And then, Auntie Sue, then I want
to tell them about you and your river.
"I would teach them the things you have taught me. I would say to every
one that I could persuade to listen: 'It doesn't in the least matter
what your experience is, the old river is still going on to the sea.
No matter if every woman you ever knew has proved untrue, virtuous
womanhood still IS. No matter if every man you ever knew has proved
false, true manhood still IS. If every friend you ever had has betrayed
your friendship, loyal friendship still IS. If you have found nothing
in your experience but dishonesty and falsehood and infidelity and
hypocrisy, it is only because you have been unfortunate in your
experience; because honesty and fidelity and sincerity are existing
FACTS. They are the very foundation facts of life, and can no more fail
life than the river can fail to reach the sea.
"'Your little individual experience, my little individual
experience,--what are they? They are nothing more than the tiny bubbles,
swirls, ripples, and breaks on the surface of the great volume of water
that flows so inevitably onward. The bit of foam, the tiny wave caused
by twig or branch or blade of water-grass, or the great rocks and cliffs
that make the roaring whirlpools and rapids,--do they stay the waters,
or turn the river back on its course, or in any way prevent its
onward flow? No more can the twigs of circumstances, or the boughs of
environment, or the grasses of accident that make the tiny waves of our
individual experiences,--or even the great rocks and cliffs of national
or racial import,--such as wars, and pestilence, and famine,--finally
check or stay the river of life in its onward flow toward the sea of its
final and infinite meaning.
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