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| There were two other smaller grades nearby -- one of them quite small
-- but they did not seem to matter so much to the tall young fellow who
had said to himself so many times: "when I am twenty-one, I will be a
man." It was the two graves marked by the companion words that
mattered. And certainly he did not, at that time, feel himself a man.
As he left the cemetery to go home with an old neighbor and friend of
the family, he felt himself rather a very small and lonely boy in a
very big and empty world.
But there had been many things to do in those next few days, with no on
but himself to do them. There had been, in the voices of his friends, a
not that was new. In the manner of the men who had come to talk with
him on matters of business, he had felt a something he had never felt
before. And he had seen the auctioneer -- a lifelong friend of his
father -- standing on the front porch of his boyhood home and had heard
him cry the low spoken bids and answer the nodding heads of the buyers
in a voice that was hoarse with something more than long speakin in the
open air. And then -- and then -- at last had come the sharp blow of
hte hammer on the porch railing and from the trembling lips of the old
auctioneer the word: "Sold."
It was as though that hammer had fallen on the naked heart of the boy. It was as though the auctioneer had shouted: "Dead."
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| It is the dreams of life that, at the beginning of life, matter. Of the Thirteen Truly Great Things of Life, Dreams are first.
It was green fruit time. From the cherry tree that grew in the upper
corner of the garden next door, close by the hedge that separated the
two places, the blossoms were gone and the tine cherried were already
well formed. The nest, that a pair of little brown birds had made that
spring in the hedge, was just empty, and, from the green laden branches
of the tree, the little brown mother was calling anxious advice and
sweet worried counsel to her sons and daughters who were trying their
new wings.
In the cemetery on the hill, beside a grave over which the sod was
formed thick and firm, there was now another grave -- another grave so
new that on it no blade of grass had started -- so new that the yellow
earth in the long rounded mound was still moist and the flowers that
tried with such loving, tender, courage, to hid its nakedness had not
yet wilted. Cut in the block of white marble that marked the
grass-grown grave were the dearest words in any tongue -- Wife and
Mother; while, for the new-made mound that lay so close besides, the
workmen were carving on a companion stone the companion words.
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| Dreams
The man, for the first time, stood face toface with Life and, for the first time, knew that he was a man.
For a long time he had known that some day he would be a man. But he
had always thought of his manhood as a matter of years. He had said to
himself: "when I am twenty-one, I will be a man." He did not know,
then, that twenty-one years -- that indeed three times twenty-one years
-- cannot make a man. He did not know, then, that men are made of other
things than years.
I cannot tell you the man's name, nor the names of his parents, nor his
exact age, nor just where he lived, nor any of those things. For my
story, such things are of no importance whatever. But this is of the
greatest importance: as the man, for the first time, stood face to face
with Life and, for the first time, realized his manhood, his manhood
life began in Dreams.
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| What They Found in Their Yesterdays
And the man and the woman who went back into Their
Yesterdays foundt here the Thirteen Truly Great Things of Life. Just as
they found these things in their grown up days, even unto the end, so
they found them in Their Yesterdays.
Thirteen Truly Great Things of Life there are. No life can have less.
No life can have more. All of life is in them. No life is without them.
Dreams, Occupation, Knowledge, Ignorance, Religion, Tradition,
Temptation, Life, Death, Failure, Success, Love, Memories: these are
the Thirteen Truly Great Things of Life -- found by the man and the
woman in their grown up days -- found by them in Their Yesterdays --
they found no others.
It does not matter where this man and this woman lived, nor who they
were, nor what they did. It does not matter when or how many times they
went back into Their Yesterdays. These things are all that they found.
And they found these things even as every man and woman finds them,
even as you and I find them, in our days that are and in our days that
were -- in our grown days and in our Yesterdays.
And it is so that in all of these Thirteen Truly Great Things of Life there is a man and there is a woman.
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| I was reading a book recently, that I find fascinating, so I thought I
would share it with you all. I'm going to post a couple paragraphs or
so every day. It may take a while, but I hope you all will find it as
interesting as I have....
Their Yesterdays
by Harold Bell Wright
Proem
There was a man.
And it happened -- as such things often so happen -- that this man went
back into his days that were gone. Again and again and again he went
back. Even as every man, even as you and I, so this man went back into
his Yesterdays.
Then -- why then there was a woman.
And it happened -- as such things sometimes so happen -- that this woman
also went back into her days that were gone. Again and again and again
she went back. Even as every woman, even as you and I, so this woman
went back into her Yesterdays.
So it happened -- as such things do happen -- that the Yesterdays of
this man and the Yesterdays of this woman became Their Yesterdays, and
that they went back, then, no more alone, but always together.
Even as one, they, forever after, went back.
That's all for today, more tomorrow, ttyl 
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