Page 22 - 1912 May - To Dragma

TO DRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI 141

GOLD

With a faith as believing in success as that which heartened the
miner when he "staked his claim", or when he was digging for gold
in his solitary ravine in the days of '49, we dug in a small patch of
ground near a city street, the tiny holes which we believed would
in due season yield gold.

Now gold is so rare, and so much desired by all that i f any man
has it, he straightway hastens to a place of safety and deposits his
treasure. Just a block away from "the claim" in which we believed
we could find gold, there is a big bank, so safe and secure that it
has the word "National" across its doors. And oh! the gold with-
in ! I t is hard, and cold, and it glitters and buys; but whether it
cheers or warms or comforts you depends on your ability to draw
it out and feel it clinking in your pockets, and then whether you
are sufficient master of yourself to find satisfaction and contentment
with the goods your gold can buy.

Last October we "staked a claim", dug and planted a small
patch of daffodils. I t did not seem to us that those hard knotted
bulbs could ever bring forth gold! But Faith in the potency of Sun
and Rain and God's great mystery of Life prevailed and the daffo-
dils were planted.

In January tiny points of green appeared, and then to save the
tender leaves from thoughtless, wandering dogs, "the claim" was
fenced with strings run between tiny sticks. The neighbors said:
"You don't thing that little fence will save your blossoms from the
passerby, do you?" "How can you expect flowers from your first
planting? Maybe the soil isn't right!" "Do you think all your
bulbs will bloom?" And many more queries like these came, but
Faith sat embodied in the three little girls who watched from the
front door step.

February came. On Valentine's day "our claim" yielded its
first gold. What rapture shone in those eyes when the first gold
set their hearts glowing! The second blossom was carried to the
public school, and brought unexpected pleasure to a room f u l l of
little children. In a week, the whole claim seemed f u l l of gold,
and the three little girls found themselves rich indeed.

And then the neighbors said: "How beautiful your daffodils
are!" Little children passing, stopped to count the golden blooms.
The faces of the weary lightened when the glow of the blossoms
reached them. And then, the last of March, we gathered the last of