ho is to be pitied, for he
must get some more knocks.

The world loves to write resolutions of respect. How often we write,
"Whereas, it has pleased an all-wise Providence to remove," when we
might reasonably ask whether the victim was "removed" or merely
"knocked out."

There is a good deal of suicide charged up to Providence.

Chapter III

The College of Needful Knocks

The Bumps That Bump Into Us

BUT occasionally all of us get bumps that we do not bump into. They
bump into us. They are the guideboard knocks that point us to the
higher pathway.

You were bumped yesterday or years ago. Maybe the wound has not yet
healed. Maybe you think it never will heal. You wondered why you were
bumped. Some of you in this audience are just now wondering why.

You were doing right--doing just the best you knew how--and yet some
blow came crushing upon you and gave you cruel pain.

It broke your heart. You have had your heart broken. I have had my
heart broken more times than I care to talk about now. Your home was
darkened, your plans were wrecked, you thought you had nothing more to
live for.

I am like you. I have had more trouble than anybody else. I have never
known anyone who had not had more trouble than anyone else.

But I am discovering that life only gets good after we have been killed
a few times. Each death is a larger birth.

We all must learn, if we have not already learned, that these blows are
lessons in The College of Needful Knocks. They point upward to a higher
path than we have been traveling.

In other words, we are raw material. You know what raw material
is--material that needs more Needful Knocks to make it more useful and
valuable.

The clothing we wear, the food we eat, the house we live in, all have
to have the Needful Knocks to become useful. And so does humanity need
the same preparation for greater usefulness.

I should like to know every person in this audience. But the ones I
should most appreciate knowing are the ones who have known the most of
these knocks--who have faced the great crises of life and have been
tried in the crucibles of affliction. For I am learning that these
lives are the gold tried in the fire.

The Sorrows of the Piano

See the piano on this stage? Good evening, Mr. Piano. I am glad to see
you. You are so shiny, beautiful, valuable and full of music, if
properly treated.

Do you know how you got upon this stage, Mr. Piano? You were bumped
h