fore, all thy sins--old
wrongs, old hatreds, burning angers, memories of men's treachery; stuff
them into a bag and heave them into the gulf of oblivion. Your life is
not in the past, but in the future. "We are saved by hope."

Multitudes may embitter their new year by undue reflections over
opportunities neglected and lost in the past and denied in the present.
Professor Agassiz tells of a friend who sold his farm in Pennsylvania
for $5,000 to invest it in Dakota, and after losing all in the new home
returned to find the German who purchased the homestead had found oil
and great wealth in a swamp which he had tried to drain off. An old
gentleman recently told of his refusal in 1840 to accept as payment of
a small note a lot on a corner in Chicago now worth a million dollars,
and he shed bitter tears over the loss of property he never owned.
When Ali Hafed heard of the diamonds in India he sold his estate and
went forth to seek his fortune. His successor, watering his camel in
the garden, saw the gleam of gems in the white sand and discovered the
Golconda mines. Had Ali Hafed had eyes to see his would have been
boundless treasure at home instead of poverty, starvation and death.
These and similar legends stand for the opportunities that have gone
forever. How many neglected their opportunities for education; how
they knocked unbidden at every door and no man opened. Others were
denied culture, and now feel they are unfulfilled prophecies. Many by
one error have injured eye or ear or lung or limb or nervous system.
They grievously handicapped themselves. Others by ingratitude,
infidelity to trusts, treachery to friends, have poisoned happiness.
Repentance is theirs, and also forgiveness, but not forgetfulness. The
past is full of bitterness.

Let the dead past bury its dead. The future is still ours. The trees
in October willingly let go their leaves to fall into the ditch. Their
life is not in last year's leaves, but in the infant buds that crowd
the old leaves off. Put forth new activities. Open new furrows. Sow
new seed. All the tomorrows are thine; but they are few and short.
Fulfill his dictum who said: "I am as one going once across this vast
continent; I would lean forth and sow as far as hand can scatter my
seed. Let the angels count the bundles." No man should be discouraged
in whom God believes, preserving him in life. Let hope in God sweeten
life's bitterness.

Another enemy of hopefulne