| Things to Live For |
Chapter 14 |
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All about us evermore are human needs and sorrows which make their mute appeal to us. We are our brother’s keeper. It will not avail as excuse for us that we did our brother no harm. That was not what he needed from us, – security against being hurt by us. A little kindness shown to him would have proved a wonderful blessing to him. The struggle was too much for his strength, and even a word of cheer would have helped him. He was facing the world’s cold blast, and a moment’s shelter in love’s warmth would have renewed his courage for what was yet before him. Susan Coolidge writes:–
“If you were toiling up a weary hill,
Bearing a load beyond your strength to bear,
Straining each nerve untiringly, and still
Stumbling and losing foothold here and there;
And each one passing by would do so much
As give one upward lift and go his way,
Would not the slight, reiterated touch
Of help and kindness lighten all the day?
“If you were breasting a keen wind, which tossed
And buffeted and chilled you as you strove,
Till, baffled and bewildered quite, you lost
The power to see the way and aim and move;
And one, if only for a moment’s space,
Gave you shelter from the bitter blast,
Would you not find it easier to face
The storm again when the brief rest was past?”
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