But, if I do, I am not
going to use it for any rhetorical effect to-day. Simple,
earnest words must express the deepest feelings of the heart in
doing justice to its own. Brothers and sisters, we meet to-day
under our own roof-tree, surrounded by the benedictions of the
past years. Perhaps invisible guests are here--the spirits of
those who founded this home and whose work on earth has long been
finished. It is not amiss to hope that this is so and our family
circle made indeed complete. To each one of us who are here in
visible bodily presence some measure of success has fallen; but
only one of us has been supremely successful in the only things
that really count--the things that count for eternity as well as
time--sympathy and unselfishness and self-sacrifice.
"I shall tell you my own story for the benefit of those who have
not heard it. When I was a lad of sixteen I started to work out
my own education. Some of you will remember that old Mr. Blair
of Avonlea offered me a place in his store for the summer, at
wages which would go far towards paying my expenses at the
country academy the next winter. I went to work, eager and
hopeful. All summer I tried to do my faithful best for my
employer. In September the blow fell. A sum of money was
missing from Mr. Blair's till. I was suspected and discharged in
disgrace. All my neighbors believed me guilty; even some of my
own family looked upon me with suspicion--nor could I blame them,
for the circumstantial evidence was strongly against me.
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