come? Whither do we go? Ik it all worth while? Should we struggle on, with the reward so small or end It all? These are the questions that come to"th® fellow who sits and gazes out into the sullen air of a gloomy day. But the beauty of lit is, he answers his own questions to his own satisfaction, and arises from his place at the window, renewed in strength and in determination to do the right thing; for he cbmes to understand the beauty of these gloofliy days, to value them, at their worth, and to know that he who sits and meditates is profited thereby. \