Tárogató, 1944-1945 (7. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1944-11-01 / 5. szám
TÁROGATÓ 13 THE GRACE OF LAUGHTER A little book recently published has this significant sentence: “That we have so little time to be merry is the best reason for merriment.” The writer might have put it this way, that we have so little reason for merriment furnishes one of the best reasons for being merry. Yes, it is indeed a very sad and a very tragic world at the moment. So many things that ought not to be and so many things, apparently, gone hopelessly wrong! But it is our world, however it came to be as it is, and we have to live and play our part in it. We certainly shall not play our part best in it by allowing its tragedy and wrongness to bear us down and drive all the sunshine out of our scene. Even in our world, there is a place for merriment and for laughter. Not only are these things left to us, but they are left to ns of the infinite grace and goodness of our God, left to us that through them life might be, not only livable, but kept fresh and wholesome and renewed in sanity from day to day. Thank God for laughter. It is one of his great gifts to his children. We will not apologize for it, or run away from it, or despise the healing grace that it brings. —Onimrd. A LETTER OF INTRODUCTION Henry Ward Beecher said: “Every human being in trouble carries a letter of introduction to us.” His trouble is that letter and we must hasten to help. How the man got into trouble need not concern us just then. When the good Samaritan on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho saw the unfortunate traveller, he did not say: “You fool, why did you travel this way; didn’t you know it was infested with robbers?” People in trouble need assistance; it may be their own fault, but that does not excuse us. There may be some preaching to do, but that can wait. Let us relieve the distress, kindly and lovingly, even as Christ did. That is why we were called. To do it is the guarantee of our discipleship. It was said of Napoleon Bonaparte that whenever he was introduced to a person he made this mental calculation, how could the man be a help to him? Nothing could be more unchristian. When we meet people the question which ought to arise in our minds is how we can help them. That is exactly what Beecher meant. —Onimrd. SAMUEL HEARNE, EXPLORER The public services of Samuel Hearne, the earliest explorer of Northern Canada, are commemorated by a tablet placed on the outer wall of Fort Prince of Wales at Churchill, Manitoba, by the Department of Mines and Resources on the recommendation of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board. Samuel Hearne was bom in London, England, in 1745. At the age of eleven he became a midshipman in the Royal Navy, and later entered the services of the Hudson’s Bay Company, who sent him to Fort Prince of Wales in 1765. At that time the lands to the south of Churchill had been travelled to some slight extent, but the vast region to the west and north was completely unknown. Stories were told by the Indians of a great mine of copper which lay towards the Arctic. These stories were of much interest to the Hudson’s Bay Company, and were the impelling motive for Hearne’s journeys to the North in 1769, 1770 and 1771. Ón the last of these expeditions he discovered the Coppermine River and was the first white man to reach the Arctic overland from Hudson Bay. From 1670 to 1774 all the posts of the Hudson’s Bay Company were situated in the shores of Hudson Bay and James Bay, but in 1774, as a result of the advent of the Montreal traders, Hearne established Cumberland House on Cumberland Lake, Saskatchewan. This was the first inland post of Hudson’s Bay Company and its erection marked a new era in the fur trade and the beginning of the rivalry between the Hudson’s Bay Company and the other fur trading companies. In 1775 Hearne was appointed Governor of Fort Prince of Wales, and was in charge of the fort in 1782 when it was captured by OUR ENGLISH SECTION.
