ry on to the
last glimpse of the book in the running brook.

Go on South From Principle

Here we come to the most wonderful and difficult thing in life. It is
the supreme test of character. That is, Why go on south? Not for
blessing nor cursing, not for popularity nor for selfish ends, not for
anything outside, but for the happiness that comes from within.

The Mississippi blesses the valley every day as he goes on south and
overcomes. But the valley does not bless the river in return. The
valley throws its junk back upon the river. The valley pours its foul,
muddy, poisonous streams back upon the Mississippi to defile him. The
Mississippi makes St. Paul and Minneapolis about all the prosperity
they have, gives them power to turn their mills. But the Twin Cities
merely throw their waste back upon their benefactor.

The Mississippi does not resign. He does not tell a tale of woe. He
does not say, "I am not appreciated. My genius is not understood. I am
not going a step farther south. I am going right back to Lake Itasca."
No, he does not even go to live with his father-in-law.

He says, "Thank you. Every little helps, send it all along." Go a few
miles below the Twin Cities and see how, by some mysterious alchemy of
Nature, the Mississippi has taken over all the poison and the
defilement, he has purified it and clarified it, and has made it a part
of himself. And he is greater and farther south!

He fattens upon bumps. Kick him, and you push him farther south. "Hand
him a lemon," and he makes lemonade.

Civilization conspires to defeat the Mississippi. Chicago's drainage
canal pollutes him. The flat, lazy Platte, three miles wide and three
inches deep; the peevish, destructive Kaw, and all those streams that
unite to form the treacherous, sinful, irresponsible lower Missouri;
the big, muddy Ohio, the Arkansas, the Red, the black and the blue
floods--all these pour into the Mississippi.

Day by day the Father of Waters goes on south, taking them over and
purifying them and making them a part of himself. Nothing can
discourage, divert nor defile him. No matter how poisonous he becomes,
he goes a few miles on south and he is all pure again.

Wonderful the book in the running brook! We let our life stream become
poisoned by bitter memories and bitter regrets. We carry along such a
heart full of the injuries that other people have done us, that
sometimes we are bank to bank full of poison and a menace to t