Delaware State Journal And Statesman

THE PRICE OF TRUTH,
Great truths are dearly bought. The common
truth,
Such as men give and take from day to day,
Comes in the common walks of easy life,
Blown by the careless wind across our way.
Bought in the market, at the current price,
Bred of the smile, the jest, perchance the bowl,
It tells no tales of daring or of worth,
Nor pierces even the surface of the soul.
Great truths are greatly won. Not formed
by chance,
Not wafted on the breath of summer
dream;
But grasped in the great struggle of the soul,
Hard buffeting with adverse wind and
stream.
Not in the general mart, 'mid corn and wine,
Not in the merchandise of gold and gems,
Nor in the world's gay hall of midnight
mirth,
Nor 'mid the blaze of regal diadems;
But in the day of conflict, fear and grief,
When the strong hand of God, put forth
in might,
Ploughs up the subsoil of the stagnant heart,
And brings the imprisoned truth seed to
the light.
Wrung from the troubled spirit, in hard hours
Of weakness, solitude, perchance of pain;
Truth springs like harvest, from the well-
ploughed field,
And the soul feels it has not wept in vain.