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 ^ d^PUEDJVHGE 
 
 1653 Eost Main Street 
 
 Rochester. Ne» York 14609 USA 
 
 (716) 482 - 0300 - Phc. 
 
 (716) 288 -5989 -Fa 
 
y 
 
 WHAT 
 LIFE 
 
 MEANS 
 TO ME 
 
 1 
 
 ^MLFRED 
 
 T. 
 GRENFELT 
 
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 Wirr-Ri- ,\ iAiHi-k AIUAT 
 DKAI.S h! rr i R PN flY 
 'X\T]\ His DiriF R! NT 
 CHII.n'^'N- rU'T WITH 
 A ! i. 
 
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 NatkXMi Ubrary BibUotMque itctionale 
 of Canatf - du Canada 
 
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 Tif \T ! S WHAT LI I- F. 
 Ns TO ME — A PLAt F 
 
 I. VFR V CLOL !) W I'M! 
 
 
From Sf-ength to Strength 
 
 From the a4mutl Ktpo-t of the Chins InUnJ Mimon for tgij. 
 
 prtpartd hy Mtriisll BrMmhtU, MA. . Editonal 
 
 Stcnury. LonJor EngltflJ. 
 
 FACING the future wiih all it.; dark and 
 threatening clouds— for many distresses and 
 discouragements continue— it is still our 
 confidence that we are not straitened in God 
 and that He is still able to give us enlarge- 
 ment though encumpas<ted by trouble; and our 
 ground of confidence is not in ourselves, but in 
 the Eternal Christ and His unsearchable 
 riches. 
 
 'Ve are thankful to be able to declare unequi 
 vocally that the Mission still maintains, in mat 
 ters of faith and practice, the traditions handed 
 down by its founder, Mr. Hudson Taylor, tra- 
 ditions which have been honored of God for 
 so many years ; and if by grace it is enabled to 
 keep loyal to its Lord, to maintain unhindered 
 in the Mount of C . -union its fellowship with 
 Him, then it may safely descend into the Vallev 
 or Service. 
 
 Let us, thei.'fore, as we descend afresh t» 
 another year's labors, "go down with a secret 
 which we cannot perhaps expound but which 
 we cherish, and smile to each other like silent 
 lovers in a crowd, and thus in a true church of 
 faith-adepts overcome the world. Let ua go 
 down to know that there is nothing in all the 
 raging valley— neither the devilry of the world 
 nor the impotence of the church— that can des- 
 troy our - nfidence, quench our power, or de- 
 range our peace. Let us go down to know that 
 the meanest or the most terrible things of life 
 now move beneath the sternal mastery and 
 triumphant composure of an Almighty Saviour 
 and a lina! salvation which is assured in 
 heavenly places in Jesus Christ our Lord " 
 
China 9nlaitb IRtsston 
 
 INTERDENOMINATIONAL 
 
 INTERNATIONAL 
 
 EVANGEUCAL 
 
 EVANGELISTIC 
 
 STANDING FOR 
 THE INSPIRATION 
 ' AND AUTHORITY OF 
 TAE BIBLE 
 
 SUPPORTED 
 
 SOLELY BY 
 
 FREEWILL OFFERINGS 
 
 Gtntrd Ctntrtf 
 for North Ay^rica : 
 
 2)^ School ' ■. * 
 
 Phi Mpht„, Pti. 
 
 J07 Churth Street 
 
 Toronto, Ont. 
 
 - m 
 
WHAT LIFE ME iNS 
 TO ME 
 
 li^^^MB 
 
 ^#, 
 
WHAT LIFE MEANS 
 TO ME 
 
 BY 
 
 y? 
 
 I 
 
 WILFRED T. GRENFELL, M.D, (Oxon.) 
 
 Superintendent Labrador Medical Mission 
 
 THE PILGRIM PRESS 
 
 BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 
 
NORWOOD • UAflS • C • a • A 
 
 "vr^ //'^^ ^lil^ yg^rm yf^^ 
 
 00!)'J8&2d 
 
WHAT LIFE MEANS 
 TO ME 
 
 1 WAS standing on the deck of the 
 hospital steamer Straihcona to-day, over- 
 hauhng a box of magazines and news- 
 papers that had come to us from the 
 United States. I was parceling some 
 out to distribute to the delegates from 
 a number of fishing-schooners that 
 were anchored near, who had come, 
 as fishing was temporarily slack, for "a 
 bit o' readin'." As I turned over the 
 pages of i»n old number of one, the 
 title of an article caught my eye. It 
 read, "What Life Means to Me." 
 
 I had been asked more than once to 
 record my own views on this subject, 
 so I carried it oflf to my chart room. I 
 found it interested me mainly because, 
 as an optimist, I could not agree at all 
 with the views express.^d. To be sure, 
 in view of the eight years I spent among 
 the purlieus of Whitechapel, the garrets 
 and common lodging-houses around the 
 East India docks, and, since, among the 
 debt-ridden and often half-starved poor 
 

 WHAT LIFE MEANS TO ME 
 
 of these Northern shores, I can under- 
 stand how pessimists come into exist- 
 ence. The author states that life to 
 him is an immense collection of human 
 bemgs who are all trying to avoid being 
 eaten. 
 
 Again in this article before me the 
 author says: "The weU-spring of joy 
 and beauty has been dried up in me. 
 The flowers no longer sing, nor the sun- 
 nse, nor the stars. Life to me means 
 only getting my brothers and comrades 
 ashore from a sinking ship." His part 
 m Me s drama he pleases to call social- 
 ism. I have heard some call this 
 Christianity. I, at any rate, have not 
 so learned Christ. Life to me is ever 
 beautiful. IJfe is a thousand times 
 worth while. 
 
 The scene has changed since I wrote 
 the above sentence. We are now over 
 four hundred miles farther north along 
 the coast. A low barometer and the 
 prospect of a dirty night have made us 
 head our little vessel in toward the 
 land to seek some shelter. For the 
 Northern stream of Arctic ice outside 
 us, and the titanic precipices that rise 
 [6J 
 
 
 

 I 
 
 WHAT LIFE MEANS TO ME 
 
 to leeward, offer but a poor prosnect 
 out here for the night, if the gale in- 
 creases. 
 
 Now, right overhead, more than three 
 thousand feet in air, tower the marvel- 
 ous diffs of Mugford Cape. Beneath 
 them our vessel is a mere speck on the 
 ocean. Heavy clouds brood over the 
 summits, so that, above, the rocky fast- 
 nesses disappear into eternity while at 
 their feel he stranded innumerable great 
 bergs of ice, flanked with their danger- 
 ous streams of debris. 
 
 Night is akeady falUng fast, and 
 we have - long way yet to go to find 
 an anchorage, while the darkness is 
 gloomier and all the more impenetrable 
 for the shadow of these mighty chffs. 
 The sun, buried in lurid red, has now 
 entu^ly disappeared behind them, the 
 very glories that he shed making so 
 vivid a contrast with this gloom that 
 he has left one's heart all the more dis- 
 mayed for the comfort he so recently 
 afforded us. 
 
 There will be no moon to-night, and 
 the awful depths of these ice-cut fiords 
 make anchorage possible only in one or 
 [7] 
 
 i^/S\#}^. 
 
w^* ^^' 
 
 WHAT LIFE MEANS TO 
 
 two places. No lights or guiding marks 
 exist along this coast. There is no 
 chart; no soundings have been recorded. 
 Outside us now a heavy mantle of fog 
 has closed down. I- has hidden the 
 lofty towers of Saddle Island, and left 
 nothing that might serve to guide us 
 between the sullen reefs that we know 
 he on both sides of him, thus preventing 
 our seeking safety in the open sea. 
 Indeed there is a general sense of deso- 
 lation, as the wind howls around the 
 precipices, that I ha- e seldom, if ever 
 before, experienced. 
 
 A young ,«:tudent whom I am carry- 
 ing has jusi '^-ome on deck. "What a 
 magnificent mass of mountains!" were 
 his first words. "Jove! I never saw 
 such a glorious effect in my life. Both- 
 ered if it wasn't worth spending a 
 summer down here just to get this awe- 
 inspu-mg combination. My! but it's 
 fine!" Optimist though I am, I con- 
 fess I was glad of another view-point 
 just at that moment. After all, the 
 shadows that seem to darken life are in 
 reality only motes in the eye of him 
 who thinks he sees. 
 [8] 
 
 ^si^^^^s^^mm^ 
 
MEANS TO ME 
 
 Now, however, ^e are drawing in, 
 and I can see the topmasts of a solitary 
 schooner swinging boldly to anchor oflF 
 this straight unprotected shore where, 
 if the wind changes and chops round on 
 to the land, she must at all hazards at 
 once weigh anchor and fly for shelter 
 as best she may. Her pluck has heart- 
 ened us, however; so that we have now 
 ranged up alongside and quite content- 
 edly dropped our anchor in fJie deep 
 water dose to her. But for her pres- 
 ence we should have been anxious quite 
 unnecessarily through the Jong hours 
 till daybreak. 
 
 A Lesson from a Lowly Life 
 
 As soon as possible I went to visit 
 her, and even as I climbed over the 
 rail, I asked the captain the question, 
 all-important to him at this late period 
 of the year, "How's the fish, jkipper?" 
 
 "Very scarce, doctor," he answered; 
 "never scarcer. You may say there's 
 nothing to it." 
 
 "Then I guess there won't be much 
 for you to carry home to the wife and 
 babes when you settle up in the fall." 
 [9] 
 
 N 
 
 £ 
 
WHAT LIFE MEANS TO ME 
 
 "There'll be nothing but debt, I 
 reckon, doctor. There'll be httle 
 enough to eat this winter, and has to 
 keep the cold out, unless I'm much 
 mistaken; for I don't expect to be able 
 to look at clothing." 
 "What will you do then?" 
 "Leave 'em behind rnd get out of 
 the country, I suppose, and look for 
 work. Maybe I'll get a chance to 
 earn s bit in the mines at Sydney or 
 somewhere, so as to feed 'em and get 
 an or.tfit for next fishery. Come be- 
 low, won't you, doctor? Busy? No! 
 Worse luck. There's no work to do, 
 and it's cold standing here. We've 
 hauled the net three times to-day, and 
 not gotten enough to eat out of it." 
 
 "Of course I'll come below, and glad 
 enough. What if Tom gets out his 
 accordion and we have a tune? We're 
 in the same box in one way as you are, 
 and we'll lay here with you to-night." 
 Tom being willing, his stimulating 
 instrument was soon under way, and 
 trouble sat light on our hearts. 
 
 From a sea chantey or two to a hymn 
 of praise is not a long jump; and before 
 
 [10] 
 
 
 . 
 
WHAT LIFE MEANS TO ME 
 
 leaving we had "just a word of prayer 
 together," that He who holds the world 
 in the hollow of his ^and might open 
 ihat hand that his children might be 
 fed — if it seemed good to him — see- 
 ing that we were doing all we could. 
 
 "Good night, doctor. It cheers one 
 up to remember that God is on his 
 throne. 'Tis good to believe that he's 
 our Father, and will do right by his 
 children. Good night." Little he real- 
 ized as he spoke how much we had 
 benefited by his humble company and 
 his little schooner's presence. 
 
 "Good night, skipper; and, by the 
 way, if the fish don't strike in and you 
 can get up South a bit early, we want a 
 man or two for a couple of months' 
 work ourselves; so you'd better look in 
 as you pass South. It may not be 
 much, but it'll help out the bread 
 basket." 
 
 "Good night, again; and — God bless 
 you, doctor! Good night!" 
 
 Looking again at the article I have 
 
 referred to, I see it contemptuously 
 
 describes "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage 
 
 Patch" and such like literature as 
 
 111] 
 
 1/110: 
 
I! 
 
 WHAT LIFE MEANS TO ME 
 
 "augar-coated sentimentahty." Well 
 I've seen the hearts of men with mure 
 philosophy than I could boast of. lifted 
 out of the Slough of '"-spond by just 
 such "sentimentality, and stirred to 
 brave and kindly deeds by it. too. As 
 a valuable asset in life. I say, give me 
 plenty of it. The Christ had a use for 
 It. It IS an essential part of a hfe that 
 IS worth while. 
 
 A Token of Broiherlinesa 
 It was a gorgeous morning that broke 
 next day, and the sunlight streaming 
 through the great gorges and dancing 
 over the sea surface gave every one of 
 us quite a new view of the gloom of 
 overnight. Moreover. I see the ship- 
 per's boat is alongside, and some men 
 are in it heaving fish up on deck. 
 Ah^ady he has sent us a^^ard a fine 
 sahnon. meshed in his leaocr. the first 
 this year. It tasted as sweet as any 
 salmon ever tasted. Memories of our 
 talk of the previous night lent it a 
 flavor that your epicure knows nothing 
 of. It tasted of brotherliness — one of 
 the sweetest tastes I know, and yet one 
 [12] 
 
WHAT LIFE MEANS TO ME 
 
 that the poorest of lu can be giving 
 away every day; surely a fact that of 
 itself makes life a splendid thing of joy. 
 
 A Personal Definition 
 That is what life means to me — a 
 place where a Father above deals diflfer- 
 ently with his different children, but 
 with all in love; a place where true 
 joys do not hang on material pegs, and 
 where all the while the fact that God 
 our Father is on his throne lines every 
 cloud with gold. It means a chance 
 for every one to be helping lame dogs 
 over stiles, a chance to be cheering and 
 helping to bear the burdens of others, » 
 field for the translation of unfailing 
 faith in the love of God above into deeds 
 that shall please his children below, and 
 therefore please him also — filling this 
 poor life with satisfaction, otherwise 
 unattainable. Nay, more, to tell the 
 truth, the heaven I, like others, look 
 for is not "a place to rest and be idle 
 in," but is a place where "we shall run, 
 and not be weary." 
 
 Beyond all this, life to me is a school 
 in which to learn how best to serve, a 
 
 [IS] 
 
WHAT LIFE MEANS TO ME 
 
 school in which we may be taught how 
 best to employ and develop our special 
 talents for service here and, I be- 
 lieve, hereafter. In order to achieve 
 results, call it sentimentaUty or what 
 you will, rather than accept any or all 
 the "isms" for my teacher, I prefer to 
 go to Jesus Christ and learn of him — 
 of him who brought us the good news of 
 God's love to us — individually; who 
 showed that even a shameful death and 
 a despised life does not aflfect the real 
 value and joy of a life of love, and who 
 dignified each human Ufe by saying it 
 even can be useful ia that way to God 
 above. Meanwhile, He seems to me 
 to teach first, last, and always, that it 
 is better not to exist at all than not to 
 love; and this I most firmly believe; for 
 
 The night hath a thousand eyes, 
 
 And the day but one; 
 Yet the light of the whole world dies 
 
 With the setting sun. 
 
 The mmd hath a thousand eyes, 
 
 And the heart but one; 
 Yet the light of a whole life dies 
 
 When love is done. 
 [14] 
 
 
WHAT 
 
 Overweighted Travelers 
 
 There can be no question about the 
 Great Teacher's second lesson, namely, 
 that life does not consist of the "things 
 material" that a man possesseth. When 
 the AustraUan miner was drowned be- 
 cause he had heavy bags of gold round 
 his waist, while trying to swim ashore 
 from the wreck, it was an open question 
 which possessed which. Just so I am 
 quite convinced that men stuffed with 
 information or "the science of the day" 
 are not always possessed of true wis- 
 dom. Wisdom itself anyhow is not an 
 end, but a tool to work with. 
 
 Kings are to serve the people, 
 And wealth is to ease the poor. 
 
 And learning, to lift up the lowly, 
 
 And strength, that the weak may endure. 
 
 The turning of knowledge into service 
 alone justifies the toil spent to achieve it, 
 and gives it its true value in joyfulness. 
 Is Christ's teaching not true also, 
 that men can be dead while they 
 live? "Lives there the man with soul so 
 dead," is not a contradiction. Existence 
 isn't life. That self-indulgent debauchee 
 
 [15] 
 
M 
 
 WHAT LIFE 
 
 doesn't live, surely. The "high life 
 some men talk so much of is far more 
 like the coma accompanying a high 
 fever, to me, than the "fuhiess of life.** 
 "That which came into the world with 
 Jesus Christ," says the unlearned fisher- 
 man, John, "was life.'* 
 
 The fact that ignorant, unlearned 
 fishermen sho fid be permitted to catch 
 and record this truth for the benefit of 
 the world is to me prima facie evidence 
 that the teaching is not the outcome of 
 mere humanly* conceived philosophy. 
 Jesus Christ himself says that "He 
 came that we may have life, and may 
 have it more abundantly." 
 
 Real Happiness 
 How many men to-day think still, if 
 they think at all about it, that the 
 Christ's follower is a man who has lost 
 his freedom, a man whose life arena is 
 contracted by the voluntary acceptance 
 o Christ, or any one else, as his master! 
 Many actually believe that because the 
 disciple of Christ may not, dare not, 
 damn his own body, or wrong his 
 neighbor, and is told to love himself 
 [16 J 
 
WHAT LIFE MEANS TO ME 
 
 last, that he must necessarily be cut 
 oS from the jde de vivre, as they tenn 
 the joy of liie. The life of the Christ 
 follower involves no hair shirts, nor 
 does he, in the twentieth century, pic- 
 ture the world as a dismal prison- 
 house in which he must grind till he 
 gain some golden shore beyond. 
 
 The fault is that men call that joy 
 which merely tickles the taste, buds or 
 indulges the more imperious animal 
 passions, or that panders to their 
 vanity. Surely we must far more truly 
 call victory over self, joy. For, judged 
 merely by a time standard, there can 
 be no sweeter, long-lasting experience 
 than to live a conscious victor in life's 
 battle. Is not this yet one more of 
 the Master's teachings — that achieve 
 ment at whatever cost is God's true 
 joy, and that even the loss of life means 
 saving it? Death does noi spell loss 
 of life; unused talents mean really lost 
 lives. 
 
 A Reminiscence of London Days 
 
 In my own life, when, at the feet of 
 
 D. L. Moody, I firat accepted Christ as 
 
 I"] 
 
€»< 
 
 >9. 
 
 WHAT LIFE MEANS TO ME 
 
 my Master, my Sundays, my only free 
 days, fonnerly devoted to the usual 
 young men's amusements and occupa- 
 tions, I devoted to holding open-air 
 services and to visiting under^Tound 
 lodging-houses in Ratcliffe Highway. 
 The cbiange was so sudden that i was 
 able to appreciate the contrast in my 
 sensations. For it was a tremendous 
 eflPort to me to be preaching at ail, and 
 that more especifdly in the open air 
 and in the neighborhoods frequented 
 by my fellow, students. I had enjoyed 
 the sensations of athletic victories, and 
 I had carried off more than one material 
 I trophy; but there has never been any 
 I question in my mind as to which was the 
 I truest joy, that afforded by self-serving, 
 or that by Christ-serving, either as first 
 I saw it then, or as after twenty-five 
 years, with somewhat altered perspec- 
 tive, I see it now. 
 
 To me now, any servict to the hum- 
 blest of mankind is Christ-service, how- 
 ever insignificant, and is therefore a 
 legitimate reason for joy. Thus, for 
 example, on these barren rocks of Lab- 
 rador, any new source of food is of the 
 [18J 
 
WHAT LIFE MEANS TO ME 
 
 utmost value, and especially any vege- 
 table food, among a people who for 
 lack of it suffer so much from black- 
 leg, foul mouths, and even die of 
 "sailors' scurvy." One day we dis- 
 covered, gathered, and cooked a dish 
 of the native fungi and of wild parsley, 
 and to our satisfaction found that we 
 could eat them with relish — and ^tli- 
 out pain. This simple achievement has 
 been of value since to not a few of our 
 friends, and still g^ves us more pleasure 
 than a certain midnight supper at 
 "Sherry's," given regardless of expense, 
 to which I was once taken. 
 
 Alas, the search for joy along the 
 latter lines costs true manhood far 
 more than the dollars expended on the 
 food — it leads to blindness towards 
 the real road to the joie de vivre. 
 For my own help, I always keep pasted 
 up in my surgery, where sometimes the 
 continuous stream of patients coming 
 to see the doctor calls for more sym- 
 pathy than I have to give, and is 
 apt to make one irritable and use- 
 less because unsympathetic, these old 
 words: 
 
 [19] 
 
'^1 
 
 WHAT LIFE MEANS TO ME 
 
 He did kind things so kindly — 
 It seemed His heart's ddight 
 
 To make poor people happy 
 From morning imtil night. 
 
 Any time I happen to look up, it is a 
 clarion call to me. that if I would find 
 joy, the real way is His way. 
 
 The man who walks in the Master's 
 footsteps will be brave in opposition, 
 ' cheerful in discouragement, and joyful 
 in all life's fuhiess, as Christ himself 
 was. To him it affords joy to be 
 thoughtful oi others, even when him- 
 self in trouble, as the Master was on 
 his cross for his widowed mother. 
 Any animal can 
 
 be merry 
 
 When life goes along like a song; 
 But the man worth while is the man who will 
 smile 
 
 When everything goes dead wrong. 
 
 The True Source of Contentment 
 It is a simple fact, that, just as the 
 virtues must spring from within and 
 cannot be compelled from without, as 
 they must arise from a new heart and 
 not from fear of punishment, so true 
 [«0] 
 
 I 
 
WHAT LIFE MEANS TO ME 
 
 and permanent satisfactions are in 
 reality absolutely independent of things 
 material. The perfect peace that is 
 possible in life is not spelled by riches, 
 leisure, or ornate surroimdings. Peace 
 is so shy a maiden that she cannot be 
 caught by genius or wealth, cannot be 
 gained by the lullaby of atheism or of 
 false prophets, or by narcotizing the 
 soul's sensibilities with abandonment or 
 dopes. It is simply a physical impos- 
 sibility. Peace is the gift of God the 
 Father to his good children. 
 
 It may seem hard to the millionaire 
 that there is something he cannot buy, 
 or to the philosopher that just makes 
 perfect and abiding peace elude his 
 grasp. But it cannot be done. Mortals 
 who forsake God, and are forsaken of 
 him, know this, and more than one 
 has sought the only other road to peace 
 they can think of as open to them, 
 namely, death; which, in another way, 
 the man who forgets God also slowly 
 but surely patronizes. The fact is, 
 material possessions are only capable of 
 giving this peace when used of the 
 devil as a dope to the soul. I entirely 
 
WHAT LIFE MEANS TO ME 
 
 agree with an anonymous writer, who 
 has said, 
 
 There ia a jewel that no Indian mine 
 Csfl buy, no chemic art can counterfeit. 
 It makes men rich in greatest poverty; 
 Makes water wine, turns wooden cups to gold 
 TJe homely whistle, to sweet music's strain-' 
 This much-in-littie, aU-in-nought - Content, 
 
 . and to me this content comes of being 
 m hne with Christ's wiU. 
 
 To me it is unintelHgible how an 
 immortal spirit can expect to enjoy 
 the satisfaction of approving its own 
 hfe outside "the way"; or how, when 
 sufficient time has elapsed to enable 
 men to judge correctly of the real 
 value to the worid of a life, they can 
 expect to allot the "well done" to any 
 that have run counter to the teachings of 
 the Chnst, whatever their mental atti- 
 tude towards his divinity may be 
 The life of the most wealthy and self- 
 mdul^nt of Herods, or of the most 
 orthodox and ascetic of high priests, 
 bears no comparison ever with that of a 
 real disciple of Christ, when a compari- 
 son of values is considered. No one 
 [2«] 
 
 l^^^^M^^ 
 
! 
 
 WHAT LIFE MEANS TO ME 
 
 would for one moment put a drinking- 
 cmp, even if made of gold, on the 
 same level with a fountain that refreshes 
 thirsty people, more especially when we 
 remember the dignity of the fountain, 
 in that it gives power to men to run 
 for themselves and not faint. 
 
 Brotherliness on the Labrador Coast 
 As I write, I have in tow from my 
 little steamer two fishing-schooners. 
 It is late in the season, and they have 
 no fish. They have been three weeks 
 pushmg North, seeking fish aU along 
 this lonely coast. I have just brought 
 them news that there is plenty of fish 
 two hundred miles North. But where 
 they had driven mto the bay there 
 isn't a breath of wind, though outside 
 a fine, fair, southerly breeze is blowmg. 
 Now I have just dropped their cables, 
 and all hands on both vessels are 
 waving good-bye to us, because, forsooth, 
 we have towed them a couple of miles 
 out into the wind, and now they can go 
 ahead themselves in the diiection of 
 success. One of my crew has just 
 remarked. "WeU, doctor, I'd rather 
 
 
 i 
 
(i^ 
 
 mi 
 
 WHAT LIFE MEANS TO ME 
 
 have done that for those poor fellows 
 than have found fifty dollars, much as 
 I need it." And I myself feel that 
 more honor is due my beloved little 
 vessel for this tiny servi than if. 
 after a season's work, thei. wasn't a 
 scratch on her paint from stem to 
 stem. Shall we honor most an Essex 
 who can afford to lavish money on 
 entertaim'ng kings, or a Sydney, who, 
 in his own dire necessity, gave his 
 helmet full of cold water to a dying 
 common soldifer, whose need he thought 
 was greater than his own? "Bon vi- 
 vant" — ugh! what a cynicism, if only 
 men knew it. Only he who knows the 
 Master has any conception of the good 
 things of life — or how good those good 
 things are. 
 
 As we passed down the shore yester- 
 day, several times we nearly missed 
 our way among the islands and shoals 
 that lie in countless scores off this 
 uncharted coast, because from inside 
 on the land were blowing such dense 
 clouds of smoke from an extensive 
 forest fire that the horizon would often 
 be totally obUterated. We thought we 
 [24] 
 
 I 
 
 y 
 
WHAT LIFE MEANS TO ME 
 
 saw things as they really were, and 
 were entirely deceived. GuUiver from 
 his height could appreciate the pity of 
 the ridiculous strivings for unworthy 
 aims of the tiny Lilliputians. So pos- 
 terity, as the lapse of the ages removes 
 the false glamour that at the time befogs 
 the real value of men's lives, will pay 
 homage only to those men who have, 
 following tue footsteps of the Master,' 
 rendered true service to the human race. 
 So, somehow, amidst all the fog and 
 darkness through which my eyes now 
 fail to pierce, I seem to feel that the 
 peace which comes of our own approval 
 of our hfe, and the appreciation which 
 without any question the vox populi 
 ever increasingly accords to real Christ- 
 likeness, are pledges that the vox Dei, 
 the final arbiter, will also, in spite of 
 God's absolute knowledge of our fail- 
 ures, endorse as worth while whatever 
 I have done in his service, as being the 
 true fulfilment of his meaning for my 
 life. Of all the lives ever hved, who 
 will deny that that of the humble car- 
 penter of Nazareth was the ideal life 
 for a son of God? How many lives 
 
 [25] 
 
WHAT LIFE MEANS TO ME 
 
 do we not all know that lack only one 
 thing to make them sweet and beautiful 
 and invaluable — that one thing being 
 his Spirit? 
 
 The fisherman John declares that his 
 book was written in order that men 
 might believe in the name of Jesus, and 
 so might have life. The most distress- 
 ful thing to me here in our life in Lab- 
 rador is to see men losing opportuni- 
 ties, for each one does mean so much. 
 Here, where men so often subsist close 
 to the very margin line of starvation, 
 waste of any kind is far the most dis- 
 couraging thing to see. It makes one 
 almost give up hope and throw up one's 
 efforts altogether. If now the^ Wi.* illy 
 waste time, indulge themselves, and so 
 enfeeble capacity, or do anything to 
 cripple their utility, we shall of course 
 have to deplore it. But our sorrow 
 will be for the loss it will mean to 
 them and those dependent on them, 
 and not be mere pique because we are 
 disobeyed. 
 
 So, it seems to me, must be God's 
 view of our lives. The more he gives, 
 the more there is to regret if hves are 
 [«6] 
 
 :m^ 
 
^ 
 
 WHAT LIFE MEANS TO ME 
 
 wasted; and so important does such 
 conduct make even God's effort to 
 save the world that it was worth send- 
 ing the Christ that we might be enabled 
 to really learn the meaning of life. 
 
 My Ambition 
 
 I personally wish for the life of no 
 Alexander, Caesar, or Napoleon; no 
 Croesus or Midas, no Voltaire or Rous- 
 seau. The wealth of Herod or the 
 learning of the Pharisees, after the 
 lapse of centuries, I see clearly was of 
 relatively little value, as He-who-knows 
 ccunts assets. I would rather leave 
 behind me on the sands of time the 
 footsteps of a Judson or a Martyn or 
 a Livingstone, of a Gordon or a Lincoln 
 or a Lawrence, of a Lister or a Jenner 
 or a Stevenson, than of any king, either 
 of men, of finance, or of scholarship. 
 Who would not be proud if posterity 
 should accord him this tribute — that 
 his life had been a reincarnation of 
 Jesus Christ's? 
 
 At Williamstown, Massachusetts, 
 stands a monument dated 1806, to 
 commemorate where four students of 
 [27] 
 
 i ! 
 
WHAT LIFE MEANS TO ME 
 
 that class dedicated themselves to 
 foreign missionary fields for Christ. 
 To Adoniram Judson, the leader of 
 these, men pay increasing homage as 
 every commencement comes round. 
 Despised then, his life alone of all 
 that class continues to mean anything 
 to the lives of men to-day. 
 
 This faith in Christ is a life factor to 
 me. It is not so much a way of escape 
 from sins and sins' punishment as a 
 road to abundant achievement. It is 
 a way to sav^, not my soul but my life. 
 My mind lays more stress on "This is 
 eternal LIFE, to know thee," than on 
 "They sha" not come into condemna- 
 tion." 
 
 The Bigness of Life 
 
 This is the view one would expect of 
 youth, and J can still claim the right to 
 that view. It is the view-point of those 
 who love life itself, of those who fix 
 their eyes and hearts on the race and 
 on running well in it, rather than of 
 the trophy-hunter, who only looks at 
 what he can get out of it. I believe 
 absolutely in the socialism of Jesus — 
 1«8J 
 
 ^ 
 
 j^-* 
 
WHAT LIFE MEANS TO ME 
 
 "fraternity *ti action," as it has been 
 called; ' ?ause it vil unifies and adds a 
 raison !^k'e for 'ycing alive, viz., 
 permittiic us all "1d descend into the 
 abysses of sorrow c*nd sin and help to 
 bring out entombed comrades." Jesus 
 distinctly says that his object in com- 
 ing into the world at all was to bear 
 witness to the truth that God is our 
 individual Father, and we are brothers. 
 He further says that the object of 
 our lives is to perpetuate this mes- 
 sage. 
 
 I have no quarrel with theology; I 
 know none to quarrel with. What is 
 beyond life's spectrum is a mystery to 
 me. I do not know much of the ultra- 
 red or ultraviolet either, except that 
 there is power and force and wisdom 
 existing there. But the play of colors 
 between, with its high lights and its 
 dark lines, I do know a little of, and I 
 love it — just as I love our ocean down 
 here, with its depths, its strength and 
 its dangers, its colors and moods, its icy 
 mountains, its trackless wastes, and yet 
 withal its snug harbors and sheltering 
 islands and warm land breezes. 
 [29] 
 
 ^1 
 
i 
 
 Amidst just such shifting scenes the 
 highest reward of life to me would be 
 to be like Jesus. We must remember, 
 however, that sugar must itself be dis- 
 solved to sweeten, and salt be itself 
 melted to flavor. Still, even should 
 that be called for, as it often is, then 
 my view-point is Sir Galahad's, who 
 said, "If I save my life, I lose it." 
 
 St. Paul once said, "To me to live is 
 Christ," and again, "The life I live, I 
 live by faith in the Son of God." Per- 
 sonally, my ideal in life would be to be 
 able to say the same truthfully. For I 
 must confess I remember when I would 
 have had to h ly, "To me to live is self." 
 As for me, I fully accept that God is 
 my Father and men are my brothers. 
 Life to me means being worthy of this 
 our family. 
 
 The Beyond 
 
 As for life hereafter, I know little or 
 nothing about it; but that is not of 
 any great importance, because I want 
 it, whatever it is. 
 
 The question whether life is worth 
 living hasn't worried us down here 
 [80] 
 
 
I 
 
 WHAT LIFE MEANS TO ME 
 
 much. The only suicide I know of in 
 Labrador was of a man who killed 
 himseF and his children because they 
 were starving and couldn't live any 
 longer anyhow. I see, however, that 
 in the busiest centers of hun^an activity, 
 this question seriously, at intervals, 
 seethes up to the surface, due, I sup- 
 pose, to the mental strain and general 
 hustle of life. Anyhow, it always makes 
 me feel more satisfied with the simpler 
 life, nearer to nature, that we hve, 
 away from the hubs of the universe. 
 
 For my part, I am very much in 
 love with life; and I enjoy it so much, 
 I want flll I can get of it. I want more 
 of it 1 ' "be incident called death, if 
 there ii^ . to be had. Nor can there 
 be any question — God or no God — 
 that most other men love it, too. The 
 struggle to exist offers undeniable evi- 
 dence of this fact; while the struggle 
 for the life of o.hers, oiten at the cost 
 of our own, shows it is no cold-as-death 
 philosophy that plants the love of Ufe 
 in oiu" hearts. No wonder that the 
 man who voluntarily takes his owti life 
 is always dubbed by a generous world 
 [31] 
 
 -I 
 
WHAT LIFE MEANS TO ME 
 
 
 m\ 
 
 as "temporarily insane." Death, cor- 
 ruption, a lifeless worid, like the moon, 
 have no attractions for me. It is true, 
 Voltaire cursed God for giving us life, 
 and teaching us to love it, and at the 
 same time teaching us we have to lose 
 it; though the best contribution that 
 some men appear to have to offer life, 
 is to get out and leave it. 
 
 Now, I beUeve Jesus Christ has meant 
 all in this mortal life that he claimed he 
 would mean. I have no reason what- 
 ever to believe he ever lied, so when he 
 says concerning the future, "Because 
 I live, ye shall live also," and "He that 
 believeth in me, though he were dead, 
 yet shall he Uve," I simply believe it — 
 and that the more readily and firmly, 
 because I want to do so. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 
II 
 
#y^ ^4# 
 
 THAT 1 S .WHAT 1.1 r F- 
 MI-ANS TO .mi: .\ PLACK 
 WHFRF- TRUE jOVS DO:\r 
 H A N G O \ M A r E R I A L 
 PEGS. :V^\) WHERE AEL 
 THE WlIii.E THE FACT 
 THAT GOO OUR FATH! R 
 IS ON H!S THRONE LINIS 
 EVER^' CLOUD WITH 
 GOi.n w I c. 
 
 
 M 
 

 /^ 
 
 THAT IS WHAT LI F F. 
 MFANS TO ME --A PLACE 
 WHFRR A FATHER AnOVE 
 HEALS DIFFERENTLY 
 A iTH HLS DIFFERENT 
 CHILDREN. BUT WLFH 
 ALL IN LOVE~u, I.e. 
 
 ^ , i"^— " ^^'^f'ii^-^ 
 
 Si': 
 
wn^^i^nnrrMP^* 
 
 P llg J iMJJU J