RUST.

Patea Mail, Volume II, Issue 194, 17 February 1877, Page 2

RUST.

[FROM TU 12 NIOW YORK LEDGER.] Did you ever find lying in a neglected spot, buried amongst the grass, perhaps; some old tool, which yon remember, sharp and bright, and useful; but which is now covered with rust and useless ? The m.st and the dull edge have come of its long rest. Had it been constantly used, it might have been broken, but it never would have been that dull, useless thing while it lasted. It is just so with human beings. Inaction is wors ■ for them than hard work. Unused talents ru: t. The mind that is never sharpened, grows dnih One who has not done what he miglr, finds his power gone at last. Sometimes, when mind lies useless, and hands are folJedr the soul rusts also. 1 do not know iSt .Simon’s history, hut I doubt if ho was as worthy a saint as many another, just because he lived at the top of a pillar, and, to cpmte Miss Braddon, “ had his meals sent up to him in a basket.” Had he even come down for his food, he might have found some chance of being useful. There is work in the world for every mind, and heart, and body. No one knows his own strength, how good his work may be, or what his recompense ; but do not for that reason lie in a mouldy corner of the world and rust. A mind that has been strained until its chords have snapped is better than one over which moth and mildew have crept, a.id a broken heart better than a rusted one.