The Hidden Spring by Kathrina Blossom Wilcox

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jan 29, 1908

The Hidden Spring.

By Kathrina Blossom Wilcox

A TRAVELER, in telling the tales of his adventures, mentions among the high mountains of a certain range a tiny, hidden spring. Altho many visitors to that place seek for this spring, it is only after diligent search that they find it and drink of its sparkling waters. They know it is there, for the results of its silent work are evident in the greensward and the freshness of the vegetation.

So in this world there is a hidden spring, at which all may be refreshed. Not one, whatever his lineage, whatever his station, is debarred from drinking at this fountain of life-giving water. New streams run from it in many directions, quietly making the ground green and reviving the drooping and withering flowers.

Many have sought in vain, not so much for the one true spring as for the results which obtain from the pure, sparkling water found therein.

Have you guessed the name of this hidden fountain? Yes, it is that for which man has been seeking thruout the ages—the spring of happiness, which finds its source in the great Master Mind of the universe.

For centuries man has been trying to create a spring of happiness which might center in himself. He has tried science, philosophy, psychology, metaphysics, pantheism, new thought, Christian Science, higher criticism, hypnotism, and a score of others—but all in vain. Real, true happiness is not to be found in these. Knowledge, wisdom, learning, are well and good, and we pity the man who has little or no desire to possess them, who has not the laudable ambition to become a scholar of worth and ability—but all the knowledge this world can give is vain if not directed in the right channels.

Is happiness of heart or peace of mind to be found in self? Is it to be found in science? in philosophy?—Never. In vain has man endeavored to find it there. "Vanity of vanities," says the wisest human preacher this world has ever known, "all is vanity and vexation of spirit," unless—unless we have found the true joy which comes by drinking at the life-giving spring of happiness, the great fountain of living water, and letting that life, that happiness, flow out to water and refresh the hearts and souls of those about us.

Are you happy? Then make others so. Are you unhappy? You need not be. It is your privilege to be happy whatever your circumstances. Forget self, live for others, draw long, deep drafts from the great Fountain of living truth, that your own soul may be watered and in turn water others.

Of all persons in this dark world, Christians should be most happy. They should carry the light of a beautiful soul upon their countenances, a radiance shining from within. It would banish the darkness and dispel the gloom from the faces and hearts of others. Such a happiness ennobles, purifies, and uplifts the character, and helps to make the lives of those around us brighter and sweeter and nobler.

KATHRINA BLOSSOM WILCOX.