Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 June 1877 — Submission. [ARTICLE]

Submission.

There is one little word that it takes us all our life to learn. We begin the task when, as little children, we first hear the word “ must.” It is hard, even then, for the childish hands to leave untouched the coveted object; still, as the years pass on and on, and we put aside our childhood, with its innocence and happiness, and take up the burden of life tor ourselves, we find this first lesson of our youth yet unfinished. We have yet to learn the full meaning of that word. Obey. It was easier in childhood, because then we felt more the need of some higher power to direct our steps; while now, we so often let go the hand that leads us through the darkness of today, that we may come out in the light and glory of to-morrow, choosing rather to “Walk alone by night,” finding at the fend only the “outer darkness.” Again and again do we refuse to obey, and then, when we find the folly of our own wisdom, we come back to the arms ever willing to receive us. When our lips

have learned to frame the words and our hearts to feel. "Tby will, O God, not mine, be done;” then is life’s greatest lesson learned. But, oh. bow many times before we finish that lesson will lips quiver and eyes grow dim! We are of "earth—earthy," and the heart will cry out when its cherished idols are broken; but “ The paths that have once been trod Are never so hard for th<> feet; And the lemon, we once have learned Are never so liard to repeat. Though sorrowful tears must fall. And the heart to its depth be riven, With storms and tempest, we need them all To render us fit for Heaven-” —Rural Neu Yorker.